A few days ago I signed up for my first "race" since beginning training: the Doughboy Challenge 5k. It's this upcoming Saturday, the 7th, and I'm very excited but a bit nervous. My only goal is to finish in under 34 minutes...which shouldn't be too difficult. I just hope it won't hinder my performance that I've been running slow, comfortable miles instead of pushing myself harder. I guess we'll see. :)
I think I have finally figured out how to use the elliptical machine. Woo hoo! For whatever reason I felt very awkward every time I'd use it; like I was putting weight on the wrong parts of my lower body, which in turn hurt my knees and felt like I was throwing everything out of whack. After a few more attempts I must've found my groove though, so I'm happy about that. Wednesday I did 30 minutes, then did crunches and worked with some hand weights. I also took a walk that night with Dave - around 30 minutes or so.
Thursday I decided to do some light speed training. Here's what I did:
Ran 1 mile: 11:08
Ran for 1 minute: 9:40 pace
Ran for 1 minute: 12:00 pace
Ran for 1 minute: 8:34 pace
Ran for 1 minute: 10:00 pace
Repeat 2x
Ran for 1 minute: 8:20 pace
Ran for 1 minute: 10:00 pace
Repeat 2x
Ran 1.5 miles. Average 10:00/mile pace.
I felt friggin fantastic!! I tried to pay attention to my breathing after reading about breathing patterns in one of my books. I think it said that during normal runs you should be on a 3 step inhale/2 step exhale pattern and then 2/1 when running pickups. I think I'm more of a 2/2 breather almost all of the time. Running those repeats must've been a great warmup because by the time they were over and it was time to run again, I was at 2.5 miles and only planned on doing 3. Then I decided to do 3.5. I felt so good I decided I may as well do another .5 to make it an even 4 miles. I felt soooo good and it was a nice change to feel that strong and comfortable.
Saturday I did a measly 2 mile run. I ran 1 mile (10:10), then did some weights: bicep curls, lateral raises, tricep extensions and overhead extensions (I'm sure there's another name for these but I have no clue what it is). Then I ran another mile (9:55) and did weights and squats.
I am disappointed to report that I skipped my long run. I need to do something to prevent myself from deviating from schedule, particularly when it comes to long runs. I slept in and then Kim and I went to see Sex and the City, which was of course fabulous. Then Dave and I did some running around and cleaning. I finally ended up doing 20 minutes on the elliptical at 10pm because I felt bad for not doing anything. I'm going to get on the treadmill when I'm done with this and just run for a while. I don't want to look at time or mileage. I just want to run.
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!
7 comments:
I always think it is especially fun to just run for fun. No worrying about distance, speed, or time spent doing it.
Good luck on your race this weekend. I look forward for the report!
yay for a race this weekend!! you will have fun - they are so much fun :)
i also LOVED SATC - i want to see it again!
great job on the workouts!
A doughboy race! That's awesome! My dad works for General Mills (was previously a Pillsbury guy before they merged). Good luck...you'll have fun!
Good luck in your 5K! That could be a fun T-shirt...Run Doughboy Run!
yay race! have fun! i think one of the reasons long runs are hard might be because of the treadmill? maybe if you ran outdoors you'd be more motivated? me, i can't pull off more than 5 on a treadmill without going emo.
Thanks for stopping by :-)
Awwhh don't sweat the 5k! You've got many a chances to go for speed ;-) I'm sure you'll do awesome!
awesome! how exciting. i love that it's called the doughboy challenge. pj would love that name. haha.
:D
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