April 2017 Running Challenge

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1818284868796

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  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
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    @Freck135 looks like you're in great shape to meet/exceed your goal this month!
  • BeeerRunner
    BeeerRunner Posts: 728 Member
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    @autumnblade75 There is an app called All Trails that I use to find trails to run. I've used it locally where I live and when vacationing.
  • BeeerRunner
    BeeerRunner Posts: 728 Member
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    Has anyone ever run a longer distance race at night? I'll be most likely running a half marathon on Memorial Day weekend. It's called the New Moon Half Marathon to help ring in summer nights, so it's a whole moon theme and it starts at 6pm. I'll have to give some thought into how I want to handle nutrition and sleep. I'm thinking of still doing the traditional pasta dinner the night before and possibly a little bigger of a breakfast and then just smaller snacks throughout the day. And maybe a nap mid-day if my schedule and body allows it?

    I did a 15K trail race at night. I think it started pretty late because it was in July. Maybe 8 or 9 pm? I think i took a nap that day. I didn't know anything about race nutrition then. I was thankful I brought my hydration belt with 1 bottle of water and 1 with Gatorade. They advertised hydration support and aid stations, but there wasn't any except within 1 to 2 miles of the start. I didn't know about gels either. Since trail races take longer, I could have used it. It was hot...90+, humid, and no wind. So I sucked down every bit of water and Gatorade. It was fun though!! I loved it! I'm doing the same race this year but as a HM.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    Went without the knee brace tonight. Things did not go very well, mostly because the down/slow time has gotten me out of shape as I feared. :'(

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  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
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    Went without the knee brace tonight. Things did not go very well, mostly because the down/slow time has gotten me out of shape as I feared. :'(

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    Sorry to hear this. It takes time to recover. Don't worry, you'll be back in gear soon enough. Let your body tell you what's enough, and take it easy getting back into it.
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    edited April 2017
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    I hate having the urge to buy shoes, but not seeing exactly what I want at a decent price....

    EDIT: These are Tempting me a lot: http://www.runningwarehouse.com/adidas_adizero_adios_Boost_3_Mens_Shoes_Red_White/descpage-AADB3M2.html

    and they have them in a 6.5. My Brooks are all size 7, but that's becuse I can't get them in a 6.5 (7 works fine) but my Nikes are 6.5...... To buy or not to buy, and which size to go for?
  • katharmonic
    katharmonic Posts: 5,720 Member
    edited April 2017
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    @katharmonic I feel like you've gotten great advice for your half on 5/21. I just wanted to comment that I'm in a similar boat...I will most likely be running a half on 5/27 and the longest I've run recently is 8 miles about 1.5 weeks ago. I had suggested to my mom to come out for this race awhile ago and I didn't think she was going to be able to, but now it's looking like she will. I have a 9 miler planned for Sunday and I'm going to sit down and map out the rest of my plan soon too. Good luck to you!

    Thanks @OSUbuckeye906 ! Great job on your relay race and glad you are coming back from your injury. Good luck preparing for your half too - I'll look forward to hearing how it goes.


    Date :::: Miles :::: April MTD (goal = 95)
    04/01/17 :::: 7.7 :::: 7.7
    04/02/17 :::: 3.5 :::: 11.2
    04/03/17 :::: 2.5 :::: 13.7
    04/04/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 13.7
    04/05/17 :::: 3.5 :::: 17.2
    04/06/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 17.2
    04/07/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 17.2
    04/08/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 17.2
    04/09/17 :::: 3.5 :::: 20.6
    04/10/17 :::: 3.0 :::: 23.6
    04/11/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 23.6
    04/12/17 :::: 3.2 :::: 26.8
    04/13/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 26.8
    04/14/17 :::: 4.0 :::: 30.8
    04/15/17 :::: 6.2 :::: 37.0
    04/16/17 :::: 2.7 :::: 39.7
    04/17/17 :::: 3.7 :::: 43.4
    04/18/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 43.4
    04/19/17 :::: 3.1 :::: 46.6
    04/20/17 :::: 2.2 :::: 48.8
    04/21/17 :::: 4.7 :::: 53.5
    04/22/17 :::: 7.8 :::: 61.3
    04/23/17 :::: 2.5 :::: 63.8
    04/24/17 :::: 3.3 :::: 67.0
    04/25/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 67.0
    04/26/17 :::: 3.3 :::: 70.3

    Gorgeous and warm day here (can't believe I'm reading about ICE from other people). It was a little hot for running to be honest - funny how we get here so soon. But no complaints, I had a good run with a few buddies from our group including a little guy in a jogging stroller with his mom. One of our coaches was in the group and she helped me come up with some strategies and goals for running the half on 5/21. She suggested goals like running it at a consistent pace, working on not going out too fast, etc. Helpful to hear some specific advice as she knows my running history and current abilities very well. She pointed out that I can get a bit competitive so I should be careful not to push it too much :)

    I'm pretty obviously not going to make my April goal, but am pleased that I've gotten much more consistent in the second half of April and will get a lot closer than I thought!
  • AmyOutOfControl
    AmyOutOfControl Posts: 1,425 Member
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    Ran a fun local 10K this morning. I was trying to finish it in 60 minutes but actually finished in 62 1/2 minutes - so close! Oh well.

    64/100 miles done in April

    Another 4 miles on Sunday in the beautiful weather. It was a tad humid but 68 and breezy -perfect.

    Today a friend convinced me to try a kettle bell class before work. I am leaving for an out of town work conference on Wednesday so I know my running opportunities are going to be few and far between this week. I decided to squeeze in another 3 miles on the treadmill before the class.

    Before today, I had never tried kettle bells. How hard could it be, right? Ha!! My butt has been thouroghly kicked! My whole body is still shaky 30 minutes later. I am going to be sore tomorrow....

    71/100 miles done in April

    This is the longest discussion thread ever! I can't keep up! Lol

    I left for an out of town work conference on Wednesday- squeezed in 10 miles before I had to leave for the airport. I knew I wouldn't get much running in this week.... :( My diet has been crap with all the free food and alcohol. I just can't say no to free!

    3 miles on the hotel treadmill on Thursday and another 3.5 boring treadmill miles this morning.

    87.5/100 miles done in April

    Another 10 miles done this morning. I ran with a group of runners for the first time. They were training with the Galloway method and doing walk/run intervals. It was fun having a group to chat with although it took me much longer to complete the miles with the walking segments thrown in

    97.5/100 miles done in April

    5.5 miles and strength training on Monday
    4.5 miles and a Vinyasa Yoga class on Tuesday
    7 miles this morning

    114.5/100 miles done in April :)
  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    zdyb23456 wrote: »
    I have a question for all you long time, long distance runners. Where do you run? Do you just run from your house? Do you map out routes to run around town? How far are you willing to drive to run a new route? I find I get really bored with the same few running routes I have either from my house or from my gym.

    I've been driving to a state park about 35 minutes away and I'm thinking of finding a new place to run to mix it up.

    I do run quite a bit from my house. I am fortunate in that I have several options available if I want to run more than 4 miles. I do have a standard 7 mile route and a standard 10 mile route, both of which I can run in either direction and modify to add distance. Running from home is time efficient, and it's a good choice when I don't want to think very hard about what the route will be like. Everything near home is pretty familiar.

    I trained for my first half marathon with the local Fleet Feet program. It moved the long runs around to different locations, and had various routes out of each location. That provided variety as well as camaraderie on the long runs. Three years later, I pace the 8:00 per mile group for this program. That helps avoid boredom, because there are different routes and different venues. And it helps me slow myself down more than I typically would when running solo. It also showed me a lot of good running locations.

    I will occasionally drive to another location to run solo. This is typically because there is something that I want out of the other location that I can't get on a route from home, and it's important enough to accept the time overhead of driving to and from. This might be to run part of the Rochester Marathon route for the interesting changes in elevation, or running in Mendon Ponds Park (site of several races) for the hills and the scenery, or to run on the Erie Canal Trail for the soft crushed stone surface and lack of hills on long tempo workouts.

    I also drive to club practices, which rotate through 5 different locations seasonally, and drive to group runs at either of two different local running stores. The point in these cases is the people I will run with, the venue, and the discipline of running a speed workout or a group run.

    The farthest I've ever driven to find a new running route is about 1100 miles. Okay, that's not fair. The trip was for other reasons, and the new running route was an opportunity. I'll drive maybe 45 minutes at the most locally for paced runs, maybe 30 minutes for solo runs at most. But it's really a balance between how long it takes to drive (a.k.a. time overhead) versus what benefit I can get from running at the location I'm driving to.
  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    April Running Totals (miles)
    4/1 – 18.19 paced run
    4/2 – 3.90 easy 30 minutes
    4/3 – rest day
    4/4 – 10.75 tempo intervals
    4/5 – 6.85 group run
    4/6 – 8.18 tempo intervals
    4/7 – rest day
    4/8 – 12.07 paced run
    4/9 – 7.83 almost easy 60 minutes
    4/10 – 4.51 easy 30 minutes + 4 strides
    4/11 – 7.81 warm up, speed work, cool down
    4/12 – 3.81 easy 30 minutes
    4/13 – 5.45 easy/MP workout
    4/14 – travel day
    4/15 – 4.12 easy run along the Charles River
    4/16 – 2.61 20 minutes on last part of course
    4/17 – 26.43 Boston Marathon
    4/18 – travel day
    4/19 – rest day
    4/20 – 2.12 recovery run
    4/21 – 4.20 easy/MP
    4/22 – 4.18 paced run
    4/23 – 5.00 easy
    4/24 – 5.10 easy
    4/25 – 7.09 warm up, speed work, cool down
    4/26 – 7.22 group run

    April total to date – 157.42

    Nominal Challenge Goal – 150 miles
    Real Goals: Run Boston. Finish healthy. Recover well.

    Today's notes – This morning had two good signs for recovery from Boston. First, I was beat up a little from yesterday's speed work, but the minor aches were not where Boston beat me up. It was more like a normal morning after speed work the prior evening. Second, my left quad improved to the point where I could do my full routine of morning strength exercises, including Turkish get-ups with a 30 lb. kettlebell and 3 x 10 squats with 75 lbs. of kettlebells in the rack position. So when my quad didn't complain at all about mowing the lawn, I felt pretty good about heading to the group run this evening.

    The route was a bit over 7 miles, with Knickerbocker Hill in the middle. Knickerbocker Hill has a local reputation for being tough. It's longer than most local hills, and it gets steep after going up a ways, but it's not really comparable to the 2nd or 3rd hill in Newton. So when the leader slowed down more than I could tolerate, I ran ahead of him. Took the hill and a nice easy pace between 8:15 and 8:30 per mile. Then the fast guy who always runs ahead was stopped at the top, waiting for the second fastest guy. Don't know what they did, I was on a roll and I knew how to get back to the store. So I just ran the rest of the route solo, missing a detour through trails that the leader took the rest of the group through, but running the last section of Knickerbocker Road that I'd never run before. I found myself channeling MP when I didn't pay attention, and forced myself to slow down several times; but the solo part of the run was faster than when I was following the leader.

    The quad did not complain at all. There was a minor dull ache late in the run, but really no worse than many other training aches. I'm not naive enough to think I'm fully recovered from Boston just yet, but I'm really pleased with how well the recovery is going. I'm smashing my goals this month. Nominal mileage goal, check. Run Boston, check. Finish healthy, check. Recover well, better than any of my prior marathons with the arguable exception of Buffalo 2015.

    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) short course, finished 4.34 miles in 27:51
    March 11, 2017 Johnny's Runnin' of the Green 5 mile (Rochester, NY) finished in 33:25
    March 18, 2017 USATF Masters 8K Championship (Shamrock 8K, Virginia Beach, VA) finished in 30:59, PR for 8K
    April 17, 2017 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA) finished in 3:49:42
    April 30, 2017 USATF Masters 10K Championship (James Joyce Ramble, Dedham, MA)
    May 21, 2017 Lilac Run 10K (Rochester, NY)
    June 9, 2017 Charlie McMullen Mile (Rochester, NY)
    June 18, 2017 Medved 5K to Cure ALS (Rochester, NY)

  • OSUbuckeye906
    OSUbuckeye906 Posts: 315 Member
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    @MobyCarp and @BeeerRunner Thanks for the input on the night race. I think I'll luck out with the headlamp (I'd much prefer not to wear one) as the race starts at 6pm and I'll probably be finished while it's still fairly light out. I don't expect this to be a very crowded race at all, so I expect I'll cross the start line pretty much right away so there won't be any delay there either. I think I'll probably try to do a long run or two in the evening to get a feel for a later start time and how to handle nutrition.


    4/1: 5.8 miles
    4/2: 2.8 miles
    4/3: X-train (elliptical)
    4/4: 3.6 miles
    4/5: 5 miles
    4/6: rest
    4/7: 3.6 miles
    4/8: 6.3 miles
    4/9: 3 miles
    4/10: rest
    4/11: 4 miles
    4/12: 5 miles
    4/13: 4 miles
    4/14: rest
    4/15: 8 miles
    4/16: 5 miles
    4/17: PT/30 DS
    4/18: 5 miles
    4/19: 5 miles
    4/20: 5 miles
    4/21: rest
    4/22: 6.9 miles (Illinois Marathon relay)
    4/23: 4 miles
    4/24: 5 miles
    4/25: PT/rest
    4/26: 5 miles

    TOTAL: 92/100 miles

    It was 84F with 15 mph winds when I set out for my run this afternoon, so not the best conditions but there wasn't much to do about it. Mid 80s is a lot warmer than I've been used to running in lately and it doesn't make me very excited for running in the summer heat. 5 miles was on the plan today - 1 mile easy warm up, 3 miles at HMP, 1 mile easy cool down. My HMP goal was 9:20-9:25. My splits ended up at 9:26, 9:17, 9:18, 9:18, and 9:44. The speed miles were a little on the fast end, but I'm okay with that because they ended up being more of intervals rather than run straight (not on purpose, I had to pause/walk a few times to avoid having a pee accident). All was well after I reached a bathroom around mile 3.
  • 9voice9
    9voice9 Posts: 693 Member
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    I think I'll probably try to do a long run or two in the evening to get a feel for a later start time and how to handle nutrition.
    I'm finding that I'm so acclimated to running at dark-thirty in the morning that running any other time is a real chore. Especially if it's the end of the day - lunch time is usually fairly doable, but evenings are pretty much "embrace the suck".

    Of course, that means that 13-May is just gonna be a barrel of laughs, with a 5K at 8 AM and a 10K at 9 PM. Does that mean I've slipped a cog, to have signed up for that kind of punishment? :wink:
  • OSUbuckeye906
    OSUbuckeye906 Posts: 315 Member
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    9voice9 wrote: »
    I think I'll probably try to do a long run or two in the evening to get a feel for a later start time and how to handle nutrition.
    I'm finding that I'm so acclimated to running at dark-thirty in the morning that running any other time is a real chore. Especially if it's the end of the day - lunch time is usually fairly doable, but evenings are pretty much "embrace the suck".

    Of course, that means that 13-May is just gonna be a barrel of laughs, with a 5K at 8 AM and a 10K at 9 PM. Does that mean I've slipped a cog, to have signed up for that kind of punishment? :wink:

    You signed up for two races in one day?! I guess you could always try to take a late afternoon nap to trick your body into thinking that it's the next day when you wake up for your night race? Kudos to you for going for it.

    I actually do about 50-75% of my runs in the afternoon/evening due to a fluctuating work schedule. My long runs are always on weekend mornings though...I think the longest I've run recently late in the day is 5-6 miles. So hopefully it won't be so bad.

  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
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    I am having a hell of a time breaking in the new treadmill. My too neutral shoes aren't helping but I am having to be hyper vigilant re: form to avoid rolling in and subluxing. But thankfully my husband will be back either tomorrow night or Friday evening so I might actually be able to work in a 50k training run before I have to start backing off pre-Banff.

    Hope everyone is doing well! I feel like a jerk but between solo parenting sick littles and running at night scheduled between bedtime and cleaning the house/disaster zone I've not been able to keep up with the happenings well this week. Will try to go back through the thread this weekend!


    April 1- 42.2
    April 2- 7.6
    April 3- 14
    April 4- 13.4
    April 5- Off
    April 6- 10
    April 7- 15.8
    April 8- Off
    April 9- 9.5
    April 10- 15.5
    April 11- 11.1
    April 12- 7.3
    April 13- Off
    April 14- 15.7
    April 15- 19.1
    April 16- 7.4
    April 17- 15.2
    April 18- 19.1
    April 19- Off
    April 20- 15 (TM)
    April 21- 15 (TM)
    April 22- 10 Earth Day 5K Virtual- 27:15
    April 23- 8.6 (TM)
    April 26- 17.1 (TM)


    288.6 km/300 km

  • iofred
    iofred Posts: 488 Member
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    27/04 - 6.2 mile Taper run #7 - Hope this will not be as it will go on Monday, as then I will be toast - run was difficult from the start, so to not give in I speeded up as well, stupid I will remain - This was my penultimate Taper run, very short one planned for Saturday

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    Completed
    11/03 - 10K Run The Solar System (thanks for the tip) - 52:01
    12/03 - TM Half Marathon (plugged in the MK HM route - attempt 1  ) - 1:54:02
    25/03 - TM Half Marathon (plugged in the MK HM route - attempt 2  ) - 1:53:53
    15/04 - TM Easter Bunny support run (plugged in the MK HM route - attempt 2  ) - 1:59:03
    Coming up:
    • 01/05 - Milton Keynes HM
    • 18/06 - Run-Bedford-Run - 10K
    • 02/09 - Bedford HM
    • 24/09 - Windsor HM

  • Joanna2012B
    Joanna2012B Posts: 1,448 Member
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  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
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    Very happy to hear of your run @kgirlhart!

    Way to tough out the runs @OSUbuckeye906 and @iofred!

    Hope your last big training run is a good one @JessicaMcB!
  • vandinem
    vandinem Posts: 550 Member
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    Date     Miles      MTD
    ------   -----    -------
    Apr 02     5.0        5.0
    Apr 05     4.3        9.3
    Apr 07     6.4       15.7
    Apr 08     4.3       20.0
    Apr 09     5.0       25.0
    Apr 11     5.1       30.1
    Apr 13     5.1       35.2
    Apr 15     5.1       40.3
    Apr 16     5.1       45.4
    Apr 20     5.1       50.5
    Apr 22     5.1T      55.6
    Apr 24     6.3       61.9
    Apr 25     4.4T      66.3
    Apr 27     5.1       71.4
    

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  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
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    @JessicaMcB 50k TRAINING run? you re a serious beast, you're going to kill that skimpy little 42k marathon