|
| garmin-less |
| Friday, August 08, 2008 |
so Wednesday, as I would be going straight to the East 6th street track from work, I had Mr. Garmin in my bag, ready to go when I was. However, the battery was low...huh!! How did Mr. Garmin get turned on while in my bag? Well thank god I still had the old-school stopwatch with me...the Garmin really wasn't as necessary for pacing in a track workout, just means I'll need to find out the distance run from my office to the track the old-school way (GMaps pedometer)
So, the workout. 1200m at tempo, 400m recovery, 800m a little faster, 400m recovery, then 4 x 400 with 200 recovery, even faster. I was told to pace the "7:30ish" group (guess I have a rep as being a good pacer or something?) and surprisingly, everyone for the most part obeyed the pacer :) (well until the 400s where we declared it a free-for all.) And this was the damage...
| Interval length | Time | Pace | | 1200m | 5:42.29 | 7:39.05 | | 800m | 3:46.77 | 7:36.19 | | 400m | 1:47.02 | 7:10.58 | | 400m | 1:49.75 | 7:21.56 | | 400m | 1:48.55 | 7:16.73 | | 400m | 1:44.75 | 7:01.45 |
For whatever reason, I wasn't as excited about the results of this workout as I had been about a couple other recent ones-I didn't have the same "I so nailed this!" feeling. I think this is really starting to show the effects of those long runs being in my legs. I did actually feel comfortable cruising along at tempo pace for the 1200 and 800, but there was no way I could have gone any faster in the 400s. But on the other hand, I was able to negative split a good majority of these intervals (definitely the 1st 2...and maybe also the last coupla 400s?) so at least the pacing is there. And if the 7:35-7:40 pace felt comfortable...maybe try shooting for that next Saturday?
But, I guess I do also have to remember that I'm training for a marathon, not a 5K...that if I want to run a 3:50 marathon, it will have to come at the expense at other things...and that at this point, speedwork should only be something to sorta "keep things interesting"...and be an excuse to socialize, eat and drink afterwards :)
Thursday became an unplanned rest day-was too tired to get up early, and then I had the Flyers' summer social party in the evening. Was a lot of fun...held at a favorite venue-the penthouse party room in a teammate's apartment building which had an outdoor portion with great views of the city. And of course, wine was in abundance :) Was fun to sip wine and chill outside-though I probably shoulda checked the wind forecast before choosing my party attire (think this effect going on.) I do never seem to learn my lesson about wine hangovers though, thank god I was smart enough to take today off (I do have summer days I need to use up this month, today was as good a day as any to take it!) Will partake in a short, easy run once recovered...
And YAY for the Olympics starting today!! Let the games begin!! :)Labels: drinking, marathon, running, socializing, speedwork |
posted by nyflygirl @ 11:50 AM |
|
 |
|
|
|
| bulls-eye!! |
| Thursday, July 31, 2008 |
Tempo workout time again!! 1 x 1600m, then 6 x 800m, all with short recoveries, all on a stretch of road in Central Park. A workout that honestly sounds worse than it really is...one that rewards you if you pace it right, punishes you if you don't. Target pace? Whatever the McMillan calculator says is my "Tempo Intervals" pace. Based on my recent 5K, it told me to shoot for between 7:35-7:51 pace. Did I?
| Interval length | Time | Pace | | 1600m | 7:32.22 | 7:34.86 | | 800m | 3:49.30 | 7:41.28 | | 800m | 3:47.12 | 7:36.89 | | 800m | 3:53.68 | 7:50.09 | | 800m | 3:49.48 | 7:41.64 | | 800m | 3:48.73 | 7:40.13 | | 800m | 3:41.35 | 7:25.28 |
Not trying to gloat or anything, but damn I was on last nite!! And I was glad to have enough in the tank to give the last repeat a good final kick. It was a humid night, and I thought it was gonna affect me, but it actually wasn't too bad!! Maybe I actually am acclimating!! And even though, mileage-wise it was a long workout, it totally seemed to fly by...guess that was another sign of a good workout. (As compared to those workouts that are "do as many repeats as you can in XX number of minutes...those honestly seem to drag on.)
And the legs feel fine today...good sign for the only other big task I need to accomplish this week-16 miles at 9:30 pace. I know I can do it...well as long as other pace leaders behave themselves and remember it is not a race :)Labels: running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 1:16 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| mini l'alpe d'huez |
| Thursday, July 24, 2008 |
(with thanks to JS for the post title idea!)
so in honor of a killer hilly stage of the tour de france, doesn't it just seem appropriate that there is a killer hilly speed workout that same day?
 oh yeah. it was relatively short, but boy was it intense. repeats of that hill that leads up to the Great Hill track. I've actually run on that hill before in training runs-as part of the Arches and Bridges Run-and that is the only hill I have ever had to actually slow down to a walk on during a training run. Never on Harlem Hill, never on the Palisades, but yep, this 8% grade hill is certainly a killer. Just look at the picture below-just the fact that there are steps on this hill just illustrates the steepness (for the record-I didn't cheat and use the steps)
And just for fun-let's see if you can guess which were the uphill laps and which were the downhill ones. (Laps 1 and 2 were warmup, Lap 3 was a 5K-paced pickup, Lap 12 was cooldown.)
Only 4 round trips of the hill, but holy shit it kicked my ass. The lap splits/paces are really deceiving, I think the max heart rates hit really tells the story of the intensity. And I had to be really careful on the downhills-didn't want to mess up my quads by going too fast down a steep hill. And thank god the predicted thunderstorms held off, but boy the humidity was killer...I probably looked like I jumped in a pool by the time this workout was over :)
Needless to say, I slept like a baby last nite. And more power to those bikers who have to deal with this steep of a hill for more than .16 miles at a time!!Labels: running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 1:31 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| it's tracky |
| Thursday, July 10, 2008 |
It's Tracky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that's right on time
It's Tracky...Tr-tr-tr-tracky
(with apologies to Run D.M.C.-but I just had the song in my head and couldn't resist the tiny modification)
Anyway-yesterday brought me to do speedwork at the East 6th St track, which is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Actually-forget "becoming"-it *is* a favorite. And like last week-a tempo-paced workout was in order, and not to go all out. So with the help of a certain great pacing partner, we decided to aim for between 7:30-8:00 pace for the 800 meter intervals...then take it from there for the shorter ones, but not to push the pace too much. And how did it work out?
| Interval length | Time | Pace | | 800m | 3:45.90 | 7:34.44 | | 800m | 3:44.10 | 7:30.82 | | 800m | 3:46.24 | 7:35.12 | | 800m | 3:48.49 | 7:39.65 | | 400m | 1:51.43 | 7:28.32 | | 400m | 1:51.49 | 7:28.56 | | 400m | 1:50.34 | 7:23.94 | | 200m | 0:54.20 | 7:16.13 | | 200m | 0:52.70 | 7:04.06 |
Pretty damn consistent, right? The pace actually felt pretty good the entire time-didn't feel like I was "dying" once, even with the shorter recoveries than normal. I don't know what it is about this track, I always seem to have a great workout here.
Oh!! But this workout is not without just a little drama...as the predicted thunderstorms actually did happen, with about 3 repeats to go. Was crazy-the sky looked greenish, the wind and rain blowing sideways, absolutely pouring, puddles forming on the track...at first we all thought this was crazy fun, but by the time we got to the 2 x 200, we just wanted to be done...hence shortening the last recovery and speeding up a bit!! (but again...still not all-out.) And I was grateful I chose to not wear a light-colored sports bra...you figure out why. :-p
And thankfully, some of us drowned rats were troopers and indulged in some "recovery beverages" (aka beer-Blue Moon for me, of course!) and good eats-thanking my lucky stars that I had dry clothes to change into...
Ahhhh...working from home in the AM, Yankee game in the afternoon, great track workout in the evening followed by after-speed drinks...if that ain't a perfect day, I don't know what is :-p
And shockingly-I was awake around 5ish this morning without having to use the alarm...that *never* happens!! Decided to take advantage and run this morning...some nice recovery miles on the bridle path...beautiful morning (but a bit humid!) Leaves me off the hook to squeeze it in tomorrow...since I'm gonna be out tonite as well, not sure if I'll have the same fortune of happily rolling out of bed before 6 am tomorrow!!Labels: drinking, marathon, rain, running, socializing, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 1:43 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| tempo is tough |
| Thursday, July 03, 2008 |
ah, the joys of speedwork while training for a fall marathon...dead legs, trying to not let the heat defeat you, dodging other park-goers...good times. So last nite brought a tempo-style workout, all on the bridle path...1.1 tempo miles, some short fast/slow pickups, then an even longer tempo interval...the last one being all uphill. Fun, right? I was to shoot for approximately 8 mpm for the tempo pickups...
I highlighted the fast parts with the red outline to make them stand out better...since a tip I was given was to set Mr. Garmin to take laps every .25 mile to help with pacing. Actually, that was a good idea, it sorta made the workout feel like it went by faster too! So obviously, I paced the first long pickup pretty well. The second long one...not so much!! But to be fair, that was almost all uphill, so probably the effort was the same, though the paces don't show it. (And for the record, the one lap where it said 9 minute pace, I wasted a few seconds to avoid a collision with a biker! grrr...) Or maybe there were places where the signal was dropped...yeah, that's probably what it is :-p
Hard part of the running week almost over...still got the long run to go!! Though if 10-12 miles is gonna give me problems, then I'm in trouble :)Labels: marathon, running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 2:59 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| what i wouldn't do for wine |
| Wednesday, June 25, 2008 |
Well, the anticipation of wine consumption tonite meant I had to rejigger my running week and fit in a speed workout a day early. And it was a fun one...not!!! Jog from the east to the west side of the 102nd street transverse. Run hard the other way. Jog to the center of the transverse. Run hard back. And keep repeating for about 40 minutes in total. This was how it turned out for me...
Obviously I started out too fast, obviously my legs were not too happy about that as they struggled to hold on (even though the heart was definitely working hard!)
By the end, the only thing I was looking forward to a nice cold beverage...alcoholic or not. Runner26 and myself celebrated the hard effort with a coupla margaritas, chased with some ice-cold water.
While I guess I was satisfied with the effort, I really don't like this type of workout (keep doing repeats for X amount of minutes)-guess i respond better to limits on number of hard intervals-knowing how many I will need to do...I feel I can pace myself much better that way.
But at least it leaves me happily free to drink wine this evening :)Labels: drinking, running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 2:07 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| workout. wednesday. wet. |
| Thursday, June 19, 2008 |
(hehe certain person...i told ya about the title!!)
This post came later than I would have liked, but unfortunately the jury duty assembly room where I spent a good part of today-even though it had free wifi-wouldn't allow access to secured sites-therefore no blogging. damn. (though compared to the last time I had jury duty in 2003-having free wifi is a blessing!!)
so yeah. wednesday's workout. the plan was to hit the reservoir and/or the bridle path to avoid the mass of humanity known as the Corporate Challenge. How crowded was it in the park? Well, I had to cross the park drive just to get to the bridle path and even that was work. I actually had to mock-run with the masses for a tiny bit just to get across. yeesh. and it was raining, pouring!! ahhh...in true Corporate Challenge tradition (in the 4 years I did it with my company-either it was raining, or crazy hot.) And yet, I was crazy enough to do speedwork. Go figure. (I guess it was better than the other evil...at least it wasn't 100 degrees.) So...it was a long-ass workout-a mile on the rez, then a bunch of pickups on the bridle path. The damage is below:
Guess starting off the workout with the fastest mile split I have ever done in a workout was not the best idea!! (OK, beat it by only 1 second. But still.) What happened was that I was in a pack with faster peeps than myself, and they sorta pulled me along (splits for that mile were 3:35/3:42...you get the idea.) I did feel like I was working hard for the rest of the workout (and the heart was definitely working hard), though the splits didn't show it...though the consensus was that the GPS signal is weaker on the bridle path and I could possibly add .01 mile to those pickups (cuz as we know, that can make a difference when it comes to pace...)
But all in all, I guess not too shabby. And wouldn't you know it, the minute we got over to the west side, it stopped raining...hmmm, maybe that's a sign or something!! Though the bridle path was a mess...boy did I get dirty :-p
And funny moment of the night...we saw lots of Corporate Challenge people cutting the course, on the bridle path, on the reservoir, whatever....i jokingly yelled at one of those times "somebody get their bib number and DQ them!!" yeah right...like it's possible for anyone to get DQed in that race...no chip timing, seemingly no rules as well!!Labels: rain, running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 10:48 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| ten degrees can make all the difference |
| Thursday, June 12, 2008 |
 Compared to the inferno of this past Saturday through Tuesday, last nite's weather at speedwork felt downright chilly. But make no mistake-it was still hot, so I expected to still feel a little "off" because of that (the legs I felt were fine, as neither effort this weekend was really a "race" effort.) Had another workout at the East 6th Street track, a location that I'm beginning to like a lot-not as crowded as Riverbank, better surface, right by the river, giving us that little bit of a cooling breeze. On the program tonite were a bunch of 800s sandwiched inbetween some 200m repeat. The report, courtesy of Mr. Garmin:
or-going by the actual meter measurements and not the Garmin...
200m = 0:49.68 (6:39.76/mi)
200m = 0:50.62 (6:47.32/mi)
200m = 0:50.48 (6:46.20/mi)
800m = 3:38.55 (7:19.65/mi)
800m = 3:34.92 (7:12.35/mi)
800m = 3:37.03 (7:16.59/mi)
200m = 0:47.54 (6:22.54/mi)
200m = 0:50.38 (6:45.39/mi)
200m = 0:46.32 (6:12.72/mi)
Wow, I was pleasantly surprised with this workout. I was supposed to run the 200s fast, and aim for 3:40-3:45 for the 800s. But the way I ran those was pace for the first 400, maintain for the next 200, pick it up for the last 200...which led to all 3 of em being under 3:40...not too shabby!! And that last 200, I just went all out on...and had a great kick at the end. :) Definitely earned those Blue Moons afterwards!!
But it's like damn...if only the weather had cooperated last weekend. I was ready to have a good race at the Mini, I know I was. Guess all I can do in the meantime is acclimate and look towards Club Champs in August!!Labels: running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 2:27 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| speedwork fun, brought to you by mr. garmin |
| Wednesday, May 28, 2008 |
i think these graphs and maps from mr. garmin make tonite's speed workout self-explanatory...
  
lots of fast, slow, fast, slow work. and latched on to the fast group at the end for a little kick :) (for the record-after looking at a coupla maps, looks like the GPS signal was screwy around lap 12...it may have been uphill, but pretty sure I was going faster than that...def. felt harder!!) But definitely a great workout, felt much better than the track workout 2 weeks ago, and no lingering effect from those Rockefeller hills either!!
also, I didn't have an HRM before getting Mr. Garmin and I'll say-I like using it so far-I think it is gonna help me train smarter on easy runs, and also in the summertime give me a better idea of the effort put in even when the pace doesn't show it. but i swear, I'm like a kid in a candy store here, with all this data at my disposal to analyze it every which way :) kinda explains why I am in market research...and like looking at numbers and telling a story from them!! Labels: running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 10:44 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| you win some, you lose some |
| Thursday, May 15, 2008 |
Last nite's speed workout brought me to the track at Riverbank State Park...my first time at this track which was more...lively than E6th street? Well crowded at least. And more obstacles to dodge (lots of soccer balls!)
And I got to try out the Garmin for the first time during speed!! I decided to turn the "current pace" feature off and use the "current lap time" and distance to sorta give me an idea of pace.
So anyway-this workout was the same as the last track workout I did-the reverse ladder of 200/400/400/600/400/300/200. And my lovely Garmin made it so easy to download and export all my splits...
| Split Time | Split Distance | Split Pace | | warmup | 11:00 | 1.08 | 10:10 | | warmup w/ fast turns* | 6:22 | 0.78 | 8:07 | | 200m | 0:47 | 0.13 | 6:06 | | recovery | 1:24 | 0.13 | 10:52 | | 400m | 1:38 | 0.26 | 6:25 | | recovery | 1:24 | 0.13 | 11:18 | | 400m** | 1:43 | 0.26 | 6:30 | | recovery | 1:20 | 0.12 | 11:22 | | 600m | 2:42 | 0.37 | 7:14 | | recovery | 1:24 | 0.12 | 11:24 | | 400m | 1:46 | 0.26 | 6:58 | | recovery | 1:25 | 0.13 | 11:24 | | 300m | 1:17 | 0.19 | 6:48 | | recovery | 0:49 | 0.06 | 13:06 | | 200m | 0:50 | 0.12 | 6:56 | | recovery | 2:48 | 0.22 | 12:32 |
*Slow on the straightaways, fast on the turns for 3 laps of the track
**I hit the lap button a few seconds too late-what was recorded was 1:46-but this was what I remembered...at any rate, this one was definitely under 1:45.
This one definitely felt tougher than the last one. I think several things were going on:
1. started out too fast
2. maybe not fully recovered from Broad Street
3. an "off" day-not that everyone needs to know about female issues, but when it's *that* time, I usually do feel a lot more sluggish
But-I think that all but 1 being under 7 pace is good...fact of the matter is, it's still better than where I was at a year or so ago. And honestly-I think compared to how these felt, sub-8 miles in a race will seem easy...and isn't that the point of some of these workouts? :)Labels: running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 1:49 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| gotta hold back |
| Thursday, May 01, 2008 |
Common sense says I should be taking it easy this week. But couldn't pass up a speed workout at the East 6th Street track-it's like a novelty for me!-as well as a coupla Blue Moons afterwards :) Just figure I'd modify it based on how I was feeling, no?
The workout was supposed to be 200/400/400/600/400/300/200-a reverse ladder of sorts. Wasn't sure if I would do the whole thing-play it by ear-as as you will see, I skipped the 3rd 400 in favor of extra recovery and the last 200 as well-had some intervention there (thanks!! someone had to do it :) ) Oh yeah-these intervals were supposed to be at 5K pace-which i'm guessing for me right now would be 7:30ish. Didn't quite net out like that...
Interval
Length | Time | Pace | Comment | | 200m | 0:46 | 6:10 | holy crap, that sure as hell is not my 5K pace! | | 400m | 1:39 | 6:38 | neither is that. SLOW DOWN!! | | 400m | 1:44 | 6:58 | better, did feel like I was holding back, but still too fast...slow down, biatch!! :-p | | 600m | 2:41 | 7:11 | well at least I didn't sub 7 this one!! | | 300m | 1:22 | 7:19 | ok, this is more like 5K pace...my PR 5K pace!! Still really felt like I was holding back...but have to keep Sunday in mind. |
I think, after doing intervals in Central Park and on the reservoir (slower surface, plus lots of people-dodging)...once I hit a flat surface like the track, it's a whole new ballgame. The first few intervals weren't easy pace, but I didn't feel like I was going all out either. (And had I not been racing this weekend, I would have been told to keep doing sub-7s for the workout!) But I did end the workout still feeling good, which was the most important thing. (And feeling fine today too.)
Also-last time I was at this track was back in October...the workout was 400m repeats...5 or 6 of them? I was told to shoot for 1:40s...the first was 1:42, the remainder was between 1:45 and 1:47...and that felt harder than yesterday's workout did!!
So...even though I did feel like I really had to hold back in this workout-knowing that compared to last time-if the problem last night was finding it hard to hold back, that was the better "problem" to have.
It just means I will have to really keep things in check for mile 1 on Sunday...but I usually do better pacing in longer distances...as a certain marathon showed :)Labels: running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 2:03 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| a stitchy situation |
| Thursday, April 24, 2008 |
Last nite was really the first warm-weather speed workout of the season...though the actual workout was "easy-er" than previous, I still had a feeling the weather may up the difficulty level.
The workout consisted of a half-mile, recovery, 1K, recovery, 1K-the pickups done at 5K/4-mile pace (which for me, based on my last race would be 7:40, give or take a few seconds.) So I figured I'd be best in the 7:30 pace group...
Boy, was I wrong. The first half-mile was up Cat Hill and to the Obelisk...and I had dropped behind the group and was thinking "damn, 7:30 pace shouldn't feel this hard." Well no wonder-that half-mile was 3:36!! Even if I had stopped my watch a second or 2 early, was still too fast, especially uphill. Decided to recover slowly and just run my own pace for the remaining pickups. The first 1K pickup was 4:46, or 7:40 pace....hmmm, why yes, that one was spot on!! Recovered, started the last pickup-and ran into a little trouble there. Think the legs were fine and capable of another 4:46-but developed a nasty sidestitch which hurt like a bitch...and left me no choice but to slow down. That last 1K was 5:16, that shows how much it was hurting. Wish I knew why these happened...could it be the warm weather? I remember getting one in mile 6 of last year's Mini 10K, and I got one during my long run on Saturday when the weather was warm (but then I was able to stop running til it went away.) It's a mystery, I tell you...
But, despite that, I don't think the workout was a total bust. I figured if one that was not up to par would happen, this was the week for it (guess matzo is not the best fueling source!) And hey-I did hit the pace perfectly for one pickup, meaning my pacing skills are still there :) Next time, next time...
(now my sources are telling me that the first 1K was actually 1.1K...6:58 pace? can't believe it. it was net downhill, but still...)Labels: running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 1:50 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| 10-mile dress rehearsal |
| Wednesday, April 16, 2008 |
nope, didn't run 10 miles at speedwork!! but did 3 x 1.05 miles (1.05 mi=5 laps of the Great Hill track) at 10-mile pace. Which was honestly a perfect workout for me with Broad Street in 2 1/2 weeks. The McMillan calculator suggested a 10-miler at an 8:10 pace based on my last 4-mile race...so tried to aim for that, give or take and wound up with this...
1st "mile"
8:31 (8:05 pace) | 2nd "mile"
8:28 (8:02 pace) | 3rd "mile"
8:15 (7:50 pace) | | Time | Pace | Time | Pace | Time | Pace | | 1:43 | 8:09 | 1:43 | 8:09 | 1:40 | 7:54 | | 1:40 | 7:54 | 1:42 | 8:05 | 1:39 | 7:50 | | 1:43 | 8:09 | 1:41 | 7:59 | 1:40 | 7:54 | | 1:43 | 8:09 | 1:41 | 7:59 | 1:40 | 7:54 | | 1:42 | 8:04 | 1:41 | 7:59 | 1:37 | 7:40 |
Not bad, right? And no being the rabbit this time too. :)
In other news, I finally got my March Madness payout!! A cool $150. Of course, I would have gotten $350 had I only picked Memphis over UCLA to make the final...but still, $150 is nothing to sneeze at!! :)Labels: march madness, running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 9:51 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| chase a guy, any guy!! |
| Wednesday, April 09, 2008 |
OK-after tonite's workout, I am forbidden from running after guys in the first repeat of any workout. And here's why...
Repeat
number | Time | Pace | Comment | | 1 | 3:28 | 6:56 | wowza!! was this really a half-mile? | | 2 | 3:42 | 7:24 | ok-that seems more realistic | | 3 | 3:45 | 7:30 | still on target... | | 4 | 3:50 | 7:40 | i'm paying for that first repeat. | | 5 | 3:39 | 7:18 | last one...give it all you got! |
For reference sake-the workout was 5 x a half-mile...target around 7:30ish pace. What happened in the first repeat? Well-everyone started at once...and I think some of the faster runners "sucked me in" for at least the first minute...and well, it just happened that most of them were guys, so it probably looked like I was chasing the guys :-p I looked at my watch at the end of that repeat and was in disbelief-and hoped it wouldn't bite me in the a$$ later...and as you see, it did for repeat #4...
But-on the other hand, that was the first time ever that I have ever done a half-mile in a workout at a sub-7 pace...and I was still able to kick it in at the end so not all was lost.
But honestly-it wouldn't have been the first time i'd be "chasing guys" in the first repeat :) I remember one or two Tuesday morning workouts with the 6 am crew, where I was clearly letting the guys pull me along, and the group leader even had to warn me to pull back. I guess some things will never change!! :-)
And today was the maiden voyage for my brand-spankin new DS-Trainer 13s...were sitting patiently in the box for 3 1/2 months and finally got used today!! And I like em. I like em a lot. :-) Asics has been forgiven for messing up on the DS-Trainer 12s. Hey who knows, it could've been the shoes today as well...Labels: running, running shoes, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 10:46 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| run. recover. repeat. |
| Thursday, April 03, 2008 |
I've finally made it back to doing speedwork, and boy...I've forgotten how tough it was-especially those killer tempo workouts!! This week was the second time doing it this year...and I was definitely satisfied-special thanks to my great pacing partner and her Garmin ;-)
| Interval length | Time | Pace | | 0.51 mile | 3:37 | 7:06 | | 0.65 mile | 4:43 | 7:16 | | 0.42 mile | 3:00 | 7:09 | | 0.29 mile | 2:00 | 6:54 | | 0.28 mile | 2:00 | 7:09 | | 0.29 mile | 2:00 | 6:54 |
Considering I hadn't hit these types of times in awhile, I was definitely excited to see, and feeling like my old self again. And glad me and my great pacing partner held our own when it came to recovery...we were the only ones in our group that were doing recoveries at a true recovery pace-hey, the intervals are the time to push hard...not the recoveries!!
Damn, maybe I should take every January off and cross-train (sans injury in the future though!!)
We'll see how this all plays out at another 4-miler...and hit up Philly next!! (I officially registered!)
And looking further down the line...I do intend to become $136 poorer sometime this month (I'll save rants on that for another time!)Labels: running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 12:59 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| why do these things happen to me? |
| Thursday, December 20, 2007 |
so yesterday evening, i indulged in a speed workout (6 reps of this steep-ass hill. boy, my a$$ was definitely feeling those uphills...)
and after said speed workout, me and a few others decided to meet for dinner afterwards-so i detoured home to clean up and dry off (was a little rainy before.) so i was about to leave my apartment...when I couldn't find my keys. Uh-oh...I had a sinking feeling I knew what I did, because yes, I had done that once before.
I friggin left my keys in my apartment front door. Which pretty much locked myself in my apartment.
Guess that workout left me more than a little scatterbrained?
Last time it happened-my across the hall neighbor was able to unlock me, but I was not sure if he was home this time. Thankfully, I called one of the cool peeps I was meeting and he was able to come over and bail me out of trouble :)
Dinner was good, and then...afterwards someone noticed someone's metrocard/money on the floor...yep you guessed it, it was mine, fell out of my pocket.
I swear, i would have lost my brain yesterday if it was not attached.
Thank god both me and my keys made it inside my apartment without incident after that. :-)Labels: apartment, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 12:05 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| running angry |
| Wednesday, October 03, 2007 |
anger-or other strong emotions-great motivator.
first off, my infamous bitchfest about the Queens half found its way into the fabulous Flyer newsletter. Yeah, either our newsletter editor either really liked my writeup or he was desperate for articles (I am assuming the latter :-p) anyway, he put it in there-slightly edited to remove strong language-remember, this is a family-friendly newsletter. :)
Then today at work. After 4 PM, I noticed a mistake on a hardcopy report that already went out. I had received the wrong file from our data processing department-in this final stage, they really should have made sure I received the correct file, but I missed it. I was able to get correct electronic copies out, but the damage was done, and this was the wrong project to f*ck up on. Needless to say, I was very...upset? scared? some other emotion?
I guess I used that emotion to my advantage tonite at speedwork. the workout was 6 times a half-mile around the great lawn oval at 5k pace, with a nice rest inbetween (yay!) Honestly, at this point, with halfs having been my focus the last coupla months, I didn't even remember what 5k pace felt like!! But I needed to get a feel for it for an upcoming 5k...was hoping to do somewhere in the 7:30's pace for the race, or better (my PR, set 3 years ago, was 7:17 pace-but that was when I was in much, much better shape.) Was pleasantly surprised that my splits tonite were 3:41/3:41/3:41/3:44/3:45. No "rabbit the first repeat and run 10 seconds slower for the remaining repeats"-guess the recovery helped! And if I can really run between 7:22-7:30 pace for 5k, i'd be happy...
Now i really hope this workout did its real job and will help me sleep tonite...
now playing: "do it" ~ nelly furtadoLabels: flyers, running, speedwork, work |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 10:50 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| down and out |
| Sunday, September 16, 2007 |
This pretty much sums up how my running has gone this week..
First off, I had to take Monday as a rest day (from running, at least)-as my legs were just spent from the weekend. As a result, I missed out on what was described by many as a very fun run...(though it may have been a good thing I skipped the ice cream...I sure as hell didn't deserve it with 2 holiday dinners with the family that week.)
Speedwork on Tuesday was a disaster. The workout was on the Great Lawn Oval-3 x 1.02 miles, then 2 x .51 miles. Intensity?-"as hard as we can." I was barely hanging on to half-marathon pace by the end of the mile repeats, and the half-miles weren't much better. It was a very humid night, but jeez...it *is* mid-September, shouldn't I be acclimated by now?
Then the LTR on Saturday. It did not go well for me at all. The irony? I was actually doing my job!! (Which was pacing the 9:30 group for 11 miles.) All the 9:30 pace leaders were broken up into 4 groups and I was with 2 others (who had done this before too.) I made it perfectly clear-I wanted to run 9:30s. Period. The first mile started off on pace. Then...deja vu of the last LTR. I began really struggling with the pace, and falling way behind the other 2 leaders and a good chunk of the group. The 2nd mile split looked too fast, and I yelled to the other runners that if they were ahead of me, they were going too fast-shocker, no one listened to me, not even the other pace leaders. The third mile sucked too and I was wondering if I was going to have to drop back to the 10's for the next loop-as I could not keep the pace (not that there was anything wrong with having to drop back a group-but there were a lot of pace leaders for the 10's and barely enough for the 9:30s) The third mile split was again too fast and by that time I had had enough. I yelled again that whoever is in front of me was going too fast-and that they should run ahead to the 9:00 pace group. Thankfully by this time, some other runners finally agreed with me and pulled it back. Shocker of shockers, we were right on pace for the remainder of the 6-mile loop.
However-the fact that the "rabbits" of the group ended 2 minutes before I did meant that they were departing for the 2nd loop just as I got to the transverse-so I had to tell the Flyers acting as marshalls that I couldn't leave right away and explain the situation. I was told that "everyone's going fast, they're just excited, deal with it." Sorry-but I don't want to "deal with it." If I wanted to run 9's, I would have paced the 9 minute group. Plain and simple. And besides, these runners expect to run 9:30s and I'm sure will complain if the pace is too fast. Plus that made me feel that my efforts to do the job right and stay on pace just are not appreciated. For the 5-mile loop, I just waited for the next group of 9:30s to come in and joined up with them-thankfully, the group stayed together and on pace for this loop (or so we thought-all the mile markers had been taken away!), then I was done!!
(Just an FYI-i know-especially for the "newbies"-that pace leading isnt the easiest thing. It took me a couple of LTR's to get it down, but once I did, things were fine!)
This run was a big ego-crusher...again, if 9-9:15ish miles gave me trouble, then how do I ever expect to run a good half next week? And 3 years ago, 9-9:15 miles would have been considered easy...I wish I had those days back.
Well that was the "down," the "out" is that I am sorta feeling on the outs with my running club. I feel like I am missing out on so much, running-wise...I can't do most of the group runs, because I am too damn slow and I just cannot hold on to the pace. Back when BCG used to co-lead the Thursday night runs, at least I knew she and I would stick together-but she is back in Chicago. I'm not training for a marathon, so I have no need to do 18-20 milers out of town on the weekends-but it seems like the majority of the club is in marathon training. I do what I can, but I still feel a little left out. Kind of makes me wonder-where is my place?
What to do, what to do...Labels: flyers, running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 8:43 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| guilt trip |
| Tuesday, July 24, 2007 |
why, oh why, does hell always have to break loose at work whenever I want to get away?? I swear, is it an unspoken rule that it never is a good time to take vacation? i know i deserve this break, and have been looking forward to it. But can't help but feel guilty about abandoning work during a crunch period, when the rest of my group is already drowning (and one about to give birth in the next few weeks!!)
Needless to say, I will be screening all phone calls I get, and not answering any unfamiliar numbers while I am out :)
Did manage to escape today for my last speed workout before the half... it was similar to the one did way back when...6 continous loops of the great lawn oval, but at half-marathon pace, and to try and keep consistent...
| Lap | Time | Pace | | 1 | 3:59 | 7:48 | | 2 | 4:08 | 8:06 | | 3 | 4:07 | 8:04 | | 4 | 4:10 | 8:10 | | 5 | 4:09 | 8:08 | | 6 | 4:05 | 8:00 |
As per usual, rabbit the first lap, but the remainder was consistent...workout pace average was 8:03...if that is my pace on Sunday, I'd be happy...
Though cautiously optimistic, given the hills. Yeah, a couple of (non-runner) co-workers who either used to live in SF or have been there before were trying to warn me about the hills there. Look...I train in Central Park, I've done long runs before with killer hills in the Palisades and Lake Placid, I've utilized NYC's man-made hills (aka bridges)...and let's not forget a hilly marathon I ran last year? (What do those guys know...)Labels: running, speedwork, work |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 9:22 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
| thank god the rains came |
| Friday, June 29, 2007 |
Seriously, NYC needed a cooling-down this week. This was how my runs so far this week have gone...
Monday-downtown group run, 6.8 miles out and back on the West Side Highway...being by the water didn't help much, didn't cool us down...needless to say quite a few water stops were made.
Tuesday nite speedwork-about 90 degrees and insanely humid. I was praying the coaches would dial back the workout (shorter repeats, perhaps?) or at least, tell us to be careful with the heat...no such luck, the workout was 2 x the 1.6 mile bridle path (with 3 minutes rest inbetween) at 5K pace (or "85% effort.") Oh, and we had to try and do the 2nd loop faster than the first. Yeah, obviously none of this happened for me, first loop as 8:15ish pace, second was 8:40ish-definitely not 5K pace, definitely not 85% effort. Once again, the heat and humidity got the best of me... (don't know why anyone would think otherwise though...)
Wednesday was originally gonna be my kickboxing-and-weights day...but the power outages on the East Side and the subways being affected caused our office to be closed "early" at 5pm :-p And I didn't want to chance getting stuck in midtown, so I just went home and decided to do a "run easy" 5 miler :-p Didn't feel as bad as the last 2 days (yes, there are some merits to running easy!!), but the weather...it was like running underwater again.
And thank god the rains came and cooled things down...this weekend is looking nice!!
And can you believe all the insanity over the iPhone? This is one bandwagon I will not be jumping on...Labels: running, speedwork |
| posted by nyflygirl @ 2:28 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
