Thursday, March 21, 2013

Retribution and backup retribution

I need to retract an opinion I shared in my previous post. I was not aware that Josh Duhamel was married to Fergie, and he just shot up a notch in my eyes. Glad I got that off my chest.


As Kari posted, 26.2 retribution will hopefully be ours at the Delaware marathon on May 12. In order to prepare, we are trying out a modified (shortened) version of the Run Less, Run Faster plan. Because I'm a hipster dork, I just picked up the book from the library.

From here on out, it will be referred to as RLRF.

Even though I've always been all like "I love cross training! People who run too much are crazy!" (too much being a relative term), I got pretty comfortable with my 40-50 miles per week and the idea of running less, much less, to prepare for a marathon is scary. But you know, the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and expecting different results and all that.

The plan is also frightening because when you do run, you run really hard. But that doesn't start until Tuesday, so that's future Alyssa's problem. Current Alyssa has her own problems, which naturally we will delve into in this post.

First of all, let's discuss workouts this week. Kristy recommended really easing back into training in a sort of reverse taper method, and since she's an expert coach and Boston qualified runner AND has been successful on the RLRF plan, we listened. Last week I ran ten miles, did two yoga classes, and one short Jillian workout. 

This week included slightly more exercise, but not too much. 

Monday: Hip Hop Abs
Tuesday: 6 mile easy run (9:20 pace)
Wednesday: 30 Day Shred, Level 2, aka 25 minutes of intense pain
Thursday: AM - 5 mile "tempo" run with 3 miles at GMP (goal marathon pace, 8:49, overall pace 9:13), 
PM - Bikram yoga

So here are my problems.

1. The goal marathon pace miles this morning felt like an all out sprint and my heart rate was through the roof. That pace is less than 10 seconds per mile faster than the pace I ran the marathon last week. In laymen's terms, I could barely run 3 miles a tiny bit faster than I just ran 26 miles. I understand that even though I'm not sore, I'm still recovering from that effort, but, WTF, I want to be all better NOW. 

2. I'm addicted to my new treadmill. Imagine this scenario: you wake up early, it's dark outside, the temperature is the 20s, and there may or may not be wind, snow flurries, sleet, or ice on the ground. Here's the options you are faced with: put on a billion layers, knuckle lights, and pepper spray and run in all that crap, OR put on shorts and a tank top and run while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I'm completely addicted to, by the way. Which would you choose? Obviously, I've been choosing the latter recently. But I started pumping up the incline to 1% at all times!

I can't think of a smooth way to segue into this, so I'll just throw it out there. I signed up for a backup marathon two weeks after Delaware, a super small race in Pennsylvania (about an hour away) called Bob Potts. So if Delaware isn't going well, I can throw in the towel and try again, and if it does go well, I'll run Bob Potts easy for fun. It makes perfect sense, right?

Any suggestions for how I can get back to normal running extra fast?

What are your current problems?


23 comments:

  1. my current problem is how am I possibly going to get back the 2 minutes it took me to read this horrible boring post?

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    Replies
    1. It took you two minutes? A real Asian would be done in 90 seconds.

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    2. Alternative response: You know who else wants those 2 minutes of their life back? Your wife.

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    3. Getting this comment was the highlight of my night. I'm really honored that you gave me those two minutes.

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  2. My current problem is wanting to run all those marathon's with you and not being in marathon shape :)

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    Replies
    1. Read, "I eat to drown my sorrows."

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    2. The real problem is those possessive and plural nouns, tricky bastards.

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    3. My Kindle likes to make me look stupid.

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  3. Oh 30 Day Shred! I need to bring that back. I bought a replacement NMTZ yesterday on Amazon and it arrived today! Now to get my a$$ up tomorrow to do it! I hope my thighs will be burning up lava.

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  4. My biggest problem right now ismy computer making me refresh pages so I can comment on blogs. I am kind of chicken about the run less run faster, those are some fast training paces, but if you and Kari can do it and survive it maybe I will try it based off of your success.

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  5. I recently ordered a copy of that book. I had plans to get faster this year although that hasn't really happened yet. Just having the book should work though, correct? I'm starting to regret not signing up for Bob Potts when I was considering it back in November. The little train medals are cute! :)

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  6. Ahh I did 30 Day Shred yesterday, Level One though. How is it that Jillian makes you feel like you are dying no matter what length/activity the workout is? Luckily, Harrison woke up from his nap in between the 2nd and 3rd circuits, so I was able to recover from the sensation of death. You could basically be Jillian's best friend, because she is crazy, and you are as well- she would be really behind the plan of back-to-back marathons.

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  7. Nothing about back to back marathons sounds fun to me, but I'm suffering from the dreaded illness known as chronic laziness. You've run 2 50(+) milers though, so it doesn't sound crazy for you to do, although I still think you may be crazy.

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  8. I totally understand the treadmill addiction. The key is convincing yourself that it doesn't count as real running. Then you feel guilty and force yourself to go outside.

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  9. You know, I bought Run Less Fun Faster last year and really liked it-- I plan on using it to train for my half this summer too, with 3x of CrossFit (your fave!) thrown in for cross training. Granted, that's not the same as a full, but it really worked for me. The high intensities of the workouts made my "normal" paces seem so much more comfy and sustainable!

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  10. Oh wait, I wasn't done yet. Oops. Did I mentioned how freaking exciting I am to be moving into a house where I can finally get a treadmill??! And steal Will's iPad to watch fun things while running?!

    Ok, really done now.

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  11. sorry to hear the GMP tempo was rough. i know you want to feel 100% like now, but don't rush the recovery. even if you need another easy week, take it. it's so not worth it to force the speed when you aren't feeling 100%.

    i thought you were ditching the XT and running 1-2 recovery runs instead? I still think you should keep the mileage 40-50. my only complaint about RLRF is it's too low mileage.

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  12. good luck with the new running plan..

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  13. I love that you have a back-up for the back-up marathon. That's my kind of planning!

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Thanks for commenting! Comments make me probably more happy than they should.