Feb 20, 2008

Hitting the trails.. and increasing speed little by little.


Yesterday was a good day. I did a little research and realized that we are currently 9 weeks out from the Trail Half Marathon weekend.

Hmmm....

So yeah.

I am throwing in an additional Half Marathon into my season - the Trail Half on April 28th.

My only goal for this race, being that it will be my first trail half marathon, is to finish with a smile on my face, preferably in under 3 hours - but I will say under 3:20 and I will be happy.

I love trail running. And this will be my longest trail run ever (5 milers is my typical venture off-road).

So back to Maybury State Park I go - oh yeah and of course to the Potto trail where the race happens in 9 glorious weeks!

~~~~~~~~~~~


I have been doing my running this week on the track instead of the dreadmill. Hmmm... runnin gplace watching TV and listening to my iPod vs. running around in a little circle (11.5 laps - 1 measley mile). At least I am moving forward on the track... but either way it all boils down to being BORED.

Yesterday I did a slow and easy 1 mile after a full intense leg session:

The numbers for 2/19

Exercise Sets Min reps Max reps Min Wt. (lb) Max Wt. (lb)
ABS Incline sit-ups 1 5 5 2 2
ABS Sit-Ups, Flat 2 12 35 2 2
LEGS Leg Press 3 12 12 95 95
LEGS Hip abductor 3 12 12 70 70
LEGS Hip adductor 3 12 12 70 70
LEGS Leg Extensions 3 12 12 60 60
LEGS Hamstring curl 3 12 12 60 60
LEGS Hamstring
Curls (Cable) 2 12 12 50 60
LEGS Standing
Reverse Calf Raises 3 12 12 35 35

The run
11.5 laps = 1 mile
1- 1.21
2- 1.10
3- 1.10
4- 1.08
5- 1.08
6- 1.07
7- 1.06
8- 1.05
9- 1.03
10- 1.00
11- 0.56
11.5 - 0.25
Total 1 mile in 12:44

The Numbers for 2/20:
11.5 laps = 1 mile
23 laps = 2 miles

1- 1:01
2- 0:58
3- 1:01
4- 1:00
5- 1:00
6- 1:00
7- 0:57
8- 1:02
9- 1:02
10- 1:01
11- 1:01
12- 1:00
13- 0:561
14- 1:00
15- 1:01
16- 0:51
17- 0:51
18- 0:57
19- 0:57
20- 1:00
21- 1:00
22- 0:59
23- 1:00
Mile 1 - 11:33
Mile 2 - 11:02
I followed the run with a nice easy 700 yard workout in the pool.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am pretty happy with these numbers as my lap times are negative split-ish. At least in yesterday's run I was increasing each lap or or. Tonights run was twice as long and I tried to run the 2nd mile faster than the first. I succeeded, and did these easy miles in well under 12:00 miles. That makes me pretty happy!

I am breaking up each run into multiple parts to help with pace - the first portion slow or reserved, the next portion quicker, the last portion fastest. I am really training myself to be a racer in the 11 minute miles right now - then I will work my way down to 10 minute miles. I really want to be a sub 10-minute miler by the end of this season. We will see!

So I am in half marathon and triathlon training. The cool thing is that I my two schedules/plans married perfectly.



The last week is a taper and the half. Been talking to some BTers and am finding out a lot of people are doing this race! Lots of training partners! Lots of TRAILS!

Take care! Tomorrow is my last day at work this week because Friday is the arrival of Hayden Alexander Jones, my friend's baby boy! How exciting for her!

})i({ RunnerGirl - getting speedier in all due time

7 comments:

Patricio said...

Wow, you do a great job keeping track of your workouts, nicely done. That's a great way to keep yourself motivated.
Regarding your previous post... swimming with no plan. You could improvise. Do some drills, 25 mts/yds stop, rest a min, 50 rest 1min, 100 rest 30 secs, 150 rest 30 secs, etc. You can also work on speed and/or form... stretch...etc.
PC

mouse said...

Maybury is a good place to start, but if you're gonna do the trail half, you really should spend as much time on the poto trail as possible. It's really a beast in and of itself. Maybury will kinda sorta get you prepared, but the poto is essentially Maybury on steroids. really, really strong ones.

You may also try Island Lake Recreation Area (connected to Kensington). They have a 6 mile trail that is KILLER and a 9 mile trail that is moderately difficult. Just watch out for the mountain bikers. they don't like it when runners take over their trails. :)

Rocks said...

Have you thought about doing proper full range of motion barbell squats instead of leg presses, abductor,adductor, leg extensions, and leg curls? By just doing a full ROM squat you get the benefits of all those exercises plus core stabilization work and you train in a functional manner. You are an athlete not a bodybuilder, you shouldn't train like a bodybuilder. If you need more information on how to do a PROPER full range of motion barbell squat I suggest that you read "Starting Strength" by Mark Ripptoe, or reply to this comment and I will email you.

But kudos to you for lifting weights of any variety and not being afraid of the other side of the gym. It seems that a lot of endurance athletes are afraid of the iron. I commend you on that.

MNFirefly said...

WOW! Impressive, Jenn. You know that you can do it!

Patricio said...

Hi there... hope you don't mind I'm this to ya :)

I just tagged you. It's a pain, but I hope you do it anyway!

The rules are as follows:
# Link to the person who tagged you
# Post the rules on your blog.
# Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
# Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
# Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.

Chief Wahoo said...

I want to run on that trail -- it looks beautiful!

Way to go on the workouts!

Xena said...

Sorry, sorry, I know this is lame.

I just tagged you! It's a pain but it's kind of fun. Here are the rules:
The rules are as follows:
# Link to the person who tagged you
# Post the rules on your blog.
# Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
# Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
# Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.