Night Track!

I think this new obsession with wanting my 5k time to get faster has completly changed my mindset on TRACK!

I dread track every week. This week I was so excited about it that I decdied to go on Tuesday evening! Night track is something I avoid at all costs, but I found myself racing to get there after work to get it in!

The workout was:

400 - 800 - 400 - 400- 400 - 400 - 400 - 800 - 400

It doesn't look like it would be bad, but the recovery was short and the times were FAST

He put my in group 4b. My goal was 91 on the 400's and 3:06 on the 800's

Actual:

85 - 3:06 - 87 - 87 - 87 - 87 - 87 - 3:00 - 84

Not only was I SO pumped about track this week, I was also FAST!!! I was beating group 4 times!!!

My heart rate hated this workout. I felt like it never calmed down, because we literally only had about a minute in between runs!!

I left happy and satisfied

When I got home we took the dogs for their 2 mile walk, but stopped and got ice cream sundaes for dinner!!!

Happy Monday!

It has been a succesful Monday in the training life!  I woke up at 4:30 am - did my 2 fast miles and hit the gym.

Mile Splits:

 7:40 and 7:10

The goal is to get these miles to 7:00 flat, but I need to get a mile easy in before that happens. I just need to get myself out of the house earlier to get 3 miles in and then make it to the gym on time!!

The workout today was weight focus and lots of SQUATS. Hoping i'm not feeling it tomorrw. I have 8 miles on the schedule!



Conquering Fears - TIA 5K

I am a runner and anyone that knows me knows this. There is one thing about running that scares me to death and that I avoid at all costs because of the anxiety it causes.... its called a 5K

Now, with the amount of miles I log a week and the number of races that I place #1 in my age group, it would seem odd that 3.1 miles would cause such panic in me. But, it does. So what typically happens, is the marathon season comes and goes and then I don't register for any races for the entire spring/summer.

This weekend I ran/raced a 5k. I faced the fear and I did it. All week leading up to Saturday I was stressing out and dreading the sound of my alarm clock. I didn't know what to expect, but I was definitely expecting the worst.

Saturday came, the alarm clock went off and I was up. I did my usual coffee and oatmeal and then headed to the race. I met up with my friends Jen and Sarah. They are super speedy with 5k's and have been training hard core for some fast times. They were shocked to see me there because they also know how I feel about these races.

We did our warm up and towed the line. I kept telling myself to just maintain a 7:30 average pace and if I felt good at mile 3 to take off.

First Mile: 6:48

I was feeling good, I wasn't hating life, so I kept it up.

Mile 2: 6:54

Still feeling good and suprised at how fast it was going by

Mile 3: 6:45

I came in at 19:30

The course was short. It only measured 2.9 miles. I was a little upset by this because I wasn't hating the race and would love to see how I could have finished with a true 5k. I predict I would have still finished under 21:00.

I was really happy with how I felt and how I did. I was still in pain from the workout I did on Wednesday at 1441 and I also have not done a tempo run in the past year. I now have this urge to start backing off on the miles and start picking up some speed to see what I have in me. I can't even believe I feel this way!!

When we got back I jumped on my bike and got 16 miles in so I could flush the muscles out.

I am so happy I faced the fear and did the race. I am not as fast as I would like to be, but now I have the desire to get better and to put the fear behind me!!!!