Tag Archives: straights and curves

Quality speed work run

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This was the first time in several months that I didn’t just run past the track. It felt good to go do some speed work, not a lot, but a good amount: six laps and 12 total straights and curves. Usually I have been doing 2 or more miles (16+ S&Cs) but I think a mile and a half of them to start is good. Seems like I have done that in the past when I have been starting a speed work regimen. It was really cold and I was pretty bundled, not quite Christmas Story bundled, but it sort of felt like it. On the way over to the track I took a gel mixed with water, apple cinnamon. There were a bunch of people at the track, but few were running. The biggest group was playing short field soccer, the other football. Just me running.

After my six laps I added some extra miles to my route through the canyon and up through reed. My pace was pretty slow, almost 10:30 sec miles. The intervals really worked me, so I didn’t mind one bit. I think tomorrow I will try a recovery run.

On a sort of weird non-run note but at the same time I was out running a guy was involved in two hit and runs in my neighborhood ending up crashing into the local high school up the street. Glad I didn’t see them until the news.

Running malaise done? Two quality runs in a row

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After contemplating my recent slump with my training in recent days I have managed to break out of it in a big way with two quality runs in a row. Now I know that is not the best idea, I should instead be alternating quality runs with recovery runs. While I still fully ascribe to this thinking there were several things in my favor for doing both these runs back to back. The main reason being that they were both very different types of runs; yesterday’s long slow distance run and today’s speed work at the track. The long slow run was actually a sort of blend of recovery and quality. My avg HR was 127 for the 10 miles, so we did it pretty slowly which was exactly how we should have done it. My running partner’s HR was about 15 beats higher than mine throughout, so perhaps she could have benefited even more by us going even slower. We were pushed forward throughout by the promise of sushi afterward which I inhaled! I was tired towards the end, but the pace kept my fatigue at a reasonable level and despite my feet giving me grief I could have gone further though I am not sure how much further…

I was a little concerned about how the previous LSD run would effect me the next day, but I made a commitment to myself to go to the track and do some speed work. I figured I had better just jump on my run soon after getting out of bed, with of course some time to read online, drink coffee and gobble half a Clif bar. So fueled with information, caffeine and oats I headed out. Right away I noticed how energized I felt. My warm up run to the track went smoothly and I arrived feeling ready to go. The first couple of straights and curves felt pretty good, but the third straight was awesome. I actually managed to get up to a 5:07 pace on that one, the fastest time I have ever recorded doing speed work. The rest of the laps went well mostly hovering under 6 with a couple of slower ones. I was really happy with that, not only had I set a PR but also managed to remain relatively consistently fast on the others. After my eight laps I considered doing another mile but decided that with yesterday’s run I would be pushing it so I headed home. After a slow cool down to reed I picked up my pace through the canyon and once out did my final flat mile between 7:30 and 8.

As I mentioned I think the slow pace and low HR on the SD run was the main reason I was so successful at the speed work today. I also was very well hydrated for the LSD run as well as today’s run despite having 2 and half beers yesterday afternoon. The beer could have had a good aspect as well, I didn’t over do it, but got the carbs for recovery. Also a slice of pizza (on top of the sushi) helped. I swear over eating is one of the greatest benefits of running! My HR on the speed work was not that high for what I did. I would have expected it to be at least 10 beats higher. I wonder if the LSD run’s low HR had something to do with stabilizing the HR for the intervals? My average HR was 141 (obviously this includes long warm up and cool down portions, but still low). Past track speed work runs had avg HRs of 153, 150, 151. So I must have done something right today.

Speedwork and then taper

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Today I find myself in the midst of a short two day taper, actually all I am doing is a break for the two days. No reason to really taper for this race as I am not planning on attempting any sort of PR and I haven’t really been training other than my usual. My goal is a finish under an hour, should be doable. Weather should be nice and cool for the race and I am looking forward to the beer and pasta!

The last run I did was a speed workout at the track, my usual straights and curves. I felt really strong throughout the workout. I didn’t really push my sprints that much except to pass a slower runner as I approached a curve. I was coming in just over 6 min miles on the straights. I also added a loop and a half through the canyon to cool down. Overall a really solid quality run for the day.

I wanted to do a recovery run last night, but ended up blowing it off with the help of my running partner! Neither of us really felt like doing anything last night, so we didn’t.

Recovery from straights and curves

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Today was an eight mile recovery run that for the most part I managed to do under my ceiling. I had a couple of hills where I pushed it and jumped up to high 50s and into the low 60s. I have added onto my trail running in the canyon by doing a full lap and through the eastern  part of the north side. I took off a little bit of my East Moreland portion and I need to find a good path after coming up from the golf course. I felt pretty strong through most of the run which I didn’t really expect after my intervals I ran the day before.

At the track 24 hours previous I managed to finish nine laps of straights and curves, so a total of 18 sprints. The track was pretty empty for the most part with one fast distance guy doing a couple laps. There was also a woman in a walker that was doing a pretty good pace around our track doing arm exercises. I was pretty impressed.

As for my run, my heart rate never got too high mostly in the high 160s and I felt like my sprint paces were pretty decent as well with the first four and most of the rest peaking under 6 minute miles. I also did the 1.5 canyon run that day as well and ended up putting in teh miles at just under nine miles.

There is a group that runs on Sundays that I might try. They have it broken up into 12 mile and then eight additional mile chunks. A 20 miler sounds pretty challenging, but I might go for it if the weather is going to be cool. I am not much of a group runner but it could be fun especially if any of my regulars I see are doing it.

Track work

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Visitors in town last week brought on a four day layoff from running. While I blame them, really it was just a convenient excuse to postpone making the switch to early morning heat avoidance runs. Seriously my laziness is getting out of hand! I’ll get in the groove of it, I just need to commit to setting my alarm and dragging my butt out of bed. So today was a start. I didn’t set the alarm but I let the sun wake me up instead. I had committed last night to doing a quality run of some sort, so I rolled out of bed and got ready.

The track was relatively empty this morning so I had my choice of lanes. I like to start on the outside and make my way toward the inner lane, changing lanes every lap as a way to keep count. Seems to work out well. I manage to do three miles of straights and curves with a 2.25 mi warm up and 3.25 on the back end. It was really cool this morning and it made for a great run. Now I just need to keep up with these morning runs.

I also think I would like to do an occasional hot daytime run, maybe even schedule one in every week. As long as I keep hydrated I think I would see some benefit form doing it.