Posts Tagged ‘progressive run’

I had one of the best overall days of running I’ve had in a while, not counting races. With humidity way down mid-day (but still 90 degrees), I pulled off a nice progressive run: 9:07, 8:29, 8:13 and .6 miles in an 8:04 pace. Then tonight in slightly more humid conditions, but still relatively comfortable, I kept pushing it — a 3.4-mile run in 29:48, which included an 8:29 second mile.

On the second run tonight, I also hit and passed 100 miles for the month! It’s the first triple digit month since October. I can’t even begin to explain what it means to me to have such a good day and hit a milestone like this.

After getting so wrapped up with numbers last year, I’ve backed off keeping such close track this year of where I am mileage wise. I think I check things once or twice a month now compared to last year in which it seemed like I was doing it every other day. With Baltimore Marathon training I am keeping closer track of my weekly mileage, but I certainly feel like I’m not obsessing about it.

It’s quite a relief, actually, and I’ve been able to focus more on the quality of my runs much more than I have in the past.

My average everyday runs are generally about 20-30 seconds faster per mile, often even faster, and the results are showing up on race days.

Now comes the time to focus on both quality and quantity – the higher mileage days and weeks are important, but so are making sure I’m running with good form, mixing up the types of runs I do and maintaining better paces so I have less time on my feet. I’m a big believer now that spending less time on my feet (higher leg turnover) on runs is key to preventing future injuries.

That said, I actually am spending more overall time on my feet with walking twice a day at work. I think that time of extra movement is helping me recover faster and giving me more energy day to day. That’s another blog post for another time as I continue to figure out those benefits.

So … while I have shifted my focus a bit, I did some mileage counting before I started running this week. I’m going to hit my 500th mile before the week ends. Coming off my injury, that’s a big deal to me. A year ago I hit the 500th mile at the end of June, and to be just 3 weeks off that pace does a lot for me mentally, especially after what I wrote about a couple of days ago.

Also this week, I’m aiming for my first 30-mile week in 9 months. I’ve already had three runs of a wide variety to get close to halfway — a run in the heat that forced me to walk, a run in the rain with stomach issues and a very hot (heat index was at 95) progressive run of miles of 8:59, 8:29 and 8:01. Just like getting back to 20 miles in a week at the end of April, getting to 30 will feel special.

Image: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As the self-proclaimed president and one of the few remaining members of #watchlessmonday, I hereby announce my resignation. Sort of. I wore my Garmin today for the first time on a Monday since early April. I had 9 runs on Mondays without wearing a watch, including a race. The point of Watchless Monday was to get me out of my element and to do something different. It worked. It got me out of my comfort zone at times, while other times I was probably running too slow. It was fun while it lasted.

Now here comes the BUT. While I’m officially ending my Watchless Monday campaign, I will continue to have an occasional run without a watch. As I get closer to marathon training, I’ll want the break every once in a while. It’s worth running without the watch every so often. These past two months without a watch once a week has changed me. I truly believe that, but as with most things with running, when things start to feel too routine, it’s time to change it up. Intentionally not wearing my Garmin on Monday started to feel cartoonish.

That being said, I will continue to urge people to go watchless or technology-less to break up the feeling that they’re necessary every single time out there. Running just to run is a great feeling that we all need. I get that feeling now even if I do wear my Garmin, so I am calling Watchless Monday a success for me. Now it’ll just be #watchlesswheneverifeellikeit.

As for having my watch today, I had a decent progressive run with mile splits of 9:06, 8:31, 8:30 and 8:04 (a slight downhill mile), with the final tenth in 44 seconds. It’s not quite what I would call speedwork, but it’s still different from what I’m used to. While it was still hot in Roanoke today – about 80 for the lunch run – the humidity was much lower.

I’m excited about seeing what happens in my 5k this weekend. I feel like I’ve had something to unleash on my runs recently and I need the race atmosphere to do it. My faster pace on everyday runs and doing a couple of progressive runs have given me a boost.

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Here’s a look at today’s run on a map, plus the elevation profile. I hope to post more of these this summer as I get as focused as I possibly can on my individual runs:

Despite setting a PR in the 10k in April, and having two more 10ks under my belt this year, I’ve been lacking speed in my workouts. I have actually been faster in my comeback and I’ve had a few runs in which I pushed it a bit at the end or stepped up the middle miles, but as I have built a base I’ve focused heavily on just getting the miles in.

While the miles are important, I do want to aim for faster times in races this summer. So today I unintentionally did speed work on my lunch run with a nice progressive 5k. My first mile was just under 9 minutes, the second mile was just under 8 minutes and the third mile was a little more than 7:30. I pushed that final tenth of a mile just under 40 seconds. It helped having a co-worker with me, and I’m not sure if I was pushing him or he was pushing me. It just kind of happened.

It felt great, even in the mid-day heat, and it was the second straight day of pushing it a bit at a shorter distance. It also comes on the heels of having very tired legs following what I did at Relay for Life – yesterday I really didn’t want to run and today I was feeling very indifferent about it.

However, today’s run – which included a pretty intense up and down hill in the first and final miles – gave me the boost I needed as I prepare to sign up for a 5k that’s next weekend. It will be my first 5k race since October and just the second since April 2010.

It’s odd that the distance I’ve raced the most since 2004 is one that I feel the most unprepared for right now. I’m probably way off getting a PR (22:40), but I at least have more confidence following these couple of runs. Today’s run, with a time of 25:18, is faster than four other 5ks I’ve done, so you better believe I’m looking forward to unleashing more speed.

Under race conditions with a little bit cooler weather, I think I could knock off about a minute of today’s time, but I really won’t know until I do it …

Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net