Summertime Two a Days

Lately I have been doing some two a day workouts.  I don't think I am so hardcore that I must train twice a day, it just seems that I am only able to workout in short bursts and I would sometimes rather split the workout up then try to cram it all in one session.
I have also been leaning on working out during times of stress.  Long runs are great for getting all of my tension out, however I'm not able to log any double digit runs as of late. Throwing weights around in the gym is almost as good of a stress reliver.

Workouts since my last update

Tuesday 6/19 I am having a total brain fart here and I can't remember if I ran last Tuesday or not.  I may have done speed work, I may not have.  Good God, how could I have forgotten already?!
I do remember that I worked out on my lunch break.  I did some strength training and I really focused on my upper body.

Wednesday 6/18  Two a days  In the AM I ran 4 miles at a recovery pace, at lunchtime  I went to the gym and did some circuit training.  I did sit ups, burpees, kettle bell squats, crunches on the swiss ball and lunges. It was a short but, hard workout.  My legs were smoked after the kettle bell swings and lunges.

Thursday 6/19- Rest Day. I  had an awards banquet to attend for my work so I decided to get dressed nice for work that day. I really liked my outfit.

My husband was standing on the stairs when
he took the picture.  I know this is a photography
trick used to make someone look thinner! Thanks Honey!

Friday 6/20- Two a Days 3 miles in the am (progression run) 5 miles at lunch time treadmill incline run.  My legs felt good from taking a rest day.  Here's the splits for the progression tempo run
Mile 1- 7:55
Mile 2- 7:46
Mile 3- 7:22

Saturday 6/21 -Rest

Sunday 6/22- Track Work!!!  I'm getting used to my new weekend routine.   I wanted to do some 800's and 400's I wasn't sure how to structure this workout so  I did 2 sets of 1 X 800 and 2 x 400.
I have been doing track work for the last month and I'm improving ever so slightly each week..  I was hoping that I could run a few quaters at 85 seconds....That didn't happen... Here's the data.
First Set
1 x 800- 3:03, I was really happy, the first lap was 93 seconds, the second lap was faster at 90 seconds.
I jogged for 2 minutes to recover
2 x 400  (88, 87)  After that 800 I wasn't too surprised that these were not closer to 85. I jogged for a minute to recover.

Second Set
1 x 800- 3:06- This hurt, I think both laps were 93 seconds each.

2 x 400 (90, 90) I jogged for a minute in between these for recovery. These hurt a lot and I was going to call it a day.

I recovered for a few minutes ran a few strides in the grass and I decided to run one more quater

1 x 400- 87 seconds.  This last quater helped me end things on a high note.

I then jogged slowly back home for a mile and a half cool down.

Monday  6/23  Two a Days 3 miles in the morning around the neighborhood at recovery pace, at lunchtime I met up with a coworker and we did some cross training.  We did some cardio boxing, and we took turns hitting the heavy bag with gloves.  This was really fun and a nice change up.

Tuesday    6/24-Speed work on the street... 4 X 400 with one minute recovery, 1 x  200 and a few strides,

I did this workout in the morning before work.  I did my usual warmup (one mile jog, form drills, strides, and light stretching) I found an empty parking lot with a long stretch of road.  I didn't measure the 400 meters out, but I figured 90 second quarters equals 6:00 minute pace.  I used my garmin to keep track of the pace and then I used a regular stop watch to track the 90 second intervals.  Here's the data  (93, 88, 90, 90).  It was a warm morning.  I only had a little bit of time before I had to get ready for work so I ran a 200 meter interval, and then I did a few short 50 meter strides.

Wednesday 6/25- 4 miles in the morning at recovery pace, No watch or Garmin

Tomorrow I think I might just work out with weights, and give my legs another chance to recover.

I'm starting to look forward to racing 1600 meters

When I first put this race on my calendar two months ago, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal.  I was still obsessing about my last half marathon and thinking about ways to improve on that distance.  I was also trying to find a 5k to race...

Now that I am in the thick of my training for this race, I'm really starting to revamp my goals for this event.

In high school I ran cross country and track.  For the track events I raced the mile, two mile, and I ran the 330 low hurdles for a season (I sucked).

I came very close to breaking the six minute barrier.  My fastest mile was a 6:05.   After high school I joined the Army and I focused on the two mile. That's the distance that is timed on the Army Physical Fitness Test. Man I used to love the APFT. Once I left  the military the shortest distance for me to race was the 5k.

Two months ago, I knew that I had no shot in hell in breaking 6 minutes,  I was hoping to go under 6:30.  But, now I'm thinking how crazy would it be if I finally broke the 6 minute barrier at age 36?  I'm still thinking that I probably won't break 6 minutes. But, I think I can maybe go sub 6:15......

I recently purchased some Brooks Pure Flows.  I had been wanting to try these shoes for awhile but, there were out of my price range and I couldn't justify spending so much money on a shoe that I wasn't sure about...

Pretty Colors

 I ended up buying these at a deep discount-I'm glad because these shoes are perfect for speed workouts and short distance racing only!! I could not imagine trying to do a 10-16 mile long run in these shoes.

 Workouts since my last update

I have been working on my speed!!

Tuesday 6/10- 3x800  I ran a warm up mile, then I did some form drills.  I like to do A-skips, butt kicks, and side skips to warm up.  I also did  a few strides.  Here's the data (3:06, 3:13, 3:12)  I did these on the road, with my Garmin.  It was also 90 degrees out in the morning.  It's so much harder to run fast 800's on the road!

Wednesday 6/11- Treadmill run 5 miles at an incline.  I started my run out at 7.2 pace (8:20 per mile) at 1% incline, with each mile I increased the treadmill by .5 %  by the end of run I was running at 4% incline at 7.2 pace.  Then I also did some circuit training (push ups, sit-ups, dumbbell bench press, back rows, hamstring dead lifts)

Thursday 6/12-Rest- I was really sore.

Friday 6/13-We had a retreat at work.  Another Rest Day

Saturday 6/14- Track Work!!  I went to the track to do some 400's and 200's.   I ran a mile and a half to warm up, I did some form drills, strides and I stretched.  I jogged 200 meter recoveries in between.
Here's the data
4 x 400  (87, 87, 88, 87)

8 x 200 (43,42, 42, 43, 42,42, 43, 41)

I then slowly jogged two miles home.  This workout made my legs tremble.

Sunday 6/15  I sneaked out of the house for a short 3 mile jog.  I dropped the dog off at the groomers and on my way home I stopped at the park and ran 6 laps around the half mile track.  I was glad I got a short run in, to get some of the lactic acid out of my legs.

Monday 6/16  I ran 3 miles recovery, no radio or Garmin in the morning.  On my lunch break I did some strength training.

I have a hectic work day tomorrow. It might be a rest day for me.  Focusing on this 1600 meters has been great. I feel like I'm turning back the clock, it's nice to feel the burn of speed intervals.  I also like that I don't have to hit X amount of miles per week.

My race is in 15 days.  I'm hoping to get a few more quality workouts in.


  

Some Trail Running and a 1600 meter race coming up next month

It's been awhile since my last blog post so I won't bore you with three weeks worth of my training.  Nothing special except I did do a short trail run two weeks ago and I headed out to the track on Saturday instead of doing a long run over the weekend.

Recently two running bloggers I follow both went to the Grand Canyon to do the Rim2Rim and back again.  I was really impressed with their sense of adventure.  I don't run trails much at all.  It's something that I feel is very risky to do alone.  Snakes and heat exposure are no joke.  Anyhow, I was inspired by their running and I found some of my own trail to run.

Is it still a trail run if you can see the houses?

I live pretty close to the foothills and there are some great areas to run. But, I'm too much of a pansy to go venturing off to far.  I ran about 3 miles in the dirt and 3 miles pavement.  My legs were really sore the next day.  I also wore regular road shoes and it wasn't the best idea.


I'm also training for a low key one mile track club race next month.  The training is so much different than training for a half marathon.  It's  a good time for it. My mileage is only around 20-25ish miles per week.

 I've moved my workouts from lunchtime back to before work..  Actually I'm sometimes lifting weights at lunchtime too.  I haven't raced a mile since my early 20's.  I almost broke the 6 minute barrier in high school. I don't think I will come close to breaking 6 minutes.  But, I'd like to see how close I can come.


My running has been pretty frustrating due to the heat. I'm glad that training for this event is letting me switch things up a bit.  Over the weekend I went to the track and I did speed work.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to do 400's or 200's so  I did some of both. Here's the data.

4x400 (93, 90, 88, 89)

I was getting tired of the 400's and I did an 800 to switch things up

1x800 (3:04)

2x400 (92, 89) These hurt after that 800.

4x200 (42,43,42,42) I was hoping that these would be faster

2x100 (18, 19)  I can't sprint to save my life.

For my recovery I jogged 200 meter intervals slowly.
I also did a 1 mile warm up, strides, form drills, and  2 mile cool down.

Sunday was a rest day.

Today I ran 4 miles at a recovery pace.  I have more speed work on the calendar tomorrow.