Speedwork + Snow = Treadmill

I resorted to the treadmill yesterday for my speed work because of all the snow.

I was supposed to do 5 x 400 @5k pace.  For me that's in the 9:28-9:45 range.

I set the treadmill at a 1% incline and ran the following...  

Note, the distances are + or + .01 of a mile, as I tried to watch the treadmill closely so that I could hit lap as soon as it ticked up to the next number.  
-Sometimes I missed the lap button.  
-Sometimes I missed the treadmill distance turning over.

Distance	Time	Pace
1.0	12:51	12:51
.25	2:23	9:32
.2	2:21	11:45
.25	2:24	9:36
.2	2:49	14:05
.25	2:25	9:40
.2	2:59	14:55
.25	2:26	9:44
.2	3:00	15:00
.25	2:21	9:24
.2	2:14	11:10
.4	6:12	15:30
3.65	44:29

My first four 400s (bold) were done at 6.3 mph on the treadmill  (I attribute the range of 9:32-9:44 pace while on the same speed to be due to me not hitting lap right as I hit .25 miles...or an inaccurate treadmill?).  

For my first .2 rest interval, I jogged (5.1 mph). Then I saw my HR and decided I would walk for the other rest intervals.

 

To make things interesting, for the 5th 400, I kicked it up a notch to 6.4 mph (~9:22).  And I could do it!

For my final .2 rest interval, I did .05 miles each at 6.3, 6.0, 5.7, and 5.4 mph; then switched to walking for the last .4 miles.

While I don't love the treadmill, I will admit it is very helpful for speedwork since you can just plug in your speed and go.  It is definitely harder to hit specific speeds when you are just running outside, looking at your watch every so often (intervals would be difficult without my Garmin!). 

I brought along my mp3 player and watched FoodNetwork to distract me from staring at the numbers too much.  My mp3 player is in need of an update though.  I've got a bunch of playlists that have been shared online that I have been meaning to look through, but haven't had a chance yet.  Here's a handful of them--

Tone It Up's January playlist

Tone It Up's December playlist 

The Hungry Runner Girl's January 8 Spin Playlist 

The Hungry Runner Girl's January 6 Spin Playlist 

Lululemon blog 10k Playlist

Lululemon Best of 2010 Playlist  

Any good playlists out there, or good upbeat song recommendations?  

I'm going to need some to get me through some future treadmill speed workouts over the next two months...

The Keurig! and a Snow Day

After being home for 10 days with our new Keurig, we finally found a home for it and set it up.  We used it for the first time this past Sunday. Woo hoo!  Basically our toaster oven eliminates our need for our regular toaster; so the Keurig is now next to our regular coffee maker where the toaster used to live.

Our Keurig came with a sample pack of 12 K-cups, which is great since I have no idea what kind to order first!

It was really easy to set up.  It just involved filling the reservoir and letting it do a cycle with just water.  Then you put your K-cup in, close it, and hit the small or large sized mug button.

Ta Da!

I had the Emeril Bold; Husband had the Green Mountain Breakfast Blend Decaf.  Both were good!

In other news, this managed to get us a snow day today:

 

Ok, so I didn't take the pictures until about noon.  But they called the snow day last night at about 9:30 which seemed a little premature to me.  I'm not going to complain though, as it meant that I didn't need to get a 5am call about the snow day, interrupting my sleep.  I stayed up til midnight, and slept in until 9:30.  Because I could.

I'm actually very happy to have a day off to break up this week.  The first two days were a little stressful at work, so now I have today to decompress before going back for two more days.  Then a weekend.  Then only a four-day week next week.

Update on Week 1 of half marathon training so far:

Monday night: 1 hour of Spinning.  Didn't stay for abs because husband was making dinner, and I didn't want to miss dinner by staying at the gym for the extra half hour (til 7pm).  Also, we got our new phones in the mail and I was eager to play with them.

Tuesday night: Ran 3.13 miles at an easy pace.  

REALLY easy pace.  Because there was a lot of ice.  And sidewalks with a little bit cleared, then a little bit ice/snow.  And the snow day-inducing snow began last night, at the beginning of my run.  It started off as more of a sleet then switched to a heavier snow.  Temps were about 30-31 for my run.  I tried to remember the whole "easy runs should be 65-75% of Max heart rate" thing.  Which is hard!  For me that's 135-150bpm.  I can get to 135 with a brisk walk.  Anyway, I kept it in mind, and tried to really slow down.  Stopping for ice helped me keep it lower; running up three mini hills at the beginning did not. Avg HR: 157.

Wednesday: Just called my gym (It's the Student Rec Center where I went to grad school - The University also also had a snow day today) and found out that the gym is open 12-7!  I will be heading over there for my speedwork on the treadmill early this afternoon.  First I will take the dog for a snowy walk and deal with cleaning off my car.

My speed work will be: 5 x 400 @ 5k pace.

I used the MacMillan calculator to figure that if I want to hit a half marathon goal time of 2:16-2:20 (I'd really just like to beat 2:20:10), that requires a 5k pace of 9:28-9:45.  I don't anticipate ANY problems running that pace at 400m intervals.  I plan to see what I can do with speedwork in the early part of my training and use that to get a better idea of a realistic goal time.

Happy Wednesday!

Half Marathon Training Plans: My Third Half

Warning- this is a text-heavy post! I don't have pretty pictures for this one.

For my first two half marathons (4/2010, 9/2010), I used Runner's World's Smart Coach for my training plan.  It's free and customizable.  For my upcoming third half marathon, I want to try something different, so I looked to Hal Higdon.


I checked out Hal Higdon's Novice Half Marathon plan, which requires running 4-5 days a week, but the long distance run maxes out at 10 miles, and does not involve any speedwork.  A little speedwork is recommended if you want to get faster, and I do!

Looking at the Intermediate Half Marathon plan, the longest run goes up to 12 miles, includes some speedwork, and involves running about 5 days a week.

I also checked out his Advanced Half Marathon plan and like that it incorporates some hill workouts, as my half marathon course will not be flat.  However it involves 6 days of running, which I'm not looking to do. 

So I'm planning on using the Intermediate plan, and will borrow some hill workouts from the Advanced plan.

You can see the intermediate plan here, or if you don't want to look, I will summarize:

Mondays - Stretch and Strengthen
Tuesdays - 3-5 mi Easy Run
Wednesdays - 5-10 x 400 Speed work or 30-45 min Tempo run
Thursdays - 3 mile easy run + Strength training
Fridays - Rest, with an occasional choice to add an easy run
Saturdays - 3-5 mile pace run (half marathon pace)
Sundays - Long Slow runs, increasing from 5 to 12 miles.

According to Hal:

• Crosstraining in place of an easy run (Tues or Thurs), but not in addition to this schedule.
• You should warm up before speedwork and pace runs.
• Cool down should equal half of your warm up distance.
• No distance specified for walking/jogging in between speedwork intervals
• Easy runs at conversational pace, or 65-75% of max heart rate

I plan to cross train and strength train in the form of Spin, Boot Camp and "Crunchtime" abs class:

• Mondays I will do a 1 hour spin class + 1/2 hour ab class and/or stretching.  
• If Sunday's long run has me sore on Monday, I'll skip out on Spin and just stretch and strength train.
• Thursdays I will skip the 3 mi easy run and do my 1 hour Boot Camp class for strength.
• If I can't make it to Bootcamp on a given night, I'll try to do the originally planned 3 mile easy run + some kind of strength training

Here's my version of the Hal Higdon Intermediate plan:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1  1/10-1/16	Spin  +abs	3 mi   easy	5 x 400   @5k pace	Boot   Camp	Rest	3 mi  pace	5 mi  long
2  1/17-1/23	Spin  +abs	3 mi   easy	30 min   tempo	Boot   Camp	Rest	3 mi  pace	6 mi  long
3  1/24-1/30	Spin  +abs	3.5 mi  easy	6 x 400   @5k pace	Boot   Camp	Rest	Rest	5k?
4  1/31-2/6	Spin  +abs	3.5 mi  easy	35 min   tempo	Boot   Camp	Rest	3 mi  pace	7 mi  long
5  2/7-2/13	Spin  +abs	4 mi  easy	7 x 400   @5k pace	Boot   Camp	Rest	3 mi  pace	8 mi  long
6  2/14-2/20	Spin  +abs	4 mi  easy	40 min  tempo	Boot   Camp	Rest	Rest	10k?
7  2/21-2/27	Spin  +abs	4.5 mi  easy	8 x 400   @5k pace	Boot   Camp	Rest	4 mi  pace	9 mi  long
8  2/28-3/6	Spin  +abs	4.5 mi  easy	40 min  tempo	Boot   Camp	Rest	5 mi  pace	10 mi  long
9  3/7-3/13	Spin  +abs	5 mi  easy	9 x 400   @5k pace	Boot   Camp	Rest   or easy	Rest	15k?
10  3/14-3/20	Spin  +abs	5 mi  easy	45 min  tempo	Boot   Camp	Rest	5 mi  pace	11 mi  long
11  3/21-3/27	Spin  +abs	5 mi  easy	10 x 400   @5k pace	Boot   Camp	Rest	3 mi  pace	12 mi  long
12  3/28-4/3	Spin  +abs	4 mi  easy	30 min  tempo	Boot   Camp	Rest	Rest	Half!  13.1 mi

Want to run a half marathon?  Check out these sites for some training plans:

• Hal Higdon Novice 12 week Half Marathon plan
• possess basic fitness level, ability to run 3 miles, 3-4 days/wk
• Hal Higdon Intermediate 12 week Half Marathon plan
• looking to improve time, open to speedwork, can run 30-60 min a day, 5-7 days/wk
• Hal Higdon Advanced 12 week Half Marathon plan
• for very experienced, more speedwork, capable of running 30-60 min/day, 5-7 days/wk.
• Cool Running Beginner 12 week Half Marathon
• currently run 15-25 miles per week, expect to finish in about 2 hrs
• Cool Running Intermediate 12 week Half Marathon
• currently run 25-50 mpw, expect to finish under 1:45
• Cool Running Advanced 12 week Half Marathon
• currently run 40-60 mpw, expect to finish in under 1:30
• About.com: 12 weeks to Run/Walk a Half Marathon
• have been run/walking for at least 2 months; currently run 8-10 mpw
• About.com 12 weeks - Beginner Half Marathon
• running for at least 2 months; currently run 8-10 mpw
• About.com 12 weeks - Advanced Beginner Half Marathon
• can run 4 miles easily; can run 4-5 days a week
• About.com 12 weeks - Intermediate Half Marathon
• already running 30-60 minutes/day, about 5 days/week
• Runner's World Smart Coach
• need to create free acount
• provide age, gender, recent race time, training intensity, current weekly training mileage, which day you'd like to do your long run, and the race date.
• For a fee, you can subscribe to SmartCoach Plus and adjust the plan - i.e. change race time or training paces, update plan to account for some missed training runs, etc.
• Jeff Galloway
• Two plans with tips: 1. Run/Walk to finish; 2. Run with a time goal
• Other, more interactive plans are available for a fee through Runner's World and McMillan.

Note:  Check out multiple plans and see what looks right for you.  You should be able to easily run the first week of the training program.  Not all beginner or intermediate programs are equal.  I find Runner's World's plan is more conservative, my previous two plans involved only 3-4 days a week of running. Cool Running's Beginner plan is way more intense than Hal Higdon's Intermediate plan.

Another helpful tool:
McMillan Running Calculator

• Plug in a recent race time or goal time for a certain distance.  
• Provides you with equivalent performance times for other distances
• i.e. if I want to run a half marathon in 2:20 (10:42 pace), I should be able to run a 10k in 1:02:55 (10:07 pace) and a 5k in 30:17 (9:45 pace). 
• Tells you what your training paces should be for speedwork, tempo runs, long runs, etc.
• i.e. based on above 2:20 half marathon, tempo runs should be at 10:15-10:47 pace 

Looking for some Half Marathon Motivation?
Runner's World Half Marathon Challenge
Find a Half Marathon near you
Find a Half Marathon...in the NJ/NY Metropolitan area here and here
Ryan Hall's half marathon tips

Anyone signed up--or planning to sign up--for a spring race??