Tag Archives: track

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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This week had some highs and lows, but ended on a high note and I got in nearly 55 miles so all in all it was good stuff! I need to absolutely focus more on strength training as other than daily P90X core workouts (I won’t list them each day since I put it here!), I only got in one strength workout this week. After struggling with speed workouts during the week, I had probably my best run of the whole training cycle for my long run Sunday, so I’m hoping to carry that momentum into this week.

Here’s the day-by-day breakdown:

Monday: I kicked Monday off with a lunchtime run to the gym for an easy 6 on the treadmill.

We actually got a little snow on Monday!

We actually got a little snow on Monday!

Tuesday: Rest day!

Wednesday: I hit up the gym after work for a ladder speed session. After a 1.5 mile warm-up, I ran a 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 ladder with a 400 recovery jog between each repeat. I started strong, but partway through the mile just could not keep up with the pace I wanted and had to dial it down a bit. I was able to finish strong with my last 400, but the second 1200 and 800 were a bit slower than I wanted leaving me a little discouraged.

Thursday: Today was an easy 7 miler on the treadmill that breezed by. I felt really good and followed it up with a short upper body workout.

Friday: I finally braved the cold temperatures for an easy-paced 8 miler after work along the Mt. Vernon trail. I finished at a good clip, but my legs felt really heavy and tired for the second half of the run. If it weren’t so cold out it probably would have taken me a lot longer to finish, but I wanted to get back inside! I somehow actually overdressed for this with a tank, my Oiselle wazzie wool baselayer and a jacket. I completely sweat through all three layers and that wind did not feel good for the last few miles!

Saturday: I put in 10 miles on the treadmill at the gym hoping to hit 7 of them at marathon pace. I could only get 5 in before a side stitch got the best of me and I had to go a bit slower than planned. I was a bit down about this after my previous speed workout hadn’t gone so well either and was not looking forward to Sunday’s long run at all.

Sunday: On paper I did everything wrong for this 14 mile run. I overslept so I didn’t have time to get my run in first thing. Ian and I had lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings so we could watch the Packers-Cowboys game, and I drank a giant soda and didn’t exactly eat lightly or healthily. After about an hour trying to let my stomach settle I headed for the gym, put the Broncos game (disappointing) on my little treadmill TV and hit play on Pandora on my phone. I started slow thinking I would just trudge it out. With the Hanson’s plan, my long runs are supposed to be a bit faster than easy pace, but of course slower than marathon pace. By a mile in I had gotten within a few seconds of my target pace and somehow I kept getting stronger as I went along! This was just what I needed and a big-time confidence booster.

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Aside from a skipped workout over the weekend, I felt really good about this week. I forced myself on the treadmill to push the pace a couple times this week and for the first time started feeling notable progress on my paces. I tallied 35 miles over the course of five runs for the week.

Here’s the day-by-day breakdown:

Monday: I enjoyed my last Florida run Monday morning putting in 6 easy miles.

Tuesday: Rest day.

Wednesday: I hit the treadmill for my speed workout this week to force myself to keep a faster, more consistent pace and it worked. After a 1.5 mile warm up, I put in 4X1200 meter repeats with a 400 recovery in between each. I wrapped up with a 1 mile cool down, a quick strength workout and a P90X core routine.

Thursday: For the second straight year I ran the DC Road Runner’s Resolutions and Predictions 5k. My watch never started so I ran by feel and was initially disappointed when I tried to figure out my finish time after the race. Turns out I was more than a minute off and my chip time put me at 23:03! More to come on this one. I chased the race with my P90X core routine before Ian and I hopped in the car to visit with friends in Ocean City.

DCRRnewyears5k

Friday: Despite maybe having too much to drink the night before, I put in 10 great miles and felt really good doing it. I have to be leery of these kinds of runs though as I went a bit harder than what my easy pace should be, but wasn’t pushing enough to count it as speed work. I want to make sure I don’t put in too many runs in this no man’s land zone that don’t really benefit me. I wrapped up with my P90X core routine again.

Saturday: After driving back from Ocean City I caught a case of the lazies and didn’t make it out for my run, but at the very least got my P90X core routine in to keep my New Year’s streak going. My record is just more than 100 days – we’ll see if I can get near that again.

Sunday: I hit the gym again for my tempo run putting in 9.2 miles with the middle chunk of those as marathon goal pace! I felt really good about finally hitting these paces and feeling comfortable doing so. I hung in at the gym just long enough to do my P90X core workout and another quick strength workout.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all got your year off to a great start as well!

Workout of the Week

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Yesterday wrapped up week three of my half marathon training plan. It was a mixed bag that started with some tough, hot and humid runs, included a couple missed workouts and ended with a couple great workouts. I put in a little more than 30 miles for the week.

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My workout of the week came on Saturday morning at the track. I warmed up by running the roughly mile and a half to the track on a bright, sunny day.

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I had 600 yard repeats on tap for the day with 400 yard recoveries. I decided to walk the recovery laps and really push on the 600s. Maybe I let myself recover too much by doing this, but I still felt like it was a great workout!

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I hit or beat my goal pace for every repeat and left feeling spent but great. I cooled down with about a mile run and a half mile walk home. This was the second week of training I added a speed workout in. This coming week the goal is to add a second speed workout with a tempo run in addition to intervals. And with that, training continues!

How did your workouts go last week? Any one race this weekend?

Speed Work off the Track

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This week I took my speed work off the track. This is something I used to do a lot when I worked by Hains Point, which was mostly flat, straight and long enough to get my various workouts in.

This week’s speed workout however, took place on the Mt. Vernon Trail, which has a lot more ups and downs and twists and turns. I incorporated half mile repeats into my run after a one-mile warm-up. I’m not sure what it is about doing these off the track, but they seemed SO MUCH harder.

I took advantage of the interval setting on my Garmin so that it would beep down the last few steps of each half mile, and then beep the last 5 seconds of my one-minute rest between repeats letting me know it was time to get moving again. It’s a really great feature and keeps me focused on running hard rather than staring at pace or distance on my watch to see if I’ve gone far enough and fast enough.

I ran hard for all eight repeats and looking at my times after I was a bit all over the place. I think that had a lot more to do with the changing terrain though, not necessarily different levels of effort. Despite the seemingly much longer than normal half miles, I felt really great after finishing this workout and proud that I upped my mental game to push through.

Do you like taking your speed workouts off the track? Does it make it easier or harder for you?

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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This week was fairly light as I spent Monday traveling and didn’t want to go too hard with my half marathon on Saturday. Here’s the day by day breakdown. To be honest I ended the week feeling a bit down with a less than stellar time for my half, but I’m going to keep pushing forward so I can get after that BQ at Marine Corps Marathon in six weeks!

Monday: Travel Day.

Tuesday: I hit the track for 7X1000 meters with a 1 minute rest between each repeat. This was the first week back at my tempo pace as opposed to my faster interval pace with a longer recovery, so even with the shorter rest period I felt pretty good. This was the bright spot of my week for sure. Splits (Goal: 4:38 each) Actual: 4:33. 4:31, 4:35, 4:35, 4:34, 4:34, 4:33.

Wednesday: I got up before dawn and hit the dreadmill for the long run I didn’t fit in over the weekend. With the half coming up at the end of the week I didn’t want to go too far, so I got 13.5 in before calling it a morning and getting ready for work.

Thursday: Core workout.

Friday: Rest day.

navyAFhalf

Saturday: Race day. Despite my time not being where I feel like it should at this stage of my training, I really did enjoy this race and it was a perfect day to run in D.C. Full recap coming soon – time was 1:50:11.

Sunday: Recovery Day.

Footprints: Monday Recap

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Last week was unfortunately not a great week of training. With travel, unexpected extra work at the office and the snooze button defeating me a couple mornings, I didn’t get as much in as I wanted. My long run is on tap for tomorrow though, so I’m not completely giving up on it!

Here’s the day by day breakdown of my less than stellar week:

Monday: 3 miles easy in the AM followed by a great track workout. I ran 6X800s with a 3-minute jog recovery in between each repeat. My splits came in at 3:24, 3:19, 3:21, 3:19, 3:19, 3:18. Thanks to the Labor Day holiday I also got a mid-morning Body Ride in at Revolve.

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 5.3 mile progressively faster, hilly run.

Thursday: Rest Day

I've been wearing my new Oiselle Flyte tank for way too many of my workouts! Thank goodness for in-unit laundry finally!

I’ve been wearing my new Oiselle Flyte tank for way too many of my workouts! Thank goodness for in-unit laundry finally!

Friday: Rest/Travel Day

Saturday: 6.6 mile slow, sluggish run in the heat and humidity in Minnesota. Of course the weekend it finally cools down in D.C., it’s hot and humid in the midwest.

Sunday: 4 miles hard and fast around a lake in Minnesota with 4 striders at the end.

Workout Weekend

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I love long weekends. There’s something about having just that one extra day that makes such a big difference. I had no particular plans for Labor Day weekend and I wasn’t traveling anywhere, so that meant plenty of time to get workouts in! Between Friday and Monday I got two double-digit runs in, a hot yoga class, a short run, a track workout and a spin class in and loved every second of it. OK, well maybe not every second of it, but I sure felt great after finishing each workout!

One of the best things about making Oiselle’s Volée team has been the instant support from everyone on Twitter. It’s so cool to see everyone come together online and root each other on. Even better, I’ve already gotten together for a couple group runs with some fellow birds. I teamed up with Stephanie who I met on a group run a couple weeks ago for our 18 mile long run this weekend and it definitely made the miles fly by! One of my 30 before 30 goals was to do more group and partner runs since I love that aspect of running, but often find myself running alone. I think being a part of the Oiselle team will definitely help make me a more social runner!

Enjoying some Starbucks post 18 miles!

Enjoying some Starbucks post 18 miles!

I am constantly saying I need to do more yoga, but rarely follow up on it. I got a Facebook invite for a community class at Dancing Mind Yoga over the weekend though. The studio isn’t too far from me and for just a $5 donation to a very good cause I was able to check out the class from new instructor, Alexis. Alexis was an amazing instructor and I never would have guessed it was her first class. She kept us moving right along through all 75 minutes from one pose to the next. It was a hot yoga class so the room was about 90 degrees and I really had to push myself.

Nervously awaiting the start of class in my new Oiselle flyte tank and lesley knickers!

Nervously awaiting the start of class in my new Oiselle flyte tank and lesley knickers!

The more I go to yoga classes, the more I’m learning that it’s OK that I’m not super flexible. There were some poses I struggled with, but there was always a modification I could do to start with. I also loved how much this class worked on strength moves – my arms were shaking during some of those side planks and my core got one heck of a workout. I got a card to test out one week of yoga there so I’ll definitely be back! If their regular classes are anything like that one I know I’ll come away feeling good, and it will definitely help to make me a stronger runner and stay injury free!

dmyyoga

Dancing Mind Yoga Studio

I was pretty nervous for my track workout this week. Track workouts are my favorite kind of run training, but for some reason I always get super nervous before them. I second guess myself and worry I’m not going to be able to make the split times I want or complete the number of reps I’ve planned on. This rarely ever happens, but I still get the nerves like it’s race day. I’d probably be more worried if they didn’t come. I got up fairly early, but not early enough as the sun was already pounding down on the track as I got there ready to do 6X800s at interval pace (as defined by my coach as a bit quicker than tempo pace w/ a longer recovery, but done while jogging instead of standing still) in the hot and humid mid-morning. My first rep was a second slower than my goal and my legs felt like lead. During my recovery jog though I could tell the next one would be better, and it was. I took 5 seconds off and beat my goal for each rep after that only getting stronger as I went along.

I left the track feeling so energized and excited. It’s always fun to test out my speed. I was quickly glad I got the track workout done early after getting to my spin class. Just five minutes into spin and I knew there was no way I’d be able to get a quality run in after I was done. I did a body ride at Revolve with Dorothy, one of my favorite instructors there. I’ve done mostly real rides lately, so it was fun to mix it up with some mid-class weights. Dorothy had us pushing ourselves to the max, all-out sprinting and working our way up hills. It was great and left me wishing that I could have every Monday off for track workouts and spin classes!

Just in case you think I only did healthy things over my long weekend, I should probably share that that isn’t entirely the case. I also tried out a new recipe for some peanut butter-filled chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing. Umm, delicious. Enough said!

PB Filled Choco Cupcakes

PB Filled Choco Cupcakes

 

 

Footprints: Monday Recap

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Wow, so this is my 200th post! It’s hard to believe I’ve written that many since starting. Hope you’re enjoying reading along with my journey. Let me know what types of posts you enjoy and what you’d like me to write more about!

Now, on to the recap! Last week was another strong week along the way to training for Marine Corps Marathon. I had to make up a couple of the previous week’s workouts at the beginning of last week, so I again pushed some of last week’s into this morning, which worked out well since I had the day off and plenty of time to work out. More on that in next week’s recap though.

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: Spin Class – Real Ride at Revolve. Core Workout

Tuesday: I split my longer mid-week run from the previous week between an easy 3.5 miler in the AM and a tougher 6.6 miles after work. I also got in a morning track workout, which felt great. My goal was 5X1000 with a 4-minute jog recovery at 4:16 each. I was tight on time so I cut the recovery jogs down to 3-3:30 each and still nailed all my splits: 4:13, 4:16, 4:11, 4:12, 4:12.

Wednesday: Rest day for my team bocce playoffs. They did not go well. Fun season, but lets just say, I will not be missing a workout next week for round 2.

Shopping Spree! So much new Oiselle goodness arrived this week!

Shopping Spree! So much new Oiselle goodness arrived this week!

Thursday: Rest day today because I hit snooze one too many times meaning I had to hit the track early the following Monday before spin to make it up.

Friday: I was out of work early, so I met up with new friend/Oiselle teammate Stephanie on Friday afternoon so we could get our long run out of the way before the weekend really started. We put in a great 18 miles despite the heat and humidity.

Saturday: I tried out a new yoga studio for a 75-minute hot yoga class. I really loved this class and boy was it challenging.

Sunday: I again set out in the midday heat and humidity (I’ll never learn) and slogged along for 10.1 miles along the Custis and W&OD trails. I stopped at a water fountain to fill my bottle at one point with another 4-5 miles to go still and found myself so sweaty I couldn’t grip the bottle well enough to open it. Thankfully a biker on his way by was able to help me out, so I didn’t have to go without water for the second half of my run!! I always appreciate when random people are kind.

Footprints: Monday Recap

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Last week felt great. I didn’t get all of my workouts in that I wanted to, but did a pretty good job of playing catch up after putting in a lot of miles Friday through Sunday the previous week when I was struggling and recovering from a cold. Talk about a turnaround when it came to my long run. Last Sunday I set out in the rain sore and tired and struggled through 17 slow miles in 2 hours and 50 minutes. This week’s run was the same time but a couple miles further!

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: Spin Class – Real Ride at Revolve.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 7 hilly miles in an hour on the Custis Trail after work.

Thursday: Today was a track workout fail. I didn’t heed my running coach’s advice to avoid W&L in the fall as there are too many events and halfway through a great workout where I was nailing my splits I got kicked off the track for a football game. I’m planning to make up all of the reps next week!

Friday: I got in two pretty speedy treadmill runs today – 4 in the morning and 6 at night, plus a strength workout! Great way to kick off the weekend!

Saturday: I felt a million times better on my long run this week which took me 19.2 miles along the Custis, W&OD and Mt. Vernon Trails plus along Hains Point and over both the 14th Street and Memorial Bridges before tackling the hill back up to Court House. I even attacked the final hill of the MCM course at mile 18 to get some practice in there! I’m hoping to continue to improve on these as marathon day gets closer!

Sunday: I ran out of energy Sunday and took a rest day to give my aching muscles a break.

Footprints: Midweek Recap

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Well, my regular Monday morning recap is way late this week. I flew straight from a fun wedding in Syracuse last weekend to my company’s annual convention in San Diego. It was a great week, but I didn’t have a second of free time to post to my blog. I was so tired each night I actually didn’t even open my laptop to check if there was free wi-fi in the hotel room! My training definitely suffered from it, but this is last week’s recap, and last week was pretty great so I’m going to focus on that!

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: Strength workout: core and upper body

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: I continued with my weekly runs home from work today and had my best yet. I put in 10.11 hilly miles in 87 minutes. It really is the tale of the temperatures when it comes to these weekly runs. Two weeks ago I barely made it for 9 miles in 90 minutes in 102 degrees temps and last week I did 10 miles in 90 minutes at 92 degrees.

Thursday: Rest Day – didn’t make it out before work and then hopped right in a car for the late night drive up to Syracuse arriving after 2 a.m.

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Friday: I hit up memory lane heading to my old high school to get in a track workout. It was 60s and breezy early Friday morning and could not have been a more perfect morning for it. I did 6X800 at interval pace with a 3-minute recovery jog between each rep. My splits were: 3: 23, 3:21, 3:22, 3:19, 3:22, 3:18.

Saturday: I got my long run in at the beautiful state park I used to work at during college. One thing I’d forgotten about Green Lakes – holy hills! I had a great run though getting 17.17 miles in!

Sunday: I’d call this a rest day since I didn’t work out, but since it involved getting up at 4:15 eastern time to catch a flight across the country, going straight to work without checking into my hotel, walking more than 10,000 steps according to my Nike fuel band, not leaving the staff office until after 10 pacific time and being awake for 22 hours I don’t think it was really a rest day. The kicker…I had to be up at 4:15 again the next morning! Ouch!