Help! I need more speed!!

Back in November I ran the Ragnar Relay Tennessee HERE and HERE with  some co-workers + my friend Scott and his running buddies. Although we had a blast, I was the slowest in my van by quite some time. Scott and his friends are super competitive and have done a few Ragnars, Hood to Coast, and an Ultra Ragnar (where  instead of having a team of 12, you have a team of 6 and each person runs double), so I was honored when I got a text yesterday asking if I want to join their Ragnar team for Las Vegas in October. Umm yes please!!

Now here's the catch.... with the exception of the TN Ragnar, every relay they run in, they place- in order to ensure we place at Vegas they want everyone to be sub 8 minute miles. I have no problem running below 8 minute miles for about 3 miles, but after that, I'm DEAD. I'm asking all of you for advice on what you have done thats worked in regards to increasing your speed for longer distances (up to 10 miles) I have 4 months to improve, which is plenty of time, but I have a habit of doing too much too quickly resulting in injury. 

Any input is appreciated, and if you know any female that can run multiple miles sub 8 that would want to join our team, we're looking for at least 1 more!!!

Our team from Ragnar TN- everyone wearing the blue vest + me in turquoise would be part of Vegas Team

Speed Workouts with Kickball

Today was our 2nd kickball game of the season and boy was it a workout. I play 3rd base so I'm used to always having to run and get foul balls, however what I'm not used to is running around the bases. Although I can kick hard, it generally gets caught and thus I rarely make it past 1st base. NOT TODAY MY FELLOW FOLLOWERS!!!

Today not only did I get on base, but I scored... TWICE!!

By the end of the game it was tied 4 -4 (woo woo for getting half the points) We had to do an extra inning with a runner on 2nd- other team got 2 runs and we only had one, so we lost (sigh) but I'm just excited because I got to cross home plate twice and it was a great speed workout outside of the traditional running.

As you can see from photo, it was super windy- holding up a 2 to signify 2 runs!!

Date with my Newtons.

Ever since my annoying knee injury, I hung up my Newtons. Majority of the reason being I was only doing training runs in them and I stopped doing training runs, and the other reason being  I thought they might be the cause of my injury.

I later found out the true cause(s) of what was going on in my body, ruling the Newtons out, however I jut felt they weren't stable enough to support my knee. After absolutely NO KNEE PAIN in the St. Louis 1/2 this past Sunday, I decided to break them out and go for one run this week to see how they held up.

Immediately when I started running I felt great. This has been a huge rarity lately with my running. For the past 2 months I've been feeling that my form is all off, that i'm heavy, and  S L O W. Call me crazy, but I just feel more like a runner wearing these shoes- my stride is longer, my shoulders and arms are more relaxed, I have more rhythmnic  breathing, and I'm faster!

I really wanted to turn this run into a speed workout, BUT I didn't want to push my luck, so instead I tried to keep a steady pace and if I didn't hurt afterward, I'll do my first speed workout in over 2 months next week!

End Result- 3.1 miles in 26 min- 8:32 pace. This is consistent with what I want my whole race pace to be to get a new PR, however I can't manage to get past 6 miles at this rate... pretty sure I lost some endurance with taking so much time off. My past few races I have been STRUGGLING and walking has been an absolute necessity. If my knee holds up for 1 week straight, I'm going to start doing 3 runs a week again so my endurance can once again find me :)

Here's to hoping it comes back quickly!

Speedwork

So my speedwork today was actually in the form of our first kickball game of the season. Don't laugh- running to catch the ball (which I did) and running to the bases as fast as you can (which i did) are all speedwork in its own form. I was super nervous because the last thing I need right now is a sprained ankle from stepping in a pot hole, or slipping in the mud (we've had a TON of rain this past weekend) Game went off without a hitch - and we won!! (sorry for lack of pictures)

What I'm MOST excited about is my knee doesn't hurt at ALL! It was giving me some issues when I was moving houses on saturday, but maybe it just wanted to remind me its still there. My plan for the week is at least 1 lunch run, 3.2 miles, before my Easter bunny 1/2 mary. If all goes well there, I'm going back to normal training- thank goodness. I was looking at my mileage for this year:

January -105 miles

February- 40 miles (all from 3 halfs)

March- 23

I can't help but laugh and then want to cry at the same time because I'm going stir crazy. Even though I haven't worked out that much, I still managed to lose 7lbs this month from cutting out dairy and doing my quarterly cleanse- woot woot! Although I'm no where near cutting back the inches like Becka, once I get p90x this upcoming weekend, 'train for bikini' season will be in full effect! 

My motivation??? Realistic abs like these