Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Tuesday speed-work.

I'm getting into the swing of running on the treadmill once a week while Conal naps. Yesterday, I hit the 'mill for speed-work. My full workout looked like this:

2 mile warm-up
6 x 400 at 7:18 pace (walked/sloooooowly jogged for 400 in between)
1 mile cool-down

My first fast "lap" felt like crud. Total crud. My breathing felt off and my legs felt like they were tied up on knots. I walked the rest interval and then went right back to my speed. That second lap felt a little better but not great. But, the third lap . . . well, the third lap felt OK! We're talking totally average!

And then I was halfway through and that buoyed me a bit and I made it through three more completely average repeats. Hey -- that's a win, in many ways. The repeats felt OK, not cruddy. I mean, I was ready to be done after the sixth one, but I didn't feel like I was going to die. Nope, not at all. I felt fine. I ran my cool-down mile at a comfortable 9:30 pace, ending at 10:00 and I felt like I could keep going and going. But, my workout window was closing so I hopped off the 'mill, pleased with my work.

I'm glad I'm getting back into speed-work after some time away from it. Now, I'm on the hunt for a late August/September 5k and maybe some other races. I'm definitely running our local Race for the Cure at the beginning of October but nothing else is for sure. I've got some planning to do!

Happy Wednesday!

~ Felice

19 comments:

Manderz said...

I am thinking about the Sefcu labor day 5k on 9/7 or the Brueggers run on 9/13. Have you ever done any of those?


Great job on the speed work!! You are fast! Your cool down is my speed work LOL.

Unknown said...

Sounds like you had fun after the warm up!! Great job!

B.o.B. said...

god love ya for doing speedwork on the dreadmill. that is always tough. way to stick with it. can't wait to hear those race plans!

NY Wolve said...

I've done lots of speedwork on treadmills, and it actually really helps me focus on keeping pace. All treadmills are not perfectly calibrated, and often the stated time/distance is not accurate. I wear a footpod on my treadmill, and it always says I am running faster (and thus further) than the mill. I have calibrated the footpod with a GPS, so it is pretty close, but I think it is something int he way it works. Anyway, keep up the good work!

Marlene said...

Nice workout! I'd definitely take "average" when it comes to 400s.

X-Country2 said...

I haven't used the word "crud" in forever. Ha!
Glad you finally got your legs under you. Nice repeats.

ShutUpandRun said...

Nice speed work!!!

Stuart said...

Nice job - speed work hurts but in such a good way!

Abby said...

Nice work! Sometimes totally average is precisely my goals for repeats :)

Diana said...

Great job!

Good luck finding your race.

Mel-2nd Chances said...

Nice work on the treadmill, getting it done while Conal sleeps is great! :)

Anonymous said...

1- I love the word crud
2- your slow is my fast
3- awesome job on getting in the naptime workouts!

Heather said...

That's some speedy speedwork! Way to make use of the nap time. I would say I wish I had a treadmill. . . but for the most part, that just isn't true. :)

Quix said...

I love doing speedwork, but I think you have it pegged - the best you can hope for during the fast parts is average.

I was going to start training for short and speedy right after the half but I haven't been able to bring myself to run much lately. Oh well, change is good, I'll be back to it soon. Happy Wednesday to you too!

joyRuN said...

Sounds like you were able to convince your legs that this session was a good thing!

I miss nap time.

Denise said...

I'm telling you...I think the treadmill is great for speed work. I have such a hard time doing it outside.

J said...

Im on the hunt for some races but it seems like there are very few in August : (

September and October might be busy months!

The Laminator said...

Speedy workouts always take some time to get into and having races on the schedule will definite help to motivate. Nice job!

EndorphinBuzz said...

Good work, that's pretty fast.

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