Track Tuesday

First of all, I think I’ve been skipping out on my blog so much because I haven’t been feeling confident in my training lately. My friend/training partner gave me a figurative smack upside the head this weekend to get with it, which was needed. And the result was a badass track workout last night.

I got to the track a bit later than I wanted last night, so I only had time for a half mile warm up before the group got started. Here’s the total rundown of the night:

.5mi warm up
800m of fartleks
4×400 speed work with 200m recovery
2×800 speed work with 400m recovery
.25mi jog to hills
4 hill climbs
.25mi jog to track
1.2mi cool down
TOTAL: 6.5 miles

I haven’t been to a track night in a few weeks, so I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to move again for 3 days. But one ice bath and a night of sleep later, I felt great; great enough to do a slow 3mi recovery jog this morning! It was also such a beautiful evening for running yesterday, aside from a bit of hot setting sun.

I feel recharged and ready to go. We’re running a half marathon training distance this weekend, which is both awesome and bizarre to me. 6 months ago, this weekend’s training distance was my overall goal. And now it’s just another number. Well, not really.

Is it totally nerdy of me to want to wear the same outfit I wore in my half? Probably.

I’m okay with it.

100

There are 100 days until the marathon. Uhhhhh wow. Tomorrow we hit the double digits of the countdown, and I have my first double digit run since March. And unlike last week, I plan on actually running the whole thing!

My legs are still pretty sore from the track on Tuesday. I think I really didn’t stretch well enough and I am so paying for it. Last night I took it easy and did strength training instead of running my club’s weekly 5K. Though I did hang out at the 5K finish line with the other volunteers and socialized for a while afterwards. I can’t wait to actually run the 5K with them!

So my strength training plan… I kind of love it. The trainer I met with broke down each major muscle group and gave me different exercises to do for each group. 2-3 times a week I do 3×10 of each exercise with 30 second rests between sets.

Upper Body
Biceps: biceps curls, hammer curls
Triceps: kickbacks, overhead extension, pulldowns
Chest: pushups, chest fly
Shoulders: overhead press, forward raises, lateral raises
Upper Back: reverse fly, bent over row

Lower Body (not many exercises here, since they’re worked out while everyday walking/running)
Quads: squats
Hamstrings: deadlifts
Glutes: walking lunges

Core
Abs: crunches, leg lifts, rotations
Lumbar/Lower Back: superman, back extension, “bird dog”

By the end of summer I am going to be so toned I can’t even

Hopefully tonight I’ll be able to do an easy 3 miles and let my legs recover. It’s an absolutely beautiful 70° day… no excuse for not running!

In other news, I picked a cucumber from my garden yesterday morning! So of course I had to have it as a snack last night. I’m officially spoiled by fresh garden produce. Nothing like it :)

Happy July!

(via tumblr)

HOLY CRAP

I just got home from my track workout with my running group. And aside from the awesomeness of running 5 miles, I totally crushed my PR mile time.

We all do our own 1 mile warm-up jogs, then a bit of calisthenics. We ran two hills for a total of half a mile, and jogged back to the track. Then we did a reverse ladder (mile, 1200, 800, 400). As we started the mile, everyone dashed ahead of me. I just thought to myself “OK, just take it easy. Don’t let them determine your pace. You do what you can.” My Garmin died on me today (left it on for two days… oops?), so I was clueless about my pace most of the time. I approached the 400 mark and the coach calls out

“Two minutes!”

Well, shit. Two minute 400s is what I run when doing speed work. CLEARLY I was not running the pace I thought I was running. Lap two: “4:07!” A bit slower, okay. I felt my legs tire from the heat and hills minutes beforehand. I don’t even remember lap three’s pace. I just wanted to finish. Finally,

“8:26!”

For reals? I did an 8:26 mile? brb going to celebrate in every way and by that I obviously mean it’s time to jump in and do some 1200s and oh my legs.

I don’t remember my 1200 or 800 time. But the 400? Clocked in at 1:45. In one night, PR mile time and PR 400 time.

I think this club is going to do wonderful things for me :)

Hydration Ridiculousness

I am such a thirsty runner. And as I’ve mentioned before, my sweat basically has the salt content of ocean water. So I’ll bring fluids with me on pretty much any run over three miles. For anything over 5, I take Gatorade Endurance/Pro/whatever they’re calling it now to avoid cramping.

Now that I’m about to have a double-digit run almost every week from now until October (holy crap!), I need more than just my 22oz Nathan handheld. I’m thinking about getting a belt as well, which would definitely provide enough fluid for me, but would it look ridiculous? My question is this: do you ever look at runners and think “hahaha who needs that much equipment? What a poser.” I know, I shouldn’t care at all what other people think. I need more fluids than most, so I should just carry what I need to stay healthy.

At what point do you think to yourself “Woah, that person is using way too much gear!”? And at what point do you think “I don’t care, check out all my gear ;)”?

I have my first full track workout session tonight. I’m REALLY hoping it’s out of the 80s by then. Then again, nothing says “fun” like full-sun fartleks!