April 2016 Running Challenge
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I just realized I did not update my mileage after this morning's 5 mile recovery effort run. Based on the race yesterday and my pace at recovery HR range today I am apparently due to update my pace info by running some distance at best effort. With the event schedule though I won't be doing that until the 5/14 half marathon so I am not too wiped for any of the upcoming events
4/1 - Rest
4/2 - 14 miles
4/3 - 5 miles
4/4 - 5 miles
4/5 - 5 miles
4/6 - 8 miles
4/7 - 5 miles
4/8 - Rest
4/9 - 13.1 miles
4/10 - 5 miles
60.1/160 miles
Upcoming races:
4/9 - Rock the Parkway half marathon (Kansas City, MO) 2:30:17.6 new PR
4/16 - Garmin Wickedly Fast half marathon (Olathe, KS)
4/23 - Race for Hope half marathon (North Kansas City, MO)
5/1 - Buffalo Bell Stampede half marathon (Leavenworth, KS)
5/14 - Running with the Cows half marathon (Bucyrus, KS)
6/2 - Hospital Hill 5k 7pm PRE-RUN (Kansas City, MO)
6/3 - Hospital Hill half marathon 7am RE-RUN (Kansas City, MO)
9/25 - Broadway Bridge half marathon (Kansas City, MO)
10/15 - Kansas City Marathon 26.2 (Kansas City, MO)
11/5 - Jenks half marathon (Jenks, OK)
11/6 - Kansas half marathon (Lawrence, KS)
11/12 - Longview half marathon (Kansas City, MO)
11/13 - Gobbler Grind half marathon (Overland Park, KS)
11/19 - White River half marathon (Cotter, AR)
11/20 - Pilgrim Pacer half marathon (Lenexa, KS)0 -
@greenolivetree Haha. All the big mtns still have several feet of snow right now. The verticals will be getting much bigger soon. And yes this is in Vegas!0
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@Elise4270 Waiting for the snow on this 12,000ft mtn to melt so I can resume running it weekly. Around 4500ft vert and 19mi. This is from last spring.
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@Elise4270 Waiting for the snow on this 12,000ft mtn to melt so I can resume running it weekly. Around 4500ft vert and 19mi. This is from last spring.
I wanna run a mountain...
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WhatMeRunning wrote: »I just realized I did not update my mileage after this morning's 5 mile recovery effort run. Based on the race yesterday and my pace at recovery HR range today I am apparently due to update my pace info by running some distance at best effort. With the event schedule though I won't be doing that until the 5/14 half marathon so I am not too wiped for any of the upcoming events
@WhatMeRunning How did you figure that out?0 -
Thanks, everyone, for the warm welcome! It is nice to be with peeps who get it...
@mrswhitehog - congrats on finishing your 1st 5K. Good time!
@samthepanda - don't give up! We all started small. At least I did.
@KoraMT - congrats on quitting smoking! I smoked forever and am so thankful I quit! I am amazed every day that I can run as far as I can without keeling over.
@_nikkiwolf_ - congrats on your 10K finish!!
In addition to what I posted yesterday:
4/10 7.43 miles in some sleet. Mud not bad - kinda frozen
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Congratulations on everyone who raced this weekend. Very impressive! I love reading the race reports. This week I've managed to run 22 miles, the most I've ever run. 4 weeks ago I was doing 16 so pleased with my improvement.0
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@skippygirlsmom Congrats on a race well run! I'm glad the knee held up for the entirety! Hopefully you're on the tail end of this ITB problem now!
@_nikkiwolf_ Killer time on the 10k!! Well done!
@Stoshew71 Congrats on an HM PR! That's such an amazing time for a half. And back-to-back 1:3Xs... you are a champion!
@4leighbee Re: Marathon training -- build up mileage slowly through the summer before getting into the biggest runs this fall (is the race in early Nov or late?). You've got a solid base now with 25 mpw so that's a good start! When you get into training, post your specific questions over on the Long Distance Runners group (or peruse previously asked Qs) and we will happily give you all sorts of sordid details!
Re: Female Athlete Triad: Though I appreciate @Elise4270 saying I may have some advice... I'm afraid I don't! I take a 3 month cycle BC so if I were missing periods, I wouldn't even know because the pill forces one. I've never had any other symptoms (low bone mass/osteoporosis or energy deficiency) probably because I eat a lot. During training, I've been running 55-65 miles per week and eating a solid 2000 cals at a minimum, and as many as 2600-3000. My diet usually breaks down to 50-60% carbs, 25-30% fat, and 10-15% protein (trying to up my protein). I take calcium supplements just to make sure I have no bone issues (a teammate of mine got a stress fracture and got me paranoid, so I added them in since I don't drink milk besides with cereal/in oatmeal). If you want to avoid triad-related problems, I'd say to watch your fats most of all. If you're getting enough healthy fats, then you should be fine from a nutritional standpoint; and eat your cheeses!
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@MNLittleFinn - Yesterday at the race I was running at my easy effort HR range but my pace was about 30 seconds faster than it should have been. Same with the slow recovery effort run today. I kept glancing at my watch to make sure I kept my HR down to 136 or lower (since I thought I might have pushed a bit yesrerday with the fsster than expected pace) and did so, but was about 30 seconds faster there too than I would normally expect, up into long run pace actually. I have had some other good runs recently which made me feel very confident about my target 2:30 HM goal. It's all adding up.
So my fitness level may have improved during these last few weeks of base building meaning my "known pace ranges" are currently off and the only thing I can rely on now is my HR. That is not a problem, I can run by feel and can track my HR. But my curiosity really wants to know what my pace ranges are now.
TLDR - Your HR ranges are basically consistent for effort levels. What changes is how fast you go at those levels.0 -
4/01: Off, rest day
4/02: 12 miles, long and easy
4/03: 8K race - 36:36 (7:22 pace) - new PR! + 1 mile warm up
4/04: 4 miles, easy
4/05: 5 miles, easy
4/06: 5 miles total, 2 miles @ 7:38 (LT) pace (am)
4/06: 4 miles, easy (pm)
4/07: 5 miles, easy
4/08: Off, rest day
4/09: Half Marathon - 1:53:11 - treated as a long run with strong finish
4/10: 4 miles, easy
Total: 58.34 miles
Overview:
An easy 4 miles to shake out my legs after that tough half marathon yesterday! My hips and hamstrings are really sore from running in all that snow and ice. Nothing a little stretching and foam rolling wont fix!
Races I'm registered for:
04/03 - Shamrock Shuffle (8K) 36:36 - new 8K PR!
04/09 - Chi Town Half Marathon 1:53:11 - took it nice and easy
04/24 - Ravenswood Run (5K)
05/22 - Chicago Spring 13.1
05/28 - Soldier Field Run (10 miles)
07/21 - Esprit de She 5K
09/10 - Magnificent Mile Half Marathon
09/25 - Chicago Lifetime 5K
10/09 - Chicago Marathon
10/30 - Hot Chocolate 5K
11/27 - Space Coast Half Marathon0 -
WhatMeRunning wrote: »@MNLittleFinn - Yesterday at the race I was running at my easy effort HR range but my pace was about 30 seconds faster than it should have been. Same with the slow recovery effort run today. I kept glancing at my watch to make sure I kept my HR down to 136 or lower (since I thought I might have pushed a bit yesrerday with the fsster than expected pace) and did so, but was about 30 seconds faster there too than I would normally expect, up into long run pace actually. I have had some other good runs recently which made me feel very confident about my target 2:30 HM goal. It's all adding up.
So my fitness level may have improved during these last few weeks of base building meaning my "known pace ranges" are currently off and the only thing I can rely on now is my HR. That is not a problem, I can run by feel and can track my HR. But my curiosity really wants to know what my pace ranges are now.
TLDR - Your HR ranges are basically consistent for effort levels. What changes is how fast you go at those levels.
Gotcha. was just curious because I noticed that, using my 10K run last week (yesterday was a different course) and one from a few weeks ago, I noticed that average HR was within 1bpm for the 2, but my time was 2 min faster. I've been debating adding some miles since the 4 mile morning runs are pretty easy now, so was just curious about how you did things.0 -
So I'm about 15 pages behind, I'll have to catch up tomorrow! Didn't really get any running in over the past week while I was catching up on 30 years of lost time with my newly found half brothers! But today was the Run for Home HM and I had to get out there for my relay team. It was a great race. I did the 3.5 mile leg and my friend who was running the whole thing ran with me. He helped to push me a little more than I would have done on my own. My unofficial time was 49:27 acording to Strava and sadly they don't break down each leg of the relay so that is what I'm going to have to go with. Started snowing at mile 2 but that was the worst of it. I ran the entire thing other than the water stations and the hill at the end so this is officially my longest time spent running straight. I was grateful to my teammate for thinking to have a blanket for me at the relay point cause after I stopped moving it got very cold. We were the second to last team to finish, which was better than I had expected by far! I just need to start telling my brothers that I've got to run and can't talk while I'm doing it so I can hopefully hit my goal this month.
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Congrats on the record weekly mileage @Marissaxzxzxz !!
And congrats to you too @ceckhardt369 for that relay effort! And on finding long lost half brothers!0 -
Got in 13.1 miles of running (along with 56 miles of biking & 1.2 miles of swimming) today
Full ironman 70.3 race report below, but mileage tracker to date:
4/1 - 0.5 mile (pre-lift warm-up)
4/2 - 6.5 miles (speedwork - 6 x 5 min threshold/1 min rest)
4/3 - 20 miles (8 super-easy, 7 easy, 5 mid-hard)
4/5 - 4 miles
4/6 - 8 miles (w. 6x1km repeats at 10K pace in middle)
4/8 - 2 miles
4/10 - 13.1 miles (Ironman Florida 70.3, 1:40:14 run, 5:07 total time)
Total: 54 miles
Goal: 160 miles
Remaining: 106 miles
Upcoming races:
5/1 - Pittsburgh Marathon
9/25 - Ironman 70.3 Augusta
10/9 - Chicago Marathon (lottery TBD)
11/5 - Ironman Florida
Full Race Report:
I finally stepped up to the half-ironman triathlon distance at Ironman Florida 70.3 earlier today after having having completed a handful of olympic & spring distance races over the past 2 years.
With the weather cooperating as much as anyone could ask for during the month of April in the middle of Florida (race started at 58 degrees and finished at a low-humidity 75 degrees), I definitely had some favorable conditions for today's race. In short, I beat my goal time (5:10), finished in 5:07:51, 37th/200 for my age group, and 258th/1800 overall. Although my results aren't as strong as usual, given the serious crowds who race these distances, for a first race at this distance, I'm pretty satisfied. Still, after crossing the line I felt like I held back on effort throughout the race as it was a new distance I wasn't used to pacing, and I likely could have shaved off a few minutes and maybe gone under the 5 hour mark if I left it all out on the course.
Training base:
Going into the race I finally joined a local tri team I had seen (having fun) at a few local races prior. With the team, I've received lots of awesome swim coaching, and some challenging riding and running sessions most weeks over the past 3 months. Also, with the team structure I've been inundated with great race day advice, course support, and a good bike shop. Now that I'm stepping up to half and full ironman distances (with another 70.3 and full 140.6 mile race on the calendar for September and November), having that level of support has been immeasurable.
Although running has been my primary sport for the past few years, leading to about 45 miles/week of training going into the race, I had also significantly bumped up my riding mileage to about 100-200/week for the past few months with some awesome fast group rides thrown in the mix, and continued spending about 1-2 hours/week in the pool or gulf for swim training sessions.
Pre-Race:
As triathlons are an "equipment intensive" (i.e. expensive) sport, I finally committed to picking up a tri-specific bike, a felt B16 carbon fiber steed last fall for about $1500, to accompany my comparably equipped carbon fiber road bike I have, as dropping down in specs would likely lead to a bit less use. Still, although I upgraded the drivetrain with better (dura-ace) shifters/rear/front derailleurs, I ended up renting some HED deep dish (40mm front/60mm rear) race wheels from my team shop for $60 to both shave off some weight and improve aerodynamics for the race. I definitely felt some improvement on the course from the wheels and will likely do that again, or just shell out the money for a set of my own. Unfortunately, when the shop I rented the wheels from moved over my tires/gears to the new wheels, they forgot to move over my bike computer magnet, leaving me with my GPS watch as my only source for determining how fast I was riding during the race.
Given the location of the race (about 2 hours from me), and the non-availability of race-day packet pick up, I ended up staying with some friends about 40 minutes away from the course overnight. Still, as I was able to setup my bike, gear, and bottles in the transition area during the expo/packet pickup session, giving me about 2 extra hours of sleep as I didn't need to visit transition at 5:30AM and freeze for 2 hours waiting for my 7:40AM start. The expo itself was limited with about 3 reasonably large vendors, a handful of special interest tents for stuff I wasn't looking for, and a handy pre-race briefing. Unfortunately, no free samples of stuff were given away, but I was able to pick up the one item I had left at home (fuel race belt) for a non-obscenely expensive price from the ironman store.
I ended up getting to bed around 9AM that night after some some late lunch of the requisite pasta, then my traditional subway footlong for dinner. Still, I didn't sleep well and got up a few times overnight to consume the requisite PB&J bagel, protein bar, and bottle of gatorade bedside.
After getting up at 5:30AM and getting out the door by 6AM, I ended up getting to the venue at 7AM, about 40 minutes before my wave of 35-39 years olds started the race, which was handy as it was about 58 degrees out. I made it through the porta-potty line in 10 minutes (which helped me avoid any mid-race stops), slipped on my wetsuit at 7:20AM, and made my way to my wave, chatting with a few fellow competitors before situating myself a few rows back in the swim pack gathering area for our 7:40AM start.
Oddly enough the race organizers decided to send out the slowest competitors onto the course first (i.e. 55+ folks at 6:40AM, 50-54 women at 6:45, etc..35-39 males at 7:40AM, etc..) which led to a very congested race course and lots and lots of passing on the course. Still, it probably minimized the amount of time the course needed to be closed, and meant that younger elite/faster competitors wouldn't get the usual stranded lone-wolf feeling up front.
The 1.2 Mile Swim - 42:08 (2:10/100m, 93/180 Age Group, 838/1800 total)
Per some advice from my tri team captain, I opted to take the swim pretty easy and just hung out behind the pack as we made our way through the M-shaped 1.2 mile swim course. Although I had initially targeted to wrap it up in 40 minutes and hoped I could do some drafting off faster swimmers, my sighting/route wasn't up to par as I didn't exactly follow the route and probably swam an extra few hundred meters. Still, despite hearing stories from friends about weeds catching swimmers, and too much sludge in the water, I really enjoyed the fresh water swim, as visibility was decent (I could read my watch underwater), and I didn't leave the water inundated with a salt-water taste in my mouth.
As I don't spend enough time training in the water, my swim will continue to be my weakest leg as the 42 minute time was solidly in the middle of the pack for my age group. Luckily for triathlons, swim is the shortest leg, so it didn't hurt me too much in my overall race time.
The 56 Mile Bike - 2:39:19 (21.1 mph, 59/180 AG, 369/1800 overall)
After totally botching my flying bike mount attempt (leading to one shoe coming off the pedal mid-mount), I settled into the race course and noticed that my bike computer wasn't registering my time. I later realized that the bike shop that installed the super-fast HED wheels hadn't moved over my magnet. Luckily my watch provided both heart rate and speed information (in pace format, which was easy to covert), so I was ok without it. As I wasn't sure how hard to push my bike leg, I had read a few days prior to the race that 85% max HR was a good top-end to observe, so I just stayed in the 75-85% range, netting me a nice fast 22mph speed for the first half of the course with some favorable roads and winds.
As I'm a mediocre swimmer, the slowest-to-fastest wave ordering that ironman decided to use for the race didn't affect me much on the swim, but the bike course was a full-out pass-fest and I spent nearly the entire race passing folks while staying in compliance with the 12m drafting distance rule. It took a while to get the hang of it (as I was also being passed by super-fast 20-34 year olds during the ride), but I got the hang of it and didn't encounter too much blocking, except when road bumps pushed bikes staying on the right to veer towards the middle.
Once I passed the mid-point of the ride, the favorable winds started to become unfavorable, the course got a bit more hilly (by Florida standards), and the quality of roads became a bit uglier. All of the above slowed me to an average of about 20mph for the last hour of the ride, but I finished the bike feeling pretty good as I re-entered transition.
The 13.1 Mile Run - 1:40:14 (7:39/mile, 37/180 AG, 258/1800 overall)
After being given some pre-race advice to race the final 13.1 on the hilly 3-lap course at about a minute/mile below my half marathon pace, I set out on the course at about an 8 minute mile for the first 2 miles as I slowly regained comfortable use of my legs. As I noticed this pace only put my heart rate up to about 160bpm (vs. my usual 175-180 for the last half of a marathon) I decided to slowly push the tempo up a notch to 7:45 as it was getting into the mid-70s and most of the course was totally exposed. Still, after wrapping up my 2nd lap feeling very comfortable, I pushed my pace up to 7:15 for the final 4 mile lap, and comfortably wrapped up my final lap about 10bpm below my threshold heart rate as I crossed the finish line.
Finish: 5:07:51, 37th/200 Age Group, and 258th/1800 overall.
As I came across the finish line, I still felt pretty fresh unlike my Disney marathon humid death march from January, and felt like I had a bit left in the tank. Regardless, I was under my initial goal time, my tri team was pretty impressed with my negative split on the last lap, my overall time netted me the 2nd fastest time for the team, and I'm glad to have the experience under my belt.
With additional hill training I do over the summer up north (first trip back to Pittsburgh is Wednesday), I'm hoping to make it under the 5 hour mark for my next half ironman (Augusta) in late September - weather willing.
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@_nikkiwolf_ - Good 10K! I'm thinking the column labeled "VAP" is abbreviation for the French equivalent of Grade Adjusted Pace that shows up in the English language Strava? If so, your race pace is consistent enough. To some extent, variability as seen is the result of running hard and being compelled to slow down at times. This is to be expected in a hard run of about an hour, where you will be running at lactate threshold and could need to back off for recovery after periods of being above lactic threshold.
@WhatMeRunning @MNLittleFinn - The discussion of paces kind of matches my current musings. My easy run today (to be reported later) came in at an average a bit faster than what I've been thinking of as the fast end of my easy range. But the heart rate data showed 66.4% of the time in Zone 2 and 33.2% of the time in Zone 3, which is perfectly normal for an easy run with hills. So perhaps my pace has improved a few seconds more than I thought this training cycle.
@ddmom0811 @skippygirlsmom @WhatMeRunning @_nikkiwolf_ (and anyone else I might have missed) - I'm a bit flattered to have an online fan base. I'm just like everyone else here, out running the best I can for health and pride and fun. I just happen to be blessed with above average speed for my age and good endurance for distance, which I have improved somewhat with good training.
"Any butterflies yet?" Oh, yeah. I'm not particularly worried about running the race, but I'm concerned about managing the logistics. I need to find time to visit a thrift store and pick up some sweat pants to wear on race day while waiting to start and discard before they start my wave. I'm worried that I probably need to mow the lawn for the first time this year before I travel, and if the weather doesn't cooperate on a day when I have time it will get awfully shaggy by the time I come back. (It's pretty disgusting that I'm seeing a need to mow only 6 days after the last time I shoveled snow!) I'm concerned with managing the lodging, and getting my packet, and finding time to look at the end of the course on Sunday, and getting up a Oh Dark Hundred to get on a bus before 6 AM for a 10:25 AM race start and how I manage food between 6 AM and 10 AM. I'm concerned about how I'll manage the drop bag and what I'm allowed to carry with me to the start. I'm concerned with all the stuff that just plain isn't an issue when I run a local race, and with all the stuff I've never had to do for a race before.
But out the other side, I will have figured most of this stuff out. It's too bad I couldn't find a marathon that fit my schedule last fall; it would have been nice to figure out part of this stuff on a lower profile race. But on the other hand, I think I've done pretty well with training for Boston after essentially not training for Buffalo other than doing long runs.
And I realize that most of my concerns are summed up in this picture:
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@ceckhardt369 congratulations on the race! And the brother!
@ohim seriously awesome today! Congratulations!0 -
@Ohhim - Wow!! That is just crazy impressive! Way to go!!!0
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April Running Totals (miles)
4/1 – scheduled rest day
4/2 – 13.31 easy
4/3 – 7.83 easy
4/4 – 4.59 easy 30 minutes + 4 strides
4/5 – 14.14 warm up + speed work
4/6 – 5.18 easy
4/7 – 11.45 – short warmup, long speed work
4/8 – scheduled rest day
4/9 – 7.30 speed work
4/10 – 11.67 easy
April total to date – 75.47
Nominal Challenge Goal – 200 miles
Real Goals: Taper well. Arrive at Hopkinton healthy. Run Boston well. Recover well.
Today's notes – Today's assignment was an hour and a half at E pace. I figured that to be a little over 11 miles, and decided to use a hilly 10+ mile route from my driveway with whatever junk mile distance I needed to add at the end. The decision to run hills was partly because I like hills, partly because it's hard to avoid hills on a run of any distance from my house, and partly to practice flowing downhill without braking. That flowing downhill is a skill I will need at Boston for the first few miles and again for a drop at Newton Falls.
I felt pretty good on the run, and noticed that first mile came in below 8 minutes. Okay, that will get fixed when I get to the hills. Except it didn't. Yeah, I was slower than 8 going up some of the hills; but flowing down meant faster, with shorter periods faster than MP on the steeper downhills. Then along about mile 5 or 6 I noticed a 7:15 pace on a gentle decline that couldn't properly be called a hill. I thought, this isn't supposed to be an exercise in running MP and slowed myself down some; but it didn't stick. By mile 10 it was clear I was going to be averaging very fast for an easy run. In typical taper madness, I fretted that I was messing things up.
Looked at the stats when I got done. 11.67 miles in 1:30:01 for an average pace of 7:43 per mile. I had been regarding 7:45 as the very fast end of my easy range. But when I went to look at the heart rate data, it showed I spent twice as much time in Zone 2 as in Zone 3. That looked perfectly normal for an easy run with hills. So maybe this training cycle my paces have improved a few seconds more than I thought they had.
This is the last steady state run of any substance before race day. I have two days of light speed work left. Tuesday the assignment will be 2 miles at E, 4 x 1000m at T, 2 miles at E. Thursday the assignment will be 20 minutes at E, 10 minutes at MP, 10 minutes at E. Tuesday will feel normal. Thursday will feel light. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the assignment is 30 minutes at E. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will fuel the taper madness as it will hardly seem worth putting on my running clothes for something that short.
2016 races:
January 1, 2016 Resolution Run 7.5 mile (Mendon, NY) finished in 53:58
January 9, 2016 Winter Warrior Half Marathon (Gates, NY) finished in 1:30:59
March 12, 2016 Johnny's Runnin' of the Green 5 mile (Rochester, NY) finished in 32:32
March 26, 2016 Spring Forward Distance Run 15K (Mendon, NY) finished in 1:05:24
April 18, 2016 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)
April 24, 2016 Flower City Challenge Half Marathon (Rochester, NY)
May 15, 2016 Highland Hospital Lilac Run 10K (Rochester, NY)
June 19, 2016 Medved 5K to Cure ALS (Rochester, NY)
July 16, 2016 Shoreline Half Marathon (Hilton, NY)
September 18, 2016 Rochester Marathon (Rochester, NY)
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