There's Such Things as a 5K Pace?

Whenever I see training plans, they always say things like run it at your 5K pace. Or a little faster than your 10K pace. It never really made sense to me because for me I have one pace- the pace I run every distance. Probably not the best way to train or get faster for a long distance race.

So I've tried to incorporate some tempo and speedwork runs into my training lately so I can develop a "5K" pace that's faster than my half-marathon pace. Or at least be able to run three miles faster than I would normally run the first three of a half. I ran three on Saturday and ran the entire thing at about a 10 minute mile pace, which isn't fast I know, but it's faster than I've been running and that's progess. A little bit at a time, and I'll be able to run faster for longer. I'm going to track my pace here.

5K Pace= 10:00 (6.0)

How do you do speedwork training? Do you have a set pace for each distance?

Two Down Two to Go

About a month ago I put together a Runner's World half-marathon training guide for the upcoming Iowa Storm. I haven't been doing real well sticking to it, probably because where the Hal Higdon training guide says run three miles easy, RW says run a six mile tempo run. But I need to get better, not just maintain my running, so I'm going to keep trying to stick to RW. Last night I was supposed to do six miles total, 4 miles at a 10:01 speed and the other two as a warmup and cooldown. I got in four and did the middle three at a faster than normal pace so just a condensed version of the training, and it felt good.

I think I might like this whole mix it up with tempo and pace training. We'll see how long it lasts.

Just a Number

I know not a lot of people read this blog, which is why I'm admitting this here. I don't know why because it's just a number. So here goes... my goal weight is 125 lbs. I've hit that once in the past six months and stayed there for about two weeks. Then I went to Europe, and it's been a struggle to get back into the swing of things. I've been back from Europe for almost a month now, and it's time to get moving and eating healthy again. So 125 here I come. By the way, isn't that just a very nice round number? Much nice than say 131, which may be where I'm at right now.

Workout Buddies

I started my online workout buddy program today...basically just emailed the four girls who said they'd do it to see if they worked out this weekend. And told them about my workout this morning, and you know what, I think it helped. I'm much more motivated right now to go run from 10-11 than I have been in a month.

Motivated because I don't want to be the one sending out the email that says oh I didn't work out because well I just didn't feel like it. And I don't want to be the one walking the 10K on Saturday, I don't walk in races. I don't.

And I'm off to watch the silly show Here Come the Newlyweds as I run since there is nothing else on Mondays during the summer. Just might have to sign up for Netflix again soon.

My First 10K

I've run four half-marathons and never run any sort of race shorter than that. Crazy I know but for some reason I've just never done the fun 5ks that people always talk about. So when Heather posted about the Lawyers Have Heart 10K in three weeks I figured I why not. My husband's going to be a lawyer, it's in Georgetown, it's on a day I have nothing else going on, and I need a new t-shirt. So I signed up for my first 10K today and am looking forward to it.

I haven't run in three weeks, but I should be fine. Training for my half (thanks to a specialized plan from Runner's World) starts on Monday.

Workout DVDs

I've got myself a nice collection of workout DVDs that I love, but lately I've decided to try out a couple of new ones. Based on the recommendations of so many others I picked up Jillian's 30 Day Shred. And CVS was having a great sale one day so I grabbed a whole The FIRM workout kit that included five different workout DVDs and small hand weights.

I did Day 1 of the 30 day shred on Thursday and realized how long it's been since I used weights or really did anything other than running. I did a Cardio Party DVD (basically the best of the best from the other Firm DVDs) on Friday and loved it. 40 minutes with five different leaders that go through their favorite cardio moves. Both DVDs were great and I'll continue working with them. Now if only I could get myself to stop eating things that cancel out the exercise...

Weekly Menu

I've decided to post my last week's menu here so that I have a reference of if I liked or didn't like items. And I'll be able to find recipes when I don't have any ideas of what to make for dinner. So here was last week's menu.

Monday- Chicken Parmesan
Tuesday- Ham, turkey, and cheese bagels.
Wednesday- Brown Butter Tortellini with Spinach and Ham
Thursday- Chicken pad thai
Friday- Pei Wei
Saturday- Matchbox Bistro
Sunday- Baked Beef Ziti