Hello Runners!,
What a week! The temps cooled off a bit from last weekend and I had 4 great days of running! On Monday I did a nice 11 mile run. The plans was for it to be an easy run, but I felt pretty good from the get-go. After 4 miles at ~8 min pace, I picked up the pace to 7:30's for the next 3 miles. Mile 8 was around 7:20, mile 9 at 7:10, and mile 10 at 7:05. I slowed the pace for the final mile just to recover and cool down a bit. Monday was definitely a day where I feel I could have sustained my pace for 12-15 miles.
Tuesday, Track Workout. We had a great turnout for practice with 4-5 guys willing to do a quarters workout. Being one of the more experienced runners, I had the guys run 3 quarters with 90-120 sec rest between each. I did the same but added a 4th. I was feeling good so I did an easy 800m and started another set. Wham! Bam! 8 quarters!
Set 1: 80, 73, 73, 74
Set 2: 80, 75, 76, 71
My goal was to run each quarter at 5:00min/mile pace which is a 75 sec quarter. As you can see, my first quarter for each set was slow, but I was either at pace or faster for 5 of the 6 other quarters. I was super happy with the workout. I was able to relax through 200 meters, extend my stride and try to hold form and pace the last 100 meters of each quarter. Including warm-up and cool-down, my workout was 7 miles.
Moderate Wednesday: Wednesday was a near perfect day for running. 70 degrees, a slight wind and party cloudy. I was still feeling high from my workout on Tuesday and it carried over into my run on Wednesday. The plan was to do an 8 mile run, but I ended up adding on another small loop, giving me 9.5 miles for the day. Similar to Monday, I eased into my pace and progressively picked up the pace, running the final couple of miles around 7 minutes.
Thursday, Track Workout: It was a windy day on Thursday, sustained winds of over 20mph, a head wind on the home stretch. Jill had put together a track workout which she calls "ladders" although some people may know them better as "pyramids". This is how a ladder workout goes: Start with short distances and progressively build up to longer distances (up the ladder), then, we decrease the distances (down the ladder). Our workout consisted of the following:
4x200m w/60 sec rest
2x400m w/90 sec rest
1x800 w/2 min rest
2x400 w/90 sec rest
4x200 w/60 sec rest
This workout is TOUGH. Your legs will be jelly and you will be bent over, sucking wind when you are done. The 200's should be run all out, the 400's at or slightly faster than goal mile pace, and the 800 should bet at or slightly slower than goal pace. The heavy wind made the 400's and the 800 quite difficult. With the wind at my back on the backstretch, I tried to relax, lengthen my stride and run smooth. Once I made the turn for home, I really had to dig deep, drop my head and grind it out. The final 150m of each lap was HELL! My splits can be seen on my Garmin Connect page. My 800 was a little slower than I wanted it to be (2:52) but overall I was very happy with the workout.
Tomorrow is going to be an easy 4-5 miles, just as a recovery run. Saturday will cap the week off with the Tour de Bago, an 84 mile bike ride around Lake Winnebago. My plan will be to take a rest on Sunday, as it will be 13 consecutive days of working out after the bike ride on Saturday. I'm also planning on doing another timed mile some time next week, so look for a blog entry with the mile results coming soon. That's all for tonight, get out and get running everybody!
What a week! The temps cooled off a bit from last weekend and I had 4 great days of running! On Monday I did a nice 11 mile run. The plans was for it to be an easy run, but I felt pretty good from the get-go. After 4 miles at ~8 min pace, I picked up the pace to 7:30's for the next 3 miles. Mile 8 was around 7:20, mile 9 at 7:10, and mile 10 at 7:05. I slowed the pace for the final mile just to recover and cool down a bit. Monday was definitely a day where I feel I could have sustained my pace for 12-15 miles.
Tuesday, Track Workout. We had a great turnout for practice with 4-5 guys willing to do a quarters workout. Being one of the more experienced runners, I had the guys run 3 quarters with 90-120 sec rest between each. I did the same but added a 4th. I was feeling good so I did an easy 800m and started another set. Wham! Bam! 8 quarters!
Set 1: 80, 73, 73, 74
Set 2: 80, 75, 76, 71
My goal was to run each quarter at 5:00min/mile pace which is a 75 sec quarter. As you can see, my first quarter for each set was slow, but I was either at pace or faster for 5 of the 6 other quarters. I was super happy with the workout. I was able to relax through 200 meters, extend my stride and try to hold form and pace the last 100 meters of each quarter. Including warm-up and cool-down, my workout was 7 miles.
Moderate Wednesday: Wednesday was a near perfect day for running. 70 degrees, a slight wind and party cloudy. I was still feeling high from my workout on Tuesday and it carried over into my run on Wednesday. The plan was to do an 8 mile run, but I ended up adding on another small loop, giving me 9.5 miles for the day. Similar to Monday, I eased into my pace and progressively picked up the pace, running the final couple of miles around 7 minutes.
Thursday, Track Workout: It was a windy day on Thursday, sustained winds of over 20mph, a head wind on the home stretch. Jill had put together a track workout which she calls "ladders" although some people may know them better as "pyramids". This is how a ladder workout goes: Start with short distances and progressively build up to longer distances (up the ladder), then, we decrease the distances (down the ladder). Our workout consisted of the following:
4x200m w/60 sec rest
2x400m w/90 sec rest
1x800 w/2 min rest
2x400 w/90 sec rest
4x200 w/60 sec rest
This workout is TOUGH. Your legs will be jelly and you will be bent over, sucking wind when you are done. The 200's should be run all out, the 400's at or slightly faster than goal mile pace, and the 800 should bet at or slightly slower than goal pace. The heavy wind made the 400's and the 800 quite difficult. With the wind at my back on the backstretch, I tried to relax, lengthen my stride and run smooth. Once I made the turn for home, I really had to dig deep, drop my head and grind it out. The final 150m of each lap was HELL! My splits can be seen on my Garmin Connect page. My 800 was a little slower than I wanted it to be (2:52) but overall I was very happy with the workout.
Tomorrow is going to be an easy 4-5 miles, just as a recovery run. Saturday will cap the week off with the Tour de Bago, an 84 mile bike ride around Lake Winnebago. My plan will be to take a rest on Sunday, as it will be 13 consecutive days of working out after the bike ride on Saturday. I'm also planning on doing another timed mile some time next week, so look for a blog entry with the mile results coming soon. That's all for tonight, get out and get running everybody!
