Yesterday's swimming went very well (compared to last week!) I did 32 laps in 25 minutes, doing six laps of breaststroke and then alternating two of crawl. I am noticing that crawl is getting a bit easier, I am not as winded as usual after those two laps. Nice to notice myself improving!
Today's assignment was a speed workout - another great way to make improvements! I first did speed workouts on Jenny's recommendation when training for my 11 K last spring and I really enjoy them (which surprised me to no end). The cool thing about them is, by running little segments at a challenging speed, then dropping to a more moderate speed, the moderate tempo running becomes so much more comfortable in comparison. Also they are really short workouts compared to the rest of the program, so it is fun to be done so fast.
Today I had to do 6x 1 minute plus 2 minutes recovery. My fast segments I did between 11.5 and 12 (this was a first for me!) km/hr. My recovery segments were between 8.5 and 9 km/hr. I was just looking back in my little runner's log book and when I first started out doing speed workouts in March, my challenging segments were 9.5 to 10 km/hr and the recoveries about 8 km/hr. So I have definitely improved. What is so neat is that after a minute of running at 12 km/hr, dropping down to 9.5 feels like a really slow and easy jog. At the end of the 20 minutes, I had done 3.15 kilometers total, and was drenched in sweat, which made my bike ride home clammy and chilly as it was only 10 °C out!
My gym has started this new thing (I think it's a trick to get people to come in and work out more): you can borrow movie DVD's for free, you just have to leave your membership card behind and bring the movie back in two days. Isn't that a neat idea? They have a whole selection of about 200 different movies so I picked out one the boys would enjoy (since I plan to go in again tomorrow); it will be a nice surprise for them this evening!
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3 comments:
It's great to see your improvements! It is so rewarding when you know you are getting better.
Great job on the speed work. I enjoy it too (although sometimes I have a speed session that doesn't go too well). It's a good change of pace to get out of a rut and is also sort of a fitness test. When I find I can go fast when I need to, I don't worry about going too slow for long runs and easy runs. Sounds like all the miles (km's) you are putting in are paying off and will continue to pay off.
Thanks for all the encouragement, you guys, it means a lot to me!
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