Training Log Archive: ultra_amy

Horrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Warmed up a few miles, then did the Jones 10 Miler. I felt ready - I know I might not have the best road speed, but I do feel strong and figured I'd do ok. Nope....after starting out conservatively (6:45s) for the first 2 miles and then trying to find my strength on the uphill from mile 2-3...then my body just settled into 7 minute pace and wouldn't go any faster. It's like it got stuck in tempo mode! Then, on the last uphill my body was done and I literally just cruised it in without any passion. Embarrassing run out there! My legs were a bit stiff and I had some random soreness around the hamstrings and my hip...but I don't think that really affected much...what a horrible day, and what a humbling reminder that I have a long way to go before I'm fit!

C • not a good day 1

Did the Curly's Snowshoe race - my goal was to finish well enough to qualify for Nationals...(and my dream goal was to win the race so I could win the Massachusetts Title). We warmed up a few miles easy running. The race went out hard, but about 1/2 mile in there was a climb and I felt so strong and easily got ahead of the guys around me. I fell into pace just ahead of Ken Clark, but took a short wrong turn and after about 2 miles he offered to set the pace...and I remembered that with racing Jones the next day I didn't want to completely kill it. I fell into pace behind him, and he set a strong but manageable pace as we cruised around the course in about 10 min/mile pace. I felt great - I was almost clipping his heels at mile 4, but stayed behind him (didn't want to be the jerk that lets him set the pace for miles then out-sprints him!)...and good thing I did because he lit it up with about 1/4 mile to go so I had to pick it up to stay with him. We finished 5th and 6th...and I won the female race by over 5 minutes. I cooled down with Wayne and we picked up the course markings in the first 2 miles. In general, I feel like my strength training has been paying off, and I felt like I did a solid but conservative effort. Yay!

Great spin - I was so fired up watching the Olympics with Sara, and the pace just kept going up. :)

Super quick lifting session at the gym. Steph and I both maxed out our deadlift, which was awesome! We rushed through the rest of the workout, since we both had limited time. Didn't hammer the abs as much as usual.

Sugarloaf repeats! Did 4 total. The entire climb was covered in snow, so I couldn't go any harder than tempo, and even with that I was losing traction. Aaron joined for the first 3, and Brian joined for the middle two...I did the last one on my own. Felt good - strong, but maybe it was because I could only go so fast.

Did a full-on CF style workout this morning. I warmed up outside for ~15 minutes, then a bit more inside. Did the 'pose running method drills' with the CF folks, then did the workout. Workout was 4 x 1000 (1 min rest), 400 (2 min rest), all out effort. For me, I figure that's about 6-min pace, so the goal would be 4:45 for the 1000s and 1:30 for the 400s (maybe a few seconds faster for the 400s...). I did 4:47, 1:30, 4:47, 1:29, 4:47, 1:28, 4:50 (really died on the last one!), 1:28. Cooled down a bit at the track...I was completely spent. I could feel the lactic acid building up in the legs on the 2nd set...so I am pleased to have been around the 6:00 minute mark for most of the work - and to not have slowed down that much (except for that one bomb!). CF workouts are so hard for me - they are just outside my comfort zone to go 'all out', but I guess that's good for me!!!

Legs still super sore from lifting on Monday!

I am still a bit sore from Monday's lifting (ugghh!), and it had dumped about 4 inches of snow before turning to freezing rain as I left work. Seemed like a day to spin on the trainer, watch Olympics, and relax. :)

Indoor Track workout - warmed up outside, then another 1 mile inside. Then, Apryl, Patrick and I did 3 x 1 mile repeats at fast tempo (goal pace of 6:40), hit 6:41, 6:40, 6:39...then for our last one we did 1 mile at fast tempo but continued another 1/2 mile at 'all out' (goal of 6:00?). We got a bit behind on the mile - hit 6:43, then I finished the whole thing in 9:50 (so 3:07 for the half). Not bad, but not great. Good workout, tho. My legs are killer sore from yesterday's lifting session!!! Short cool down so I could get to work.

I realize this is my first run in a week - I was taking it easy to be sure my groin pain healed...and it seems to be fine. Yay!

Snow run at the Notch with Brad. The trails were tracked out pretty good...in some places...and horrible in others. So, running over Norwottuck and around was great...once we went to run over Rattlesnake Knob we were post holing to our knees on every other stride...so we turned around. We attempted a bit of running on the Earl's Trails side, but again it wasn't packed down enough and we post holed for about 10 minutes before we turned back. Oh well. Leg felt ok even with the snow.

Did a killer lifting workout - I am starting to add weights to all the exercises I do. I was particularly pleased to squat 100 pounds....that's a new PR for me! :)