3/15/06: A Nice Fast Workout of 16-30/30s!
It may be a little known fact about me, but I LOVEEE speed workouts. My biggest reason for loving them is probably that they are shorter runs where it is sometimes easier for me to focus, but don’t get me wrong: I love the challenge too of pushing myself mentally (go faster, run smarter!) and physically (go even faster then I think my legs will let me go!) No one else makes or breaks a speed workout, but myself. Plus, I honestly feel speedwork is what can ‘make’ a distance runner: Do it and it will pay off in big ways for longer events.
Mentally, the Indian Line workout from last Wednesday helped me focus for Saturday’s race. I was able to draw on feelings/expierences from that workout and run a mostly relaxed race through a tough, but doable situation (crazy hot weather and a much faster pacer!) This workout was no exception. Again, I used Saturday’s ‘tough as nails’ but relaxed mentality and ran a very strong 30/30 workout, with a negative back-half. And although I wanted to run with my fellow SMARTies, I pushed ahead-it was just me and the trails.
It was very…relaxing. I don’t know that most people equate speed workouts to running relaxed—but I am slowly learning: YOU HAVE TO. I overheard Coach Steeeeve telling someone to relax their shoulders and I became immediately conscious of what my body was doing. I smoothed out my leg turnover, started to listen to my breathing, and just tried to run smartly: conserving energy on the recovery and pushing it close to the max on the fast 30’s. And as I slowly peeled away from the rest of the runners, I went and ‘got it.’ (You know what I mean?) The faster I ran, the more relaxed and zoned I became. It was such a great feeling. Then there were plenty of high-fives and Gatorade to go around afterwards on a well-ran workout.
I love the feeling of getting faster. The more aware of my body that I become and the better I treat it, the more I love running and how my legs want to ‘go.’ I felt…so strong and light tonight. I can tell my body wants to go-go-go. And I don’t want to hold it back anymore--I am certainly going to ‘go all out’ for the Bellaire Trolley 5k. I am eager to conquer my fear of this distance from a mental standpoint and PR, hopefully big time. Of course, the biggest things to my potential success with that distance are staying relaxed/in control and trusting my training. I think if I continue to focus on these things with shorter distances in 2006, there is no telling what the end of 2006 with the longer 21k/25k/30k’s and 2007 with the Marathon are going to have in store!
The STATS:
4 miles
36:36 total running
wu mile: 10:17
first 8-30/30’s: 8:06
2nd set 8-30/30’s: 8:07
(this number is quite deciving as I did run faster then the 1st set…)
cd mile: 10:03
Heart-rate: 176 ave/204 max
Weather: cool. Mid 60’s, low humidity.
It may be a little known fact about me, but I LOVEEE speed workouts. My biggest reason for loving them is probably that they are shorter runs where it is sometimes easier for me to focus, but don’t get me wrong: I love the challenge too of pushing myself mentally (go faster, run smarter!) and physically (go even faster then I think my legs will let me go!) No one else makes or breaks a speed workout, but myself. Plus, I honestly feel speedwork is what can ‘make’ a distance runner: Do it and it will pay off in big ways for longer events.
Mentally, the Indian Line workout from last Wednesday helped me focus for Saturday’s race. I was able to draw on feelings/expierences from that workout and run a mostly relaxed race through a tough, but doable situation (crazy hot weather and a much faster pacer!) This workout was no exception. Again, I used Saturday’s ‘tough as nails’ but relaxed mentality and ran a very strong 30/30 workout, with a negative back-half. And although I wanted to run with my fellow SMARTies, I pushed ahead-it was just me and the trails.
It was very…relaxing. I don’t know that most people equate speed workouts to running relaxed—but I am slowly learning: YOU HAVE TO. I overheard Coach Steeeeve telling someone to relax their shoulders and I became immediately conscious of what my body was doing. I smoothed out my leg turnover, started to listen to my breathing, and just tried to run smartly: conserving energy on the recovery and pushing it close to the max on the fast 30’s. And as I slowly peeled away from the rest of the runners, I went and ‘got it.’ (You know what I mean?) The faster I ran, the more relaxed and zoned I became. It was such a great feeling. Then there were plenty of high-fives and Gatorade to go around afterwards on a well-ran workout.
I love the feeling of getting faster. The more aware of my body that I become and the better I treat it, the more I love running and how my legs want to ‘go.’ I felt…so strong and light tonight. I can tell my body wants to go-go-go. And I don’t want to hold it back anymore--I am certainly going to ‘go all out’ for the Bellaire Trolley 5k. I am eager to conquer my fear of this distance from a mental standpoint and PR, hopefully big time. Of course, the biggest things to my potential success with that distance are staying relaxed/in control and trusting my training. I think if I continue to focus on these things with shorter distances in 2006, there is no telling what the end of 2006 with the longer 21k/25k/30k’s and 2007 with the Marathon are going to have in store!
The STATS:
4 miles
36:36 total running
wu mile: 10:17
first 8-30/30’s: 8:06
2nd set 8-30/30’s: 8:07
(this number is quite deciving as I did run faster then the 1st set…)
cd mile: 10:03
Heart-rate: 176 ave/204 max
Weather: cool. Mid 60’s, low humidity.
posted by Jessica, a Austin Runner AND triathlete at
12:49 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home