The past two weeks have been crazy busy, plus I had some personal family stuff come up so I've slacked on the blog a bit.
I started my summer track practice! Actually, I've had two sessions at this point. It's weird to think in terms of track workouts again. For the past couple of years, my training plans consist of anywhere from 4-14 miles, sometimes focusing on hills but without any real speed focus at all...I tend to run for distance, not time. The night before practice, the coach (?) Terry, emails the workout to us, I guess so we know what we're getting into. They (so far) consist of a warm-up, a few 800s, a 12-or-1600, and a couple more 800s, starting at 10K pace and finishing the workout at 5K pace. The whole workout is 4-5 miles, and I ride my bike to and from the track. I admit, I run faster than my 10K pace-I have to, to keep up with the others!
Last weekend was the Mini 10K in Central Park, one of my favorite races. I was pretty happy, though not thrilled with my performance: 54:12 (8:44 pace) compared to last year's 58:30, though last year was particularly bad. I recall being miserable and still don't know why. This year, I ran with my lovely friend Sue and we ran at a comfortable (but not too) pace for the first 4 miles, and then picked it up and steadily passed people pretty much the rest of the course. I'm always happy when Sue is with me when I'm running hills because she shares my "the hills are my friend!" mantra. :) Look at our cute racing skirts!
Last night I ran 7 miles, with 16 minutes of interval work at the end: 30 seconds high intensity, 90 seconds low, using an interval app I added to my phone. That was pretty tough: after just two rounds of high intensity I didn't think I'd be able to finish all 8. My last two were definitely a little weak, but I did them! And tomorrow morning is my 3rd track workout already!
This weekend I have the Shelter Island 10K out in the East End. I'm pretty excited, as I heard about this race in 2010 and this is my first time running it. Pros and cons from what I hear/read:
Pros:
-Ranked as one of the 10 most beautiful courses in America, by Runner's World
-Hills-yes, I consider this a pro because it's a fairly hilly course, but not crazy
Cons:
-It starts at 5:30 in the afternoon. I really prefer morning races, so I can enjoy the rest of the day.
-Only 3 water stations-really, in June? In an afternoon race?
I'd like to do as well as, or slightly better than last week's 10K. I probably won't be racing hard though, since afternoon/evening runs aren't my thing, and there may be some beer earlier on in my day :) However, depending on what the plan for the day is I may try to get a few miles in that morning, or Friday afternoon. Updates to come!
I started my summer track practice! Actually, I've had two sessions at this point. It's weird to think in terms of track workouts again. For the past couple of years, my training plans consist of anywhere from 4-14 miles, sometimes focusing on hills but without any real speed focus at all...I tend to run for distance, not time. The night before practice, the coach (?) Terry, emails the workout to us, I guess so we know what we're getting into. They (so far) consist of a warm-up, a few 800s, a 12-or-1600, and a couple more 800s, starting at 10K pace and finishing the workout at 5K pace. The whole workout is 4-5 miles, and I ride my bike to and from the track. I admit, I run faster than my 10K pace-I have to, to keep up with the others!
Last weekend was the Mini 10K in Central Park, one of my favorite races. I was pretty happy, though not thrilled with my performance: 54:12 (8:44 pace) compared to last year's 58:30, though last year was particularly bad. I recall being miserable and still don't know why. This year, I ran with my lovely friend Sue and we ran at a comfortable (but not too) pace for the first 4 miles, and then picked it up and steadily passed people pretty much the rest of the course. I'm always happy when Sue is with me when I'm running hills because she shares my "the hills are my friend!" mantra. :) Look at our cute racing skirts!
Last night I ran 7 miles, with 16 minutes of interval work at the end: 30 seconds high intensity, 90 seconds low, using an interval app I added to my phone. That was pretty tough: after just two rounds of high intensity I didn't think I'd be able to finish all 8. My last two were definitely a little weak, but I did them! And tomorrow morning is my 3rd track workout already!
This weekend I have the Shelter Island 10K out in the East End. I'm pretty excited, as I heard about this race in 2010 and this is my first time running it. Pros and cons from what I hear/read:
Pros:
-Ranked as one of the 10 most beautiful courses in America, by Runner's World
-Hills-yes, I consider this a pro because it's a fairly hilly course, but not crazy
Cons:
-It starts at 5:30 in the afternoon. I really prefer morning races, so I can enjoy the rest of the day.
-Only 3 water stations-really, in June? In an afternoon race?
I'd like to do as well as, or slightly better than last week's 10K. I probably won't be racing hard though, since afternoon/evening runs aren't my thing, and there may be some beer earlier on in my day :) However, depending on what the plan for the day is I may try to get a few miles in that morning, or Friday afternoon. Updates to come!
