three things thursday
1. Good morning, everyone! I got back on the bike this morning for the second time since the race and I'm just so happy about it. It was sunny, windy, chilly, and fabulous, and I got to catch up on 45 minutes of chit-chat with my bicycle partner in crime. I also managed to take our picture without crashing:
How cute are we? Yes, I only remembered to bring one eyeball with me. I love fall riding. Actually, I love all riding. It just makes me happy. I think I need want a new helmet though, a sexy red/white/black one to match all the rest of my cycling stuffs.
2. I bought a pair of Asics last week and have run in them a few times now, and they are damn near perfect. Which leads me to ask...why did I even switch away from them in the first place? No idea, stop asking stupid questions. I'm going to keep switching them out with the Ravenna in hopes that I can move into a lighter stability shoe, but my legs are real happy about the 2160. They are less than thrilled about the return to speed work. Hush, legs, I'm being careful, I promise it will be okay.
3. Disclaimer: I have a lot of theories about things, and I'm usually wrong. However, in thinking about my half marathon training last spring, I've come up with a theory. I was running 4 days a week: interval workout, tempo workout, long run, recovery run. That meant that the ratio of easy:hard weekly mileage was something like 4:25 (I count the long run as a "hard" workout because a) it is and 2) I was doing start-slow-finish-fast long runs, so I would start around a 10-minute-pace and drop to high 7s). This means I really only had one "easy" run per week - which for some people, might be fine, but I'm starting to think wasn't right for me. I think that I would have actually done myself a favor by adding a fifth day of very easy running in that cycle - maybe 4-5 miles at a recovery pace.
All this means is for the next few weeks, I've decided that I'm only going to do one track workout a week - tempo was recommended by the brain trust so tempo is what I will do - and will make the rest of my weekly miles very easy. I will split those miles into four days instead of three so I won't really increase my weekly mileage, just spread it out differently. (Side note: I've been running four days a week consistently for three months now, so this isn't a huge stretch.) I know that I won't bounce back into my fast as quickly as if I had two speed workouts a week, but I'm hoping that having more easy miles and shorter runs will make my body happy, and I think it's the right thing to do for right now. It's all a process.
What do you think? I should be a scientist? I have no idea what I'm talking about? I really don't need a new helmet? Let me have it.
2. I bought a pair of Asics last week and have run in them a few times now, and they are damn near perfect. Which leads me to ask...why did I even switch away from them in the first place? No idea, stop asking stupid questions. I'm going to keep switching them out with the Ravenna in hopes that I can move into a lighter stability shoe, but my legs are real happy about the 2160. They are less than thrilled about the return to speed work. Hush, legs, I'm being careful, I promise it will be okay.
3. Disclaimer: I have a lot of theories about things, and I'm usually wrong. However, in thinking about my half marathon training last spring, I've come up with a theory. I was running 4 days a week: interval workout, tempo workout, long run, recovery run. That meant that the ratio of easy:hard weekly mileage was something like 4:25 (I count the long run as a "hard" workout because a) it is and 2) I was doing start-slow-finish-fast long runs, so I would start around a 10-minute-pace and drop to high 7s). This means I really only had one "easy" run per week - which for some people, might be fine, but I'm starting to think wasn't right for me. I think that I would have actually done myself a favor by adding a fifth day of very easy running in that cycle - maybe 4-5 miles at a recovery pace.
All this means is for the next few weeks, I've decided that I'm only going to do one track workout a week - tempo was recommended by the brain trust so tempo is what I will do - and will make the rest of my weekly miles very easy. I will split those miles into four days instead of three so I won't really increase my weekly mileage, just spread it out differently. (Side note: I've been running four days a week consistently for three months now, so this isn't a huge stretch.) I know that I won't bounce back into my fast as quickly as if I had two speed workouts a week, but I'm hoping that having more easy miles and shorter runs will make my body happy, and I think it's the right thing to do for right now. It's all a process.
What do you think? I should be a scientist? I have no idea what I'm talking about? I really don't need a new helmet? Let me have it.