This week, I decided to run two speed workouts. Initially, I thought I should try to race a 5K on July 4 since there are so many races. But, it didn't fit into my scheduled plans for the rest of the day. Then, I thought I would run 12.5 laps around the track and call it a time trial 5K - see if I could get under 18 minutes. I would then run a second workout on Friday. However, I received advice from friends and a coach that shorter and faster workouts were better for my mile training. I decided to do two workouts - one on Tuesday and another on Friday.
On Tuesday, July 3, it was another hot day = 80s but it felt 90s with sun which made for a hazy, hot, and humid day! I warmed up with a run to the track then did one lap of striders. I took a moment after the striders to get my heart rate close to resting before diving into the meat of the workout:
12 x 200 meters with slow 200 meter jog. I needed the full 400 meters after the 8th rep. For the 9th rep and on, I ran clockwise. Time in seconds: 34.56 (4:48); 35.66 (4:57); 34.51 (4:48); 34.66 (4:49); 35.42 (4:55); 34.75 (4:50); 35:07 (4:30); 36:26 (5:02); 36:73 (4:43); 36:72 (4:22); 35.43 (4:33); 35:01 (4:29). The time in parenthesis are what my Garmin had for pace, but it was off so unreliable. The times are what matter and I felt I hit my times. I was planning to run 16 reps, but I shortened the reps to reflect the effort on the hot, tough day. It was the right call. I ran home as my cool down.
On Friday, I returned to the track. This time, I decided not to repeat Tuesday's workout, but instead I lengthened it to 400 meters with 6 reps (counterclockwise) and 3 laps easy jog (clockwise for the rest interval). The weather was much cooler as it started out with a brief drizzle and stayed overcast throughout the workout. The temperature was still in the 80s. Again, my warm up was run to the track then a lap of striders followed by resting to get my heart rate down. For the workout, I nailed my laps: 72.6, 71.6, 71.2, 73.9, 72.8, and 71.7. The 71.2 is my PR for one lap around the track! I ran my cool down home.
Shawn raced a 4.5 miler down the Cape on the Fourth. I noticed on Saturday he ran half mile repeats near mile pace. Maybe he saw that I did two workouts this week and didn't want to fall behind!
On Monday, I ran Miles to and from daycare in my Bob's Ironman stroller (love that stroller!), and Wednesday I also ran with him in the stroller on the Sligo Loop as I call it. Thursday I ran 12 on the Northeast Branch - I probably went further than desired. And this weekend, I took Miles out twice in the Bob's - once on the Sligo Loop again and this morning on the Klingle Zoo Loop. We hadn't visited the animals in the zoo for awhile. But, I am interested to see if all the running with Miles in the Bob's stroller has made me stronger and faster. So far, the results seem to show that it is helping.
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