Workouts Leading Up To The 5K

This morning, I registered for the 5K race that’s tomorrow. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do it because I was coming down with a cold yesterday morning. But after about 350 oz of water yesterday (seriously), I think I fought it off. So I spent the $25 and made it official this morning:

I had a pretty good week of workouts for being so stressed out. (Sometimes that HELPS me get my workouts in because I NEED a break.) I skipped my bike ride, and I need to be biking MUCH more, so that’s a concern. Anyway, here’s what I did:

• Mon, March 22: 1800 tempo swim (29:48), and weights later in the day. I felt pretty good about the swim. I’d been doing some of Jen’s / Julia’s swim workouts over the last few months, and I’ve been having a hankerin’ for a STRAIGHT swim - no intervals, no rest - just solid swimming. (Those other workouts HAVE been making me faster, but I wondered if I’d see improvement in a tempo swim.) I finished 1800 in 29:48, which was 1:39.35 / 100 yards. Two months ago, I did the same swim, and I was 4.5 seconds faster / 100 this time. I’ll take it!!

• Tues, March 23: 10 mile run with tempo pace in the middle: 1:04:50. I eased into the run a little, and then picked it up through about mile 9. At the turn around, I was at 33:20, and I ran back in 31:30 for a solid negative split.

• Wed, March 24: lifted weights. Focused on more reps and lighter weight.

• Thurs, March 25: 3x1600 at the track. FIRST OUTDOOR INTERVALS OF 2010! Yay! I put out the call for friends, and we had a decent showing for a chilly March evening:

Me, Matt, Mike, Mindy, and Jeremy.
With the St. Thomas LaCrosse Team working out in the background.

Mike and Mindy wrapped up their workout and took off. Matt and Jeremy were going to do some 400s. I wanted to do 3x1600 with about 90 seconds rest.

I had a goal for this workout: I wanted to run them EVENLY. This was my last “hard” workout before my 5K PR attempt tomorrow, and I wanted to really pay attention to how hard I was working and how that translated to my pace. Remember, in my post from Thursday, I noted how I really need to run the first mile of the 5K PERFECTLY to be able to have a shot at my PR.

So I figured the first 1600 of this workout was key.

I blew it. Big time.

I realized it at the 800 point of that first 1600. “2:32?!? Damn it!” That’s a great time, but that’s WAYWAYWAYWAYWAY too fast! I can NOT do that at the 5K! Here are my 800 + 800 = 1600 times for the workout.

2:32 + 2:41 = 5:13
2:40 + 2:45 = 5:25
2:45 + 2:45 = 5:30

5:22.67 average / 1600

So the good news is that my average was QUITE good! The last time I ran 3x1600 on the track was exactly 5 months ago, and those averaged 5:36! The bad news is that if I try to run my first mile anywhere NEAR that for the 5K, I’ll barf up my spleen at mile 2. (My last interval hurt SO bad because my first was so hard.) So, you could say that I learned something doing those intervals, but I also feel LESS ready knowing that my pace was THAT far off!

I grabbed a shot of Matt, Jeremy, and I once we had all wrapped up:

Jeremy had biked there from his job (at a bike shop), and he just bought another bike. So he was riding a bike while hauling a new bike frame:

I got home, warmed up (I was COLD), stretched, and made a Naan topped with my mother-in-law’s pizza sauce, spinach, cheese, and “Pizza Seasoning” from Penzeys Spices:

Yum-a-dum-dum.

• Fri, March 26: “No Minds” swim VO2 max workout. Matt invited Pharmie and I to his gym. He’s learning how to swim and hoping to do his first triathlon this year! We all hopped in the pool, and I grabbed a shot:

Matt, me, and Pharmie

Matt doesn’t look too bad in the water! Pharmie and I kept giving him a few pointers, and I HOPE we didn’t overwhelm him. He’s getting there. It’s all about spending time in the water, and he totally gets that.

So I was doing the “No Minds” workout that I had done once before in early January. It’s a long warm-up (800-1000), then 200-250 at “race pace,” then 5x100 ALL OUT every 4:00 with slowing times. It’s a good now-and-then swim workout when you need some intensity. Back in January, my fastest 100 was 1:20, and I averaged 1:22.6. This time, my first 4 were UNDER 1:20!! I’d NEVER done ONE 100 under 1:20 before! I was THRILLED!

I swam my 100s in 1:17, 1:18, 1:18, 1:19, and 1:20, which is a 1:18.4 / 100 interval average.

(Now, I don’t know if this makes a difference, but Matt’s pool is “salted” so they don’t need to use as much chlorine. And I’m assuming that this makes me more buoyant, and therefore I might have been able to swim a little faster than in my usual pool at the Y. Does anyone know if this plays into my better times? Thanks in advance if you can help!)

• Sat, March 27: Easy 4-4.5 mile run and some stretching. This morning, I was at the Gear West Duathlon Clinic. I learned a fair amount, and I have some workout ideas to share (probably next week). After the clinic, about 1/3 of us “students” went for a run along with Kevin and Jason (who led the clinic). Here we are out in Wolsfeld Park:

Now, it’s time for a little yard work, some gentle stretching and foam rolling, an evening double-date with friends, and then a SHOT at a 5K PR tomorrow! Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, check my Twitter page to see how I did! I’ll update it as soon as I get home from the race! (It’s also on the right side of my blog.) And I’ll have my full race report on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone!!