So after Coach John sent me my workout for today I thought maybe he was losing it and forgot I was training for a 1/2 marathon. I usually try to do at least 5-7 miles for my Saturday or Sunday run. He tells me I am going to do 2 miles at 85% effort which means I should be at about a 7:40-8:10 pace. I thought to myself, that sounds easy enough! I am under strict orders not to sneak in any extra miles, but I was tempted to do that before my 2 mile tempo run. However, I did not give into the temptation and I warmed up with some groiners, good mornings, hollow rocks, and squats. Then I took off for an out and back 2 mile run. Ha! Easy right? Not! I started out a little fast around a 6:50-7:00 pace. Once I hit my first down hill interestingly enough my pace slowed down. I was actually faster on the uphills. I think my effort level was closer to 95%. After that first mile I was really happy I didn't have to hold that pace for another 5-10 miles. When it comes to CrossFit, we believe in making every second of your training count. The high intensity and mental preparation to finish a short challenging workout on any given day is what prepares our muscles and cardiovascular system to take on challenges we are training for, or surprise us! You never know when you might have to be strong enough to escape a challenging situation quickly, chase a child when their breaks failed on the bike, or have the energy to protect yourself!
I concentrated on keeping a high cadence, opening up my chest, and relaxing the shoulders. When I see photos or video of myself running it appears my upper body and arms are swinging all over the place. I believe swinging my upper body around like that wastes energy and can also throw off your form.
Time: 15:34 (7:46 Pace)
Scores:
Soreness:2
Fatigue:2
Mood:2
Awesome job! One of the reasons you probably felt so taxed is because you were a whole MINUTE faster on the first mile than we were aiming for :-D. Remember, pacing is key. You actually finished right around where we thought you would though. Had you run more of an even split, I think you would've found you would've CRUSHED that 2nd mile.
ReplyDeleteNice pace! Something that I've learned about tempo runs is that they should feel comfortably hard so I usually use a HR monitor to keep myself in check. I'm also a little surprised that your coach wouldn't allow a warmup mile. In any event it looks like you are getting a lot faster! Nice job out there!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I should have worn my HR monitor. I'm going to do that next time. Thank you for sharing that! I don't think that my coach would have minded if I used the warm up mile as an opportunity to do a little skill work or dynamic warm up. We do warm up miles all the time in CrossFit. When we warm up we try to get the whole body ready, not just the muscles we will use when we run. It is a holistic approach. But, again strides and short runs are definitely part of that. Thank you for reading my blogs!
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing wrong with a mile warm up, except there are far better ways to actually get your system ready to perform a tempo run or maximal effort run; we want to ensure the CNS is ready to go.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to heart rate, our tempos are programmed at a much higher % of maximal effort (85-95%) as opposed to a more traditional tempo, normally 60-70% or so, so for our purposes heart rate monitoring isn't going to do a whole lot.
I'm really interested in learning more about the CrossFit holistic approach. Your blog has taught me so much already!
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