Tuesday Night Speedwork
First – the (obvious) good news. I did not die during my public speaking engagement this morning. Nor did I pass out or vomit on anyone. So win! And apparently I did a decent job (and would’ve done better without interrupters….).
Now – on to the Tuesday night speed work report. I need help deciding if this is a WIN or FAIL.
I spent some time yesterday blog-stalking Will Run For Wine & pulling as many of her track Tuesday workouts as I could. And then I picked the easiest looking one.
The plan:
Track Workout #1
warm-up: 2 miles (10 min/mile)
plyometrics
circuit w/ 400 repeats (@2:00) between
1 mile:9:00
400 recovery
4×400 @ 2:00
1 minute recovery
Cool down: 1 mile
Circuit:
3 x 10 pushups, 400m
3 x 10 tricep dips, 400m
2 x 10 single hamstring bridge, 400 m
30-50 crunches, 400 m
2 x 10 superman, 400 m
Plyometrics:
30 meters of skipping
10 meters of two-footed hopping
30 meters of bounding: Take a very long running stride with exaggerated knee lifts
10 to 15 jumping butt-kicks
Grapevine/Carioca
I walked from work to the nearest track as part of a warm-up. It was pretty warm already (80s), but the walk was down-hill & shady. I started out for my 2 mile warm-up, and then remembered how much I hate running more than 1 mile on a track.
I started following the plan, but skipped the plyos, because there were a shit-ton of people on the track, and although I’ve done plyos in a group before, I didn’t feel confident to do them alone in front of eleventy-billion others.
It was hot.
The first half of the workout went like this:
Track Workout #1
warm-up: 1.7 miles (9:42 min/mile)
3 x 10 pushups, 400m
3 x 10 tricep dips, 400m
3 x 10 single hamstring bridge, 400 m
30 crunches, 400 m
All my 400s were coming in at under 8:00 pace, which is not really what I was going for.
And then I was done. Seriously. I was getting weird stomach cramps. The track was filling up. I was feeling light headed. I decided to do a cool down mile & pack it in.
I did a cool-down 400 instead – at a 9:30 pace (way to cool down, Amy).
I ended up with exactly 3 miles in 27:22 (9:07 pace)….which isn’t bad at all, really. Then I walked 3/4 of a mile to my car (total walk = 2 miles on top of 3 mile run).
I obviously was going out too fast in my warm-up, and really need to do the track workouts on a less crowded track, possibly in the AM. There is a track in my neighborhood that I’ll check out for my next speed work – hopefully it’s empty at 6 AM.
So – I didn’t complete the workout, so that part is a fail. But, I did complete some of the workout, which is better than nothing. Also, the 1.7 mile warm-up I did at 9:42 felt slow & comfortable – so that’s good, too, right? The first time (January 2008) I did a mile time trial (which last night’s warm-up certainly was not), I was thrilled to come in at 9:46. The second (and last) time I did a time trial (March 2008), I was at 8:59. Last night’s warm-up was 1.7 miles at 9:42, and I’ve run a 5K at at 9:07 pace. In the last 18 months, I have gone from an average comfortable run pace of 11-12 minute miles to 10ish minute miles, and two years ago, I was excited when I was hitting 11-12 minute miles in races! I know I’m never going to be as fast as your Emilys or Jens of the world, and I really don’t care. I’m just excited that since taking up running about three years ago, I have gone from not being able to run three miles in a row & finishing a 5K in over 40 minutes to busting out three miles in under 28.
I’m also kinda wanting to do another 5K this fall to see if I can get in under 9 minute miles for the whole race. Hmmmm…..I think maybe I’ll have to look for one!
And, in addition to my question about the workout being a WIN or a FAIL, another question. Would it be unreasonable to do a 6.5 mile race two weeks before my marathon? 6.5 miles that I would have to commit to being under 10 minute miles, so no half-assed racing. Thoughts? Advice? A stern talking-to? Also, how soon after running a marathon could I have a goal race 5K? So many questions – so many wise friends!
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