Workout Week 17.–23.03.2014

In Workout Week posts I will tell you everything about my last week’s workouts.

17.–23.03.2014

On Monday I had Jooks Jõud Venitus (Run Strength Stretch) again. I was pretty scared before the workout since I didn’t know how my leg would hold up. Actually everything was fine. I didn’t have any pain. I skipped some exercises and replaced them with other things but in general it was a good workout. I did hold myself back and I think it was wise to do that. Recover first, then start going harder.

Tuesday was a complete rest day. It felt so weird! A totally foreign concept to me… I went to an hour long foam rolling class. Man, I didn’t even know it could hurt so much! The front of my things were the worst, my injured hamstring felt pretty good. Hopefully this stretching and conditioning did me good. I’m going to buy myself a foam roller for sure.

Wednesday was intervals day. We did a 15 minute warm-up, then stretched a little and did some running exercises. After that it was time for intervals. 5 min jogging, then 200 m in 5:30 pace, 220 m jog, 400 m fast, 220 m jog and 200 m fast in 5:30 pace. We did 3 blocks of intervals. Overall we did about an hour of running. Last we did some ab exercises and stretches. It was an awesome workout and I was pain-free. I was so happy that my hamstring felt normal again 🙂

That's how you smile when you're really really happy :)
That’s how you smile when you’re really really happy 🙂

Thursday started off rough for me. You can read more here. But a great workout can fix a lot of things! I did BodyPump 89 with Maris for the first time. OH. MY. GOD! I LOVE THIS PROGRAM! I really really do. I gave this workout my all and felt a lot better. Also, I really appreciate everyone who left me comments or messaged me, gave support and great advice. I’m glad I can share my thoughts and feelings and my blogreaders understand me. It’s great to know that people get you and have experienced similar problems.

Friday morning began with an hour long swim. I did 500 m breaststoke, 1000 m front crawl and 600 m breaststroke; all in total 2100 m. It wasn’t the best swim ever and I felt my technique getting worse the longer I swam… Well, every workout can’t be golden. I also got the chance to relax in the sauna for some time, that was nice. In the evening I made a 1 hour 45 minute long walk to my triathlon seminar, all in total 10,43 km. That day I burned around 1200 kcal and it didn’t feel like it, I wasn’t really that tired. Awesome! 🙂

On Saturday it was time to test myself again: it was the second virtual running race. Longer post here. I also rolled with my foam roller for half an hour or so to relax my muscles.

Image (1) slow-runners.jpg for post 2107
Yup, that’s me 😀

I decided to take Sunday easier and went to Pilates. I actually isn’t an easy workout at all, especially since my arms were sore (from what? swimming? IDK). I was still sweaty and tired after the workout and wished we stretched more… I should have gone to yoga or something.


In total:

  • 3 hours of running
  • 1 hour 45 minutes of muscle workouts
  • 2 hours of body and mind workouts
  • 1 hour of swimming
  • 1 hour 45 minutes of walking
17.–23.03.14
I use sportlyzer.com for my summaries.

Before saving the summary from Sportlyzer I didn’t even realise I had such an active week. Almost 10 hours of working out but almost 4 hours were easier workouts. And my thigh is pretty much OK now. I don’t really want to use the r-word about it yet since I’m afraid to jinx it 😀

From tomorrow I will be following my half-marathon training plan for 12 weeks. I might have to change Thursday and Friday up if everything goes to plan, can’t tell you more just yet. Next week is also the Nike Training Day at Saku Suurhall. Lots of exciting stuff coming up! Game: ON!

Marathon100 II Virtual Run 10K

This Saturday was time for yet another Virtual Run. It looks like they will be hold every other Saturday since the third one is coming in exactly 2 weeks but I have no idea how many there will be this year. I will try my best to take part in as many as possible.

IIVJ

The day before the race was pretty relaxed: swimming + lots of walking. I did worry if the 10,5K of walking the night before was bad for the race… I hoped it wouldn’t be.

Lucky 13! 🙂

I was originally planning to start my race around 10 AM but since I have had sleeping issues for months now, I was up at 7 AM as usually and began my race around 9.

My original goal was to try to beat my personal 10K best pace which was 6:59 min per kilometres at Tartu Tudengimaraton this autumn. Considering I was still injured a week ago, I didn’t really get my hopes too high.

The weather was beautiful when I got out of the house: around 5 degrees Celsius, some clouds but mostly sunny. It was quite windy at times but that made me feel even more powerful and awesome 🙂

I don’t really have a lot of memories about that race other than it was a good one! On my first kilometres I mostly thought half-marathon training thoughts and just enjoyed the weather. I noticed I was going pretty fast (for my personal point of view of course, to other people I’m always slow) and tried to keep that pace

splits

I also constantly thought about what I learned the day before in my triathlon seminar. We were told about the things that make a runner/cyclist fast. I tried to follow the instructions as best as I could and they obviously helped me.

“Don’t land on your heel.”

“Keep your arms moving parallel to your body.”

“If you want to be faster, move your arms.”

“You have to run from your hips not anywhere else.”

“No up and down movements or left and right movements.”

“If you don’t enjoy your run, you are not a good runner.”

“Keep your hips below your body, don’t lean backward/forward.”

Etc, etc, etc.

The first half of my race just flew by. I met other runners, lots of cute dogs (which made me miss mine even more) and many people staring at my race bib/number like I was crazy. A girl running around with a big number 13 on her jacket but no one else with a number. Who is she racing with?

Herself. Trying to beat herself and not thinking about other people. Running time is me-time.

climb and pace

Somewhere after Tähtvere pond I felt tired. Really really tired and felt my technique getting worse. I just told myself to suck it up and pay more attention to my running technique. Reminded myself the seminar and things got better again. Soon I was just running and thinking my thoughts again. And moving pretty fast!

When I reached the city center and ran pass my university, I felt my legs get really light again, just like last time I did the 10K there. Tartu is a beautiful to city to run in 🙂 I should run in the center/old town more often, it really gets me going. I love it!

For the last 1,5 km I felt just good. I knew my time was going to be good and I felt I had the energy to finish with a good pace. I just enjoyed every step I took.

And I did finish strong. The moment I pressed “Stop” on my RunKeeper, I knew I had just beaten my personal best. Goal: accomplished! My average pace was 11 seconds better than last time. I was so happy 🙂 I just kept wondering: “Could I run 21,1K in this pace?”

We’ll see in just 12 weeks. 3 months from now! That’s pretty soon and I can’t wait! 🙂

IIVJ 10K

Results:

  • My official time: 1:08:46

  • Official distance: 10K

  • Actual RunKeeper distance: 10,12K

  • Average pace: 6:48 min per km (personal best!)

  • My position: 24 (out of 25 that finished) <– yay, I wasn’t last 😀

  • My position among women: 13 (out of 14) 

  • In my agegroup: 1st! Just kidding, I was again the only one in my agegroup doing the Virtual Run on all distances :D

 Margit Partei diplom

Feeling very excited for my upcoming races this season 🙂