Friday, April 11, 2014

Week 16 Recap - Speed and Tapering

Last I wrote we just finished our epic 20k training run. We were both quite stiff on our walk home after that and promptly put on our compression socks. Jeff's knee was quite swollen so it was time for lots of rest for him. I did notice some slight pain in my left foot on the inside arch during the last couple of kms of the run but nothing I couldn't handle. 

Monday: Rest Day
The next day my legs felt great and I had tons of energy. Hubby on the other hand had to work and said he was walking around like a zombie. Not surprised since he did increase his mileage by so much. I had the day off and thought I would lounge all day and just be a big bump on a log but I had energy to burn so I did a bunch of housework. When I was standing in the kitchen for a long period of time doing dishes I noticed my arch start to tighten up and hurt again. I have had fallen arches in both feet before from walking for a few hours in flip flops and the pain was similar but not as severe and only on one foot on the outside edge. The pain was alleviated by walking around on my tiptoes. I was only slightly worried and was sure it was only inflamed a bit from such a long run and would be temporary. I took some Motrin and put my foot up as much as I could and it seemed to go away. Thank God!

Tuesday: Yoga
This is the pose we are currently working on.  It's called Koundinyasana. When our teacher first did it we all looked at each other like she was crazy and laughed!! But you know what happens when I set my mind on something! Yep.....one day!



Wednesday: Speed Training at the track, 4 x 800m Intervals
Oh man, I was not looking forward to this workout. We even totally left it to the last minute and didn't head out til around 8pm. I told Hubby to decide if we were going to forego it or not and I thought for sure he would choose to not do it but then last minute he said let's go! Ugh I was mad! 
We hit the track and did about a 5 lap warm up. Then we had to run as fast as we could for 800m, rest for 2 mins then repeat 4 times.
The first 800 felt good and was pretty speedy at 4:17. Jeff said I was flying around the track. I was very winded but onto the next one. The second one was ver consistent at 4:19. But unfortunately after this one I felt like throwing up! I hear that's supposed to be a desired result! Lol! I told Jeff I needed to slow the next one down. The third one was 4:40. Yep definitely slowed down and I was kind of done. I considered calling it a day but I'm not really one to quit so did one more. The last one was 4:31. Picked it up a bit but I was tired! Overall though I was really happy with the times.

Done and done!


Thursday: Yoga
Hubby had work to do so couldn't go to yoga. I decided to just do some yoga at home. It turned out to be a really good workout. We've been doing yoga for about 9 months now and have built up a pretty good knowledge of all the yoga poses. I managed to give myself almost an hour long class and I was sweating up a storm.

I am proud to say I can do almost all of theses poses!


Friday: 8k Moderate Run, Pace 6:58 mins/km
I was supposed to do 11k but had to cut it short because I forgot to put a blister band aid on and didn't bring any water. I had to do this run alone since Hubby worked late and decided he wanted to do bike work and the row machine at a gym since his knee was still tender. 
This was just your average run. I stupidly forgot to put on a blister band aid and I was feeling soreness and rubbing on my one ankle. I didn't want to open a new wound so decided to cut the run short. 

Saturday: Rest Day
I had to work so enough said

Sunday: 11k Hilly, Challenging Run, Pace 7:22 mins/km
So I have been freaking out about the hills for the Whidbey Island 1/2. I can run flat all day long but throw in some long, steep hills and I am worried. It's just not something I am conditioned for. Sure we did our hill repeats but that seems so long ago.
Hubby and I decided we needed to do a long-ish run with lots of hills before the race to see how we would do. Queen Elizabeth Park was the perfect place to do this because it is very hilly, with some fairly step inclines and some flat sections. It turned out to be the perfect choice as it was a beautiful spring day and all the cherry blossom trees were in full bloom.
We warmed up for 2k on a flat section and then headed up the steepest hill in the park. OMG it was hard. We ran up the steepest part but then the incline just continued! I was sucking wind! I had to pull off to a flat section to catch my breath. After near death, we continued on. After the run was challenging but doable. Any hills during our training are repeats and not continuous runs so this was a good test of our stamina and a great workout. It was good to go outside of our comfort zone. I have to say I do love a good downhill though so that is the only good thing about hills. 
We did stop a few times to take pics, catch our breath and we ran into a friend. Jeff paused the Garmin for some of the stops but not all of them so I was pretty pleased with our time considering how challenging this was for me. At one point about 8k in, we were trying to decide which direction to head next - there was a flat winding path and a really steep hill, I chose the winding path but something crazy came over me when we were near the hill and I decided to try the hill. Hubby was totally shocked, I think I was too but I did it without stopping! Anyways we finished up 11k and feel slightly less intimidated by the upcoming hilly race route!
We treated ourself to ice cream after! 




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