Last week I ran 100km exactlyish! And the week before, 53--100% is the new 10%. The gory details:
Monday: 3 mile tempo (which felt awful) plus warmup and warmdown in the am / 10km easy in the pm.
Tuesday: 13 km with some fartlek intervals
Wednesday: 7.5km easy
Thursday: 16km with this pyramid track workout 600, 1000, 1600, 1000, 600 and 4x200. The 4x200 trashed my legs.
Friday: off
Saturday: 10km easy
Sunday: 35km. A boring long run to Coney Island. Running along Kings Highway is not exciting. Lots of crazy diagonal intersections with long waits, all in boring/sketchy outer Brooklyn. But what a gorgeous day!
In Search of the Red Line
A vegan runner who thinks with SI units and literary theoremes.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sometimes the most hardcore thing you can do...
...is to take a day off.
I didn't run today. I'm finally listening to my body, which gave me a bit of a cold a few days ago. But I just had to run those 30k this weekend to hit my weekly kilometrage--at least I didn't do the long run on trails at an ungodly hour of the morning with wind chills probably below -15C.
Coincidentally, there was a blog post on the NYTimes Well, which doesn't say anything you shouldn't already know, but it was nice to get a reminder to take things easy:
I didn't run today. I'm finally listening to my body, which gave me a bit of a cold a few days ago. But I just had to run those 30k this weekend to hit my weekly kilometrage--at least I didn't do the long run on trails at an ungodly hour of the morning with wind chills probably below -15C.
Coincidentally, there was a blog post on the NYTimes Well, which doesn't say anything you shouldn't already know, but it was nice to get a reminder to take things easy:
Experienced athletes know that the only way to improve is to push yourself. Lift weights that are heavier than those you’ve tried before. Run or cycle at a fast pace on some days, but focus on increasing your distance on others. Work out enough that you may not fully recover between sessions.I used to think that I was a two, at best three day a week runner--that anything more would just lead to injuries. That was because I went way too hard on my runs--pushing myself to the max every time. The most important run for me to learn was the recovery run--learning to go easy and short. Once I discovered that the trick of training is to go slower so you can go longer and more frequently, I was able to six days a week. I guess last week was too many tough days. Way too many! A 10k race, a 26km fasted long run (slow, but still...), a hard tempo workout, striders on an easy day (which I'm not used to), and a decent speed workout too. No wonder I got the sniffles.
You should feel tired, said John Raglin, a sports psychologist at Indiana University. But if you do too much with too little rest, your performance gets worse, not better.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/personal-best-workouts-have-their-limits-recognized-or-not/
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Tempo Intervals
I'm proud of my workout last night with NBR. The goal was 3 x 2 mile repeats, with each 2 mile repeat broken down to 1600 @ 10k pace, 800 @ 5k pace, 800 recovery. Tough workout, both in terms of stamina and pacing. I was aiming for 7:20-7:30/mi on the 10k intervals and 6:40-7:00/mi on the 5k bits. I think I'll come back to this workout again, so here are my splits for future comparison:
1:44.75 (6:59/mi, 164bpm)
1:52.50 (7:30/mi, 159bpm)
1:49.25 (7:17/mi, 166bpm)
1:52.00 (7:28/mi, 163bpm)
1:40.50 (6:42/mi, 167bpm)
1:38.00 (6:32/mi, 175bpm)
2:22.00 (9:28/mi, 154bpm)
2:23.50 (9:34/mi, 148bpm)
--
1:45.25 (7:01/mi, 167bpm)
1:48.50 (7:14/mi, 169bpm)
1:52.50 (7:30/mi, 166bpm)
1:50.75 (7:23/mi, 168bpm)
1:40.75 (6:43/mi, 171bpm)
1:38.00 (6:32/mi, 169bpm)
2:24.00 (9:36/mi, 154bpm)
2:21.75 (9:27/mi, 152bpm)
--
1:50.25 (7:21/mi, 164bpm)
1:52.00 (7:28/mi, 165bpm)
1:50.25 (7:21/mi, 168bpm)
1:51.00 (7:24/mi, 168bpm)
1:42.75 (6:51/mi, 172bpm)
1:41.75 (6:47/mi, 172bpm)
2:43.00 (9:52/mi, 148bpm)
(I didn't record the last recovery lap)
Half a year ago I did a mile time trial in about 7:20. Let's see where I am half a year from now!
1:44.75 (6:59/mi, 164bpm)
1:52.50 (7:30/mi, 159bpm)
1:49.25 (7:17/mi, 166bpm)
1:52.00 (7:28/mi, 163bpm)
1:40.50 (6:42/mi, 167bpm)
1:38.00 (6:32/mi, 175bpm)
2:22.00 (9:28/mi, 154bpm)
2:23.50 (9:34/mi, 148bpm)
--
1:45.25 (7:01/mi, 167bpm)
1:48.50 (7:14/mi, 169bpm)
1:52.50 (7:30/mi, 166bpm)
1:50.75 (7:23/mi, 168bpm)
1:40.75 (6:43/mi, 171bpm)
1:38.00 (6:32/mi, 169bpm)
2:24.00 (9:36/mi, 154bpm)
2:21.75 (9:27/mi, 152bpm)
--
1:50.25 (7:21/mi, 164bpm)
1:52.00 (7:28/mi, 165bpm)
1:50.25 (7:21/mi, 168bpm)
1:51.00 (7:24/mi, 168bpm)
1:42.75 (6:51/mi, 172bpm)
1:41.75 (6:47/mi, 172bpm)
2:43.00 (9:52/mi, 148bpm)
(I didn't record the last recovery lap)
Half a year ago I did a mile time trial in about 7:20. Let's see where I am half a year from now!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
First 80km/50mi Week
I was planning for this week to be my first 80k week, but as I added up the numbers in my running journal for the week, it turns out I did 80 last week. Given that it's just over two weeks that I slightly injured my right Achilles, that might have been overdoing it a bit. Especially the weekend--10km race on Saturday, fasted 26km long run on Sunday. And yes, that ankle was bugging me on Sunday. Everything felt fine--great, in fact--on Monday when I did an easy 7k, though. I should probably try to focus on healing that damn thing this week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)