Since my run last weekend I have been enjoying some time off. Honestly, I've been looking for a training program that works on speed. Now that I know I can do the mileage I want to speed up. I thought I found a program last week and I was all motivated to start today but there were so many different numbers and speeds I couldn't bring myself to pack my clothes and I didn't prepare my crib sheet. Any tried and true suggestions would be helpful.
It's not that I don't understand the reason for all the different numbers. I am just wondering if there is something more...less scientific...out there. BTW...I'm exaggerating, I think it is the heat in my office. Through the blurred vision I see palm trees swaying in the nice cool breeze, a lava lamp from Pinche's waiting for me by the lake. Aaaah...then I wake up.
They cannot get the a/c and heating to work properly in my building. Last week it was cold in every one's office (comfortable in mine) now it's 80 degrees in my office and comfortable in the others. My makeup is literally melting off. Tomorrow I'm wearing a tank top and a skirt with cute little strappy sandals to work. Enough!
The weekend was good. Sunday our featured film was "Antbully". I would give it 3 out of 5 goobers. The boy was riveted, he sat in his chair with his popcorn and goobers, eyes glued to the screen for an hour of the 1.5 movie. We had our first family dogpile afterwards. That was awesome.
I joined Striders last Friday. YAY!!! I have been reading several blogs since August and I really saw the support and camaraderie from the club, especially with the half/marathon last weekend. I didn't have to give it a second thought when I was invited to join. I'm looking forward to getting involved.
In the future I will not be inundating you with "6 things only your first boyfriend in college knows about you". Initially, I thought it was interesting and provided a bit more insight for readers like me that haven't met you all face to face...Yet.
3 months ago
13 comments:
Welcome to blogging, Striders and the 1/2 marathon club!!! :-) Congrats on all three! I look forward to reading more of your blog. As as for the work on speed, I am sure the Striders can help you figure that out. I am hoping they can help me with that one too!
BTW..I am the same way with TP!
Heres as simple as I can give you.
1/4 mile as fast as you can go. 1/4 mile go slower, but not walking :)
Repeat till you get to 2 miles. :)Thats what I did last year to improve my 5K time. Do this 2-3 times a week. Anything more than that (mileage or otherwise), you do need Strider intervention.
This year I think I need professional advice which I am looking to the pro's on the Striders to help me with!!!
I cant wait to meet you!!!
Oh and you may want to enable anonymous comments because all alot of the cool smart runners on Striders dont have logins and they cant post unless they can do so anonymously but they always sign there name.
And dont pay attention to Homer. Hes harmless :)
Hey, congrats on your half. Great debut. And WELCOME TO THE BEST RUNNING CLUB IN THE WORLD!!! THE STRIDERS!!!
Hope you marked your calendar for Feb. 13, the Striders formal meeting. Awesome guest speakers and a great chance to meet so cool people, like June and Pony and Christy and Bill and Steve and Steeeve and ME!!! Look forward to meeting you soon.
RD,
Woah, welcome to the Houston Striders! And, thanks for opening comments to technical dinosaurs such as me.
June's right on track on the speed work. The key to injury-free quality workouts is to warm up really really really well. Sooo...
1-2 mile warmup at easy pace.
Set your watch to beep at you every 30 seconds.
Do 6 sets of alternating 30 seconds of strong, solid running (like you're running a 5k; not sprinting) with 30 seconds of gentle recovery running.
1-2 mile cooldown at easy pace.
Repeat weekly (do not do this workout more than once per week) adding two additional sets each week until you get to 16. Then we'll take it from there.
These are "timed" intervals which have the benefit of venue flexibility. Prefer you not do them on the road, there are safety issues. However, they're great for a trail (such as Memorial Park) or on a track.
Steeeve
Oh, you met Steeeve? Terrific!!!
Listen to Steeeve! He's very smart when it comes to this running stuff!!!
I can only reiterate what Steeeeve wrote. Mixing hard intervals with easy intervals once a week is a great way to increase speed.
If you run at Memorial, you open up the option of running for a timed hard effort, or even a distance.... like 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, etc.
Keep up the great work!
Hey, validation from Sam, I'm good with that :-) He makes a fine point - the Memorial Park loop is well-marked in 1/4 miles and is good for distance intervals as well as time intervals.
PS - If Sam challenges you to a race for money, politely decline :-)
Steeeve
Speedwork can be as simple or as complicated as you like. I prefer 400 meter repeats with 200 meter recoveries. I built up to 8-10 repeats, but I started with 4 or 5 of 'em.
They work.
When you feel you can, up it to 800 meter repeats with 200 meter recoveries, and so on and so on.
There are other, fancier methods, and if you're interested, drop me an email, and I can send you a few.
:)
What Steeeve said. Start with 30 second intervals and add one or two intervals each week. Once you get can do about 20, increase the time to 1 minute (or if you are not so sure, 45 seconds) and start over at six.
I LOVE the track! Coach Pizza (my brother John, a VERY speedy Strider) has all kinds of neat track workouts to keep things fresh and exciting. 400's and 800's are a good place to start. Vic steered me to a great pacing site...McMillan's...that will tell you at what pace you should train at all the different distances... let me see if I can post the link here...
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm
Take a look at that and we can discuss it in person sometime. Are you going to be able to run with us on Saturday morning? Bear Creek Park...meet at Patterson and Hwy. 6.
Pony
Yes, if you come out Saturday morning you might even have a Coach Pizza sighting. However, blink and you might miss him. We're starting at 8am, Hwy 6 and Patterson, 2 miles north of I-10. There's a stop light and parking lot at that intersection (and not much else).
Steeeve
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