Emily's training blog

Nothing too exciting to report today.  Just another exciting treadmill adventure.  I couldn't find my I-pod this morning, so I entertained myself people watching.   There was an extremely overweight couple riding the recumbant bikes.  They must have been starting their New Year's Resolutions.  Good for them!   Then, I amused myself watching a guy in eyeliner check himself out in the mirror while he simultacneously lifted weights and sashayed on the elliptical.  (Great Multi tasker.)  I think I have mentioned him before on my blog.  Finally, I watched in horrified fascination as an extremely thin girl put in about two hours on the elliptical machine.  I'm all for working out to stay healthy and fit, but this poor girl has taken it to a decidedly unhealthy extreme. 

After I was done scoping out the health club patrons, I thought about my upcoming race schedule.  I'm beginning to feel motivated and excited to get racing again.  My agent (that sounds so official and important!)  sent me a list of races to consider.  I will probably debut at the Shamrock  Half Marathon in Virginia Beach in March. (Of course!)  Then, Salt Lake Half in April, followed by the Fargo Half Marathon  at the end of May (not quite as exciting as Virginia Beach!)    All of this will be part of a build up to Grandma's Marathon in June. Grandma's will be my three-years-in-coming marathon debut!  I love having races to look forward to. 

I increased my pace today at half mile increments, starting at 8.0 mph.  I felt comfortable and strong the entire run.  My overall time was 67:22.

I woke up with a tight lower back, so I thought I would give my body a break and cross train.  I think running on the treadmill so much is too much repetitive motion.  It was nice to move in a different way, even though it took a lot longer than simply running does.

AM  I went to the health club and did the elliptical for 1 hour.  I started at level 7 on random, and increased a level every 15 minutes.  My arms probably got a better workout than my legs did.

PM  After putting the kids down for a nap, I hopped on my spinning bike for another hour of cross training.  I increased the resistance on my bike every ten minutes.  My legs were definitely feeling it by the end.

I missed yesterday again.  Dang it!  Teren is working on a huge project at work and didn't get home until late.  I had planned to go when he got home from work, but it was too late.  So, I get to make up mileage with some longer days.   At least 55 miles isn't that much.  It is doable.

I ran a threshold run today.  My goal was to improve on last week's threshold run.  I warmed up for 3 miles and then ran a 30 minute tempo.  I got 5.17 miles in during the 30 minutes.  Then, I cooled down until I hit 10 miles.

Mile 1:  6:03

Mile 2:  5:51

Mile 3:  5:47

Mile 4:  5:43

Mile 5: 5:37  29:03 for 5 miles  30:00 for 5.17

The total time for 10 miles was 63:43

I finally got outside this morning for a run. It was wonderful to breathe the nice fresh red-alert air!  The run was a little slippery due to some light early-morning snow, so I had to run easy.  That was a good thing since I was experiencing some soreness from yesterday.  I plan to run a longer run this afternoon.

P.M.  I only had time for another short run.  My husband's emergency work project is seriously cutting into my training time.  I hope that things settle down next week, so that I can depend on him for some babysitting.  Of course, I'm sure I'm not nearly as frustrated as he is right now! 

I decided to combine my "long run" with a fartlek run today.  I went out to the Oval, though I kind of wished that I had run outside.  The weather was so nice, even though the air quality was terrible.  So, I ended up playing "Dodge the Spectator" at the indoor track.  I ran during Open Skate time, which made my workout even more challenging.  There was a polygamous family (families?)  enjoying Open Skate.  It looked like an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" on the ice.  I was fine until ten girls with poofy bangs, long braids, and pioneer dresses decided to stand in lane one.  

I warmed up three miles and noticed my legs were still pretty tired from the other day's workout.  I definitely need one more recovery day between speed sessions.  My plan was 3 sets of 1-2-3-2-1 with 1-1-2-1-1- recovery.  I was highly motivated by the dream I had last night where high school superstar Susannah Hurst beat me by two seconds in a 5k.  (She could definitely be capable of that.  She's in tremendous shape right now!)  I pushed the first set pretty hard, but didn't feel like I was recovering between intervals very well.  I made it through one more set, and then decided to change up the workout.  To finish the six miles of the workout, I ran 7 sets of 200 m on 200 m off.   That way I got a little more recovery, and could work on my turnover on a shorter interval.  I hit the 200's between 37-38 seconds.  My speed needs work!  

I cooled down three miles, and then had an energy crash.  So, I cleared my dizzy head with a pretzel from Concessions. 

This week was kind of up and down.   I still missed one day of training, and didn't hit 55 miles, which was my goal.  On the upside, I got in two good fast workouts, and I didn't let the entire week fall apart.  I maintained mileage during a crazy week with the family.  Sometimes I miss the days when all I had to do was concentrate on running and work, or running and school!