Wow, a new entry! :)
Training has been going well!
Five weeks ago, I started an eight week program of track workouts with our local running shop, Fleet Feet which is designed to make your body more efficient when it comes to running....and ultimately make you faster (I won't lie, this is my main goal- to get faster [without injury]).
We meet at a track, do a 1 mile easy jog, half a mile of drills (jumps, bounding, butt kickers- literally), and another half mile of sprinting the straightaways and jogging the curves).....whew! And that's just the WARM UP! Then we get into our timed practices. 6-8 of 200 m runs, with a specific time goal (based off of our mile time trial the first week- I did it in 7:55! I didn't think I could run that fast). The objective of the timed goal is to get our bodies into this very specific "zone" of using the oxygen as efficiently as possible and pushing our limits so that we can gain endurance.
Well....a few weeks go by and while track practice was going great, my Saturday runs were.....well, they were sucking. I was fighting my pace and all over the place mentally. On a hill run I forgot to take nutrition for an hour and 45 mins....(normally I take it every 45 mins...) and didn't realize it until I felt so horrible and was basically delerious that Coach Rick found me and literally had to talk me in "See that tree? Once we get there we're going to run for a little bit, ok?". I was so grateful for him and his help, and he is such an awesome coach and selfless man......but I hope I never have to have him coach me like that again. Other runs were just slow and dumpy....I felt really out of my groove, and I became unsettled, impatient, discouraged, and sort of mad....
So two weeks ago I couldn't make it to track practice and felt super guilty and lame (the sessions are on Thursdays, by the way).....but come Saturday morning's run, I felt transformed. We did 14 miles and I felt like I was flying.....my last few miles were averaging 9:20-9:30 (I walk a minute in between miles, so my overall pace is a bit slower)....I couldn't believe it, I was simply floored. Holy crap. Track practice WORKS.
Yesterday's run, enter stage left, calf pain. What the heck? Where did THIS come from? It's not cramping, it just flat out hurts. So I'm working with a foam roller and a stick to work out some of this pain. It made for an uncomfortable 11.4 miles yesterday....well, the humidity didn't help either....I averaged 10:45/mile which includes my water bottle refill times, etc, so I'm pretty happy....
I bought some compression calf sleeves on Friday in hopes of decreasing my recovery time from the longer runs, and boy am I glad I did.....they really made a difference and I'm seriously considering running in them next weekend for our (dun dun dunnnnnnn) 16 miler.
I'm about $300 short on the fundraising front, and I'm really excited to be so close!!!
Let's hope I can chill out and just train injury free these next few weeks.
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2 comments:
That's a lot of updates, Elsbeth. The speed workouts sound like a great idea, pretty intense - good thing that you are young!
We all have runs where it seems impossible to continue. Your coach would have enjoyed helping you out - that is what TNT coaches do. But I hope that the calf pain improves soon. You still have nearly 2 months to Nike, right?
Great going on the fundraising! To be within 300 dollars with 6-7 weeks to go is great in this economy. Hang in there. Art
So many updates all at once - Summer time flies by, time for livin' and not so much typing.
Track workouts = win!
Compression Socks = perhaps funny looking, but friends are raving about them, so why not?
and Fundraising = Win. Keep it up!
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