peter and I did the usual monday night run. somewhere around three miles. the liberty loop and back. it's a good, quick run to stretch the legs.
on tuesday I went up to steiner and did a two mile warm up run on the treadmill. then I got out a jump rope and did a ten minute plyometric routine. so good. such a fabulous workout. ten minutes is all you need, and it magically makes you a quicker, more efficient runner. [I have a testimony of it. this was the magic ingredient to my fastest marathon ever. I never thought I could run that fast for 26.2 miles and then somehow I did--without really training hard for it! all it took was a ten minute plyo workout once a week in the last half of my training, I swear!] anyway, I did my plyo then I stretched out with a two mile (does the distance on the eliptical machine actually translate to actual miles? I always wonder.) eliptical workout. good times for sure.
here is a peak into my plyo-jump rope routine. I like to break it up into 30 second segments.
mix up any of the following:
*easy jump roping or 'recovery jumping', if you will
*jumping from side to side across the rope
*jumping forward across the rope from a standing position
*jumping roping with high knees
*jump roping with feet together and no extra bounces between jumps
this workout is actually surprisingly tough and your calves will kill in the following days until you get used to it. I am a firm believer in this. trust me.
wednesday was swimteam. I really love swimteam. I led the lane. swam hard. did a lot of IM. one day I'll master the fly. and my backstroke felt surprisingly better. it was good.
I didn't run today because I wasn't feeling well. tomorrow I'm going to do an easy run to stretch out the calves, etc. then saturday is a ten miler. and hopefully a ride with the buchanan's and maria. it should be fun, can't wait!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
14 miles of goodness.
my long runs are getting longer. I'm definitely into higher mileage now. but I'm facing my fears head on and running right through them.
yesterday was a tough run. I had some long uphill miles to get through. I'm just glad I can still get away with starting the run at 9 am. soon it will be that if I don't finish my run by 9 am I will be in serious trouble. I love spring. I love running in long sleeves and shorts.
my body held up well. only the usual random aches and pains that don't stay with you through the whole run. that's a good sign. I was hydrated this week. I ran hard. it felt good. sure, I was tight by the end (or by the middle?) but not too terribly tight. I feel pretty good today.
this is serious marathon training now. no messin' around!
tips: [for all those just dying to break into the long run scene]
drive your route in a car, mapping out the mileage and dropping water (and gatorade, if needs be) about every two miles. but when you're done running, don't forget to drive back and pick up the water bottles! [or just have your cutest husband secretly follow behind you on his road bike. peter, I loved the cheering and the high-five as you passed by. best long run surprise ever!]
play the mental game. running is seriously 90% mental and 10% training. you cannot listen to the negative thoughts in your head. replace them with positive ones. lie to yourself if you have to. because your body is amazing and you'll be surprised as to how much she can really do. you really can do anything you put your mind to. here are some things I had to tell myself yesterday:
"you've done this route before, you know this. . . just remember how to do it. . ."
"be proud, jo, this is the hardest part. you are amazing"
"just keep running until X. . . good job, now just keep running to X. . ."
surrender yourself to the run. this is an old lesson, tried and true. you have to be able to come to a point where you are just out there, running, putting one foot in front of the other. you're out there for a long time; don't think, just be. this is where a good diversion is handy. someone to talk to, music blaring on the ipod, learning to be okay with your thoughts. running in a beautiful locale doesn't hurt either. just know you'll be out there for a while and don't think about it. the miles will go by easier. trust me.
dress the part. I love buying running clothes. I can justify any purchase if I can tell myself it would be great for running. if you look like a runner you'll feel like a runner. if you feel like a runner you will be a runner. pace times don't matter if you look hot. and not to mention the fact that technical clothing (the correct shoes for your foot type, non-cotton/technical fabric clothing, etc) will also reduce injuries and the like.
run safe. run strong. run happy.
14 miles; 17th south to 9th east to 8th south/sunnyside to wasatch and back
yesterday was a tough run. I had some long uphill miles to get through. I'm just glad I can still get away with starting the run at 9 am. soon it will be that if I don't finish my run by 9 am I will be in serious trouble. I love spring. I love running in long sleeves and shorts.
my body held up well. only the usual random aches and pains that don't stay with you through the whole run. that's a good sign. I was hydrated this week. I ran hard. it felt good. sure, I was tight by the end (or by the middle?) but not too terribly tight. I feel pretty good today.
this is serious marathon training now. no messin' around!
tips: [for all those just dying to break into the long run scene]
drive your route in a car, mapping out the mileage and dropping water (and gatorade, if needs be) about every two miles. but when you're done running, don't forget to drive back and pick up the water bottles! [or just have your cutest husband secretly follow behind you on his road bike. peter, I loved the cheering and the high-five as you passed by. best long run surprise ever!]
play the mental game. running is seriously 90% mental and 10% training. you cannot listen to the negative thoughts in your head. replace them with positive ones. lie to yourself if you have to. because your body is amazing and you'll be surprised as to how much she can really do. you really can do anything you put your mind to. here are some things I had to tell myself yesterday:
"you've done this route before, you know this. . . just remember how to do it. . ."
"be proud, jo, this is the hardest part. you are amazing"
"just keep running until X. . . good job, now just keep running to X. . ."
surrender yourself to the run. this is an old lesson, tried and true. you have to be able to come to a point where you are just out there, running, putting one foot in front of the other. you're out there for a long time; don't think, just be. this is where a good diversion is handy. someone to talk to, music blaring on the ipod, learning to be okay with your thoughts. running in a beautiful locale doesn't hurt either. just know you'll be out there for a while and don't think about it. the miles will go by easier. trust me.
dress the part. I love buying running clothes. I can justify any purchase if I can tell myself it would be great for running. if you look like a runner you'll feel like a runner. if you feel like a runner you will be a runner. pace times don't matter if you look hot. and not to mention the fact that technical clothing (the correct shoes for your foot type, non-cotton/technical fabric clothing, etc) will also reduce injuries and the like.
run safe. run strong. run happy.
14 miles; 17th south to 9th east to 8th south/sunnyside to wasatch and back
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
tuesdays: speed work
I decided on saturday that it was time in my training to start implementing some speed work. since I'm running on mondays to get the kinks out, tuesday would be the perfect day for speed. today I decided to do some hill repeats.
I ran over to sugarhouse park as my warm up. I turned into the park from 1500 east and ran down to the first good grassy hill on the south side. I did five repeats (you generally want a hill that's relatively steep and will take you around 30 seconds to get to the top), focusing on a quick turnover, running on my toes, keeping my head up and eyes on the goal. . . and engaging my robot arms.
[when doing hill repeats while I trained for my first marathon, this rad girl we ran with would always say she was turning on her robot arms. because it's a known fact that your legs can't go anywhere without your arms. so if you just put your arms on automatic, and power them through your feet will just have to follow. it's like magic.]
after the repeats, I ran the rest of the interior loop of the park and ran home the way I came. it was a good, long run. my legs started to get a little tight near the end. I came home and iced, though. and my hamstring didn't really bug me at all--I was a little worried that running hills might aggravate it (and let's be honest, running to sugarhouse is a hill in itself!) but I was okay.
I felt fantastic when I got home. It was a really good run.
~5.5 miles; 1700 south to 1100 east to 2100 south to 1500 east to the sugarhouse loop and back again
I ran over to sugarhouse park as my warm up. I turned into the park from 1500 east and ran down to the first good grassy hill on the south side. I did five repeats (you generally want a hill that's relatively steep and will take you around 30 seconds to get to the top), focusing on a quick turnover, running on my toes, keeping my head up and eyes on the goal. . . and engaging my robot arms.
[when doing hill repeats while I trained for my first marathon, this rad girl we ran with would always say she was turning on her robot arms. because it's a known fact that your legs can't go anywhere without your arms. so if you just put your arms on automatic, and power them through your feet will just have to follow. it's like magic.]
after the repeats, I ran the rest of the interior loop of the park and ran home the way I came. it was a good, long run. my legs started to get a little tight near the end. I came home and iced, though. and my hamstring didn't really bug me at all--I was a little worried that running hills might aggravate it (and let's be honest, running to sugarhouse is a hill in itself!) but I was okay.
I felt fantastic when I got home. It was a really good run.
~5.5 miles; 1700 south to 1100 east to 2100 south to 1500 east to the sugarhouse loop and back again
my new monday routine
I decided on saturday that I couldn't swim on monday's anymore. I needed to run. after all these long runs on the weekend, I'd need to get back out on the road as soon as possible to stretch out the legs.
pete and I did the usual quick run route. over to liberty park, along 600 east. it was good. I stretched and iced when I got home.
~3 miles; 600 east to liberty and back
pete and I did the usual quick run route. over to liberty park, along 600 east. it was good. I stretched and iced when I got home.
~3 miles; 600 east to liberty and back
Sunday, March 18, 2007
twelve miler: JRPT
yesterday I did my twelve mile run on the Jordan River Parkway trail. at first I was going to just park and go six miles out one way and turn around and come back. I wasn't sure if any of the parks would have their drinking fountains going yet, so finally at the last second I decided to park, go three miles out in one direction, turn around--get water and eat an energy gel at least halfway through--go three miles out the other direction, turn around and come back. good thing I did because there was no water anywhere else. Salt Lake Running Co. was sponsoring a run for people doing the SLC Marathon so they had water jugs out there on the course. . . I broke down and stole a drink of their water and gatorade on mile ten. I was kinda dehydrated and needed something to get me through the last two miles. I'm sure they'd understand.
anyway, it was a pretty good run. nothing too eventful happened. my legs got pretty tight halfway through. my hamstring sucks. (I did ice when I got home) my ankles are holding up relatively well, so that's good. right after the run I went to the Maverik across the street to get some gas. while I was filling up my calves started to hurt so bad! I think they just seized up on me or something. so tight. but now they don't bother me, thankfully. I'm not even that sore today--hurrah!
12 miles; jordan river parkway
anyway, it was a pretty good run. nothing too eventful happened. my legs got pretty tight halfway through. my hamstring sucks. (I did ice when I got home) my ankles are holding up relatively well, so that's good. right after the run I went to the Maverik across the street to get some gas. while I was filling up my calves started to hurt so bad! I think they just seized up on me or something. so tight. but now they don't bother me, thankfully. I'm not even that sore today--hurrah!
12 miles; jordan river parkway
Thursday, March 15, 2007
thursday:
elliptical team.
I did it for like 3o minutes (plus that five minute cool down, of course) and it was alright. I don't know, maybe it was just an off day for me and the elliptical machine, but I just didn't feel it. is it losing that spark? do I not love it as much as I used to? I don't know... maybe it's this change in weather. why should I be stuck inside when I could be outside enjoying the ideal temps? I mean, I should take advantage of the cool spring weather while I have it. soon it will be nothing but too hot to do anything.
steiner; 3.3 elliptical distance
jerry seinfield on the ipod
I did it for like 3o minutes (plus that five minute cool down, of course) and it was alright. I don't know, maybe it was just an off day for me and the elliptical machine, but I just didn't feel it. is it losing that spark? do I not love it as much as I used to? I don't know... maybe it's this change in weather. why should I be stuck inside when I could be outside enjoying the ideal temps? I mean, I should take advantage of the cool spring weather while I have it. soon it will be nothing but too hot to do anything.
steiner; 3.3 elliptical distance
jerry seinfield on the ipod
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
wednesday:
cruiser bike team.
peter ran and I cruised. it was fun. we went to liberty. I took two laps around. it was more of a workout than you'd think since my cruiser bike is a classic schwinn, that's probably forty years old and forty pounds. I love it. it was surprisingly hard on my quads and inner thighs. and it was fun! soon we're gonna break out the road bikes. I can't wait!
I ditched swimteam 'cause I hate getting home at, like, eight o'clock. I promise to do the thursday AM swim, I swear!
peter ran and I cruised. it was fun. we went to liberty. I took two laps around. it was more of a workout than you'd think since my cruiser bike is a classic schwinn, that's probably forty years old and forty pounds. I love it. it was surprisingly hard on my quads and inner thighs. and it was fun! soon we're gonna break out the road bikes. I can't wait!
I ditched swimteam 'cause I hate getting home at, like, eight o'clock. I promise to do the thursday AM swim, I swear!
tuesday:
run team.
I just did a quick route. the usual run to liberty and take a lap around the park.
I hate to say it, but it already felt too hot. in the shade it was perfect, and sometimes you'd get a nice breeze blowing, but. . . my hands want to turn into sausage fingers a little bit and that's just no good! I should start running in the mornings on weekdays.
I just did a quick route. the usual run to liberty and take a lap around the park.
I hate to say it, but it already felt too hot. in the shade it was perfect, and sometimes you'd get a nice breeze blowing, but. . . my hands want to turn into sausage fingers a little bit and that's just no good! I should start running in the mornings on weekdays.
monday:
swimteam.
warmup
8 50's - drill/swim
3 100's - each progressively faster
4 300's
cooldown
I lead the lane and felt pretty good.
warmup
8 50's - drill/swim
3 100's - each progressively faster
4 300's
cooldown
I lead the lane and felt pretty good.
Monday, March 12, 2007
the rest of last week
tuesday I ran on the treadmill, I do believe. something like three miles.
wednesday I ditched swimteam to go running with peter. it was probably around three miles. we went out on 600 east to liberty, circled the park and then came home.
thursday I elipticalled for 45 minutes.
friday was a rest day.
saturday I ran ten miles! from here on out it's double digit miles until taper. it's kind of exciting. the run felt pretty good. I was a little tight halfway through. I ran in downtown and then up city creek canyon a bit. so far my ankles are behaving. we'll see how my body holds up for the rest of training.
oh, if anyone doesn't know, I'm training for the Famous Potato Marathon in Boise, Idaho in May. It should be definite good times. It will be my fourth state -- whoohoo!!!
wednesday I ditched swimteam to go running with peter. it was probably around three miles. we went out on 600 east to liberty, circled the park and then came home.
thursday I elipticalled for 45 minutes.
friday was a rest day.
saturday I ran ten miles! from here on out it's double digit miles until taper. it's kind of exciting. the run felt pretty good. I was a little tight halfway through. I ran in downtown and then up city creek canyon a bit. so far my ankles are behaving. we'll see how my body holds up for the rest of training.
oh, if anyone doesn't know, I'm training for the Famous Potato Marathon in Boise, Idaho in May. It should be definite good times. It will be my fourth state -- whoohoo!!!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
monday night swimteam
yesterday's swim workout kind of redeemed last wednesday's workout. I felt strong. I lead the lane most of the time. (mainly because I didn't have the stress of making the sets in any real intervals... we swam, then waited 30 seconds after the last person in the lane touched the wall) and I even talked the substitute coach out of having us do a smaller set than everybody else. (he thought maybe we couldn't handle it -- how about five sets of 300? but my little competitive eskiminian swimmer kicked in and couldn't bare the thought of having to swim less than everyone else just because we were in the slow lane.)
"We can do five 400's, we'll just do it slower."
and so we did. this was the workout:
warm up
6 50's - drill (fingertip drag, catch-up drill, thumb drag)
400 - free (slow)
400 - free (medium)
400 - free (fast)
one minute rest
400 - free (medium)
400 - free (fast)
cool down
I felt pretty good. my stroke felt relatively strong. we finished the whole workout in time. hurrah!
"We can do five 400's, we'll just do it slower."
and so we did. this was the workout:
warm up
6 50's - drill (fingertip drag, catch-up drill, thumb drag)
400 - free (slow)
400 - free (medium)
400 - free (fast)
one minute rest
400 - free (medium)
400 - free (fast)
cool down
I felt pretty good. my stroke felt relatively strong. we finished the whole workout in time. hurrah!
Sunday, March 04, 2007
long run
I went skiing yesterday, but that didn't stop me from doing my long run. I'm dedicated. I did it on the treadmill because it was only six miles (I think that might just be the limit on those things. anything over an hour just might kill you.) and it would be easier to know how far I'd gone, etc.
the run was pretty good. about halfway through my legs starting feeling a little tight. it's mostly my right hamstring, but what's new. I got to watch a hockey game. that's always fun. and the chick that's always working out was there. she got on the treadmill right beside me. maybe I should just become friends with this woman; we're always at the gym at the same time.
but you will all be happy to know I bought some frozen corn to use as ice packs. I iced my hamstrings yesterday. hopefully I'll get over this nagging injury soon.
6 miles; treadmill
counting crows
ps skiing was amazing! telemark or die!!!
the run was pretty good. about halfway through my legs starting feeling a little tight. it's mostly my right hamstring, but what's new. I got to watch a hockey game. that's always fun. and the chick that's always working out was there. she got on the treadmill right beside me. maybe I should just become friends with this woman; we're always at the gym at the same time.
but you will all be happy to know I bought some frozen corn to use as ice packs. I iced my hamstrings yesterday. hopefully I'll get over this nagging injury soon.
6 miles; treadmill
counting crows
ps skiing was amazing! telemark or die!!!
Friday, March 02, 2007
wednesday | thursday | friday
wednesday:
swimteam. I was having a rough time. I felt slow. the upper (read: faster) lanes were crowded so they made a few people shift down. it happened to be just me and this other guy that night, until the german, that other lady, and the pregnant chick all moved down into our lane. I wasn't too thrilled about it since they're (at least the german guy and the non-pregnant chick) faster than us. I remember the german guys condescending look with his eyes when he motioned with his head to the other girl that they were going to have to swim with us.
warm up
3 200's - descending
100 free
25 stroke/75 free
50 stroke/50 free
75 stroke/25 free
100 stroke
[3 times through; 1st set - fly, 2nd set - back, 3rd set breast]
cool down
it was hard and I felt beat. I wanted to quit about a thousand times. I kept going, though, so I guess that was a victory in itself. sometimes you just have off workouts. you just have to shake them off and focus on the good ones...
thursday:
elliptical team. I went for 45 minutes again... it felt good. I had a lot of energy afterwards. I tried reading my new runner's world that came in the mail... it's slightly harder while elipticalling.
45 minutes; 5.9 elliptical distance
the get up kids
friday:
joint swimteam. peter and I met up at the pool. I wanted to focus on my butterfly since it's so hard. I used fins to try and help me get out of the water to breathe. it was still pretty tough. I want to keep working on it, though, and get better. it just takes a lot of endurance. I also did some work just on my arms with the pool buoy. I want to save my legs for tomorrow's long run...
swimteam. I was having a rough time. I felt slow. the upper (read: faster) lanes were crowded so they made a few people shift down. it happened to be just me and this other guy that night, until the german, that other lady, and the pregnant chick all moved down into our lane. I wasn't too thrilled about it since they're (at least the german guy and the non-pregnant chick) faster than us. I remember the german guys condescending look with his eyes when he motioned with his head to the other girl that they were going to have to swim with us.
warm up
3 200's - descending
100 free
25 stroke/75 free
50 stroke/50 free
75 stroke/25 free
100 stroke
[3 times through; 1st set - fly, 2nd set - back, 3rd set breast]
cool down
it was hard and I felt beat. I wanted to quit about a thousand times. I kept going, though, so I guess that was a victory in itself. sometimes you just have off workouts. you just have to shake them off and focus on the good ones...
thursday:
elliptical team. I went for 45 minutes again... it felt good. I had a lot of energy afterwards. I tried reading my new runner's world that came in the mail... it's slightly harder while elipticalling.
45 minutes; 5.9 elliptical distance
the get up kids
friday:
joint swimteam. peter and I met up at the pool. I wanted to focus on my butterfly since it's so hard. I used fins to try and help me get out of the water to breathe. it was still pretty tough. I want to keep working on it, though, and get better. it just takes a lot of endurance. I also did some work just on my arms with the pool buoy. I want to save my legs for tomorrow's long run...
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