OK, I lied about waddling. I mean I like waddling, but I also like training:) Finally, I could put a good week down (well, the weekend is still to come). I had good runs every day, two doubles, 2 great gym sessions (I also started with assisted pull ups and my shoulder are killing me, but at least I was able to adjust weight by second time), awesome trail run on Tuesday afternoon in Tryon park, where I ran the whole time, every hill, and was thinking back to 2005, when that was the grounds of my WS100 training. The weather was nice too, with warm sun rays and not a cloud in a sky for that particular period.
Wednesday I was back to the track for repeats...all alone. It was good, I often tend to push more by myself. One thing of note - no matter how many miles I warm up for, I still start intervals very slow and gain speed as I click them out one by one. It's like I need to warm by with speed to put down a speedwork? Another thing, I was focusing on shorter strides and higher cadence - man, may be it made me faster a bit, but took so much concentration! But I felt strong and back to normal.
Since we were totally spoiled by sunny days and no rain for a whole month here, last night, when it started to drizzle and went on to this morning, I took my run to the gym. As soon as I arrived, I couldn't believe I had to hop on a treadmill! Haven't been on it since December or so? It was a slow go at first, but then I decided to make it fun and hit the hill repeats (at low intensity though, as the 3 days prior were all quite high). So, I did 0.5M repeats at 4.5%, 6% and 8% at 75% HR, and then entertained further by running flat and increasing speed every 2 minutes by increments of 0.1 mph. The dark window was right in front of me, and I just watched Scott Jurek's tips on uphill running from Runner's World, so I was working on hip tilt and again, shorter steps and higher knee drive. I have to admit, it does work, as I was hitting the front rail as opposed to my normal long stride (at the same set speed), but it involved a lot of focus on core (and core does get a workout!) and general paying attention. May be it'd be good for the future references, but I am not sure it is important to me enough right now at this point of my life (I got too much to focus on besides my posture, may be next year).
Speaking of rain and spoiled PNW-ers, it's going to be cold and wet at Chuckanut 50k!!! I was joking may be I should wimp out and stay home...what do you say? Gail, Mike and I are carpooling after I finish working (boohoo poor them non-working folks, they have to wait for me and hit the traffic!) on Friday and we should be in Seattle spending night with Big Steve. I bet it'll be fun pre-run dinner! Gail got injured, so she'll take it slow and cautious, Mike and I are running through it as a training run, and I am freaking out for my "no-watch" experience - no matter how little I use it, it is still reassuring to have it on the wrist. What will happen? Will I crawl? Will I bust and die?Will I forget to eat on time? Ouch...a different type of challenge. But looking forward to see all the WA folks at the Chukanut, and then visit PacRim 24hr to see those nutcases!
A Mountain Soul
17 comments:
Hmmm. If I ran without a watch during a trail race I would be found wandering aimlessly in the forest looking at flowers. :p Great job on an excellent training week lady! You are in inspiration fo sho.
Great to see that you've had some excellent training runs. What's going on with the shoulder ?
We could use some sunny weather in NY...rain, rain, rain...that's all we've had here, with more to come this weekend for Wurtsboro.
Have to share your new training secrets. I know shorting the stride works but like you said that takes concentration. try to maintain the good feelings for a while. See ya at the carpool to chuckanut.
Mike
Sounds like some great training. I'll be very interested to hear how it goes without the watch. It should be an interesting experiment if nothing else. Have a great race!
Nice week so far and I love the treadmill running....good ideas to make it less boring! See you at Chucky!
Looking forward to seeing the OR crew at Chuckanut. I'll need to get there early, just so I can say hello to all the familiar faces. Wet, cold and muddy - sounds like a normal day at Chuckanut.
Great week!
Yeah, what's up with all the rain?! : )
I do lots of that stride work. Running is supposed to be "falling forward". If we step too far forward, we slow ourselves down. More efficient to cut off the front of our stride.
However, short stride/high cadence work can lead to stiff hips. We're supposed to use the cam-action in our hips. All those short muscles can be very efficient and powerful if developed.
So I never do short-stride/high-cadence work without also working on full hip rotation.
It definitely doesn't feel comfortable yet, but I'm getting there and getting faster.
Glad you're getting some good training. You sure do log high mileage.
I'm hoping all forecasts are wrong and we'll get cloudy but dry. A runner can dream, right?
Good luck at Chuckanut, and maybe I'll see you at Pac Rim - if I'm still circling when you get there!
Have a good day in the rain and of course you shouldn't stay home. You need to stop by and kick me in the butt before heading home :)
Olga,
Good luck this weekend and I think you're a very brave woman for running without a watch!
Meghan
I'm the same way with track. We have a mile warm up and 20 mins of drills before we run but I'm always cold the first two laps around but I've got that short stride thing down - I'm short and I have short legs:) @#$&! on the rain. I'm suppose to be riding my bike now but the ride partner and I postponed it for half an hour because of rain. I don't mind if it starts while I'm out I just hate when you start in it. Say hi to Rob for me and I hope it's not too bad at Chuckanut. I have my first 50k the weekend after, finally.
Good luck to you this weekend!
Glad you had a great week - aren't those the best? I'm with you on the treadmill. I only get on one if I absolutely have to. I feel so clunky and slow for the first 15 minutes. It seems like it takes me forever to get in the groove.
Good luck on Chuckanut. You are going to do great! You have such natural instincts on time that a "no watch" run will be no problem.
hope you are having fun girl!
sun and no rain all month? isn't that considered cheating?
I completely understand your track workouts. Regardless of warm up distance, I always start slow and do cut-downs. At least it makes me feel good. And it proves to me that I really am an ultrarunner.
Hill workouts on the treadmill are tough. Good job!
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