Category Archives: sprint work

June 6, 2012 · 2:06 pm

Tempos, speedwork and hills

Tempos, speedwork, and hills, oh my!  Tempos, speedwork, and hills, oh my!

I need help!  You need to help me!

I am running a monster marathon in October that has some monster hills incorporated. 

 

So my conundrum? 

Right now my training plan calls for tempo runs and speedwork.  I KNOW I HAVE to get some hill work in there or I’ll die.  I’m not being dramatic.  Not at all.

So… Do I?

Substitute speedwork for hills?

Substitute tempo runs for hills?

Add a fourth day and do a hilly run?

Hi! Does this treadmill make me look fat? Maybe I should finish those damn curtains.

And then once I figure that part out.  Any suggestions on how to do a hilly run?  It WILL be on the treadmill because the only hill in Houston isn’t very close to my house.  Do I try to get all mathy and figure out the true incline of the hills and try to mimic that on the treadmill?

(And as a side note, I can’t add hills into my long runs, I live in Houston, we have one hill.  I don’t live near it.)

Someone help me please!!!! 

National Running Day:  I did what every runner should do on this lovely day.  No, not run.  I’m not scheduled to run.  I registered for the Houston Marathon.  Actually, registered for the lottery.  Fingers crossed til June 25th.

Who else is thinking about running Houston?  Or who already got in?  (lucky!)

14 Comments

Filed under hills, Marathon Training, Nike Women's Marathon, sprint work, tempo runs

September 13, 2011 · 1:34 pm

liar liar pants on fire….

I’ve been having motivation issues.  as evidenced here…. and here….. 

I lost my dog.

School has been sucky and time consuming.

Work has been busy… the usual.

Excuses, excuses…..

I know I’ve touched on my lack of motivation here and there but it’s really quite bad.  I’ve skipped run after run after run.  I skipped my long run this Saturday (gasp!  the horror!).  I didn’t feel bad…. at first.

Then I got to really thinking about it.  I started calculating how much longer I have til the San Antonio marathon… 9 weeks!  9 little weeks!  And then just 4 weeks til the 10 for Texas. 

So I don’t really want to be a whiner or anything.  Cause it’s not like you all made me run this marathon.  Made me pay lots of money to run 26.2 miles.  I decided that all on my own!  And I still want to do this! 

Monday was do-over day.  Got my schedule for running and figured out when I’m going to tackle it.  (Tuesday is school so it screws stuff up.)

Last night I got outside and did my speedwork.  I’m gonna recycle a photo cause I forgot to take one last night before I took off.  Pretend I’m wearing a white shirt and black shorts instead.  Yeah, that picture is close enough right??

So last night I did my 2 1600 with 4 minute rests.  It was good…

See that…  I did my quick miles in 9:03 and 9:27… (which for little speedies like Michelle and Rachael it’s their normal pace… )  really good for me considering I’ve done next to no speedwork in the past month or so. 

So here we go… new and improved Tara here.  I’m back to NIGHT running.  I tried to do the morning thing.  The thing is… I can stay awake longer, I can’t make myself wake up.  If I have a schedule change and can do a morning run later in the morning like 5:30 then I might reattempt but this 4:30 crap isn’t working.

I am NOT a morning runner… I AM wishy washy.

11 Comments

Filed under confessions, long runs, Marathon Training, races, sprint work

August 31, 2011 · 9:24 am

so busy, so behind

First things first… I’m wearing bright green today and hopefully it’ll keep me peppy.  I’m channeling Neon Blonde Runner

Excuse my lovely closet and guest bedroom…

I’ve been so busy with work and school (started again last night) and kiddos I’ve been a bad bad blogger… 

Here’s a quick recap on the recent workouts:

Saturday long run – 11 miles

Kinda depressing run.  Ended up doing the 11 miles in something like 2:20:00 which was about a 13:00/mile pace.  It was so humid you could see it.  The bad thing is, I didn’t think I was running that slow, I thought I was doing better… 

Next week is another personal longest distance ever.  We are doing 16 miles.  Hello to my first 3 hour run.  As of today, we are scheduled to have a high of 96 that day, so hello relief!!  Ice bath will occur after.

Sunday – rest day

Done!  That was easy.  We just hung out around the house and did next to nothing.

Monday – 35 min easy

Didn’t happen.  We had kindergarten curriculum night and by the time we got home and ate it was too late to go outside.  I decided I would wake up the following morning and get er done.

Tuesday – speed work

I actually woke up and did my Monday run this morning!  You all know I’m not a big fan of the morning run but it wasn’t half bad.  I ended up running 3.18 miles which comes to an average pace of 11:09.  Third time was a charm after all!!

Today

Today I had aspirations to get up and complete my speedwork.  I put out my clothes and had everything all set up.  My alarm went off at 4 am and I said nope.  My throat was hurting and I was still tired from class last night.  So back to bed I went until 5:30. I will get up tomorrow and knock out my tempo run. 

I’ve been the school bus for the little guy the past two days and that has significantly cut down my time available at work to blog.  I hope to get up the last two LA post today, mainly cause I don’t want to think about doing them anymore… 

Have I missed anything special with anyone?  I’m also behind on reading blogs so if you get some late comments, that’s why.

12 Comments

Filed under Marathon Training, sprint work

July 26, 2011 · 9:25 am

tuesday randomness….

I don’t really have a fully thought out post to throw out today so it’s gonna be some randomness for you all to enjoy. 

Class was terrible last night, teacher let us go “early” at 10:05… don’t worry folks, I’m taking notes and I’ll expand your mind with all the information I’m learning.  I know you all want to learn how to write as an accountant… thrilling material!!

I decided this morning I needed some retail therapy after being tortured last night.  I had some virtual dollars from the Limited and some funds from a gift card remaining from my birthday…

The dress I got is actually blue, not green but I must’ve gotten the last one cause it’s not on the site anymore.

Tonight I have to do my speedwork all alone again.  We are supposed to be doing 18 reps of 30 seconds of speed and 30 seconds of slow jog recovery. 

Also, I’m sincerely considering doing my very first ICE bath this weekend after my long run.  Anyone doing these?  Any suggestions? 

Anyone found any fabulous deals lately? 

My total order from the limited ended up being $60 after shipping was included.  After redemption of the remaining gift card and virtual bucks, I only had to shell out $9.  Winning!!!

8 Comments

Filed under bleck, purchases, sprint work, Tuesdays