Not a whole lot to report. Today was a scheduled 4 mile run. My body was actually feeling like it needed today to be a day of rest, but I didn't want to move the run to friday because its the day before the long run, and I knew I would need that day to rest.
I ran inside on the treadmill for the four miles. My HR was way up the entire run. Probably because my body is feeling it. It's interesting...in the last mile, I played around with the speed on the treadmill. I figured for the last mile, I'd try and bring my HR down to a reasonable level. Like see if i could get it into the low 150's. Most of the run, I'd only been running at a speed of 5.1, and the HR fluctuated betweek 162 and 169. So I brought the speed down to 4.6. It only went down into the low 160's. Sometimes it would go down to 159 or 158, but geez louise, I do my walk breaks at 4.0, so its not like I really could have run that much slower! I'm guessing its a sign of overtraining or something. Not sure.
I was thinking yesterday about the whole HR training. Phil Maffetone has this program for HR training where you really need to slow the running down to bring the HR down so eventually you can run faster at a lower HR. I think after the marathon, and as I enter into the winter months when there aren't races and events, that I'm going to focus on getting the HR down.
Workout Stats: 4 mile run on treadmill. 50 minutes. 450 calories burned. Average HR 156 (88%), HR max 174.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Workout Results 7/8
The speedwork session was the plan for the day. Kathy and I met at the track and started warming up by walking and slow jogging around the track. When the others showed up, we started the speedwork, doing fast runs on the straightaways, and then walking the curves. We did that for two miles (8 times around the track). The total workout was 52 minutes long, and 4 miles. I burned 461 calories. My average HR was 154, and my max HR was 186.
My knees were hurting a bit when we first started the workout, but after I got warmed up, they were just fine. What is up with that? Overall, I'm feeling good though. I really am enjoying the speedwork.
Thursday is a 4 mile run day, and then saturday is the group run, and we're scheduled to run 8 miles. I sure hope the rain holds off on saturday morning. I've yet to do any running in the rain, and I can't imagine that 8 miles running in the rain would be much fun!
My knees were hurting a bit when we first started the workout, but after I got warmed up, they were just fine. What is up with that? Overall, I'm feeling good though. I really am enjoying the speedwork.
Thursday is a 4 mile run day, and then saturday is the group run, and we're scheduled to run 8 miles. I sure hope the rain holds off on saturday morning. I've yet to do any running in the rain, and I can't imagine that 8 miles running in the rain would be much fun!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Workout Results 7/7
Today was a scheduled cross-training day. I want to make a big effort to get the weights in twice a week, so it was a strength training day for me. I decided to use an old Firm tape to workout to (Tough Tape 2). Unlike most of my other Firm tapes, it does not incorporate cardio, it is simply Strength Training. Well, I don't know how many years its been since I used it, but it has been awhile. I forgot how dated the thing is. First, the women were wearing panty hose and leotards, and the old reebok high top tennis shoes. Definitely back in the 80's! lol! Anyhow, I hated the workout when it first started. But once I got into it, it was a really good workout. I was working up a sweat, and I wasn't even using heavy weights. Because it's been awhile since I did strength training, I decided to go lighter than I normally would have. But it's a good thing. By the time we finished arms and shoulders, my arms were shaking. In fact, Zach wanted to play some basketball when I was done, and I barely had the strength to shoot the ball!
I think I'm going to look for another type of ST video though. I need something more current. I have a Cathe one, which is pretty good. But I need some variety. My Firm ones, the more current ones, are good, but I think I want something that is more focused on ST and not the mix of cardio and ST.
Workout stats: 36 minute workout. I didn't wear my HR monitor so no other stats to report!
I think I'm going to look for another type of ST video though. I need something more current. I have a Cathe one, which is pretty good. But I need some variety. My Firm ones, the more current ones, are good, but I think I want something that is more focused on ST and not the mix of cardio and ST.
Workout stats: 36 minute workout. I didn't wear my HR monitor so no other stats to report!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Workout Results 7/06
I had a four mile run yesterday. I had to run it on the treadmill because of the temps outside. This was a tough run. I think the race on saturday had an impact. I decided that I had wanted to make it an "easy run" day, so figured I would slow down the pace to keep my HR down. Well, my HR just didn't want to stay down. I ended up running at 4.7 mph just to keep it reasonable (in the mid to high 150's). And I really thought that I was going to have to stop around the two mile point. I just didn't have it in me. It was one of those runs where my legs were feeling heavy, but worse yet, I just couldn't get my breathing pattern down right.
But once I hit 2 miles, things started to fall into place. I kept the pace slow. I played around a little with ways to get my HR down. Interestingly enough, a slight difference in where I hold my arms made a big impact on decreasing my HR. I played with it several times. If I kept my arms lower, rather than at a 90 degree angle, my HR dropped anywhere from 5-10 numbers! Keeping them lower seemed to relax my upper body more which I think is what caused the HR to lower. It's definitely something I need to start paying more attention to when I'm running outside. I will be really interested in hearing what they say if they do a form clinic in our training group.
I think another reason my HR may have been up is due to overtraining from the run on saturday. I think my body probably needed a little more time to recover after doing that run, but oh well. Today is a cross training day. I'm going to do weights this evening.
Workout results: 4.55 mile run. 59 minutes. 5 acceleration glides. 495 calories burned. Avg HR 150 (85%), max 174 (98%).
But once I hit 2 miles, things started to fall into place. I kept the pace slow. I played around a little with ways to get my HR down. Interestingly enough, a slight difference in where I hold my arms made a big impact on decreasing my HR. I played with it several times. If I kept my arms lower, rather than at a 90 degree angle, my HR dropped anywhere from 5-10 numbers! Keeping them lower seemed to relax my upper body more which I think is what caused the HR to lower. It's definitely something I need to start paying more attention to when I'm running outside. I will be really interested in hearing what they say if they do a form clinic in our training group.
I think another reason my HR may have been up is due to overtraining from the run on saturday. I think my body probably needed a little more time to recover after doing that run, but oh well. Today is a cross training day. I'm going to do weights this evening.
Workout results: 4.55 mile run. 59 minutes. 5 acceleration glides. 495 calories burned. Avg HR 150 (85%), max 174 (98%).
Monday, July 6, 2009
Dieting and Marathon Training
Although I've not really gained anything while I've been running, I've not lost either. I had hopes that with all the miles that I'd be putting in for the marathon training that just MAYBE I could drop a few pounds. Maybe those 5-10 pounds that cling desperately to my body? But so far, no progress. I know part of the problem. I've been journaling my food for YEARS. It's an old Weight Watcher habit that I've not been able to break. And I know that I'm probably consuming too many calories. It's all about calories in versus calories out, right? Maybe.
I did an experiment a few weeks ago when I decided to do a one week free trial on Weight Watchers. The Weight Watcher program has you count points, but I tracked both points and calories. My daily calories came out to around 1000 calories a day with sticking to the alloted points, and I could add more in for the exercise I did on any given day. But honestly, I was starving on that plan! And I had much less energy making running very difficult.
With some playing around with the calories, I determined that I could lose on around 1500 calories a day. That seems to be my magic number. That is a slow loss too, at about a half a pound to a pound a week. I'm actually good with that. My problem since figuring that out has been sticking to that number. But I really feel the need to focus on the diet now because I feel like the extra weight is weighing me down, and I'd feel so much better with shedding some of it.
So I'm now beginning to focus on the eating. I think I do pretty well, actually, with eating healthy foods. I've got slumps now and then, but when I look back to how I was a year ago, or 3 years ago, its a drastic change. Slowly but surely I will get to where I should be in my food choices. But for now, I'm very pleased at how well I do. Where I fall short is sticking to the 1500 calories. I am a girl that likes quantity! I like to feel full and hate feeling hungry.
I figured that now is the best time to address the food issue during my training, because honestly, I have read so much about people gaining weight while marathon training. That is the LAST thing that I want to happen! Right now, even though the scale isn't showing a gain in weight, I feel that my clothes are fitting tighter. Oddly enough, I took my measurements last weekend just to see HOW much bigger I've gotten, and the measurements were the same as a couple of months ago, but I just FEEL bigger. I wonder if I'm losing muscle tone from not lifting like I was. I'd like to add in some weight training, but I'll admit, its tough. With four days of running, I'm hard pressed to find the time to get in the weights. But it looks like I'm going to have to make it a priority.
I did an experiment a few weeks ago when I decided to do a one week free trial on Weight Watchers. The Weight Watcher program has you count points, but I tracked both points and calories. My daily calories came out to around 1000 calories a day with sticking to the alloted points, and I could add more in for the exercise I did on any given day. But honestly, I was starving on that plan! And I had much less energy making running very difficult.
With some playing around with the calories, I determined that I could lose on around 1500 calories a day. That seems to be my magic number. That is a slow loss too, at about a half a pound to a pound a week. I'm actually good with that. My problem since figuring that out has been sticking to that number. But I really feel the need to focus on the diet now because I feel like the extra weight is weighing me down, and I'd feel so much better with shedding some of it.
So I'm now beginning to focus on the eating. I think I do pretty well, actually, with eating healthy foods. I've got slumps now and then, but when I look back to how I was a year ago, or 3 years ago, its a drastic change. Slowly but surely I will get to where I should be in my food choices. But for now, I'm very pleased at how well I do. Where I fall short is sticking to the 1500 calories. I am a girl that likes quantity! I like to feel full and hate feeling hungry.
I figured that now is the best time to address the food issue during my training, because honestly, I have read so much about people gaining weight while marathon training. That is the LAST thing that I want to happen! Right now, even though the scale isn't showing a gain in weight, I feel that my clothes are fitting tighter. Oddly enough, I took my measurements last weekend just to see HOW much bigger I've gotten, and the measurements were the same as a couple of months ago, but I just FEEL bigger. I wonder if I'm losing muscle tone from not lifting like I was. I'd like to add in some weight training, but I'll admit, its tough. With four days of running, I'm hard pressed to find the time to get in the weights. But it looks like I'm going to have to make it a priority.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
July 4th Race Report
I ran in a 10 mile Fourth of July Race this morning. Our long run called for a 7 mile run this morning, but hey, what's 3 more miles? :) I had run 2 miles on friday morning, as I was supposed to get three miles in on thursday and just didn't feel like it. I figured those three extra miles make up for that one mile I didn't run earlier in the week.
The race went well. Kathy and I finished in just under 2 hrs. We were really moving. We did the 4:1 run/walk, although missed a few of the walks early on. Anyhow, I'm pertty happy we finished in just under 2 hours. Our time was somewhere around 1:58:15. We were at the back of the pack, but we weren't the last runners to finish!
Running stats: 10 miles, 1:58:15. 1136 calories burned. HR average 92% (lol!...yeah...we were movin'!). Our overall average pace including the walk breaks came out to be 11:50.
And I felt pretty good after the race. I did, however, take a two hour nap this afternoon! I think that's because I got up at 5:15 this morning, not because I ran 10 miles! :)
The race went well. Kathy and I finished in just under 2 hrs. We were really moving. We did the 4:1 run/walk, although missed a few of the walks early on. Anyhow, I'm pertty happy we finished in just under 2 hours. Our time was somewhere around 1:58:15. We were at the back of the pack, but we weren't the last runners to finish!
Running stats: 10 miles, 1:58:15. 1136 calories burned. HR average 92% (lol!...yeah...we were movin'!). Our overall average pace including the walk breaks came out to be 11:50.
And I felt pretty good after the race. I did, however, take a two hour nap this afternoon! I think that's because I got up at 5:15 this morning, not because I ran 10 miles! :)
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The First Speed Work Training
Last night was the first night of Speed Work. Really, I tried to get out of doing this. Earlier in the week I sent Eric an email and said that I'd read that first time marathons shouldn't do any speedwork as it will lead to injury etc. He wrote back and explained why we're doing it, what we're doing, etc. and essentially convinced me that I need to do it. At least try it. So I decided I would go and if I hated it, I just wouldn't do it again.
So last night we were meeting at the store and running a one mile run to the track for our warm up. As I was driving to the store, I was wondering why I was dreading it so much. The harsh reality was that I was thinking how stupid it was that I was a 43 year old woman on my way to go run on the middle school track. And it just seemed "foolish". Then I started thinking how foolish it seemed that at 43, I was going to try and run a marathon. THEN, I started remembering everything about the mental aspect of training for an running a marathon, and how I need to get the negative thoughts out of my head, so I quickly made those thoughts go away. And by the way, I'm not going to "TRY and run a marathon". I'm actually going to RUN a marathon. I know I can do it.
Anyhow, Kathy and I ran to the school, and we did one lap around the track before Eric showed up. He gave us our instructions which were to run 8 laps around at an increased pace, then slow down for 200 meters, and then start the next lap. I honestly didn't think that I could do 8 laps. I wore my Garmin (and again, let me say how much I LOVE that thing!). When we were running, our laps were in the 8:30 to 9:00 min. per mile pace. So we were moving (well, at least for me!). I was really feeling the workout by the time we were done. But I have to say that I LOVED doing this. First, although it was hard, I actually felt better picking up the pace because it seemed to really loosen me up. My back, which usually really hurts in the lower back after a run, felt great. I need to look into why my back seems to tense up so much when I'm running slower. But it just felt great.
My knees had been REALLY achy prior to the run, and I was afraid that doing the speed work would worsen the knees, but actually, my knees feel really good today. Much better than yesterday. So overall, it was a GREAT workout.
Workout stats: 1 hr. 11 minutes. Calories burned = 600. Avg. HR 150, max 224 (yikes!). 5.65 miles run total.
So last night we were meeting at the store and running a one mile run to the track for our warm up. As I was driving to the store, I was wondering why I was dreading it so much. The harsh reality was that I was thinking how stupid it was that I was a 43 year old woman on my way to go run on the middle school track. And it just seemed "foolish". Then I started thinking how foolish it seemed that at 43, I was going to try and run a marathon. THEN, I started remembering everything about the mental aspect of training for an running a marathon, and how I need to get the negative thoughts out of my head, so I quickly made those thoughts go away. And by the way, I'm not going to "TRY and run a marathon". I'm actually going to RUN a marathon. I know I can do it.
Anyhow, Kathy and I ran to the school, and we did one lap around the track before Eric showed up. He gave us our instructions which were to run 8 laps around at an increased pace, then slow down for 200 meters, and then start the next lap. I honestly didn't think that I could do 8 laps. I wore my Garmin (and again, let me say how much I LOVE that thing!). When we were running, our laps were in the 8:30 to 9:00 min. per mile pace. So we were moving (well, at least for me!). I was really feeling the workout by the time we were done. But I have to say that I LOVED doing this. First, although it was hard, I actually felt better picking up the pace because it seemed to really loosen me up. My back, which usually really hurts in the lower back after a run, felt great. I need to look into why my back seems to tense up so much when I'm running slower. But it just felt great.
My knees had been REALLY achy prior to the run, and I was afraid that doing the speed work would worsen the knees, but actually, my knees feel really good today. Much better than yesterday. So overall, it was a GREAT workout.
Workout stats: 1 hr. 11 minutes. Calories burned = 600. Avg. HR 150, max 224 (yikes!). 5.65 miles run total.
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