On my workout grind...

Since I last blogged I've gotten some great workouts in and I've been feeling pretty awesome. Here's a quick rundown:

Sunday 20 miler
Monday swim class
Tuesday 6x800 m repeats + core work
Wednesday 4.5 mile run + Warrior Fitness Bootcamp

Let's start with the 20 miler. Last week when I had to run 18 miles alone, I seriously dreaded it then struggled through it and wished I had some running company. This week, for 20 I actually really enjoyed the solo run. It started a little rocky though. I walked out of the door and IMMEDIATELY it started pouring. Meanwhile, it had been lovely out all day but I had procrastinated from hitting the streets. Luckily it only lasted the first couple miles. Then, I had to stop at a portapotty at mile 3!!! Between that and the rain I was pretty irritated. But then, post portapotty it all came together. A nice easy smooth 20 mile run, which took me down through battery park city, across the brooklyn bridge and then home in about 3:10. The whole time I was running I was thinking...hmm, I should blog about this, and this, and this... But now it's Wednesday and I've blogged about none of it. Whoops! Maybe next time.

Swim class
I was pretty concerned that finishing up my run at 8:30pm on Sunday might make my Monday morning swim pretty difficult but for some reason, I felt great. Must have been the 3 advil I took right before bed. We continued practicing our breathing and rotation and the instructor ACTUALLY COMPLIMENTED ME! I was elated. Apparently, I'm good at not taking my whole face out of the water when I'm swimming. I'm hoping if we continue moving along slowly, I will improve and learn and keep getting compliments.
The other wonderful thing about swimming class was that afterwards I felt amazing! No soreness from the run at all. I'm truly convinced that swimming is the best cross training there is for running.

6x800s
Ugh! So I normally like interval training...when done outside,in the morning, with my team, with Spencer encouraging me to keep going. Now, on the other hand, doing the exact same intervals on the treadmill in the evening after work is TERRIBLE. I truly do not understand how people manage to work out at night. I had no energy at all and strugged to do the 800s at a 7 min/mile pace. I got through 6 though ranging in pace from 7 min/mile- 7:16 min/mile, which I guess isn't too shabby. The cleaning lady said she was tired from just watching me do them. LOL. I honestly felt like i was going to die the whole time...I almost wonder if the treadmill was calibrated correctly!! I did some thorough stretching afterwards as well as some core work. Spencer would have been proud (if I hadn't slept through practice that morning)

4.5 mile run and WFBC
Again, I was concerned this morning b/c I did a hard workout last night and had another hard workout this morning. I took the run super easy though, which was nice. I ran into Claire and one of the fast guys from Terrier in the park before I headed down 5th avenue to get to class. And, of course, class was amazing as usual. Strangely, it was the best WFBC class I've had in a while. I didn't feel exhausted from marathon training and actually had some speed in my legs. It Got over the walls just fine. (Not the rope though...I will get there one day) It was nice to not feel like a slacker for a change.

So, it got me thinking, what was so different that gave me so much more energy. I came up with a few things. I slept in yesterday (got 10 hours of sleep...amazing!) and have been doing a MUCH better job of stretching and foam rolling which I think helping my recovery. Also, on Sunday after my long run, I had a protein shake immediately. Before I started my run, I had a slice of bread to fuel my workout. Finally, I've just been eating MUCH better. For a while, I was eating and drinking all of the wrong things. Fried things, cake, ice cream, wine--very little fruits/veggies. The thing about marathon training is to an extent you can eat a LOT and not gain weight BUT, you feel so much better if you fuel up with healthy nutritious stuff. Unfortunately, b/c I changed so many thing at once, I'm not sure where the change came from but I do know I felt lighter and fitter and great. I am gonna have to keep this up leading into the race :)

So all and all a great 4 days. Let's hope I can keep this up! :)

Miracles Do Happen

Today was our biweekly tempo run. Per usual, I had been dreading this run all week, especially after getting killed at WFBC on Wednesday. I woke up with super sore hamstrings, quads and abs (Ruben really did a number on me this week) and hit snooze until about 5:50am. Oops! Finally, I got myself together and hopped in a cab (I know...I should not be dropping dollars on cabs but sometimes it's just necessary for those 15 extra minutes) at 6am and made it down near our meeting place at 59th street and the west side path around 6:10. I jogged over the 2 blocks from where the cab left me to the west side instead of the 1 mile I had initially planned to warm up.

I caught the tail end of group stretching and then Spencer let us know that we would be doing 8 miles at tempo pace or what he and running magazines like to call a "comfortably hard" pace. 8 miles is a loooong time to maintain a "comfortably hard" pace, especially when I mostly feel the hard part. Spencer also advised us to take the first mile a bit slower and that it should be our slowest mile. I, along with many others in the group tend to have a problem with overrunning the first mile despite Spencer stressing that we not every single week.

So here's the miracle you've been waiting for, "I DIDN'T HATE IT!!!" Now, please don't be confused, this was no easy run. While felt like I could have kept going at the end, which I suppose is the hallmark of comfortably hard, I certainly did not want to and I definitely wanted to slow down the whole time. At the same time, I felt pretty strong being able to hold an 8 min/mile pace give or take a few seconds for the whole 8 miles. And, unlike the last time I did a tempo run, I didn't have a middle mile where I felt like I was absolutely going to die--my times were generally pretty consistent. Here are my splits:

Mile 1: 8:07

(I was a good little runner and followed Spencer's advice, plus he's been riding his bike to the mile markers and calling out our times for us, so I knew he'd know if I overran the first mile)

Mile 2: 7:58
Mile 3: 7:56
Mile 4: 8:04
Mile 5: 8:03
Mile 6: 7:59
Mile 7: 8:01
Mile 8: 7:39 (for .97 miles allegedly so the pace was 7:55 min/mile)

For those of you not familiar with tempo runs, here are some interesting articles that describe this particular brand of running torture.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--11909-1-1-2,00.html

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=5615&PageNum=1

So now, we have just one more tempo run before we taper. The marathon is approaching so quickly...just 5 more weeks to go from Sunday!!

OUCH!!!! but damn I love WFBC

So I had really planned not to go to bootcamp this week. I have a 6 miler, 10 miler (8 miles tempo), and 20 miler for the next 3 days. But, the thought of not going to boot camp for 2 weeks was so sad to me, that I decided ehhh, I'll rearrange my workouts, suck it up and do the thing I love. So I did. I ran 4 miles down to class and then spent some quality time getting tortured.

So I arrived like a minute late, and Alex denied me water and gatorade because apparently, I need to get up earlier and get there on time. Now, you would think I'd get some points for running down to class and doing more than the class has done by the time I arrive. Not with these crazy marines. No sir--despite the fact that if I just took the subway down I would have arrived on time, I deserved punishment for putting in my extra 4 miles. *sigh*

Today Ruben was teaching class and he, per usual showed no mercy on me for having super sore legs. We started by running laps around the room (no freaking jumping jacks even) then up to 12. When we returned, Ruben had bars for us to run around with and then back up the stairs with. He gave me a gray bar, which is one of the heavier ones though I have no idea how much it weighs--enough that it's no fun carrying it up any stairs or running around the room with it. There was hopping around the track on one leg after that. More laps, more stairs, and finally some jumping jacks. I thought I was in the clear.

Nope, now it was time for the ab set from hell. Crunches, jack knives, leg lifts, hold the legs 6 inches off the ground, repeat. repeat. repeat. OUCH!

More laps, more stairs then finally water. By this time I was sooo thirsty. After all, I starting running over an hour before and it was crazy humid out! After our very brief water break, I was in Ruben's group for the smaller group workout. On deck--squats with a kettlebell (75 of them I believe), deadlifts with the kettlebell, more laps. Repeat. Throw in some skullcrushers. Repeat entire circuit. More laps. More OUCH!

Finally we finished up our sets and went back to do our planks and standard warrior call outs at the end of class. As usual, I was soaked from head to toe like I had jumped in the shower with my clothes on. Oh no, that's just sweat. Clearly, I'm super sexy sweaty during WFBC.

So, could Ruben have picked a worse day to wage war on my legs? Not likely. My mileage over the next few days is the highest it's been so far this season. Do I regret choosing to go to boot camp? NOT A CHANCE!! Only sad part is I have to wait a whole week to see my 6:30am warriors and Ruben and Alex again!!

The Mile

From the time I started marathon training this year, I've been dreading Tuesday's workout. Mile repeats. The thing about mile repeats is that you feel like you need to run hard because you're doing intervals but it's one freaking LONG interval.

After our usual warm up we headed to the S to begin our torture. Run 1 mile, followed by a 2.5 min recovery jog. Spencer told us to not go too hard b/c our more important workout of the week is our tempo run on Friday. I was feeling pretty tired for the workout--I really need to work on getting more sleep. Here are my mile splits.

7:20
7:16
7:29
7:34
7:49

I know what you're thinking--her times sure did slip down over the course of the workout. Let me tell you, I was STRUGGLING on that last mile and wanted to stop and walk the whole time. That was a hallmark of my training last year. On the last intervals, I would almost always quit part-way through. The worst part about that is that according to what I read in Runners World and other running magazines, those last intervals are the ones that really count and make you stronger and faster. So, despite the fact that my last mile was 29 seconds/mile slower than my first mile, I'm going to go ahead and be happy that I just kept on running.

On a related note, Spencer always tells us we should jog through the 2.5 minute recovery. I'm pretty good about this but I've noticed, most people don't! I wonder how much of a difference it all makes. I tend to dance to the beat of my own drum (is that the right saying?) when it comes to team training. Whereas some folks run in a group or in pairs keeping up with each others pace, I tend to just do all the intervals at my own pace, whether I'm ahead or behind of my team members. I dunno, that just works for me.

In all Tuesday, I ended up running almost 8 miles. 5.69 miles of intervals+ jogging in between, .8 miles of warmup (from CPW to the meeting spot and from where we do our warm up to the S...so it doesn't include the strides and other stuff actually in the warm up) and 1.29 slooooooow miles to get home. I can feel pretty good about that :)

Long Lonely (Inner Strength Building) 18 (17.5) Miler

On Saturday, I needed to run 18 miles before getting on an 11am bus to Washington, D.C. I was pretty bummed about it because a) it meant I was going to have do the 18 miler the day after a hill workout and at the end of a week of pretty heavy mileage and b) I was going to have to do it ALL BY MYSELF! So, needless to say I was dreading it. Despite the fact that I trained for my first and second marathons almost all by myself, over the last two seasons I've gotten spoiled and have been spending most of the longer runs chatting it up with friends.

Anyway, I still got up Saturday morning determined to knock out my 18 miler with the 7 middle miles at around race pace, which I think should be between 8:35-8:45 min/miles (I'm aiming high!). I planned to run down the West Side Highway 9 miles and turn around, picking up the pace after mile 6. All went pretty well (except a pit stop at a portapotty around mile 5.5) until after my race pace miles. I was SERIOUSLY depleted and was doubtful about whether I was going to complete the full 18. It was also super swampy out and so I was sweating like a beast. My socks (which btw are sweat wicking socks) were SOPPING wet and with every step I took, I could feel them swishing. This didn't make me particularly happy considering I had just gotten a pedicure the evening before. Here a link to the run.

9.24 Lonely 17.5 Miler by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details

Basically my non-race pace miles I averaged between 9:16 and 10:25, and my race pace miles averaged between 8:31 and 8:43. As you can see, I seriously BONKED for the last few miles. I only ended up doing 17.5--partially b/c I was so tired, and partially b/c I needed to get back home to pack for my 11am bus. I thought my heavy legs and sluggishness was a result of a week of training and no break before the long run, but after talking to my friend Consuelo who is also marathon training, I realized it was more likely the result of not drinking any gatorade, not eating anything b4 I started running, and only using a few shot bloks and no gu during the run. I'm going to have to do better with my nutrition going forward b/c feeling like you have literally nothing left in you is no fun at all.

All in all though, I am pretty pleased with the run. Holding between an 8:31- 8:43 pace for 7 miles after already running 6 miles and then doing another 4.5 was pretty legit. Also, considering the fatigue on my legs and lack of any nutrition, I think it's pretty respectable. In 2 weeks, I have a 19 miler which I think 9 miles of which will have to be at race pace so that will be a good test of what I can accomplish on race day.

Heavy training ahead!! On deck for this week:

Swim monday. 5x 1 mile repeats Tuesday (+ warmup and an easy 2 miles between getting to practice and getting home), 7 miler Wednesday + bootcamp, 4 miler Thursday, 8 mile tempo Friday, and 20 miler Saturday. Lots to blog about for sure :)

Garmin Logs Don't Lie

Today was our usual Friday Terrier marathon practice. I woke up feeling surprisingly rested considering that I went to bed at 1:30am having eaten half a bag of popcorn for dinner, and only slept till 5:30 am. I arrived to practice mid-warmup, per usual. In theory I suppose I could get up earlier and attempt to take the 5:41 am bus instead of the 5:51 am bus but it's pretty doubtful that will ever happen. The only workout I can manage to get to ontime 60% of the time is WFBC and that's ONLY because I hate carrying water jugs up the stairs and having everyone else pay for my inability to get out of bed.

Anyway, I got started doing skips, lateral shuffles, backward skips and some other drills with the team. Then we did our strides and Spencer told us we were doing the hill up to the exit at 72nd street, which resulted in an audible groan from the group and with folks asking where that hill is.

I remembered that particular hill quite well actually. Last year it was the first hill we did repeats on at the beginning of the marathon program. At that time I was probably 10-15 lbs heavier than I am now and way slower! In fact, when we got to the hill I couldn't even believe how short and not steep it was. Spencer assigned the intermediate group 40 minutes--the first 20 at 85% and the second at 90%. Surprisingly, I felt awesome and strong for pretty much the whole time--which is a big deal given how much I HATE hills. Here's my garmin log entry from today.

TT Hill Workout 9/23/11 by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details

For those of you who don't feel like clicking the link, basically for the first 20 minutes, I ran up the hill between an 8:12-8:30 pace and then coasted down at a 9:30-10 pace. For the second 20 minutes, I ran up the hill at between a 7:14- 8:03 pace and coasted down at a 9:30-10 pace. In total I averaged a 9:07 pace for the workout.

Now, what makes this super impressive is looking at my same workout on that hill from 2010.

TT Hill Workout 7/30/10 by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details

Granted, this was the first hill workout I had ever done in life. Unfortunately, I hadn't figured out at that point that I should hit the lap button when I got to the top and bottom of the hills to keep track of my up vs downhill splits. But, that time I did 30 min and my average pace was 10:09 and my FASTEST pace for the entire workout was 7:51. What a change!!

Today's workout (and my post-workout evaluation) definitely inspired me to keep working hard!

Dreadmill and Foam Rolling

This evening it was raining and I didn't feel like getting soaked so I opted for the treadmill at my office gym, or the dreadmill, as I so very affectionately call it (I borrowed this nickname from another fitness blogger). What's funny is that until 2007 when I became a "runner," I could not run outside at all and only could run on the dreadmill. Now, I HATE it! I seriously cannot understand how it takes what seems like forever to get through each .1 of a mile. But, I pulled together every ounce of marathon dedication and did a SUPER easy 4 miles (9:40 pace).

In addition to the dreadmill, I also spent some time foam rolling and stretching--both not favorites of mine. Now, despite all the miles I've been putting in, I've been a delinquent stretcher/foam roller, and my body is paying the price. For example, for the last week or so, after a run or bootcamp, sometimes when I walk I get random pain spasms in my hips. I got a massage on Monday b/c I thought it would alleviate this problem---no such luck. So today I sucked up and lived through the terrible terrible pain of foam rolling my quads, it bands and hips. OUCH!!!! Hurts more than any runs I've done. But, I figure if I want to actually make it to the NYC Marathon, I better stop ignoring Spencer's constant reminders to stretch/foam roll.