Weekly Workout Summary

Okay, so after I concluded that the Run Less, Run Faster program was not for me, my dad finished the book and thought it was great! Not so much the rest days, but the quality runs. Now, don't get me wrong, the program sounds great and I'm sure it works, but my main two issues with the program are:

1.) There are only 3 running days
2.) The program is so specific when it comes to pace, that it is impossible for my dad and I to complete the workouts together because we each have different times.

That being said, my dad and I spent this week trying to arrange our schedules to fit all our workouts in. We still need to rearrange somethings, but I think we are getting there. Right now are goal is to run quality runs, instead of just running a slow 5k when we are too tired to do anything more.

Here is what this past week looked like:

February 14-20

Sunday: Fitness Pilates
Monday: 3.11 (29:00) & Fitness Pilates
Tuesday: 3.50 (30 min, treadmill run) & FIT
Wednesday: 5.09 (8:33 "track workout" 4-400s)
Thursday: FIT
Friday: OFF
Saturday: 5.31 (8:09 - 2 mile tempo run)

Monday was one of those slow 3 milers I referenced above. My parents just got back from Florida the night before, and my dad was tired from traveling. Tuesday was supposed to be a cross training day, so my dad and I headed to the basement to do our cross training together because we belong to different gyms. He rode the stationary bike and I ran on the treadmill. I know you are not supposed to do any weight bearing activities on a cross training day...oops! I will try to fix this next week.

Wednesday is what Run Less, Run Faster refers to as Key Workout #1. It was supposed to be a track workout, (400 repeats w/ a 400 meter RI*) but none of the local tracks were cleared from the latest snow storm, so we attempted the workout on the road. We choose a straight, and mostly flat road in town, which worked pretty well, but my splits were slightly slower because there were cars, pedestrians, etc. to be aware of. I also didn't know exactly where the 400 was finished and had to constantly check my watch. My splits were as follows: 1:33, 1:36, 1:27, 1:28. As you can tell, once I got a feel for where the 400 ended, my time improved. I definitely want to keep Key Workout #1 on the track as much as possible.

Today, we ran our tempo run. We picked a quiet route, with loopy roads so I could go ahead for my 2 mile tempo and loop back around to find my dad when i was finished. This was a great run. I felt refreshed from having taken off from exercise completely yesterday. My legs felt strong the entire time, but it was difficult to breathe in the cold air! We warmed up for 1.5 miles, ran 2 miles @ our designated short tempo pace (according to Run Less, Run Faster) and then cooled down. My 2 mile splits were 6:46 and 6:55. I want to work on getting those splits closer together (something I definitely need to work on.)

Now tomorrow we are supposed to be off or cross train. I plan to go to Pilates in the morning and *hope* to swim a few laps in the pool after class. I have no idea how far I will be able to go, I don't even care if I swim one lap and get out, I just need to get over this fear of looking stupid in the pool. I may go as a guest to my dad's gym so we can swim some laps together and he can help me with my form. Another plus is if I go to his gym I can look silly in front of people I don't have to see again :)

Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday...

Note: All group fitness classes are 1 hour long unless otherwise noted.
*RI= Rest Interval