Okay, so back in high school I played field hockey and our coach always made us do fartleks, which were one of the drills that I liked (that and Indian sprints, though I don't know if that is PC these days...). I have a training log on Runnersworld.com and I saw an article about fartleks and it brought back memories of field hockey days.
I've been running now for about two months, and while I started on the tread mill, after the 5-mile road race, I said bye bye to the treadmill. However, I know the treadmill is a good surface to run on, so I found a track here in town at the University football stadium and I went there for the first time on Sunday. The plan was to do fartleks.
Now in high school, a fartlek was sprint-jog-walk-sprint. I'm not sure if that is the proper form, but that's what I was going to do. It was only about 9:15 am and so the tempurature hadn't had the chance to go up too much. I walked a warm-up lap and then did a lap where I sprinted-jogged-walked-sprinted around the track and then walked a lap.
I've become used to the normal route I take around my house. It's about two miles, and I try to do that three times a week and I run the whole time. I thought I was making progress, but then when I got to the track and did this drill with sprints, I was a little disappointed! I know training takes a lot of patience, but I was like "I hope I'm in better shape than that!"
Just makes me realize I need to not just get the miles in, but now it's time to run just a bit faster and run a bit longer. I think I worry that since I'm overweight, I don't want to stress out my bones, joints and muscles before my body is realistically ready to deal with that kind of stress. Either way, I'm still psyched that I'm making progress. I know my run today will be improved even though the fartleks were hard.
It is however, very hot again today. On Sunday when we got back from the track at about 10:30 it was already 95 degrees. It's been like that all week. That makes it really hard to get out and run, but as long as I know my limits, I think it'll be okay.
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"I always loved running... it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs." -Jesse Owens
About Me
- Andria
- I love to run. I love to knit. I try to balance those two loves with raising my daughter, being a good wife and step-mom, and figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.
Marathon
At mile 20 I thought I was dead.
At mile 22 I wished I was dead.
At mile 24 I knew I was dead.
At mile 26.2 I realized I had become too tough to kill.
At mile 22 I wished I was dead.
At mile 24 I knew I was dead.
At mile 26.2 I realized I had become too tough to kill.
3 comments:
Okay, while I am absolutely NO EXPERT on running and I still think that the people that run for fun are in a whole different category then the rest of us, here's a tip I've learned in the Marine Corps over the last 14 years as I have aged and I have to keep up with the youngsters of 18 and 19 year olds when I am the one of the "Old Folks". Sprints are awesome, it's how you really improve your run. You should only do them once a week and when you get in better shape, twice a week, you should hurt so badly for 3 or 4 days after doing them you can barely walk. You sprint the turns of the track and jog the straight a ways. Then once a week you should do a long run (as you get closer to your goal, your long run will be longer and longer) right now it's probably going to be 6 or 7 miles. The rest of the times you run (hopefully a total of 4 to 6 times a week) it should be a shorter run - right now it's probably 2 or 3 miles but before you know it 8 or 10 miles. Good Luck and it's an awesome goal to have and I'm sorry to say that you'll never see me running a marathon but I am an EXCELLENT motivator so should you find yourself lacking motivation, let me know!!!
My theory is this..........
"It is better to undertrain and be healthy than overtrain and attempt to run injured"
The key will be to stretch, and stretch, and stretch some more.
If you are going to run a marathon in January you will need to build up to at least one 18 mile run prior to the event.
"Pressure is nothing more than the shadow of great opportunity."
- Michael Johnson
It's funny that you said that Tracie, because after the sprints I was sore for three days. I'm covinced that the sprints are helpful, so I look forward to doing some more, but hopefully not in 95 degree weather!
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