Yesterday was the first day of my 16 week training program to get ready for the Memphis Marathon Dec 2.
Yesterday was cross training. I tried and tried to find someone to ride with me. I had given up and was getting dressed to ride when Tracy called. She wanted to ride at about 6:00pm. So I waited on her and we met at the ball fields. We did the Normandy loop again. I forgot to start my computer right away and then I forgot to turn it off once we finished. But it was 20 miles in about 1:15. There was a lot more traffic then normal and we just missed a rain storm.
This morning was intervals.
The plan:
10-20 minute warm-up
3 x 1600 at 5k pace minus 15 seconds (1 minute recovery interval)
10 minute cool-down
The actual:
1.89 mile warm up in 19:15
1st 8:02
2nd 7:58
3rd 8:14
1.0 mile cool down in 10:17
I didn’t run the intervals as fast as I wanted. Something about speed at 5:00 in the morning is just wrong. The 1 minute recovery went by FAST. I was still breathing hard when I set out on my second interval and by the third I thought I was just going to die. I had set my Garmin up for distance/time intervals and I didn’t like the fact that I could not see my pace while running. I am a clock watcher. I will have to look into it and see if I can change the display.
Lana is thinking about the Las Vegas Marathon Dec 10th. The good news is she will be doing a lot of training with me. The bad news is that she won’t be going to Memphis with me. I would LOVE to go to Vegas instead of Memphis but unless someone wants to put me up for free and give me an airline ticket I will be going to Memphis.
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4 comments:
I agree with you about "speed in the morning". I just luckly to be moving these old bones before dawn.
Michele ... This was a brutal 1600 repeats session. Why are you only allowing yourself 60 seconds for a recovery? This won't give you enough time to recovery from a mile at your 5k (less 15 seconds) pace. You can see that in your third repeat.
Granted, you are, by definition, able to run 3 miles with no rest at your 5k pace; but this work out isn't intended to be a race. You’re training your body to run near your VO2max. Try running your 1600m repeats with an 800m recovery pace in-between. This will keep your body moving for 4:30 min or so between 1600s and give your body a chance to recharge before the next repeat. You shouldn't be out of breath before you start the interval.
A warning before you read my next comment. I am a reformed Garmin junkie so if I appear to be proselytizing, just ignore me.
Before my reformation, I felt the need to look at my Garmin 10x per mile (or more). I'd set the pace minder and put up with the constant beep, beep, beep as I slowed down. Finally, Mike convinced me to stop using the Garmin as a crutch and to start listening to my body (he also got me to stop using a watch for racing, but more on that in another comment). I still wear the Garmin for most of my runs, but only to collect info for later analysis.
One of the benefits of running intervals, besides pushing up your VO2max is to work on your running form. This exercise gives you 7 minutes to focus on form, focus on staying relaxed and focus on keeping a nice and steady cadence. You can't do that staring down at your watch and reacting to the Garmin's readout. In fact, I will posit that constantly looking at the Garmin will cause your pace to be less stable than focusing on how your body feels. (I won't bore you with the details)
There are a couple of ways to get around the Garmin staring on 1600s. You can set up your Garmin to auto-lap at 800m. The Garmin will beep and give you your time half way through the interval, allowing you to make a slight adjustment to keep your overall pace within the desired range. It will beep a second time to give you your second half split and indicate that it is time for your recovery 800m; and finally, will beep again to tell you to start your next 1600.
The second suggestion is to run 1600 repeats on a track. I started using a track to do my interval training 3 months ago and haven’t looked back. It takes all the guess work out the distance (since the Garmin can build up distance errors if you are going around corners frequently) and allows you to take a timing split 4x per 1600. The track surface is also easier on your feet than asphalt or concrete.
One last constructive comment … You need to run your intervals within a range. On any given day you will probably run 1600 intervals +/- 6 seconds around your “ideal” target. Your speed is affected by how much sleep you got the night before, the air temperature, the humidity, what you’ve eaten over the past 24 hours, etc. Going out and saying, “I’m going to run 3x1600 at a 7:15/mi pace” will lead to frustration. Try thinking about it more as, “I’m going to run 3x1600 between 7:10 and 7:20 pace.” If you run the first interval at 7:18, try to run the second about the same. The key is to keep the pace constant, keep your heart rate up, finish the sessions, and have fun doing it.
And thanks again for stopping by my blog. I appreciate your comments.
that's the longest comment i've ever seen on a blog. kudos, Phil. I didn't read much of it, but I noticed that you used the word "posit," which is one of my favorite words. nice.
on to my actual comment. HI MICHELE! you know my thoughts on this... me + mornings + speed = BLECH. awesome job getting the intervals done!
Great job getting the intervals done! I was pretty worried about that 1 min rest interval. Especially since I usually rest a lot more than that on just an 800 interval workout.
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