Fuel SMART,Train HARD, Run FAST.

Early gym workout before work. I really dragged getting out the door so my time was very limited.

15 min wu on elliptical

3.5 miles on TM. Had to pick up the last ~1.5 mi due to time crunch, so mixed it up with 3x400 at 6:00 with equal rest and 2x100 sprints. 7:00 AP. Speed work planned for tomorrow.

I had to look up the information to remind me the difference between Threshold miles and VO2 max miles. I think McMillan's site is an interesting tool for training. It appears Threshold (median between lactate and aerobic threshold) is about half marathon pace, 6:30-6:45 (flat) depending on current fitness. VO2 max is about 5k pace (5:45-6:15) again, depending on current fitness. http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/article/3

Speed work on TM.  Alternate 800m/400m with equal distance jog.

1 mile wu 

800-  3:00

400- 1:30

800-3:00

400- 1:30

800- 2:58

400- 1:25

800- 2:56 

400- 1:24

2 mile hilly cd (outside!)

I was nervous about running 6:00 pace. The first 800 was more effort than I would have liked. My throat burned and tasted like pennies- yes, blood and pennies taste the same. Fortunately thereafter, it became less of an effort with each interval which usually is a trend for most.

At the end of the last planned interval, I was tempted to do another 1.5 of speed work but changed my mind for several reasons...

First, I remembered I lost my hero card this winter when I let my weekly mileage slip comfortably into the teens. Second, I wanted to end on a good note so my chances of returning to the TM would be significantly higher. Lastly, and this relates to the others- stupid workouts are how injuries are born. Don't we all know.

Overall, the workout felt great. It's always exciting to start speed work again and to track improvements over the weeks. 

I went and cheered on the bountiful 5 k this morning. I thought about running the race myself, but quickly change my mind when I saw the fee had gone up to $40. Afterwards, ran down Main Street and back for a quick 9. Lots of patchy ice but overall very happy to be running outside again!

4 easy on the TM. Legs muscles are slightly sore on the inside of both knees from just the little bit of hills on Saturday. I've been thinking of changing my focus this summer from half-marathon to 10k's. I could pull off three 10k's a month compared to the turn around of a marathon- or even a half for that matter.I just keep thinking about how many variables there are in a marathon. You can train an entire season and have a bad race day. However, a bad 10k is no loss, it can be made up the next week. The payoff's aren't the same though. Hummmm...

I've spent the last two days writing up my workout plan for the next 12 weeks. After completion, I needed to get my mind off of it and do something else. I watched the first episode of "The Walking Dead" on Netflix. Whoa. Not sure if I can continue watching that series. Scared me to death and so violent. I felt like throwing up during one scene. Running was the last thing on my mind, so I guess it worked. Anyway, after some sleep I came back to my plan and began to put it into action with a few tweaks. My plan was derived from Greg McMillan's site using the information from his video's, articles, and pace calculator.

I found it to be very insightful with evidenced based practices he uses for his own elite athletes and with much success. I don't believe there is one theory or plan that is the best, but so many depending on the type of runner you are and quite frankly, what makes sense to you.

That being said, one theory Greg has tested out for the last few years is a theory he learned from one of his mentors. The article is about changing your approach to marathon training aside from the standard phases of: Base building, stamina, speed, and taper vs. base, speed, stamina, taper. Interesting article with benefits that made sense to me. So, figuring I have nothing to loose (since this is a hobby sport) why not try it out? My plan consists of 3 weeks of speed, 1 transitioning low week then 6 weeks of stamina and two weeks of taper. We'll see how it goes. The next 3 weeks of speed work I copied from the plan he made for one of his elite athletes, but adjusted the time to fit my scenario using the pace calculator.

1 mile wu with plyometrics  Raised TM to 1% incline then12x1 min @ 5:53 (10.1 mph) with 1 min jog

1 mile cd

6 miles total

The pace felt slightly more challenging than I would have liked at first, but fell into pace after the first few.

After reading the site information, one major take away I gained was not pushing the workouts too hard and to stay within my range despite how good I felt. Every workout has a purpose, and not every time is it to go to 100%. It seems in the past that I have felt that my workouts weren't good enough if I didn't leave it all on the table each time. Races are meant for that, workouts are intended to get us ready to do that. I think this makes speed work less intimidating when I know I can walk away fatigued but knowing I could have done another interval or so. It seems Ed Eyestone is also a big believer in this model. Even thinking back, I have seen the effects of this in my own experience after running for two different Universities. I distinctly remember one type of coaching and workouts to be much more difficult than another, but had better results from less intense training. Don't get me wrong, both were challenging, but I remember being drained every single day after workouts and never getting the times I wanted in races compared to the the workouts under the other coach when I walked away tired, yet invigorated. Perhaps these are the workout I need to jump start me.

**Skip this section to avoid my journal of thoughts about the marathon.

I'm not going to lie. I want to back out of Ogden everyday because the distance scares me, flat out. I really love marathon training, but hate the thought of RACING the distance. So why am I doing it? I suppose the main reason is for the great feeling of accomplishing a PR. I am still so proud of my past PR's and trying to win a race or receive money for placing are no comparison to the extra skip in a step that a PR provides. There is nothing like giving it your all for a great run that you can look back on for the rest of your life. No one will care as much about a time I ran than I will. That is the payoff. Right? Accomplishment. The marathon is one of those races I have not felt accomplishment from yet for one reason or another. I guess that is why it is always on the (dreaded) calender. Am I wasting time doing a distance I don't love? Ugh, back and forth I go. I need spring to hit first before making any drastic moves. I'm going to blame this on the winter.

Easy 5.5 on Davis.

I really wanted to get a long run in this morning outside, but the air quality deterred me to the TM. It was rough to get 9. I really wanted more, but ran out of time. 7:40 AP.

6AM: 4x5 mins @ 6:07 with 3 min jog rest. 1x60 seconds at 5:00. 1 mile wu and cd.

I was excited to do this speed session early this morning. I love having a plan to follow! Continuing to follow McMillan's speed plan with pace calculator for the next 3 weeks. On paper the workout looked as though it wouldn't be challenging enough, but that is something I am working on. I'm not at any given moment able to break out race pace for any given distance if I'm not trained for it. My race pace will vary depending on my current fitness, of course.  Sub 6 miles felt fine during my 5k years, but not in this moment. Again, I have to remind myself. The goal  wasn't to kill myself either. Honestly, I was surprised how much harder my effort was compared to what I thought I could do. My PE was around a 8.5-9/10. I should keep track of that more often to compare workouts. I knew the hardest part of the workout for me was running this pace for longer times than I have previously (usually ending at 800m) and with shorter rests than I've done. So I would say that is improvement for me. I ran a last sprint in an effort to check my pulse. Yep, at 95% of max.  I could tell when my threshold was being passed near 40 seconds. That was an interesting feeling to notice so abruptly. I was tired.

Quick TM workout. 10 x 60 secs @ 5:41 with 60 sec jog rest. I really wanted to do 5-6 more of these, but I left little time to do so. Felt great today.

90 mins of cross training on the Arc Glider on level 10 followed with hip stretches. My hip feels off from yesterday's speed work. My husband worked out a knot on my upper hip/glut area. That one area seemed to jiggle with each step, like it was it's own entity. A familiar feeling x3 after returning to running after each and a "60 pound body suit" to loose. Speaking of past times, since introducing speed again, it brings me back to the five years I spent competing in my early 20's. In those same five years, after returning home from track workouts, I spent the rest of the time walking around like a zombie. The decrepit feeling is nostalgic. I always think it's interesting how athletes can perform at such a high level and turn around and crawl up the stairs. Don't you think? We are a rare breed- that few get, I think.

Easy run with some strides at 1% incline. 15x 25 secs @ 5:30 with equal rest. I tried some new flats today and sprained my ankle in the middle, so cut the workout shorter. Long run tomorrow with Cynthia and Angie.

A sprained ankle during Friday's speed work 

I never expected the pain would lurk.

An long run invite to run with some the best,

Keeping up with the girls, I hoped my ankle wouldn't pest.

But company in town and a finicky foot,

I knew I wouldn't make it, quite simply put.

A late night decline, cancelling for me was not a good sign.

An early visit to the gym,

I prayed the treadmill would kindly treat my limb.

Every machine was full, the gym was packed! More treadmills the gym did lack.

I notice an opening, I jump at the chance but soon find out I was as disillusioned as Lance (Armstrong:)

A half of a mile is all I could stand, my gait was off- especially on my land.

So off to the elliptical to supplement today's run,

looking out window, I really missed the sun.

Seventy minutes too long on the ellpitical

but today it seemed the most practical.

Needing a change of pace and carrying a little denial

I jumped on the treadmill to see if I could run a mile. 

One mile turned into five, it made me feel alive!

Burning legs and pouring sweat, it was time to turn it up to pace.

Although no pain, I knew immaculate healing was not the case. 

Ninety five minutes for twelve miles-

By the end I was not all smiles.

Wrapped ankle and compression, the pain would dissipate-

Fast healing is something I can anticipate.

Note to self... backing out of a run is not something I like-

Next time I'll join on the bike!

 -Happy running 

A light 3 miles to test out ankle. All clear, so onward! Speed work tomorrow. 

Speed work at the gym today. I just wasn't feeling it on the warm-up, but I can contribute that to a terrible diet. Yesterday I drank a Protein drink in the morning then nothing until 4pm. To break the unintended fast, I saw it urgent to eat a bowl of chocolate ice cream. Just before bed I ate some white rice. I'm not sure what was up yesterday, but I knew it would effect how I felt today. I ended up running what I planned to do, but felt much worse than I should have. Diet makes a diff!:)

1x400 @ 1:25 with equal jog

6x2 mins @ 5:48 AP with 2 min jog

I ran the first lap to get a feel for the others. Judging by the feel, I knew the rest would be buggers, and they were. 6x2 mins @ 5:48 AP. My energy just wasn't there from the start. Oh well, I sucked it up. Theses were nothing compared to the 4x5 mins last week. I have no clue why the plan had me pound those out in the beginning with the following days starting at 60 seconds and working up from there to 5 mins. I guess it's a good check point workout to see the progress over the month before I move on to Stamina/tempo workouts. 

Nice little run outside. The first mile was a 17 min mile with my three year old. He finished most of it while carrying a drink, plastic shovel and running in boots. High hopes for him:) Last 10 mins were at marathon pace.

2 mile warmup with strides. 12x30 secs @ 5:24 and 30 rest.