Category Archives: Running
Reducing Your 5K Race Time: The Fartlek.
With more and more of our team racing with some regularity, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about one of the widely used training techniques that help develop your racing speed. Today I wanted to revisit my favorite training method, the Fartlek.
The Fartlek, which is swedish for speed play, was developed in 1937 by Gösta Holmér, who then coached the swedish cross-country teams. The concept behind the Fartlek was to integrate interval style sprints with endurance training for more efficient training sessions. Each session featured faster-than-race paces with recovery periods built-in, as well as warm up and cool downs. Once adopted, Fartlek training led to several world record performances in the following years and proved to be an immensely successful system.
A while ago my Mom started running for the first time in many years. Her strategy then was to slowly build up her distance, one street light post at a time. The first time out, she ran to the end of our street. Then, around the corner. Slowly but surely she added more running in between walking breaks, adding stretches of runs between light posts. She Fartlek trained. By adding running intervals, running between posts, she built up her speed and endurance, and now is able to complete 5ks on a whim.
Weigh-In Wednesday May 22nd: Its hot out!
Here at 2 Fat Nerds, each Wednesday is a Weigh-In day, where all of the data from the previous week is collected, displayed, and analyzed. Let’s see what data was submitted this week!
Weight Loss
Each week, members who have opted to have their weights publicly displayed for the world to see have them graphed on the main blog. It is a great way to keep track over time, and it gives a bit more accountability to your workouts. If you are interested, leave a comment!
One Week To Go, Go Away Summer!
There comes a point where a person must accept his or her fate and hope for the best. For runners, this usually comes exactly one week before a big race. Additional training won’t make you more prepared, and overworking and not resting can make your performance suffer. One week out is the time to just sit back, rest up, and hope your preparations were enough.
I talked last week about how we were feeling very confident this go-around, despite missing more workout sessions than we would have liked. My personal feelings of confidence have quickly diminished as a result of back-to-back 70–80° days this weekend. I was reminded of summers past and just how much training in a warm, humid climate can really suck. We had a few friends in town this weekend, and while out and about touring around the wonders of Buffalo (Cheerios factory!), memories of running in the heat of last summer came crashing back into my thoughts.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t mind running in the summer. But if you look at my training logs, the majority of our summer runs start at ten o’clock at night. I suppose there is some benefit to starting the Buffalo Half Marathon at 7:00 a.m., which means we will be finishing up shortly after 9:00 a.m., before the heat really sets in. There is also the extra plus that the majority of the race is along Lake Erie, which will provide a nice, cooling wind for the most part. But still, why couldn’t the forty-degree weather hang around for an extra couple of weeks!?
Even with the weather being slightly less than cooperative, I suppose I am still pretty excited to race a longer distance again. I never thought I’d enjoy distance running, but there is just something about plodding along for hours and being able to cover the vast majority of the City of Buffalo in that time. Call me crazy, but I like it!
The Last Long Run Before a Race
There is nothing quite like wrapping up your last major long run before a big race. There is a sense of validation that washes over you as you stumble up the three flights of stairs, completely in need of a big glass of water. A post-workout stretch and a nice, big smoothie packed with strawberries, yogurt, and chia seeds confirm that it was a good training session . . . and that we are good to go for race day.
Deep down, there is always some doubt about being ready for a big race. Did we train enough? What about all those skipped workouts back in weeks 4 and 6? Why didn’t we suck it up those nights we were too tired to run? None of these things bother me after last night’s run. We finished our 12 miles and have just under two weeks to get some easier runs in and get our legs back and ready to go. We know we can go the distance; we know we could have finished 13.1 last night. We know we won’t just complete the race, but we’ll also push ourselves to do our best. It is an exciting feeling.
Weekend Gathering, Running, and Did We Really Sign Up For That?
This weekend featured a family gathering in honor of all the mothers in our lives. Though I wasn’t in Albany very long, we did get two great runs in! On Saturday, Mom, Dad Dave and I set out for a nice 5k in the pouring rain. It was great to see them all push through the humidity and downpours to get a great workout in. On Sunday morning before Mother’s Day brunch, Mom, Dave and Aunt Linda set out for a nice walk (with some running!) and Mike, Suz, cousin Jon and I went for a nice run. Boy was it humid both days.
I’ve talked about this many times before, but I am constantly amazed to see just how far this family has come since just a year ago. Everyone is excited to get out and move, especially before a big meal. Speaking of big meal, here’s a picture Paul took of brunch!
Apparently it is hard to get 10 people to stop moving and also not look doofy (cough Mike). But anyways, it was a lot of fun to have everyone together.
The Bigger Picture
Last night a friend of mine called asking for a ride. He had gotten pretty sick earlier that day and needed to fetch his car that was still downtown from work. No problem, I was more than happy to help out. At the time I was at the grocery store, so I quickly checked out, took my groceries home and headed over to pick him up. Before heading over though, I switched into my running clothes just in case.
I must have figured that if he was too sick to drive earlier in the day, I didn’t want him behind the wheel heading home after a day of being sick. I knew the distances between where we needed to go was right around a 10k, so no sweat. I figured I would just run it and get my car after taking him home. At the time I didn’t really think anything of it. I figured it was the easiest way to get everything that needed to happen done, while impacting the least number of possible (AKA letting Ellie get her work done as opposed to driving around for a while).
Buffalo Undy5000 Recap!
As promised, here is the Buffalo Undy5000 Race Recap!
Enjoy the video!
Overall the race was a lot of fun, and Dad set a great official time of 31:32, a PR of nearly 4 minutes!
Buffalo Undy 5000 Success!
The 2013 Buffalo Undy 5000 was a stunning success!
Dad got a new PR of 31:30!
Weigh-In Wednesday April 24th: My Stapler is Legit.
Here at 2 Fat Nerds, each Wednesday is a Weigh-In day, where all of the data from the previous week is collected, displayed, and analyzed. Let’s see what data was submitted this week!
Weight Loss
Each week, members who have opted to have their weights publicly displayed for the world to see have them graphed on the main blog. It is a great way to keep track over time, and it gives a bit more accountability to your workouts. If you are interested, leave a comment!
Boston Solidarity Run – Buffalo
On Sunday morning Ellie and I woke up bright and early to make it over to the park in time for the Boston Solidarity Run. It was an event thrown together earlier in the week to show support for the events at the Boston Marathon. It wasn’t a race, it wasn’t timed, and there was no set distance. Just a group of runners/walkers/stroller pushers showing their support to those injured and lost, and to the city of Boston.
The run was pretty overwhelming. I’d say easily 600+ people were there by 9 am to start the run. We rather silently set off running around the outer loop of Delaware Park as a huge mass, all going at their own speeds and within their own groups. It was a pretty impressive sight, one of the biggest non-racing events I’ve ever taken part of.
