Saturday, October 11, 2008

With Everything I Had

Marathon Plan - Regressive Countdown - Week Eight
10/06/08 - 10/12/08
Week Total: 32.5

For my standards, I ran this week With Everything I Had.

My speed work (intervals and tempo) where done till exhaustion. Both were around of 6 miles so, I decided to complete a 10K distance and measure how I did on each.

The intervals work consisted of 4 sets (1 mile, RI of 0.25, 2 miles, RI of 0.5, and two half miles with RI of 0.25). The speed pace was between 10 min/mile and 8:34 min/mile. The RI were done walking and jogging at 12 min/mile. The 1oK time was 1:03:27. The tempo consisted of 1 mile easy, 4 miles at mid-tempo, and 1 mile easy. To challenge on getting better times than the intervals, I did 5 miles at mid-t
empo for a 10K of 1:02:23. My legs on Thursday felt the work. I did challenge myself big time.

On Saturday the big try. A 20-miler planned on a 11:30 pace. The day was gorgeously sunny, with the most beautiful blue sky. Not a single cloud. Cold as cold could be for Fall. 42F. The run was going to be a "see what happens". Trying to keep the paces I had for my two previous weeks of 13.1 and 16.2, did not go that well. The tempo work really left my legs tired. The average pace was 12:07 for 4h 03m 15s, but still these numbers were a great hit. Three weeks ago I ran the same distance 20.1 mile in 4h 37m 00. This is an improvement of 1:4o min/mile for a total of 34 minutes!!!!

The first five miles were better than last week where I battled the wind, but after mile 6 my legs were asking for help. At mile 14.1 I stopped by my car and sat there for a couple of minutes. I felt absolutely destroyed. I thank that it did not occur to me to quit because I would've. The thought was just not there. I was just recharging myself. After shutting the car door I said to myself, come on, 7 more miles. At mile 15 I had recovered, improving the pace, but it felt back again. I kept going as I knew that I was doing way better than three weeks ago. At mile 19 I said: Lizzie, you made it, just push it. After finishing I drank a lot of water, and almost collapsed. I indeed ran
With Everything I Had.

Below the splits:

Mile 1 - 10:33
Mile 2 - 10:31
Mile 3 - 11:20 - This is a portion that is run on uneven grass. I dislike it SO MUCH. For some reason when I arrive again to the sidewalk my legs feel it hard.
Mile 4 - 11:15
Mile 5 - 11:19 - The steep hill
Mile 6 - 11:20
Mile 7.1 - 11:53
Mile 8.1 - 13:32 - Stop by my car to pick a bottle of water

Mile 9.1 - 11:37 - Recovering, I felt good here
Mile 10.1 - 13:02 - Same uneven area
Mile 11.1 - 13:25 - Tie my shoelace
Mile 12.1 - 12:22 - Steep hill - Don't know why this pace. It should be slower because I couldn't run part of the hill. I walked it. I may have pushed it after the hill.
Mile 13.1 - 12:25
Mile 14.1 - 14:40 - Stop by my car and sat there for a while. I felt destroyed.
Mile 15.1 - 11:27 - I pushed it here.
Mile 16.1 - 13:02 -
Same uneven area
Mile 17.1 - 12:41
Mile 18.1 - 12:53 - Steep hill, couldn't run it.
Mile 19.1 - 12:40
Mile 20.1 - 12:17

Average pace: 12.07... This is an improvement of 1:4o min/mile for the same distance ran three weeks ago, saving 34 minutes!!!! Last week I also had an improvement of 1.47 min per mile for the same distance ran 3 weeks before... So it seems a PATTERN!!!!

Ten minutes later I was home. I couldn't take a shower, or do anything. I changed my clothes and put on something dry, I crashed in my bed and slept deeply for two hours. It felt good...

Here a graph comparing last 3 long runs (20, 16.2, 13.1) - Same course




7 comments:

Backofpack said...

Wow, good job! That's working hard alright!

No, I won't be running Seattle. I'm running the Ghost the day before instead. Way cheaper, small and fun. Maybe someday I'll do Seattle again, but for now, I like the little ones better. I think Marine Corp is going to overwhelm me with it's size!

MarathonChris said...

Hey there Lizzie Lee - I think you can run in 5:06 and improve your time!!! :-) I know when I did my 5:06 marathon I had idea weather conditions (55 degrees and sunny) was in great shape and everything else was good. So if your training is going as well as mine, there is no reason you can't beat me out in the marathon! :-)

Looking forward to our SoCal run in a couple of weeks!

Susan said...

I am VERY impressed with you! Excellent effort!

Irish Blue said...

Wow, you are making some great progress. Look at you go! Fantastic!!

Marathon Maritza said...

Great job on your 20-miler! Awesome!

ShirleyPerly said...

Wow, only one day in between a tempo run and a long run and you knock off 1:47 off your 20-mile run pace -- Lizzie, that's just terrific!!

Sounds like you are on your way to a new PR to me. Keep up the great work!

CewTwo said...

What a push! Great training! I do hope that it succeeds for you! The way that you are applying yourself, it should. Congratulations.

Do you want your blog added to the runningmates.blogspot.com (What's a Few Miles Among Friends?) website? If so, I don't know how to do that, but I will ask ShirleyPerly to do it. Please be patient!

Charlie