LR#2 Week 4 of 10 in the Summer of 5K

Coming off training for half marathons for the last 9 months, my legs are supremely conditioned for the long run. But they are not used to speed and strength workouts required for 5K! As a result, last week, I was so so so so so sore from hill sprints, legs (weights), a speed workout, and then a fast tempo run. I took it super easy early in the week, and only ran 3 days total. 


I did the longest run I have done in over a month on the 4th: 14.3 miles. It felt great. My legs started to fatigue at about 12, so I am losing some distance fitness . . . but hopefully gaining some speed fitness along the way! 


This week was my the first significant speed workout of this training cycle. Prior speed workouts were sprints at 3K pace for only 20, 30, 40 seconds. Today, I kicked up the interval to about 1 km at 5K pace. It was SO HARD! Definitely the hardest speed workout I've ever done!

This week's proprioceptive cue from Matt Fitzgerald's Brain Training For Runners was floppy feet. For this cue, think about keeping your foot relaxed. But continue to strike the ground normally. This allows your foot to absorb impact forces--exactly what the foot is designed to do.

Monday (7/2): Complete rest.

Tuesday (7/3): Core strength workout.

Wednesday (7/4): Freedom run. I gave myself license to run as far as I wanted at any pace, no Garmin, no audio cues on Runkeeper. I went 14.3 miles at 8:50 in Del Mar.

Thursday (7/5): Plyo workout.

Friday (7/6): Elliptical intervals, 30 minutes; upper body strength workout.

Saturday (7/7): Long run, 11.20 miles at 8:30 in Carlsbad.

Sunday (7/8): Intervals in Solana Beach. 5.37 miles with 4 x 1 km intervals at 6:20-6:30 (5K pace), 0.25 mile rest intervals.

Beach stairs at South Ponto State Beach in Carlsbad.

LR#2
Kristen

Race Pics, raise the question

What am I doing with my hands? Air guitar, air guns, conducting music?

Approaching the finish line at the Coronado Ride and Stride.

The bottom line on arm position for distance running is that tension in the arms, wrists, and hands is wasted energy. The consensus on form for most people seems to be:  (1) keep elbows at 90 degree angle, more or less; (2) maintain a relaxed, low swing; (3) keep hands in a loose fist; and (4) don't allow your left hand to cross over the right side of the body, and vice-versa for the right hand.


But this little runner is not most people, so don't take the picture as an illustration of this advice. Ever since Penny pointed out my air guitaring ways in my San Diego Rock N Roll pics, I have been thinking more about my arms and hands while running. I observed the 5K and 10K runners with their loose fists during the U.S. Olympic Trials. And I tried to mimic the form. But I think it takes too much energy and creates tension all the way up my arms. So for me, what works is to lightly touch my thumb to my middle finger and keep my fingers relaxed and more or less flopping around however they want. 

Also, the picture was taken nearing the finish line, during my "kick." As you speed up, for example, at the end of a race (where you attempt to buzz by and narrowly defeat all those who you've been running with during the duration of the race), you will naturally start pumping your arms more, as I am above.

Collecting third place metal.

LR#2
Kristen

LR#2 - Week 3 of 5K Plan, a whole week of leg soreness

I started the week sore from the 8.2 mile race a week ago Sunday. Between hill sprints (Wednesday), a leg strength workout (Thursday), and a speed workout (Saturday), my legs felt sore the whole week. I don't remember ever feeling sore the whole week since I've started running. I wonder if it is safe to run hill sprints and speed workouts on sore legs. Am I going to make real strength gains or wind up with an overuse injury? I feel strong, other than the soreness. And I've had no aches and no pains since coming back from my bruised foot bone in late April . . .

Another new item this week. I had a sports massage. My goal is to make gains in flexibility that I have not been able to achieve myself. I have been doing daily yoga for at least 30 minutes for the last 6 months approximately. And there are some areas that I am just not able to loosen up enough--piriformis and calves, especially. A few hours after the massage, I definitely felt the urge to stretch, and when I did, I was able to stretch deeper than normal. And I was still feeling the effects the next day during yoga class. Jury is still out, but I think there is some merit to massage. After a hard week of training, my calves have not turned back to the rocks they normally are.

This week's proprioceptive cue from Matt Fitzergald's Brain Training For Runners was Axle Between the Knees:  Imagine an axle between your knees that pushes them out just a little bid wider than your normal stride. This will help you to engage your hip flexors and to stop any inward rotation of the thighs. I did my warmup and recovery miles thinking about this cue and then did my working miles without the wider stance. But feeling the hip flexors engaged during warmups helped me to remember to engage them during my working sets.

Monday (6/25): 4 mile recovery run in Balboa Park at 8:47 average pace; massage.

Tuesday (6/26): Yoga.

Wednesday (6/27): 4 miles in Balboa Park at base pace, plus 5 x 16-second hill sprints at maximum effort; core strength training.

Thursday (6/28): 2 miles on the treadmill at 10:00 average pace; legs strength workout.

Friday (6/29): 4 miles at 8:17 in Balboa Park; upper body strength workout.

Saturday (6/30): Fartlek run along Solana Beach Rail Trail, 5.83 miles with 10 x 30-second intervals at about 5:45 pace.

Sunday (7/1): Tempo run from Solana Beach to Cardiff Kook, 5.6 miles with 1 mile warmup and 4.6 miles at 7:15 pace.

Underside of the Cabrillo Bridge in Balboa Park . . . about to begin a hill sprint!

LR#2
Kristen

LR#2 Week 2 of 10: 5K Training Plan

This is the end of my 2 week 5K introductory period, and I am liking the training so far. I cut my miles down by half (more or less) from my recent 1/2 marathon training cycles (doing 20-25 weekly miles now, compared to 30-40 miles for the last 6 months). This is the best part of 5K training. It almost feels lazy!

My proprioceptive cue this week was "Running Against a Wall." This one is closely related to last week's "Falling Forward" cue. For running against a wall, imagine that there is a moving wall right in front of your nose. If you lean forward too much or overstride, you are going to hit the wall with your knees and feet. If you lean forward at the ankles, per the falling forward cue, you can create a little more room for your stride so that you won't hit the imaginary wall in front of you. According to Brain Training For Runners, this cue will  help with developing a more compact stride and correcting overstriding. But I also felt it helped me to generate more thrust with each contact with the ground. My thighs were more engaged basically when I concentrated on this cue.

This week I recovered quickly from my plyometric workout; unlike last week, where plyo had me sore for 5 days! I did my first speed workout in this training cycle--a fartlek run with 10 x 20-second sprints at an intended 6:00 pace. But I way overshot and ran them at about 5:15. My Garmin just isn't sensitive enough to pick up pace changes for 20 seconds, and clearly I don't know what a 6:00 pace feels like yet. As my intervals get longer, hopefully my Garmin will help me out more, and I'll get a sense for what these faster paces feel like. 


I also ran the Coronado Rotary Club Low Tide Ride and Stride race on Sunday. This was a very cool race,  and I'll write a dedicated post later in the week. 

Monday (6/18): Plyometric workout.

Tuesday (6/19): 5.0 miles at base pace (8:13) plus 6 x 8 second hill sprints at maximum effort, Balboa Park.

Wednesday (6/20): 30 minutes of elliptical intervals (2 minutes on/1 minute recoveries); core strength workout; yoga.

Thursday (6/21): Fartlek run, 4 miles with 10 x 20 seconds at 5:15 pace "sprinkled in," Balboa Park.

Friday (6/22): Complete rest.

Saturday (6/23): 6.34 miles at base pace (8:20), San Dieguito Lagoon.

Sunday (6/24): Coronado Rotary Club Low Tide Ride and Stride Race, 8.2 miles from Imperial Beach to Coronado. 55:39 (6:48 average pace). 3rd place female; 12th place overall. 

Coronado Low Tide Ride and Stride: The bikes are off...waiting at the starting line at Imperial Beach.

LR#2

Kristen

Week 1 of 10: LR#2's Summer of 5K

This was week 1 of my 10 week 5K training program. Even though my race distance is now 3.1 miles, I still want to keep the distance fitness in my legs, so I am going to fit in a 8-10+ miler at least every two weeks. Justification: I don't want to have to slowly build up mileage again, a frustrating process I've witnessed LR#1 go through in coming back from injuries! And I always want to be ready to run a half marathon; you just never know!

I also need to work on my running form. I have a loopy right foot. It swings sideways a little bit, as captured here during the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January 2012:

That right toe is going to loop around in a little arc, instead of proceeding in a straight plane like it is supposed to! How do I know? Penny and I filmed each other running, so nerdy, right?! So I am throwing in some gait correction work into my training. This week I worked on the first of the proprioceptive cues for improving running form discussed in Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald. Proprioception is the sense of the position of one's body. (The field sobriety test in the case of a DWI is test of proprioception.) 

This week's proprioceptive cue was falling forward: while I ran, I thought about leaning forward from the ankles, ever so slightly. Thinking about this cue helps to correct over-striding/heal-striking. I have been working on the falling forward cue for a few months actually, and I think it has helped me to land my feet more squarely under my body for fairly consistent mid-foot strike.

Weeks 1 and 2 of my 10 week training plan are introductory. I have a good aerobic fitness base from half marathon training, so I am using this time to strengthen my legs for running faster. So my key workouts are plyometrics, a speed workout, and my long run. 

I was SOOOO sore from my plyo workout on Tuesday--in my legs and core! Thursday was supposed to be my first speed workout, but I was still smoked from plyo! So instead I did a no-impact workout on the elliptical. I was even feeling the plyo workout a little bit on Saturday before I ran the Philip Rivers 5K, which I raced to benchmark my fitness at this distance.

Monday (6/11): 3.5 miles easy through Balboa Park plus 4 x 8-second hill sprints.

Tuesday (6/12): Plyometric workout.

Wednesday (6/13): 4 miles recovery run in Solana Beach.

Thursday (6/14): 30 minutes elliptical intervals, upper body strength workout; yoga.

Friday (6/14): Complete rest.

Saturday (6/15): Philip Rivers 5K race. Official time: 19:53. Average Pace 6:24. 38 place overall; 4th female overall; 3 of 248 in age group F30-34. Plus 1 mile warmup pre-race and 2.5 miles post-race easy.

Sunday (6/16): 8.5 miles, my default long run route--from Solana Beach to Swami's and back.

Routes on my RunKeeper page.

Trail in Liberty Station

LR#2
Kristen