Sunday, January 11, 2015

Speedy Treadmill & SUNY Old Westbury

Thursday (1/8/15) - 5.52 miles in 43:46, a 7:56 pace.  I procrastinated my run until 7pm.  I went to the gym and did 10 quarter mile intervals increasing the speed for each interval from an 8.3 to a 9.4.  The intervals actually got easier the more I ran.  The last interval at the 9.4 pace felt great.  This was the fastest I ever ran on a treadmill.  I wanted to see if I had it in me.  Apparently, I did.

Saturday (1/10/15) - 10.62 miles.  I had a busy morning dropping the kids off at various activities.  I met The Petite Pacer and JC at the SUNY Old Westbury campus a little past noon.  We parked at the Clark Athletic Center because we didn't want to piss off God by parking in the church lot across the street.  Even though we had the later start, it was still only 21 degrees.  JC and TPP wanted to do two loops totaling eight miles.  It was tough for me at the beginning scaling the hills and trying to converse with my friends.  I was very conscious of my loud huffing and puffing.  The breathing got easier after the first loop.  It snowed a little the day before, but the roads were plowed.  The grounds were quite pretty with the coating of snow, especially the golf course.  TPP was having an off day (like we all do from time to time), maybe due to the later start.  She's used to getting out very early.  The chilly wind didn't help.  The second loop thankfully, went by quickly and we were back at our cars saying goodbye.  I was feeling pretty good so I decided to add a couple of more miles with a run to SUNY Empire State College.  These last two miles were brutal due to the frigid temperature which seemed to all of a sudden catch up to me.  My fingers and toes were so cold they burned, despite the gloves and shoes.  I definitely need to get another pair of SmartWool socks since the one pair I had disappeared.  I was psyched to finally get back to the car and ecstatic to take a long, hot shower once I got home.

1-r:  Front Wheel, Back Wheel, & Third Wheel

One of the beautiful mansions in the background 
on the way to Empire State College.

18 comments:

  1. Nice interval workout. 10 X 400s at that pace are tricky to do on a treadmill. It's hard to be precise because it takes time to get up to speed. What did you do in between each quarter - rest or jog?

    That SUNY run sounded intense, running so many fast, hilly miles in that cold. I'm glad you remembered to take a picture. You guys are definitely ready for the Brewery Run.

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    1. I ran between the 7 and 7.4 speeds in between. I also had a couple of bathroom breaks. That's when I say, "Yay gym!"

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    2. The gym quality treadmills get up to speed real fast. Not really an issue.

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    3. Yes, I was going to write that, too.

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  2. 7-7.4 MPH between repeats is pretty brisk. Sounds more like a hardcore tempo workout than intervals. At least the bathroom breaks should have forced you to drop your heart rate - at least momentarily.

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    1. http://running.competitor.com/2013/12/training/workout-of-the-week-deeks-quarters_12386

      In this article, Mario Fraioli writes about Rob De Castella's speed workouts (400s around the track). In between his 400s (at his 5k pace), he runs 200s at a brisk pace.

      "Here’s the catch. The recovery between each repeat is a 200-meter, or half a lap, 'float' – not a walk or slow jog, but more of a brisk trot. The key to this session is that you never completely recover before starting the next 400-meter interval, and as the workout progresses you’ll be forced to work harder to maintain the same pace at which you started out. This is threshold training at its truest, simulates race surging and will teach your body to recover quickly while running fast.

      'As you get fitter, your red line rises from about 80 percent of maximum heartrate to 90-95 percent,' writes world-renowned running coach and top exercise physiologist, Jack Daniels. 'Physiologically, threshold training teaches muscle cells to use more oxygen–less lactate is produced. Your body also becomes better at clearing lactate: race-day red line speed rises.'"

      I was never really aware of this theory. I continue running (at a relatively slower pace) in between my 400s for the sole purpose of getting in my mileage, but I like this explanation. Regardless, whenever I trained this way, the results were always the same. I got faster or maintained my speed.


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    2. Interesting approach. Far different from my method, which is to run as fast as possible and then completely rest for 45 seconds before the next repeat. I've noticed that my HR falls to about 75% max when I do that. The problem with fast intervals and brisk recoveries is that it becomes an unrelenting effort. The opportunity to rest for a few seconds makes speed work tolerable for me.

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    3. Yeah, I always thought that the idea was to temporarily bring your heart rate down, before jacking it back up. I run my 400s at around 6:44 or 6:49 pace, then do 200 recoveries in the low 10:00s.

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  3. That's pretty badass. I do my 200 recoveries at 5.8 to 6.0 mph. Treadmill is great for speedwork.

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    1. Yes, that session flew by and I felt fantastic afterwards. I was psyched I forced myself to the gym rather than skip another run.

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    2. Tempo runs, on the other hand, are absolutely brutal on the treadmill. But treadmills are great for intervals and hill workouts.

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    3. Running fifteen minutes at 5k pace, followed by 15 minutes at an easy pace, followed by fifteen minutes at 5k pace almost makes me want to stop and jump on the elliptical. Almost.

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  4. Did some fartleks on the treadmill this morning, and cranked it up to 9.4 mph during the last one. That is really hauling!

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    1. Nice! Did you feel like you were just flying? It's hard to imagine some people run marathons at that pace and faster. Insane.

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    2. It amazes me how fast some people run. After beating up my body training for a spring half and a fall full last year, I'm planning on avoiding the wear and tear of long distance training this winter and spring, and to focus on shorter distances and speed. Looking forward to trying a one mile race to see what I can do. That 9.4 mph pace is now my one mile goal as of this morning.

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    3. Other than the Fifth Avenue Mile in September, I'm not aware of any others nearby. Are you?

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    4. Farmingdale Main Street Mile in August. Northport Running Club might be organizing one as well starting this year.

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    5. Cool! I am going to try to run one of them!

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