Fit(ter) in 15: Week 12

March is speedwork month!

I need one speed workout (track, intervals, fartlek, or hill repeats) each week. And... not incidentally, I should keep up with the strength training I started over the last two months.

How did I do this week?

• Monday: REST
• Tuesday: just my typical commute exercise (walk/run) 
• Wednesday:
• 3.5 mile hilly run on my lunch break
• Thursday: 
• Friday: 
• Saturday:
• Sunday:
• 3 miles around the neighborhood
• Push ups, planks, and lunges at the playground

How did I do for the week?
I'm not sure I should count the hilly run as "speedwork" since I didn't do hill repeats...
And aside from a couple of runs, it was a pretty weak week.

For more posts in this series see Fitter in 15.

Fit(ter) in 15: Week 11

March is speedwork month!

I need one speed workout (track, intervals, fartlek, or hill repeats) each week. And... not incidentally, I should keep up with the strength training I started over the last two months.

How did I do this week?

• Monday:
• Commute run (2.25 miles total)
• Tuesday: Travel day (we took the little one to visit family in Texas)
• Wednesday:
• Treadmill
• Thursday:
• Elliptical
• Friday:
• Treadmill intervals - 90 second sprint (7 minute mile) / 90 second "rest" (10 minute mile)
• Saturday: Travel day
• Sunday:
• 
  

How did I do for the week?


For more posts in this series see Fitter in 15.

March Challenge: Speed, speed, SPEED!

I liked the principles behind January's cross training challenge - full-body fitness, a simple routine, and NO EQUIPMENT. February's fitness challenge followed a similar concept.

But now it's time to shake things up.

My runs are getting longer and smoother, so my next goal is to pick up the pace.

March's focus will be SPEED.

Each week I need one speed workout (track, intervals, fartlek, or hill repeats)


Stay tuned...

For more posts in this series see Fitter in 15.

In search of the 5k PR (week 7 training)

The quest for the sub-24 5k continues...


Last week's plan / actual:

• Monday plan: strength circuit + 4 mile run or 50 min bike + stretching
  Actual: 60 minutes on stationary bike (Grr... PFing foot!) + 2 circuits of the Fitness Blender 100 rep workout (which equates to 50 reps of each exercise) and I stretched.


• Tuesday: 6 x 800 meter intervals
  Actual: 1 mile warmup + 6 x 640 meters (stupid 1/5th mile track!) at 7:30 pace with 1 lap (320 meter) rest interval... The wheels were falling off by my 5th and 6th intervals (slowed to 7:48 pace. Blergh.) so maybe I'm glad the track is short?


• Wednesday: yoga
  Actual: 25 minute Yoga For Runners from YogaDownload.com + 4 mile walk



• Thursday: 5 mile tempo run + core / I postponed my run to meet up with the Helen Back run group for a nighttime 3-miler through downtown Pensacola. Read: I didn't run 5 miles and I didn't run tempo, but it was good to see my running buddies. Oh... and that nagging crunchy feeling is back with a vengence in my right arch.


• Friday: rest day
  Actual: REST


• Saturday: 8 mile run
  Actual: Thunder. Lightning. And foot pain... The last time I felt this pain, I tried to keep going and as a result, I tore my calf muscle. The wheels that fell off during my run on Tuesday stayed off. All weekend... Zero running. Sometimes recovery is more important than mileage.


• Sunday: anything goes
  Actual: 4 mile walk

This week's plan:
It's time to test my training with another 5k. So this week's plan is to rest - both to get ready for the race and give my aching foot a break.

• Monday: strength circuit + 60 minute bike ride + stretching
• Tuesday: 4 mile run
• Wednesday: yoga
• Thursday: 3 mile run
• Friday: rest day
• Saturday: RACE DAY!!!
• Sunday: recovery

Are you working today or do you have a long weekend?

In search of the 5k PR (week 6 training)

The quest for the sub-24 5k continues...


Last week's plan / actual:

• Monday: strength circuit + 4 mile run or 50 min bike / Jillian Michaels 6 week six-pack workout + 50 minutes on stationary bike (lightning is not my favorite running buddy)


• Tuesday: 8 x 400 meter intervals / I swapped the planned track workout with Thursday's 5 mile tempo run: 1 mile warm up, 2.5 miles at 8:00 pace... (ok... the last mile was 8:30 - my legs and core were exhausted from the JM workout on Monday!) and 1.5 mile recovery.


• Wednesday: yoga / 30 minutes of gentle yoga via YouTube... The first 5 minutes of this video taught me that the past several weeks of sprinting, strength training, and power yoga have been wreaking havoc on flexibility my hips and lower back. I used to be able to do a forward fold... Note to self... must stretch more.


• Thursday: 5 mile tempo run + core / Tuesday's planned track workout: 4 x 800 at a 6:53 pace! (And I did some planks and crunches, too.)



So proud I took a picture of my stopwatch as evidence.

• Friday: rest day / 3 mile walk


• Saturday: 6 mile run / The weather was so good, so perfect for running, that I thought I might turn Saturday's run into a double-digit run. Within a mile, I knew distance was delusional. With track work at the end of the week, by Saturday my legs were dead. D.E.A.D. Dead. I considered postponing. Two voices waged a war in my head over whether it was smarter to run on tired legs to get used to the fatigue or to hobble home and avoid injury. In the end, I kept moving forward. I paused several times to stretch my screaming calves. Ugh. But I ran those 6 miles... (if only barely).


• Sunday: anything goes / 3.5 mile hike at Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Gulf Islands National Seashore

This week's plan:

• Monday: strength circuit + 4 mile run* + stretching
• Tuesday: speedwork: 6 x 800 meter intervals
• Wednesday: yoga
• Thursday: 5 mile tempo run + core work
• Friday: rest day
• Saturday: 8 mile run
• Sunday: fun day - any workout

*Or 60 minute bike ride, depending on how my calf / potential flare up of PF is doing... I suspect this will be a bike ride kind of week...

Are you working today or do you have a long weekend?

In search of the 5k PR (week 5 training)

The quest for the sub-24 5k continues...

Last week's plan / actual:

• Monday: strength circuit + 5 mile run / free-weights + 50 minutes on stationary bike (running in the dark at the end of a 12-hour work day just wasn't appealing)


• Tuesday: hill repeats / 1.5 mile warmup + 8 x 200 meter hill repeats at a consistent 7:30 pace


• Wednesday: yoga / 30 minutes of vinyasa yoga + 3 mile walk


• Thursday: 5-6 mile easy run + core / 5.5 mile run (Sort of forgot about the planks and pushups... Oops. I made up for it with several hours of strenuous manual labor on Sunday...)


• Friday: rest day / rest!


• Saturday: 8 mile run / 8.25 miles cheered on by Wonder Woman (no. really.)


• Sunday: anything goes / 4 hours of trail maintenance on the Florida Trail Association (Yea... I got into a car with strangers and let them drive me out into the woods.)

This week's plan:

Runners at the London School of Economics (circa 1920)
Image source

• Monday: strength circuit + 4 mile run or 50 minute bike ride (I'll gladly run in rain, but not in lightning or tornadoes.)
• Tuesday: speedwork: 8 x 400 meter intervals
• Wednesday: yoga
• Thursday: 5 mile tempo run + core work
• Friday: rest day
• Saturday: 6 mile run
• Sunday: fun day - any workout

What are you working on this week?

In search of the 5k PR (week 3 training)

The quest for the sub-24 5k continues...


Last week's plan / actual:

• Monday: strength circuit + 5 mile tempo run / 5 mile tempo run (1 mile warmup at 9:00 pace, 2.5 miles at 7:45 pace, 1.5 mile cool down)


• Tuesday: reverse ladder intervals (1600, 1200, 800, 400) / Pilates core work + ladder intervals.
  I decided to try a new track. The track distance: 1/5 mile (321.8 meters... not 400). Doh! My intervals distances were a bit off, but the workout was a success. Each interval is followed by a one lap recovery interval:
• 1 mile warmup
• 5 laps (1600 mtrs) at 8:06 pace
• 4 laps (1287 mtrs) at 8:14 pace. Oops. Not exactly steady.
• 3 laps (965 mtrs) at 8:00 pace. Better!
• 1 lap (321.8 mtrs) at... wait for it... 6:48 pace!!! With this much gas left in the tank, I should've/could've done the other laps a bit faster. Live and learn...


• Wednesday: yoga + foam rolling / 40 minute yoga workout (but sort of skipped the foam roller)


• Thursday: 4-5 mile easy run / 2.5 miles. Um... yeah... I spent the day working, running errands, cleaning the house, and preparing for a dinner party. I ran for 22 minutes between errands and then whipped eggwhites by hand to bake a cake. (That has to count toward some calorie burn, right?)



Lemon olive oil cake

• Friday: rest day / ... and I rested!



Late afternoon at Pensacola Beach



• Saturday: 9 miles 6 miles + core workout / 6.4 miles + I planked and Russian-twisted my way through a core workout.
  About that plan change... I signed up for a race next weekend!
  Running 9 miles seemed like a poor choice the weekend before my first 5k of the season. I re-calculated accordingly.


• Sunday: fun workout / Long, touristy walk around Fairhope, Alabama (postcard to follow)



Flowers on every street corner in Fairhope, AL

This week's plan:

• Monday: strength circuit + 3 mile run (or 45 min on the stationary bike)
• Tuesday: 3 mile run
• Wednesday: yoga + foam-rolling
• Thursday: 3 mile easy run
• Friday: rest day
• Saturday: 5k RACE DAY!
• Sunday: recovery day

How often do you tinker with your training plan?

Are you a cook? A baker? A kitchen-avoider?

In search of the 5k PR (week 2 training update)

The quest for the sub-24 5k continues...


Last week's plan / actual:

Paid my respects to Mr. Lincoln*

• Monday: strength circuit + 3 mile run / core and upper body workout + 3.2 mile run
• Tuesday: hill repeats / 1.5 mile warmup + 5 hill repeats at 7:45 pace
• Wednesday: yoga / 25 min yoga podcast
• Thursday: 4-5 mile easy run / 5.2 mile run
• Friday: rest day / Is an air-travel day really restful?
• Saturday: 6 miles / 6 mile run through Rock Creek Park and along the Mall in DC
• Sunday: fun workout / beach walk + hike at Fort Pickens area of the Gulf Islands National Seashore

I accomplished all of my workout goals for the week AND visited two national parks. (Not bad, eh?)

Last week I was sore and struggling by Wednesday. This week I skipped lower body strength exercises on Monday to leave my legs fresh for hill repeats on Tuesday.

It worked.

I needed my Friday rest day, but I wasn't so worn out that walking up stairs seemed like a chore...

For the record: Rock Creek Park might be my new favorite place to run...


This week's plan:

• Monday: strength circuit + 5 mile tempo run
• Tuesday: reverse ladder intervals (1600, 1200, 800, 400)
• Wednesday: yoga + stretching + foam-rolling
• Thursday: 4-5 mile easy run
• Friday: rest day
• Saturday: 9 miles + core workout
• Sunday: fun workout -- anything goes

What's your favorite national park?
How are you progressing on your own 2013 goals?

*Yes, you might recognize that photo of Lincoln from an earlier trip I took to DC.
With a mere 24 hours in the city, I decided to really RUN on Saturday morning, rather than pause to play photo-journalist. I took only one picture on the run, this rather grainy, out-of-focus-and-overexposed shot from the entrance to Rock Creek Park near Connecticut Ave NW:

Entrance to Rock Creek Park at Connecticut Ave NW

The photo hardly does justice to the beauty of dawn breaking over the city...

...but sometimes just being there is more important than stopping to take a picture.

In search of the 5k PR (week 1 training report)

The quest for the sub-24 5k continues...


Last week's plan / actual:

• Monday: strength circuit + stationary bike / strength circuit + stationary bike
• Tuesday: speedwork intervals / 1 mile warm-up + 6 x 1:45 min. @ 7:00 pace with 1 min R.I.*
• Wednesday: yoga / 30 minutes of Dave Farmar's yoga podcast
• Thursday: 3-5 mile easy run + strength circuit / slacker day: 2.5 mile run, after dark, cut short as the skies opened up... more on that below.
• Friday: rest day (maybe a long, leisurely walk) / REST!
• Saturday: 8 miles / 80 minute run...
• Sunday: fun workout -- anything goes / Hike (*cough* leisurely stroll and photo-taking expedition) at Garcon Point nature trail (thanks to a trail review from Florida Hikes)

Saw palmetto, swamp grasses, and piney woods at Garcon Point

To be honest, the yoga workout I did on Wednesday was not the wisest choice for a recovery day. Farmar's yoga is muscle-building-hold-the-pose-for-3-minutes-til-you-shake yoga. Between strength training, speedwork, and ass-kicking yoga, by Wednesday night both my quads and arms were sore. Like maybe-I-should-take-a-rest-day sore.

I skipped strength training on Thursday.

I also cut my run short on Thursday, but that was an accident. When I went out to run at dusk, the day had been misty, but there was no rain. I had no reason to believe it would rain. Two miles into my run, I felt a plop on my head. Then another. Then the sky opened up...

The drenching downpour actually felt wonderfully refreshing, and had there been daylight, I would've kept going. (Or so I keep telling myself...)

Unfortunately, it was dark.

Running at night is one thing. Running at night in a downpour is a level of invisible-to-drivers that seems reckless at best. I want to run a fast 5k, not get run over by a fast car while training for a 5k.

Overall, success (except Thursday). Given how fatigued my muscles were, Friday rest day couldn't come soon enough! I need to rethink that plan for the coming week...


This week's plan:

• Monday: strength circuit + 3 mile run
• Tuesday: hill repeats (5 x quarter mile hill)
• Wednesday: gentle yoga + strength circuit OR Farmar yoga podcast
• Thursday: 4-5 mile easy run
• Friday: rest day
• Saturday: 6 miles
• Sunday: fun workout -- anything goes

What are your race goals this year?

*Converting interval workout jargon to English: 6 x 1:45 min. @ 7:00 pace with 1 min R.I. means "run for 1 minute and 45 seconds at a 7 minute/mile pace. Rest (walk or easy run) for one minute. Repeat this process six times."

Need for speed (in search of the elusive PR)

After much soul-searching, this year I am seriously considering have one, and only one, running goal:

break the 24 minute barrier in the 5k.

I may run a half marathon for fun. I may sign up for a trail race to break up my training. But the only thing I really care about this year is breaking my PR (and maybe taking 1st in an AG).

There is only one way to accomplish that goal: speedwork.

With that in mind, I've set up a training calendar that focuses on shorter distances, weekly speedwork, and strength training. While injured last year, I spent several weeks sidelined from running, but I went back to lifting weights three days per week. Oddly, at the end of that time my endurance was gone, but my shorter-distance pace was in decent shape.

And, let's face it, if my race reports are any indication, I am not the world's best half marathon runner. I do, however, love the rush of a 5k.

In the pursuit of my 5k goal, I'm going to document my training and racing attempts.

This week's plan:

• Monday: strength circuit + stationary bike
• Tuesday: speedwork intervals (6 x 400 with 1 minute rest intervals)
• Wednesday: yoga
• Thursday: 3-5 mile easy run + strength circuit
• Friday: rest day (maybe a long, leisurely walk)
• Saturday: 8 miles
• Sunday: fun workout -- anything goes

What are your thoughts on speedwork and interval training? Love it? Hate it? Never tried it?

The Myth of Sisyphus

              Source: google.com via Justin on Pinterest

In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus commits treachery against the gods, and is condemned - for eternity - to roll a boulder up a hill, over and over again. Sisyphus toils as he pushes the boulder upwards, and just as he nears the top of the hill, the boulder rolls back down and he must begin again. The punishment of eternal, repetitive, fruitless labor was the worst torture the Greek gods could dream up.

Clearly this is where some clever devil got the idea for hill repeats.

This morning I headed out to a local park to practice the personal equivalent of rolling a boulder up a hill. I did a 1.5 mile warmup, then marked off a tenth of a mile, and proceeded to race up as fast as I could, turn, walk back down, and do it all over again. By the time I reached the top, I felt like I was going to hurl. By the time I got back down to the bottom, I recovered enough to repeat the drill again.

Sounds terrible, right?

Perhaps... Unless you're a runner or a fan of Albert Camus (or both). In his classic essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus writes:

"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

And it's funny...
Because, twisted as it seems on the surface, I think Camus might be right.

I didn't "accomplish" anything this morning (if by "accomplishment" we're talking about a concrete, tangible result). But I did knock out my hill repeats at a 6:45 PACE!

And that was enough to fill my heart.

Maybe Camus was a runner?

Rookie mistakes

This week in the "I should know better" files:
Cool morning weather tempted me into thinking I could switch my interval workout to the track, instead of the treadmill, for the first time in months. What followed was not my most graceful morning ever.

I should know better: Exhibit A
I should not attempt to run at the track on base on PT day. The track will be full of personnel in bright yellow shirts and navy shorts. Running intervals is not an option when 100 identically-dressed people in the infield are doing 100 crunches and 100 push-ups while chanting. Loudly.

Using the track under these conditions would be unpleasant at best, but more importantly the PT-ers are bound to switch between infield and track at any given time. And on PT day, I (lowly civilian) do not have the right of way.

Me at the track in 2009. (Blurry = superfast, right?)

Fortunately I'm not entirely daft. The sea of yellow shirts screamed "treadmill instead!" before I even got out of the car.

I should know better: Exhibit B
When running a "ladder" interval workout, it is not wise to start in your highest gear.

A ladder workout looks like this:
1600 meter sprint. recover.
  1200 meter sprint. recover.
    800 meter sprint. recover.
      400 meter sprint. cool down.
Given that 2 of the sprints are 1600 and 1200 meters, starting out at my normal 400-meter pace was... (how shall I put this delicately?)... f-ing stupid.

I managed to hang on through the first 1600, sucking wind and clawing at the "slow down" buttons when I finished. This should have set off the alarm bells in my brain (no not "those" alarm bells), but I let ego get in the way of reason. Each interval is supposed to be hard, but not heart-exploding, grasping for the treadmill handles merciless. You are supposed to finish feeling like you might puke, but you could run "just a little more" if forced at gunpoint. You are also supposed to get progressively faster (not slower) through each shorter distance of the ladder.

After ignoring the 1600 warning signs, I completed (what I thought was) an appropriate recovery and started my second interval (1200). I knew I was doomed in the first 200 meters. By 400 meters the treadmill handed my @ss to me. (Can treadmills laugh?) I attempted to hang on for another 800, but could not. When I stopped, I checked my heart rate. Um... 197. Not good. One minute later, still 196. Clearly I screwed up. Royally. I took a much longer recovery. I let my HR get back down out of the stratosphere, you know, to something more like 160. I salvaged the "final" 800 meters of that 1200, and completed the final 800 and 400 without further incident.

I left the gym embarrassed, which is weird, because no one else had any idea what my workout was "supposed" to be. Only I (well... and now you) know that I made a huge rookie mistake. Inside I was beating myself up, thinking I've been running this workout for years. I should know better!

Normally speedwork is the highlight of my week.
This week it was my "Doh!" moment.

Have you ever had a workout (or a race) that makes you feel like a rookie runner?

Sticking with the plan

Yesterday's plan: sprint, yoga, wine. (Sounds like a good Friday, right?)

Friday is speedwork day, and since I have made my peace with the dreadmill, I did my intervals indoors.

Workout: 1 mile warmup 6 x 400 @ 7:30 (with 400 rest interval)

This is not my fastest interval workout ever, but I haven't done a sprint workout since early July. I wanted to use this workout as a check-in on whether or not my speed has suffered from the sweltering summer heat and slogging-pace workouts over the past two months. (For those of you unfamiliar with interval training, read the notation as: six repeats of 400 meters at a 7:30 pace, with 400 meters of rest between each).

This is just the beginning of half marathon training, and I felt strong through all six intervals. In fact, I think I could have pushed a little harder. (My toes grazed the top of the treadmill a few times. Oops!) But I tried to keep in mind the sage advice from Claire over at Will Run For Beer:

"develop a plan and stick to it"

And I have a plan. So I stuck to it. (And yes, I had visions of the Will Run For Beer blog post in my head as I considered pushing just a little harder on my last sprints... But as I'm learning in the yoga challenge, sometimes what you don't do is as important as what you do.)

And since yoga has also taught me that all things in life should be in balance, my kick-butt workout in the morning required an equivalent level of debauchery in the evening. So Hubby and I made a plan to go to BBQ Heaven for their weekly wine tasting and an order of the world's most amazing smoked potato salad.

What? Yoga teachers doesn't encourage gorging on red wine + potato salad after a hard day's work? Maybe the teachers should try it sometime... It seemed like a great balance to me!

Sticking with that plan was easy.

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Cheers!

Short attention span workout

Maybe I have a short attention span because I watched too much Sesame Street as a child? Or maybe it's the daily digital technology overload?

Regardless of the reason, I get bored with stationary workouts. Quickly. To keep motivated, I gravitate toward interval training whenever I am parked on a stationary bike or dreadmill.

So a few weeks ago I convinced Hubby to join me in an in-home interval workout session:

3 x 10 minute sprints on the stationary bike, followed by 10 minutes of weight lifting and core work.

Every 10 minutes we trade off between the bike and weights. We each complete half an hour of cardio plus half an hour of strength training. All without leaving the living room. All without getting bored. This is quickly becoming my favorite non-running workout.

So today I have two questions:
How do you keep from getting bored at the gym?
and
What is your favorite cross-training or interval workout?


Photo courtesy of: The Library of Virginia

Learning to love the dreadmill

One of the things I love most about running is the time it gives me to go outside and play. I love the scenery. The fresh air. Watching surfers bobbing in the waves, waiting for their ride. Spying on dog-walkers, and wondering who is walking whom? Getting a regular tour of the neighborhood to see what new construction is underway or which neighbor is having a yard sale.

But with my perfect-year-round 68-degree San Diego days now 2,000 miles away, and a Florida Panhandle 90-degree, 95-percent-humidity summer stretching out in front of me, I am in a bit of a bind. I either have to accept a pace so slow I might as well be walking (which sort of destroys all of the progress I've made in training over the past thee years), or I have to make peace with the piece of equipment runners love to hate: the dreaded treadmill.

So I've sucked up my running pride, cast away all "dreadmill" stereotypes, and have learned to embrace my new running friend. In the mornings Kiran Chetry has become my running buddy, filling me in on all of the day's breaking news. Instead of surfers, I get to watch dancers, in the odd instances when Vh1 stops the chatter and actually plays a music video. I won't claim that the treadmill will ever replace the freedom of outdoor running, but I am learning to enjoy it, especially for interval training.

My new favorite treadmill workout:
10 minute warmup (starting at a 10 minute mile pace and gradually increasing to 9)
6 x 90 second sprints (1 min. at btwn 7:00-7:30 pace, last 30 seconds @ 6:30-6:50 pace) with 1 minute recovery (9:30 pace)
10 minute recovery and cool-down


By keeping the speed up on my treadmill workouts, I'm hoping to avoid any "damage" being done to my overall pace on my slogging, sluggish outdoor runs in the heat.


Photo courtesy of http://metaphoricalplatypus.com/
Photo link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29638108@N06/5618665304/