Sunday, June 19, 2016

Training is heating up!

It's been awhile since I've posted a training update. I blogged regularly about my Boston Marathon training, and it helped me see the bigger picture of my hard work.

After the marathon, I took a few weeks of recovery. I did not run at all during the week following the marathon, and I took it extremely easy the following week, logging just a few very easy treadmill miles while on vacation. I eased my way back into things the third week after Boston, culminating in the Mother's Day 4-Miler. And then, "operation get Elizabeth speedy" kicked into full gear.

The plan is to keep the mileage relatively low (like in the 40's instead of the 60's) and to run two interval sessions a week. No tempo runs, no marathon pace runs-- just really fast stuff.  This means spending a lot of time at a sub-7:00 pace. Ultimately I hope to run the Army 10-miler at a sub-7:00 pace, so that work starts now. And of course, building this fast base will only help me when it comes to training for my fall marathon in November. On top of it, all of this work is happening in the heat and humidity of northern Virginia, which is great for both physical and mental strength.

Here's a snapshot of my training from the past five weeks:


I don't anticipate that my long runs will get above 12 miles for at least another six weeks. Running for an hour and 45 minutes is plenty to keep my endurance up without tiring my legs for the speed work. Let's dive into a few workouts.



I ran this workout about 10 days prior to the Twilight 4-miler. It was three sets of 1600m, 1-minute recovery jog, 400m. In between each set was a 3-minute recovery jog, which equated to just over a lap around the track.

I always start my track workouts conservatively and I find that it's hard to go fast for the first rep of anything. But this was different. I run my track workouts by feel (I don't use the Garmin pace) so imagine my shock when the first 1600m clocked in at 6:38. Oops! The good news is that it felt like a 6:50. The bad news is that the humidity would catch up to me, making the rest of the 1600's slower. My times were:

1600m: 6:38
400m: 1:30
1600m: 6:48
400m: 1:30
1600m: 6:43
400m: 1:29

The fact that I ran a 1:29 (5:56 pace) for the last 400m means that I still had plenty of energy at the end, despite the speedy start.

Onto another workout. On Thursday of this week, I ran a workout that was really challenging to commit to memory! I had to look at it several times and remind myself that the ladder climbed up (not down) for the interval parts.


The photo above just shows one rep. I've recently started using Instagram to share my workouts and I'm never sure how to quickly represent a complex interval workout! This one combined 10K effort with mile-race effort. It was 4 x (1000m at 10K effort, 200m jog) followed by a bunch of really short/fast intervals. I think I may have done this workout once before, but I'm not sure! It was 72 degrees and 99% humidity, threatening thunderstorms. Definitely tough. Here's how it went:

1000m: 4:23 (7:03 pace) -- too slow. I was being overly cautious about going out too fast!
1000m: 4:12 (6:45 pace) -- too fast. I was overcompensating for being too slow on the first one.
1000m: 4:17 (6:53 pace) -- just right!
1000m: 4:15 (6:50 pace) -- just right!

Then I had the three-minute recovery jog. Then I did this:

200m: 0:42 (5:38 pace) followed by a 200m recovery jog
300m: 1:06 (5:54 pace) followed by a 300m recovery jog
400m: 1:28 (5:52 pace) followed by a 400m recovery jog
600m: 2:23 (6:23 pace)

I wish I had given a bit more effort on the 300m and not completely wasted myself on the 400m. It was a challenge to run the 300m hard because I finished around the curve of the track instead of the straightaway, and usually the straight finish is where I pick up most of my speed. That 400m in 1:28 was a PR for me (or at least tied with my PR) so by the time the 600m rolled around, I didn't have much left. I would have loved for that 600m to be about 3-4 seconds faster. But, it was so hot and humid! Overall, I was really pleased with my effort level, and I think that this workout will help me immensely in my upcoming 5K.

When I'm not at the track, I'm taking my easy runs really easy. Those are typically 50-60 minutes in duration, but can be as short as 30 minutes. My pace is typically 8:50-9:10 depending on how my legs feel and how hot/humid it is. This week I have a workout that's so challenging that my coach told me to stand still during the recovery period to catch my breath. I've never done that before (I always jog) so I'm excited to see how it goes!

My next race is the Firecracker 5K on July 4th, which I did last year and the year before. It will be great to see the year-over-year progress.

Special thanks to Greg for taking all of these photos of me! I love being able to share these workouts on Instagram.

13 comments:

  1. I want to get back on my speed work (altho I'll never be speedy compared to you!). But my PF does not like when I run fast. I have a 10k on July 3, and I hope just to bring it like I did on Memorial Day.

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    1. Never say never, and speed is really all relative! I wonder if a different shoe for speedwork would help your PF? Although I know that's a tricky one to get rid of. I can't wait to read about your 10K!

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  2. Great job on your workouts- I might have to steal that mile repeat/400 one. I wish I had track access all the time so I could do more adventurous stuff like that (I do a track workout but we keep it very beginner friendly, and I'm scared this would scare people away).

    I really like your strategy of short and fast, and I probably need to incorporate something like that. I did a longer tempo run this week and it was a hard workout, especially mentally, but I'm wondering how much that will really benefit me so far out from my next half (October-ish). I see your instagram posts and it's pretty cool- you're doing a great job! And way to go for doing a speed cycle, so many marathons will become marathoners and ONLY do fulls or maybe halves. I like how you're mixing it up. I bet the speed will benefit you in the marathon, too.

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    1. So I am guessing you can't just go to the track whenever you want? If that's the case, you could program the distances into your Garmin so that it beeped at you for starting and finishing each lap. I agree with you that all of this stuff will really help me once marathon training begins in August!

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  3. This is fun! I love track workouts and try to get one in per week. It helps that the track is 1.8 miles from my house so incorporating warm ups and cool downs is easy. I need to borrow your thinking re: starting slow because I always get too excited/anxious/whatever on the first one and go too fast. I think regular speed workouts definitely helped my 5K time and think it will help my half-marathon time this fall. Good luck! I look forward to reading about your workouts!

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    1. Yeah, your 5K time is INSANE. I don't think I will ever get mine down that low, but I think if I dream big that maybe sub-20 can happen before I turn 40.

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  4. You are doing so well on operation speedy. Your track mile repeats with 400 in between sound really hard but should be really helpful with your long term goals. I love speedwork, but at my age, worry that it can cause injuries at at time it has. I left one track workout with a twinge in my leg that just did not seem right. I'm on the fence now if I will return to my coached group. They push alot and setting new PR's at 62 may not be in my best interest. Still trying to decide.

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    1. That's a tough call. Especially when you feel great during the workout, and then stuff feels "off" after the workout. There's may be speed work that you can do where you aren't pushing as hard as you could, but still getting benefit - without the risk!

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    2. I agree, there is a risk with speed work and I have decided I will return to my group but talk with the coach about my specific needs. I love my group and look forward to running with them!

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  5. Nice report, Elizabeth, thanks. I had wondered whether you were still doing these on a track or just with the Garmin..now I know. This will pay off well this fall!

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  6. Nice report, Elizabeth, thanks. I had wondered whether you were still doing these on a track or just with the Garmin..now I know. This will pay off well this fall!

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  7. Awesome! I massively admire you and your speed workouts. I hate intervals and the track so I tend to avoid it. And then wonder why I can't get any PBs...!

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  8. I enjoyed reading about your workouts! The track can be tough, but is so beneficial in increasing your speed. I'd say that "operation get Elizabeth speedy" is off to a wonderful start. This is Sam @ Mobile Bay Runner, btw. For some reason, your comment section doesn't like me.

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