Okay, the title might be semi-sarcastic. In truth I have a strong love/hate relationship with my runs. The harder they are, the more I love/hate them. My coach put my on hills my first week back. What was he thinking?!
I'm happy because I'll regain my fitness that much faster with the challenging hill session every week. I'm unhappy because it's hard. I was super nervous coming into this run. Would I keep up? How would I manage?
It all blurred together. We started by having a long run uphill to get to a spot where our coach gave us another safety briefing. Then we did laps along some grass. By the time we got through half a lap, my shoes were soaking and my feet squelching with every step. It was uncomfortable for the next lap and a half or so and then I sort of got used to it. The grass was not steep. We went uphill and downhill and sidehill and then back to do it all again.
As always with these runs, there is a mini inner battle: the lazy half of me wishes for some excuse to not run (nothing major like a sprained ankle, but minor like a bee sting or a scrape) and the more practical side of me says that the more I put off til tomorrow the slower my return to fitness will be. The practical side usually wins out. Except today, when my knee started to really hurt. I'm not sure if it was because I was still stiff from Tuesday's run (what a novel feeling! Running while stiff from a previous run!) or because I'm simply not accustomed to trail running.
Whatever the reason, I cut things short because I didn't like the niggling feeling in my knee. I can only hope tomorrow it will get better!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Return to Brisbane
I was reminded today that I haven't been keeping up with my running blog faithfully these past few weeks. I've done a few haphazard runs, but these deteriorated quickly as life craziness built up around me.
Well, today was my first time back with the training group. Hoo boy! I was nervous! Tuesdays are speed sessions, which mostly consists of fartleks. The one thing I've always liked about fartleks is they're short. Except today felt really long. I guess because while I knew the reps, I didn't know the number of sets to expect, so I couldn't mentally coach myself through this.
The reps were as follows (for rep/recovery)
90-30
60-30
45-30
30-30
15-30
We repeated this three times around a 300m circuit. Apparently variations of the fartlek have become a Tuesday morning special ever since the training weekend. The run was actually lots of fun, even if my legs felt like jello on the 1k cool down jog (aka stagger) back to the car.
But all this paled in comparison to the joy of being back where I belong. Running with friends! There are few greater things than this. As one girl pointed out, I slipped back in as if I'd never left. It was fantastic that the group still held so many familiar faces. Okay, we couldn't talk so much during the reps, but there was plenty of chances in between all that.
It's good to be home!
Well, today was my first time back with the training group. Hoo boy! I was nervous! Tuesdays are speed sessions, which mostly consists of fartleks. The one thing I've always liked about fartleks is they're short. Except today felt really long. I guess because while I knew the reps, I didn't know the number of sets to expect, so I couldn't mentally coach myself through this.
The reps were as follows (for rep/recovery)
90-30
60-30
45-30
30-30
15-30
We repeated this three times around a 300m circuit. Apparently variations of the fartlek have become a Tuesday morning special ever since the training weekend. The run was actually lots of fun, even if my legs felt like jello on the 1k cool down jog (aka stagger) back to the car.
But all this paled in comparison to the joy of being back where I belong. Running with friends! There are few greater things than this. As one girl pointed out, I slipped back in as if I'd never left. It was fantastic that the group still held so many familiar faces. Okay, we couldn't talk so much during the reps, but there was plenty of chances in between all that.
It's good to be home!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Non-Tempo Alternative
On the weekend I planned to go for a tempo run. But those little niggling excuses got in the way. You know the ones - it's storming outside, my body is exhausted, I need a rest day...
So then I made a plan to go for a tempo run yesterday. But the thought of doing a tempo run made me shudder. Tempo runs are not my friend! So - can you believe it? - I ran hills instead. Hills. I prefer hills over a tempo run! I must be nuts! I guess what I like about hills is that you get a recovery on the way down. Whereas a tempo run...no breaks, just running.
My intention was to do 5 reps, but I started running short on time so I only did 4. The first hill was a 'test hill'. After running up it I decided it was too rolly for a decent hill session. I needed something that went straight up. So I ran back to the street where I first lived in Rocky. That has a hill. And I mean a hill.
I won't get into my heart rate, because that would scare people who believe in the "max HR = 220-age". (I don't.) Let's just say I was working hard!
My "warm-up" including the first hill took 10min, so technically I only did 3 hill reps.
Total distance: 4.64km
Total time: 32.57min
Avg pace: 7.06 (including recoveries. There may have been some walking involved.)
Total elevation: 128m
1st rep: 2.54min, avg pace 7.08
2nd rep: 3.07min, avg pace 7.33
3rd rep: 3.15, avg pace 7.54
As you can see, this hill absolutely wiped me! I got progressively slower every time. I maybe could have fit in a fourth rep, but I was soooo exhausted I just couldn't find the motivation. Still, it was fantastic.
So then I made a plan to go for a tempo run yesterday. But the thought of doing a tempo run made me shudder. Tempo runs are not my friend! So - can you believe it? - I ran hills instead. Hills. I prefer hills over a tempo run! I must be nuts! I guess what I like about hills is that you get a recovery on the way down. Whereas a tempo run...no breaks, just running.
My intention was to do 5 reps, but I started running short on time so I only did 4. The first hill was a 'test hill'. After running up it I decided it was too rolly for a decent hill session. I needed something that went straight up. So I ran back to the street where I first lived in Rocky. That has a hill. And I mean a hill.
I won't get into my heart rate, because that would scare people who believe in the "max HR = 220-age". (I don't.) Let's just say I was working hard!
My "warm-up" including the first hill took 10min, so technically I only did 3 hill reps.
Total distance: 4.64km
Total time: 32.57min
Avg pace: 7.06 (including recoveries. There may have been some walking involved.)
Total elevation: 128m
1st rep: 2.54min, avg pace 7.08
2nd rep: 3.07min, avg pace 7.33
3rd rep: 3.15, avg pace 7.54
As you can see, this hill absolutely wiped me! I got progressively slower every time. I maybe could have fit in a fourth rep, but I was soooo exhausted I just couldn't find the motivation. Still, it was fantastic.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Mathematics
There are three types of people in this world. Those who can count, and those who can't. I classify myself in the latter category...at least while running. I may be able to multi-task some things, but clearly not addition plus running. Once again, I ran not 4, but 5 x 60sec reps. And this time I even cut my first recovery short from 90sec to 60sec. Ooops! In mathematical terms,
[count + (run + intervals)] + distractions = error
I guess I can say, at least I overshoot rather than undershoot my workout. Maybe I should start running with an abacus. Although then the movement from running might shift the beads around and I'd be doubly confused. On second thought, an extra 60sec interval isn't such a big deal.
Time: 21.49 (did I mention I also started my first interval early? Adding an extra 15sec onto the initial 90sec time. Oops!)
Total elevation: 31m
Total distance: 3.86km
Avg pace: 5.39 (woohoo!)
"90"sec rep/recovery: 5.14/6.18 \ 4.46/6.06
60sec rep/recovery: 5.05/6.50 \ 5.45/6.41 \ 4.56/ 5.57 \ 4.56/6.35 \ 5.13/6.21
30sec rep/recovery: 5.16/6.56 \ 5.02/7.26 \ 5.24/5.58 \ 5.37/6.25
15 sec rep/recovery: 4.48/5.48 \ 4.53/6.44 \ 4.25/5.43 \ 4.48/4.59
There is one discrepancy in the 30sec recovery. I had to wait for an impatient truck to turn in front of me. The downside to running on the roads!
[count + (run + intervals)] + distractions = error
I guess I can say, at least I overshoot rather than undershoot my workout. Maybe I should start running with an abacus. Although then the movement from running might shift the beads around and I'd be doubly confused. On second thought, an extra 60sec interval isn't such a big deal.
Time: 21.49 (did I mention I also started my first interval early? Adding an extra 15sec onto the initial 90sec time. Oops!)
Total elevation: 31m
Total distance: 3.86km
Avg pace: 5.39 (woohoo!)
"90"sec rep/recovery: 5.14/6.18 \ 4.46/6.06
60sec rep/recovery: 5.05/6.50 \ 5.45/6.41 \ 4.56/ 5.57 \ 4.56/6.35 \ 5.13/6.21
30sec rep/recovery: 5.16/6.56 \ 5.02/7.26 \ 5.24/5.58 \ 5.37/6.25
15 sec rep/recovery: 4.48/5.48 \ 4.53/6.44 \ 4.25/5.43 \ 4.48/4.59
There is one discrepancy in the 30sec recovery. I had to wait for an impatient truck to turn in front of me. The downside to running on the roads!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Stomach of not-so steel
Most runners seem to have difficulty eating anything before a run. I have never had that problem. I've always had a bit of a stomach of steel in my family. I could eat almost anything and go out for a run (not guaranteed fast, but a run nonetheless).
Until today. For whatever reason, I suddenly understood that icky feeling I've always heard described but never felt. That "ugh! I shouldn't have eaten before this. I can feel the food like a hard rock in my stomach" feeling. It was terrible! I'm so glad I only get this once in a blue moon and not on a frequent basis.
As with last week's fartlek, I pre-fatigued doing plyometrics first. Going out on a run afterwards was so, so hard. Excuses of why I shouldn't do it danced in my head as I dragged myself out the door. Considering my starting heart rate in the morning, I would say I was having an off day. Perhaps a day I should have done recovery. But one thing for setting my alarm at 5am - I'm a morning person. It's a darn waste if I wake up at 5am, choose not to exercise, and proceed to waste the next hour and a half because I slacked off. I have done this before, but I need to be feeling pretty awful to do so.
And in the end I did it - both plyo and sprints. And (in a twist of irony), I was feeling so fatigued that I did extra sprints! Not on purpose!!! What happened was, I was worried I wouldn't get through it, so I just focussed on the present and ignored what was left. As a result, I did an extra set of 60sec rep/recovery. Oops! Even more funny, I knew I'd lost track of the 30sec reps and thought - if anything - that I might have pulled an extra one of those. I never thought I'd done an extra 60sec set. Bonus to me! Todays times were not fast (surprise surprise). But I did it. I finished it. No injuries. Good day.
Total time: 22.00
Total distance: 3.39km
Total elevation: 14m
Avg pace: 6.29
90sec rep/recovery: ?/6.18 \ 4.37/6.05
60 sec rep/recovery: 4.56/6.25 \ 5.37/6.46 \ 6.00/6.08 \ 5.44/6.44 \ 5.17/5.59
30 sec rep/recovery: 4.56/6.01 \ 5.10/6.49 \ 5.23/7.08 \ 5.24/7.17
15 sec rep/recovery: 5.05/6.36 \ 5.06/6.31 \ 5.04/5.31 \ 4.46/5.40
The first 90sec rep my watch wasn't fully turned on (aka, no satellites found for GPS part). Thus, my pace registered as 0.00. Lightening fast!
Until today. For whatever reason, I suddenly understood that icky feeling I've always heard described but never felt. That "ugh! I shouldn't have eaten before this. I can feel the food like a hard rock in my stomach" feeling. It was terrible! I'm so glad I only get this once in a blue moon and not on a frequent basis.
As with last week's fartlek, I pre-fatigued doing plyometrics first. Going out on a run afterwards was so, so hard. Excuses of why I shouldn't do it danced in my head as I dragged myself out the door. Considering my starting heart rate in the morning, I would say I was having an off day. Perhaps a day I should have done recovery. But one thing for setting my alarm at 5am - I'm a morning person. It's a darn waste if I wake up at 5am, choose not to exercise, and proceed to waste the next hour and a half because I slacked off. I have done this before, but I need to be feeling pretty awful to do so.
And in the end I did it - both plyo and sprints. And (in a twist of irony), I was feeling so fatigued that I did extra sprints! Not on purpose!!! What happened was, I was worried I wouldn't get through it, so I just focussed on the present and ignored what was left. As a result, I did an extra set of 60sec rep/recovery. Oops! Even more funny, I knew I'd lost track of the 30sec reps and thought - if anything - that I might have pulled an extra one of those. I never thought I'd done an extra 60sec set. Bonus to me! Todays times were not fast (surprise surprise). But I did it. I finished it. No injuries. Good day.
Total time: 22.00
Total distance: 3.39km
Total elevation: 14m
Avg pace: 6.29
90sec rep/recovery: ?/6.18 \ 4.37/6.05
60 sec rep/recovery: 4.56/6.25 \ 5.37/6.46 \ 6.00/6.08 \ 5.44/6.44 \ 5.17/5.59
30 sec rep/recovery: 4.56/6.01 \ 5.10/6.49 \ 5.23/7.08 \ 5.24/7.17
15 sec rep/recovery: 5.05/6.36 \ 5.06/6.31 \ 5.04/5.31 \ 4.46/5.40
The first 90sec rep my watch wasn't fully turned on (aka, no satellites found for GPS part). Thus, my pace registered as 0.00. Lightening fast!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
2012 Goals
Eesh, but this is a hard entry to write. Putting down goals in writing and then sharing them is a bit like engraving them in cement. The capacity to fail becomes much more obvious. But then my other option is to keep it secret, and only announce it if I achieve it? Yikes! A bit like those spell tests in elementary school where you couldn't remember if the word was spelt with an 'e' or an 'a'. So you decide to do some chicken scratch writing, that you can argue it out either way if the answer comes back wrong. Imperitive? Imperative? ... how about imperá´‚tive?
But back to it! Tempting as it is, I guess I'd better write it down now. The worst I can do is fail, afterall. But if I succeed, all the better.
Goal 2012: Achieve a PB (personal best) in a distance I have already raced. In other words, running a 16k race is fun, but will not count towards a PB as I have never run one before.
Current PBs:
5k: 28.30 (I've only raced two 5ks. This is a rough estimate of one I ran in Rockhampton 2011)
8k: 42.25 (Mother's Day Classic 2010)
10k: 54.18 (Doomben 2009 - yes, this is getting a little old to be a standing PB!)
21.1k - 2.05.28 (Doomben 2011)
Races I hope to sign up for in 2012:
Noosa 10k (May 6)
Mother's Day Classic 8k (May 13)
Doomben 10k (June 3)
Gold Coast Half Marathon (July 1)
Redcliffe Jetty2Jetty 5/10k (July 15) - pending
Ipswich Park2Park 10k (July 29)
Sydney City2Surf 14k (Aug 12) - pending
Bridge2Brisbane 10k (Sep 2)
Whitsunday Trail Run 28.7k (Sep 23)
Melbourne 10k (Oct) - pending
Endeavour 500k relay (Nov) - pending
But back to it! Tempting as it is, I guess I'd better write it down now. The worst I can do is fail, afterall. But if I succeed, all the better.
Goal 2012: Achieve a PB (personal best) in a distance I have already raced. In other words, running a 16k race is fun, but will not count towards a PB as I have never run one before.
Current PBs:
5k: 28.30 (I've only raced two 5ks. This is a rough estimate of one I ran in Rockhampton 2011)
8k: 42.25 (Mother's Day Classic 2010)
10k: 54.18 (Doomben 2009 - yes, this is getting a little old to be a standing PB!)
21.1k - 2.05.28 (Doomben 2011)
Races I hope to sign up for in 2012:
Noosa 10k (May 6)
Mother's Day Classic 8k (May 13)
Doomben 10k (June 3)
Gold Coast Half Marathon (July 1)
Redcliffe Jetty2Jetty 5/10k (July 15) - pending
Ipswich Park2Park 10k (July 29)
Sydney City2Surf 14k (Aug 12) - pending
Bridge2Brisbane 10k (Sep 2)
Whitsunday Trail Run 28.7k (Sep 23)
Melbourne 10k (Oct) - pending
Endeavour 500k relay (Nov) - pending
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Stop, Laura, Stop!
I did not want to go for a long slow run today. After a beautiful weekend of running along the beachfront with friends where it was less like running and more like floating on air...how could I go back to dogging it solo for the next 90 or so minutes?
By the time I dragged myself I knew just what I'd do. You see, I have two runs to get done this weekend - LSD and sprints. Why not combine them for a long slow...sprint? What better way to pre-fatigue than to slog a couple of k's beforehand?
So out I went, mentally changing my route every couple hundred metres. In the end, I did a nice easy jog around the park, starting flat-side first. This lasted 4k. I climbed a hill for the next km (it's a long hill!), recovered down the other side, and...blast off! Away I went with my sprints.
Too easy, right?
So it would seem. In km 2 I started to get twinges in my shins. Nothing worth stopping over, but mildly concerning all the same. Not concerning for this run, but concerning because I shouldn't be feeling any twinges in my shinny shin shins.
Luckily, that went away when I hit the hills. Onto sprints! And you know the weirdest thing? I really am liking sprints. I think it's because it's mentally so easy. First, it's just 20min. 20min!!! Seriously! Second, I don't count the recovery parts in my mind. And third, I mentally break it down by thinking of it as mini-challenges.
Mini-challenge #1: 2x 90sec intervals. No worries. After the first one, there's just one left!
Mini-challenge #2: 4x 60sec intervals. Again, just a simple countdown. And after 90sec, 60sec is nothing! Too easy. I might start getting tired by the 2nd one, but then there's only two left!
Mini-challenge #3: 4x 30sec, 4x 15sec. I'm not even sure if this could be classified as a 'challenge'. Afterall, that's a grand total of 3min of sprinting. And it's so short I barely get going before it's over.
I was happily cruising through the sprints. I got down to the 30sec intervals, my mind chanting out "Go, Laura, Go!". When out of the blue, my body cried "Stop, Laura, Stop!". The back of my knee flared up in pain. Nothing super serious, but more than concerning. I had less than 5min to go in my sprints - less than 5min! My mind desperately wanted to finish it off. The pain wasn't that bad, just a bit of a red flag.
I stopped. I walked home. It was so, so hard to do that. Much harder than if I'd finished the sprints at a gentler loping gait. But live to run another day is a creed I follow.
Don't worry all you concerned readers: as soon as I stopped running the pain went away. It made it all the harder to call it a session, but I did.
Total time: 50.42
Total distance: 7.90km
Total elevation: 354m
Avg pace: 6.24
90sec rep/recovery x2: 5.11/6.14 \ 5.38/6.54
60sec rep/recovery x4: 5.24/6.48 \ 5.37/6.50 \ 5.12/6.16 \ 5.05/6.18
30sec rep/recovery - incomplete. Live to run another day.
By the time I dragged myself I knew just what I'd do. You see, I have two runs to get done this weekend - LSD and sprints. Why not combine them for a long slow...sprint? What better way to pre-fatigue than to slog a couple of k's beforehand?
So out I went, mentally changing my route every couple hundred metres. In the end, I did a nice easy jog around the park, starting flat-side first. This lasted 4k. I climbed a hill for the next km (it's a long hill!), recovered down the other side, and...blast off! Away I went with my sprints.
Too easy, right?
So it would seem. In km 2 I started to get twinges in my shins. Nothing worth stopping over, but mildly concerning all the same. Not concerning for this run, but concerning because I shouldn't be feeling any twinges in my shinny shin shins.
Luckily, that went away when I hit the hills. Onto sprints! And you know the weirdest thing? I really am liking sprints. I think it's because it's mentally so easy. First, it's just 20min. 20min!!! Seriously! Second, I don't count the recovery parts in my mind. And third, I mentally break it down by thinking of it as mini-challenges.
Mini-challenge #1: 2x 90sec intervals. No worries. After the first one, there's just one left!
Mini-challenge #2: 4x 60sec intervals. Again, just a simple countdown. And after 90sec, 60sec is nothing! Too easy. I might start getting tired by the 2nd one, but then there's only two left!
Mini-challenge #3: 4x 30sec, 4x 15sec. I'm not even sure if this could be classified as a 'challenge'. Afterall, that's a grand total of 3min of sprinting. And it's so short I barely get going before it's over.
I was happily cruising through the sprints. I got down to the 30sec intervals, my mind chanting out "Go, Laura, Go!". When out of the blue, my body cried "Stop, Laura, Stop!". The back of my knee flared up in pain. Nothing super serious, but more than concerning. I had less than 5min to go in my sprints - less than 5min! My mind desperately wanted to finish it off. The pain wasn't that bad, just a bit of a red flag.
I stopped. I walked home. It was so, so hard to do that. Much harder than if I'd finished the sprints at a gentler loping gait. But live to run another day is a creed I follow.
Don't worry all you concerned readers: as soon as I stopped running the pain went away. It made it all the harder to call it a session, but I did.
Total time: 50.42
Total distance: 7.90km
Total elevation: 354m
Avg pace: 6.24
90sec rep/recovery x2: 5.11/6.14 \ 5.38/6.54
60sec rep/recovery x4: 5.24/6.48 \ 5.37/6.50 \ 5.12/6.16 \ 5.05/6.18
30sec rep/recovery - incomplete. Live to run another day.
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