Search This Blog

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Yasso's on 5/9

My first attempt at doing some Yasso's. I was short on time (and talent) so I modified what I intended to do. I also had an equipment problem in that the workout I created would not transfer to the watch. I wanted to do a warmup (about .3-.4) then an 800 at 8:00 mm pace, 4 minute recovery, repeat 3 times and then a cool down. I ended up with a warm up, then 800's with a pace of 7:51, 7:56, and 8:05. I was breathing pretty hard after that one and went with a 2 minute recovery followed by a shorter sprint. This one was a 400 at an 8:46 pace. Not too bad for my first attempt at this workout. I like it and will do it again. The total time and distance recorded included my warmups, recovery, and cool down.
3.36 miles in 31:38.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Illinois Half Marathon - 1 week later.

I have not posted anything here in a while, using dailymile to report on all my runs of late. I will say this about the Illinois Races. I still enjoy them. The 5K on Friday night was fun. I didn't race because I was running the half the next day. If I do this again next year, I think I should run hard or not at all. Upon reflection, it does not make much sense to pay $25 for what ends up as a training run. It would be different if this was a charity race, but it obviously is not. My time in the 5K was 27:35.

The half I did the following day went much better than last year. I did not have the medical problems this year and I felt pretty good afterwards for the most part. I am disappointed in myself for walking - which I started doing at 9.5 miles. Again, I do like this race and likely will continue to run it. I do need to increase my speed and to do that, that means speedwork. I'm just going to have to suck it up and run more and run faster.

In looking at the rest of the race season, I believe I will do the "Run for the Son" which will be on June 12 I believe in Charleston. That is a 5K and I think I will set a goal right now of sub 25:00. It may not sound like much, but after 9 months of running 9 MM pace - I think it will be a worthy challenge. My fastest 5K was 24:09 two years ago. I will then run at Bagelfest - and most likely the 10K there, with a goal of 55:00 or less. In August there are two events I have my eye on. The first the St. Jude Relay to Peoria. Not a race, but I do intend to cover over 15, if not 20 miles. The week after that is the Howl at the Moon Ultra. In September I am aiming to do the Heartland Half Marathon on 9/12 and maybe the Rat Race 5K in Arthur on Labor Day weekend. We'll just have to see how things shake out. Race fees add up and I do have obligations like everyone else. More than anything (with regards to racing/training) I want to get faster. To do that, I am going to start doing some Yasso's every week. Also, I have been talking about doing some of the P90X workouts for some much needed cross training. Perhaps I'll get off of here and do that now.

Run happy everyone, and Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and all other mothers reading this post.

ETA - I tried posting this last night - for some reason it would not work, so here it is, a day later.