I am not that smart

Most people would probably realize that puking all night Saturday, eating nothing on Sunday (and I mean NOTHING) and having one small blueberry bagel, bowl of cereals with orange juice and couple crackers on Monday will not be enough to get you through a long tough workout on Tuesday.

But, well, I am not that smart. And I am not a perfect eater in general and I am never sick so I had no idea how my body would respond to this, so although I suspected it would be a struggle I decided to try. I was supposed to do 1k @ 3:46, 2x2k @ 8:00, 1k@3:46 and I took me 1k and 1k of 2k interval to realize than the workout is not going to happen.
I felt good in the morning, I did not feel tired or anything, even biking to school was ok. Warm up went so-so and stretch and strides felt good although I was breathing harder than I should have been.

I have no idea how I managed to run 3:46 for the first k. I was literally crawling. It did not feel hard, because I felt I was jogging/crawling, it was just weird.
Then I started 2k interval and I went through 1st k in 4:03. But by that time I have probably consumed all the energy that was left in my body and it started to be a misery. It was not like I could push through because I just could not.
So I jogged another 1k or so to cool down and called it a day.

I wish I had eaten one of those pumpkin pies on sale I was dreaming about yesterday. Maybe that would have given me enough energy.

So I went to eat a huge portion of salad, veggies, tuna, chicken, cheese mix and will eat something normal (and maybe a very small piece of a pie) in the evening and will do the second workout attempt tomorrow.

I am pretty sure I am ok now

How do I know?

Because I am dreaming of all those Thanksgiving pecan and pumpkin pies that are on sale now...

But I am going to be a good athlete and don't eat that crap for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Being a good athlete is hard, very very hard:(



My mom sent me a message today that they have snow calamity, fallen trees and closed roads and they did not have electricity for the whole day. Man, I am glad I am in California:)

Not fun

My sister was here for few days and because I did not want her to wait for me until I am done with workout so I switched my second workout of the week to today. Now I wish I have not because I have been puking the whole night so the workout apparently did not happen.
I think I got food poisoning from Fettuccine Alfredo last night. I managed to drive all the way from Vegas to LA but once I was home it started. I feel better now because I have spent the whole day in bed. I am hoping to be 100% tomorrow. But maybe it is not a poisoning, maybe I got a bug, which I hope not. We will see later.
My poor sister, I am sure she did not imagine her last night in LA listening to me throwing up and I even could not take her to the airport:(

Other than this, Vegas trip was fun. I lost $1 gambling:( And we went to see Chippendales show and one other show called Le Reve. They were both fun and I got 3 kisses from Chippendale guys.

Photo from Sunday race

I found 4 photos close to the finish. How I know? Because a cute chicked guy is not hanging on my shoulder and each of them look like it hurts a lot.
This one is the "nicest".
I am flying above the ground. And my arms cross in front of my core, not good.

Today, I went to bed at 2am because my sister's flight got delayed... Got up at 7am to get in 5 miles before she wakes up so we can hit the road.

My beginnings as a cyclist

My mom sent me this today. It is not of a very high quality, but what do you expect since it is a photo of a negative film.
Cracks me up.



Honestly I do not remember this but my mom's says that she is surprised that I don't because that was when my dad tried to teach me to bike without supportive wheels. I was around 5.

Apparently I was so scared to fall that I screamed and cried as if they were cutting me and people would look out of their windows to see what's going on and then ask my parents what the heck they were doing to me:)

You see that sweater I am wearing? It used to be my uncles' (he is 43 now), then I wore it, then my sister, then my cousin and then my other cousin. I would not be surprised if my grandma had it in her closet saving it for my kids:) Thinking of it, I am sure she does!
I still have few jackets from my uncle I wear when at home (yeah, I am completely fashion unconscious). And yeap, that's true, they have not fallen apart yet. Basically everything made in Soviet Union or in that area was made to outlast you and they did a very good job. Nowadays, you can threw things out after few years because they start to fall apart. My mom hates Chinese stuff.

Executory plan fail

It seems that winter is here. I had to bike to school in capris and not shorts today and yesterday. :( I do not like it.

I had a really weird workout today. I do not know what I was thinking when I put this onto my schedule.
5x800 where 1st 400 @ 5k pace and 2nd 400m at sub-3k pace, at least 5sec faster than the first one, then jog for 3.5-4min.

It was not hard, but I just was not able to do it right. I either went out too slowly or too fast.
It went like this
1:31, 1:27, total 2:58. Too slow.
1:31, 1:26, 2:57. Better but not perfect yet.
1:28, 1:26, 2:54. Went out too fast and hm, I cannot run 1:23...
1:32, 1:27, 2:59. It is 5sec but too slow overall.
1:30, 1:25, 2:55. Finaly the perfect one!!!! I got one right at least.

It is hard to change paces. I have always sucked at it and workouts like these will hopefully help me so I might do it again:)

Then I went to the gym and stretched and rolled A LOT! I must take care of the ITB.
When I was going to the pool afterwards, I realized, ups, I had forgotten to cool down after the workout. I do not know what I am thinking about. Oh, I know, probably that this and next and the week after are finals weeks for MBA program and I had to prepare like million presenations and write million papers and my sister is coming tonight and I have not planned her trip yet.

I went to the pool to loosen up. Normally on Tuesdays I can do a workout with a group (of two people), but since I raced on Sunday and did running workout today I decided to pass on that opportunity. I borrowed one of those floating things you hold between your thights and worked on my arms technique. I am think I am getting better. I will probably force my sister to come to pool with me for 10min and make a short video of me swimming so it can be analysed:)

Ok, I am off to do a consulting project proposal presentation for one of my classes. I do not like speaking in from of people.

5k RR: Do you know what is worst than racing in a rain?

Biking to the race start in a rain!

It was raining when I woke up. Damn. I HATE rain! And when I imagined how I was going to bike to the race start, got totally soaked and not even have proper and warm place (car)to change and keep the rest of my cloths warm and dry made me want to cry a little.

Fortunately it stopped by the time I was ready to go so I did not have to bike to the start in rain, although by the time I got to the race I was completely frozen (I forgot my gloves:(() and soaked because of the water splashing from under my wheels.

But let me tell you the most important part and then I will write how it all went: I blew it in 19:11ish.
(But won Nike Lunar Glide 2 shoes, Nike+ Sport Kit, 1 month free membership to Equinox gym, and shampoo, conditioner and haircut by Oliver Ifergan. So at least one of those goals was fulfilled. Although they said they were going to mail it to me...so who knows whether I will really get my awards).

You know how I had doubts going into the race, but I was READY READY READY to make myself hurt and run those 3:46s/km for 18:50. I really was.
I started to warm up and was not feeling that great- stuffy nose and cough caused by bathing with my camera in various rivers in Hawaii. I stretched and started to do strides. First went horrible but fortunately the second and the third started to feel good and legs started to work with me. By that time also my hands and feet were defrost.

It was not time-chipped race so I squeezed into the second line behind the fast guys. I must have looked fast (with my brand new arm warmers. I have always wanted arm warmers. Ok, for past 5 weeks.)because some guys asked me what I wanted to run and blahblahblah and they said they were sure I am going to be one of top females.

And then off we went. I started my watch and that stupid Garmin DID NOT START!!! Obviously I pressed something wrong and I got a screen with signal accuracy. Of course I realized this only maybe 200m into a race. I tried to push various buttons but nothing happened so gave up.
So it is hard to run according to splits if you do not know your splits and it is hard to make yourself hurt if you do not know for how long you have run and how far you still have to go. SO FRUSTRATING! I had to run based on feel. But I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THAT OUTSIDE TRACK and in RACE!!!
I had no idea how fast we were running or how far. Of course there were mile markers but since I do not see that great I can see a marker only when it hits me into face or I trip over it.

I started very conservatively because I did not want to blew it and start very fast. It felt like nice controlled jogging, I though at least, when someone yelled 6:01 at what was supposed to be the first mile. Hm, I am not sure about that. No way that run felt like 6:01 effort.

That was the first and the last time I knew how fast or how far I have run. I tried to keep the effort but it was hard since I had no idea what was going on.
It felt easy but I knew that I was keeping a decent effort but since I had no idea how far I have left I did not wanted to start pushing and die at 2 miles. Let me tell you, I have no notion of distance, really. I can tell you the distance when I know my time, but since the watch was still showing the same signal page, I had no idea for how long we have been running. I have not run enough 5ks to have a feel for it.
Then I saw some yellow sign in the distance and though that it must be 3 mile mark. So I start pushing harder because ops, so close to the finish and I am still jogging!?! As I got closer it has turned put it is a box where that have newspaper. Shoot. Where is that 3 mile mark?
Then we got to the gas station and I actually knew where I was because I have ran there before. I knew that I have around 600-800m left (So I was way off thinking that I was already at 3miles). So then I started to push and we slightly turned a corner and I could see a finish line, so I started running faster. I wanted to sprint, but my legs just would not move as fast as I wanted them to move although I still have enough energy left!

I have run with one guy (he was actually REALLY cute) for almost the whole race. I caught up with him soon after we started and as I passed him he stayed with me (or maybe I stayed with him. It is so easy to settle into someone else's pace if you do not know how fast you are running). I was tempted to ask him how fast we were running but I know it would distract him so I did not. We were working together for the rest of the race. Although at one point he slowed down a bit but after couple hundred meters I heard someone getting closer so I was like cool, someone fast I can stay with. Turned out it was the same guy and once he got to me he slowed down and stayed with me (soon I realized why he had slowed down before. He was not wearing a shirt now (call that a nice distraction!:)). Of course, he got chicked at the end:) He took it nicely and congratulated me and told me he did not have it in him to stay with me for last couple hundred meters and thanked me for helping him out (stop talking and invite me for a thank-you drink! Too bad it did not happen.)

Coming to the finish line was pretty cool because it turned out I was the first female and people were cheering. Cool:)

After-race thoughts:
I am an idiot and should learn to pace myself without a watch. I am too dependent on my splits.
I was bummed at first because I did not run as fast as I wanted to and did not push hard enough to run faster.

But now I am ok with the result (or maybe I am just trying to make myself feel better) because it is really hard to try to run a specific time without watch and not knowing splits or distance. (Some people might be able to do that, I am not)
I see that I can run 19:10ish without much effort, because really I know I have not pushed myself. I started to push when it was too late. So if I pushed little more, I could have run sub-19 pretty easily.


There is nothing wrong with my Garmin, I just pushed a button oddly. So it was all my stupid mistake! Maybe I should have tried to re-start it again when I realized it is not working, but I did not want to play with it and loose time.

But let's move on! So now I PUMPED for the race on Dec 11th because I know I can run sub-19 no problem. I just need to push the right button!!!!!
Now I only need to decide whether it will be again 5k or try 10k. I am both little scared but kinda excited for 10k because I have never done 10k on a road. I did 10,000m on track once. And I was told that this race in Dec is very flat and fast and because it is Xmas race it is a lot of fun.

PPC: I DID focus on my race in the morning:) I just did a little bit of internet stalking in the morning while trying to mentally prepare myself to head out into the rain)

Pre-race thoughts

I did 7.5 easy miles + 5 strides today, my last run before the race on Sunday.
ITB feels good, not 100%, but very close. I roll it at least twice a day, stretch and ice 1-2 times a day.
(I am taking the foam roller with me home for Xmas, I cannot survive without it! I am sure that such a thing as a foam roller has not arrived to a small town in Slovakia with 1000+ population yet so need to pack it into my luggage. Although maybe in a city where my parents live...Hm, I do not think so. If you do not live in a capital, you cannot get these highly specialized gadgets. Or maybe I will be surprised.)

I went over my training log and I should not have done that!!! I started to feel confident but now I am deep in doubts again.
In past 3 weeks I was supposed to run 5x a week and my mileage was supposed to be in low 40s.
In reality I ran 3x one week and 4x other weeks and my mileage was in low 20s. It was not my laziness or anything similar, it was the ITB giving me troubles after 5k race in October. I know I had to be careful if I wanted to even run this race. I know if I continued running normally it would get worse and lead to time off. So it was a good call to run less. But I still feel guilty for not training properly. I have learnt my lesson in 2009, now I am being very disciplined.
But this time I have not done any biking and hardly any swimming.

Sometimes it is just better to be in an innocent unawareness :)


Oh well, should be fun times on Sunday!
I am actually excited about the race and am looking forward to it.
I want to see whether I can push myself to my goal time even if I might not be well prepared.

Just need to keep thinking about that $150+ haircut I can get! :)

Strategy and goals for Sunday

So I finally registered for the 5k race on Sunday. I was waiting to make sure ITB won't give me any trouble. And since it seems ok, I signed up.

Now I need to start being more focused and motivated and think about the strategy.

This is the first time they organize this race so I do not have high organizational expectations. Plus since it is the first edition, maybe not that many people will show up and I might have a shot to win one of awesome prizes for 1st and 2nd place: Nike running shoes + some other Nike goodies, haircut in Oliver Ifergan atelier in Beverly Hills (I do not care about this one, but since I have not had a haircut in cough cough 2 years, maybe it is time to get one) and one month membership to fitness studio. So it would be great to finish 1st or 2nd. That should keep me motivated. And of course I will try to beat my current PR.
But somehow I do not feel ready. Past 2 weeks were chaotic, I was eating crap and I just was not "there". Plus I got my period today. Which according to some articles I have read should be a plus in fast running, but I am just not sure about it.
I have read that in the follicular phase (first half or so of your cycle) your tempo runs and interval training will feel easier because you'll be accessing quick energy through carbohydrates. During the luteal phase (last half or so) your long, slow runs will feel easier and require less recovery time because your body will take advantage of increased fat breakdown. Maybe that's why I felt sluggish during the intervals past 2 weeks and I will excel on Sunday:)


As for strategy, I am going to bike the course tomorrow but it looks it is slight uphill out and then slight downhill back.
The last race I ran for pretty hilly, downhills and uphills. So I could go fast on downhills but slowed down on uphills. Unfortunately I do not know whether I was able to run fast because of those downhills, or whether I was not able to run fast because of uphills. So I am not sure whether I can run faster or slower on flatter course...Any thoughts?

Goal A is to run low 18:50s. If course is like I think it is, I want to start at 3:46-47 and keep that until half point and then it should be downhill so I should be able to keep that pace even if I will be tired by then and then "sprint" last 400-500m. Which should give me time around 18:50-18:53.
But taking into consideration my workouts past 3 weeks where I was struggling to hold that pace in intervals eventhough I could rest between them, not sure whether this goal is realistic.

Goal B is just run sub-19, even 18:59.59 would do.

Goal C is to get that Oliver Ifergan haircut, hm, I mean those Nike Lunar Glide 2 shoes.


I borrowed a book about swimming by James Counsilman from the library yesterday. It is from 1977 but who cares, right? I am off to pool to examine my technique and compare it to what I should be doing.

UPDATE:
Actually, I should have put my goals in opposite order:) I really need new running shoes!

I almost drown myself in a pool today. I tried to do everything I have read in a wise book at once and well, it did not work out quite well:) So one thing at a time. But I realized that my technique is pretty good. I do not bent the arms enough and bent the legs too much, otherwise everything looks ok. As long as I can say. I did not use the legs too much because I wanted to get a feel for arms' power and it was pretty awesome.

Shorties

Last work-out before 5k race on Sunday, woo-hoo!
Schedule called for intervals totaling 5k @ 5k pace and since I have not done anything short(er) for couple weeks, I decided to do 10x500 w/ 1min jog rec.

I felt awful, really. Work-out was not that hard but I was generally tired and could not get legs moving properly.
I have read two articles by two different people who went to Hawaii and did the same hike from Waipio to Waimanu (of course they did not do it in one day. I am special:)) and they both had health issues when they got back. Apparently there is some nasty virus in one of those streams you have to cross. They both got some infection or something on their legs and had to go onto antibiotics (one of them was told that she could have lost her leg if she did not come early enough to the doctor). Maybe I have it and therefore I felt all crappy today.
I have also a little cold, I think. Spending half the day in wet cloths and swimming in different virus-infected rivers is not great, even in warm Hawaii.

But let's put jokes aside.
500s went well. It is just 500m so I can pull that off. Although I would not mind longer breaks, 1min of jogging is nothing. I just wasn't able to move faster. Not that I wanted to, but had I wanted to I would not be able to (what a sentence structure! My Cambridge English teacher would be proud of me.)
I did 1:52, 1:51, 1:51, 1:53, 1:51, 1:51, 1:51, 1:51, 1:51, 1:51. That's called consistency! And then looong cool-down, lots of foam rolling and off to take a final exam (which by the way went ok. Nothing spectacular. I used to be a good student until past June, now I just want to be done with school).

I really need to put my **** together. Last two weeks were awful, I completely lost my focus. Both on training and on eating. I have not done a bike ride in like one month, have been to pool twice in past two weeks and I do not even remember last time I did weights. I like my routine and life got completely chaotic recently.
Next week will be the same since my sister is coming but afterwards I need to do something with myself!!!

Long weekend in Hawaii

I know that going to Hawaii for 3 days does not make much sense but I had to take the advantage of the fact that I am in LA. You probably cannot get any closer to Hawaii that that. Because making such a trip from Europe would be at least 20hours and definitely not for $5.

It was definitely fun, with both pluses and minuses.

Minuses:
- I am sure that I would enjoy it more if I went alone. I went with the same guy whose food and water I had to carry in Yosemite. This time I sent him an email to get his own backpack. Apparently he did not read it because during our first hike on Friday he stopped and said he would like a drink. I was like: Well, have you brought something with you??? So not only he expected me to carry his water and food, he also expected me to pack it for him!
And I had to pack the tent myself every single day. He saw me doing it, he would came over and ask me whether I took his things out of small side pockets and when I said yes he would just leave and let me continue packing without helping.

- I did not swim in waterfall. I wanted to but then when I got there there was noone there and I was not sure whether that's the waterfall you can swim in. And I did not want to risk being sucked into some underground current where my corpse will never be found since noone knew where I was.
Technically I swam in the stream leaving from the waterfall but it was one mile down the stream and I was fully dressed and had my backpack on while swimming:) Which leads to the third minus:

- I drowned my camera :( Thankfully the memory card survived. It was a very low-quality camera so I do not really regret it especially since Black Friday sale is next week so I can get a new one pretty cheap.

Pluses:

Arriving to Kona



This is the coolest airport ever. It is not even a building!



Smoking Kilauea volcano!



Waipio Lookout
I did a hike from Waipio to Waimanu. I read everywhere not to attempt it in one day since it is 19 miles round trip but such an advice is for regular people:) Not only did I manage to do it in one day, I also managed to get in a short 30s accelerations workout in the morning and even do a short hike to a waterfall while in Waimanu valley. 22 miles total with waterfall hike and perfectly doable in one day. Of course my hiking pace is like some people's running pace:)



I ate way too many passion fruits on my way there:)



It was all worth it for these views





My camera's doom (no more pictures:(( )
There were two large streams to cross. One at the Waipio valley at the beginning and then this one at the end. First one was ok, water up to my hips. I expected the same for this one. I am walking and walking and suddenly no ground and I am swimming in a full gear. Fun times. Since I was totally soaked I did not care that I had to swim through it again on my way back.

Ladder intervals

1200 m, 1000 m, 800 m, 800 m, 1000 m, 1200 m. @5k pace, 1200m @ 5k pace + 5 seconds per km. 2min rec.

I was asked to do specifically this workout. I usually can choose from a bunch of workouts but not today. I wonder whether it has something to do with the fact that I did not choose this workout in past training cycle:) I swear, I had it planned but then I decided to try 3x5x300m workout instead.

It was again one of the hard workouts. I better used to that. Although it will probably help me to progress faster, it is not good for my confidence.
Before(with underestimated 5k pace) I was always able to hit paces and even run faster, now I am struggling to hit paces.
It was super windy today. One part of the fence got knocked down and the portable seats/tribunes for players and coaches got turned over as well.

I did 4:36, 3:44, 2:57, 2:58, 3:36, 4:35.
Because there is no sub-tempo to tire the legs before, it was not super super hard but still I worked pretty hard. And I had to run to the bathroom after second 800 and consequently took around 3min break...
1200s were the easiest. The first one was like jogging, whereas the last one I stopped concentrating hard on and freaking abut not hitting the pace and it somehow worked. I felt controlled and not too bad.

I used the heart monitor to see what it gives. For example the highest heart rate I got during the intervals were 196, 198, 195, 193, 198, 191. I am sure how to interpret it, I need to read a book before. This was just a test.

I also wore the compression socks and I this the calves are better not although still sore. I also foam rolled them, so that might have helped as well.

I also read an article couple weeks ago that faster runs are better on ITB than slow runs. It is definitely true. I never feel the ITB during the intervals. It is always during an easy recovery run when I sometimes feel tingling. So I should do only fast running from now on:)

Ok, I am off to Hawaii in 40minutes! I hope it will be fun. Will be back on Monday.

Calves and heart rate monitor (unrelated)

Calves are killing me! After the workout on Monday they got all knotted and sore. Also at the beginning of this year they were sometimes like that and I do not know why. Therefore I bought the compression socks to see whether they can help. I think they did so maybe I will put them on for workout tomorrow. And then I will be a geek runnig track intervals in compression socks...Whatever. I would do anything to help it. I have never had that problem before.

And I got a heart rate monitor today. I have been eying it for some time now but it was just too expensive, $100. But today it was on sale because it is Veteran's Day tomorrow. For $40. So I got it. Originally I wanted my parents to buy one for me for Xmas, but this was an opportunity I could not pass. So I will tell my parents to get me these cool dioptric sunglasses from Adidas. They are sport sunglasses but you can put dioptric lenses in and choose different shades (yellow, clear, blue...) And since I bike without glasses and consequently don't see that great, it would be great to have something like this to actually see. Both for my safety and for enjoying the scenery.
They also had Timex Ironman watch on sale. I was very very tempted to get that as well. Because I have Timex Ironman watch now and LOVE it. I got that watch for my 15th birthday! I have had it for 11 years! Can you believe that? So maybe it is time to upgrade. But since that watch still works flawlessly I don't really need a new one.

Back to heart monitor. I have read few articles about training with HRM. Although I don't think it will be useful for running and I am definitely not going to wear it for running (except tomorrow to see how it works. So I will be a geek wearing compression socks AND heart rate monitor) I think it will be great for bike training. It seems that a lot of people use HRM for biking.
I will not do that much biking for the rest of the year but the HRM will not go everywhere, so I can use it next year.
Now I only need to borrow some books about heart rate cyclist training.
I am looking forward to that!!!

No run today, only 1k swim.

Respecting the distance

I really should do some serious school work and stop procrastinating but this is interesting. I read an article about NYC Marathon about famous people who ran it this past Sunday.
I do not care about movie starts and similar. Instead I was looking at the results of former or current professional non-runner athletes. And it is weird. I start to think that maybe not everyone can ran a marathon. Or at least a decent one. Before I though that everyone can do it. If I was able to do it, everyone can, it is not that hard.

But look at the results:
Keir Dillon, professional snowboarder, 5:08:59
Justin Gimelstob, former professional tennis player, 4:09:58
Brad Ludden, professional kayaker, 4:16:19
Amelie Mauresmo, former professional tennis player, 3:40:20
Yannick Noah, former professional tennis player, 4:01:38
Amani Toomer, former New York giants wide receiver, 4:13:45

I know only Amelie Mauresmo and do not know any of those other athletes so I cannot tell how old they are or when they finished their careers.
But I would expect any professional athlete, who is/was among the best in the world, to be able to run a marathon well below 4 hours. Well, even below 3:30 should not be a problem for them, since 3:30 is not that great, right? They were/are paid to train and they train/ed, hard. I think that if they decided to runt he race they were actually training for it at least a bit. And even if they did not do a special hard-core marathon training, they should be have enough strength and endurance? So why are not they able to run a solid marathon time.

Interesting.

Ops

I did one of the stupidiest things in this training cycle today.
I did my long run - 9 miles. One day after my hard workout yesterday. And I knew that 9 miles would be a close call for the ITB but it went ok. Although I felt tingling at the end, I do not feel anything now.
I had a 6 miler and a 9 miler planned for this week and since I will be in a new place on Fr, Sat and Sun and I do not know whether there are any trails (I am not running on a road!!!) and I do not want to end up doing 9miler on a 100m grass stretch. I can do 6 miles back and forth (maybe) but not 9.

So 9 miles today and 6 miles and 1 small work-out during the weekend.

And I really need to get back on eating-right track. I have been eating fancy food past week but most of that was just crap without any nutritional value (eating cashew nuts and Starbursts for dinner is no good, even I know that.) So back to eating right!

Everything is good

I did the workout in the morning and as far as I can tell no ITB problem.
I have not even fell any tingling today (yet. I know it is only noon...), which is great. So seems it was just a false alarm on Saturday morning.

Although ITB feels good, I feel blah.
Now I know why I liked 1k repeats so much (although I have suspected it for a long time)- it is because I have always done them slowly (that's also the reason why I always managed to hit my paces), not at my true 5k pace, so it was easy for me. According to my time from last Sunday, my 5k pace for 1k is around 3:47, and I have done my workouts at 3:53-55pace and then usually hit negative splits to run a bit faster.
Therefore, past two weeks when I did my workouts at 3:45 pace were HARD. Really. But that's what is going to help me progress, right?

Today I did
4k sub-tempo at 4:19ish pace (17:17) and then 5x1k w/ 2min rest (I cheated on the last one because it was just too hard).
I did 3:44, 3:44, 3:44, 3:43, 3:42. Before the last one, I did not jog for 2 min, I walked 200m to the start so it was 3min break.
First 2 repeats went ok, pretty easy but then it started to get harder and harder. Both my legs and arms got tired. (I should start to do some arms exercises. When I was younger we would do 1minute "arm drills". 1min circles with one arm, then change, then both arms, then movement you do while running and so on. Maybe it will help.)
And the 4th and 5th repeat- I was working hard on those.
Times are faster probably not because I ran faster but because it was very windy on straight sections of the track and after 3 repeats I decided to change my start so I run 3x with the wind and only 2x against the wind during those 2.5 laps. Or maybe I ran faster:) Because there was this guys that little started before me and I told myself to catch him and I did and then he stayed with me, so we pushed each other. Too bad it was the last repeat. We could have run together.

Conclusion: 1k repeats are not my favorite workout anymore. I will choose something easier as my favorite workout.

Short update: I am going to run tomorrow

I do not know what the deal was on Saturday. It really looks like it was shoes-induced. Stupid shoes! If only I could get a note from a doctor that I cannot wear anything but sneakers. That way I could wear sneakers all the time, even to work where business casual is required...

ITB feels alright, like usual, not too bad not too good so I am going to run tomorrow. I told my coach but have not received any response to that. She was either too horrified by the idea and now she thinks I am a lost case and does not want to have anything to do with me anymore or she thinks it is an obvious choice and it does not deserve a comment:) Or she just lets me choose since it is my leg. I suspect it is a combination of number 1 and 3.

I have not had any problem (and only very occasional tingling, like 1-2 a day) since that scary Saturday morning. I really got scared. Because I am trying hard to keep ITB happy and then suddenly that.

I do not think it will get worse if I run. So tomorrow early morning it is a workout time! I have 3 workouts next week (2 hard ones, 1 easy-peasy) and since I am working till Tuesday night and going to Hawaii on Thursday (I have probably mentioned this here on my blog like 10x, but I do not care. I am excited!), I need to do one workout on Monday so I can fit in with work and travels.

And I have not ridden my bike for 2 weeks now. Of course I ride it to school and to work but it is not the same as doing long weekend rides. And I am not going to ride it next weekend (Hawaii) or the weekend after (race) or the weekend after (Thanksgiving, my sis is here). I can ride the weekend after that and then next weekend is a race and then one more free weekend for bike (if I do not sell it by then). Wow, it seems I have only 2 weekends (maybe even only 1:((() for riding a bike before I leave on Dec 20th! Shoot! That's not good.

ITB!!!!!!! Keep your fingers crossed

I woke up this morning to an easy 6miler before I head to work. And as I was walking around I realized that the ITB hurts with every single step. That just made me wanting to cry and really bummed.
I knew that the race on Sunday, which led to 9miles on a road, then the easy run on Monday and the workout on Tuesday might have been little too much for my poor ITB, although it did not hurt during running, not at all. I just felt tingling in the area throughout the day, not the whole day just for short moments. Therefore I have been extra careful, stretching and rolling every day. So WTF?!?

But this morning it really hurt. So I decided to skip the run of course. I was contemplating going for a short bike ride but no. I juts want to rest it.
I stretched, rolled and iced and now it is ok. No pain, nothing. Rolling really helps a lot, everytime I feel something in that area I try to use foam roller and it gives me an instant relieve.

It seems that I really cannot wear anything other than sneakers. I was wearing different shoes yesterday so that might be a problem. They are pretty good shoes so I do not get it. But I am almost sure it is the shoes.
So I will try sneakers today although I am not sure whether boss at work will allow it. Because I do not have one of those "fashion" sneakers, only running-style sneakers. I can wear jeans, that's no problem, it is pretty casual market but sneakers not sure...

Even if it feels ok during the day, I do not think I am going to run today. Too scared. I will run tomorrow if I think it will not cause any trouble. 1-2 days off will not kill me. (or so I hope at least)

Mile repeats- my new favorite?

I love 1k repeats. Now sure why. Probably because it is not too fast and I usually run them at 5k pace, so it is a comfortable pace.

Today I did my second session of 5xmile @ 6:20-30 w/ 1min rec. And loved it. Now I cannot decide between 1k and mile repeats:)
I was working the whole morning until 3:30pm and then had to run to class until 7pm so I did not get to track until around 7:20pm. Way too late but better than never. I was not sure how the workout will go because I was already tired from standing the whole day or at least that's what I thought.
So I decided to start closer to 6:30 pace and see how I feel. And I felt awesome. Easy, it felt like a jog, really, the whole time.
6:27, 6:26, 6:25, 6:20 ( I wanted to do 6:24 so I decided to give me a little cushion and it did not work out:)), 6:22.
Great workout. I am not sure, are these supposed to feel hard at the end? Because they did not, I could have continued at this pace for couple more repeats.

But I think that 1k repeats are still my favorite because miles are just too long and uneventful (ok, 1ks are not eventful neither but at least they are shorter).

This and next week are going to be crazy. I am working the whole day Friday, Sat and Sunday like 8am-8ish pm, then most of the day on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday the film market is over, so it will be a normal day and on Thursday I am off to Hawaii!!! I cannot wait.

Work is fun and get to eat fancy food. Although those film people must know something I do not because I would not buy any of those films we are selling. Most of them are more like artfilms and I prefer "normal" movies- no thinking, just bad guys versus good guys and they lived happily ever after at the end. I definitely could not be a film seller for that company. You really must like that stuff. I was more on a technical side when I did my internship there so I did not have to be enthusiastic about movies. But some of them were/are cool and I liked them.
So far I have seen only one movie at the market because I do not have time to see more but I hope to go to see some over weekend.
Also when the company went to Cannes, everyone went only me, a poor intern, had to stay in the office in Paris and take care of emergencies:(

Desperate times call for desperate measures

American Film market start tomorrow and I start working there this afternoon (between classes and from early morning to late night) so I had to take an advantage of "last" free morning for workout.

4k sub-tempo + 5x800 at my newly found 5k pace w/90sec jog rec.
I warmed up, stretch and started the sub-tempo. Something however felt off...After 400m I realized that I forgot to do strides. What an idiot I am!?! Sub-tempo was hardish but I blamed it on missing strides. Did it in 17:21. 3min full rest and on to 800s.

Man, that was hard. First one went ok at 3:01. I was thinking, come on you just did 5k at that pace, you can do couple 800s. Wait, I JUST did 5k. I wasn't probably recoved enough but I had to get it done today.
Second and third went well, both @ 3:00.
Then it started to get interesting and HARD. I was working my ass off on those last two 800s. 2:59, 2:57
Then did a long and very slow cool down untl I felt legs started to loosen up.

And I was trashed at the end.

Then I was a slacker and did not do swim work-out. That would be way too much on me today. My usual swimming buddy had a meeting so could not come so I just swam easy 1.5k. And it felt great, I was surprised! However, every time I pushed of the wall I was like, OMG, my quands are sore!

I am off to class and then work:(

26 on 26 not happening, Happy B-day to ME and some cool pictures to show you

Yeah, I turned 26 today. So I am officially on the wrong side of 25:)

Obviously I am not running any marathon today, so no 26 on 26. I will just wait 16 more years and then do 42 on 42. And it will be Sunday so it should not be a problem to find a race to run.

You know what the best part of my birthday is? All Halloween candy went on sale today. I already got some.

And here are some cool photos I wanted to show you: (I do not have any photos when I was a little baby because I was born 2 months before due date (I weighted hardly 6 pounds and was 18.5 inches long) and apparently I looked horribly so my parents did not take any pictures of me. I think that most babies do not look that nice for first couple weeks but imagine a small crumpled not fully developed baby and then that baby gets pneumonia when 3 months old and looses even more weight to sub-5 pounds...But I still turned out pretty good:) And I know this is not funny, at least it was not back then but now I find it amusing. I think I was a dream baby of all parents because I would sleep the whole night from the day they were allowed to take me home. My parents have lived with my grandparents for first couple months and because I did not scream in night, my grandmother used to sit in front of my parents' bedroom and cry because she was sure I died in my sleep and my awful parents were having a good night sleep by my corpse. I told you. Not funny.)

Here are those pictures:

My own private pool:) Nowadays kids would not consider a bucket filled with water a private swimming pool but as you can see I had a blast. (I also used to ride a small kids bike that my grandfather found somewhere behind their garden. He brought it home, my dad repaired and painted it and off I went. My mom also used to give me a bone from chicken thigh with a bit of meat on it instead of lollipops. Bucket as a pool, a junk bike and bones? Don't think anything bad of my family though. This was completely normal (and candy is BAD) 26 years ago in a small village of less than 1000 people in Czechoslovakia. Or so I hope:)



Start of my running career. This picture cracks my sister up.


Me and my little sister. You see that sisters' love?


Me and sis playing in our parents' first car! (I am surprised my dad let us in:)



I do not have any more baby pictures on my computer to amuse you:(

Training related: I swam 1.2k during lunch break and am off for an easy 6 mile run.