Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Re-invigorated

After successfully meeting my personal goals in the Eugene Half-Marathon on Sunday, I have been feeling re-invigorated and more motivated than before.

At Masters swim practice yesterday, I did a 600m warm-up (200m freestyle, 200m breast, 200m back) followed by 4x50m kicking w/ fins. I felt really good so I decided to give a strong preformance rather than take it easy as I had originally planned.

The plan as written on the board:
400m - 400m
300m - 300m
200m - 200m
100m - 100m
First Moderate - Second Faster

Coach Bob further clarified his expectations for the workout and thankfully, modified the sets for my lane: 12 lengths twice, 9 lengths twice, 6 lengths twice, and finally 3 lengths twice (the 50m pool was set at 25m as it has been all winter - so one length was 25m - thus, our sets were 300m, 225, 150, and 75).

During the 300m sets, I went 2nd behind George. He is a strong swimmer - the fastest in my lane. I managed to keep up with him and complete all 12 lengths. When I touched the wall on the final length, the other 3 swimmers were already there. I was a bit confused and asked if I hadn't counted wrong - I hadn't - apparantly, they had all dropped the last 2 lengths. They did the same thing during the 225s. I didn't have a problem with this initially because I've had to do the same in past practices.

The problem arised when they decided to go ahead of me (as they normally always have - I've always been quite slow) during the 150s and 75s. I kept having to slow up to avoid bumping into Lee's feet. This was irritating. I was timing my rounds and trying to do the 2nd faster as Coach had requested - difficult for me with the longer rounds but I was certain I could with the shorter distances. During the 2nd 150m, I elected to move to the left slightly and pass the swimmer in front of me if I was able. I did! Coach said to give her a larger lead to avoid catching her, "You may be ready for lane 2." Wow! That was motivating! So, during the 75s, I gave her a larger lead and still manaaged to catch her! Yippee!

300m - 6.11 and 6.25
225m - 4.53 and 5.05
150m - 3.11 and 3.05
75m - 1.28 and 1.28 (2nd wasn't faster because I bonked into George as I was passing Lee and he was doing a cool-down lap - Sorry, George!)

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I printed a new training plan from Runners World, Smart Coach. I used the following criteria to build the plan:

Current race time is: 1:49 for a Half
Current training goal is: Marathon
Currently train: 26-30 miles/week
How hard I want to train: Very Hard
My long-run day: Sunday
Starting: Monday 4/30
Length of training schedule: 16 weeks

Before I ran a marathon, I had originally wanted to run the Circle the Bay run in Coos Bay (home town) .... one of many things I had listed as my "Things to Do Before I Die". This years run is on 8/4, the 15th week of this new 16 week training plan. It is a 30K (18 miles)... so it is totally do-able. Smart Coach doesn't have an training option for a 30K - so I selected Marathon... with the end goal being the 30k. If I can finish the 30K with an 8.20-8.25 pace - I'll know I am ready to attempt the same during a full marathon.

I haven't yet set my eyes on any one in particular. Portland is out (we'll be vacationing at Disneyland) so I'm thinking of Seattle in November, California International in December, or Rock'nRoll Phoenix in January. A lot will depend on my friend, 'Kong', as I'd love to train with her again. Neither of us have run these so we don't know much about them. I'd love to do Phoenix. One of our best friends, 'Kong's' brother-in-law lives there, so it would be fun to get a group friends together for the event and enjoy one-another's company thereafter. California is closer and the couse is mostly downhill. Lillie - is this the course on which you qualified for Boston? Fellow Runner/Bloggers - What are your thoughts?

10 comments:

  1. Nice job on the swim! There are so few people swimming at my gym, I've never even had to share a lane yet :-) Isn't it nice when a good solid half mary comes along and gives us a good shot of perspective? Good luck with your new training plan. I'll let you pick the race that's best for you. All I get to do is cheer :-)

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  2. There are certainly pros and cons to any of these (and other) races. I guess it all depends a bit on what you're looking for in a race. With Seattle, I would be really worried about weather. The chances of it being rainy and cold are pretty high that time of year. Do you want to do rainy and cold for 26.2 miles? I am not familar with the CA Int'l but I can tell you a bit about PF Chang's.

    It is a flat nice city course. Something that could be considered a pro/con (depending on your point of view) are the major crowds (the finish line is a disaster--good luck getting food and finding family...what a nightmare!) They did a nice job this year with the staggered starts (although it took nearly 30 minutes to cross the start line in record cold temp! Brr!) which helped a ton on the half course but there was still lots of people dodging. That could get annoying if you're used to races with much fewer people. I don't know if it was as bad on the marathon course. But, you have a really good chance of perfect running weather if you choose this one!

    If you want to know more about the PF Chang's, I'd be happy to tell you what I know "off line" since I'm hogging all this comment space. :-)

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  3. Very good points, RMR. :)

    Joe - my goal in the pool is to catch you! tee hee...like that is ever gonna happen!

    Wes - Just knowing you are cheering for me is motivation. Thank you. :)

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  4. Moving up a lane- that's big.
    I've heard bad things about the Seattle marathon, but haven't done one yet so I don't know personally.

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  5. I look forward to reading about your training!!!

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  6. The distances for all those races are a little out of my league. Good luck with whatever you chose. Have fun on the run, lord know I don't.

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  7. > How do you disable comments one
    > a particular post?

    When you are editing a post, click Post Options, then click Reader Comments - Don't Allow.

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