May 2016 Running Challenge
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5/1-4.12 miles
5/2- Rest
5/3- 5.01 miles
5/4- 3.12 miles
5/5- 5.1
5/6- rest
5/7- 8.44
4/8-3.11
Total: 28.9/100
Race report: goal was to pace mom to her first sub-36:00 5k for Mother's Day fun. SUCCESS!! Garmin time was 33:34. So proud of mom!!!
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First off, Happy Mothers Day to all of the moms out there!
Congrats to all who raced this weekend! I've noticed quite a few!
Welcome to the new faces!
So I was unsure last night about the wisdom of attempting 10.5 miles today to make up for lost mileage after a week of crappy runs. After all, if someone else posted here with those issues I would recommend some down time.
So part of my common sense said don't do it, but another part said the data did not support the idea of me being worn down (HR, sleep, mood, energy levels during day, etc). My gut instinct also was telling me I was capable.
I woke up feeling very good. So I headed out to run. I noticed I was running easily, not sore or stiff but I kept my pace down over the first couple miles to be safe. I wound up cranking out all 10.5 miles feeling good, and finally satisfied after a run.
So, I guess the lesson is to use as much info as possible to guide your decisions. In this case the data and my gut were able to convince my uncertain common sense to get out and put in the miles, and it paid off.
5/1 - 13.1 miles
5/2 - 6 miles
5/3 - 6 miles
5/4 - 9 miles
5/5 - 6 miles
5/6 - Rest
5/7 - 10.5 miles
5/8 - 10.5 miles
61.1/200 miles
2016 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) 2:28:39.52 new PR
4/23 - Heroes for Hope half marathon (North Kansas City, MO) 2:19:14 new PR
5/1 - Buffalo Bell Stampede half marathon (Leavenworth, KS) 2:25:06
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)2 -
@skippygirlsmom - that is awesome! (the whole post, that is). Skippy is so adorable. Happy Mother's Day!
@AdrianChr92 - I can't believe you ran in that hail!
@WhatMeRunning - hope you feel more energized this week!
@9voice9 - That does sound like a great cause. But, yeah, a little crazy that it was so unorganized.
5/1 - 35 mile cycling
5/2 - 5 miles
5/3 - 3.5 miles
5/4 - 5 miles - intervals, sort of.
5/5 - 25 miles cycling in a brutal wind
5/6 - 5 miles
5/7 - 34 miles cycling
5/8 - 36 miles cycling
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@kristinegift Thanks! It was intense! My next marathon that will have a proper program is going to be Rock n roll Vegas in November. My next race is a 50k in 4wks. Will be running it pretty slow/easy. Prob just by feel. First 50k, so I'm going to enjoy it. 5hrs, 6hrs. Fine by me.
Nice run today! Are you shooting for a Half PR on you're next race?
@MNLittleFinn Awesome of you to pace you're mom to a PR! Nice run!
Update on me: Everything tightened up to the max overnight and it took about 20mins of work to get my legs to stand up. Walking is ok. Sitting down and standing up and stairs are REALLY bad though. All i'm doing is eating everything in sight and watching tv. Still down 8lbs this morning lol. And that's after a 5500 cal post race lunch/dinner. Going for 6000cal today. Working hard to restore everything. Hope everyone has a great day! Run for me!4 -
May 1 - 17 km run.
May 3 - Light parkour 2 km run.
May 5 - 8 km slow & gym.
May 6 - 7.5 km slow & yoga.
May 7 - skipped bike ride.
May 8 - 19.2 km mixed. 6 km hike.
Total 53.7 km goal 120 km.
Morning run and it was cool enough then that I couldn't get my HR up to where I wanted for the first 5 km. Well, shouldn't have worried, after 12-13 km riding a high and feeling great I overheated a few times. And at the end I did not go for an even HM. We had a meeting for hike and I was running late. Still, it was a great run - discovered new paths and regions of the forest. A lot of planned slow running, a little tempo stuff and a few walks to get my HR back down when needed.
The hike, after the run, was harder. Kept it slow and am now going to spend the next hour rolling my legs and butt. <delicious pain>
Edit: oh, yeah, strava reports a 10 mile PR - I'm not happy about this because given the amount of walking, I should have had a better 10 mile before.
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@ROBOTFOOD wow 8 pounds! I'm usually up a few post race. You killed the training.1
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@ROBOTFOOD wow 8 pounds! I'm usually up a few post race. You killed the training.
It was 11lb yesterday! I loose ridiculously easy. And I trained ok. Not for the race though. I should have ran all my long runs on the course. Then I would've been fine.2 -
So, today was my second half marathon of the year and *wow*. It was, without a doubt, the hardest thing I have ever done. The weather was absolutely horrendous, we've had such a sudden heatwave here in the UK, with temperatures at 26°C, which is nearly twice as hot as it should be for this time of year (it would normally be about 15°C), and this has only come on over the last 2 days. No-one running today could have prepared for it, and no amount of extra water and shower-sprays on course was going to make it any better. I actually cried at the mile 11 marker because I really thought it was mile 12 and the thought of having to run for another 18-20 minutes was just too much. All I could think of was that I couldn't stop running because that would make it last even longer and I couldn't stay out there any longer. Plus, I thought I had some supporters at mile 11 but they weren't there and that was just too much.
My feet are shredded (I haven't had more than 1 blister ever before today) from my feet having swollen up and my shoes having gotten wet from all the water being sprayed/thrown around, I have sunburn, despite having put SPF50 on when I got dressed, and I very nearly threw up when I passed the finish line. It was such a mental struggle to get through, it was a battle of endurance, not necessarily physical training. Oddly enough, my legs actually feel fine.
I have never seen anything like the number of people who were passed out on the sides of the road. I saw the first person collapsed and being treated by the volunteer ambulance crews at mile 5 (and he was unconscious, not injured) and by the time we got to mile 10, the streets were lined with people being seen to by members of the public because the medical teams were so overstretched. At mile 10, there was a medical treatment tent and there was a queue of people, lying in the recovery position, outside of it waiting to be seen. Honestly, St John's Ambulance, the voluntary medical/ambulance charity here in the UK, were the real unsung heroes of the whole event because they were working their absolute backsides off. I am sure that, without them, there could have been a lot of fatalities there today. I think that I must have seen over 100 people being treated, most of them passed out, not injured.
I have to say, if that had been my first and only half marathon experience, I can't say that I would ever put my running shoes on again. It was absolutely horrible from start to finish. I even have a time I can actually be proud of, as I was only 40seconds behind my PB, but I cannot possibly enjoy it because it was just so thoroughly unpleasant. I hope no-one running today was put off. It's definitely put me off racing for a while, I did think a few 10kms in the summer might be in order but absolutely no way after that. I'm hanging up my racing shoes until the autumn.
Also, the race was far too big for my liking. It was just SO busy the whole way through, the water stations couldn't give the water out fast enough, and you were constantly ducking and weaving to get through or past people. It started 15 minutes late too, the corrals were SO big, there were nearly 5000 people in each one, by my reckoning (as there were hardly any people in the 1:15-1:30 and the other 15,000 people were split into the other 3 times). Also, they shut the speakers off with all the motivational music etc at the 2:30 mark, even though it took me 15 minutes to get over the start line, my race time therefore being nearly 2:20, so there were loads behind me who had no support or encouragement. So, all in all, I wouldn't do it again, even in good weather. I'll stick to my small, local, rural races from now on
So yeah, an absolutely horrible day and one I cannot wait to forget! Seriously, even looking at the medal makes me feel angry right now.
2nd May - 3.06 miles
3-4th May - poorlysick
5th May - 2.40 miles
8th May - 13.1 miles Hackney Half 2:05:24
MTD - 18.56/70 miles
Upcoming races:
2nd Oct - Tonbridge Half Marathon
30th Oct - River Thames Half Marathon
9th April 2017 - Brighton Marathon
EDIT: I forgot to add another detail to my race report:
At the first half a mile, some idiot in a white mercedes drove onto the closed course with 15,000 runners. The course marshals tried to stop him but he kept on going, revving his engine and beeping his horn, so the marshals dragged him out of his car and there was a fight.
I mean, this couldn't have been any more ridiculous!3 -
Now time to procrastinate from writing an essay catch up on everyone's posts
@MNLittleFinn - well done to your Mum! That’s a huge difference from what she was aiming for, even more awesome!
@MLS1582 - Congrats on finishing your first 10km! I agree with what others have said, that wouldn’t have been dead last at any other 10km race I’ve run so don’t let it get you down. It sounds like you entered a real serious race so well done for doing it, I think that would have freaked me out and I would have gone home!
@ROBOTFOOD - Congratulations on your marathon! I bet you’ll smash your goals next time, if you did so well with a less-than perfect lead-up
@Orphia - I love that photo! I don’t think I would have that much energy after smashing a PB!
@9voice9 - I cannot believe how bad that race sounds! I hope you didn’t spend too much on entry?
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@louubelle16 Congrats on finishing your race! That sounds like pretty hellish conditions. I'd be tempted to throw the towel in and cut it short or not start even at all. And that's a huge HM! 15000 people?! A little big for my taste. Definite kudos to the medical team, sounds like they had their hands full!0
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So, I ran my first half marathon today! Since it was my first, I got a PR by default
And one I'm freaking happy with on top: official finish time is 2:17:16! Considering my goal was 2:30h, that already tells you that I did a horrible job at sticking to my pace plans, but I had a blast from start to finish line, so much fun :-)))
Here's the race recap for anyone who's interested. I know it's much too long, but I'm so excited right now, I just can't stop myself from rambling on about it. If you want the short version: there were lots of people, lots of sun, I ran faster than planned, and I had a great time
Pace planning:
My goal was to run the race in 2:30h, which was halfway between the fasted half I ran in training (2:43) and what a race time predictor spit out based on my last 10k time (2:17). Since I had very little experience at running such long distances and none at all at long races, the 2:17 prediction seemed overly ambitious, and I didn't want to ruin my first half by setting an unrealistic goal and failing. I needed an average pace of 7:07 min/km to finish in 2:30h. I got the advice to go a few seconds per mile faster to account for the fact that you have to cover more distance, unless you run perfect tangents, so I thought 5 seconds per mile faster, times 1.6 to convert to km, make that 8s faster. In my defense, my math skills are usually better - I blame the inverted conversion on pre-race jitters! Faulty math included, that ment I was aiming for a pace of 6:59min/km on the flat parts, with some adjustments up and down on the slopes.
Before the race:
Race start was scheduled for 8:30, but if you wanted to hand in some bags with a change of clothes and get them transported to the finish line, you had to do that before 8am. Since I never trust city traffic, not even early on a Sunday morning, I made sure to leave home early and ended up arriving at the start location around 7:30. So I handed in my bag, munched my pre-race snacks (Reese Cups and Coca Cola, not very Swiss ^^) and did my time in the portapotty line. Around 8am I wandered over to the area of the starting lane marked ">2:10h" and found a sunny spot to wait. It was roughly 14°C (~57°F) in the morning, so some sun to keep me warm was welcome.
Start to km 6: paces in min/km: 6:50 - 6:49 - 6:54 - 6:57 - 6:51 - 6:35
There were more than 4000 participants, and I started from the slowest corral, so I was too far away from the start line to hear the announcers or notice when the race started, until the runner next to me started jumping up and down to see better and said "hey, I think they are already running!". It took me maybe 8 minutes to get from there to the start line. But that was perfectly fine - thanks to the fact that runners were sorted by pace, and there were no walkers (cutoff time for the half was 3 hours), the start went much smoother than in my previous races, where I had to do a lot of dodging and weaving. The road was wide enough for ~10 people side by side, so I could run a comfortable pace almost right away.
At the first km mark, I saw I was a few seconds too fast, but since settling into a constant pace always takes me a moment, I didn't worry too much. I didn't check my watch at the second km mark, since I was busy high-fiveing some kids on the sideline, so it wasn't until the 3rd marker that I noticed I was going out a little too fast. I forced myself to slow down and nearly hit my planned 6:59 pace for the 4th km. Kilometres 5 and 6 were gently rolling hills, and I had a little too much fun overtaking the people who slowed down excessively on the climbs, so my pace started creaping up again until the first refreshment station. The fact that there was a group of drummers playing on the side of the road and another band close to the aid station didn't help to slow down either.
km 6 to 11: paces in min/km: 6:51 - 6:38 - 6:23 - 6:29 - 6:33
I walked along the aid station - still haven't mastered the art of drinking while running without choking, and peeling my first gel packet open took some concentration as well. After I started running again, I began to reconsider my goal time: I was feeling great, and forcing myself to slow down had been a real struggle, so I spontaneously revised my goal and decided to aim for a 2:25 finish instead.
The next few kms were very nice - gently rolling hills in the country side, the smell of blooming canola fields all around, and sunshine. Maybe too much sunshine - there was no shadow, the temperatures were climbing fast, and I was grateful that I had chosen to take my fuel belt along with me, so I could take some sips along the way to the next rest station. There were very few people around (apart from all the runners), until we came up do a band dressed up as clowns close to the next aid station.
km 11 to 14: paces in min/km: 9:39 - 3:22 - 6:43
At this aid station, I walked again, this time I grabbed an apple-flavoured gel (mjam!) and some water. This was were the course led back into the city. There were more spectators here, it was a nice downhill slope for almost 2 kms, and around 11.7 km, the road lead down into a tunnel. Which explaines the nonsense paces I listed above: the tunnel wrecked havoc with my GPS reception, I think my watch decided to distribute all the time until ~12.5km, where the tunnel ended, to the first kilometre and only the time for the remaining 500m to the second. Despite the messy GPS, I loved the tunnel! I was glad for a chance to get out of the sun at that point, and it was a really cool atmosphere - a little dim, but with guiding lights on the floor and ceiling, and a DJ playing party music
Once out of the tunnel, I could already see the "Jet d'Eau", the big fountain in the city centre, in the distance. Since I knew this was were the finish line was, that was pretty motivating.
Another aid station came along at 13.9 km. Same procedure as before, walk long enough to chuck down a gel (urg - grabbed a coffee(?) flavoured one by accident, vile stuff!) and a cup of water, and then it was back to running!
km 14 to 18: paces in min/km: 6:32 - 6:20 - 6:32 - 6:19
When I passed the 14km mark, I looked at my watch, then at my paceband - and decided my pace planning was all shot to hell, but I was feeling great. That's about where I decided I might as well kick some *kitten*, pick up the pace a bit and aim for a 2:20 finish.
By now it was really warm : at least 20°C (70 F) in the shadow, but there wasn't actually any shadow to be found. Made me even more glad for bringing my own bottle, and I started to regret that I hadn't put on a hat - all the more reasons to finish a little faster.
The last rest stop was at 17.7km. This time I actually tried to run while opening the gel, which ended up with a mess of apple-flavoured sticky stuff smeared all over my hand. I doubled back to get another cup of water to wash it off - it was only a few steps, and the sticky feeling would have annoyed me much more over the rest of the race then a few lost seconds.
km 18 to finish: paces in min/km: 6:10 - 5:50 - 5:48 - 4:35 (last 0.32 km)
Less than 4k to go! This is where I decided to ignore the pace reading on my watch alltogether now on and just run as fast as I felt happy about.
There were a lot of entertainment things set up here, including a group of old ladies dressed in traditional costumes making weird music (not quite yodling, but something akin to it), an ABBA cover band, a large arc that announced "1 km" left, and then a few hundred meters before the finish line, it got really, really crowded with cheering spectators. It was amazing! I put on a last burst of speed and overtook at least 7 or 8 other runners on the last kilometre, and was almost disappointed when I crossed the finish line and had to stop. The announcer called out everyones names and encouragements as you drew close, and the volunteer who handed me my medal was smiling and telling me that was a great finish, and everything was just great
My watch showed me 21.32 km in 2:17:23. I only stopped it a few seconds after the finish line, and I know I didn't always run the perfect tangents (had too much fun veering over to the side of the road to give high-five to kids all along the way), so the extra distance seems about right. Chip time was 2:17:16, which is much faster than I would have ever thought possible.
And they had chocolate cake at one of the tables in the finish area. How cool is that? I had such a great time, I will definetely run this race again next year!
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@louubelle16 Wow!! That sounded brutal! I hate heat running! And I live in Vegas haha. But great job pushing through that! I hope you get some nice, cold weather for you're next race!
@_nikkiwolf_ Race recap of the year goes to you! Love the detail! I felt like I was there! Awesome job on the PR!1 -
I just found out on Facebook that, about 15 minutes later after I finished the course, they stopped it and made everyone else walk with all timing stopped. Madness!
Congrats @_nikkiwolf_, that's a great time! And so glad you enjoyed it Sounds like you battled the heat today too.
I'm starting to think that racing after the first couple of weeks of April is to be avoided from now on...0 -
@ROBOTFOOD wow 8 pounds! I'm usually up a few post race. You killed the training.
It was 11lb yesterday! I loose ridiculously easy. And I trained ok. Not for the race though. I should have ran all my long runs on the course. Then I would've been fine.
I think when my foot heals I'm gonna "run" 4 hours once a month and see if I can lose 8-11 pounds! #BeLikeROBOTFOOD!
Least this time off has helped me eat better. Can't really afford fries, pizza, and burgers not running.
Oooh! Congratulations @_nikkiwolf_ !2 -
Date Miles MTD ------ ----- ----- May 03 4.2T 4.2 May 04 4.2T 8.4 May 06 5.1 13.5 May 07 8.2 21.7 May 08 5.6 27.3
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Another 4 miles today in this ridiculous heat, not impressed
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@louubelle16 holy hell! An idiot driver on the course! So glad they took care of him!0
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5/01: 6 miles, easy
5/02: 6 miles, easy
5/03: Off, rest day + strength training
5/04: 5 miles, easy
5/05: Off, rest day
5/06: 6 miles, tempo
5/07: 5 miles, easy
5/08: 10 miles, long and slow
Total: 38 miles
Nice 10 miler today! Looks like your girl is finally back on track
@MNLittleFinn - what an awesome way to spend Mother's Day! Great picture too
@louubelle16 - WOW that sounds like such a hard race! Awful conditions. I'm laughing about that guy driving on the course, it's pretty funny to imagine. Congratulations on pushing through and making it to the finish line!
@_nikkiwolf_ - Congratulations on your first half marathon! A great finish time too, and it's always nice to exceed your own expectations. Well done!
Races I'm registered for:
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 Marathon2 -
Congratulations @louubelle16 and @_nikkiwolf_ on your half marathons!
Fascinating reading your reports, since I hope to do one fairly soon.0 -
I finally ran (I don't post much here. Got hit by a car two months ago today and broke my collarbone and couple ribs) so I feel like I can post in here again haha. Been feeling well enough to run for a few weeks but I couldn't muster the ooomph to get out and do it. I've been on the bike, but running is just harder for me mentally.
2 miles today. Ate pizza and cake a couple hours ago. Ugh. Even though it's a small start I feel really good about it. It's been a rough couple months so it's nice to feel like I'm almost back to my old self.
Hope everyone is doing well in here. Looks like people have been kicking *kitten* in all sorts of summer running events. Great job! I think I'm going to scour the Chicago events in June and give myself something to train for. Anyway, it's GREAT to be back!
May Goal - 60 Miles
5/8 - 2 Miles4
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