Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Training



I haven't talked about running lately. I'm still running. Here's my training schedule.

I've registered for a 10-miler in April (The Chardonnay run) and my 2nd half marathon in May (the Wine Country Half)...hm...seems to be a wine theme, even though I don't plan on drinking. I LOVE wine, but not after running 10-13 miles.

I'm all geared up with new running shoes, my new Garmin 305 (great for tracking mileage) and a case of Gu (thanks to Monica and Pete). My 8-mile pace has been around 10:15 to 10:20/mile. My best pace at this distance was the 8.3 mile leg I ran in the marathon, at 9:50.

My goal for these two races is to finish one of them on an average 10:00/mile or better. Really, my primary goal is to finish and not be in severe pain, and not to injure myself. It may sound silly, but I am turning 40 this year, and I don't have a runner's build. For me to do that I have to work pretty hard at training, stretching, yoga. I have to be careful about my hips and my hamstrings. Despite running regularly since this time last year, and being at a long run of 8 miles/ week for months, I still have issues with my heart rate. My resting heart rate is the lowest its ever been, at 59 bpm. But when I run, my heart rate gets to be 190+ pretty easily when I aim for 10:00 miles or better.

But if I could do that AND beat 10:00, that would be great. So I am incorporating more pace runs (intervals) and tempo runs (race pace) into my week. I am still sticking to 3 runs/week.

3 comments:

Joanne said...

The schedule looks great!

Have you heard of hte Marathon du Medocque (not sure if that's how you spell it) in France? Basically there are wine stops instead of Gu stops along the course! People run it for fun more than to race it. I would LOVE to participate someday...just for the experience.

Good luck with your training! I know you can do it!

Marcia said...

I have not heard of wine stops in a race, yikes! But I have heard of marathons with beer. My boss is a big marathoner (I think he's doing NY this year), he's done one or two with beer.

Anonymous said...

You and I are very similiar! Both turning forty-both non runner bodies-both having troubles with hips and hamstrings-very strange!!!
Good luck on your 10 miler.....
Let us know how it goes for you.
Have a good night!