Finally, three weeks later, I was able to do my first running workout. It had been ten weeks since the last time I went FAST! Jer gave me a fartlek, 5 x 2 minutes on/1 minute off. I had been doing all my runs on grass, but I convinced him to let me do my fast parts on the track because I was curious to see exactly how fast I was going. I ended up average 5:25-5:35 pace for the 2 minutes on segements. I did the minute recoveries on the grass. I was extremely gassed on the last few, but I can’t begin to describe how amazing it felt to move my legs again, to feel my lungs working that hard, and to just be on the track putting one foot in front of the other again.
My next workout was nearly a week later, a three mile tempo at 6:30-6:40 pace. I was really nervous going into this one. To me it was going to be a true testament to what kind of shape I was in after taking soooo much time off. It was also going to show if all that time I spent cross training actually did anything. It was a really muggy day, so I was crossing my fingers that I could even hit the prescribed goal pace; usually my asthma is so bad on humid days. I get started and end up hitting the 200m in 43 (5:45-ish pace) and knew that I’d be ok. I slowed it down and hit 6:13, 6:13, 6:09 for the three consecutive 1600’s. Needless to say I was ecstatic with how the workout went. This is basically what I would consider a good workout after coming back from a season break (1-1.5 weeks off).
My last big workout was Thursday. It was seven by alternating 1000m’s at 6:00 pace for the fast ones and 7:00 pace for the up-tempo ones. I ended up averaging 6:08 pace for the 7000 meters and worked my fast ones down from 3:39-3:31. It has been the best feeling workout since coming back. No issues breathing and I felt like my old self.
As of now I’m running two to three times a weeks with my mileage being around 12-20 miles per week. We’re focusing more on getting in running workouts rather than mileage right now. So I’ve been supplementing the low mileage with hours and hours of cross training (11-13 hours a week of it). The cross training has been more geared towards swimming and aqua jogging now, since the intensity has gone up with running. I’m still doing a little ellipticalling and exercise biking, but not as much as before.
A lot of other wonderful things have happened over the last month. For one, my midget twin/bff recently got engaged to the sweetest guy in Fort Worth. Will and Lizzie are the kindest people and I’m so excited to see them venture into marriage. Oh and that isn’t the only exciting life event that happened to Lizzie recently, just a few weeks ago she qualified for the 2016 Olympic Trials! She ran an impressive 2:42 at the Chicago Marathon. So proud of her!!
The last piece of running news comes from my assistant coaching world. The men and women's teams at Trinity captured their second consecutive conference titles!! Last year the ladies made history by running a perfect score (finishing 1-2-3-4-5). This year they decided to repeat that difficult feat! In the men’s race we knew Colorado College would be our toughest competition. The entire race it was as close as it could be. Well we ended up winning by ONE point! IT was a great day to be a Trinity Tiger!! We just got back from Regionals on Sunday and our ladies won the team title for the second straight year. We’re headed to Indiana tomorrow for the 2013 NCAA Division III National Championships! The girls are actually racing on the SAME course Liz and I ran on our senior year where we placed sixth overall as a team. The team this year is just as driven and is in a great position to make Trinity and SCAC history!
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| TUXC - 2013 SCAC Champions! |
