Monday 9 September 2013

Speed work.

Last night Wayne and I headed out to the windfarm for our run, the sun was quite strong but thankfully there was a mild breeze that kept the midges at bay.
We decided to do a speed run, I'm not sure of the correct term for it but basically after a gentle warm up run we used the markers along the windfarm to pick up the pace a couple of times and then drop back to a casual run.
Neither of us being experts on this technique made it a bit of a hit and miss method though, I don't think Wayne gave me enough time to warm up at the easy run at the beginning - less than 1/2mile, and I hadn't really got my breathing where I needed it to be for any kind of speedwork and controlling my breathing is a must for me as I have asthma (though only induced by exercise, colds or hayfever).
The first time we hit a mark and he told me to pick up the pace a bit I managed that ok, then he told me to increase again at the next mark and to keep on his shoulder but you have to understand Wayne has such a long leg stride compared to my short stroppy stride that there was just no way I could get to his shoulder. At the next mark he then said we were to sprint to another marker. Well, as far as I was concerned I already was sprinting but I gave it a shot and had a go at lengthening my stride the way my daughter runs, this gave me a bit more bounce than I was used to and definitely helped me with the sprint. We continued doing this for about 3k and at one point Wayne asked if I wanted to stop for a minute (think my loud breathing worried him lol) but I'd stopped for a breather a bit back so felt I should continue.
At the 3k mark we turned round and headed back but I told Wayne I wasn't doing speedwork like that on the way back because there were some inclines and if I lose the control of my breathing on them then I'd panic and give up - instead we ran at a steady pace, not too slow but not a sprint either. We made no stops on the way back but the GPS shows some so I can only assume it was when we had to cross the cattle grids.


I've noticed this graph shows less spikes than usual so I assume this means we kept a pretty even pace?
Judging by the time we're running at the moment and the fact that I felt as though I could continue another 4k at the end of this 6k I'm pretty sure we're going to be on time for the 1hr 15 min that we want to do the 10k run in on Sunday. The aim is then for me to improve the run time 2 weeks later at our next 10k.

Last night was my first time out in the new Mizuno trainers too. I have to say I didn't feel a tremendous new ability to run faster which I had secretly hoped I would BUT I didn't feel any pain either, I got no blisters AND one foot only began to go numb at about the 5k mark - usually they both go numb at about 2k and it makes running difficult.
I still think I would have been better purchasing a 6 or a 6.5 though rather than a 7 (I will remember Mizuno run true to size next time I purchase) but I don't feel the larger size hindered my running in any way and in fact the extra width was most welcome.

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