Run x3

>> Thursday, February 18, 2010

(If you want to win a free Road ID, scroll down to yesterday’s post or click here, and if you haven’t voted for your favorite “Gnarliest Injury Photo,” click here to see the contestants and vote for the gnarliest! Thanks!)

Run 1: VO2 Max Treadmill Workout:

Two weeks ago, I had a little time between classes, so I tried a new workout. I’d been hearing about this VO2 max treadmill workout, and thought I’d give it a whirl. Click the link in the last sentence for the workout details, but it’s basically a warm-up followed by adding speed every minute until you can’t add speed anymore. I was able to max out the treadmill at 12.0 mph for 62 seconds before I had to jump off and try not to die! (My heart rate was around 220!)

The “nice” thing about that workout is as I was building my speed, I’d think “OK, I’m at 10.0 mph - this hurts. I don’t know if I can go any faster.” But then I’d still have some speed left in my legs to bump it up to 10.5 mph a minute later. It was a good feeling to know that there’s always a LITTLE more speed left in those scrawny legs of mine!

Run 2: Long Run and CVA Triathlon Club Workout:

Sunday was a beautiful day, so I wanted to do a longer run. It was also Valentine’s Day, so Pharmie had made me 2 delicious rolls in the morning. I devoured 1 just before running, and I hoped I wouldn’t barf if up during my workout:



I headed out for a 10 mile loop along the river. I took the same route as my 12-miler a few weeks ago, but I took off that last 2 mile loop at the end:



And just like in that 12-miler, I taped mile markers to my sleeve:


Don’t mock my “GPS”

The mile markers weren't super accurate, so sometimes I’d run a “slow” mile followed by a “fast” mile. I warmed up for the first 3 miles, picked it up and really pushed for the next 6 miles, and then cooled down for the last mile. Here’s what my splits looked like:

7:04 (downhill) - warm up
7:35 (longish) - warm up
7:02 (shortish) - warm up
7:10 (longish)
6:15 (shortish)
7:15 (longish)
6:31 (shortish)
6:40
6:40
7:28

10.05 miles in 1:09:46
6:56 / mile average
6:45 / mile over the hard 6 miles in the middle

Because I ran the last few miles into the wind, when I took off my shirt at home, I saw that my belly was pretty red. There was a LINE where my pants were:


SpongeBob boxers? Don’t act so surprised. ;)
And don't let my cold, pointy nipples scare you.

Then, for my cool-down, I headed to the College of Visual Arts for a workout with the “CVA Tri Club.” (For those who don’t know, I teach at a small art college in St. Paul. Last May, some students convinced me to start and “coach” the CVA Triathlon Club. Since then, I’ve had 5 students do 2 different indoor triathlons, 4 students finish a sprint tri, and 2 students compete in their first duathlon. One of my favorite posts on my blog over this last year was just after 4 of them did their first sprint tri, and they all wrote a mini race report.)

I knew it’d be a small showing (because it’s winter and all), but Hannah really wanted to go for a run. She’s actually been putting in a number of 3-4 mile runs throughout the winter! Good for her! So it was just Hannah, Erik, and I. Here we are on a little warm-up jog:




Pink sunglasses are scientifically proven to make you run faster

We stretched for a bit and then took off on about a 2.5 mile run. We had plenty of ice to avoid:



Erik pointed out that he thought this message was appropriate to us:



So after a solid run, we headed back to school:



Hopefully, we’ll have a gang of about 3-6 students doing another indoor triathlon in a few weeks! Those are a lot of fun for people newer to the sport. (Heck, they’re a lot of fun for me!)

Run 3: Ladder at the Metrodome:

Tuesday I headed to the Dome after class for some speed work. I waved and said hi to Jen who was doing intervals, and I warmed up with GreenKing as he was cooling down. We all chatted and stretched for a bit as they were wrapping up their workouts and I was getting ready to tackle mine. The Dome is about 600 meters around, and I WANTED to do 600, 1200, 1800, 1800, 1200, 600. But I couldn’t convince myself to do that second 1800. So here were my times:

600m: 2:01
1200m: 1:59, 2:05 = 4:04
1800m: 2:08, 2:10, 2:06 = 6:24
1200m: 2:06, 2:03 = 4:09
600m: 1:59

So my 1800 was at 5:41 / mile pace. Not too shabby.

During my first interval (and the reason why it wasn’t sub-2), I passed a guy who smiled and said “Hey Steve!” I smiled and said “Hey - who are you?” His name was Peter, and he was the one who shouted “STENZEL!” just after the turn-around in the video I took while running the winter carnival half marathon! I never knew who that was! Mystery solved! He’s a local runner who sometimes follows my blog. We chatted longer after we both finished up our workouts. Peter, I’m glad you said hi! I hope to see you at the MudBall in 2 months!

Oh, and here are some Examiner articles I wrote recently:

VO2 Max Treadmill Workout. It’s not a long workout, but it still hurts! (It's the one I mentioned above.)

Winter BeGone Duathlon Cancelled Indefinitely.

• And DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS? I was watching this unfold on Twitter yesterday and the day before. Lance Armstrong met 3-time Ironman Champ Triathlete Chris Lieto on a ride and challenged him to what Armstrong dubbed as the first ever “Twitter Time Trial”. I would have loved to have been in Hawaii to see this play out!

REMINDER: You’ve got just over 24 hours to throw your name in the hat for a free Road ID! Scroll down to yesterday’s post or click here. And you’ve just got a few more days to vote for the “Gnarliest Injury Photo!” Click here to see the contestants and vote for the best! Thanks!

10 comments:

Heather @ Side of Sneakers 9:55 AM, February 18, 2010  

Great, now you have me craving warm doughy cinnamon rolls...totally not the point of your post haha

Aimee 10:16 AM, February 18, 2010  

Great job on your runs...man I wish I was as fast as you!

I think it's awesome that you coach a triathlon club. It seems like it would be a lot of fun and completely rewarding!

The Boring Runner 10:21 AM, February 18, 2010  

Good god man! How many pairs of underwear do you wear!?

Steve Stenzel 10:33 AM, February 18, 2010  

Ha! Adam, I'm wearing a pair of Under Armor to keep my "boys" warm, and then I threw on a pair of boxers over that for a little more warmth for the run.

Christi 10:49 AM, February 18, 2010  

Great job on your workouts! FYI, if I had eaten that roll before working out I would have yakked it up!

teacherwoman 11:54 AM, February 18, 2010  

Okay, what kind of warm-up did you do for that VO2 Max run?!

Kristin 12:47 PM, February 18, 2010  

Cool blog! I found it just browsing around looking at running blogs. I get those same red belly stripes! Pretty much anywhere I have the most fat, it goes red on winter runs. Luckily during the run itself we're too hot/numb to notice! Anyway, check out my blog if you want:
http://sherunslikeagirl.blogspot.com

drdave 6:36 PM, February 18, 2010  

You make me wish that I lived closer to civilization. Running around here means running an out and back (boring) or a long circle where the scenery doesn't change much because its all agricultural fields lining the roads. We make the best of it anyway.
BTW. Got a pair of Yak Trax. Thanks for the tip.

Char 6:40 PM, February 18, 2010  

Pink sunglasses only make you run faster if you coordinate with your shoelaces

Regina 9:54 PM, February 18, 2010  

gotta love the red belly line after a cold run!

MMMMMMMMM.......the buns look tasty!

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