This year has been a year focused solely on running and making improvements to speed- mainly to reduce the crazy race spending from last year. Piece of cake, right? After all it's only ONE sport instead of THREE. My husband and I started off training together at the same pace. I knew he would soon feel the need to pick up the pace, and if you want to get faster at running, you should be running fast- or at least I thought that's what is supposed to happen.
Running has always been my weakness in Triathlon so when my husband suggested we only run this year I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me. After a few months of being left in the dust and trying to keep a fast 'tempo run' pace I started to doubt myself and my training plan...or lack of a solid plan. The loosely followed plan was to do one track workout a week (usually on Tuesday with our local triathlon club) in addition to a tempo run on Friday that consisted of a mile warm up around 10-10:30min pace followed by a faster 3-4 miles in which I tried to hang on to a 9:20 pace. With my fastest 5k being around 28 minutes it seemed like an attainable goal. I managed to do a few of these runs but ended up beating myself up for either not reaching my average pace or having to stop and walk on subsequent runs. I felt it wasn't working for me.
After doing a little research I found a book called Run Workouts published by Velopress and figured I would give it a try. I dusted off my heart rate monitor, strapped it around my chest, and began the 10k training program. It started off with an efficiency test for a baseline of your current aerobic capabilities and ended with a 30 minute run. After that efficiency test Matt and I realized we won't be able to train together since our paces are so different for our easy runs. It took me a few days to adjust to this new slower pace while I aimed to keep my HR around 60% max. My old 'easy' pace was 10min/mi and my new pace according to my HR zone is around 11:30min/mi. Such a huge change that I was subconsciously speeding up and going back to my old pace- one that I couldn't sustain.
I'm still experimenting and it's only the second week of base mileage but I have been able to run more miles per week and am no longer beating myself up for having to slow down and/or walk. Supposedly when I do the efficiency test again in a few weeks I should be able to run faster at 60% HR max.
My running seems really slow but I hope that by taking my pace down a notch I can make leaps and bounds once the quality workouts are added. I hope...
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Early Season Clearing out the Cobwebs
As I get back into working out after the Ironman, and I don't mean just a workout here and there but workouts with a purpose, I find it was probably best to rest a little after the IM then start back up again sooner. The winter was rough without my almost daily endorphin dose from running and exercising. It is way harder to get back into the routine of things after such a long time off. For next winter I'll know better than to snuggle on the couch with my warm cup of hot chocolate instead of donning my layers for a cold wintry run.
That being said I am slowly seeing improvements to my run times on the track. With everything that has been going on at our home business, my husband and I decided we would focus solely on running this year. Running is a much less expensive sport than triathlon. One one of my long runs I was digging into how I felt about only running this summer and found I was actually sad I wouldn't be getting out on my bike and logging miles away from home on the trails around Denver. I am even more sad I won't be swimming in the outdoor pool beneath the shade of the trees and looking up at the sky on backstroke. This was the moment I had an epiphany. Before this I didn't realize how much I really loved the sport. I can't walk away from it- I can't just do one sport! I will somehow find a way to sneak in a couple rides and swims this summer. (That is, once my rotator cuff heals...and let me tell you, it's been a long road to recovery so far! Inflamed tendons don't forgive easily). Until then I will have to settle for 'just' running.
This summer I have already done one 5k (28:23, 4th place F20-29) and will definitely beat that time next 5K.
That being said I am slowly seeing improvements to my run times on the track. With everything that has been going on at our home business, my husband and I decided we would focus solely on running this year. Running is a much less expensive sport than triathlon. One one of my long runs I was digging into how I felt about only running this summer and found I was actually sad I wouldn't be getting out on my bike and logging miles away from home on the trails around Denver. I am even more sad I won't be swimming in the outdoor pool beneath the shade of the trees and looking up at the sky on backstroke. This was the moment I had an epiphany. Before this I didn't realize how much I really loved the sport. I can't walk away from it- I can't just do one sport! I will somehow find a way to sneak in a couple rides and swims this summer. (That is, once my rotator cuff heals...and let me tell you, it's been a long road to recovery so far! Inflamed tendons don't forgive easily). Until then I will have to settle for 'just' running.
This summer I have already done one 5k (28:23, 4th place F20-29) and will definitely beat that time next 5K.
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