Speed Workouts & Cambridge, 1!

So I've been thinking about my half marathon PR (miss my recap, check it out here) and I'm pretty sure I was able to score that PR by all that speed I've been doing in my training.  I'm pretty much obsessed with speed workouts, they make the grind of the treadmill mileage go by faster and its so fun.  Maybe it's because I was a sprinter, but I just love seeing how fast I can go.  And in these workouts, I definitely hold back at the beginning because for me, it's all about getting faster on each interval.

I've written training plans for Theodora, Bridget, Bianca and Elina and I'm such a believer in the workouts I provide.  I am proof that doing speed workouts will help you get faster, so if you are interested in doing some speed, email me!  I can write you a plan or forward you my workouts.

I did my Speed Workout over lunch yesterday.  I've had trouble waking up this week because of my throat so I had to go over lunch (which is really hard because I end up taking a long time).  Now I usually do speed on Tuesdays but my legs didn't feel right after the half so I just did an easy run and pushed speed off until Thursday. If you are a new reader, I get my speed workouts from a local running club who adapts them from the BAA.  On tap today was 6X800s.

Suggested workout:

6-8 x800m (1:30 RI) (RI=Rest Interval)

(the marathon plan suggests 8x800 this week, but I would recommend that most people do 6 of them for a total of 3 miles of ‘speed’.

The recovery is timed this week, and is relatively short.  You can do any combination of walking / very slow jog / just resting for that duration of time.  (e.g. walk till you catch your breath, then slow jog for the remainder of one lap would be about the right time duration, or you might want to walk out and back a bit and then stop and grab a drink of water).

Because I do my speed on the treadmill, I just put my feet on the sides during the 1.5 min rest and drink water.  The 1.5 min walk ended up being about 300 meters.  So not much time so this was tough. As I've mentioned before, I measure distance on the treadmill and time on my watch.

**I've heard from people that they run their recovery too fast or don't "rest" during the RI.  It is CRUCIAL for you to rest or jog VERY slowly during the RI so you can recover for the actual speed portion of the workout!  Some of my workouts have timed recoveries - like this one, and some have distance recoveries.  When I have a distance recovery, like a 400 (.25 mile), I walk at 3.0mph for 200 and then jog VERY slowly for the remaining.  I also drink water and jog down my times in my Runners journal during this time***

Here's what I did:

1 mile warmup 6.2mph everything at .50incline

800/.50 at 7.5mph 3:59

1.5 minute rest

800/.50 at 7.6-7.8mph 3:52

1.5 minute rest

800/.50 at 7.8-7.9mph 3:47

1.5 minute rest

800/.50 at 7.9-8.0mph 3:41

1.5 minute rest

800/.50 at 8.0-8.3mph 3:38

1.5 minute rest

800/.50 at 8.3-8.9mph 3:28

1.5 minute walk

.75 mile cooldown at 6.2mph

6 miles/52 minutes/8:41 pace

And on that note- my recap of March is up on my 2011 Training tab.  I ran 103.29 miles in March.  Kinda light if you are training for a marathon, but I didn't find out I was running until I was already into March!

Last night, Kimmy, Becky and myself met over at Cambridge, 1 in Fenway to meet the Manager, test out the food and check out the venue for our event on April 16th: The Boston Marathon Blogger Meet-Up.  Unfortunately, we talked each others faces off for 3 hours so I didn't get many pictures.  Luckily google images was here to help. (Jayne did you take these pictures?)

 Cambridge, 1 is located right in Fenway area on Boylston.  We walked over from the Fenway stop on the D line and it was about a 5-10 minute walk. I hope to see many of you running bloggers at the event in 16 days!

The venue has a huge bar and lots of tables.  It also has an area for us to hang out in and all meet each other. The speciality at Cambridge, 1 is their vast selection of flatbread pizzas.  It's really delicious.

 We ordered 3 half size pizzas.

Kimmy liked it!

 Bloggers in action : )

 In other news, when I came home, my new running shoes had been delivered.  I scored these Asics 2150s for $57 bucks + shipping.  Yes you read that correctly.  Order your shoes today from Holabird Sports! Thanks Corey for suggesting them!

Oh, in other news, I had to shovel this morning.  Wet, disgusting, heavy snow.  I have a long run planned this weekend but I think I'm postponing it until Sunday.

Do you do Speed Workouts? Have you been to Cambridge, 1?