Training Week 1 and First Team Run

Week 1 of training looked like this:

Monday: 3 easy miles
Tuesday: 2 yassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 2 mi Tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Friday: 45 min cross training
Saturday: 5 miles long
Sunday: Rest or 45 min cross training

Some quick definitions.

Easy - run between 30 -90 seconds slower than your goal race pace
Yassos - run 800 meters (1/2 mile) at your goal time, followed by recovery jogging for the same amount of time and then repeat for the number of intervals on the schedule
Tempo run- This is a run where the goal is to run at your goal race pace
Long - Your pace on these runs should be 1-2 minutes slower than your goal race pace.

WU/CD - Warm up and cool down 

On Saturday (Dec 13) morning we had our first team run. 

We met at the Waltham location for Children's Hospital in their (relatively) new Sports Injury Prevention center. 

We had a clinic with one of the women who works at the center who gave us some great stretches she recommended we do before our run.  As a runner, and athlete in general, I am notoriously bad at warming up before I start my workouts. I know I should be getting those muscles ready to work, but it tacks on to the length of the workout and sometimes you just want to get going. Thankfully, we were forced to stretch before going out on our first run. If you want to learn more about stretching warm ups for runners, there's a good article from Runner's World you can read here: http://www.runnersworld.com/stretching/a-runners-guide-to-warming-up.

After our warm up our coaches asked if anyone would like to make a dedication or tell why they were running for Children's. Normally I'm not shy and am willing to share, but decided to not share this first day. One of my team mates told us that she is running for her younger cousin who is currently being treated at Children's. We then bundled up and set out for our run. 

Thankfully the weather was great. No snow or ice on the ground, sunny skies, and temps in the mid-thirites. Just what you would hope for with December training. 

The run went very well. I ran along at a comfortable pace for a while by myself, then one of my coaches, Sarah, caught up with me and we started chatting. I shared my story with Sarah and she encouraged me to share it with the group the next week. It was great to get to know her a little more and have someone to run with. 

Overall it was a successful first week of training with 18 out of a possible 20 miles completed.