half-marathon training: tempo run

I have an awesome workout buddy. My whole half-marathon training schedule works around my existing work-out schedule with her. So, on Thursdays I end up running after my weight training session.

It feels very LAST CHANCE WORK OUT -y.

(I’ll post my weight training program thing eventually, it is specific to dragon boating and focuses on upper body and arm strength, so some of you might find that helpful!)

Here’s what my run looked like yesterday:

1 mile easy

5 km short tempo pace

1 mile easy

As I understand it, a short tempo run is about 20 seconds faster than your 10 km pace. To find your short tempo pace without the numbers warm up, then find your comfy running zone — then pick up the pace, going a bit faster. And hold on.

It’s kind of like in spinning class — I have this instructor who tells the class to find the “push point” — the point at which you can feel your muscles engage, and then push past it.

The tempo run was difficult, I was soaked afterward. Then, as noted, I took the wrong bus home and scored an additional 30 min walk. Then I went to bed just after 9. Non-spurious happenstance.

bad but good weigh in

So, I went to weigh-in this morning, even though it was completely out of my way (I forgot Fridays are work-from-campus days when I decided today would be the day I hop back up on that scale). I am up 1.5lbs. Not surprising or unexpected. Still shitty. But, it was good that I went.  It’s not like I wouldn’t have been up on the scale if I didn’t go, I just wouldn’t have been taking ownership of my gain.

So, my pattern is to work really hard to lose, and then spend a few weeks gaining it back, then start all over again.

I would benefit from some constancy.

Between now and next Wednesday morning weigh-in I have 3 spinning classes (today, Saturday and Monday), one long run (Sunday — 17 km!), and one weight lifting session (Tuesday) — plenty of opportunity to burn some calories. I just have to watch my intake. Yup, I said just watch my intake. Like it was easy to do or something. It is still not easy. And I have been doing this for over a year now. I suspect it never gets easy. And that makes me tired.

a day of food

I always wonder what the shit people are eating when they are on weight watchers. And just generally also. So, here is what I ate yesterday.

7:00 — Oatmeal

10:00 — Banana

11:30 — Turkey Chili on a bed of spinach

2:30 — 1/2 cup cottage cheese

7:30 — Sausage, whole wheat couscous, veggies (tomatoes, brocolli, eggplant, zuccini)

I don’t usually eat that late, but I got on the wrong bus and had to walk a bunch of the way home (after a difficult gym session). Man was that ever soul crushing. The getting on the wrong bus part. You know when it turns and you are just like. Fuck.

Yeah.

Anyway, that was a yesterday of food.

hold on a little longer

You can do it. You did it yesterday. You have done this a kajillion times before. Sure, kajillion is a made up number, but who cares. Sweet — just got another km under my belt. Hold on. You can do it. Just a few more metres. Keep going.  Man I am uncomfortable. Wait, this is supposed to be uncomfortable. So that’s good. I am so going to have sausage for dinner. Whoops. Mis-stepped. Pay attention. Hold on. Keep going.

Just a few of the things I say to myself when I am running.

half-marathon training update

Week 2 of Three-Runs-A-Week (TRAW!) half-marathon training is going well — 14 weeks till the race and I feel spectacular! At least running-wise. Food  is a whole other story.

I just-ish got in from my once-a-week interval run.  This is what I did:

Warm up: 1 mile easy

5 x 1 km with 400 m rest intervals (meaning I ran fast for a whole kilometre, walked 400 m, then ran fast again for another kilometre, etc.)

Cool down: 1 mile easy

I ran each of those five 1 kms at a speed of 5 min/km, which is amazing! I can’t believe I did it. Five times! Without falling off the treadmill! Or puking! I am liking my new training regime — it is really making me push my limits.

Whenever I start training for half-marathons my weight goes screwy. I end up not eating enough, or not bringing enough food with me to work, or not eating enough carbs or eating too many carbs — basically I end up accidentally going hungry, and then over-eating, which is totally what made me overweight in the first place. That and eating my feelings and being depressed. So, I need to make sure I have a lot of hearty, good food around to allow myself to eat when I am hungry. So I am currently making a chili! Also…

I am switching to (steel-cut) oatmeal for breakfast with almonds and some sort of fruit (possibly an apple). Apparently it keeps hella well so I can make a weeks worth in the slow cooker and have it good to go for breakfast everyday. For lunch, I will have a hearty salad or sandwich and veggies for lunch. I have no idea what to do dinner wise; normally I try to just have veggies and some sort of meat, but I am not sure that will cut it — any suggestions would rock.

gluttonous and slothenly weekend followed by carbful monday…

…but I still managed to hammer out my 14 km run today. Hazah!

sometimes I suspect my co-worker is evil

I mean, who leaves chocolate almonds for sale ALL OF THE TIME? People who are under the influence of Satan. Obviously. She’s facilitating gluttony and envy and all sorts of forserious sintype shit.

The hardest thing I did today was not buying and gobbling them up.

gains

So, I actually attended my meeting yesterday. Weird! And I am up 1.5 lbs. w00t! w00t? You say. Yes, I am indeed cheering at weight gain. Weird? Well, I have had an uber stressful couple of weeks and I expected to be back to my standard plateau space of 167, and was not. I’ve still lost 7 lbs in 5 or possibly 6 weeks, which is awesome, to the max!

In other news: yesterday was my interval run day and I did this:

10-20 minute warm-up

1200m, 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m (200m RI)

10 minute cool-down

What the shit does that mean? Well, I warmed up for 1.8 km (which was 12ish minutes I think) and then I sped up to 5:12 min/km for 1200m, walked for 200m, sped up again for 1000m, walked for 200m, etc. Which means, ipso facto and shit, that I ran 4.2ish km at a speed of 5:12 km/min. Which is wicked-fast!

nervous

Do I have the lightest outfit I can think of on? Almost. I put a sweater on too because it is the winter. I am not completely ridiculous, but I am nervous for my meeting in an hour.

officially training for my next half-marathon

In the spirit of not always focusing on how I fail at  not eating shitty foods (yeah that was like a quadruple negative), I am going to blog about my half-marathon training efforts fom time to time in addition to the standard angst / WW / my plateau shit.

Sunday I got out of bed bright and early and headed to the gym to put in 10 km on the treadmill (too cold for outside slash I didn’t wanna). This was my long run for the week. I finished it in an hour and one minute, which is pretty good for me. I got bored after about 40 minutes so I started doing pick-ups (running faster for like a minute, then going back to normal speed) from time to time. It felt amazing get back into training. (Even though I never stopped training, but this shit is official now. OFFICIAL.) And then today I did a 5 km tempo run (which, as I understand it, is a comfortably hard pace — a bit faster than your 10 km pace).

I have been looking into a “Three Day A Week” half-marathon training schedule. It’s really 3 days of running and 3 days of cross-training, but that title is less catchy. Basically, if I follow this training schedule, I will be doing interval training one day, a tempo run another day, and a long run. Then 3 sessions of cross-training (which will likely be spinning classes). And of course one day off.

I think this way of training is more well suited to me than your standard 4 or 5 runs a week training schedule because I love lots of sports that aren’t running, and, in the past, I have found that running 5 days a week really…dull. It totally kills my love of running to death. So, the basic idea with this training schedule is to run less, better. Get more bang out of your buck by training harder when you run, even though you run less. Also, personally I think cross-training is wicked-important. In my non-informed opinion, it balances out your muscle groups and ultimately makes you a better athlete.