Run Til You Puke

Not quite, but almost.  I had a speed workout on tap today.  I woke up at 7 am without my alarm on my day off.  I was like, "Great!  I am up and I can go to spin class and then do my speed workout..."  I sat on the couch sipping my cup of coffee and watched T.V.  All. Day.  Finally, I got up, got dressed, told Kevin I was blowing this popsicle stand, and left.

The gym was pretty empty.  When I go after work at the same time on a Monday, I can barely get a treadmill.  Today, I had my pick.  I went on one without a T.V.  There's nothing worse than a T.V. an inch from your face when you are struggling to breath and not throw up.  I would rather watch people walk by and stare up at the giant T.V.s that are upfront.

I have!

My plan says to run at a 5k pace.  I have to say, I never saw that part about the 5k pace before.  I thought I was just supposed to run as fast as possible.  I figured out that my GOAL 5k pace is a 9:40, so I would run at a 6.4 mph.  I set the treadmill to interval.  I use to change it by hand, but it's hard to lower the speed when I am almost falling off the treadmill from going to fast.

So, the plan was to run .25 miles at 6.4, and walk for .1 at 3.5 until I was done.  The first three times weren't bad.  I told myself that maybe I should quit, because what else would I tell myself on a treadmill?  The 4th sprint was ok, but I was starting to feel it.  The 5th time I really wanted to quit, but pushed myself through.  The 6th and 7th time I sped up a bit so it would be over faster.  I think that is why I felt like I was going to throw up at the end of each one.

Now it's over and I did it.  That's the great thing about work outs.  They may suck, but in the end...you're at the end.

Exhausted after my work out.  

Afterwards, I finally got over to see Melissa and her posse.  I've been fighting a cold and was scared about infecting her delicate little newborns.

I couldn't believe this crazy chair she had.  It looked like a hovercraft, I swear.

I didn't leave until after ten.  She has no clocks in that house.  I thought it was only about 9!  I don't remember the last time I was out that late when I didn't have to work.

What workout did you do today?

New Plan, New Attitude

For the first time in a while I have had no running plan to follow.  The last half I had was in October, but after that I was running with Becky who is training for a marathon.  I stopped running with her a few weeks ago, and have been struggling to get out and run.

My next race isn't until March and is just a 5K.  It is actually my running anniversary of my very first race I ever did.  That's actually the only reason I run it!  I would love to get a little faster, so I checked out Higdon's 5K plans.  The intermediate plan fit in perfectly with the time frame.  It involves running 5 days a week, with one of those days being a speed workout every other week alternating with a tempo run.  Running 5 days a week my be a lot for me.  If I'm in too much pain I will just cross train that day.  Here's the plan:

I am in the first week and just have the 5 miler left.  

Yesterday I did the speed work out on a treadmill.  I ran at a 7.0 for the 400s.  The first time, I was worried I was going to fall off of the treadmill, but pushed myself.  It actually got easier as I did them and finished the last 400 at a 7.2.  

This morning I went to yoga.  I was feeling a bit sore yesterday and this morning.  It was the perfect yoga class; not a lot of warrior poses to hurt my quads and a lot of hip/abductor/back stretches.  After that, I ran on the treadmill for 3 long miles.  I forgot my headphones and there weren't any treadmills with T.V.'s (first world problems).  At least they blast music overhead and have some large T.V.'s on the wall to watch.  I occupied myself with people watching and turning my speed faster and slower.  

What's your favorite type of yoga?