My Garmin map showing the Strawberry Hill repeat section
Sunday: 7 miles @ 10:17 pace; I decided to mix things up a bit and went to Strawberry Hill to do hill repeats. In case you're not familiar, Strawberry Hill is on a little island in Stow Lake. There is a steady 0.5 mile rise to the top of the hill on a dirt path. I like running up this hill because 1) It is slightly steeper than the usual sidewalk incline so a good work out, 2) It curls around and up like a soft-serve ice cream cone so you don't have to see just how much further there is to go and, 3) It is on dirt so I feel like the repeated descent is easier on the shin (though, I do occasionally roll my ankle on loose rocks -- in fact I mildly rolled it today on one descent). I ran up and down three times while pushing the pace on the ascents.
Looking at Strawberry Hill. You can trace the second level and a bit of the third of the trail path
Tuesday: 9 miles including 7 miles @ 8:44 pace; So the pace is a little dishonest because I took three scattered short walking breaks during the 7 mile pick-up. When I started off on the run during the warm-up mile I motored up a short little incline to enter Golden Gate Park. I felt a deep ache in my butt muscle which told me my body was still recuperating from my Sunday hill run. I felt pretty good the first few miles but everything caught up to me and I had to walk a little a few times to get my heart rate down. I almost bailed on the run entirely at mile 4 so the fact I got the distance done at all at a higher effort level is a big "Win" in my book.
Wednesday: 8 miles @ 10:04 pace; I finished Tuesday's run on totally dead legs so was a little worried about this run. But I felt pretty strong which was surprising.
Friday: 15 miles @ 9:58 pace; I decided to mix things up today and ran 3 miles easy, 3 miles marathon pace (MP) @ 9:30 pace, 3 miles easy, 3 miles MP @ 9:25 pace, 3 miles easy. I really enjoyed doing this because I never felt like I was out for a sloggy long run. The change in pace kept my brain engaged. I am also very pleased at how easy a 9:25ish pace felt. There were a few times I was running in the low 9:00's and had to consciously slow down the effort. I never run at what I think my MP should be. I'm either out running easy or out pushing hard. This is a huge confidence booster. My current marathon PR pace is 9:42 and I'm feeling pretty optimistic that I can better that one day.
RG left a comment that I should be doing shorter interval work to up my speed. I am going to definitely try to find a way to incorporate shorter intervals into my regimen. It is something I've been thinking about for a while now. The current training plan I'm following for the third time does mainly longer tempo-ish runs and some 1600m repeats. But there is only one speed work session per week. I'd love to find a way to fit two a week into my schedule but this will take some smart planning (and defensive action against The Shin). My A-race of the year is Texas in January, but I may experiment with two-a-week sessions here and there to see if it is realistic for me lay it on every week when training for Texas.
If anyone has any advice about how often you do speed work, please share! I guess this week I sort of did two sessions with the hill workout and it definitely made that second tempo run a little rougher.
9 comments:
i always did one day a week until this year when i started doing a speed and a tempo. i didnt do this EVERY week, but many weeks and it worked for me. just make sure to have an easy day in the middle and listen to your body as always. i love the shorter speed stuff and i think it really helps.
the other thing i have looked at for my next marathon training is rather than doing a true tempo/lactate threshold, they do a "marathon tempo" which is 10 sec+/- your goal pace as the second speed session of the week. so just another idea :)
Oh my goodness, look at those trees! They look beautiful!
I'm no speed work pro, so unfortunately I don't have much advice to lend, but I'd always trust anything Aron says :)
Nice! You are getting soooo fast, I'm so impressed.
Strawberry hill looks amazingly beautiful BTW!
I know it's several months and marathons away for you but I'm excited you're coming to Portland!
great job!
That's a beautiful picture.
I never do speed work. Never have. Hence, I'm of no help to you. Sorry. ;)
I like fartlek ladders- so 1 min. hard, 1 min easy, 2 min hard/easy, 3, 4, then back down 3 hard/easy, 2, 1 hard & 1 min easy....
--sarah
thanks for all the blogger love! i'm sorry i havent been returning it back though! for some reason your site dosent update in my google reader and i am determined to fix that STAT!!! keep up the great work!
Sounds like a great place for hill repeats! Mmm, soft serve!
nice workouts all around. I am trying ti incorporate more marathon pace runs this time around, squeezing them in here and there. I want to MEMORIZE the pace.
Hubs has created a training schedule for me based on Pfitz's Advanced Marathoning. The general idea is tempo runs for the first half of training and shorter intervals sessions for the second half of training - only one official speed session per week.
that's a gorgeous picture!!!!
I have been focusing on race pace runs and I feel like they are more beneficial than longer tempo runs. I have done some interval work, but haven't been very consitent since I am tri training. However, going into Chicago I think I will stick with interval and race pace work, so that I can get a better feel of what I should be running on race day. I always feel like I run too fast the 1st half and then slow way down the 2nd half and I really would like to have a solid effort for once!
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