Happy Tuesday! I love Tuesday because it’s always a fun running day for me.
It’s Speed Tuesday! I have a standing date with my aunt and my favorite treadmill. Every week we get together for some challenging miles, while we catch up on life.
It’s a good time, but these runs require some planning.
And I’m the crazy planner! Yes, I write my plan on notebook paper and bring it along for the run. I like to be prepared.
When I write out my plan, I actually follow it. Most of the time, I’m a “run for fun” kind of girl, but once a week, I really like to push my limits. I love how that feels.
To create a solid plan, I use many of my favorite running resources.
Magazines:
Books:
- Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide – Hal Higdon
- Run Less, Run Faster – Bill Pierce, Scott Murr, and Ray Moss
- Kara Goucher’s Running For Women
Online Tools:
and I find inspiration on all of my favorite blogs!
Today I turned to my friend, Lizzy, for some ideas. She loves speed work and always has fun new workouts to try. She gave me an outline and I ran with it (how punny). I used the tables from Run Less, Run Faster to help me determine paces that would work for me. It was time to get sweaty.
Total Distance: 5 miles
I started with a one mile warm up before I hit the speedy intervals.
- Interval 1 – 1200m – 7.6 mph (7:54/mi)
- Interval 2 – 1000m – 7.8 mph (7:42/mi)
- Interval 3 – 800m – 7.9 mph (7:36/mi)
- Interval 4 – 600m – 8.0 mph (7:30/mi)
- Interval 5 – 400m – 8.2 mph (7:19/mi)
After each interval, I recovered with a quarter mile run at 6.0 mph. I definitely was ready for the cool down at the end.
The run went exactly as planned. It was not easy, but it was the kind of run that builds strength. The humid, pollen-filled air made it difficult to breathe easy, but I knew I had it in me and I was prepared for the challenge.
What are you favorite running resources? Books, magazines, websites, and friends – they’re all such valuable tools!
Do you plan your workouts or do you like to wing it? I always have some sort of plan. Even if the plan is to go easy, I still have a plan.
