Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Frustration = Faster Splits

Do you ever have too many  goals for yourself when it comes to your fitness?? I don't think its a bad thing to have too many goals, but sometimes they conflict with eachother and you have to choose what takes priority. 
I have 4 fitness-related goals that I want for myself and what will help  get me there:

I want to be fast. (speedwork / hill work )
I want to be stronger. (weight training / bootcamp maybe some hill work )
I want to be able to build up mileage base so I can run a marathon (MORE miles)
I want to trim down and tone up (weight training / boot camp... nutrition, obviously )

Me being the stubborn individual that I am, have been trying to do all 4, while still racing, but yet none of the areas gets enough attention to be GREAT, just enough to get by. When I took a minute to really think about what I want deep down, its to be fast--- however my actions are not congruent with my ultimate goal 

Let me explain.....
I've been going to bootcamp more to get stronger and  toned, but then my mileage suffers and I end up running only 2-3x week. I've been adding longer mileage on the weekend, but then I'm so sore I have to take more days off, thus again running 2-3x week. Because I'm only running 2-3x week I want my runs to be longer, so therefore I don't focus on 'speed work' --- ultimately how am I going to get faster if I don't do speedwork?!?!? DUH LISA.

I've been eyeballing a certain LOVELY pair of Asics gel noosa for quite some time now, and I was kindly informed that in order to 'pull these off' I need to earn them- aka pull a fast time for a half marathon race... wasn't sure if I was ready to announce the time, but its now or never- 1:45:59 = 8:08/pace


Whew, feel better getting that off my chest. Everywhere you look for them, the standard price is $120, but I just so happened to check out Academy Sports this weekend and as you can see, $20 cheaper, SCORE!

AFTER I run my half in the 1:45s, however long that may take, I need to have my gait tested to see if Asics will work for my stride- the gel noosas are a racing shoe, so probably could only use for speed work or shorter runs, but hey, I'll look good doing it. 

Yesterday I had a lot of built up frustration that I needed to release. I started out with my usual 5 mile route after work-  a minute or two into the run I was 'feeling it' so I decided to pick up the pace and do mile repeats with 30 sec of walking in between (ok so maybe some of them turned into 45 sec walking)

Mile 1: 6:56
Mile 2: 7:10
Mile 3: 7:08
Mile 4: 6:52

.30 mile walking / getting my breathing  straight type of cool down. 

By breaking my run into 4 parts, it was much easier to stay focused and concentrate on 1 mile at a time.
Aside from feeling accomplished for finally doing speedwork, I have to say that even thought it was completely last minute, it was successful. Realistically, I think I would have to WORK REALLY HARD to pull these times off again, I guess it shows what you can accomplish when you're pissed off ;)

During my 'cool down', I had  a fellow runner that I had passed during my last mile, catch back up to me and walked with me for a minute. He asked if Adidas was one of my sponsors--- (nevermind the fact that I was wearing Nike shorts and Saucony shoes) apparently running relatively fast, drenched in sweat, and looking focused warrants "looking bad ass enough to have a sponsor"
So.... Adidas, if you come across my blog... I'll gladly have you as my sponsor!!!


 My goal is to try to do speedwork once a week, however, with the weather now sticking around to the 80s and daylights savings time making it hotter later in the day, I don't forsee many mile repeats as my speed work. Bring on the shorter distances!

Do you do speedwork?
I am so bad at it. In the last 1.5 years, excluding yesterday,  I have done 5 speed work sessions. 1 was suicide drills with some co-workers, 1 day of 400 repeats, and 3 treadmill runs where I did 30 sec bursts of all out max effort (12.0mph) The last run I vomitted on, so haven't picked that back up.

What is your preferred way to get it done?
Since I don't do it often, guess I can't really have a preferred? I know it would motivate me more if someone was doing it with me for accountability purposes, AND I would really like to start going to a track

16 comments:

  1. I'm not good at getting in my speedwork either ... just don't like it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I never do speedword. I'm pretty militant with doing my usual.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice work. I love that he asked you if Adidas was your sponsor:) No speedwork for me. I say get the shoes no matter what your time. They are so cute!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The only time I really ever did speedwork consistently is when I ran with a running group, track workouts every Tuesday at 5a.m. Now every once in a while I will throw in a faster mile or two but nothing consistent. Way to appear sponsor worthy! That is a pretty awesome compliment!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Way to go speedy!! Adidas would be lucky to have you!! Those shoes are awesome...well worth fighting for!! I do speedwork once a week. I like doing things like ladders and progressive intervals. I love it even though it kicks my butt!

    ReplyDelete
  6. freaking speedy friend. you are amazing! those shoes are BADASSSSSS. please get them!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love those shoes super cute!! And would go with everything!!
    1:45 is a half goal I would like to achieve eventually.

    I haven't done speed work in a while and want to start again. A few things I have learned from some training books is that speed work can consist of 150m repeats after a run it doesn't necassarily have to be 400 meter repeats. For example after an 8 mi medium effort run you can an 10 x 150 meter strides. Also tempo runs are great speed work. That way you can keep your runs semi long during the week if that's what works for you and then an easy paced long run on the weekends, or you can do a few miles at a relaxed pace and then add some race pace miles in the end. I'm hoping this strategy will work for me at least :)

    I am with you on trying to strength and tone, my mileage definetly suffers when I'm trying to add strength training. I think I need to write out my plan that includes strength training days as well as my running days so that I can fit it all in.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Awesome shoes! It's scary to see your goal in print (type?) but it's a good feeling. You will get that half time!

    I like longer intervals for speedwork but I'm not really getting faster so maybe I should mix it up a little...

    ReplyDelete
  9. i like 400s, 800s, and fartleks. and i kinda love speed work (once it is actually done). you’ve got this goal for sure!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Those are some awesome mile times. I think you'll be getting those awesome new shoes soon. So I know everyone is different, but I've run several halfs in your goal time even though I've never run a mile under 7:00. You may find that working on your last 3 goals will improve your speed despite not specifically working on that goal.

    I don't do speedwork at the moment, but I'm thinking about checking out some free track workouts this spring/summer.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Speed work for me is like shaving my legs. I CONSTANTLY have to keep doing it to keep my times down or else it gets way out of control and I go back to being slow. Hence, I haven't done speed work in over a month and now I can't run 8 min miles any more. I would cry and tell you that's it's hot out as well but there's no crying in running....or at least most of the time

    ReplyDelete
  12. you've inspired me...i need to do more speedwork!

    ReplyDelete
  13. You absolutely have that 1:45 in you! Awesome mile splits... I am terrible about doing speed work too, but was trying to add it back in the past few months once/week. I usually did 400's or 800's, I don't think I was ever brave enough to attempt mile repeats!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I LOVE THOSE SHOES!!!! :) Also - not a big speed-work person, but as I continue training this spring/summer, I know it will be incorporated into atleast 1 run/week.

    ReplyDelete
  15. It sounds like you can do some major butt kicking. It's all about a schedule/plan, right? Ed Eyestone (who writes for Runners World) has great tips for Peak Performance. I'm not a speed workout fan. I prefer tempo runs and hills:)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yes. I know exactly what you mean by conflicting goals. I'm adding speedwork to my training starting next week. I need to make it a priority if I want to reach my half goal time.

    No doubt you will be wearing those Asics in no time!

    ReplyDelete