And if you recall, the National Half Marathon is this coming Saturday (I think I've mentioned this in every post since January, so I don't know how you could not recall), so I wasn't sure if I should run track tonight or not.
But then I read D.C. Rainmaker. And he said HE was doing a track workout tonight, so of course that meant I had to. (Ray, you should really be more careful with your posts!) Because I have to keep up with a 28-year-old.
On tonight's menu was 4 x 1600 @ Interval pace with 400 recovery. For those keeping track at home, 1600=1 mile. With 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown.
And away we go...
Except I had no idea what my interval pace was because I forgot to check. And as usual, there was no one there from my pace group, so I hung with B. who is in a faster pace group and said she was aiming for 9:10s. I figured I'd aim for 9:40s. I checked when I got home and it turns out...I should have been aiming for 10:15s. Ah, ignorance.
1st 1600: 9:25
2nd 1600: 9:45
3rd 1600: 9:55
4th 1600: 9:58
You might notice, as I did, that these times are going in the wrong direction. I'm pretty sure the goal is to get faster with each repeat. Sigh. This is week 10,000 of the Speed Development Program, and I would like to register an official complaint: I do not feel any faster. The other thing I don't feel are my legs. They had turned into jello by mile 4.
Who doesn't like jello?? I told my coach tonight if I didn't PR on Saturday I was gonna demand a refund. He laughed.
I'm hilarious.
The good news is 1) I went faster than I should have (I think that is good?), and b) I said at the start that I would only do 3 repeats because I could not possibly do 4 and yet? I did 4 anyway. I totally rule.
Swimming, the forgotten sport: In other news: I hired myself a swim coach. We didn't meet Sunday night, because of massive communication fail, so I got all dolled up in my speedo and ambled over to the pool for nothing, but then we DID meet Monday morning at the ass crack of dawn, and it was great!! I'd become so discouraged after all my swim clinic-ing last fall, which added 1 solid minute to my 100s, that I pretty much quit swimming. So she took a look, and guess what? It turns out that when I'm swimming? I'm not actually USING MY ARMS TO MOVE THE WATER. (I'm sure that part of the swim has a name—I just don't know what it is.) So when I swim, my form is terrific (she said), I just have no power.
Who knew? So she had me work on a bunch of stuff until my head was about to explode. You work on one thing and the other 75 parts of swimming fall to pieces. Sigh.
I told her my goal is to join the masters class/team/whatever at my YMCA. She said most masters programs want you to be able to "do 100 on the 2:00" (why must swimmers speak this way?? Why not just say "Swim 100 meters in 2 minutes"?? WHY?)
So I went swimming again this morning, by myself, and I did a gazillion drills and then swam a few 100s and I was at least under 3 minutes. Which totally sucks, but sucks a lot less than the last time I timed myself.
Germany: So...You might remember, that way back in January, our heroine hired a life coach who coached her to set some ambitious goals. And one of them was to live overseas. And Number One Daughter's BF finally got sick of hearing me say this (yes I'm writing in several voices, sue me) so he challenged me to SET A DATE and develop a plan and EXECUTE. And reminded me that I have ONE skill that many Europeans lack, that I might possibly use to earn a living: I speak English. AND, he suggested that this skill might possibly come in very handy in a country in which the main language is NOT English. Well, this led to that, and he sent me a bunch of links about living/working overseas and blah blah yada, the next thing I knew I was applying for a job as a copy editor in Germany.
P.S. I fired my life coach cuz I have NOD's BF for free.
19 comments:
Your PS totally cracked me up! Yay for the track workout and yay for swimming with power and yay for moving to Germany! (That's a lot of yays.)
Germany? Your friggin ex goes to Germany! You don't like Germans!! Don't you remember Sevilla? If I were thinking of relocating...it would be Sevilla! Please, look at southern Spain.
Taper dammit! Good work on the track workout and swimming. I hate swim-speak too. My whole brain shuts off when they say blank x blank on the X. Did I catch a niner in there? Were they talking to me from a walkie talkie? See you out there somewhere on Saturday. HTFU!
28? No sister, 26. There's a difference. And my track workout was relaxing (in a sick sorta way*)...not like someone else's. :)
Eileen says Southern Spain. I agree. That's a nice place. I can show ya pics of it.
Speaking of getting stuff done - reply to your e-mail about dinner.
*Based on today's track workout, there's a moderate-to-high possibility you'll find me collapsed somewhere along the route. Just so ya know...
1) You never feel faster at intervals, no matter the actual pace. I did some on Sunday, faster than ever before, and if the magic GPS thingy on my wrist hadn't clearly stated that I was flying along I would have sworn I was crawling at snail's pace.
2) I'm European. I do speak English, even reasonably well. I'd be more worried about your German.
You might have jelly legs, but that's because you're kicking ass out there. I think it's amazing how well you're doing on the track. I've been the caboose many sessions and you think you're going much more slowly than you are.
Germany, huh?
I actually don't like jello but I found the reference funny. Not that I was laughing at you feeling as though your legs were jello. Perhaps your a little tired this week - don't worry about the intervals. Next week will be better. I am sure of it.
Good luck this weekend! I will be cheering a few folks on at the finish line but in case I misss seeing you - kick butt!
Germany? That's so exciting! I've been to Germany before, and it's nice (all my family lives there).
And maybe you already know here... but someone else running your race: http://untpawgal02.blogspot.com/
LOVE IT ALL! Love the track workout - you nailed it girlfriend! They are hard to follow and it always takes me a few stabs at them before I get them right so go on.
I so share your swimming speak issues. I briefly swam last year when I joined a gym and man the swimmers were an unfriendly rude bunch, unpleasant to newcomers and completely unintelligible. You want me to do what at what in what? I really wanted to whine and say "I run marathon you know" but kept my counsel. It rarely happens.
Finally - Germany! Wow! When? Where? That's not far for me - particularly as my folks live in Holland. I can see some fun races coming up!
OMG! Go BF! Go BF! I sooooo can't wait to hear how this all unfolds!
hmmm.. where to start?
1). Please try to remember that there was a time when breaking 11 mins/mile felt like a huge accomplishment. You did great
2). I have just cracked the swimming 100s on the 2:00 and I can't handle that many repeats. I've been swimming masters for 5 years. Ask the coach of the masters team - you may be surprised to hear that they have no such restriction.
3). So brave! I hope you get a job over there and have a fabulous experience - for a little while. And you y'all come back, now - ya hear?
Good luck Saturday. Next week WILL be a better week because you feel completely entitled to take a week off from running - winner!
What a lot of exciting things you are doing!
I think Total Immersion swimming doesn't give enough attention to the catch (that's the bit where you grab the water). I'm glad you've had that corrected, you'll zoom along from now on
BTW you fired your life coach b/c of NOD's BF? What are we, your devoted readers? Chopped liver? :P
I agree spain (or Italy, or France) probably has better weather and food than Germany, and more hot blokes too
I think your track workouts sound fantastic. Four 1600s? WOW! Think how tough you are becoming mentally, just knowing you can do that many miles, that fast. Impressive.
Germany sounds great to me. I'm not sure why Spain is everyone's love on here. I've been to both countries, enjoyed them both, and if Germany is where they have a job...well, it beats jobless in Spain (that's called a vacation).
As for swimming. What a I really, really hate, is not the 100s on the 2. No, it's that actually, you have to be able to swim 100faster than 2 minutes, to get any rest. Otherwise it's just 100 after 100. I complained the other day that the fast people finish the 100 faster, and thus get a longer rest than the slow people who finish the 100, rest for 4 seconds and then have to take off again. I argued that it makes the slow people (that would be me)ultimately slower (because of no rest), and the fast faster. My lane mates nodded and took off.
Good job on the track workouts. Mile repeats are hard, especially when you're running at the wrong pace. ;-)
Good for you for applying for the copy editor job. It takes guts to do that. I hope it works out for you.
Good luck with your half this weekend!
wooooohooooo! GO JEANNE!
I'm a good example that you NOD'S BF is right. I was hired for my English skills, I learned German (more or less) along the way.
I for one am REALLY hoping you will find your way over here.
Does Mr. Bragg vacation in Germany?
Wow, you are fast! All those miles under 10 minutes. As your land speed gets better, I don't know why you bother with the waterworks. (Since you changed your royal blue running vest for some reason, I missed seeing you go by this morning. I was at MP1, didja see me?)
I just read a quote from someone else's blog that actually may have been an ad for something but it seems quite fitting for you: "You're faster than you think you are."
And bottom line it all has to do with confidence, I think. Have a great race this weekend and best of luck with the gig in Germany!
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