Archive for Running

Blue Skies

Posted on February 9, 2015 by

It hit me over the weekend that Valentine’s Day parties are already this week. It’s already the second week of February. How did that happen? So, we’re busy making Valentine’s for class parties at the end of the week. I finally decided on this cute idea that I found over on Pinterest.

Valentine | amotherspace.net

Who doesn’t love a s’more? Of course the example online was a little fancier than mine but this will work just fine for us!

Last week was a great week of running and probably my highest mileage since marathon training in the fall. 25.5+ miles of running with two beautiful runs outside. It warmed up toward the end of the week here which was just in time to get some outside running in over the weekend. I’m thinking of switching my 2 non-running days to week days so I can get out more on the weekends in the fresh air.

Blue Skies | amotherspace.net

Clear blue skies on a warm winter run outside just can’t be beat. I’m completely ready for spring now with this little taste of warmth!


weeklytraininglog

Weekly Workouts

Daily Mile | amotherspace.net

Monday: 3 miles (9:28 pace) + 15 minutes Kettlebells & Core Work + 15 minutes Relaxation Yoga

The treadmill, kettlebells bright and early in the morning and relaxation yoga with my husband in the evening.

Tuesday: 5 miles (9:03 pace) + 15 minutes Relaxation Yoga

My 5 by the 5th virtual race. (read about it —->here) A 5k with a warm up and cool down to make 5 miles even.

Wednesday: 1 mile (8:35 pace) + 30 minutes Spin Bike + 30 minutes Strength Circuit

I started with a warm up on the spin bike then moved right into a Jillian Michaels strength circuit that I have. The circuit has me on and off the treadmill and so I clocked a mile on my ‘rest’ day. Oops! Then I hoped back on the spin bike to cool down before foam rolling a little bit.

Circuit Training | amotherspace.net

Thursday: 4  miles (9:13 pace)

I was dreaming of warmer weather on my treadmill run this morning. As much as I’m extremely happy that I own a treadmill, I’m ready for spring and early morning running outside again!

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 9.03 miles (10:06 pace)

A long run on a beautiful and sunny day. I felt slow today and my legs were heavy but it felt great to be outside.

Sunday: 3.5 miles (9:54 pace)

An afternoon neighborhood run in the 70’s today. It was almost too warm. Almost. Shorts in February are fantastic!

Sunny Sunday Run | amotherspace.net

 

Weekly Run This Year Update

Run This Year | amotherspace.net

My goal for the year is to race shorter distances but I’m going to Run This Year again in 2015! I’ve signed up for the ‘Run all year and win prizes option’ Ha! I’m probably not going to make it past 2,015 kilometers like I did last year but I’m still hoping to get a lot of miles in throughout the year! 2,015 KM is 1,252.06 miles or just 104.34 miles each month.

 

 

Weekly Running Miles: 25:53

February Running Miles: 25:53

2015 Running Miles: 130.29

2015 Running Kilometers: 209.68

No Excuses | amotherspace.net
Blue Skies and a Weekly Running Log | A Mother's Pace #motherrunner #runthisyear Click To Tweet
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{February 2015} #5bythe5th Virtual Race

Posted on February 6, 2015 by

It’s time for my favorite virtual race of the year! Laura over at Mommy Run Fast hosts the 5 by the 5th race each year and I’m participating in it once again in 2015. The runners that have signed up for the race choose if they want to run a 5k, 5 miles or a combination by the 5th of each month. It runs from February through May.

A year ago when I ran the 5 by the 5th virtual race I ran my 5k personal best at 24:38 which is an 8:03 pace. I call this my PB instead of my PR because it wasn’t at an official race. My PR in the 5k distance is 25:38 as of last May at one of our local 5k races.

Initially when I thought about this virtual race series I wanted to improve my 5k time from last year but running 3.1 miles at that pace is very intimidating to me right now. Instead I’m deciding to do my best for the fitness that I am right now and try and improve on that over the next couple months of the series.

That makes much more sense, right?

One resource that I will reference throughout the next few months is Tina Muir’s guest post over at Laura’s blog called How to Train for a Faster 5k. Tina, an elite runner that also blogs over at Fuel Your Future with Tina Muir, shared five workouts for a faster 5k. Perfect timing!

So how did my first 5 by the 5th race of 2015 go? Ugh, it was hard and not as fast as I wanted but it gives me a good baseline as to how I want to improve over the next few months.

#5bythe5th Virtual Race | amotherspace.net

I ran the 5k during the week in the morning which meant that it was on the treadmill. As much as I would prefer to run these virtual races out on the street I am not running outside in the early morning right now mainly because of the darkness. So I hit the treadmill instead.

I ran a mile warm up in 9:32. Stopped for a drink of water. (I’m not coordinated enough to drink water from a water bottle on the treadmill. Maybe a bottle with a straw would be easier?) Then started back up for the 5k. I started at 7.0 speed on my ‘mill, which is an 8:34 pace. Ideally, this was the pace that I wanted to hold for the entire 3.1 miles.

That didn’t happen.

After about a mile in I had to slow it down. I punched in 6.5 (9:14 pace) and held that for awhile before jumping back up to 7.0. I did this back and forth pace for the remainder of the run except in the last quarter mile I pushed the pace up to 7.5 (8:00 pace) for a strong finish.

After I finished the 5k, I started my cool down. In total I ran 5 miles with an average pace of 9:03.

It completely showed on this run that I haven’t done any formal speed work since training for the Chicago Marathon. Yikes! Of course I’ve done an occasional fartlek workout or 400 repeats here and there but this run has convinced me to add it into my weekly rotation!

5-by-5th-Medals | amotherspace.net

 Are you participating in the 5 by the 5th virtual race? Do you run speed work every week?

#5bythe5th Virtual Race Recap! | A Mother's Pace #runchat Click To Tweet

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Related posts:

  1. St. Patrick’s Day Party and Run Race Recap 2014
  2. April #5bythe5th Virtual Race
  3. 2014 Prairie Fire Spring Half Marathon Race Recap
  4. Titan 10K Southside Scorcher Race Recap
7 comments Posted in Running

Quick Strength for Runners

Posted on February 4, 2015 by

I recently finished an 8 week strength training program designed just for runners. Even better than just finishing, I actually completed the whole program in just 8 weeks! I did two workouts a week and didn’t miss one. I’m not sure that I’ve ever completed a program successfully before!

Before starting the program I was doing strength workouts 2 or 3 times a week. I varied my workouts and basically picked from 5 or 6 favorite workouts from magazines, Pinterest or books that I have purchased in the past.

Quick Strength for Runners | amotherspace.net

Quick Strength for Runners by Jeff Horowitz (affiliate link) starts with a couple of chapters on why strength training is important and highlights some tools that are helpful to get you started but not necessary, in my opinion. You can make due with what you have in your home gym, if needed.

Next the book describes all the exercises in the program. It shows multiple pictures and a clear description of the exercise including an advanced form. I didn’t completely read this section but I would reference it often when I had a question about a certain workout. It was very helpful to have all of these exercises listed out where I could easily flip to the page to see how to do the exercise correctly.

Quick Strength for Runners | amotherspace.net

The book then shifts to the actual 8 week program. Because of my strength training base it seemed really easy at the beginning and I ran through most of the workouts in the beginning twice to make the workout work for me. But I certainly didn’t do that all throughout the book. At some point each workout ended up taking me about 30 minutes without repeating anything.

Quick Strength for Runners | amotherspace.net

Because of the easiness of the first workouts I think this would be a great program for a beginner to strength training. You can always repeat a week if something is too difficult later in the workouts. At the same time I think that this program works well for someone like me that has a strength training base but likes having someone else put together a program.

Now that I’m finished with the 8 week program I’m thinking of taking a couple of weeks off from the moves in the book and going back to my favorite workouts that I’ve given up for the past two months. Then I plan on incorporating one workout from this book, one core workout and one of my standards each week.

I really like the progression of the workouts in the sessions and I like knowing that it was made specifically with a runner in mind. I feel stronger since I’ve started the program and a lot of the exercises feel a little easier than the first time I tried them.

Quick Strength for Runners | amotherspace.net

I purchased Quick Strength for Runners myself and wanted to share my thoughts on the book with you. I don’t have any connection to the book or author other than the fact that I liked it and wanted to share.

Oh, if you’re interested in some of my strength workouts that I’ve done other than this book, check out my Strength Workouts Pinterest page.

Have you tried Quick Strength for Runners? Do you strength train regularly?

What do you use as a guide?

Quick Strength for Runners | amotherspace.net

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