June 2017 Running Challenge

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  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    I had a crazy busy weekend and am doing offsite training this week so I have not been able to check in since last Friday. Over 12 new pages and over 300 posts! Yikes! Sorry, but I'm not going to be able to catch up, and things might continue like that through Friday. :flushed:

    I have been working on my 5k pace endurance most recently. My Sunday run was just to run easy for at least 5k of a 4 mile route. I made it through that 5k running the whole way in 37:31. Today I did a faster pace over the same route, running the first 1.5 miles straight through, then doing fartlek intervals over the remaining distance to finish the 4 miles. I reached 5k on today's run in 37:12, so faster overall than last time for that stretch. I pushed for the last quarter mile of that 5k distance though, so that helped.

    That is still well below my estimated 5k time based on my mile time, so I'm still not really finding my target pace of 10:35 for a 5k all that realistic in just the next couple weeks. I'll still try on that upcoming 5k on 7/4, there's no stopping that attempt (I hope). I am seeing my ability to do a mile in my predicted time now, something I wasn't able to do before. So hopefully I can close this 5k gap without too long of a wait.

    @WhatMeRunning - Have you tried shorter intervals at your desired 5K pace? In my experience, people training for 5K performance don't just go out and run a bunch of 3.1 mile segments at 5K pace, which is about I (interval) pace in the Jack Daniels system. They'll do workouts like 4x800 at I with 200 recovery, or 4x1000 at I with 200 recovery, or something like the I pyramid I won't be running on July 4: 800 at I, 1000 at I, 1-2 x 1200 at I, 1000 at I, 800 at I, all with same time recovery. "Same time recovery" means that if it takes you 5:17 to run 800m, you take 5:17 recovery as a slow jog or standing around, whatever your body needs. Then you run the 1000, trying to hold the target pace, then take however much time it took you to run the 1000 as your next recovery interval.

    The idea is that you build your endurance without beating yourself up as much as replicating a race every time you run fast. You pull out all the stops on race day, and just run the 5K as hard as you can; but the interval training should (among other things) accustom you to what the target pace feels like.

    Yeah, I know. I've said several times that 5K is like a simple interval workout, 1 x 5K at I pace. But that's coming from the perspective of training for a marathon, where running 2 mile, 3 mile, and 4 mile intervals isn't all that uncommon. Most of those long intervals are at T pace (slower than I); but they still build mental toughness for treating a 5K as just another interval. I think the longest training interval at I pace I've seen is 1600m, and that doesn't roll around very often.

  • ctlaws44
    ctlaws44 Posts: 182 Member
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    @MobyCarp I was hoping you were on here. Thank you for the wisdom! I bumped up from averaging 37ish per over 4 weeks to 53 completely violating the 10% rule. As you can see from above they were all easy paced miles but miles are still miles. I got caught up in this run challenge at work. I'm going to go for a bike ride this evening then try to run with the group Wednesday. There's enough people at different paces where I won't feel like I have to keep up with the pack. My ego's taken enough of a hit with this injury that I'm just happy to be out and running no matter how slow. Thanks again!
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,981 Member
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    June goal: 50 miles

    6/1/17: 3.5 miles
    6/2/17: 1 mile
    6/4/17: 4.3 miles
    6/5/17: 2 miles
    6/6/17: 3.4 miles
    6/7/17: 2.4 miles
    6/8/17: 2.7 miles
    6/11/17: 4.4 miles
    6/12/17: 2.8 miles
    6/13/17: 2.5 miles
    6/14/17: 2.7 miles
    6/18/17: 4.2 miles
    6/19/17: 2.6 miles
    6/20/17: 2.6 miles
    6/21/17: 2.6 miles
    6/24/17: 5 miles
    6/25/17: 2.8 miles
    6/26/17: 2.4 miles
    6/27/17: 2.5 miles

    58.4/50 miles

    Today's run was really nice. It was pretty warm, but not as humid as yesterday so it was better. And I felt better today. Yesterday I just wasn't feeling it but I got a good night sleep last night and that seemed to help how I felt both physically and mentally.

    Today was most likely my last run for June. I have to drive my parents to Dallas for a doctor's appointment for my mom so the next couple of days will be a lot of sitting. I'm glad I already made my goal for the month.


    exercise.png

  • BettyM1017
    BettyM1017 Posts: 616 Member
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    June 27 – XT Water Zumba and 45 minutes of laps

    Total: 87.35 miles/100 miles

    What a day! A 12-mile bike ride, an hour of water Zumba (it’s harder than it sounds), and 45 minutes of swimming laps all added up to a whopping 3,400 steps on my Fitbit, lol! How depressing! Maybe I can make it up at work tonight.

    Upcoming Race:

    July 21 - St. Pete Beach Series, Race #2, 5K
  • garygse
    garygse Posts: 896 Member
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    @ctlaws44 You may want to also try some exercises to help your hamstring. Eccentric leg curls on a bench were good for me when I hurt my hamstring...basically while on your stomach, use both legs to lift an easy weight (easy when using both legs, that is) and then use just one leg to lower the weight back down again. I would do three sets of ten reps on each leg. I read somewhere that the hamstring doesn't like resistance work while contracting simultaneously, and so using both legs to lift the weight first allows each leg to be loaded up without strain. Another exercise I found useful was simple glute bridges. Doing both of these exercises allowed for a sore hamstring to be strengthened and now my hamstring is fine, unless I push particularly hard, in which case it usually give me a small ache as a reminder to give it the respect it deserves!
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
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    6/01 - 7.02 miles @ 9:53
    6/03 - 10k Race - 50:56 - 8:14
    6/03 - 5k Race - 27:06 - 8: 35 (back to back with 10k, 7 mins rest between)
    6/05 - 6.51 miles @ 10:31
    6/06 - 6.02 miles @ 9:39
    6/07 - 6.02 miles @ 9:30
    6/08 - 7.01 miles @ 9:37
    6/10 - 15 miles @ 10:46
    6/11 - 9.01 miles @ 10:36 - 90+ degree weather, ran slow to compensate
    6/12 - 8.01 miles @ 10:38 - 90+ degree weather, ran slow to compensate
    6/13 - Thinderstorms forced rest day
    6/14 - 10 miles @10:50 w/ 894' evevation - very humid could not maintain pace
    6/14 - 5 miles @11:06 - second run later in day when not as hot
    6/15 - 9 miles @ 10:58
    6/16 - 12 miles @ 10:46
    6/17 - Rest day
    6/18 - forced rest day due to thunderstorms :frowning:
    6/19 - 13 miles - "long run with fast finish"
    6/20 - 8 miles - moderate run - Low zone 2
    6/21 - 6.55 miles @ 9:43 pace
    6/22 - 2.5 miles @ Zone high zone 2, then 4 miles zone 3 and 4
    6/23 - Planned rest
    6/24 - unplaned rest
    6/25 - 19 miles easy pace
    6/26 - 6.11 miles recovery pace
    6/27 - 6.55 miles @ Avg 9:24 pace

    Summer Goal: Get my marathon pace below 9 minutes.
    Official Marathon PR: 4:11:28

    Next Races (more as I find them):

    07/28/17 - Liberty Mile - 1 mile race just to see what a short run really is :)
    10/14/17 - Stop, Drop, and Run - Fireman style obstacle course - 5km

    05/06/18 - Pittsburgh Marathon - aiming for sub four hours.


    Today was intended to be a fast run before company came over. I had hoped to run it at tempo level but was too tired or something. My pace was all over the place from 8 min/mile to over 12... some how I averaged 9:24 so I guess that is not too horrible. Will try another tempo run later this week I think. Nothing exciting happened on this run.

    But my new BT headphones came. Hopefully these last.
  • ctlaws44
    ctlaws44 Posts: 182 Member
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    Thank you @garygse! That's a good point too. I still do vinyasa yoga three times a week but I've been sporadic with any lifting. I'm going to do the two exercises you suggested.
  • KeepRunningFatboy
    KeepRunningFatboy Posts: 3,055 Member
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    WK 6.26.17 - 7.2.17

    M - 15 mile LR.
    T - 4.5 m.
    W -
    T -
    F -
    S -
    S -
    Total - running Miles * Goal is a 60 mile running week. :)
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
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    MobyCarp wrote: »
    @ctlaws44 - Easy running is good for getting better, assuming you aren't hurt so bad that you can't run at all. From your description, I'd advise 1) run fewer miles than what got you injured, and 2) run all the miles easy until you're confident the hamstring is back. Oh yeah, and 3) stop running if it starts hurting.

    Taking it easy might mean solo running where you can control the pace. Or it might mean group running where you know the group will hold a pace that is easy for you. It might mean avoiding a group run if you think there's a chance the group will suck you into running faster than you should. And unless you have a lot better self control than I do, it means absolutely no races.

    Still, a diet of all easy running till you get better beats being confined to the couch or cycling and seeing other people running.

    I would add to @MobyCarp 's excellent advise... If you can't run with proper form, it's better to just rest. If your pain forces you to run "funny" then you're going to end up compensating and hurt something that wasn't meant to be used the way you ended up using it.

  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
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    MobyCarp wrote: »
    @ctlaws44 - Easy running is good for getting better, assuming you aren't hurt so bad that you can't run at all. From your description, I'd advise 1) run fewer miles than what got you injured, and 2) run all the miles easy until you're confident the hamstring is back. Oh yeah, and 3) stop running if it starts hurting.

    Taking it easy might mean solo running where you can control the pace. Or it might mean group running where you know the group will hold a pace that is easy for you. It might mean avoiding a group run if you think there's a chance the group will suck you into running faster than you should. And unless you have a lot better self control than I do, it means absolutely no races.

    Still, a diet of all easy running till you get better beats being confined to the couch or cycling and seeing other people running.

    I would add to @MobyCarp 's excellent advise... If you can't run with proper form, it's better to just rest. If your pain forces you to run "funny" then you're going to end up compensating and hurt something that wasn't meant to be used the way you ended up using it.

  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
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    MobyCarp wrote: »
    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    I had a crazy busy weekend and am doing offsite training this week so I have not been able to check in since last Friday. Over 12 new pages and over 300 posts! Yikes! Sorry, but I'm not going to be able to catch up, and things might continue like that through Friday. :flushed:

    I have been working on my 5k pace endurance most recently. My Sunday run was just to run easy for at least 5k of a 4 mile route. I made it through that 5k running the whole way in 37:31. Today I did a faster pace over the same route, running the first 1.5 miles straight through, then doing fartlek intervals over the remaining distance to finish the 4 miles. I reached 5k on today's run in 37:12, so faster overall than last time for that stretch. I pushed for the last quarter mile of that 5k distance though, so that helped.

    That is still well below my estimated 5k time based on my mile time, so I'm still not really finding my target pace of 10:35 for a 5k all that realistic in just the next couple weeks. I'll still try on that upcoming 5k on 7/4, there's no stopping that attempt (I hope). I am seeing my ability to do a mile in my predicted time now, something I wasn't able to do before. So hopefully I can close this 5k gap without too long of a wait.

    @WhatMeRunning - Have you tried shorter intervals at your desired 5K pace? In my experience, people training for 5K performance don't just go out and run a bunch of 3.1 mile segments at 5K pace, which is about I (interval) pace in the Jack Daniels system. They'll do workouts like 4x800 at I with 200 recovery, or 4x1000 at I with 200 recovery, or something like the I pyramid I won't be running on July 4: 800 at I, 1000 at I, 1-2 x 1200 at I, 1000 at I, 800 at I, all with same time recovery. "Same time recovery" means that if it takes you 5:17 to run 800m, you take 5:17 recovery as a slow jog or standing around, whatever your body needs. Then you run the 1000, trying to hold the target pace, then take however much time it took you to run the 1000 as your next recovery interval.

    The idea is that you build your endurance without beating yourself up as much as replicating a race every time you run fast. You pull out all the stops on race day, and just run the 5K as hard as you can; but the interval training should (among other things) accustom you to what the target pace feels like.

    Yeah, I know. I've said several times that 5K is like a simple interval workout, 1 x 5K at I pace. But that's coming from the perspective of training for a marathon, where running 2 mile, 3 mile, and 4 mile intervals isn't all that uncommon. Most of those long intervals are at T pace (slower than I); but they still build mental toughness for treating a 5K as just another interval. I think the longest training interval at I pace I've seen is 1600m, and that doesn't roll around very often.


    I agree with Moby on running 5K pace for 400 or 800 m intervals. Running 3 miles at 5K pace is basically racing. If you want to do that, then actually sign up for a race. But it's a horrible workout.

    As far as running 5K pace for 2, 3, or 4 miles, that sounds more like a tempo run just as Moby was suggesting. I agree that running those would be better at threshold pace. Even for marathon training. A 20-40 minute stretch at threshold pace is a great workout. Or running cruise intervals at slightly faster than threshold pace.

    Remember, if you can run 4 miles at 5K pace, then that is not your real 5K pace. 5K pace means you are ready to drop dead after running that pace after 3.1 miles.
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
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    ctlaws44 wrote: »
    @MobyCarp I was hoping you were on here. Thank you for the wisdom! I bumped up from averaging 37ish per over 4 weeks to 53 completely violating the 10% rule. As you can see from above they were all easy paced miles but miles are still miles. I got caught up in this run challenge at work. I'm going to go for a bike ride this evening then try to run with the group Wednesday. There's enough people at different paces where I won't feel like I have to keep up with the pack. My ego's taken enough of a hit with this injury that I'm just happy to be out and running no matter how slow. Thanks again!

    I would say in general, "the 10% rule" is probably one that shouldn't be strictly enforced. However, point taken. You increased way too fast in a short period of time.

    In my blog about training plans I discuss in #7 about mileage building. It's hard to state that one rule on this works best for everyone. Some will do well with 10% increases each week. Others will do better with 1 mile per week increases or every 2 weeks. Especially if you're injury prone, mileage increases should be slower. Others can be even more aggressive than 10% per week. Point is, your body usually will tell you when you're doing too much and that you should back off or quit for the day.
  • katharmonic
    katharmonic Posts: 5,720 Member
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    KatieJane83 wrote: »
    Sunday was my Bay of Fundy International HM, which I somehow PR'd! I will be doing a little bit of a race report with a few pics, hopefully in the near future, so for those who like race reports, keep your eyes peeled!

    Congrats on your PR @KatieJane83! Looking forward to your race report to hear how it was - it sounds like such a cool race. And great job on beating your June mileage goal!


    Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
    06/01/17 :::: 2.4 :::: 2.4
    06/02/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 2.4
    06/03/17 :::: 8.4 :::: 10.7
    06/04/17 :::: 3.1 :::: 13.9
    06/05/17 :::: 3.3 :::: 17.2
    06/06/17 :::: 3.5 :::: 20.7
    06/07/17 :::: 5.0 :::: 25.7
    06/08/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 25.7
    06/09/17 :::: 3.6 :::: 29.3
    06/10/17 :::: 7.8 :::: 37.0
    06/11/17 :::: 7.5 :::: 44.5
    06/12/17 :::: 2.8 :::: 47.4
    06/13/17 :::: 4.0 :::: 51.4
    06/14/17 :::: 2.6 :::: 53.9
    06/15/17 :::: 3.3 :::: 57.2
    06/16/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 57.2
    06/17/17 :::: 8.5 :::: 65.7
    06/18/17 :::: 3.3 :::: 69.0
    06/19/17 :::: 3.4 :::: 72.4
    06/20/17 :::: 5.6 :::: 77.9
    06/21/17 :::: 3.0 :::: 80.9
    06/22/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 80.9
    06/23/17 :::: 3.0 :::: 84.0
    06/24/17 :::: 3.2 :::: 87.1
    06/25/17 :::: 8.0 :::: 95.2
    06/26/17 :::: 2.5 :::: 97.7
    06/27/17 :::: 4.9 :::: 102.5
    Goal = 100 miles

    And my goal is met too, with days to spare. Tonight's workout was a 20-minute tempo run. Adding in warm-up and cool-down, plus sprints, it came to 4.89 miles. We almost made it through before the downpour, but not quite. And it was kind of chilly too, so soaking wet on the cool-down didn't feel the greatest. But then as we were stretching out there was a beautiful full rainbow - and we could see both ends touch the ground. One of the guys in the group said it was god's promise that we would never have to do tempo again. :p (I also saw a double rainbow on the way home - so pretty).

    I feel really good after tonight's run. So much better than my 5k on Saturday and long run on Sunday. Not sure if it made a difference or not, but I did some extra stretching beforehand, including 7 minute pre-run yoga video.


  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
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    mk2fit wrote: »
    So I found this thread at almost the end of the month. I am not a huge runner, but in my little world, I am a runner. I've run 115 miles this month. Not whiz-bang awesome, but, there ya go. I am just shy of 500 miles for the year. This time last year, I was at almost 1000. Oh, the joy of injuries...

    I run at a 9.25ish pace, which seems pretty cool. I do not run in races; only in my back yard (farm). BTW I am a 58 yr. old female ex smoker who has been running for just shy of two years.

    Awesome. Excellent testimony. Welcome!!! We do this every month. Feel free to hang with us for the rest of this month and join us next month. I will send out a link for the new challenge in a few days in this thread.
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
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    mk2fit wrote: »
    So I found this thread at almost the end of the month. I am not a huge runner, but in my little world, I am a runner. I've run 115 miles this month. Not whiz-bang awesome, but, there ya go. I am just shy of 500 miles for the year. This time last year, I was at almost 1000. Oh, the joy of injuries...

    I run at a 9.25ish pace, which seems pretty cool. I do not run in races; only in my back yard (farm). BTW I am a 58 yr. old female ex smoker who has been running for just shy of two years.

    115 miles in one month is not "little world" at all. Many people in this thread have goals of less than that. Some of us, myself included, put more than 50 a week in. This thread has all levels, as will the one next month. :)

    Welcome!
  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    cburke8909 wrote: »
    I started my full-marathon training today. The first workout was a 3X1600 speed workout. I did each of the 1600 at less than 8:00 per mile the first at 7:40. Total workout ended with 7.3 miles of total run. The plan I using calls for only 3 runs a week. A speed workout, a tempo run and a distance run, I may add in one more recovery run of fair distance, and allow myself the occasional Thursday summer 5k race.

    @cburke8909 - Three runs a week, all quality workouts, sounds like a crazy plan to train for a marathon. Are you sure it doesn't intend for you to add easy miles on the non-specified days to support the quality workouts? It would make a lot more sense for a plan to specify the workouts you describe, give you a weekly target mileage, and let you make up the difference between the specified workouts and the weekly target with easy runs of your choice.
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
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    @cburke8909 I have to say I am with @MobyCarp on this one. What training plan is this?

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