February 2017 Running Challenge
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Be careful out there, runners (and drivers too!).
This story hits close to home. The victim used to run with my club, and the driver is well known in my professional circles. I never met either, but I read this story and it feels like a gut punch.0 -
@Calvin2008Brian - That sucks all the way around. Prayers for all.1
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Calvin2008Brian wrote: »Be careful out there, runners (and drivers too!).
This story hits close to home. The victim used to run with my club, and the driver is well known in my professional circles. I never met either, but I read this story and it feels like a gut punch.
@calvin2008brain how awful for everyone involved. My uncle was hit and killed while crossing the street in the crosswalk, the driver was making a right on red and never looked to her right. We all need to learn to pay better attention.0 -
@MobyCarp Thanks for your input on the strength training. I actually am not trying to power lift. Lighter weight more reps and building up to 5 sets is what I felt like best simulates the wear and tear on my muscles that running does. I appreciate Moby your thoughts on what good is it to "deadlift 245 lbs. for 3 reps"?
I know I can stick a 45 lb plate on each end and do 8 reps of squats. Now, I just stick a 25 lb plate and first started with 10 reps and built up to 15 reps and last Tuesday night did that for 5 sets (previously did only 3 sets).
deadlifts do get tricky as you suggested. I know if you don't do deadlifts correctly, that can mess you up bad. When I attempted to wrestle for Purdue back in the early 90's, I was fortunate to have a lifting coach walk over to me and said, that's way too much weight. Your form is way off. He helped me correct my deadlift form with lighter weight. So I remember that. Too many people try and lift with their shoulders and back which not only defeats the purpose of the deadlift but can cause injury. One of the key things about doing a deadlift is to let the arms just hang and let the legs do the work.
I integrate leg presses and lunges as well cause that really hits your glutes which you need powerful glutes to run. And lastly, one legged squats (with just body weight).
The only benefit to deadlifting 245 lbs. for 3 reps is bragging rights to other weight lifters. With my focus on running rather than lifting now, I see the deadlift as a vanity lift. You can lift more weight doing a deadlift than any other lift there is, so you get that huge number to brag about. But even if you can competently deadlift a lot of weight, you could still mess up your feet running from having weak hip abductors. (Been there, done that.)
I gave up deadlifts entirely after hearing my PT's opinion of them. Turns out the PT can give me all kinds of exercises that don't use very much weight, but can kick my *kitten* while targeting whatever area I happen to need to rehab.
When I was focused on lifting, I saw a guy I knew in the gym doing Samson squats with a 75 lb. dumbbell. I thought, what a wimp. I can squat 150, 160 lbs. and he's only using 75 lbs. My perspective now is, he knew what he was doing. He was a runner, and 75 lbs. was enough to get his quads strong enough for running. Heck, 50 lbs. is probably enough for me to keep the quads healthy while running; I use 75 because I can and because it's a bigger number. I do 3 sets of 10 reps, because that's an easy number to remember and it's enough. I'm not trying to get massively good at squats, I'm trying to support my running. Adding more weight or more reps doesn't appear to have enough benefit to be worth the time and increased risk of injury.
But I say this as someone who always lifted to be strong, not because he loved lifting. If you love lifting, the picture likely changes a bit.
I'm still pondering the distinction between muscular strength and muscular endurance. As a distance runner, I'm more interested in good muscular endurance than great muscular strength. I don't need to be strong enough to lift 500 lbs. with my legs; but I need the muscular endurance to lift my body weight with my legs for 50,000+ reps on Patriots' Day.0 -
BeeerRunner wrote: »@garygse Great job on your PR and I'm sure you'll do great in your upcoming HM. Which race are you doing? I've only got 2 races planned in DFW. One is a 5 mile trail race I just found out about yesterday. It's on the trails at Eagle Mountain Lake. I'm so excited since it's one of my fave places to run. The other is a HM night time trail race on the trails at Grapevine Lake.
@BeeerRunner I'm running the Frisco HM (http://runtexasbigstar.com/)...as this is only the second race that I'll have participated in, I'm looking forward to getting an official HM time set!
@garygse Well, you're just not messing around with those small races are you? Lol! Sounds like you'll have an awesome race! I've done 2 HMs and I really like the distance so I've got quite a few planned for this summer. They're all trail races though, except if I do one in Chicago, but that depends if I can make a work trip out of it.1 -
@KatieJane83 Sounds like you need more rest... Take care and don't do too much too fast. You'll recover faster if you let your body get the rest it needs.1
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BeeerRunner wrote: »BeeerRunner wrote: »@garygse Great job on your PR and I'm sure you'll do great in your upcoming HM. Which race are you doing? I've only got 2 races planned in DFW. One is a 5 mile trail race I just found out about yesterday. It's on the trails at Eagle Mountain Lake. I'm so excited since it's one of my fave places to run. The other is a HM night time trail race on the trails at Grapevine Lake.
@BeeerRunner I'm running the Frisco HM (http://runtexasbigstar.com/)...as this is only the second race that I'll have participated in, I'm looking forward to getting an official HM time set!
@garygse Well, you're just not messing around with those small races are you? Lol! Sounds like you'll have an awesome race! I've done 2 HMs and I really like the distance so I've got quite a few planned for this summer. They're all trail races though, except if I do one in Chicago, but that depends if I can make a work trip out of it.
My first race ever will be a HM in 3 weeks. 2 months after that I do a marathon!
I may or may not squeeze another race in between.3 -
I just realized there's only 5 more days/runs left in February! Having fewer days this month does put more of a crunch on getting the miles in!1
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midwesterner85 wrote: »@7lenny7 Those eyes in the photo... are they bigfoots (bigfeet?) out there?
I've been in a slump, which is really affecting training for my race on 4/1. I was running nearly every day until 2/14. Then was super busy and didn't get another run in until 2/19. And now, I haven't run since then... been feeling generally unwell with some BG fluctuations (long story) and have been super busy and very tired. If I don't get out for a run tonight, the next chance won't be until Sun. (possibly Sat., depending how things go).
I know I will feel better when I run regularly, but being exhausted makes it tough to get my first foot out the door. If I'm going to make my goal (or get anywhere close), I can't miss a medium length run tonight and 3 more days this month.
@midwesterner85 - I've found that when I'm tired and short of sleep, my motivation goes down the toilet. The good news is, when I feel like you describe and just focus on getting enough sleep for a few days, the motivation comes right back. Being generally unwell might make this a bit more complicated for you, but my advice would be focus first on getting enough rest and enough sleep. I predict that will make it a lot easier to get the first foot out the door.
Well, it looks like another 12 hr. day at work today anyway. I won't be home until after dark and just going to try to get some rest tonight. I will not reach my goal this month. FML0 -
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MNLittleFinn wrote: »
@MNLittleFinn - it's definitely not about showing off, which is why when I could do 5k I felt no need to race - same with 10k and HM. I'm only doing the HM to confirm (or not) if I have realistic time expectation for marathon, (NB: I've run HM distance a few times already but never felt the need to do a race). If were up to me I'd do the marathon and nothing else. After all I didn't have HM, 10K etc. on my bucket list!!0 -
girlinahat wrote: »BeeerRunner wrote: »OSUbuckeye906 wrote: »I hope everyone who is sick with all the sinus/cold/respiratory/flu crud feels better soon! We've had a lot of illness going around work and I'm trying my best to avoid it.
@lporter229 @Elise4270 Hawaii would be so fun! I watched a documentary on Netflix recently called Fat to Fit (if I'm remembering correctly). It's about an online weight loss group whose members started running to aid their weight loss. They're from all over the US and they decided to meet up and run a Ragnar race as a team. Most of them lost 50-100 pounds or even more and the documentary touches a little bit on each of their running and weight loss journeys. Pretty neat watch!lporter229 wrote: »@Elise4270- Did you say MFP MRC destination race??? I'm in! Can you imagine everyone here showing up for a race together? That would be awesome. And if it's Hawaii, then hell yeah!
That really would be great! I'd love to go!
You can count me in!! Would be soooo awesome and sooo fun!
2017 or 2018? Anyone serous? I hear it's a long flight but would be a great experience!
Start throwing out some dates y'all!
hmmm. I just checked out London to Hawaii flights August this year. nearly £1k and 19 hours with a stopover in Vancouver......this could be a pricey destination event!!!
Yes. I think it would for most of us. That's why I offered 2018. Looks like from here (Oklahoma USA) it's about half that price.
Be nice if we could figure out a way to make it less expensive.
We can keep it on he back burner, maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket.0 -
7---2.45 mile walk
10---same 2.45 mile walk
11---3.79 walk
16---3.00
18---3.32
20---3.39
21---2.85
23---3.24 walk with the Marine recruits. I walked, they ran.
23.58/something
Maybe races
March 26th 2017 A2A 5k Ardmore, OK3 -
MNLittleFinn wrote: »
@MNLittleFinn - it's definitely not about showing off, which is why when I could do 5k I felt no need to race - same with 10k and HM. I'm only doing the HM to confirm (or not) if I have realistic time expectation for marathon, (NB: I've run HM distance a few times already but never felt the need to do a race). If were up to me I'd do the marathon and nothing else. After all I didn't have HM, 10K etc. on my bucket list!!
I hear you on that....I don't want to mention my bucket list race...I've only been running a year, and my bucket list race is totally insane for such a new runner.1 -
MNLittleFinn wrote: »MNLittleFinn wrote: »
@MNLittleFinn - it's definitely not about showing off, which is why when I could do 5k I felt no need to race - same with 10k and HM. I'm only doing the HM to confirm (or not) if I have realistic time expectation for marathon, (NB: I've run HM distance a few times already but never felt the need to do a race). If were up to me I'd do the marathon and nothing else. After all I didn't have HM, 10K etc. on my bucket list!!
I hear you on that....I don't want to mention my bucket list race...I've only been running a year, and my bucket list race is totally insane for such a new runner.
If I remember rightly, both of us going to do a marathon in less than a year of running so we're equally insane! Do tell what the race is - maybe I'll join you in the loony bin! (If makes it easier I also want to do an Olympic distance triathlon in 2017.)0 -
http://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/ the 100 mile race. If this summer/fall goes well with my 2 marathons, I'll be looking to bump up to 50k then 50 mile over the next 2-3 years it's VERY ambitious. Will have to get a lot more trail time first though. I live only a 2 hour drive from the start pointIf I remember rightly, both of us going to do a marathon in less than a year of running so we're equally insane! Do tell what the race is - maybe I'll join you in the loony bin! (If makes it easier I also want to do an Olympic distance triathlon in 2017.)
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February Running Totals (miles)
2/1 – 7.00 easy
2/2 – 2.63 easy shakedown run
2/3 – travel day, didn't get a run in
2/4 – 7.99 warm up on road + 8K cross country
2/5 – travel day, didn't get a run in
2/6 – travel day
2/7 – 9.26 warm up, speed work, cool down
2/8 – 7.02 group run
2/9 – 12.03 MP intervals
2/10 – rest day
2/11 – 18.63 paced run + solo miles
2/12 – 11.48 easy 90 minutes
2/13 – rest day
2/14 – 12.25 warm up, speed work, cool down
2/15 – 6.62 group run
2/16 – 10.05 easy with hills
2/17 – rest day
2/18 – 22.17 paced run + solo miles
2/19 – 12.97 easy 100 minutes with hills
2/20 – rest day
2/21 – 10.47 warm up, speed work, cool down
2/22 – 11.17 easy
2/23 – 14.21 aborted intervals + make up miles
February total to date – 175.95
Nominal Challenge Goal – 225 miles
Real Goals: Survive travel to and from Bend. Train well toward Boston. Avoid injury.
Today's notes – Today was a lesson in adapting to circumstances.
The training plan called for a 14 mile workout: 3 miles easy, 4 miles MP, 2 miles easy, 4 miles MP, 1 mile easy. This is the sort of workout that I don't like doing on the indoor track. Unseasonably warm weather made the decision for me; instead of going to club practice this evening, I'd run this one on the roads in daylight.
I had time to go run at 10 AM. But my legs felt like they could use a few more hours of recovery, so I deferred till after lunch. By the time I got started, it was 63º F (17º C) with a 26 mph W wind. Obviously shorts weather, and I thought about what shirt to wear before realizing I had bought two singlets at close out sales for warm running. Today isn't warm by the standards of July, but it's warm by the standards of what I'm currently acclimated to.
I've run in wind at cold temperatures so much that I was thinking the wind would be no big deal. It wasn't a big deal for temperature, but it was enough to create a noticeable difference in effort between running into the wind and with the wind. Okay, deal with it. There could be wind on race day.
I ran the first three easy miles mostly by heart rate. Keeping the HR in Zone 1 brought me mile splits of 8:03, 7:48, and 7:46. Then comes MP. I'm telling myself that I will target a 7:30 pace for MP. This is a psychological game, as I'm likely to run faster than my target; but I think it will be better to target 7:30 and run 7:25 or 7:20 than to target 7:20, run 7:10, and bonk. True to form, the first 4 miles of MP came in at 7:22, 7:23, 7:19, and 7:15. This, even with making myself slow down several times. That wind played mind games with me on the level of effort needed to sustain a steady pace just a bit faster than easy.
So that's the first 7 miles, which went pretty much according to plan. By 7.5 miles, I was feeling some intestinal distress. I can hold this a while, but it's unlikely I can hold it for another 6.5 miles. So I headed for home, arriving there at 9.69 miles without paying any attention to pace for the last 2 miles. This totally disrupted me mentally for controlled pace intervals.
So I thought, what do I do if this happens on race day? I find a port-a-pot, take care of business, and go back out to run the rest of the race. A lot of training is mental. I took care of business as expeditiously as practical, and went back out to run another 4.5 miles. My mental control was shot, so I just ran without paying attention to pace; in hindsight, it looked like I started out easy and gradually sped up to somewhere between easy and MP. While running, it felt like the late miles of a marathon, running on tired legs and wanting to quit but not quitting because I'm not done yet.
Got home, stretched, showered. Looked at numbers. The HR was very reasonable, in Zone 3 for only 1:39 of the first run (uphill into the wind, I'm sure) and 0:02 of the second run. But I was whipped by the end. Got my miles in. This week's target is 56 miles, and I now need just over 7 miles to hit that. I have a 4.4 mile race on Saturday. I can take a rest day tomorrow, and hit the weekly target with a warm up plus the race, then hang around for the awards ceremony.
Looked again, and I ran over 35 miles the past 3 days. Hmm, didn't I just run 35 miles on the weekend? Yep. Last week's target was 62 miles. This week's target is 56 miles. But the plan this week is light on Saturday, even before adjusting for the race. Look at the last 6 calendar days, and I ran 70.99 miles with 1 rest day. No wonder my legs are tired!
I think I've earned my rest day tomorrow before a light weekend according to the training plan.
2017 races:
January 1, 2017 Freezeroo #2 (Resolution Run 7.5 mile) (Mendon, NY) Finished in 50:45
January 7, 2017 Winter Warrior Half Marathon (Gates, NY) Finished in 1:32:40
January 14, 2017 Freezeroo #3 (Pineway Ponds Park 5 mile) (Spencerport, NY) Finished in 33:42
January 28, 2017 Freezeroo #4 (Hearnish 5 mile) (Victor, NY) short course, finished 4.88 miles in 32:50
February 4, 2017 USATF Cross Country National Championship Masters 8K (Bend, OR) Finished in 35:39, team won the 60+ Men's cross country championship
February 11, 2017 Freezeroo #5 (Valentines Run "In Memory of Tom Brannon" 8 Mile) (Greece, NY) sat out due to training schedule
February 25, 2017 Freezeroo #6 (White House Challenge 4.4 mile) (Webster, NY)
March 11, 2017 Johnny's Runnin' of the Green 5 mile (Rochester, NY)
March 18, 2017 USATF Masters 8K Championship (Virginia Beach, VA)
April 17, 2017 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)
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@Elise4270 ... @HonuNui did offer up her lawn. I'm cool with camping in Hawaii! Lol!girlinahat wrote: »BeeerRunner wrote: »OSUbuckeye906 wrote: »I hope everyone who is sick with all the sinus/cold/respiratory/flu crud feels better soon! We've had a lot of illness going around work and I'm trying my best to avoid it.
@lporter229 @Elise4270 Hawaii would be so fun! I watched a documentary on Netflix recently called Fat to Fit (if I'm remembering correctly). It's about an online weight loss group whose members started running to aid their weight loss. They're from all over the US and they decided to meet up and run a Ragnar race as a team. Most of them lost 50-100 pounds or even more and the documentary touches a little bit on each of their running and weight loss journeys. Pretty neat watch!lporter229 wrote: »@Elise4270- Did you say MFP MRC destination race??? I'm in! Can you imagine everyone here showing up for a race together? That would be awesome. And if it's Hawaii, then hell yeah!
That really would be great! I'd love to go!
You can count me in!! Would be soooo awesome and sooo fun!
2017 or 2018? Anyone serous? I hear it's a long flight but would be a great experience!
Start throwing out some dates y'all!
hmmm. I just checked out London to Hawaii flights August this year. nearly £1k and 19 hours with a stopover in Vancouver......this could be a pricey destination event!!!
Yes. I think it would for most of us. That's why I offered 2018. Looks like from here (Oklahoma USA) it's about half that price.
Be nice if we could figure out a way to make it less expensive.
We can keep it on he back burner, maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket.1 -
MNLittleFinn wrote: »
http://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/ the 100 mile race. If this summer/fall goes well with my 2 marathons, I'll be looking to bump up to 50k then 50 mile over the next 2-3 years it's VERY ambitious. Will have to get a lot more trail time first though. I live only a 2 hour drive from the start pointIf I remember rightly, both of us going to do a marathon in less than a year of running so we're equally insane! Do tell what the race is - maybe I'll join you in the loony bin! (If makes it easier I also want to do an Olympic distance triathlon in 2017.)
@MNLittleFinn I get it - there's an ultra across north africa that I'd love. If you fancy coming over to see that dodgy little Arsenal squad at end of next season then to get over your disappointment we could do this as training: http://www.london2brightonchallenge.com/the-challenge/jog-it [i.e. run to the coast!]1 -
Today is a bust. Had an anxiety attack on the way home from work and had to take an Ativan when I got home, thus essentially canceling all my plans for the night. No trainer, no run. At least I got a walk in earlier so my streak isn't broken.
I'll be very happy when I can find a medication that actually helps. This one, not so much, and it's making me eat too much and gain weight. I see the doctor on Tuesday, and I'm going to ask to come off the Mirtazapine. I do NOT need to be gaining weight again. Not after a year of getting the weight off.1
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