OFF - Took the weekend off, including Monday, during the extended Christmas weekend.
Tuesday - 12/27/11
Track Workout.
Workout went like this:
6 x 300 (52,49,50,51,50,51)
1 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown.
I had actually planned on running 400's today, but the first turn on the track does not get that much sun, and so all the lanes were completely covered in an icy, snow packed crunch....which I was not in the mood to navigate across during 400m repeats. The other 300m of the track were covered in icy snow pack in lanes 2-8. Lane 1 was also covered but there was a 12 inch section that had been worn down enough that you could actually see the red track below the surface of the snow covering. The 2nd turn of the track gets the most sun and had a couple of deep puddles. Even so, it was a solid workout. Temps were in the upper 20's, so kinda chilly. I wanted to keep them at or slightly under 70 sec, 400m pace. Which I was able to do fairly easily.
Of course, the total volume of these track workouts will at least double, if not triple...come spring/early summer. For these winter months, shorter track stuff....just to keep the wheels spinning will suffice.
Wednesday - 12/28/11
PM: Easy running through town. Ran in the dark, later in the day. Chilly, 25 degrees.
Ran from my house to Mason street path, North to the intersection of Spring Creek trail. Then ran West on the Spring Creek Trail to the intersection of Shields. Hopped onto Shields and ran South to Drake. Took Drake East to Meadowlark, then South across Horsetooth and back home.
Easy running, felt good. Trails have been a hit or miss lately as they are either a sloppy mud pit, or a packed snow/ice nightmare. Hence the decision to hit the roads for a short easy run.
46 minutes
Thursday - 12/29/11
Treadmill Climb.
10 minute warmup
43 minutes @10% grade @ 10 pace
2 minutes @ 10% grade @ 9:30 pace
5 minute cool down
2,384'
First treadmill climb reaching 45 minutes. Also the most vertical in a treadmill climb (2.384 ft). Another solid, grunting hill climb in the books. The first 20 minutes of the climb was the hardest. As it took me awhile to get into a groove and had to push all negativity and self doubt aside. Once I started to get into a rhythm, my legs started to feel good and the uphill climbing actually started to feel easier as the run went on. I upped the pace slightly for the last 2 minutes.
Its a funny thing, writing down "45 minutes @ 10% grade @ 10 pace" on here sounds super easy in words and takes only a few seconds to jot down. But these treadmill climb workouts are not for the faint of heart...they are hard and will push you to the edge....both physically and mentally!
As the time ticks by on the treadmill, step after grueling uphill step, the temptation to hit that little down arrow (which will decrease the pace or the grade) just stares you in the face. Its really hard not to cut 5 or 10 minutes off these workouts and call it a day when your quads tell you to give in...or when your lungs have had enough burning for the day. But friends I tell you, keep at it! pushing yourself beyond what your mind and body are telling you, will reap you benefits in the long run. ( no pun intended ) :-)
Friday - 12/30/11
OFF - busy day, no time for a run. Had dinner at my parents to celebrate my Grandma's 88th birthday!
Saturday - 12/31/11
Easy jogging around the neighborhood in the AM. I was planning on running in the AM and PM, as the AM workout was more of an easy jog just to loosen up and get in a few easy miles.
As my alarm rang at 5:45AM, I sat up in bed and could hear the wind rattling the house and blowing trash cans down the street. Stepped out the door for a dark, 25 degree easy jogging run....and nearly got blown down the street with a solid 30mph gusts of wind!
Even though I wasn't going more than what it takes to break a sweat, that wind was knarly! Depending on the direction I was running, I couldn't even look up to see where I was running, the wind was making me squint and basically ran with my head looking down. It was actually pretty cool though. Because it was dark, cold, no one was on the road....and the wind was blowing trash cans and debris all around me as I ran down the street. The shadows of tree limbs blowing about and the rustling of leaves all around was like something out of a Tim Burton movie...pretty sweet!
32 minutes.
Spent most of the day down in South Denver at the new IKEA (that place is huge!) with a couple of close friends. By the time we grabbed dinner and got back to the Fort and got Eliana to bed, it was close to 8pm and after a long day I was spent. Maybe 10 years ago when I had more pep in my step after a long day would I have ventured out on New Years Eve for an hour long night run...but that just wasn't going to happen on this day.
Stayed up late, like 1:30am, watched the ball drop..Yah! then off to sleep, then awake again at 2:30am for a random late night feeding for Eliana. Then off to sleep again and up at 7:30am for church. one word, tired. :-)
Sunday - 01/01/12
After church I had a small amount of time to get in a short run, before we headed over to a friends house to watch the Broncos game (sigh, yeah they lost..but still playoff bound!).
Both Pineridge and Maxwell trails are closed due to muddy conditions. Which means either heading out to Horsetooth Mtn park, or sticking with the roads. Since I was sorta crunched for time, I opted to stick to the roads. With the last couple of days being rather easy "jog" type "workouts" I wanted something with some sort of vertical resistance. Which means a run on Centennial Road. I knew my run would be short, so I figured short with some vertical and decent hills, over short and flat would serve a better purpose.
I parked over at the west parking lot at Pineridge. Then basically ran the first 2.5 miles (just past "Monster Hill") of the Horsetooth Half Marathon course:
Horsetooth Half Marathon course profile
At the turnaround point for my run I hopped on a short section of the Foothills Trail and then got back onto Centennial for a mostly downhill finish back to my truck at Pineridge.
35 minutes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well a New Year is upon us!
Certainly, the "staple" of my winter workouts are my hill climbs (or repeats) and speed sessions, and they were again...my main focus in training this past week as well.
The 45 minute treadmill climb was nice and felt good to get in a 2,300+ vertical run on a treadmill. A confidence booster for sure. And I was able to keep my 300m repeats under 70 sec 400m with relative ease, despite a chilly and snow/ice covered track. So good stuff right there.
On the flip side, I need to work on becoming more stringent with my weekly long run. Its been 2 weeks, since my 18 miler with Steve, that I have done any decent distance in a workout. I need to start including a weekly long run in combination with my hill climbs and track sessions every week. Weekly long runs are important, and very beneficial for runners...probably the most important training tool a runner can include in his/her weekly training.
The weekend was super easy in terms of overall intensity and duration. Perhaps too easy.
Looking forward to the 2012 racing season!
No comments:
Post a Comment