Training 11/23 - 11/29

Monday I did my first track workout in...I don't know how long. Probably since college. Although I can't argue that there are tangible benefits to running track workouts, I'm not particularly fond of them. I opted to do the workout because there was a time when I could run the 5K much, much faster than I can now, and I want to be fast again. That means track work. As I was running circles, I came to realize that if I really want to be fast again I'm going to need to join a running club. Track workouts by myself just aren't going to do it. I need other runners around me. My local running club actually meets at the high school track that I did my workout on, which is running distance from my house. Not a bad deal.

The aftermath of my college running days prevented me from joining a running club or even racing for a number of years. Don't get me wrong. I LOVED running in college. I loved my team and my coach, but after academics I gave them everything I had left. When I graduated I was a hobbled mess, with no desire to ever race again. I never stopped running though. After having a baby, the desire to race again has re-emerged. I've run a few races here and there, but I haven't honestly used the best methods for training. I need to commit to a real program. I need other runners around me that share my passion.

I won't be joining a running club immediately. I have some other priorities, but sometime in the not too distant future I see myself running with a group. For now, I want to concentrate on slowly increasing my mileage and running properly. I'm not going to worry about speed. Once I'm happy with my base, I'll think about getting faster.

Oh, back to the track workout, I had planned to do a 400 m, 800 m, 400 m, 800 m, 400 m, 800 m, 400 m with 200 meter jogs in between intervals. It's a great speed workout before a 5K. I wound up skipping the last 800m and my jogs wound up being 400 m. I just haven't been on the track in such a long time. Also, I despise 800's. I've never been able run a decent 800 workout. It always left my college coach puzzled. Besides slow 800's and longer rest than I should have taken, the workout went well. I wasn't wheezing afterward and the legs felt good. And my turkey trot went well, so it was worth the effort.

Monday:

• Track workout
• 1.5 mile warm up
• 400 m = 1:25, 800 m = 3:06, 400 m = 1:26, 800 m = 3:14, 400m = 1:28, 400m = 1:28
• 400 m jog between intervals
• 1.5 mile cool down
• Total = 6.25 miles
• 6 x 20 pushups
  

Tuesday:

• 80 minutes easy on the stationary bike
• 4 x 20 pushups

Wednesday:

• 80 minutes easy on the stationary bike

Thursday:

• 5K race
• 1 mile warm up
• 3.1 miles at 6:31 pace
• 2 mile cool down
• Total = 6 miles

Friday:

• 7 mile easy run at 9:50 pace

Saturday:

• 80 minutes easy on the stationary bike

Sunday:

• 7 mile easy run at 10:20 pace (with the running stroller)
• 5 x 20 pushups

Total Running Miles: 26
Total Stationary Bike Time: 4 hours
Total Pushups: 15 x 20 sets

5K Turkey Trot

First off, Happy Thanksgiving! I ran a local 5K turkey trot this morning. I was a little nervous coming off a bad marathon in October, a groin pull, and having had a recent flare up of asthma. I wound up doing great though! I ran 20:15 by my watch, but the official results say 20:19. There were timing chips, but they must not have used them. Arg! Regardless it was a great run. It's been eight years since I've broken into the 20 minute range. Now I'd like to get back into the 19 minute range!

I crossed the first mile at 6:20, and felt awesome. I was holding back a bit because if I go out too fast I could wind up wheezing my way through the last two miles. I felt good the whole run. It's been a long time since I felt strong running a 5K. It was nice.

My parents ran too. My mom's first 5K debut was last year at the same race. This year she ran with my dad and crossed the finish line a whole 4 minutes faster than last year! Go team Mom and Dad!

I hope everyone out there running turkey trots had a great day! Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some stats:
Overall finish: 31/692
Age Group: 2nd
Pace: 6:31

Training 11/16/2009 - 11/22/2009

I've been working hard to fix my running form. The last year or two I've developed huge strides and an arm swing fit to knock out a boxer. As a consequence, I land hard on my heel and well in front of my pelvis leading to all kinds of irritating injuries. The last two weeks I've focused on reeling in the stride and not worrying about speed. I've noticed that when I force my myself to have a shorter stride my arm swing automatically calms down. Ugh. It hasn't been easy though. I feel awkward. At this point, running the wrong way doesn't feel right, but running the right way doesn't feel quite right either. I'm committed though. If I can fix my running form anomalies, perhaps I can kick this injury thing and go back to running more miles.

During the last run of the week, I finally started to feel more comfortable with a shorter stride. It's also the first run in a long time that I've run at home without the tiny tyke in tow, and she was not happy about me running without her. She, with her squinty eyes, informed me that she wanted to run with mommy too in her running stroller. Then she gave me sad eyes. Finally she agreed to play with daddy, and of course she had a great time with the big guy while I was off pounding pavement.

I'm still crossing my fingers, and hoping that I can pull off a reasonable 5K turkey trot time. I'm hesitant to share a goal because I'm just not sure what to expect coming off an injury and a bad marathon. Last year I ran 21:15. I'd really like to break 21:00. I'll let you know how it goes!

Training Log:

Monday:

• Off. Well sort of. I spent the day (7:30 am - 5:00 pm) re-grouting our tub/shower area. My hands are sore, and did you know...grout is messy, like really messy?
  

Tuesday:

• 7.5 mile easy run at 9:00 pace
• Stationary bike workout: warm up/cool down, 3 x 1:20 hard, 4 x 2:00 hard, 2 minute rest between intervals, total 53 minutes
• 2 x 20 pushups
  

Wednesday:

• 7.5 mile easy run at 8:11 pace
• 60 minutes easy on the stationary bike
• 5 x 20 pushups

Thursday:

• Stationary bike workout
• Warm up/Cool down
• Intervals: 4 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min
• Half rest
• Total time = 90 minutes
• 5 x 20 pushups
  

Friday:

• 90 minutes easy on the stationary bike
• 1 x 20 pushups
  

Saturday:

• Row workout
• 20 minute warm up on stationary bike
• 5 K row at 19:58
• 20 minute cool down on stationary bike
• 2x 20 pushups

Sunday:

• 7 mile easy run at 8:33 pace

Total Miles Run: 22
Total Bike Time: 5:33
Total Rowed Miles: 3.1
Pushups: 15 x 20

Me and My Food

Just for reference, I'm not one to obsess over food. I like to eat, and I'm not biased. I enjoy the fruits and veggies as well as the brownies and cupcakes. I'm an equal opportunity eater. Running helps too. It's much easier for me to maintain a healthy attitude towards food when I'm running.

When Kaylee started eating solid food, I started paying closer attention to food labels and ingredient lists. As it turns out, Kaylee has an issue with soy called FPIES, and you wouldn't think so but soy is in everything. Specifically soy bean oil and soy lecithin. This means we can't eat out unless we bring food for Kaylee. The result has been we eat out much less than we once did, and most of our food is made from scratch.

So I'm thinking, hey we eat pretty darn well. Then I read this blog post, where Mary Iron Matron eats 5 servings of fruit and 7 servings of veggies everyday! Holy cannoli Batman! And here I thought I was doing okay with my struggle to eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies combined. As a result, the last three weeks or so I've made a huge effort to increase my fresh fruit and vegetable intake. Now I'm up to 9 servings combined on most days. My biggest fear with increasing fruit and veggie intake was convenience. I don't have a lot of time to cook and salad can be irritating to prepare as well. I've been eating things like apples with peanut butter and baby carrots with hummus. Oh because that was the other fear, not being satisfied. I don't have time to eat all day long and I'm grouchy when I'm hungry, but peanut butter and hummus keeps me satisfied.

Now that I've gotten accustom to the routine, I'm enjoying it. I didn't make the change to lose weight (although I wouldn't mind if I lost a couple pounds). I just want to be healthy and set a good example for my tiny tyke. I do think it's making a difference in how I feel. To be fair though, the family has been sick on and off since the end of September, so I might just be feeling good because I'm not sick anymore.

And of course, as always, in the back of my mind I'm wondering...will it help me run faster?

Ode to my Running Stroller

One of my absolute favorite baby contraptions is the running stroller. In fact, it's on a short list of baby devices that I believe are essential to my standard of living. It's right up there with the car seat and crib. Obviously I could live without it, but I'd probably be grumpy. Up until recently, I was running with the stroller three days a week. And last year I was using it five days a week. Most of my marathon training was done with Kaylee keeping me company in the stroller. She has dutifully aided my training by continuing to grow big and adding the essential weight I need for better training (or so I've convinced myself).

Recently though, my love of the great running stroller has waned. The groin injury I have seems to be exacerbated when I run with it. Nick and I did a seven miler with the old stroller today (family run day is imperative). I haven't used it in two months, and immediately noticed the groin twinging when I started pushing it. Nick and I took turns pushing. I noticed that when Nick pushed, his form changed. He started landing on the inside of his foot, rather than the outside. I'm not sure why, but pushing the stroller causes some gait change that bothers me now. It's so sad...I think I'll have to retire the stroller. Sniff, sniff...

Training 11/09/2009 - 11/16/2009

I soooo want to run a turkey trot on turkey day. I'd like not to completely embarrass myself though, yet I'm also recovering from an irritating groin pull AND the whole family has been sick the last two weeks. Arg! Anyway, it was my first week running again and I've felt heavy and blah, but not hurting. Yay! I have absolutely no idea what I should expect to run for a 5K with no speed work and relatively little running to back me up. I have been cross training like an animal and doing a few 5K row workouts. Hopefully they'll help. Only time will tell...

Monday:

• 5K row 19:49
• 60 minutes easy on stationary bike
• 3 x 20 pushups
  

Tuesday:

• 4 mile easy run 8:25 pace 62 degrees and cloudy
• 60 minutes easy on stationary bike
• 2 x 20 pushups
  

Wednesday:

• 5K row 20:20
• 60 minutes easy on stationary bike
• 3 x 20 pushups

Thursday:

• 90 minutes easy on stationary bike
• 3 x 20 pushups

Friday:

• 7.5 mile easy run at 8:33 pace 50 degrees and cloudy
• 2 x 20 pushups

Saturday:

• Stationary bike workout:
• 15 minute warmup
• 2 x 12 minutes hard
• 2 minutes rest between
• 20 minutes cooldown
• 80 minutes total
• 3 x 20 pushups

Sunday:

• 7 mile recovery run at 10:15 sharing running stroller duty with hubby
• 1 x 25 pushups

Total Miles Run = 18.5
Total Bike Time = 5:50
Total Miles Rowed = 6.2

My Running History

I'm not usually so self-absorbed or focused on what I've done in the past. Lately though, I've tried to think back on PR's from high school and college, and I'm forgetting. For instance, I'm pretty sure my PR in the mile was 5:35 in high school and my PR in the 1500 was 5:04 in college, but those results can't be found on Cool Running so I'm not really sure anymore. And I can't for the life of me remember what my PR's were in the 2 mile or 3000 (not exactly my favorite distances). I know I crossed the 2 mile at 11:30 the day I PR'd in the 5000 in college. I'm listing what I remember below, and I've started a search for race results. Perhaps someday Kaylee will want to know her mom's running times.

Personal Records:
1500 meter: 5:04
Mile: 5:35
3000 meter: ???
2 Mile: 11:30
5K: 18:24 (2 times both at Tufts track 18:30 was my next best at PC)

College Race Results

• Codfish Bowl XC Invitational 20:01 5KFranklin Park September 27 1997
• Codfish Bowl XC Invitational 19:35 5K Franklin Park September 26, 1998
• Codfish Bowl XC Invitational 19:38 5K Franklin Park September 25, 1999
• NCAA Division II Regional Cross Country Championship 23:50 6K November 7, 1999
• New England Collegiate Championships 19:19 5K Franklin Park October 16, 1999