Monday, August 30, 2010

Speedwork & PRs

Last week:
Monday - 6 miles running morning, 16 miles riding after work (easy ride)
Tuesday - 6 miles running morning, speed work after work (1 min 27 sec - new fast time for 400m)
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - 6 miles running morning, 23 miles riding after work (hard ride)
Friday - rest

Friday night I was still discussing the plan for Saturday.  Should I do a long run, or go test out speedwork and do a 5K??  Knowing that I have an Adventure Race (Sept. 25) and a marathon (Oct. 10) I should probably go with the long run, but...sometimes you have a need to see your speed.  I decided I would rearrange my long runs completely:
Aug. 28th - Lamar 5K race and bike ride
Sept. 4th - 23 miles +
Sept. 11th - MS 150 bike ride Columbia
Sept. 18th - 14 - 16 miles
Sept. 25th - Berryman Adventure Race
Oct. 2nd - 10-12 miles
Oct. 10th - Mother Road Marathon

We shall see how long this schedule lasts before I feel the need to modify it again.

So, back to this weekend.  Brady dropped my bike and I off at the Lamar 5K/10K.  I signed up for the 5K to see if speed work has really sped me up at this distance.  He headed back home to get his bike and ride back (30 miles).  We started a bit late at 7:45am.  My legs felt tired and sluggish to begin with and my hopes of a PR were dwindling till I hit the 1 mile marker and heard the 7:45 called out.  That meant I could still beat my 24:24 PR time.  I'm not sure what my other splits were, but my official finish time was 23:40.  This is exciting enough, but my Garmin has me at 3.1 miles and 23:25.  Regardless, my new PR is 23:40 and I'm very happy about it.  I think Brady's already thinking of me breaking 23, but right now I just want to enjoy this new PR.  :-)
After the awards (1st place in my age division and either 3rd or 4th overall female) I put on bike shorts and met Brady for the ride home. 
We did the proper biker thing and stopped by Cooky's for lunch - yummy.  With that slight detour it was 44 miles home.  So, 5K + 44 miles bike - that should make up for some sort of long run right??  ;-)

3 comments:

  1. Congrats on the PR!!! Sounds like the speed work is paying off!!!

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  2. Thanks Mark. I'm a firm believer in speed work now. I hope you have success with your PR as well! :-)

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  3. Awesome of course. Would expect nothing less from you ;-) Can't wait to hear about all the runs and races (and be in on some of them).
    B

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