Friday, July 19, 2013

Favorite Things Friday!

I'm in the mood for a favorite things Friday!

1. Running through my neighbor's sprinklers like a ninja at the end of a SUPER SWEATY run.

2. Reading this book about this crazy guy (did you know Dean Karnazes once ran 100 miles through the night to a marathon, got there 5 minutes before the start, and then ran the marathon in 3:15????? Whaaaat!?)

3. Seeing the moon outside at night.

4. Stripey shirts:


5. An air-conditioned room at the end of a hot day.

6. Watching Cake Boss on Netflix before bed (oh yeah wild night life for meeee). 

7. Knowing I'll be seeing some of my best friends in the whole world tomorrow for a crew reunion (or crew-union?) and bfast! YAAAAYYY!




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Today's run was 35 minutes including a warm-up, 3 tempo miles, and a short cool-down. It was hard but GREAT! I waited until it was just getting dark and it was (only) 81 degrees and 80% humidity--almost chilly compared to the day-time high temperatures lately! This weekend should bring a cooler front and plenty of opportunity for outdoor activity.

Every time I do a successful tempo run I feel like I need to push it just as hard the next day. However, it's important to really make your hard workouts sparse--it's recommended that you do them no more than 15-20% of your runs! This means I should only do tempo-work or speedwork ONCE a week because I usually run 5-6 times per week and cross-train rest on the other days. It's hard for me to get this into my mind...EASY runs feel like they're just not hard enough work! However, I need to remind myself of why I need to do easy runs. They'll make my tempo-work faster and more meaningful and keep me healthier! They're very important. Plus, easy runs can still be "hard" in different ways; you can add mileage to these runs. For example, I might do an easy run but stay out for over an hour, or try to do 8 slow miles or something. I like to do this with my easy runs because it still makes a challenge within them. However, all easy runs shouldn't be turned into long runs. You've got to rest! Personally, I think I might benefit more from running only 4 days a week and cross-training in between. I'll probably adapt this method when I go back to school. For now, I can't stop! Here's a really helpful video on explaining why easy runs are important.




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