PM- 7 miles- 3 warm up, 3x 1520m-(ave 5:32), 1 cool down
Well it had been nine days since my last speed workout and thus time to abuse myself in the quest to get some fleetness of the foot back. I want to keep the total miles of fast repeats to just 3 for a couple more weeks so I originally planned to do a 3200, 1600 workout, but when the time came I pretty much wussed out of the 2 mile. It'd hurt.... So I just decided to repeat last weeks workout but cut the 3 minute recovery down to 2 minutes as they seemed a bit overkill last week. I felt pretty good on the warm up only slightly achy and stiff from yesterdays strong 12 miler. This shows that the last 2 months of training are starting to pay off as the same paced 12 miler last November necessitated 2 days off from running.
I am still a bit awkward and uncoordinated running with a quick turnover as it has been a long time, but this weeks repeat miles felt smoother than last week. Neurological gains in muscle coordinated recruitment can explain the gains I showed when comparing rep times to last weeks (ave 5:46). I managed to run 5:40, 5:29, and then 5:26 for the 1520m "mile" rectangle loop I run with my heart rate dropping to 100bpm 80 sec post repeat and to 85bpm 2 minutes post the 3rd repeat. Cardiovascularly I am in pretty good shape, and with 3-5 more weeks of repeats I will start to see real speed improvements as the enzymatic efficiency within the muscles will improve. Intervals suck...but they work!
I am using this blog as a way to hold myself accountable. It is as if I have 50 training partners who will be asking about my workout and who I will be letting down if I chose to skip it or cut it short. So thanks a lot for reading and expressing your interest in what I have to say!
Just to show you the power of the Internets reach...after yesterdays post I received within a 3 hour period emails from people in all facets of my life from the last 15 years:
my best friend from high school 1990-93
Friends and academic adviser at Ithaca College 95-97
Soldiers I worked with in Massachusetts 98-2000
UVA ROTC mates 2000-2002
PT's I worked with in Texas 2003-04
Co-workers 2004-06
And folks I ran races with in 2001,
Grand slammed with in 2002,
and ran in the VHTRC and on the Montrail team with 2001-2007.
Pretty amazing and much appreciated! Thanks and stay in touch
1 comment:
Good job on the running and you're looking mighty dapper in that picture!
As you know i am also trying to regain some speed and run a regular 2 mile tempo run on a flat dirt road (but at 6500'). I also try to run one day of either 1 or 2 minute repeats with 1 minute rest. At 55 I don't expect to get much speed back, but it will be better than just jogging everyday.
Keep up the good work!
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