Strength Workouts

The advanced Hansons plan includes a lot of workouts. In addition to weekly pace runs, there are interval workouts throughout, starting with shorter intervals (400s) and building to 3-mile intervals. While I followed the half-marathon program, these workouts are exactly the same in the full program. My goal was 5k to 10k pace, which I estimated to be 8:21 to 8:45. This is a broader range than the book states, but it worked for me. As you can see below, the strength/interval workouts align perfectly with the 18-week program:

1. 400 (12)
2. 600 (8)
3. 800 (6)
4. 1000 (5)
5. 1200 (4)
6. 1600 (3)
7. 1200 (4)
8. 1000 (5)
9. 800 (6)
10. 600 (8)
11. 400 (12)
12. 1-mile repeats (6)
13. 1.5-mile repeats (4)
14. 2-mile repeats (3)
15. 3-mile repeats (2)
16. 2-mile repeats (3)
17. 1.5-mile repeats (4)
18. 1-mile repeats (6)

For my program, some of the workouts were scrapped because of races or my most recent breakdown, but I did each workout to spec at least once. The recovery interval is active and ranges from a 400 to a full mile. The goal for the recovery is to jog it, but I will admit to some walking as well -- but no standing rest. 

I also did a 1.5-mile warmup and cooldown for each workout. The intervals themselves are generally about 6 miles so with warmup, cooldown and recovery, the workouts were around 8-10 miles. That's a lot for a Monday or Tuesday night!

The shorter intervals are nice on the track, but the workouts are so long that it's nice to at least be able to do the warmup and cooldown off the track. (I never did that though.) Garmins are not that accurate on tracks; plus 400 doesn't exactly equal a quarter-mile. Even so, I just followed my watch instead of the track when I was there. I did most of my workouts on the Bike & Hike or Towpath. There were a few on the treadmill as well.

And I think there were two on the treadmill that I finished outside because my basement treadmill is possessed and sometimes thinks that I can run 10 mph. (It seems to be okay for steady-pace runs or very few speed changes, but it can no longer handle many speed changes. It's on its way out, and I am sad.)

I found these workouts to be difficult, but the shorter ones (1-mile and under) were easier for me to complete. I struggled mightily with the 2x3-mile workout and failed pretty hard (8:50 and 9:17 for the 3-mile sets). With future training cycles, I will incorporate these as well, but I may change things around. For example, in a week where I run six days, I would have two hard runs (pace and strength OR long) and four easy runs whereas with this program, it was three hard runs (pace, strength and long) and three easy runs. The long runs often were the same length as the workout, and I think it might be nice to do those on a Saturday morning instead of after work.

Overall, I think the workouts were a great addition and helped build my confidence. Even when I failed, I felt generally okay about my effort. I also like that they switch things up. The longer intervals were more difficult, which indicates those are where I have a lot of gains to make. 

Negative Splits! AKA 5x1000 Workout Recap

I had the BEST workout last night.

I had 5x1000s on the schedule, and this was the second time for this workout, which means I knew I could do it again. I decided to do it (again) on a bike & hike. It was warm out (mid80s), but the humidity was under 50%. I warmed up for 1.5 miles and then moved into the workout, which 1000 meters at 8:21 to 8:42 pace with 600-meter jogging recovery, repeat five times.

First repeat: 8:30 pace

That was hard, but doable. Just four more to go. I did my recovery jog and headed into the second repeat: 8:28 pace. As I recovered, I just told myself that all I had to do was get through the third one and I could turn around. I started the third one. Ugh! Hill, road to cross, turnaround. Another 8:28 pace.

Just two more. They felt HARD. I set up my watch to beep when I was off pace, and it beeped way more. BECAUSE I WAS GOING FASTER THAN THE PRESCRIBED PACE.

Fourth repeat: 8:22

I recovered and told myself, "Just one more, just get through it and you jog it in."

Fifth repeat: 8:17 pace → faster than prescribed, and I wasn't quite dead. I think I had another repeat in me.

I jogged in the run for 8 miles at an overall 10:05 pace. Not only did I hit the paces for my repeats, I negative-split them.

I did this workout for the first time on 7/13, and I hit the paces as well. I did not negative-split, however, and I remember it being more of a struggle.

	July 13	Aug 3
Average	8:35	8:25
Repeat 1	8:33	8:30
Repeat 2	8:24	8:28
Repeat 3	8:41	8:28
Repeat 4	8:37	8:22
Repeat 5	8:40	8:17

I just need to remember this workout when I think I can't do something. The humidity clearly affects me, and I need to remember that. I'm hoping for lower humidity tomorrow night when I attempt my pace workout. After last week's fail, I am hoping this one goes much better. Five miles at pace is intimidating, although it shouldn't be -- I'm hoping to do 13.1 miles at that pace, so 5 should be easy, right?

My First True Workout Fail

This week's pace run was a total fail -- and I could have prevented it.

I had 7 miles on the schedule with 4 miles at half-marathon pace (9:09). I have done this workout twice before, and I have hit the paces. But last night was different because it was still 90 degrees or so when we started running. I was pretty well-hydrated and I had water with me. I warmed up and headed into the pace miles, and immediately I knew it was going to be a struggle (like it's easy any other time!).

Mile 1 clocked in at 9:12. As I started the second mile, I started thinking I should turn around at the 3-mile mark and just do 3 miles at "pace" (I was fine with pace being relative last night). Aaron and our friend were ahead of me, and I was a little worried that they might worry if they didn't see me on the way back. So I trudged on to the turnaround. Mile 2 was 9:34.

At the turnaround I came up with another idea: Do a quarter-mile recovery jog and then do the last two pace miles. After mile 3 (9:14), however, that seemed stupid, so I decided do another quarter-mile recovery jog and THEN do the fourth mile. After that quarter-mile, though, I was DONE. I jogged it in.

On the plus side, 7 miles is still an accomplishment. And in hindsight, I should have altered my plan for last night's run.

Best option: Switch last night's pace run with tonight's easy run because the weather will be cooler tonight. 

Better option: Adjust the pace for the pace miles since it was so hot. There are resources online about how much you should adjust pace based on the heat, but I ignored those. Doing those four miles progressively faster, but starting at, say, 9:30 pace, would have been a better option. (Aha! This calculator at Runner's Connect says I should have done the miles at 9:34 last night. I really should have checked that before going out.)

Okay option: Skip the group run and move the workout to the treadmill. That option SUCKS because that would have been a huge struggle for me.

In the end, one failed workout isn't going to make or break Parkersburg or Columbus. I can still come in under 2 in Columbus and still have a good, confidence-building race in Parkersburg. I am not beating myself up about it, and I am resisting the urge to try again tonight. I have another pace run next week (5 miles at pace!), and I will nail that one.

Speed Workout: 8x600s

I finished last night's speed workout a sweaty mess, so that's good. And I hit the intervals within range, so that's good as well. But I didn't do the workout as prescribed:

1.5 warmup
8x600s with 400 recovery (8:21 to 8:42 pace)
1.5 cooldown

It was storming, so I moved my workout to the treadmill, which made it a little more complicated. I made myself a little spreadsheet to keep track of when to change the paces (.37 miles ≈ 600 meters), but after the first repeat, I didn't really follow that. I planned to do the eight repeats like this:

2 at 6.9 mph (8:42)
2 at 7.0 mph (8:34)
2 at 7.1 mph (8:27)
2 at 7.2 mph (8:20)

And I *did* those, but I'm clearly not in shape for that because I felt it necessary to walk the recovery. Then I felt guilty for walking, so I shortened the recovery, roughly by half. So after the first interval, I think I did the .37 at pace and then .13 walking recovery.

I ended up with 7.25 miles (≈ 1.5 warmup, intervals, 1.37 cooldown). Not the biggest fail, but it's also not the best interpretation of the workout.

Coming up tomorrow is my first pace run, and I'm curious to see if I can hold half-marathon pace for three miles. There's no real reason that I shouldn't be able to. The pace is 9:09, and I've set my watch for 9:00 to 9:15. It's just 3 miles, and on Saturday -- not really trying during the Thirsty Dog 8k -- I ran my last two consecutive miles under that pace. Eventually I want to do my pace runs at Sand Run, but I think I'll do the first one on the Towpath to set myself up for success.