I’ve done some moderately hard tempo runs and some fast finish miles here and there but yesterday I decided to do mile repeats. I’ve been focusing on building distance and not speed. But I really wanted that “how I feel after I kill a speed workout feeling”. So naturally, I did the mile repeats. They always hurt and I’m always left with the feeling of, I just worked hard for that and I’m glad I did- now let me conquer the rest of this day.

If I was in the peak of my training, I would likely do 5 repeats and I honestly considered doing 5, but instead finished with a strong 4. As I was finished up the 4th, I let the thought enter my head again to perhaps do 5, but decided I was happy with the effort I put out and there was no need to prove that I could in fact do a 5th. Sometimes it is important to get the extra in and push through it, but sometimes it’s equally as important to end feeling strong knowing that you can keep pace and crush the last repeat.

I have done a good job listening to my body for the MOST part in this post surgery journey, minus 2-3 runs….. (remember this one… ouch… I do) when most of my body was ready but a few areas were not). Today, I knew 4 was enough, and I was perfectly content with it.

The workout went down like this:

15 minute warm up

4 X 1 Mile @ 6:25, 6:22, 6:22, 6:15 with quarter mile jogs between sets.

15 minute cool down

Building a high mileage base has helped with my confidence for a workout like this. If you think about running around 7-10 miles most days of the week, then 4 mile repeats, while the pace might be hard and taxing does not seem like that many miles. I can mentally wrap my head around less than 26 minutes of hard running.

I do believe I’ll be focusing more on the high miles rather than the speedy speedy stuff through the rest of my Boston training though. It’s what makes me happy right now and is much less stressful than the pressure of speed work.

I know I’ve said it a lot recently, and I’ll probably say it many more times; I really don’t know if there is a PR in April, but workouts like this and my 20 on Saturday are giving me confidence that it could be within reach. The 4 week recovery after next week won’t be nearly as intense as the 6 weeks I had back in October, not to mention this surgery won’t take as much out of my physically.

Regardless of all that talk, I’m starting to enjoy my running in a different way. Although I have been a mom for a year and a half now, my alone running time has become more and more valuable and helpful for my sanity as of late. I haven’t been seeing it as a task I need to get done as much as I used to, I’ve been seeing it more as a freedom.

I’ve always enjoyed what running brings me, but the freedom right now has been something I’ve needed more than ever recently. I love that I have chosen to stay home with Marshall and I by no means have it rough at all. (My sister does this with two kids and her husband is overseas for months at a time… I know I have it made) But man no matter how you slice it being in charge of another human being all day everyday can just wear you down sometimes and running has proven to be my saving grace time and time again. I honestly don’t know how people do it if they don’t workout. I would be crazier than I already am without it.

That being said, I’ll just say I feel like the luckiest lady alive that I get to be Marshall’s mom.  

Children’s Museuming…. what we do in between naps once a weekish to get out of the house! Pretty sweet to live so close to such an awesome place.

My dad was in Indy this week taking my mom to the airport & asked us to go to the RV show at the fairgrounds. Sure, why not? And these boys sure are cute with their popcorn. Also, I’m pretty sure Marshall mattered the word PEE while we were there.

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 There is something good about doing a workout as a group. All out there getting it done. Supporting each other. Hanging out afterwards. Its an environment that breeds success if you ask me.  I mean don’t get me wrong I still do a vast majority of my workouts alone. I like them alone but once a week its nice to have the group to push and support. It is a different mental game doing them alone and I believe there is great value in that as come race day its just you and the clock. But there is also great benefit in being to feed off the group, push yourself with group. Group suffering is also good. I guess, as just with everything else, there is a balancing act between group and solo work.

We have been doing them now for 4 weeks and I have made two them. We try and alternate who attends since apparently Marshall is unable to watch himself and it is frowned upon if we leave him alone…whatever responsibility.

Today was my turn to attend. The workout called for 3 x 1 mile repeats with 2:00-3:00 recovery and the option for a 4th for whoever wanted to flex their muscle :).

I ran up from the house to meet the group. Its about a two mile run up the Monon to our meeting place by Einstein’s. It was pretty foggy outside this morning…which is pretty strange for July in Indiana but the weather has been kind of weird lately so who knows. We had another great group out this morning ready to do work at 5:30. I love it! Its an early start but with jobs, the heat, and everything else it is just easier to get the session done early then have it hanging over your head  all day.

Amy, Jake, Gabe, Meghan, Jeff, Blake, and Sean were all ready to go when I got there. We warmed up about a mile and half and then it was time to work.

Sean is getting ready for his first marathon, the Monumental Marathon downtown, and is a heck of a runner…I mean he took 3rd in state for Cross Country, has a 1:14:xx Half PR and ran for a year or two at IU before retiring so I was glad to have him out there to do some work with me.

The Workout:
Mile 1 – 5:28
Mile 2 – 5:33
Mile 3 – 5:33
Mile 4 – 5:26

That last mile hurt.  The goal was to run them in about 5:30 – 5:34 so I was happy with the splits. The weather helped today…last time we did this workout it was obscenely hot and humid for even 5:45.

Everyone in the group was working hard up and down the Monon. Amy tweeted earlier that she took 20 secs per mile off her previous splits from the last time we did the workout. I’m telling you work works. She will kill her PR here in the fall! It will be exciting to see!!

Once everyone was done with their workout we did another group cool down about another mile and half….well it was kind of a group cool down. Jake had a false alarm with his keys. He thought they had went missing so we were up and down the trail looking for them but they never turned up. Turns out they did a little hide and seek in his compression shorts and were found once Jake changed. HAHA. I’m glad they turned up because if it was me that would have drove me crazy. Ask Lindsey, I can’t stand losing or not being able to find something. I have to look until I find it. I have to.

Finished the run off with another two miles back to house. It feels good to have about 11 miles with some speed done before 7:30.

With it being 4th of July this week, I ended up taking today and Friday off…so that is nice. Just hanging with Marsh and Lindsey today and then I think we are going to head up to CP for the 4th to see my family and best friend, who just had a baby.

Also Lindsey is allegedly running the Firecracker 6 tomorrow downtown. She’s already nervous. Weather should be good. We’ll see how she can hammer. 6 miles is hard. Its long enough to be into endurance but short enough to really push. Its a tough distance. Next up for me after some easy runs tomorrow and Friday is 16 steady state miles @ 6:35. I’ll be doing this alone.

Oh and I think we might go check out the new Earth Fare in Carmel later. We like to keep it hippie and organic.

Have  a great 4th! Happy birthday America! Come run with us next week!

Questions: Do you like running with a group? What about tough sessions alone? Racing any 4th of July events?

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One of the many running related things I did scared. Depending on the distance you are training for, in the world of repeats, mile repeats are long and you have to run them fast in order for them to work…. like they should feel hard after about .25 miles.

I always said three repeats was a decent workout, but four was what made it legit. Recently, I decided to step up my game and follow Glenn’s training plan (for the most part)….same distances on the runs, except two rest days, instead of one- one of which I get my pilates on. And of course, my pace, not his.

While my original plan called for four mile repeats today, his called for five. So five I did.

On my way to the gym I was nervous. Glenn called when I was doing my lunge matrix right before hopping on the treadmill and I told him I was nervous. He told me to get over it. Such tough love.

As I warmed up I decided I just had to approach the workout differently to finish it successfully, both mentally and physically.

How I broke it down: (in my crazy, I like to overthink things mind) 

• Run the first two repeats at the slowest pace I would be happy to hit all five in, feeling controlled. By now, I would say I should know a thing or two about going out too hard. Don’t do it. Ever. 
• If one and two felt good, take it up a tiny notch for number three. Survive number three and you’ve only got two left. Two seems like a lot less when you are doing five rather than four.
• Number four- speed up a tiny bit more. This one might be tough mentally, but as soon as you start that mile- you already have less than two mile to go. So, focus on that and just run. 
• Number five. If you run the first four right, this should be the fastest. And it should hurt. And you should speed up in the last half of it. And you should really sprint that last 100 in. And it should hurt. Did I mention it should hurt?

Run Stats: 

1 Mile W/U & C/D

5 X 1 Mile w/ 800 recovery

Mile 1- 6:34
Mile 2- 6:34
Mile 3- 6:31
Mile 4- 6:25
Mile 5- 6:20

Now the really scary repeat is the 2 mile repeat workout. I want to throw up just thinking about it.

The post The Mile Repeat. appeared first on Lindsey Hein.

The week was fairly uneventful. It felt good to finally “officially” start training again for a race. I had been running for the last month but my plan did not officially start until New Year’s Eve.

Weekly Stats:
Runs: 6
Miles: 54
Total Time: 06:13:00
Avg Pace: 00:06:54
Longest Run: 14 miles
Key Workouts: 8 mile run with 6 @ 6:00 tempo pace & 14 mile run with 7 @ MRP (6:17)

The tempo run was the first such run I had done in probably 6-8 weeks. After the IMM Half Marathon in early November I took some time away from “structured” workouts and just did what I felt like doing and used the month of December to build my mileage back up for the marathon training so when this workout rolled around it had been a while. The workout went pretty well and I think this is probably due to me taking the month of December and committing to running again six days a week. I have been able to get my body somewhat ready for the training I have in front of me.

I made sure to get outside for the long run of week, as I had 50% of the run to do at MRP and I wanted to get the feel for that. It is hard to get the feel of a certain pace on  a treadmill for me. I actually had a hard time  hitting my pace for the long run. I ended up running slightly faster than I had wanted but kept all the splits within small range of the race pace so it was a good workout.

My foot has felt slightly “off” recently. I can’t tell what it is. It does not bother me when I run and I have full range of motion. It does not hurt to touch but I have been having some residual discomfort in the hours after I run. It kind of feels like a sprained ankle. I don’t even notice it most of the time so hopefully it will work itself out. If it creeps into my running…a couple days off might be in order to head it off before it becomes a bigger issue.

On Deck this Week
Runs: 6
Miles: 57
Long Run: 16
Key Workouts:  Wed: Speedwork 9 miles total with 5 x 1mile @5:30 & Fri: 8 miles with 6 @ 6:00 tempo

This week features two “speed sessions” during the week with no race pace work for the weekend as I didn’t want to overload the week so early into the cycle. The repeats should be a good challenge. I don’t know about everyone else but I was struggle with that second to last one. It is like the “no-man’s land” repeat. Past half way but not the last one. I will probably run them on the Monon or the treadmill depending on how the week goes with everything.

I’d like to get up to the course this weekend for my long run. I plan on doing a lot of my long runs on the course. Being a local race, I want to take full advantage of being able to train on the course. I didn’t make it up to Carmel this past Saturday so hopefully this Saturday I can. Once again, we’ll see how everything goes. A baby and Lindsey training for her race usually make a juggling act most days for our running.

Looking at the long range weather forecast we could be in store for some thawing out here in Indy…so hopefully the tights can be put away again…at least for a week.

Anyone start training recently? What do your key workouts look like?

Glenn

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After I finished my workout, I walked down the stairs at the gym, having a wave of anxiety and guilt. My sister and I were heading out to DC to visit our other sister the next day.

My first trip away from Marshall.  No, I’m obviously not worried about his well-being, I’m leaving him with Glenn and Glenn’s parents are also coming down to babysit on Friday while he’s at work. I’ve just never been away from the little guy.

Don’t do anything new while I’m gone buddy.  (You’d think I was leaving for a 4 month trip.)

I’m enjoying the trip, it’s weird to be away from someone you have spent every day and most hours of your life with for the last 5 months.

I told Glenn he’ll need to text me a minimum of 50 pictures and give him 100 kisses from me everyday.

Last night we all went to dinner at Red Rocks for some yummy fire brick pizza and margaritas. I started off with a skinny girl or three before we headed out, we were all giggly and having fun.

Tomorrow, sister Ericka and I will be running the Rehoboth Beach Marathon. We are heading over that way in a few hours. Sister, Shelby will be the professional spectator/picture taker.

My Marathon Pledge:

I will not be an idiot and go out fast. I will run comfortable, 8:00-8:20 miles for the first 13 miles and slowly speed up from there. I will not get overly excited at mile 7 when I feel great (if I do in fact feel great) and speed up. I will hang tight and enjoy the view. (which I’m thinking might be pretty since it’s a beach marathon?) I will enjoy this race and be grateful that I came and that I have the ability to not only run, but make a trip like this. I will come up with something I am thankful for at every mile and think about that. I will finish this race feeling like I could run 5 more miles if I wanted to. I will go find my sister and cheer her in once I”m finished. I will eat amazing food when we are done and enjoy the rest of my trip.

See you at the finish line.

Here are some pics from our weekend so far:

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