Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Intervals!

For the first time in my life, I've completed a interval workout the way that it was meant to be ran. I was planning on doing a ladder workout. I planned on  running 1 mile at tempo pace, then 0.75, 0.5 and 0.25 while increasing speed.
Mile 1 - 8:33min/mile (my exact temp pace according to a vdot calculator I found online)
0.75 mile - 8:16min/mile
0.5 mile - 8:10min/mile
0.25 mile - 7:00min/mile

I thought I would decrease by 10 seconds. For the last 0.25 miles, I gave it all I had. I was surprised that I was able to run so fast despite the fatigued. With the warm up, cooldown, and jogging rests between the intervals, I ran a nice 5 miles. It felt great!

Now for some backtracking. I took Sunday after the race off to give myself time to recover. Monday, I ran an easy 3 miles. Tuesday, I went swimming with a friend for 30 minutes. I only made it to 1000 yards. I can't swim well enough to get a good workout. If it didn't look so ridiculous, I would try the underwater running.

Hopefully, I can hit my tempo paces and my long run mileage later in the week.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Pictures

Here are some photos from after the race. Hopefully, the race website will upload some others. 


The official results are 120/408 overall and 6/29 female 20 to 24. I can't wait to improve on my time! The official recorded time was 25:05 with pace of 8:05 per mile. I wish I had been able to run 8 min miles, but I am happy. This is a lot faster than I have ever run.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

First 5K (Ten Ugly Men 5K)

So I realize that I haven't written a post in quite a while. Part of it is because I've been lagging with running. I've been getting at least 15 miles or close to it every week, but I wasn't having too much fun with it. Since most of my runs have been run with a friend at a very slow pace. So it was a great shock to actually find myself at the start line of a race this morning with my boyfriend.

In the back of my mind, I've thought about running this race for the entire summer. But I never thought it would happen until last weekend, when I actually shelled out the entry fee. But even after that, I still had a lot of doubts especially since I knew it was going to be humid and hot. The heat definitely gets me down and slows my pace at least a minute.

Despite all my doubts and the weather, this morning I did find myself about to run my first race. I also realized this morning that I've never competed in any official sporting event. School-wide relays in elementary school doesn't count. With this realization also came fluttering heartbeat and a desire to hide in the back of the pack. Fortunately, my boyfriend was there to keep me close to the start line. Once the sirens sounded the beginning of the race, numerous chiming of garmins starting up everywhere around me put me at ease. Partly because it was my first race, I found myself caught up in the excitement and the speed of everyone around me. I started off at a 7 min/mile pace, minute faster than my fastest training run of two miles. I knew I was setting myself up for a burnout, but I couldn't slow down. When I finished the first mile in about 7 min 15 seconds, the heat and the fast pace caught up to me. By then, I had long lost my boyfriend and I was going at it alone. Somehow I found the strength to keep on going and finish the 5K without walking and ran it in 25:04. It was a race PR not only because it was my first race, but I had never run that fast in training runs before.

Now, I'm just waiting for the results to be published. I know I was 120 overall and 6 in F20-25, but I don't know out of how many.  I can't wait for my next race. This was just the thing I needed to motivate me to sign up for a half marathon. I will get it done. Wish me luck!