Days Four and Five!

Week one almost over and feels good so far!!

Okay so Day Four was a flexible day where you can either take the day off if you really need it, or do some cross-training. That pretty must means anything but running to work your other muscles. Swimming and cycling are two suggestions along with cross-fit. I'll try to change it up when I can to keep my muscles guessing but for this day I chose cross-fit.
I did about an hour altogether and the 60 minutes entailed some light to moderate jump rope for warm up and then a abs routine that involved a series of different abs exercises, 50 reps a set and after two sets of exercises you rev up your heart rate a little more with 2 minutes of any form of cardio that gets your heart pumping. This could be more jump rope, high knees, running on the spot, jumping jacks...your choice. I went with high knees this time.
It was just enough for me to feel energized and not burned out after. Just waiting for those abs to start showing up already...hrmph.

Day Five (today) was my Speedwork day and I have never done this before in my life. Today's training session I had to do solo which almost made me not want to do it...but I figured that would be pretty sissy of me so I got up bright and early and hit the track by 7:15. Speedwork on a Sunday does seem a little blasphemous though. :P

I wasn't terribly hungry this morning (probably due to my 4AM snack attack) so I lightened up my breakfast just a little. (By the way you can enlarge photos slightly if you click on 'em)

This was plain yogurt, whey protein, a sliced banana sprinkled with cinnamon and since I wasn't feeling for anything bulky I substituted the granola for some chopped pecans for good fats.
The tea is pure Chinese white tea.








Sooo I showed up at the track all on my lonesome with my timer in hand, dufflebag stocked with water, a protein shake, a granola, face wash and an extra pair of shorts. (Hush. I'm terrified of this GI thing I tell you!! Not risking a THING! Haha!) I used to run this track in school and funnily enough it seemed much bigger and daunting now. But I showed up so I may as well get busy.

(This is the last turn before the finish line. Relief!)


I started with a stretch while a few other early birds made their way around the track. Once my joints felt oiled I started with a 10 minute light warm up jog...and then the work began.






Today's agenda was to run 1000 meters at a pretty hard pace but not maximum effort. I was to run this distance five times with two minutes of rest in between and record my time. I tried to work out how much time I should be expecting from myself from the pace calculator from runnersworld.com. They said :

Speedwork Times:
400s--HMP, minus 75 seconds, divided by 4
800s--HMP, minus 65 seconds, divided by 2
1600s--HMP, minus 45 seconds

So okay I'm running 1000s so...HMP (my Half Marathon Pace) minus 55 seconds? I was kind of confused as I am not really sure what my HMP is but I remembered from the calculations in the last post that my speedwork training pace should be 6:49 min/mile. So I was expecting to do these intervals in 6-7 minutes.
Well I was wrong. In a good way!

My times for today were:
1st 1000m: 4.49 mins
2nd 1000m: 5.09 mins
3rd 1000m: 5.10 mins
4th 1000m: 5.00 mins
5th 1000m: 5.00 mins

I'm confident that I didn't push too hard because I was able to talk normally once I had completed the distances and once the 2 minute rest was almost over I felt geared and ready for another round. I won't lie and say by the third 1000m I wasn't counting down the meters and needed a little mental coaxing but after each set, seeing that I was doing pretty well keeping the pace even throughout, that was encouragement enough to get through all five. I was also thrilled that I went faster on the last two. Yay endurance!

So once I finished that I ended with a 10 minute cool down jog, washed my face and guzzled my favourite Myoplex Lite protein shake:



Drinking these post workout is the only time I don't get that 'ugh dairy' feeling after having milk. Which is great because that's the last thing you want when you're feeling like a war hero after running. Hee hee.










All in all was another great day to be running though it did get VERY hot near the end of the session despite the early hour. I kind of regretted my decision to wear heavy, black sweatpants. I also had to try not to step on my little running partner. He's a little slow but...he did his best.








Went home, showered and spent a little quality time with my cat Brando. Nothing like a little fuzzy snuggle after a hard workout.






<3










Oh yes, and today's lunch is a hearty black bean soup with corn, broccoli, tomato, red pepper and soy.














Also very excited as tonight is vegetarian night at a friends and I'm making Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut soup! Today is shaping up to be a great Sunday!!

We're-a watchin' yous. Thanks for following! ;)