…the need for Speed.

Tuesday night this arrived.

Yep, I’ll be rocking some orange.f.you.cancer sexiness as I dominate the streets of Boston on April 16.

The fun thing about fundraising is that once you reach your half-way goal, Fred’s Team sends you the uniform as a little motivation to keep on keepin’ on.  It worked.  Natch.  I’m 94% to goal.  Come on friends…if about 15 of you donate $25, I’m there.  and if 30 of you donate $12.50, I’m there.  (Doing the math, that’s less than $.50/mile and you don’t even have to run!   I’ll do the hauling to kick cancer’s ugly little head).

So this little thing called Marathon training.  What does it entail besides lots of looooong runs?

Short and Speedy ones too. Especially if you want to hit sub-4 goals.

I gave up the gym years ago.  I used to be a total gym-rat – I taught spinning classes and did my own workouts there too. Let’s be honest, it may have played a bit of a role in my social life too. I met a lot of great ex’s friends there -  many who are still great friends of mine today.  I quit the gym after back surgery.  My recovery program included a 30 min walking/day and to me. For me 3 min walking on the treadmill feels like an hour so imagine 10x that? Nope no thanks. Outside I go. At least it’s pretty and I can talk on the phone without feeling like one.of.those.girls.

Back to the point, I used to use the treadmill for my speed workouts.  Easier to time, easier to pace and I didn’t have to deal with watching for cars, bumps in the sidewalk and my watch for pacing all at the same time.

Life has changed.  No Gym. Limited workout time {which also often doubles as dog walking time}. How do you speed train?  Well I came up with a little program of my own that I’ve been trying to do at least once a week.and.ps.i.think.it’s.working.

• Warm up 1/2 Mile
• Homie Break (where break actually means dog.meet.tree).
• Sprint
• Homie Break
• Sprint
• Homie Break
• Repeat until run is 1/2 mile from over.
• Cool Down 1/2 Mile

With two homies, there are a bazillion and a half breaks – about every .25 mile.

Tuesday night. I rocked my orange and I busted out 3.43 miles in 23 minutes.  Avg pace:  6:42 min/mile.

(I stopped my watch for H-Breaks).

How’d it feel?  Well, the homies pancaked down in the elevator on the way upstairs – tails still wagging of course.  I on the other hand felt the sweet victory of orange-laced speed.

{MF Dre}

• Do you run with your dogs?
• Did you happen to see this article: Horses and Dogs and Sports, Oh My!