At this point I'm starting to having visions of Sugar Plum Fairies (i.e. a 2 hr half marathon), and I realize that I cannot expect my improvements to continue as steeply as they did in the first 18 months. This will take some work on my part. I also realize that *I* am not the best person to assign myself speedwork. I'm not as confident in my capabilities as an outsider might be. I know this because, as a coach, I often assign speedwork, and of course they usually think I'm trying to kill them (I'm not, I promise, I just believe in them!!!). So I talked to Adam of The Boring Runner, and he agreed to help me with my need... to assign me Torture Tuesday... otherwise known as speedwork day. I sent him my training plan, and he gave it the ok... but basically he is going to assign my Tuesday workouts and stay on my case to get them done. So today was the first (of hopefully many) Torture Tuesdays. You might recall that I am an 11:00 min/mile girl. I love my 11s... long runs, short runs, any day runs... that's my happy pace (and frankly, it's right on what the McMillan Calculator thinks I *should* be running). Adam assigned 6x800s @ 8:45 with 400m recoveries. That is a ridiculously fast/hard pace for me, and I was certain I would die.
Warm-up - 1.5 miles at 12 min/mile - slow, easy, comfortable.
Interval 1 - I was already huffing and puffing like a crazy person, and I wondered how I was going to do this.
Interval 2 - I convinced myself that if I just got through one at a time, this workout would be over before I knew it (yeah, right).
Interval 3 - I was pretty sure I was going to start hallucinating, but know that I tend to get re-motivated at the halfway point, so I just kept my eye on being halfway done and finished out this interval.
Interval 4 - It wasn't easier, by any means, but when I started interval 4, I felt magic... my legs knew exactly what pace I was asking of them and they just did the job.
Interval 5 - I was craving the interval 4 magic, but frankly I wanted to die.
Interval 6 - This is it, I knew I could do this (yeah right). Surely I can eek out one last interval. Counted down every. single. second. until it ended, but did it.
Cool down - About 0.5 mile into the cooldown, I got really massive stomach cramps. I'm not an evening or night runner, so I knew my body would be "off", and it was pitching a royal fit. I knew I was almost done and in cool down though, so I slowed it down even further for about 30 seconds, the awful feeling passed, and then I picked it back up to regular recovery pace and finished out.
19 comments:
Torture Tuesday does sound like torture but congrats! that's pretty awesome and I'm in awe.
8:45's...I like it!!! Way to go!!
YAYY! Nice work!
Nice work! Who knows.. you might start to like it! :)
way to go, lesley! I need to be more consistent with speed work. So hard to do sometimes!
Hooray!!! I knew you could do it. You're going to be a 8s girl before you know it.
I've often thought that I would hallucinate too. I never do, but I do see stars every so often. So, those are probably good, right?
I'm not a night runner either. I always plan on some level of speed loss. I always either eat too much/too little etc etc. Just think if it would have been in the morning! You would have essentially been running 7s.
You might convince me to add a day of torture to my training weeks. Good job finding a coach to stay on top of you and push you!
what a fabulous idea....to have someone else that you "know" assign your workouts. it would certainly make me more accountable. its easy to blow off what a computer generated plan gives you, but to know that a friend sat down and took the time to think up your plan makes you feel like you have to go through with it. i think ive done a true speed workout maybe twice. i have deficiencies in a LOT of areas in my training. ive got to buckle down!
I don’t do any speed work but run 1 time trial per week. All my long term goals are ultras so I think a time trial of 5 to 8km once a week should be enough. Many years ago I ran two time trials per week. One 4km and one 8km. I managed to get my half marathon time down to 01:41 with only that as speed work. Nowadays I’m happy if I go sub 2:10.
Nice job!!
Hearing people like yourself and Adam talk about how you once were slow runners, and have shaved so many minutes off your pace is so inspiring to me! When I started running, I never figured I could get much faster, and I'd always be the slow girl, but bit by bit I am getting a little faster.
Speedwork is something I always do (one of my key workouts in the FIRST training program), but sometimes I skimp out on the entire thing or take unauthorized rest breaks. I really need to start pushing it more to see more improvements.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Nice job! Speed work is so rewarding.
Sounds like a typical interval workout to me. You hit all the normal phases - feeling awesome, hallucinating, second wind, near death, and the final surge. Congrats on completing it!
Great job torturing yourself! I might have to torture Randee with this next Wednesday...that's our regular scheduled day of torture! And those 11's will work just fine on Sunday if you're running with us! Email me so we can make some meet up arrangements.
Wow! Awesome workout! I hate speed work, but I'm anxious to follow your progress. You might just talk me into it. :)
Holy Speed Demon....going all the way down to 8:45 is awesome.
Go do them on the track when you can. I find that it is much harder there but it gives you the most benefit as well.
Just reading that made me feel the torture. Holy cow! I wish I could get my short legs to go that fast!
i'm gigglin' cause now you know how i feel!
i'm gigglin' cause now you know how i feel!
This is inspiring me to make sure I add speed workouts in. I tend to be a 10min mile girl...long runs, short runs, whatever runs...that's my body's happy pace. But I really want to move that happy pace down a bit! And of course learn to run at a faster pace too.
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