tempo

okay, okay. so tuesday the air quality was not so good. I had decided I couldn't run outside because it was so gross. but I couldn't really go up to steiner either because I didn't have the car that day. what is a girl to do?

well, I almost did some pilates and an upper body strength workout for runners (though I don't really have any hand weights anyway) on this great little thing called excercise tv. but you don't have any special channels, anna? how did you watch exercise tv? you're right, I don't and I didn't. but you can watch some of the workouts in full length for free on their website. and I hear you can download the other workouts for, like, a buck-ninety-nine. {thanks, becca, for the hot tip!} but you almost did these workouts? what's the deal? yes, you heard me right. I almost did them. even despite the fact that I came home from work and ate a cheesy quesadilla, I was going to work out anyway. but then some neighborhood girls came over and pretty much foiled all my plans. blast! so tuesday was taken as a rest day, I suppose. kind of a bummer, but what can ya do?

so on to my workout yesterday. the tempo run. again the air quality was bad. really bad. so bad I couldn't even see the mountains. (that's the test) of course I went up to steiner to do a little treadmill love. right as I got on the thing I thought to myself, hey I should do a little tempo run! really get a sweat going. so I did. I warmed up for a mile at a slow pace. stretched. then cranked up the speed and held it for two miles. then I did a half mile at a slower pace. then I stretched. it felt really good. I'm going to have to start adding more of those workouts in. plus hill workouts. plus strength training. plus plyo. let's get serious about this marathon training! I love it.

the greatest part about it was that my knees and hamstrings didn't really freak out on me. today I can kinda feel my right hamstring, but it's not too major.

anyway, I think I'm going to go buy me some running shoes today before work. I'll even get a nice easy run in them to start the break-in process. very exciting.

plyo, et cetera

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!

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