Friday, March 27, 2015

Fitness Friday

Happy Friday!

I'm wrapping up another good training week with Runners Connect. Right now, I'm in the "build up" phase. This phase is all about getting you back into running, and getting used to doing some workouts and hitting target paces.

Although my week isn't 100% complete yet, let's look at how things are shaking down.

Monday: Rest/Circuit Training/Hip - this kind of confuses me since true "rest" would involve no workouts. You can do stretching, but it shouldn't even be a cross-training day. Since I was still pretty tired from last week, I did 45 min of Runner's Yoga in the morning, hip stretches after work, and called it good.

Tuesday: 1 mile warm up, 3x1 mile @ 8:10-8:20 pace with 90 sec rest, 1 mile cool down (Threshold Intervals) - this workout was fun and challenging. The 90 second rests were just long enough to catch my breath with some walking/slow jogging, and it was nice to run a little faster. Actual paces: 9:12, 8:15, 8:18, 8:16, 9:25. I did get a little talking to about slowing down my "easy" miles again.

Wednesday: Rest/Core - 45 minutes of Runner's Yoga in the morning, and core exercises after work. Easy peasy.

Thursday: 1 mile easy, 3 miles steady pace (8:45-9:15), 1 mile easy (Steady Run) - again, my "easy" miles were a bit too fast. Actual paces: 9:16, 9:04, 8:53, 8:57, 9:34. It was also lightly snowing with 11-13 mph wind gusts, so a large part of me was just thinking "This sucks, this sucks, this sucks! Let's just get this over with!"

Friday: 3 easy miles (9:35-10:20)/Core/General Strength - I did my 3 easy miles this morning. Although it was super cold (5 degrees), it was not hard to slow down. Part of that is due to the fact that we went out for the United Way Campaign Celebration dinner last night. Not only was I up past my bed time, but I may have "celebrated" a bit too much. Actual paces: 9:40, 9:40, 9:42. Will do the Core & General Strength work outs this evening.

Saturday: Rest/Circuit Training - I'm going to try doing this in the AM so I have plenty of time to rest and relax my legs before my long run on Sunday. I think that doing this routine in the afternoon last Saturday was part of the reason why my legs were tired last Sunday on my long run. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully it's just helping to make me stronger!

Sunday: Long Run - 9 easy miles (9:35-10:20). The weather is looking pretty grim on Sunday, so this may be on the treadmill. That helps ensure that I really do run these slower. It's easier to just dial it in on the treadmill rather than concentrate on pacing myself when I'm outside.

So...so far, so good. I still need to work on slowing my easy miles down. I totally get the idea behind those easy miles (building up aerobic fitness, preventing injury, etc), but it's harder to do in practice! Next week has a hills workout that I'm looking forward too, and slightly nervous about. Bring it on!

How has your week been? 

3 comments:

  1. Looks like a full week! Is Runners Connect an online program? Or an in person group? Sounds like they have a good plan/strategy set up. Hope the weather isn't too terrible for you this weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's an online training program with coaching and discussion forums. They also have webinars, coach chats where you can submit questions, and a lot of other interactive activities. I think it's about $50 a month for the coaching plan, and they also have more personalized training that is more of a one-on-one service, but it's more expensive. Check it out! Runnersconnect.net

      Delete
  2. Great job Ali! Thank you for sharing, and we are glad to hear that you are enjoying it so far. This build up phase will help you a lot, cycling your training makes a huge difference, it means we can peak you at the right time! Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete