5K race prep

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5K tempo run… The best one ever!

I’m very excited about my run yesterday.

It was my tempo run day and I was dreading it.  Running that hard for that long is difficult for me, but it always benefits my running.  After my tempo day, I run easier, faster and with less effort.  So I make myself do them and I never regret it.  I do dread it through.

Yesterday I ran 2 warmup miles in my Saucony Mirage 2 shoes (my favorite shoes) and then came home and changed into my Saucony A5 racing flats and went for the tempo run.  TJ started me doing this where he changes his shoes before beginning at tempo pace.  It not only gives a chance for a little rest, but it is amazing going from a regular running shoe to a light racing flat.  It feels like there is nothing on your feet.

My hope was to run 2 of my tempo miles under 7:00 pace and then the third as fast as I could, knowing that I would be tired.  I have never run 2 miles under 7:00 pace before, but I wanted to get use to the feeling of running that fast.  I wanted my brain to learn how fast that was and my legs to know how to keep at that pace.  So, I went for it.

I finished 2 miles feeling pretty good.  From my iSmoothRun app, I could tell that I should be averaging under 7:00 pace.  The third mile was an effort.  But the idea behind a tempo run is to hit the wall.  To know that feeling when your body says, “No more”.  Well after yesterday, I know that feeling.

So how did it go?  Here is the breakdown of my tempo miles:

Mile 1 – 6:50 pace
Mile 2 – 6:50 pace
Mile 3 – 7:02 pace

Wow, I set a person record.  My last 5K race I ran at a 7:09 pace and a total time of 22:10.  I was not in a good place when I finished as it took 10 minutes of medical attention to get me back to a normal breathing state.  I ran this 5K at a 6:54 pace and a total time of 21:29.  I couldn’t be happier.  It was hard, but I was able to get in 2 recovery miles afterwards.

TJ, RS and I are training for a 5K in May where my goal is to run it at 20:00 (6:26 pace).  It is a big goal, but this will be the first 5K I have ever actually trained for.  I’ve also learned that I need to run my easy runs at a slower pace.  I’ve read that those who run too fast all the time end up running slower and getting hurt more than those who run 80% easy and 20% fast.

Today is an easy day, and I need it.  I am a bit sore this morning, but not too bad. It was worth it!

With all the dreading of my tempo day, it was the best day ever.

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A good tempo run… Go figure!

Yesterday I started my run with some trepidation.  Yes, I have never used that word before in a sentence, but it fits here.  My plan was to run my first tempo run since the week before my half marathon.  So it has been quite a while since I have attempted this run.  What scared me most was my body’s reaction to the workout.  My goal was to run 2-3 miles at tempo pace which is somewhere between 7:23 – 7:29.  Last time I was doing tempo and hill workouts was when my hip, knees and body in general rebelled and I was in a lot of pain almost every day.

So I began my run.  I ran 2 miles at a normal pace just trying to get warmed up.  My first mile wasn’t good.  My right hamstring had been hurting for two days and actually started hurting at work walking down a hall.  On my run it felt fine, but my left hamstring began hurting.  Crazy.  I really considered trashing my plans and just running a normal run.  By the time I got done with 2 miles, I felt better and decided to go for it!!!

I ran well.  I felt good.  The first two miles weren’t easy, but weren’t hard.  I decided to go for the third mile.  It was getting difficult to keep up my pace for the third, but I did.  I ending up running those 3 miles in an average pace of 7:17.  This put me just 40 seconds behind my 5K PR.  That was where I needed paramedics to look at me because I ran too hard.

Finally I ran a SLOW cool down mile.  I ended all 6 miles at a 8:10 average pace.

I haven’t been running well lately.  I seem to be slow and feel blah in my runs.  This run pumped me up.  I can still run the hard runs and with 15 lbs off of my body, it wasn’t nearly as bad.

So today is an easy day and tomorrow a hill run.  Hill runs have really hurt in the past.  I’ll be interested how my weight loss has helped in that area also.

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Updates on running and dieting

Training has been a bit hard lately.  Not too bad, but I’ve increased my mileage this week quite a bit from last week.  Most people say to only increase 10% over your previous week, but I am trying to get back to my 35 – 45 miles a week.  I figure that I was only out of running 2 weeks, so it really shouldn’t be that big of a jump to go from last week (my first week back) running 23 miles to this week running 35 miles.  Overall it has gone well.  I am back to sub 8:30 pace and am taking no anti inflammatories or fish oil.  I really am trying to run without any meds now that I am in the low 180s in weight.  So far so good.  I am a little sore, and have a little hip pain, but that is all.

Next week I begin training to run my next 5K.  TJ has some workouts for me to do that he has been doing since last week.  I have just over 2 months to be able to bring my 5K time to 20:00.  As I’ve said before, this is my goal and I hope to achieve it, but if I don’t, that’s okay.  I just need something to shoot for that will motivate me to do these workouts.  Also, these workouts will help my overall running time and that will be crucial as we kick into training for our marathon beginning in July.

Just an FYI on my weight.  I finished my diet at 177.  I got as high as 183 over the weekend which was rather depressing.  So this week, I have worked hard at trying to stay away from the carbs.  The main carb I eat is a piece of bread before I run, which seems to really help.  So I am, as of this morning, back down to 180.  That is exciting since I was afraid my body was dictating that it wanted to go back to the high 180s.  I hope to get back in the mid 170s if only to keep my hips and back out of pain and not need to go back on pain meds.

Keeping motivated!

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3 days running and back on pace!

Getting my running legs under me again.  Yesterday was my third run since I took 2 weeks off and lost 20 lbs.  I felt really good running and felt my stride was longer and easier to maintain.  Ultimately I ran just over 9:00 pace on Monday and just over an 8:00 pace yesterday.  I did feel like I was pushing it a bit after the first mile, but I knew I was running well and wanted to see what I could do.

The good news is I am still not taking and anti inflammatory meds or fish oil.  I think that is my biggest success from my time off.  I used to be in a lot of pain with my hips and back that I had to be on meds everyday.  Now I really have almost no issues other than after my run yesterday my left hip hurt for a while, but the pain went away on its own.

I am trying to keep to my run plan.  Today and tomorrow I up my mileage to 4 miles each day and then Sunday I go up to 6.  I hope by next week to be in the 5 mile a day range again.  I just didn’t want to take things too fast.  Also, I didn’t have any muscles pulling as I ran yesterday so that was great.

Our next race is a 5k in May.  It was our first race we ever ran and it will be fun to compare our progress.  TJ has a training plan worked out for me when I get myself back to normal running.  My goal is to finish in the 20 minute range, which would be a miracle.  But in the past year I have seen a lot of miracles happen because of my running.  I wish more people could experience what I experience.

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Running makes life an adventure!

5 more days to go on my diet and run recovery.  I am using a physician’s weight loss diet and am now at 182 lbs which is the least I’ve weighed since college.  It is going to be great to run again knowing that I have about a bowling ball less weight to run with.

I am a bit worried about getting running after my diet.  Mainly I know I’ll have to go slow since I’ve had almost no fat or carbs for a while.  I tend to want to push the envelope a lot and I want to be sure I don’t do that.

TJ is working with me on a running plan for our next race.  It is going to be the “Spring Scramble” in the first week of April.  This was our first 5K we ran after we began to run in March of last year.

Wow, a whole year is almost up.  I began running on March 25, 2012.  Is amazes me how far TJ, RS and I have come in a year.  Looking back at our first 5K, I barely finished in 32 minutes.  My goal for this year is to finish in the 20 minute area.  I am sure with TJ’s help, I’ll get somewhere close.

Life is always an adventure if you make it one.  That is why “I love running”.  Running is all about getting out there and doing it.  It is up to me to run.  Sometimes things get in the way like injuries or other responsibilities, but for the most part If I run, I do better at running.  If I run, I feel better about myself.  If I run, I feel like I have accomplished something.

The more I run, the more I love running.

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First half marathon recap – It was fun

I admit I was nervous going into our first half marathon.  I didn’t really know what to expect.  The only races we have run thus far were 5Ks and now I’m looking at the starting line of a 13.1 mile race with thousands of people crowding around me.

It was fun.

The first 6 miles were easy.  They were relatively flat and it was amazing seeing all those people running through the streets of Birmingham USA. I was encouraged that my app was continually measuring my pace around 8:00.  My goal was 8:2o so I figured I was banking some time for what was ahead.  Then the hills began.  In fact it was more like on long 2 mile hill.  Not really, but that is what it felt like.  The people around me went from talking and laughing to breathing hard and being quite.  It was tough.  I was beginning to pace closer to 8:30, but I told myself where there are uphills, there are downhills.  Finally the downhills started and I was able to pick up some time.  The downhills seemed to last a couple of miles also and I was feeling much better.  I was also getting back into the high 7 minute pace.

The final leg of the race was the toughest.  It was three straight flat miles.  There was a small incline for a while and then just flat.  I knew I only had a couple of miles left and knew that the time I finished with would be the time I would have to live with, so I picked up my pace.  By the time I turned my last turn and had a half mile to go, I was shot.  I somehow kept my time up though.  With the finish line 500 yards away, I gave it my all.  I ended up finishing in 1:44.  I beat my goal of 8:20 with a final pace of 7:58.  I could have cried.  A month ago as TJ and I were beginning our workouts (hill, tempo and steady state runs) I really thought 8:30 pace was a dream.  Here I finished at a time that if I could have done that for the 26.2 miles, I would have qualified for Boston!  Thanks TJ.  It meant more to me that you will ever know.

TJ, by the way finished at 1:28.  How great is that for a first half marathon.  I was so impressed.  RS, whom I was worried about since he had been hurt so much, ran in Vibram 5 finger shoes and not only finished, but ran it under 2 hours!!!

It was an amazing day.  Now some much needed time off.  TJ is already getting our training together for the Spring Scramble 5K.  It was the first race we ran in when we started running last spring and so it will be great to run it again.

Just so you know, I LOVE RUNNING!

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What warmup should be done for a half marathon?

It was a different type of workout yesterday preparing for our race on Sunday morning.  The training is called a Fartlek and for us, it began with a warmup, then 1:00 at half marathon pace and 1:00 at regular pace.  I did this 5 times and then headed home.  It was good and I ran the workout well, but I think I was a bit worn out from my excellent run the day before and I didn’t want to overdue it.

Now on to my question.  I don’t normally ask questions that I want answers to, but if anyone has a suggestion, I’d appreciate it.

We run our first half marathon on Sunday (our longest race to date is 5K) and I would like to know if anyone has warmup ideas before the race.  For our 5Ks we usually get there an hour early and run a couple of slow warmup miles (we like to run the end of the race back and forth so we know what we will face at the end of the race), then hit the Porta Potties and head to the starting line and do some stretching.

This seems to work really well for the 5K, but is it the same for a half marathon?

Does anyone have a warmup for a half marathon that works well?

Today is my last run before the race.  I’ll take tomorrow off to be fresh for Sunday morning.  2 days and counting.

I love running a lot.  Races make it even more fun.