June 2017 Running Challenge
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But @Elise4270 does bring up a good point about the irony of running. It's probably the simplest sport in certain aspects and yet it can be one of the most complex. It depends on where you want to take it.
Sure, just go out and run in the park on a Saturday morning if you feel like it. And if you went to your neighborhood park and decided to run 1 mile every Saturday and that's all you do, then that is great. But if 1 mile turns into 10 miles and that's all you are doing, pretty soon doing just those 10 miles on a regular basis will get you injured. Then you hear people say, I tried that running thing and it didn't work out for me. I got bad knees from running. Or my uterus fell out.
Well, there comes to a point in time if you want to get serious with running and that is all you are doing, then there comes to a point where you need to learn what to do.2 -
6/1 = Gym day; 3 miles on the treadmill and 40 minutes of strength training
6/2 = 6 miles
6/3 = 6 miles & strength training
6/4 = 13.9 miles (run/walk)
6/5 = 8.1 miles & strength training
6/6 = rest day
6/7 = 8 miles (with 6 - 5 minute speed intervals)
6/8 = 5.5 miles
6/9 = 6 miles
6/10 = Hatha yoga class
6/11 = 10 miles (run/walk)
6/12 = 4 miles & strength training
6/13 = Vinyasa yoga class
6/14 = 7.5 miles
6/15 = 5.5 miles
6/16 = 6 miles & strength training
6/17 = 3 miles (5k race so technically 3.2 - rounding down)
6/18 = 13 miles
6/19 = 5 miles & strength training
6/20 = Vinyasa yoga class
6/21 = 8 miles (with 6 - 5 minute speed intervals)
6/22 = 5.5 miles & kettlebell workout
6/23 = 8.5 miles
6/24 = rest day
6/25 = 14 miles (run/walk)
6/26 = Gym day; 3 miles treadmill and 45 minute strength training
6/27 = Vinyasa yoga class
6/28 = 8 miles
6/29 = 6.5 miles
6.5 miles with 6-6 minute tempo intervals thrown in this morning. Normal running route - nothing much to report about the run.
OH, last night I had dinner with my brother and sister-in-law. They spent the entire dinner telling me how bad running was for me. THEY brought the topic up by telling me they were "concerned". Both of them are convinced I am going to ruin my knee/ankles and I am putting to much stress on my "heart and body" by running 5xweek. FYI--They are both smokers and non-exercisers with desk jobs. They seriously believe exercise is BAD for you! THEN they tried to convince me to go on this mostly meat keto diet thing. Sure, sitting on my butt all day eating meat and fat is going to be just GREAT for my health (not to mention my high cholesterol) -- LOL.
(June miles to date) 164/150 (June goal miles)
Upcoming 2017 Races:
10/28 = Hill Country Halloween Half Marathon
11/23 = Georgetown Turkey Trot
12/10 = BCS Half Marathon
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Ya, often college student think by owning the book you learn it. I use to tease my classes when I TA'd/taught.
Here's one for the playlist... On a loop. "Right foot, left foot..."
https://youtu.be/2dOZFu4QuRU 2 -
But @Elise4270 does bring up a good point about the irony of running. It's probably the simplest sport in certain aspects and yet it can be one of the most complex. It depends on where you want to take it.
Sure, just go out and run in the park on a Saturday morning if you feel like it. And if you went to your neighborhood park and decided to run 1 mile every Saturday and that's all you do, then that is great. But if 1 mile turns into 10 miles and that's all you are doing, pretty soon doing just those 10 miles on a regular basis will get you injured. Then you hear people say, I tried that running thing and it didn't work out for me. I got bad knees from running. Or my uterus fell out.
Well, there comes to a point in time if you want to get serious with running and that is all you are doing, then there comes to a point where you need to learn what to do.
AAAAHH! HAHAHA! Hey, why doesn't it make YOUR vas deferens fall out then?
Maybe that's what that Jog Strap is really for.5 -
But @Elise4270 does bring up a good point about the irony of running. It's probably the simplest sport in certain aspects and yet it can be one of the most complex. It depends on where you want to take it.
Sure, just go out and run in the park on a Saturday morning if you feel like it. And if you went to your neighborhood park and decided to run 1 mile every Saturday and that's all you do, then that is great. But if 1 mile turns into 10 miles and that's all you are doing, pretty soon doing just those 10 miles on a regular basis will get you injured. Then you hear people say, I tried that running thing and it didn't work out for me. I got bad knees from running. Or my uterus fell out.
Well, there comes to a point in time if you want to get serious with running and that is all you are doing, then there comes to a point where you need to learn what to do.
AAAAHH! HAHAHA! Hey, why doesn't it make YOUR vas deferens fall out then?
Maybe that's what that Jog Strap is really for.
You now know too much. We may have to get rid of you.5 -
How bad can a sunburn be?
http://www.menshealth.com/health/horrific-sunburn-wear-sunscreen
Insanely bad.
I met another runner last week and she asked if I wore sunblock. "Why? Cuz I'm cracker white?" I thought. No I'm not really shark bait. But do use sun block SPF 4-30, maybe 50 on my face, depending on the day. I could see that my new friend had, what appeared to be, sun damage on her face. Ya, the stuff is expensive. But worth it. Think I'll buy a small thing of it and give it to her next time I see her out.
Oh my, those pictures in that link made my skin crawl with sympathy pains.
I have very light blonde hair and super pale skin - think vampires. I use the kids super SPF waterproof/sweatproof sunblock to keep my skin nice and pasty white in the Texas sun. It only took one back blistering sunburn when I was a teenager to teach me a lesson.3 -
What's the problem? it's right foot in front of left foot in front of right foot again and breath and repeat, right?
No, no, no...
It is (begin in breath) right, left, (end in breath) (begin exhale) right, left (end exhale) REPEAT.
(yes, seen places where people argue "correct" breathing patterns even)0 -
Running mileage goal :
I am planning on 4 runs a week of an average of 2 miles each as a conservative goal so 40 miles. - accomplished
Date Day Run Monthly total Needed
6/3 Sat 2.3 Mi 2.3 Mi 37.7Mi
6/3 Sun 2.0 Mi 4.3 Mi 35.7Mi
6/6 Tues 2.5 Mi 6.8 Mi 33.2Mi
6/8 Thurs 1.5 Mi 8.3 Mi 31.7Mi
6/10 Sat 3.1 Mi 11.4 Mi 28.6Mi
6/11 Sun 1.1 Mi 12.5 Mi 27.5Mi
6/13 Tues 1.7 Mi 14.2 Mi 25.8Mi
6/15 Thurs 3.0 Mi 17.2 Mi 22.8Mi
6/17 Sat 1.6 Mi 18.8 Mi 21.2Mi
6/19 Mon 3.1 MI 21.9 MI 18.1MI
6/20 Tues 2.8 MI 24.7 MI 15.3MI
6/22 Thurs 3.1 Mi 27.8 MI 12.2Mi
6/24 Sat 2.1 Mi 29.8 Mi 10.1Mi
6/25 Sun 4.0 Mi 33.8 Mi 6.2Mi
6/27 Tues 3.1 Mi 36.9 Mi 3.1Mi
6/29 Thurs 3.1 Mi 40.0 Mi 0!!!!
Worked on pace Tuesday on the track by keeping a better eye on my Garmin until I bumped it and it shut off in the last half mile and has not come back to life yet. It is not the battery since it was on the charger overnight. Might be time to save my pennies and upgrade. On a happy note, I hit target today for the first time in a few months! I also ran 2 miles non-stop on the treadmill today! Have not done this in a long time took a walk break because I needed a drink and could not do that without choking myself. Very proud of what I have done this month and I am looking forward to building on it in July.
Goals for June:
1. To add 4th day to the running week - Accomplished!
2. To not puke, pass out or die while adjusting to the heat - So far so good so I will say accomplished also.
3. To stay healthy - A few tight muscles and aches along the way but nothing major.
4. Make my running a priority, not the first thing that gets forgotten when work and family schedules get crazy - A few blips along the way but doing better.
5. To do a better job tracking miles and holding myself accountable - Better but still not perfect.
2017 Races :
4/29/2017 Pro Football Hall of Fame 5k
6/10/17 Run and Ride Cedar Point 5K (maybe) - Done
9/9/17 Kick off 5k (race 2 of series)
11/19/17 Halftime 10K (race 3 of series)
2/4/18 Championship 5 miler (race 4 of series)
4/29/18 Akron Half Marathon (Can sign up for $26.50 by 8/1 without getting a shirt for full or half)2 -
KatieJane83 wrote: »@MobyCarp Thank you so much for responding, it's very interesting to learn more about this.
The track workouts I'm doing are free with my county's running club, though the coaches are decently legit, but they don't make things very complicated b/c we have people of varying levels. Basically, the instructions were to run the 200s almost all out, getting into anaerobic range, and the 400s 'a little bit slower', whatever that means, lol.
I was actually looking at the VDOT numbers just a minute ago too, and I'm not exactly sure what to make of it all. If I use my most recent 5k race time (which was in April, so I'm thinking would be a little faster now) my VDOT number is actually 36, and if I look at my HM from this past weekend (which was very hilly, so I know I could do it a little faster) my VDOT is 38. However, I ran last night's 200m intervals at a sub 6:00 pace, even though my predicted 1 mile pace is 7:50.
So, either I can actually run a HM, 5k, and 1 mile faster than I currently think I can, or the jump between HM and 5k distances and the shorter distances are not yielding accurate calculations for me. Or something else, lol.
Anyway, no matter what, I am really enjoying looking at all these numbers and trying to figure everything out, because I am definitely a nerd, lol.
That is interesting. Based on this additional information, here are my best guesses as to what it means:
1. The workout was supposed to be 4x200 at R, 4x400 at I, 4x200 at R. The coaches did their best to describe this for people who aren't familiar with the system and may have never run a race optimally for fastest finish.
2. You ran with R level of effort for the 200s, but didn't know what the vague instructions meant and backed off to T level of effort for the 400s.
3. If you were to run a max effort mile race on a track in good conditions, you might or might not break 6 minutes. I would expect you to be faster than 6:30, and I would be shocked it it took you 7 minutes.
4. You probably have a much faster 5K in you, if you can develop either better endurance or better confidence in the endurance you already have. By "much faster" I mean in the 21-22 minute range instead of the 25 you highlighted. The difference for you might just be confidence, good race management, and good weather on race day. Even 21-22 minutes might not be as fast as you could be if you were to optimize for the 5K distance.
5. Something else to think about is, how important to you is it to run the fastest race you possibly can? The training systems are all pointed at producing the fastest possible race time, but fastest possible time isn't always the most appropriate goal. I am guessing, based on your highlighted race times and the results of one track workout, that you have run your races rather conservatively to ensure you can run all the way and finish in good shape. There's nothing wrong with that strategy, particularly if finishing in good shape is significantly more important to you than finishing as fast as physically possible.
Thank you so much for taking the time to analyze this for me! I'm thinking at this point it's coming down to an issue of confidence in myself. I KNOW I have faster 5k's in me because I've done them. When I first got into running, before the injury hiatus that became the 'just being lazy' hiatus, I had PR'd my 5k with 22:59. I was maybe 10lbs lighter, but I'd also been running for less than a year, and had less conditioning/lower mileage base than I do now.
And definitely my goal is to run the fastest races that I can. I am not a competitive person when it comes to team sports, but I am extremely self-competitive, so I'm usually looking to get the best times I can get when I race. I have a 5k coming up on the 8th, which is pretty much totally flat, so I'm going to push all out and see what I can do. I'm also gonna have to do a 'fastest mile' test one of these days. Now you having me thinking I can realistically aim for sub-7 times sometime in the not too distant future, which is just mind boggling to me, the girl that DESPISED having to do the 1 mile fitness test in high school, and took over 12 minutes every time I had to do it 1 -
PastorVincent wrote: »What's the problem? it's right foot in front of left foot in front of right foot again and breath and repeat, right?
No, no, no...
It is (begin in breath) right, left, (end in breath) (begin exhale) right, left (end exhale) REPEAT.
(yes, seen places where people argue "correct" breathing patterns even)
So I have a cousin who knew I was running a lot and told me that he started running.
Great I said. he's a total beginner. Then he started talking about how he is practicing his breathing patterns. I told him, don't worry about the way you breath, just breath natural. And just worry about running at a conversational pace for now. He gave me this dirty look.3 -
@Stoshew71 @Elise4270
If it was a requirement to work at the complex level as some here, I would not run. Honestly, I picked running cause there was a level of simplicity/mindlessness to it. My ultimate plan is roughly
Run everyday schedule and weather allows
Most runs 1 to 1 & 1/2 hours long at some moderately work out kind of pace (6-8 miles)
One run long (like 15-20 miles) at somewhat easy pace.
*oh and try to convice myself to actually do cross training. So far I have failed*
Will I ever win the Boston with that plan? Nope. Do I care? Nope.
I am improving, slowly. I have been on track and cross country teams. I know what a "real workout" looks like, and it is not for me
BUT my main goal is SURVIVAL not to become the next marathon word record holder.
My point is everyone has their level they want to play at. @Elise4270 you might want to train harder than me, and yet not as hard as @Stoshew71 or @MobyCarp - or you might want to kick all their bottoms and win all the races. It's all good. 6 -
So I have a cousin who knew I was running a lot and told me that he started running.
Great I said. he's a total beginner. Then he started talking about how he is practicing his breathing patterns. I told him, don't worry about the way you breath, just breath natural. And just worry about running at a conversational pace for now. He gave me this dirty look.
Tell him he has to run left right left right, and if he runs right left right left he will serious stunt himself as a runner and to just focus on getting that right for now. 4 -
PastorVincent wrote: »
So I have a cousin who knew I was running a lot and told me that he started running.
Great I said. he's a total beginner. Then he started talking about how he is practicing his breathing patterns. I told him, don't worry about the way you breath, just breath natural. And just worry about running at a conversational pace for now. He gave me this dirty look.
Tell him he has to run left right left right, and if he runs right left right left he will serious stunt himself as a runner and to just focus on getting that right for now.
Which one of these is the "lmao" button? Oh wait, we don't have one. But we got this 'woo' button.
EDIT:
(By the way, you know there is someone lurking and trying to decide if they want to join this Challenge or not and saw the breathing jokes and got offended and we will never know.)3 -
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I've heard of all this breathing pattern stuff. I used to think I should look into it and try to figure it out. Then I thought, well, I'm running...and I'm breathing....and I'm not dying...so, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, lol.
5 -
amymoreorless wrote: »How bad can a sunburn be?
http://www.menshealth.com/health/horrific-sunburn-wear-sunscreen
Insanely bad.
I met another runner last week and she asked if I wore sunblock. "Why? Cuz I'm cracker white?" I thought. No I'm not really shark bait. But do use sun block SPF 4-30, maybe 50 on my face, depending on the day. I could see that my new friend had, what appeared to be, sun damage on her face. Ya, the stuff is expensive. But worth it. Think I'll buy a small thing of it and give it to her next time I see her out.
Oh my, those pictures in that link made my skin crawl with sympathy pains.
I have very light blonde hair and super pale skin - think vampires. I use the kids super SPF waterproof/sweatproof sunblock to keep my skin nice and pasty white in the Texas sun. It only took one back blistering sunburn when I was a teenager to teach me a lesson.
We're near Texas, Oklahoma. You sound like my 22yo daughter. She's never out in the sunlight, she's snow white white. She tried to tan as a teenager, but it was just a waste of time. She just doesn't tan. Haha!1 -
PastorVincent wrote: »
So I have a cousin who knew I was running a lot and told me that he started running.
Great I said. he's a total beginner. Then he started talking about how he is practicing his breathing patterns. I told him, don't worry about the way you breath, just breath natural. And just worry about running at a conversational pace for now. He gave me this dirty look.
Tell him he has to run left right left right, and if he runs right left right left he will serious stunt himself as a runner and to just focus on getting that right for now.
Which one of these is the "lmao" button? Oh wait, we don't have one. But we got this 'woo' button.
EDIT:
(By the way, you know there is someone lurking and trying to decide if they want to join this Challenge or not and saw the breathing jokes and got offended and we will never know.)
Well, least they weren't concerned about thier uterus/vas.2 -
SpiritHippo wrote: »
What part of Italy are you visiting? We just got back from Florence, Venice and Rome (or Firenze, Venezia, Roma more accurately) and it was shorts or capris every day. Some nights I needed a light sweater. Rome was hot, hot, hot. We were always traveling as much as possible by foot. Capris are clutch because a lot of the sights require you to be dressed a little more conservative than you might on a typical hot day. I didn't see a single person wearing any type of athletic clothes except those running their routes through town! I say bring some cute tops with short sleeves or no sleeves that are dressy enough that you could pop in for dinner or a museum and then just have a light cardigan just in case. If you are traveling south of Rome it will be a lot hotter. Plan on wearing your hair up!
We are doing a cruise. We stop at Provence, Nice (Eze & Monaco), Florence/Pisa, Rome, Amalfi Coast. Then back to Barcelona and then we fly to Munich for family visit. Never done a cruise before, so interested to see how it goes!
6/1- travel day
6/2 - 5 miles
6/3- 4.6 miles
6/4- 4.2 miles + 18 miles cycling on rented bike
6/5- 5 miles
6/6 - 5.5 miles
6/7 - 6.1 miles
6/8 - 5.4 miles
6/9 - travel day
6/10 - 43 miles cycling
6/11 - 44 miles cycling
6/12 - 5 miles running
6/13 - 5 miles
6/14 - 5 miles
6/15 - strength training
6/16 - 5 miles on the boardwalk in Hollywood
6/17 - 5 miles same as yesterday
6/18 - 4 miles same as last two days
6/19 - 4 miles
6/20 - 5 miles
6/21 - strength training
6/22 - 5 miles
6/23 - 4 miles
6/24 - 6 miles
6/25 - 4 miles
6/26 - rest day
6/27 - 5 miles
6/28 - 6 miles
6/29 - travel day
4 -
KatieJane83 wrote: »KatieJane83 wrote: »@MobyCarp Thank you so much for responding, it's very interesting to learn more about this.
The track workouts I'm doing are free with my county's running club, though the coaches are decently legit, but they don't make things very complicated b/c we have people of varying levels. Basically, the instructions were to run the 200s almost all out, getting into anaerobic range, and the 400s 'a little bit slower', whatever that means, lol.
I was actually looking at the VDOT numbers just a minute ago too, and I'm not exactly sure what to make of it all. If I use my most recent 5k race time (which was in April, so I'm thinking would be a little faster now) my VDOT number is actually 36, and if I look at my HM from this past weekend (which was very hilly, so I know I could do it a little faster) my VDOT is 38. However, I ran last night's 200m intervals at a sub 6:00 pace, even though my predicted 1 mile pace is 7:50.
So, either I can actually run a HM, 5k, and 1 mile faster than I currently think I can, or the jump between HM and 5k distances and the shorter distances are not yielding accurate calculations for me. Or something else, lol.
Anyway, no matter what, I am really enjoying looking at all these numbers and trying to figure everything out, because I am definitely a nerd, lol.
That is interesting. Based on this additional information, here are my best guesses as to what it means:
1. The workout was supposed to be 4x200 at R, 4x400 at I, 4x200 at R. The coaches did their best to describe this for people who aren't familiar with the system and may have never run a race optimally for fastest finish.
2. You ran with R level of effort for the 200s, but didn't know what the vague instructions meant and backed off to T level of effort for the 400s.
3. If you were to run a max effort mile race on a track in good conditions, you might or might not break 6 minutes. I would expect you to be faster than 6:30, and I would be shocked it it took you 7 minutes.
4. You probably have a much faster 5K in you, if you can develop either better endurance or better confidence in the endurance you already have. By "much faster" I mean in the 21-22 minute range instead of the 25 you highlighted. The difference for you might just be confidence, good race management, and good weather on race day. Even 21-22 minutes might not be as fast as you could be if you were to optimize for the 5K distance.
5. Something else to think about is, how important to you is it to run the fastest race you possibly can? The training systems are all pointed at producing the fastest possible race time, but fastest possible time isn't always the most appropriate goal. I am guessing, based on your highlighted race times and the results of one track workout, that you have run your races rather conservatively to ensure you can run all the way and finish in good shape. There's nothing wrong with that strategy, particularly if finishing in good shape is significantly more important to you than finishing as fast as physically possible.
Thank you so much for taking the time to analyze this for me! I'm thinking at this point it's coming down to an issue of confidence in myself. I KNOW I have faster 5k's in me because I've done them. When I first got into running, before the injury hiatus that became the 'just being lazy' hiatus, I had PR'd my 5k with 22:59. I was maybe 10lbs lighter, but I'd also been running for less than a year, and had less conditioning/lower mileage base than I do now.
And definitely my goal is to run the fastest races that I can. I am not a competitive person when it comes to team sports, but I am extremely self-competitive, so I'm usually looking to get the best times I can get when I race. I have a 5k coming up on the 8th, which is pretty much totally flat, so I'm going to push all out and see what I can do. I'm also gonna have to do a 'fastest mile' test one of these days. Now you having me thinking I can realistically aim for sub-7 times sometime in the not too distant future, which is just mind boggling to me, the girl that DESPISED having to do the 1 mile fitness test in high school, and took over 12 minutes every time I had to do it
@KatieJane83 - You caught me on a day when I'm full of advice. Here are my tips for 5K race day, when the goal is to produce the fastest 5K you can:
Get there early, and run your warmup as a preview of the entire course. People who are pure 5K runners wouldn't do this, but you're a distance runner and found it natural to do a 3 mile warmup before hard intervals. It won't be too much for you. In this warmup, pay attention to three things:
1. Pay attention to the course, and how far along you are. You want the course, and particularly the last mile or so, to be fresh in your mind when you run the race. When the idiot spectator tells you you're almost done, you need to know that there's really 1000 meters left and be comfortable with the pace you can sustain for another 1000 meters.
2. So the course is flat. Maybe not totally. Pay attention to where the minor inclines and declines are. You won't notice them automatically on the warmup, but you'll feel them at true 5K race pace. Go into the race aware of where they are, and you'll know what is a good effort even if you're a little slower going up and a little faster coming down. Maybe the course is on an airport runway, and there just aren't any inclines or declines; but a lot of courses that are advertised as fast and flat do have some minor inclines and declines. You want to know about them in advance and be aware of them during the race. This will help your confidence while running.
3. Pay attention to the legal course route and where the shortest legal tangents are. Maybe you can't actually run the shortest tangents on the warmup because the roads aren't closed yet; but pay attention, and run those short tangents during the race. Save yourself 20 steps over 3 miles, and you might knock 5 seconds off your time.
Line up near the front, so you don't have to weave in and out of slower runners for the first 100 meters. Maybe not right at the front, particularly if you can tell who the people are that will be competing for the overall win; but no more than 3 or 4 rows back at your projected pace. If the start isn't terribly crowded, you might also pick your starting position to give yourself a good first tangent to run on the course. That isn't always possible, but look to see whether it is.
Pretty much everything else is stuff you already know, because you have run races. The tips above are things a lot of runners miss (particularly running good tangents) that can help optimize finish time.3
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