I started speed training a month or so ago, along with increasing my mileage for the upcoming san diego rock and roll marathon on june 1.
This week the work showed. I had improved my 5K pace from 10:30 (yes, I know, slow as molasses) to 9:18! That’s shaving almost a minute off of my mile-for three miles!
Needless to say, for me this is a huge accomplishment. I’m hoping to ge to the point where I can run a marathon in less than 4 hours. Okay, so some people do this in almost half the time, but I”m not one of them, nor will I ever be. But at least I could do it a bit more quickly!
For speed training I’ve been doing different types of training. one day a week is full out 3 miles, as fast as I can go. If I feel myself slowing down I speed up. If I can’t breathe, I suck it up.
The other day, when I do my 6 miles (one of my 6ers), I focus on points along the run when I really kick it into high gear.
On my long day run I dont do a lot of speed training, but on the way home I try to kcik it up a notch or two along the way. i do’nt do it early on. I mean, I’m running a half marathon or so and don’t want to burn out early, get cramps, and have to call a taxi to get me home!
I have noticed a great time improvement even on my long day, though, when I’m not running full out for a while. It happens to have shaved about half a minute off of my long distance time. Not so bad!
Anyway, tomorrow is 14 miles. I’m hoping for a great run. I had a few glasses of wine with dinner tonight-hubby took us all out for dinner at a cuban restaurant, and the plantains were soooo good!- so going to bed soon to sleep i toff. Also drinking tons of water.
Since hubbyt has some out of town trips planned in the upcoming month or so before the big race, the second big race I guess i should say, I have had to adjust my schedule accordingly. But looks like I will get all of my olong runs in right before we go to hawaii for vacation, and I will be in tapering mode while there. that will leave one odd week out so that instead of three weeks prior to marathon I will have four. probably will run a good 15-17 miler when we get back from vacation, res t for a couple of weeks, and then head to san diego.
I can’t wait!
Off to bed now that the kids are asleep!
running-long-distances