Recap

Spring 1/2 Training: Week 9

/ Amy / 2 Comments

Week nine and feelin’ fine!

  • Monday:  My friend was in town, and it was St. Patrick’s day. We went out to lunch and then to an Irish Bar! Fun times, but no running.
  • Tuesday:  40 minute tempo run, starting at 10 min/mile speeding up to 8:30/mile. I held each pace longer this time, and I think that was a good choice. Also, I got two 24 packs of energy gel – Chocolate Cherry Clif gel and Salted Caramel Gu.
2014-03-18 20.36.18

The box said you win something if you find the “golden yeti”, so of course I dumped the whole box on the floor immediately. Alas, no golden yeti, just normal yetis.

  • Wednesday: 4.5 “easy” run. I put the word in quotes because it didn’t feel very easy. I think my legs were a tad tired from Tuesday’s speed work. 
  • Thursday:  Easy run outside w/ Jeff, my favorite runny buddy. No Garmin, it was nice. Covered just over 3 miles in the fresh air.
  • Friday: Attempted a 5 mile pace run, outside again. I started out slightly above race pace, and then just fell apart. Honestly though, I don’t even care! I am so psyched about passing my test, that I was grinning ear to ear the entire time. Even though I averaged 11 min miles…nothing can get me down today. I passed my TEST!!! Also, it was very windy. 
Can you see the wind?

Can you see the wind? (ooof, this pic is terrible)

  • Saturday: Rest Day w/ stretching and foam rolling
  • Sunday: 11 mile long run. First long run outside during 1/2 training. My pace was a little disappointing (10:38/mile) because I’ve been faster on the treadmill, but I still had fun. I did run/walk with about a 3.5 to 1 ratio. I thought this would be a good idea today because my legs didn’t do very well on Friday and I need to get reacquainted with running on pavement and over hills. I ran the last 2.5 miles without walk breaks and it went well. There’s nothing more encouraging than finishing strong on a long run.
2014-03-23 08.19.09

I don’t want to go outside, but I will, because it’s 32F and that is WARM.

Last week, I set my goals as:

  1. Long Run: 11 miles – Check!
  2. Speed work – 40 min Tempo – Check!
  3. Easy Runs: (2) – 3 mile + 4.5 mile – Check!
  4. Pace Run: 5 mile – Intentions were there, execution was off – 4 miles not at race pace
  5. Strength – Twice – Big fail*
  6. Stretch + Foam Roll – 3 times – Only twice

*I woke up on Tuesday with an unexplained wrist injury. I have a bump, and it hurts to bend it certain ways. I really don’t know what happened. I can’t think of a single thing I would have done on Monday that would cause it. It’s not that bad, but it’s preventing me from doing push-ups, and push-ups are the backbone of my lame at home strength workout. So, I flaked out on the hated strength work. This week, I’ll try to at least do the exercises that don’t hurt my wrist.

This week, I’m hoping to:

  1. Long Run: 12 miles
  2. Speed work – 9x400m
  3. Easy Runs: (2) – 3 mile + 5 mile
  4. Strength – Once
  5. Stretch + Foam Roll – 3 times
  6. Spinning Once

Again, I’ll miss some spinning this week. I’m traveling during spin class time, and I’ll be attempting my 12 mile run in Buffalo this weekend because I’m visiting for my sister’s baby shower on Saturday!  Woo!

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Spring 1/2 Training: Week 8

/ Amy / 1 Comment

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I don’t have any plans for celebrating yet, but who knows what will come up.

For now, here’s a picture of Ireland:

Ancient dwelling on the Aran Islands

Ancient dwelling on the Aran Islands

Now sweetly lies old Ireland,

Emerald green beyond the foam,

Awakening old memories,

Calling the heart back home.

And, totally unrelated to the holiday, my weekly recap:

  • Monday:  3 miles easy before Spinning. The run went great, I averaged 9:17/mile and it felt pretty easy. Spinning, on the other hand, was tough! It wasn’t just me either, everyone was struggling with the workout today. I think it was a tougher one than last week.
  • Tuesday:  Rest Day, and bought new sneakers!
  • Wednesday: 3 miles easy to break in the new sneakers. 
  • Thursday:  Did my weekly speed work at the gym, 8x400m w/ 2 min rest between interval for a total of 4 miles.  Also, did my at home strength work. It wasn’t as bad as last week, and I got a new push-up high: 28! 50 push-ups here I come!  I also stretched and foam rolled. 
  • Friday: 3.5 miles and Spinning! Also, stretched and foam rolled, again. My legs are sore from the lunges that were part of my strength workout yesterday, but keeping up the stretching and foam rolling should help.
  • Saturday: 11 miles! (Treadmill, but still.) I’m hoping that the simulated hills are going to be enough to get me through a real life half marathon. 
  • Sunday: Thought about how I should be stretching and foam rolling, as well as doing my strength stuff, but didn’t. Bad Amy.

Last week, I set my goals as:

  1. Long Run: 11 miles Check!
  2. Speed work – 8 x 400m intervals Check!
  3. Easy Runs: 2-3 runs at least 3 miles  Check!
  4. Go to spinning twice Check!
  5. At home strength work – 2 times – Just Once
  6. Stretch + Foam Roll – 3 times – Close, only twice

This week, I’m hoping to:

  1. Long Run: 11 miles
  2. Speed work – 40 min Tempo
  3. Easy Runs: (2) – 3 mile + 4.5 mile
  4. Pace Run: 5 mile
  5. Strength – Twice
  6. Stretch + Foam Roll – 3 times

Spinning is only a maybe this week. I’ve got plans during both my “normal” spin class times. I might try and go to a different class, but it’s not going to be a priority.

Have a good week!

My 2013 Running Year

/ Amy / 6 Comments

My running year started out slow, but sometime around April I picked it up, and it ended up turning in to a fantastic year. Here’s a little recap:

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Black Cat

January/February/March – My main accomplishment in the beginning of the year was that I kept running. When it’s dark and cold, I have very little desire to leave the house. For motivation, I signed up for the Black Cat 10 miler, held in early March. And a 10 mile race looming in the future was just enough to keep me going. Including an 8 mile run during a blizzard!

April/May/June – After the race in March, I decided I was ready to consider another marathon. I added to and lengthened my training runs to make sure I would be committed to the training program.  Undertraining was my biggest issue last time, and I didn’t want that to happen again.  By June I was confident I could handle the training, and I signed up for the marathon.

July/August/September – The summer was dedicated to marathon training. These were good runs, but they were loooong and so so hot. I finished most of them feeling accomplished, but on occasion I also Imagefelt slow and there was one particularly rough run where I tripped and finished up with scrapes on my arm, leg, and palms.

October – At the end of the month, I finally got to run my marathon.  I had spent so long training, and was really really excited to finally do it. Although it wasn’t easy, my wonderful support team, cool sunny weather, and a flat beautiful course made it a great day for a run.  I ended up finishing with a > 50 min PR!

ImageNovember & December – I wrapped up the year with a handful of holiday races and the Runner’s World Holiday Running Streak. The marathon was a terrific challenge and I’m looking forward to the next one, but nothing can compare to the fun of holiday races. Especially, when I get to run them with family 🙂

The Holiday Running Streak – I don’t feel like I need to recap this in too much detail, because it just happened. I had a great time, found it a lot easier to keep up than I thought, blogged about every run, and was surprised how difficult Fridays were! I enjoyed the streak, but by the end I was ready for it to be over. 

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Running on the Go – In addition to running on my home turf, Jeff and I were able to get in several great runs while traveling this summer and fall. We discovered City Running Tours, and went on an awesome tour of Chicago in July and another fun one of Washington DC in the fall. Also while in Chicago, we ran the lakefront trail, and while visiting Charleston, SC for my sister in law’s wedding we got to run the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge with the bride to be!

Races:

  • 01/01: Wicked Frosty Four – Salem, MA: 4 mi, 42:21 min, 10:35 min/mile
  • 03/02: Black Cat 10 Miler – Salem, MA: 10 mi, 1:46:00 hr:min, 10:36 min/mile
  • 10/13: B.A.A. Half Marathon – Boston, MA: 13.1 mi, 2:18:44 hr:min, 10:35 min/mile
  • 10/27: Niagara Falls Marathon – Buffalo, NY & N.F., Ont.: 26.2 mi, 4:51:11 hr:min, 11:06 min/mile
  • 11/28: Holden Road Race – Holden, MA: 3.1 mi, 29:25 min, 9:29 min/mile
  • 12/01: Run-A-Latke 5k – Swampscott, MA: 3.1 mi, 27:19 min, 8:48 min/mile
  • 12/07: Reindeer Run 5k – Beverly, MA: 3.1 mi, 25:57 min, 8:22 min/mile

Total Mileage: 901.21 miles

All in all, I had a great 2013 and I’m looking forward to some more fun in 2014.