August (2016) Running Challenge

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  • TattooedDolphinGirl78
    TattooedDolphinGirl78 Posts: 5,214 Member
    Can I just say, I am so ready for the fall? I mean don't get me wrong, I definitely feel stronger from the running I've been doing in the heat/humidity (first time I've ever made a point of training in it) but I am getting heartily sick of it, and am so ready for some brisk, chilly runs!

    I'll second that 100%.
    By the way, your long-run post was quite the hit with my running friends on FB. :wink:
  • Somebody_Loved
    Somebody_Loved Posts: 498 Member
    @Orphia - I promise to post pictures when I get back, I'm so excited!
    @AdrianChr92 - That's an amazing 5k time, congratulations!!
    @RespectTheKitty - Good work on getting up for your run! I continuously tell myself I'm going to do that and have yet to actually do it.
    @ariceroni - Sorry to hear about your injury. I hope it starts to get better and that you can let off some steam with the bike riding! Super frustrating being side-lined - sending positives vibes your way!
  • greenolivetree
    greenolivetree Posts: 1,282 Member
    edited August 2016
    Thanks everyone for the support!

    Running Goal: 13 of I QUIT :-p
    Non-running goals: Take my strength training more seriously this month/Lose 5lbs (dang it!)[/i]

    Super foggy this morning. My hair was all wet from it. Does being in fog make anyone else claustrophobic? LOL

    You and I are in the exact same boat. I'm trying to lose 5 pounds while also cross-training to help with my injury. I started You Are Your Own Gym and so far I love it. I'm super sore today and feel like I'm getting a great workout. I hope you start to feel better soon - I know how frustrating it is!

    Yes, so frustrating. But I suppose now is a good time to get ahold of my bad eating habits while I'm not starving from running. LOL I mostly use Fitness Blender for my strength but sometimes just do my own workouts of my favorite moves.

    I'm sending some of you ladies friend requests because I need some accountability to actually complete my diary and hit my calorie goal. If I didn't add you, feel free to add me instead :-D
  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
    @greenolivetree @Somebody_Loved Since I'm not running I thought it be a great time to get my food dialed in and work on a stretching/strengthening routine. I don't think I've done either at all in the 8.7 weeks that have past.

    Today I got a new 2 piece swimsuit today. I think I'm realizing that my last 5 pounds are probably more of a gain 5+ pounds of glute/leg muscle thing.

    Thanks for the FR! I'll try to be helpful and most supportive!
  • DayLi77
    DayLi77 Posts: 655 Member
    edited August 2016
    Elise4270 wrote: »
    My cats are obsessed with a rat. It's hiding up in the front bushes. I think it's time to throw some bait in the attic for good measure. It's like a kitty olympic event. Chase, chase, stare at it, make that silly "come here I'm happy to see you" noise, lay around, mama pet me I'm good, run inside and eat quickly, check all the bushes, lay in the dirt and wait to chase it some more. Least they are occupied.

    Ha ha! My boyfriend and I were trying to come up with doggie olympic events. We decided Pandora (my blue heeler/ who-knows-what mix) would be very competitive at squirrel chasing, and Buster (his 1 year old German shepherd) would do well in fetch - both long and short distances. @shanaber I bet Hobbes would be a multi-sport olympian!

  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
    @cljoe7 Haha! My dogs' only talent is barking at the shadows in the middle of the night! I do have a border collie that likes to try to herd my cats. He just stupid. :smiley: poor thing needs some cattle.
  • DayLi77
    DayLi77 Posts: 655 Member
    Arrgh! Don't know why the one photo posted sideways...sorry!
  • TattooedDolphinGirl78
    TattooedDolphinGirl78 Posts: 5,214 Member
    @cljoe7 They're adorable!!!!
  • TattooedDolphinGirl78
    TattooedDolphinGirl78 Posts: 5,214 Member
    You are all welcome to add me as a friend here as well if you want! :smiley:
  • DayLi77
    DayLi77 Posts: 655 Member
    @TattooedDolphinGirl78 Thanks!
    @Elise4270 Yeah, Pan could use a few sheep to keep her busy too :smiley: She's from the Navajo reservation, and definitely a herder. Perhaps we could add cat herding to our Dog Olympic events.
  • greenolivetree
    greenolivetree Posts: 1,282 Member
    My poor little dachshund would have to be in the Doggie Special Olympics. He has to use a handicap ramp to get up ONE step in our back door. He turned 15 this month and has had typical dachshund back trouble. It was pretty funny though last winter, he became a runner! I only walk him 5 houses down the street but after each walk down, he'd run so fast back home! It was hilarious to see.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    cljoe7 wrote: »
    @TattooedDolphinGirl78 Thanks!
    @Elise4270 Yeah, Pan could use a few sheep to keep her busy too :smiley: She's from the Navajo reservation, and definitely a herder. Perhaps we could add cat herding to our Dog Olympic events.

    Mox could use some sheep too.
    i don't know if she has decided if she is a herding collie or a guarding collie.
  • RespectTheKitty
    RespectTheKitty Posts: 1,667 Member
    Loving all the dogs.
  • Somebody_Loved
    Somebody_Loved Posts: 498 Member
    @greenolivetree @Elise4270 - FR accepted! The food part has been hard for me. I got used to eating a certain way while peak training for the marathon, and now I have to scale way back, especially since I'm injured. So far I've only gained 3 lbs or so so I'd like to stop that trend now.

    I will say that I did strength training yesterday and I felt a sense of accomplishment from that. Hopefully that helps keep me sane while recovering.

    Love seeing all the dogs! I attempted to get my cat out on a leash and that was a big no-go.
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    I ran into an interesting conundrum regarding the Long Run being between 25% and 35 % of weekly mileage, maybe @Stoshew71 can address it.

    I was planning on just doing a 10 mile LR on Saturday, since I'm running a 5k mud run with other teachers from my school (not competitive), with my other runs, my week looks like this 4-9-4-8-4-10-3 with the 2 runs on Sat. For the first time ever, My LR falls UNDER 25% of my weekly mileage.

    I'm really tempted to just tack on another mile to it to get to 25%, since my week looks like it will be 43 miles the way it is. Just an interesting thing, never had to worry about the LR being off the short end, I've always had more issues with them being too long!
  • 5512bf
    5512bf Posts: 389 Member
    I ran into an interesting conundrum regarding the Long Run being between 25% and 35 % of weekly mileage, maybe @Stoshew71 can address it.

    I was planning on just doing a 10 mile LR on Saturday, since I'm running a 5k mud run with other teachers from my school (not competitive), with my other runs, my week looks like this 4-9-4-8-4-10-3 with the 2 runs on Sat. For the first time ever, My LR falls UNDER 25% of my weekly mileage.

    I'm really tempted to just tack on another mile to it to get to 25%, since my week looks like it will be 43 miles the way it is. Just an interesting thing, never had to worry about the LR being off the short end, I've always had more issues with them being too long!

    I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are weeks on my marathon plan that calls for 15 miles on a 65 mile week, making the LR just short of 25%. You also gotta look at what you are training for. With a half marathon a lot of training programs call it good to get to 10-11 miles, so you are way ahead of the game since you've already done 14. Your risks of injury also goes up doing another run the same day as your long run. Any chance you could bump the LR to Sunday?
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    5512bf wrote: »
    I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are weeks on my marathon plan that calls for 15 miles on a 65 mile week, making the LR just short of 25%. You also gotta look at what you are training for. With a half marathon a lot of training programs call it good to get to 10-11 miles, so you are way ahead of the game since you've already done 14. Your risks of injury also goes up doing another run the same day as your long run. Any chance you could bump the LR to Sunday?

    Yeah, I'm thinking about moving the LR to Sunday, but since that's my only rest day, that's an issue for me too. I should say that the mud run will be more like a walk with obstacles, considering who I'll be running with. Good thing I have a couple days to get it kind of sorted out.
  • Virkati
    Virkati Posts: 679 Member
    @ceciliaslater I'm so happy for you! Sounds like you're doing great!
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    @MNLittleFinn I agree with @5512bf I wouldn't worry if it's below 25%. It should state, you shouldn't want to normally go any more than 25-35%. If under, you are good with no worries. If you want to add a mile, you could if you feel up to it, but don't feel like you have to.
  • luluinca
    luluinca Posts: 2,899 Member
    @Stoshew71, do you think it's possible to train for a 10K if you only run 3 days a week and cross train the other 3 days?
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    That's awesome news @ceciliaslater



    @luluinca I ran my first 10K where I built up to 3x a week (MWF) on a treadmill for 3.5 miles each, and I was doing 6 miles on the greenway that Saturday. I was only running from October 2013 till beginning of March 2014.

    Depending on the cross training, that may be irrelevant. What's important is making sure the structural part of your body (the muscles, the joints, the bones, the tendons, ect) can withstand the beating of you landing on the ground that many times for 6.2 miles. Think about it, you are basically doing a complex hopping on one foot (alternating feet) for 6 miles. It's possible to build that strength up by only running 3x a week, depending how many miles each. If you are running 3-4 miles each 3x a week, I would say, yeah, that may be good enough. Ideally, you want to throw in a long run where you can at a minimum run 5 miles, 6 better, more than 6 is gravy. But, to do that and not break the 35% LR rule, either all of your runs are going to eventually up to 6 miles, or you add a 4th day.

    If your cross training involves strength training, then that will help with some of the structural improvements (if you do squats, deadlifts, lunges) in the specific area of your muscles and maybe the joints and tendons. But, doesn't necessarily mean your bones will be strong enough from the extra cross training alone.

    The breathing part (your heart, your blood, your mitochondria) yeah, that may improve with some extra cardio related cross training, but that part won't be the part that will prevent you from injury. It's the structural integrity of your lower body which will improve the best from slowly building up your miles and maybe some specific strength training in specific known weak body parts. It's whatever the weakest link in your chain is.

    Sorry for the long answer. I just haven't been paying too close attention to your specific workouts and where your current fitness is, and history of injuries.
  • luluinca
    luluinca Posts: 2,899 Member
    edited August 2016
    @Stoshew71, thanks for the answer. I wouldn't expect you to know much about what I've been doing as I've only been here about a week. I'm a swimmer and a weight lifter. I've been doing SL 5X5 for a year and just started Arnold's supersets for back/chest and biceps/triceps. I was also walking several days a week with my dog, but now we run together.

    I had a shoulder injury in December which took me out of the water and also some lifting so I started running. I'm doing my first 5K on Sunday. I had no idea I would enjoy running so much and I'm really wanting to get to at least a 10K distance by November for a Turkey Trot and just because I want to....LOL

    I'm 66 though and while my lower body is strong and healthy I worry about giving it too much of a beating. Would walking count for miles? I walk fast but not as fast as I run, which isn't all that fast yet.

    It looks like I really need to run 4 days a week minimum though to build up right?

    Injury wise just the frozen shoulder and a couple of hip flexor issues that I've taken care of I think. My knees are fine. I have 3 herniated discs but have completely changed the course of my back health over the last 3 years via core, hip and general strength improvements.
  • vandinem
    vandinem Posts: 550 Member
    The Humidity is Crushing my Motivation. 5.5 VERY SLOW miles. Pray for rain.
    Date     Miles      MTD
    ------   -----    -------
    Aug  2     5.0      5.0 
    Aug  3     5.8     10.8 
    Aug  4     4.3     15.1 
    Aug  6     5.6     20.7 
    Aug  7     5.1     25.8 
    Aug  9     5.1     30.9 
    Aug 10     6.2     37.1
    Aug 11     4.3     41.4
    Aug 13     6.3     47.7
    Aug 16     5.5     53.2
    

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  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    I just hat an epiphany while out walking with my wife and little guy. I'm kind of addicted to running. I tell myself that I'm training for the HM, but That doesn't really justify the ~40mpw Average I have, not including cutback week. They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery....but I don't want to recover... I think I just love to run.
  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
    I just hat an epiphany while out walking with my wife and little guy. I'm kind of addicted to running. I tell myself that I'm training for the HM, but That doesn't really justify the ~40mpw Average I have, not including cutback week. They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery....but I don't want to recover... I think I just love to run.

    I'm totally Ok with 35+ mpw for hm training. Where's @WhatMeRunning ? I'm tired of him being gone.
  • katharmonic
    katharmonic Posts: 5,720 Member
    edited August 2016
    8/16: 3.88 miles HM training group workout

    Tough workout tonight - I expected it to be so much easier than last weeks long tempo run but the short intervals took it out of me tonight. We did 5 sets of 30-60-90 seconds, with 30 seconds recovery between intervals. 30 seconds is not enough! A storm was brewing in the distance and the wind was pretty tough on one side of the track. By the time we started our sprints it was thundering and then lightning - so I cut it short and only did 2 of the 4 sprints, then sprinted for the car. It started to rain shortly thereafter and just as I pulled into my garage the skies opened up to a torrential downpour. Glad I cut out when I did.

    Strava tells me that I got my best 1k and 400m times in there, which rather surprised me because it didn't FEEL particularly fast. It felt like I was struggling. What amazes me is that the "warmup" I run in group is always faster than my normal base run pace by about a minute/mile. It feels so much easier at the workout - maybe it's the track and/or running with a group.

    Team Sarcoma 5k this Saturday!


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  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
    @luluinca - You can definitely build up to the 5K distance on running 3 days a week. You can probably build up to the 10K distance on running 3 days a week, though it would be easier with 4. If you want to eventually run longer races than a 10K, you'll likely need to run at least 4 days a week.

    However, you don't necessarily need to run 4 days a week right away. Total miles run isn't that big a concern for the 5K and 10K distances. Plenty of people run those distances and never run more than 12 to 15 miles a week.

    I don't count walking miles toward my running total, but I did need to cut back on the walking miles when I had to build up a large weekly running mile base to train for a marathon. I don't think that will be much of a factor if you're not training for anything longer than a 10K. You're more likely to run into time constraints squeezing out some of the other stuff you want to do if you decide to train for a marathon, or possibly if you decide to train for a half.