Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Muthah. Runnah.

Now that was more like it.

After a few days of doubts, I was determined to have a great speed workout today. On the schedule? 5 x 1K. You can be sure that I called upon my inner muthah runnah for this one.

I've never done a 5 x 1K workout before but Matt Fitzgerald (he of the many, many articles and books on running) recommends them (in this Runner's World article) to train your brain in preparation for a 5K. The idea is to run them at 5K pace so you can be confident on race day that you can, indeed, run the distance at your desired pace.

Simple enough.

And yet, hard.

Well, I did it. I set out in my HILLY neighborhood to do my thing (Owen was home sick -- unfortunately for him but fortunately for me -- so he stayed in with Conal). I warmed up for a little over a mile then set my Garmin to beep at 1 kilometer. I planned to recover from each repeat for about 3 minutes. Here's how my repeats worked out:

1 - 4:11 (oops, too fast!)
2 - 4:31 (nice!)
3 - 4:39 (a little too slow)
4 - 4:26 (really nice!)
5 - 4:31 (yay!)

Then I cooled down for about a mile, running 6.1 miles total.

My goal was to run the repeats at 4:35, which is equivalent to about a 7:23 pace and would get me a 22:55 5K. As you can see, for all but one of the repeats I was able to beat that goal. Take that doubting brain!

I'm glad I was able to get outside to do this workout because I covered a lot of hills in each kilometer, just as I'll have to do on race day. That gives me much more confidence than grinding out miles on the 'mill. And confidence is what it's all about.

Several of you left comments wishing me luck with today's speed work and I just want to give you a big thanks. I called upon those wishes when I was feeling like I needed to slow down so thanks for helping me make it through!

Happy Wednesday!

~ Felice

19 comments:

Marlene said...

Way to nail it! I really believe the 5 x 1000 is what got me my 5K PR. These workouts will pay off. Congrats, girl!

Diana said...

Great job! Glad the new outlook is working for you! :)

Mel-2nd Chances said...

Nicely done! See, those crappy runs are in there to make us appreciate the good ones... or so i was led to believe. lol.

Unknown said...

When I'm done with my race, I will definitely give this 5k plan a try. Thanks and looks like you're doing well!

Aron said...

ohh that sounds like an awesome workout!! way to nail it :)

The Laminator said...

Sounds like a great workout. Congrats! Looking good for that 5K PR!

Aileen said...

Wow...that's some speed! Good work and thanks for inspiring me!

X-Country2 said...

Great workout. I have a 5k coming up, and I'll have to try this.

Anonymous said...

What a great idea, and it easily translates to people of slower speeds too. Nifty!

{will run for margaritas} said...

WOW!! Awesome workout - GO GIRL!!! You are totally going to nail your 5k time and get a PR!!!

Lindsay said...

excellent job on the repeats!! always feels good to nail a hard workout. :)

J said...

Great workout! I will have to try that! I will keep the happy thoughts and good vibes coming to you!

Chic Runner said...

Great job Muthah Runnah! You are rocking and congrats on a great run! Those feel the best after.

joyRuN said...

NICELY DONE! That 5k's not gonna know what hit it :)

Lauren @ mostly i run said...

That's awesome. I'll have to try that workout sometime!

5 Miles Past Empty said...

Awesome job! So in your recover did you jog, walk, or just rest? I usually try to jog the same distance at a slow pace. So I was just curius.

amanda

Felice Devine said...

Amanda,

I try to jog but usually end up walking! Lame, I know. I would say that I jog half the time and walk half the time. When I run shorter repeats I jog for the same distance that I ran. But, since these were longer, I just went for time.

Terri said...

Thanks for explaining how those repeats work. That might work for me in my neighborhood too. Good job!

Midwest said...

Those are great splits. Well done!

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