Yesterday I had a good speed workout on the treadmill. Wednesdays are my weekly speed session. It's hard to run fast when there is ice and snow on the trails and road, but the treadmill provides a respite from the cold and damp conditions. It's boring, but safe. I ran 400m fast (7:15-7:30 pace), followed by 400m medium pace recovery (8:00 pace) intervals. Do 6 of each (12 total) and I have a 3-mile run with 1.5 miles of fast 1/4 mile surges. With the 1/2 mile warm-up and 1/2 mile cool-down, it's a nice quick 4-mile workout. I will change the Wednesday session to suit my tastes and keep things interesting. Last week was 800m fast, 400m "rest" jogging. I'll likely have 1200m and full mile (~1600m) repetitions in the future. I realize my rest intervals should be slower paced (maybe 9:00 jog instead of 8:00 run), but I am trying to condition my body & mind to "feel" that 8:00 pace as easy and regular running. That's my Friday test run pace and my Boston Marathon qualifying pace (need 3:30 for the marathon).
My speed sessions are based on the McMillan Running web site schedules. THIS SITE IS AN AWESOME RUNNING RESOURCE! Go there, bookmark the site, and return when you have running related questions. Greg McMillan uses research and practical knowledge from his own running and coaching to provide guidance. If I enter 3:30 for a marathon finish time, it'll show me all the workouts (and other race times) I should expect to run. Right now I'm running the speed sessions slightly slower than he suggests, but I'll be at his recommended paces within a couple of weeks.
The nice thing about doing speed sessions on Wednesday is that they are preceded and followed by very easy running on Tuesday and Thursday with Jeff. It may be cold, dark, and dreary at 5:30am...but the pace is extremely easy and the company keeps me thinking about my running. That Jeff dude loves to run...or walk...or hike. In fact, Jeff has a new blog entitled "Jeff Loves to Run." It ain't no "Clinton Lake Ultra" super blog...but it has potential. Hopefully Jeff will post his weekly "losing weight/getting in shape" updates there. And various training plans and philosophies.
Jeff's most recent update to me (yesterday) was... "Weight at 233 lbs and starting twice a day work outs."
2 comments:
Chris,
The race is still many weeks away and yet I check your trail conditions update each day! Maybe I need to wait until closer to race day. Really, I appreciate your updates....for some reason it helps me.
The trail is pretty tough right now--lots of snow and ice. A few trees down too, but those can be gotten around without too much trouble. It's not favorable for running the whole trail...but a fast hike or slow slog is OK.
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