Blog, I am neglecting you

I have a 5k on Saturday, so I was kinda excited to do today's VO2 Max run of 8 miles w/ 5x600 at 5k pace. I mapped out an old course on mapmyrun that would end up at the track. Fleet Feet is about 1/4 mile from the track and I needed some more gels, hence my motivation to get away from home and my usual route. Because I couldn't decide whether to park my car at Fleet Feet and start the run from there or park at the school and run a little more, I ended up running a full 7 miles before I even made it to the track. I parked at the school thinking I wouldn't feel like running anymore after the track workout, but Fleet Feet ended up being farther from the school than I thought. (I mapped the run starting from Fleet Feet). I ran the 7 at marathon pace which didn't give me the freshest of legs for the 600s, but hey, if I can run 7 at mp then 5x600 at about 9:30 avg., I must be making some inroads, right?

The track was pretty clear of snow. Not so the sidewalks. Sometimes I imagined I was Mardi climbing over piles of dirty, slushy, plowed snow. Only I was the slow version. ;)

I'm trying to think of a route where I can warmup with 3 miles ending at the track, then I could do the 3 miles again to finish up. That way, at least I stand a fighting chance of hitting a 5k pace of 8:30 or under on the 600s. My last 5k was June 16 with a finish of 25:59. That's faster than McMillan predicts based on my best 10k, 1/2 and marathon times. Of course, I'll try to beat it!

Bring it on!

Yes! 3 x 1600 at (almost) 5k pace. I felt good and I felt sharp.

I did the workout on a hilly 6 mile neighborhood route because I didn't want to drive to the track. Anyway, I have the Garmin 305, so it never hurts to use the various features. ;)
I warmed up with 2 miles at mp then did the 3 x 1600 with 2:00 rest in between each repeat. I cooled down for about a mile or so, for a total of 6.53 miles.

Warmup: 2 x 9:36 (ok, a little faster than mp, but it's cold outside)
Repeat 1: 8:50
Repeat 2: 8:50
Repeat 3: 8:57

I'm very pleased, if not for the speed (my actual 5k splits are faster) then with the consistency. I haven't figured out how to get the Garmin to tell me my pace when I'm doing repeats so I have to go by effort/feel. It felt somewhat difficult, but honestly, if it was a real 5k I would have really been hurting. The last one was mostly uphill but I tried to keep the effort consistent.

I'm ready for this marathon. Bring it on!

Hip Hop on the Mill

10 mile midweek run. The one I least look forward to. The one that truly defines this as "hump day."

Thunderstorms are in the forecast so I used that as an excuse to get my money's worth at the gym. Yes, that means treadmill. I got on and didn't have a plan, so that's usually a bad sign. Once I got going, I decided on some sort of ladder. With the incline set at 1%, I did something like this*:

Mile 1 10:40
Mile 2 10:12
Mile 3 9:52 potty break
Mile 4 9:52 potty break (!)
Mile 5 9:34
Mile 6 8:18 decided to do some mile repeats at 5k pace
Mile 7 9:34 potty break
Mile 8 8:18
Mile 9 9:34
Mile 10 8:18
Mile 11 9:52
*Times are adjusted for 1% grade

Hey, there, it looks like I did closer to 11. With all those pee breaks, I started to lose count and I wasn't sure so I just kept going. I see in breaking it down that it was more like 11 miles. I'm just going to log it at 10 at approx. 9:30 pace. Anyway, it wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. In fact, it wasn't bad at all. For entertainment, besides my ipod, I watched Ann Curry attempt to Hip Hop on the Today Show. Pathetic. Just to be clear, ANN CURRY WAS PATHETIC. SHE STANK.

Repeats

I started my day off with oatmeal. Guess what? It doesn't take any longer to open a pack of instant oatmeal, pour in some milk, and then POP it into the microwave. I added chopped walnuts and diced fresh peaches. It even tasted better than a poptart.

I ran my 9 (9.25 to be exact) on the treadmill today. If you had asked me a year ago if I could run 9 miles on a treadmill, I would have told you flat out that 6 was my limit and I really preferred no more than 3. I guess it's really a testament to how I have learned to steel my brain and focus my mind on the task that I am able to do 9 with no difficulty whatsoever. Ok, if I could just control the urge to pee (twice) I'd really be a champion.

I included 8x800 repeats at 4:17. The last two I sprinted out at 4:00 just for fun. I'm none the worse for wear and it was actually pretty easy. Tomorrow evening I'll do 4-5 recovery.

Everyone's in school now. Finally! The grind starts today: orthodontist, gym, ballet, guitar, guitar (back to back). Thank goodness I have a kid who can drive. I can't stand when I have to be at three places at one time. Now I can share the load with one of the three.

I threw it down

In the words of Matt M. I "threw down" 9 miles on the treadmill this morning. I was feeling the mid-marathon program blues and decided I needed an attitude adjustment. Dare I say, the miles flew by?

I warmed up for 2.5 miles then cranked it up for 7x800 repeats. I walked .25 then ran mp for .25 in between each repeat. 800s were at 4:20 but I sprinted the last .10 of each.

When I finished, Miss Argentina power lifter said "you were running for a really long time." Yep. 90 minutes. I even walked an extra quarter mile at the end because I wanted to hear what Dr. Drew Pinsky and James Carville had to say about the foot-tapping, hand waving senator from Idaho.

12 Down

Working my way through the week. 8 miles today on the treadmill because it's insanely hot here again. I did 6 X 800 repeats at approx. 4:20 each.

Then I sabotaged the whole thing by taking my daughter Sarah to Cheesecake Factory for her 11th birthday. I started out like a good girl and ordered the tuna carpaccio. But I was still hungry after eating all of those paper thin slices of raw tuna and scarfed down one of Sarah's sliders and some fries. No cheesecake though. I made, from scratch, a chocolate layer cake, so I'll kill myself with that instead.

It's amazing how many fat people eat at Cheesecake Factory all by themselves. They are all seated next to each other on the banquette. One woman was eating a full order of bbq ribs with all the sides PLUS a bowl of baked potato soup. I'm sure she had cheesecake for dessert too.

Now, I must sift confectioners sugar for the frosting.

If this is Tuesday. . .

. . . it must be a Tempo.

I find myself looking forward to my Tuesday tempo runs. If I just had to run 3 miles, I think I'd be bored. I like forcing myself to pick up the pace. Last week I didn't wear my Garmin and ended up short by about 1/10 of a mile. Today I wore the Garmin and stopped the timer at 3.4 miles.

I felt I started easy, but I'm finding that I have alot to learn when it comes to "feel." What I should do is start out purposely s l o w. Anyway, here's my splits. I tried to hold the faster pace for 15 minutes. Since the garmin tells me mile splits, it's kind of hard to tell. I'm aiming for more of a parabola than a tabletop.

Lap 1 9:38
Lap 2 8:48
Lap 3 9:30
Lap 4 9:33 (.40miles)

Total Distance: 3.4/ Total Time: 31:48/ Avg. Pace 9:20

MTD: July 124.88 miles

Over the Hill

I don't know why I can't just go out and run. If I don't have a plan these days, it seems I'm bored silly. Today called for six miles. Of course, I can't just run 6 miles. That would be torture. Nooo.!!! So, I came up with another plan. I'll run 3 miles into my 6 mile route, which will bring me to the top of a big hill. Then I'll run down and up the hill as many times as it takes to hit 4 miles. Then I'll run back home, taking a shortcut, which will make it exactly 6 miles. I ended up running up the hill 3 times. It was longer than I thought and the first time, I got my heart rate up a little too high, judging from the fact that I nearly puked at the top. I completely messed up the lap thing on the Garmin, so I couldn't keep track of anything except total miles and average pace.

Total miles: 6
Avg. Pace: 9:52 (including hill climbs)

I realize that my average paces are getting faster. Sometimes I feel like I'm just slogging along, but my splits tell a different story. Also, I am not really bothered by the heat like I used to be in previous summers. Maybe that's because I'm able to focus on things other than the heat.

It's about time to buy new shoes. I might do that later this afternoon.