PIlates, 10K w/2x6' at 10K race pace

Last night Lisa and I did a couple Pilates videos. The first one was good and hard, but it was only 25 min, so we popped in another one. We liked that one as well, but didn't finish it all, because we thought 45 min of core work was enough for one night. Our Pilates class is not meeting this week because the national figure skating championships are going on at our gym (it has 2 ice rinks, etc.) and so they have turned the spinning room/Pilates classroom into the officials' lounge. So, we decided to do our own workout, and it was good. I'll be glad to be back with our regular class again, though.

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This morning I was to do 10K (only 10K!) with two 6-minute bursts at 10K race pace. 10K race pace, if I were to shoot for 58:30 (which would be a 13-second PR) would be 5:51/km, or 2:55.5/500m (sorry...had to publish this 3x to get my math right - duh!!!). I figured for simplicity's sake that I'd just do 2x1K @ 10K race pace because it's close enough to 6 minutes.

The weather cooperated again - lucky me! It's supposed to rain and snow tonight, and April is usually rainy/snowy, so I'm glad for every clear day I get. It was 40F (4C) with a slight breeze.

I started off on the 2K gentle downhill from home to Liberty Park. My heart rate wasn't that high and so I figured I wasn't going that fast, but my 500m splits were 3:06, 3:08, 3:03 and 3:00 for that stretch, which is about normal or slightly faster than normal. At Liberty Park, I started the first of my 1K bursts, from 2K-3K. My HR did go up significantly as I cranked out two 2:53s - just a tad faster than 10K race pace - perfect! I felt good as I continued, and stayed pretty close to 6:30/km pace until my next 1K burst at 6-7km. My HR got a bit higher on this one, as expected, but I still managed to do 2:52 and 2:53 for my 500m splits on that fast burst. Just right! Then I had 3km to go home, and did a respectable job up the slight hill.

Total time 1:03:35 for the 10K, w/avg HR 145 and pace 6:21/km. That's a big improvement from a month ago when I did a 1:04:40 10K with ave HR of 150. Moving in the right direction!

back to racewalking :)

I was happy to be back to racewalking today, though the workout wasn't the best. I was to do 14K with two faster segments of about 10 min each. I decided for simplicity's sake to do 2x2k fast segments - these were to be at 1/2 marathon pace (6:09/km is my goal pace) but as you can see I couldn't pace myself to save my life this morning.

My glutes let me know that I was racewalking right away. They were definitely still a bit sore, even though I felt OK when not racewalking. Still, they held up fine for the whole workout, though now (at lunch time) they are very sore and I'm cursing myself for forgetting to bring my tennis ball for a little massage.

I started off feeling fresh, fast, and strong. I did some downhill km at 6:19 and 6:17, then a flat km at 6:22. I was ready to go! I sped up for km 4 & 5, doing my first fast segment. I didn't push quite hard enough and ended up with a 6:11 and 6:15. Hmmm, not so good in the pacing department. I relaxed for km 6 & 7 and then did km 8 & 9 harder, doing 5:57 (!oops! too fast!) and then despite keeping up a reasonable pace (so I thought) the next km was 6:15. Darn. I was definitely disappointed with this.

I finished the whole workout in 1:30:49, for 6:29/km average, with ave HR 151. Really not my best. I have to admit I'm a bit discouraged about my prospects for Sunday. I talked to my coach briefly and he tried to cheer me up by telling me that my big races are next year. Nice way to basically say that yeah, I don't have much of a chance to do well on Sunday. I know it's true, but I should look on the bright side - my foot is well enough to walk, even if my glutes aren't up to speed yet with the technique changes. It's just frustrating since I've wanted to do this race for a while (several years) and I was hoping for a really nice PR. I could still PR, as my previous PR is on the slowish side from a hilly course, but it's not looking good for the sub-2:10 I'd really like to have. Well, you just never know. Everything could just click on Sunday morning. So I'll try to remain positive and hang in there, but it's challenging.

Garmin connect data here.

You never know what to expect

I woke feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. I was so tired, and hadn't slept well at all. I figured my workout might not be so great, and didn't want to get started. But surprisingly, it went very well!

My muscles were sore this morning from my weight training yesterday. Triceps, glutes, and hamstrings were all a bit sore, and quads too. However, the sore glutes actually helped my workout - I knew when my form was good and when I was using my glutes more because of the soreness!

I was to do 12K with 2x12' fast segments (threshold pace; about 6:10/km or @ my threshold HR in the low 160s) and 2x12' recoveries (6:50/km or so) and the rest normal speed (6:30/km). I started out downhill pretty fast, but my heart rate was under control, so I figured it was fine. I did the first 2K in 12:29, with ave HR of 140 (lap 1). The next 3 laps (2-4), I did the 12' fast, pushing lap at each km to gauge my pace. These were FAST, but my HR was low for the speed, so I figured it was OK. I was SO surprised when I pushed lap for the first km and it said 5:45!!! My ave HR for that lap was just 157, and I was feeling fine, so I continued, and the next km was 5:52, with ave HR 161. Then I had 24 more seconds of my 12 min, and continued the same pace (ave HR 162).

The first recovery segment was next (lap 5) and I did 6:36/km with ave HR of 149 for the segment. I was feeling rested when I started lap 6, which was to be a normal speed (6:30/km) for 1km before starting my next fast segment. I did 1.02 km in 6:32, for 6:25/km, with ave HR of 152 (lap 6). Then it was time to kick it up a notch again for 12' fast. I did the next km in 6:02 with ave HR 159 (lap 7), and in the remaining 5:58 (lap 8) I managed 0.97km with ave HR 162, for 6:09/km. Pretty good! I was pleased!

I finished my workout with a second recovery segment (lap 9) at 6:47/km and ave HR 150, followed by a return to "normal" speed on the last uphill, with 6:27/km and ave HR of 155.

Total time for 12K: 1:15:49, for 6:19/km. Nice speedy workout :) and I felt good. It just goes to show that you never know what to expect. Sometimes when you feel rotten you have a good workout anyway. Sometimes when you feel good (like I did on Wednesday) you have a lousy workout. So, the moral of the story is that you should get out there and do your workout. You'll never regret doing it, even if it doesn't go well, because you'll feel better for having exercised.

Garmin connect data here.

feeling stronger every day

A while back, I wrote in one of my posts that the Chicago song "Feeling Stronger Every Day" came on at the end of one of my workouts, and I felt it was mocking me. But now, I think it's coming true. I am thinking my iron levels must be better, because I really am feeling stronger. I felt really good during this whole workout, despite waking up tired and with a slight sore throat (which may be just due to dry air?).

Today I was to do 12K with two 12-min fast segments (6:05-6:10ish), followed by two 10-min easy segments (6:50ish), and the rest around 6:30ish/km. Last week when I did this workout, I did the fast segments too fast. Jim (my coach) said afterward that he wanted a threshold workout (~15K pace) not an interval workout. Oops! So this time I promised him I'd keep it to 6:05. I tried to keep my promise today, watching my HR so that I'd stay in the low 160s during the fast segments, which is around my threshold HR. I did that - but my pace was still 6:00/km for the fast segments! I guess I am getting fitter, or I just had a really good day.

I'm still working on my technique and trying to focus on using my glutes more and getting more toe push. I think it's going well; Erin and Dave will be here again tonight and tomorrow night and we're doing 15K on Saturday together, so I'll get their opinion on how it's going. I feel like there has been some improvement. At least I'm getting faster...but that could just be the iron kicking in.

Here's the workout in a nutshell; data on Garmin connect (click link):

lap 1 - 2k - 12:45, 6:22/k, ave HR 137 (downhill)
lap 2 - 1k fast - 6:02, 6:02/k, ave HR 156
lap 3 - remainder of 12 min fast - 5:59, 6:00/k, ave HR 160
lap 4 - 10' recovery - 1.49k, 6:42/k, ave HR 150
lap 5 - 1k at normal (6:30) pace - oops, too fast 6:15/k, ave HR 152
lap 6 - 1k fast - missed the split so this is for 1.02 k - 5:59, 5:50/k pace, ave HR 158 (fast pace, but low HR for that pace!!!)
lap 7 - remainder of 12 min fast - 6:00, 0.98k, ave 6:08/k, HR 161 (this was the only one at the right pace...)
lap 8 - 10' recovery - oops, did 10:28 (watch doesn't show seconds after 1 hr - will have to change that!) - 1.6k; 6:32/k pace; HR 150
lap 9 - 1k at 6:30 pace - 1.01 km in 6:37 for 6:31/k - ave HR 155 (uphill)
lap 10 - rest of the 12k at 6:30 pace - 5:55 for 0.9 km for 6:36/k - ave HR 155 (uphill)

Total: 1:16:02 for 12K, 6:20/k, ave HR 152.

12K w/2x12' fast, 2x10' recovery, rest normal

Today was a new type of workout, and I was excited to do it even though I figured it would be hard. Well, it was hard, but I did well and am quite happy with it. I felt really strong when I finished!

I was to do 12K with 2 sections of 12 minutes each fast, followed by 10 min recovery, and then the rest normal. Jim said I should shoot for about 6:05ish/km on the fast ones, 6:50ish for recovery, and then 6:30 for normal.

I started out downhill for a couple km to Liberty Park. I didn't go that hard (ave HR 142) but I got to 2 km in 12:15! That downhill is nice but it's pretty gradual; still, it obviously helps.

Then I started in on the first fast segment. I pressed lap every km on the fast segments, so this is laps 2-4 on my data. I did the first one in 5:49 (ummm, that was a little fast!) and thought maybe I should slow down, but remembered that it's hard to pick it back up so I just kept going and did the next km in 6:02, and continued 9 more seconds to finish the 12 minutes. I felt good about this except that I worried that I'd pushed too hard and wouldn't be able to stay strong until the end of the workout. Well, not much to be done about that, so I just continued on. I did the 10 min recovery (lap 5) at a pretty slow 7:05 pace; it was slower than Jim suggested, but it just felt right and so I went with it.

I decided to give myself 1K at 6:30 pace before going on to the next fast segment. I tried to get it right on the nose, but was a little fast (lap 6) doing it in 6:25. Then I just wanted to get the second fast segment over with, so I started on it and did pretty well, surprising myself a little! I did 1K in 6:00 (lap 7) and just shy of 1K (about 987m, so my Garmin says, lap 8) in 6:00 for my second 12 minutes fast. I had to work pretty hard for that speed; my HR was 169 ave for the 2nd 1K of the fast segment. Then another 10 min recovery, but I did 11 min by accident (bad math due to exertion!). I did the recovery at a 7:06 pace - almost the same as the 7:05 for the first one (lap 9).

Finally, the home stretch. I knew it would be hard to manage 6:30/k for the last 2k, as it was uphill (back the same way I started), but I figured I'd shoot for it anyway. Again, I surprised myself and did 6:27/k for the first one (lap 10) and 6:29/k for the second one (lap 11). I was very pleased with that effort! Yeah, the HR was an ave 161 for the last km, but I figure after that workout and with the hill, that's probably about right.

Total distance was actually 12.05 km (I wanted to have a 1K split for the last one, so went the extra 0.05) and total time was 1:17:04 for 6:23/km. However, it was a LOT more effort than merely doing 12K at a 6:23/km pace! Still, a very good workout.

Form notes: I tried to work hard on using my glutes, and I think I was successful for the most part. My hamstrings will still probably be a bit sore because it's not yet second nature to do it all the time, and when I get tired it reverts of course. But I feel like I must have used my glutes and calves more, because after the workout I actually biked uphill to work (!) and my rear end was really feeling it. And now, at lunch time, my calves are a bit stiff too. Unfortunately, at work this morning I sat in front of a microscope for several hours screening fish embryos, and so I'm sure I'll be more stiff because of that.

Garmin data here.