Spring Half Training 2013 Week 15

Last real week of training!

This week I got back into my yoga, did some extra strength training and tried something new with my running.

Monday
P90X Back & Biceps, Bob Harper Totally Ripped Core (10 minute workout), Rodney Yee Ultimate Power Yoga - Power Foundation.

Tuesday
4km run, continuous. Decided to skip the usual walk breaks and just run at a comfortable pace - which turned out to be my goal half pace (adding the walk breaks back would bring it up to 7:07). I'm going to do at least one continuous run a week with a goal to be able to run 8K continuous by the end of the year. Followed by Ultimate Power Yoga - Sun Salutations

Wednesday
P90X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps - making some good progress on push ups. Followed up with some core work on a ball and a bit of yoga.

Thursday
6K run. Beautiful morning out. Saw a couple of rabbits.

Friday
Three quarters of Bob Harper Pure Burn, Super Strength. This video is over an hour long so I didn't have time before work for the whole thing. This might have been a mistake as my legs were sore for the next two days.

Saturday
Vinyasa yoga class at The Yoga Sanctuary. Really good class - challenging yet doable. This is the first time I've ever had Wheel Pose explained in such a way that I could do it. 

Sunday
This was supposed to be 10K, but my legs were still sore from Friday's workout and my hip was bothering me so I cut my run short and ended up doing 7.5 instead. Followed up with some yoga.

This week, I'm focusing on giving my body a rest before Sunday's race. I have two pre-race runs planned (8km and 5km), some yoga, maybe some Core Synergistics. Staying away from Bob Harper dvd's. 

Spring Half Training 2013 Week 14

Week 1 of tapering.

Monday

Rest day. Monday was tough. I had been extremely busy at work all day so even though I had heard the news out of Boston, I didn't have a chance to fully digest things until I got home. Than I stayed glued to the TV for the rest of the night.

Tuesday

8.9 km. Had to run. Not my best run of the week or even the last 3 months, but needed to be done.

Wednesday

P90X Back & Biceps, Nike Training Club core. Back to my buddy Tony Horton. Pain.

Thursday

5K on the treadmill with updated version of Zombies, Run! Definitely makes treadmill running a bit more interesting.

Friday

5.44km at roughly half marathon goal pace.

Saturday

P90X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps followed by some core work on the ball. Still feeling this today.

Sunday

10K on the Belt Line . Beautiful day for a run. Lots of people and dogs out. I stopped on the bridge to cheer on the Yonge Street 10K

Looking forward to running this soon.

I pretty much stopped with my daily yoga last week and I'm feeling a difference. My hamstrings definitely feel tighter and I was a bit achy during Sunday's run (might have also been the heels I wore the night before at work). Going to get back to it this week.

Looking forward to a new week.

Spring Half 2013 Training Week 13

Bit late. I should be posting about week 14 soon. I just haven't felt like blogging this week until now.

Monday (April 8th)
Half of P90X Chest & Back , Nike Training Club - Paula Radcliffe workout (mostly legs and core), little bit of yoga.

Tuesday (April 9th)
10km at race pace (or there abouts - bit faster). I spent most of the run staring at my Garmin to keep on pace. Pretty happy cause I ran 10.2km in 1 hr12 and my 10K PR is 1hr13. Things are looking good for Sporting Life! Followed up with a Rodney Yee yoga work out - restorative poses.

Wednesday (April 10th)
5.74km followed by Hip Opening Flow 2.

Thursday (April 11th)
Bob Harper Total Body Transformation. I got this from library and really like it. Bob keeps saying "it's the toughest workout ever!" and it was pretty tough, but I think Insanity beats it. Good mix of cardio and high rep/low weight strength training. Think I might need to buy this one.
Followed up with Lunar Flow after work.

Friday (April 12)
Treadmill run - was supposed to do 6K but I slept in so did 4.9 instead. More Rodney Yee yoga.

Saturday (April 15
Bob Harper Yoga for the Warrior. I'm on a Bob kick for some reason. I've had this DVD for a while, but had never really given it a real chance. I wasn't able to get to a class, so this was a good substitution. Challenging but left me feeling relaxed at the end - exactly what I want from a yoga class.

Sunday (April 14)
20K LSR

Now it's taper time!

Run

Thoughts after 20K LSR

Sunday I ran my last LSR before my half on May 5th. I was originally going to do this run next week-end, but due to my work schedule, yesterday was a better option.

Thoughts:

• My hip didn't hurt. Yay!
• I really prefer half training in the spring rather than the summer.
• I took a lot of extra walk breaks, but I got through the distance.
• I really need to work on my pacing - this run was all over the place. My first two 10/1's were way too fast and slowed me down later. I am definitely going to run Goodlife with a pace bunny to keep me on track. Also going to spend the next two weeks working on keeping an even pace.
• With all of my pacing issues, my overall pace for my run was 7:38/km. My best pace for a half marathon is 7:28/km. So I'm feeling pretty confident that even if I don't make my goal of a 2.5 half, I have a good chance of breaking my current PR (2:37:50).
• Yesterday was the first time since the fall that I've run my favourite route through the Moore Park Ravine. It was pretty muddy, but definitely felt like a bit of a treat.

So now I'm tapering for three weeks. I'm going to work on my pacing as mentioned, work on strengthening and stretching my hip. Continue doing yoga and maybe work on hills a bit.

Spring Half Marathon Training Week 12

What happened to weeks 1 to 11?? Well, I wasn't blogging and really, I don't feel like going through all of the previous weeks. Let's just say I did some running, did some P90X and some yoga.

Week 12 recap

Monday
P90X Chest & Back, Chalean Extreme Ab Burner. Followed by Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga. Not my favourite DVD by any means. Too much chatter.

Tuesday
Before Work: 5K Tempo Run on Treadmill. Aiming for a 7 minute/km pace, came in at 6:57/km. Ran 15 minutes, walked 2, ran 18 minutes. Doing what I can to make 10/1's feel more comfortable.
Yoga for Runners: Post Run

Wednesday
Bob Harper Pure Burn Super Strength - I've had this for awhile but first time I've done the workout. Very challenging.
Yoga for Hips, Hamstrings and Back

Thursday
6K in nice weather! Followed by Rodney Yee Ultimate Power Yoga - Sun Salutations. DVD had just arrived from Amazon. Quickly becoming my favourite yoga DVD.

Friday
Yoga for Runners - Pre Run. Other wise a day off.

Saturday
Harry's Spring Run Off 8K
60 minute Moksha class

Sunday
90 Minute Hatha Class

Overall a good week. Not much in the way of overall mileage, but as it was a race week, took things a bit early. Lots of yoga. Also think I'm going to start deviating away from P90X and start switching up my weight training a bit.

Harry's Spring Run Off 2013

Goal: 56min 57 secs (7:07/km)

Actual time: 55min 20 secs (6:55/km)

So to start, I'm extremely happy with my time. First time in a race that my pace has been under 7 minutes per kilometre!!

I ran this race with a bunch of my co-workers. 4 of us ran the 8K, 6 people ran the 5.

Pre-race I met up with a couple of daily mile friends. Nice to meet people in person.

I started out the race with one of my co-workers. We originally thought we'd be running similar paces, but I think I was pushing his pace a bit. We both managed the first big uphill on kilometre 3. He ran it, I walked it to save my energy. I think my plan worked out a bit better as he was pretty spent. We split up just after that.

Loved running through the park. Lots of volunteers out yelling encouragement.

The big hill that takes up the last 400m of the course was killer. I ended up walking up it with the intention of running to the finish line. My legs were pretty jellyish even with walking, but ended up crossing the line with arms in the air. Was very happy to have beaten my goal.

My splits for this run:

Km 1: 6:30
Km 2: 6:20
Km 3: 6:23
Km 4: 7:28 (took an extended walk break)
Km 5: 6:28
Km 6: 6:38
Km 7: 7:11
Km 8: 7:34

Clearly I faded towards the end. This was a good reminder for my upcoming  half not to go out too fast. I think I'll stick with the 2:30 10/1 pace bunny to keep me on track.

Happy 8k'ers

Things I liked about this race:

• Swag: medal, great shirt and a beanie!
• Beautiful course
• Well organized
• Not too big
• Easy to get to by transit
• Started at 10! Some of my co-workers were complaining about getting up early but I've never had a race start so late before.
• Great volunteers

Things I didn't like as much:

• Hills!! Need to train better for them next year (will definitely be doing this one again!)

Race Day!

First race of the year for me!

This is my first year running Harry's Spring Run Off and my first 8K race. I entered this race with a bunch of my co-workers. It's the first race for most of them.

I'm looking at this race mainly as a testing ground for my upcoming half marathon. I'd like to run this at my goal half pace (7.07/km) or faster so I'm hoping for 56:56. According to MacMillan running calculator, if I can run a 2:30 half (which remains to be unseen) I should be able to do an 8K at 53:23. This would put my overall pace at 6:40/km which would be a bit of a stretch for me, especially with the hills on this course.

Either way, I'm just going to have fun, enjoy High Park and do whatever I can to make sure everyone else from my group has a good time.