Speedwork

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Some Days You’ve Got It

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Workout: 3 Miles, with 30 second pick ups

Some days you’ve got it, and well, some days you don’t.  My legs just didn’t feel like working well today.  Granted, the 30 second pick ups I did during the run were at an average of a 6:45 pace.  But, they still haven’t lost the heavy feeling from the race on Saturday.  I know it’ll eventually pass, so I’m not really discouraged about it.  I’d think by Saturday’s long run my legs should feel a little lighter and healthier.

It was another nice day out, so I decided to go to the North Brunswick park to run on the 2.2 mile gravel loop they have there.  I forgot how bad the wind is on the back side, especially when your legs are heavy.  That definitely didn’t help me at all.  All in all I’m just glad I got out to run today.

Tomorrow I won’t be running…going to see the new Harry Potter movie.  But I definitely plan on getting a Thursday run in, and a long run on Saturday morning.  Let’s see if I can do it!  I’m outta here…

Run on Friends!

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My Garmin Loves Repeats

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Workout: 5 minute warmup, 9 x 400M repeats with 2 minute jog breaks, 5 minute cool down

Distance: 5.32 miles

Time: 51:17

Splits: 1:38, 1:33, 1:34, 1:39, 1:38, 1:42, 1:44, 2:37, 1:36

Location: Towpath – Piscataway, NJ

So, having taken yesterday off due to not feeling well (was asleep by 5:30 p.m.  - slept till 7 a.m.), I decided to come back with a BANG today and do some speedwork.  The weather was right…overcast but warm, not too humid.  So I decided to go to the Towpath so I could do everything on a flat straightaway on packed dirt.  Set my Garmin and away I went.  First few repeats went well..felt strong and solid…kept the pace steady.  After #5, which had the one hill that stretch of the Towpath had in it, I decided to mix in some walking in my “jog breaks”.  6 and 7 came and went…slower and a bit more labored.  I decided to skip 8, just extend my “jog break”, and finish strong with the last one.  #9 was not a happy one, but it was on pace with the first few so that was good.

So, here is a lesson for one and all: do not do speedwork (or any very strenuous exercise) when you haven’t eaten much over the past 24 hours.  Speedwork takes fuel, takes lots of energy, and if you haven’t really eaten you are lacking both.  Because I slept so much last night, I didn’t have dinner.  I had my usual cereal for breakfast, than a salad and some fruit for lunch.  Virtually no protein, and no carbs (unless vegs are carbs…are they).  So yeah…I did not feel well after my run.  I stopped at the supermarket to get ice for an ice bath, and got Boston Market for dinner.  But standing in line at both places I felt like I was just gonna pass out.  Luckily I made it home, ate my dinner, took my ice bath, and now I’m typing away and ready to go to bed.

AlmondsOh, and I almost forgot, I got these dark chocolate cocoa covered almonds from the supermarket.  They taste great, and they come in 100 calorie packs.  There’s actually a lot in the pack.  They’re healthy and good for you!  Try them out if you get a chance…they make a great mid afternoon snack.

Run on friends!

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Go with the Flow

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Workout: Run How You Feel

Distance: 4 miles

Time: 33:40

So I switched up my training schedule a little, since I took a few days off last week and needed a few easy days this week to make sure I didn’t hurt my leg again.  So today was a run how you feel, go with the flow kinda run.  And so I did just that.  Still had my Garmin on to yell at me for going to fast, since I wanted to take it somewhat easy, but I didn’t want to completely stuck going slow.  Surprisingly I actually ended up running negative splits.  It was a really good run.  Sun was hot, it was a little humid, great day for a run.  Leg hurt a little after the run, but after icing it it feels pretty good.

Tomorrow should be a day off, as I’m going to visit my girlfriend in her hometown.  So, I probably won’t run or blog.  Then my thought is I’ll come back Thursday with some speed work or a tempo run to really get things back in gear.  Gotta fit that in between a dentist appointment and a doctor’s appointment.  Hopefully I’ll have time.  

Well, for now I’m out.  I’m separating 50/50 tickets to get ready to sell them for my fundraising.  If you live in Jersey and wanna buy some, respond to this post or email me at matt@mattruns4funds.com.  Until next time…

Run on friends!

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