I usually dread speedwork. But as my friend Lauren says, I usually do well when we have speed workouts. I think it's all a mental thing for me. I don't like competing against myself, especially when I feel (like I have lately) that my workouts are less than ideal.
Last night we did Fartleks around the 6-mile loop of the park. My stomach was giving me problems, so I was not looking forward to the speedy parts of the workout. BUT, it was one of the first genuinely nice nights to run too, so I guess it all evens out.
Our warmup was an "easy" mile. (I use quotations for easy because it included Cat Hill.) For this, I averaged a 9:07 pace. As Lauren and I were approaching 90th street for the first interval I was getting a feeling of dread in my stomach. I told her it was kind of like how you feel when you are going up the hill on a roller coaster. Dread, dread, dread.
But I actually ended up feeling pretty fast. I guess I was, because my average pace for that .75 mile was 7:15/mi. But that one was flat. The next one was going to include Harlem Hill though. I was NOT going to keep that pace for sure.
For the next .5 miles I slowed it down to a 9:36. It actually felt like a nice comfortable pace.
On Harlem Hill I said goodbye to Lauren (she is a super speedster up the hills, and I am probably on of the slowest Advanced runners when it comes to hills). I was glad to catch her by our next slow place at West 90th Street though, because I like to chat on easy runs. For the Harlem Hill section, which was 1.25 miles I averaged an 8:15. Wow! Impressive! I felt like I was doing about a 10 minute mile.
We slowed the next portion (.7 miles) down to a 9:27 pace. But both of us felt like it was still pretty fast. We both stopped at the drinking fountain on the Bridal Path. It might have been nice and cool out, but I was still sweating like crazy.
The last portion (1.32 miles) was supposed to be our hardest. It was definitely the longest of the intervals and included the dreaded lower loop. According to Coach Steve, if we ran the rest of the workout correctly, we would have to dig deep for this last interval and would have a significant amount of lactic acid buildup. I started out hard and strong, but not what I would consider "fast". I felt that this was the only way that I could make it through that last part. I ended up averaging a 7:55 mi, which made me very happy!
I slowed my pace waaaaay down and finished the last .45 miles at a nice comfortable 9:43 pace.
All in all, it felt like a great workout. Now I feel like I can go on my vacation in peace :)
Showing posts with label fartlek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fartlek. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Unintentional Fartleks
While I HAVE been being really bad about doing speedwork I don't think that a 14-mile run (not to mention the longest run I've had in this training season so far) is the place to practice something like Fartleks. It was also weird that it was something that happened unintentionally because I was NOT feeling good in the first 7 miles of my run. I had eaten a Kashi granola bar before leaving and it wasn't sitting in my stomach well.
But once again, music was affecting my workout. The first time I noticed it was when a song from Muse came on. Bill is always asking me who he should run to, and I always say Muse. They have such a driving beat that it makes it good music to run to. But I feel like if you ran to their entire album (or albums...depending how long you were running) you would be incredibly tired. They make me pick up my pace. A few songs later it was "Because We Can" which is an amped up, Fat Boy Slim version of a can-can song, that was in Moulin Rouge. In addition to being a fast song, it is also a song that I jazzercised to (yes, embarassingly, I did jazzercise) many years ago. The routine was FAST and I was remembering that and running FAST. Immediately after was a fast Sondre Lerche song and immediately following THAT was Pump It, by the Black-Eyed Peas, which is my power song. I was running FAST through all of these, so I was glad when Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra followed so I could get my pace back right before I went up Great Hill.
The rest of the first half of my run went like this...fast, slow, fast, fast, slow, slow, slow...etc. I felt GREAT when I stopped at 7 miles for a water/GU break.
I was really hoping I could keep it up, but didn't know if I could or not. I tried to keep as much of a positive attitude as I could, even though I had to weave through tourists taking up the sidewalk who wouldn't move (making me run on snow/ice hills next to the sidewalk), and even though my legs were getting tired and even though I was getting hungry. I still did feel really fast, but I was no longer doing Fartleks. At 11 miles I was just interested in keeping pace.
Since this was an especially long run for me I actually ended up running in two parks. From my apartment I ran to Central Park, did the running loop IN the park, ran the outer loop of the park, a quarter mile past my street, over to Riverside Park and back home.
By the time I got to Riverside Park I had another surge of energy (this time not due to my music) so I went with it.
My time? 2:23.13. Uh, that is CRAZY for me. That is a 10:13 pace!!!! Hurrah!
But my legs are so tired now :)
But once again, music was affecting my workout. The first time I noticed it was when a song from Muse came on. Bill is always asking me who he should run to, and I always say Muse. They have such a driving beat that it makes it good music to run to. But I feel like if you ran to their entire album (or albums...depending how long you were running) you would be incredibly tired. They make me pick up my pace. A few songs later it was "Because We Can" which is an amped up, Fat Boy Slim version of a can-can song, that was in Moulin Rouge. In addition to being a fast song, it is also a song that I jazzercised to (yes, embarassingly, I did jazzercise) many years ago. The routine was FAST and I was remembering that and running FAST. Immediately after was a fast Sondre Lerche song and immediately following THAT was Pump It, by the Black-Eyed Peas, which is my power song. I was running FAST through all of these, so I was glad when Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra followed so I could get my pace back right before I went up Great Hill.
The rest of the first half of my run went like this...fast, slow, fast, fast, slow, slow, slow...etc. I felt GREAT when I stopped at 7 miles for a water/GU break.
I was really hoping I could keep it up, but didn't know if I could or not. I tried to keep as much of a positive attitude as I could, even though I had to weave through tourists taking up the sidewalk who wouldn't move (making me run on snow/ice hills next to the sidewalk), and even though my legs were getting tired and even though I was getting hungry. I still did feel really fast, but I was no longer doing Fartleks. At 11 miles I was just interested in keeping pace.
Since this was an especially long run for me I actually ended up running in two parks. From my apartment I ran to Central Park, did the running loop IN the park, ran the outer loop of the park, a quarter mile past my street, over to Riverside Park and back home.
By the time I got to Riverside Park I had another surge of energy (this time not due to my music) so I went with it.
My time? 2:23.13. Uh, that is CRAZY for me. That is a 10:13 pace!!!! Hurrah!
But my legs are so tired now :)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Fartleks Stink!
Yuck! I know that I normally end of liking speedwork after worrying about it all day but that is NOT true for fartleks!
But I had to laugh yesterday. Because as we are all gathered in GameDay’s lobby, Coach Joe F was explaining how we were going to divide up into groups. He was like “Group A will be a 9 minute mile or faster, Group B will be middle of the pack, and Group C will be the really really slow people.” Everyone laughed. Someone shouted out “You need to go to sensitivity training!” This of course led to a barrage of jokes about how slow we all were, as we were doing our 10 minute warmup in our groups.
Our coach asked us when we saw the water truck, if we wanted to stop and get water. Yes, yes, yes of course! I felt like we had been going at a pretty good pace. After we stopped for water we started up again. Then, I could tell the actual Fartleks had started, because we definitely picked up the pace. I was huffing and puffing for what seemed like forever, but figured probably only a few seconds had actually passed. This WAS hard! Half of our group had fallen behind.
And then about 5 minutes later she shouts out “OK, you guys ready for the first Fartlek?” WHAT? We weren’t doing them already?!! So I picked up speed for what seemed like 5 minutes but was only 1. It killed me. I was like “forget this” and dropped back to my REAL marathon pace. I did the fartleks by myself, using the interval function on my watch for awhile, but then I just lost count so just ran my normal pace. It was too confusing. I was also confused because we actually passed the group that was in front of us (I guess the slow runners, but not the really slow runners like my group or the really really slow runners like the people behind me. JUST KIDDING!!!).
It was only later, at the happy hour, that I heard that 1. The group in front of us started off too fast and then died when they got to the first set of Fartleks which is why we passed them. 2. I WASN’T crazy. The girls behind me also thought we had started the speedwork when we didn’t. We all agreed that the speed was just too fast.
Most people I talked to didn’t end up doing the Fartleks after a few of them, and just ran at a normal pace. I guess all that really matters is that we did at least SOME speedwork.
But I had to laugh yesterday. Because as we are all gathered in GameDay’s lobby, Coach Joe F was explaining how we were going to divide up into groups. He was like “Group A will be a 9 minute mile or faster, Group B will be middle of the pack, and Group C will be the really really slow people.” Everyone laughed. Someone shouted out “You need to go to sensitivity training!” This of course led to a barrage of jokes about how slow we all were, as we were doing our 10 minute warmup in our groups.
Our coach asked us when we saw the water truck, if we wanted to stop and get water. Yes, yes, yes of course! I felt like we had been going at a pretty good pace. After we stopped for water we started up again. Then, I could tell the actual Fartleks had started, because we definitely picked up the pace. I was huffing and puffing for what seemed like forever, but figured probably only a few seconds had actually passed. This WAS hard! Half of our group had fallen behind.
And then about 5 minutes later she shouts out “OK, you guys ready for the first Fartlek?” WHAT? We weren’t doing them already?!! So I picked up speed for what seemed like 5 minutes but was only 1. It killed me. I was like “forget this” and dropped back to my REAL marathon pace. I did the fartleks by myself, using the interval function on my watch for awhile, but then I just lost count so just ran my normal pace. It was too confusing. I was also confused because we actually passed the group that was in front of us (I guess the slow runners, but not the really slow runners like my group or the really really slow runners like the people behind me. JUST KIDDING!!!).
It was only later, at the happy hour, that I heard that 1. The group in front of us started off too fast and then died when they got to the first set of Fartleks which is why we passed them. 2. I WASN’T crazy. The girls behind me also thought we had started the speedwork when we didn’t. We all agreed that the speed was just too fast.
Most people I talked to didn’t end up doing the Fartleks after a few of them, and just ran at a normal pace. I guess all that really matters is that we did at least SOME speedwork.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Bad Mood Run
So, if I am in a bad mood one of two things happens with my running. Either I have a great run and forget about everything bad or I have a horrible run and am in an even worse mood. So, as I was packing up last night to go home from work my mom IMs me and asks if I want to come over since my husband was out of town (I totally get my energy from being around other people...even if they aren't talking to me, with me, in the same room as me). I took her up of the offer, since chances were that since I had a REALLY horrible day I would not have a good run.
I grabbed my dog, headed over and indulged on almost a whole medium pizza with two kinds of olives. :)
Tonight is Fartlek training, which I have not done before. Now, now, let's not be inmature. Fart means speed, which I found out on my trip to Germany when I was on a lake cruise in the Fleet-Fahrt. :)
Anyway, our training tonight consists of:
10 minutes warmup
1 minute on, 1 minute off
2 on, 2 off
3 on, 3 off
2 on, 2 off
1 on, 30 seconds off
2 on, 1 off
3 on, 90 seconds off
2 on, 1 off
1 on, 1 off
2 on, 2 off
3 on, 3 off
2 on, 2 off
1 on, 1 off
the "on"s being 10k pace (which is 9 minutes for me) and the "off"s being marathon pace (which is 11 minutes for me). It sounds very hard. I hope I do okay. I heard the humidity is down today which is very very promising.
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