Crazy New England Weather

True to form, New England weather is insane.  Over the weekend (Memorial Day Weekend that is), the weather was March-like.  Low 50’s, rainy and very, very windy.  As a matter of fact in Northern Vermont and NH it actually snowed several inches!  Killington reopened for a few diehards.  I turned my heat back on.

But that was over the weekend.  Today. Thursday, it is 87 degrees!  …  And, I thought it would be a good day for a run.

I haven’t been running for 2 weeks as I was resting a very sore Achilles tendon.  So the long rest period, combined with the outrageous heat made for a very, very difficult 3 miles!  (if it even was 3 miles, it felt like 8!)

I have a funny feeling that the air conditioner will be going on tonight!

Don’t Anticipate Failure

I really wasn’t looking forward to this morning’s 12 mile run, but with the half marathon 2 weeks away, it was necessary.  Last week’s 10 mile run was tough!   It was cold and very windy and the last mile or two felt awful.  I don’t think I  had fully recovered (mentally at least)  from last week’s run and this week we planned on running 12 miles of the half marathon course, and again the weather was chilly–37 degrees!  As I said, I wasn’t looking forward to it.

But, my horoscope (Pisces) this morning read:

Don’t anticipate failure before you even give something the old college try.  You have as much chance of winning as you do of losing.  Focus on the former, not the latter.

WOW!  So I laced up my shoes (several times to get them just right), and headed out the door to meet my running buddies.

All in all, it was a good run!

How Not to Train for a Half Marathon!

So now I find myself training for a spring half marathon.   Not the brightest idea as typically I take the winter off from running in favor of yoga and weight training.  (I’ve come to realize that I can’t fit in yoga, weight training and running  all at the same time, but that’s a topic for another day!)

Anyway one of my running buddies suggested that we sign up for the Wallis Sands Half Marathon on April 28.

At the time we had 9 weeks to train, so I figured why not?  Well let’s see why not…3 snowstorms, a terrible head cold and cold raw late winter/early spring weather in New Hampshire!

But, always one to succumb to peer pressure.  I decided to give it a try.  I ended up starting training a week late (due to one of those snowstorms), and then I missed a week of training (due to the head cold).  I have however kept up with my long runs — 7, 8 , 9 and this weekend will be 10.

This week has actually gone well, I managed to get in two 5 mile runs during the week so I will have accomplished 20 miles for the week.  Now if I can keep it going for a few more weeks I might actually be able to do this half marathon–perhaps not do it well, but at least finish it in around 2 hours, and not  hurt myself!

Oh yeah, the main reason I agreed to do it — you are going to love this…  The running shoes I’ve been buying for the past several years, Asics Nimbus 14 are FINALLY coming out with new colors this Spring.  As my current pair is fairly new, I figured the half marathon training would help to wear them out so I could justify the new pair!!!  Check these out!!

A Great Pyramid Workout

It felt good to get back into the gym today!  I was inspired by a blog post I came across. I saw this great pyramid workout on Trim Down, Tighten Up.   The graphic really gets the point across so I’m borrowing it to show you here.

I gave it a try on the treadmill tonight.  Wow it was tough!

The paces were good for me, as I train at about a 9 min/mile pace,  but if this doesn’t work for you, I would recommend doing the 3 minute set at a your tempo pace or about 1 minute per mile faster than your training pace.

Another modification I might suggest is after the pinnacle of 1 min at 8 mph, go back to the beginning run 5 min at 6 mph and work back up.  This allows for a bit of recovery time between sets.

 

 

 

 

Fun with Interval Training

I’m beginning to like interval training on the treadmill, go figure!

My latest workout was:

6 minute warm up at a 10.5 min per mile pace (about 1.5 min/mile slower than my training pace).  I was only planning on warming up for 5 minutes, but since I was just about at 1/2 a mile, I went another minute to make it an even half mile.

Intervals:  I intended to do 4 sets of the following:

• 1 min at an 8 minute per mile pace (7.5 mph)
• 1 min recovery at 9 min/mile (6.6 mph)
• 1 min at 7 1/2 min/mile (8 mph)
• 1 min at 9.5 min/mile (6.3)

I say intended because in the second set, I forgot the first recovery minute so I ended up doing:

• 1 min at an 8 minute per mile pace (7.5 mph)
• 1 min at 7 1/2 min/mile (8 mph)
• 2 mins at 9.5 min/mile (6.3)

I then followed that up with another 4 minutes following set 1 and then another of set 2.  A total of 16 minutes of speed work, followed by 3 minutes to cool down.

It is amazing how quickly the time goes by on the treadmill when you play little games with yourself!  When you only focus on getting through one minute at a time, rather than a 20 minute chunk of time, the time goes much faster and the workout is much more enjoyable.  Hmmm, I think there is a life lesson in here too!

 

 

 

End Treadmill Boredom!

As I mentioned earlier, I find running on the treadmill tedious, but given the weather, I have decided to make it interesting by doing interval workouts.  Basically intervals are short bursts of speed followed by a little longer recovery. Coming up with a new pattern makes each workout fresh and interesting.  The key is to make sure that the recovery sets are slower than a typical training run.

Yesterday I decided to take one of the track intervals to the treadmill.  My comfortable training pace is about 9-9 1/2 minute miles (or 6.6-6.3 mph on the treadmill).  What I did was increase the distance of my speed intervals from 1/4 to 1/2 to 3/4 miles, (while decreasing the speed slightly), and then decrease the distance back down  with rest intervals in between:

• 10 minutes warmup at 6.3 mph (9:30 min pace)
• 1/4 mile (400 meters) at 7.5 mph (8 min. pace)
  • 1/4 mile recovery at 6 mph (10 min pace)
• 1/2 mile at 7 mph (8 1/2 min pace)
  • 1/4 mile recovery at 6 mph
• 3/4 mile at 6.6 (9 min pace)
  • 1/4 mile recovery at 6
• 1/2 mile at 7 mph (8 1/2 min pace)
  • 1/4 mile recovery at 6 mph
• 1/4 mile (400 meters) at 7.5 mph (8 min pace)
  • 1/4 mile recovery at 6 mph (10 min pace)
• 5 minutes cool down working from 6-5 mph (10-12 min pace)

WOW, this workout kept me looking at the distance, not the time and I was shocked to see that I had spent 40 minutes on the treadmill!

And when I added up the distance I had gone over 4 miles, with 2 1/4 of them being at a faster pace than my typical training pace.

I recommend trying an interval workout, even if you are a walker.  The theory is the same, if you walk at 3 mph, make your intervals 3.5 and your rests 2.5.

Or you can change the incline.  Use 0 as you rest and have your intervals on 1% or 2%.  You can play around with your own patterns, just remember to make the rest intervals slower than your comfortable pace.

Have fun and let me know how you do!

 

 

My Running Goals for 2013

Now that winter is here and  it is cold and messy outside, I typically stop running.  Last year, I didn’t run from December until late March, and as you can imagine it was hard to start back up.  I felt like I was starting over (something you really don’t want to do!)  Luckily, after some initial difficulties, I was able to get back into running shape and ended up running strong all season.

However, this year, one of my goals is to improve my 5K and 10K times over the last two years.  In 1998, at my peak, my best 5K time was 21:41 (6:58 pace).    Since I’ve started running again (about 3 years ago), my best time has been 25:52 (8:19 pace).   This year, I am shooting for beating 24 minutes or 7:44 pace.

Also in 1998, my best 10K time was 46 minutes, (7:24 pace).  My most recent best has been 53:01 (8:32 pace)  For this year, I have set a 10K goal of under 50 minutes, or an 8 minute per mile pace.

I think these goals are reasonable…Tough, but doable.

Here is my plan:

I have done minimal speed work over the past few years (2-3 track workouts each year and the occasional race).  This year I plan on regularly going to the track.  Even if it is hot or rainy, or if I’d rather be doing something else!  And I plan on running at least a little during the winter.

Since I really find it hard to run on a treadmill due to boredom, I have decided to use my treadmill running to do some speed work.  So far this month, I have done three sessions of interval training.  The interval workouts keep my mind occupied and so they aren’t as tedious as simply running on the treadmill.  This is my most recent workout :

• 5 minute warm up at a 9:30 pace (treadmill mph setting 6.3) 
• 10 minutes of the following intervals (for a total of 7 speed intervals)
  • 30 sec at 7:30 pace (8 mph)
  • 60 sec at 9 minute pace (6.6)
• 5 minutes cool down at 9:30 pace

I have all sorts of “fun” interval patterns to try, I’ll keep you posted

Also, if you are like me and prefer to use minutes per mile pace rather than mph, here is a handy conversion guide from HillRunner.com

Half Marathon Memories

First let me start by saying that my heart goes out to those marathoners who trained for the New York City Marathon and couldn’t run it or find and alternative marathon. And of course my heart goes out also to all those people who are still suffering from the effects of Hurricane and/or Super-storm Sandy

Thoughts on My Half Marathon

I did it! Not only did I ran the Seacoast Half Marathon yesterday, but I ran it strong! I felt great through the first 10 1/2 miles, then not quite so great for the end. But…I did it. I kept a consistent pace throughout the race and finished in under 2 hours in 1:59:22 — a 9:07 pace. I was very happy with my race. I had set a goal of under 2 hours (as last year I finished in 2:02:22). I knocked 3 minutes off my time–yippee! Plus as I said, I had consistent split times right up to the finish.

I guess my training was good this year. Of course there are things I could have/should have done differently. Lessons learned:

1. Continue to make time for weight training even while stepping up the running — Unfortunately, as I run more, I let other, cross training activities slide like yoga and weight training.
2. Run a 14+ mile long run. I have never run more than 13.1 miles. And while I did get in a 13.1 mile run prior to the race, I’m sure that if I managed to get in a 14.5-15 mile run, I wouldn’t “hit the wall” at 11 miles. I have run 5 half marathons over the years and in each one, I am really ready to be done at 11 miles!
3. More speed work. I did manage to get to the track 3 times this summer and run a few shorter races, but more regular speed work would certainly help with the long race.

On a more positive note — Things I did right:

1. I firmly believe that my vegan diet, high in plant-based protein made me much stronger. I have never felt as physically healthy and strong as I have since I’ve cut out dairy and virtually all meat (I do eat fish 1-2 times a week).
2. My training was consistent this year and I got in a lot more 8-10 mile training runs, and even the 13.1 mile practice on the course.
3. Even though my yoga practice waned as the race got closer, I believe that the yoga I’ve done over the past 2 years has also made me a stronger runner. Not only has yoga made me more flexible and balanced, but it trained my breathing to be more relaxed, paced, and I believe more efficient.

If I run this race again, I will set a goal of hitting (or beating) a 9 minute pace which would be an overall time of 1:57:57

Hurricane Sandy and Half Marathon Training

Well Hurricane  Sandy has come and gone.  The 1,000 mile storm impacted the entire East Coast and my friends and loved ones in New Jersey and New York were hit hard.  Hopefully they will get their power back soon and not have too many dark, quiet nights.  Where I am in New Hampshire, we had heavy winds and rain, but my property wasn’t affected much.  I have one old tree that lost a large branch, but it fell in the yard and luckily didn’t hit anything.  And while a lot of the state is still without power, I am very grateful that my power is still on.

We managed to get our training run in on Saturday long before the storm.  13.1 miles!  We ran the half marathon course as a practice run.  Boy, it is long!  After that, I spent Sunday and Monday waiting for the big storm and watching the TV coverage.  I did manage to do some stretching to try to ease my tired muscles!

Today I plan on getting in an easy run (to view the storm damage around town) and do some serious stretching.  The half marathon is in a week and a half.  My plan for the next week and a half is to get in easy runs every other day, an 8-9 mile run over the weekend,  and hopefully get back to yoga on the off days.

Half Marathon Training going Strong

With my half marathon coming up in 5 weeks, I’ve been stepping up my training.

I believe that Portsmouth, NH must be one of the more beautiful places to run.  We have the historic downtown, the riverfront, Newcastle Island, and the ocean.  Today we ran the first part of the half marathon course for a total of 9 miles.

We started at Portsmouth High School and ran out to the ocean.  We ran on the road along Wallis Sands beach  and Odiorne Point and back up quite a large hill toward town and the high school.  It was a beautiful course and the weather was perfect — sunny and high 40’s-low 50’s.

 

I’m on track with my weekly long runs — today was 9 miles, but I’m not quite there with my weekly mileage.  I wanted to get in a total of 23 miles this week, and I ended up with 19.  This is simply due to the fact that I only run two days during the week and then a long run on the weekends.  I should really get 5 miles in on a third day.

But, I am doing well, running strong, and giving myself plenty of recovery time (maybe too much!).