Day 207, 158 To Go

July 26, 2013

Oh glorious Friday, why have you forsaken me?  Why, oh why, have you taken so long to arrive?  I had to endure Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before I tasted your glorious presence.  Why do you do this to me every week?

Yes, it is Friday folks and I am going to kick my own ass out there today and do my speed workout again.  This time, however, I plan on kicking it up a notch!  My goal is to do my fast intervals at a 6:45 pace.  For the uninitiated, this particular speed workout is a one minute fast, one minute easy repeated 10 times for a total of 20 minutes.  The intervals can be increased, of course in quantity or length, but due to my self imposed limit of 25 minutes for my run, I can only do a 5 minute warm up and 10 repeats.

First, before I get into that, I will continue my exposition on The 25 Golden Rules of Running from Runner's World.  Today is #4.

4. The 10-Minute Rule
Start every run with 10 minutes of walking and slow running, and do the same to cool down.

"A warmup prepares your body for exercise by gradually increasing blood flow and raising core muscle temperature," says Jerry Napp, a Tampa Bay running coach. "The cooldown may be even more important. Stopping abruptly can cause leg cramps, nausea, dizziness, or fainting."

The Exception: It takes less than 10 minutes to rev up on warm days.

This is a rule I do not follow currently.  At most other times in my running career, and even in my long runs, I do follow this rule pretty religiously.  I also will always do a 10 minute warm up before any running race (I used to do this for triathlons, but lately, I have fallen off that wagon too). 

Here in Florida, it usually does not take me 10 minutes to get warm.  Somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes, I am usually warm.  It all depends on the day, I suppose.  The benefit I have always gained from this warm up is that once you do your 10 minutes, and maybe some running drills, is that once you start running, you are able to run faster and easier.  Your heart rate will settle down and you can truly begin your workout.  If you just go out and run, you will find that your first 5 - 10 minutes you will have an elevated HR anyway and this can affect your goals for that run.

Since I run using a time basis (25 minutes a day) if I ran a 10 minute warm up, that would leave me with only 15 minutes to focus on areas of my run (speed, endurance, LT threshold) so I often skip it.  I always start off easy and I never push for those first 5 minutes, so I supposed I am using the exception rule here.

If you have never used a warm up, give it a try.  I know many beginning runners feel that if they run 10 minutes as their warm up, they will never be able to finish their scheduled workout.  This isn't true, unless you run your warm up too fast.  It should be a really easy and relaxed pace where your only goal is to get your blood flowing and your limbs loose and limber.  That's it.  Don't go trying to break any records.

Here are my numbers for the day:

Time: 25:00

Distance: 3.03 miles

Pace: 8:14/m

Max Pace: 6:12/m

Calories:333
Avg HR: 148

Max HR: 171

It was a successful speed workout.  I was able to stay between 6:45 and 7:00 and most of the time I was between 6:45 and 6:50.  I actually got stronger as the run progressed and I had my fasted interval at the end (that is the 6:12).  This means that I can probably push the pace a bit down to 6:40.  However, I think I will stay at 6:45 at least one more time to make sure I am ready.  If I push too hard, I may end up hurting myself.  Also, my toe is still in bad shape (as I have not gone to the doctor yet) and I don't want to make it worse.  Ok, folks, that's it for today!

Run for Life!