June 2017 Running Challenge

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  • karllundy
    karllundy Posts: 1,490 Member
    6/1 - 4 miles
    6/2 - Pre-race rest day. Ate some donuts for national donut day / carb load :wink:
    6/3 - 13.2 miles. Damn HOT Dam to Dam half marathon! Race report forthcoming.
    6/4 - Ow.
    6/5 - Still ow. Had hoped for a recovery run, but decided against it when I got up.
    6/6 - 4.3 miles.
    6/7 - Unplanned rest day due to son's strep throat :-(
    6/8 - 5 miles.
    6/9 - 5 miles.
    6/10 - 6.2 miles.
    6/11 - Rest day.
    6/12 - 5 miles. 78° and humid at 4:45 a.m.!
    6/13 - 4.1 miles of track/speed work with a group. Then quick upper body weights. Again, 78° and humid.
    6/14 - Rest day. Semi-planned.
    6/15 - 5 miles.
    6/16 - 5 miles.
    6/17 - 6.8 miles.
    6/18 - Father's Day with my Dad and brother.
    6/19 - 5 miles.
    6/20 - 3.4 miles.
    6/21 - 4 treadmill miles, then upper body weights.
    6/22 - 5 hot and humid miles.
    6/23 - 5 miles.
    6/24 - Baseball tournament all day.
    6/25 - 3.4 on the hotel 'mill.
    6/26 - Rest day.
    6/27 - 5.2 miles. Gorgeously cool morning!
    6/28 - 4 treadmill miles, then weights/abs.

    exercise.png
  • cburke8909
    cburke8909 Posts: 990 Member
    @girlinahat
    @PastorVincent - it was not you I was referring to. I'm questioning @cburke8909 for his adding more runs without having actually tried it as it is.

    wouldn't you want to give the 1969 VW Bug a thorough test drive?
    When it comes to any running plan I think in terms of it being a guide not a prescription. If I were a little more serious, I'd probably look for a running coach and we could pick out a plan that was more tailored based on his/her expert opinion. I welcome the advice (even when contrary) that I get here. I think all plans I use at the moment are experiments in what will and won't work for me. When altering a plan or following a plan my biggest concern is injury. The basics that I gather from reading and the MRC are to not have long runs that are to high a percent of your weekly total, have speed work but not too much (once a week) and have recovery runs to build endurance free of excessive stress on the body. This plan is questionable because the long runs are a very high proportion, I can ignore the violation and just do the plan as written or I can add a small alteration by using some easy runs instead of the cross-training. For now I may just do the cross-training as written and see how it feels, if it doesn't feel right then I will change. If Moby, Pastor, Stan or others here were to ,in consensus, think the plan is a total "kitten" then I would alter or find a new plan. Keeping in mind that one must listen to their own body. If today's plan called for an 8 mile run at pace and my knees, or ankle were just killing me I'm altering the plan and listening to my body. If I avoid injury, I can run another day. On that note the alteration of the plan that most concerns me is the 5k for fun. They are part of weekly races put out on by a local running club. I think if I go and find myself racing that could be the wrong thing, and so I am open to suggestions as to run/not run these.
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    ddmom0811 wrote: »
    Boston was awesome - 3 wonderful runs!
    Sorry - no time to catch up and see what's been going on in here. Way over my mileage and still got a few days running left!

    Back in Orlando and getting ready for my trip to Barcelona/Italy/Germany - leaving Thursday. I've laid out piles of running clothes and lingerie.
    Apparently I think I'll be running and then just hanging out in the room with hubby. Need to figure out the other clothes now.

    ......

    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!

    some places don't like shorts, and be careful of sleeveless/vest-type tops in Italy when trying to go into churches or places like the Vatican. You'll be expected to cover your shoulders, so take a scarf or cardigan for that. The Swiss Guards may well search your bags and can happily turn you away from the Vatican for not being dressed appropriately.

    Be extra vigilant in Barcelona. Sadly it is pretty much the pickpocket capital of Europe (be vigilant every tourist area). The worst place is Las Ramblas, so try not to take photos with your phone or stop to look at maps.

    enjoy!!
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    cburke8909 wrote: »
    @girlinahat
    @PastorVincent - it was not you I was referring to. I'm questioning @cburke8909 for his adding more runs without having actually tried it as it is.

    wouldn't you want to give the 1969 VW Bug a thorough test drive?
    When it comes to any running plan I think in terms of it being a guide not a prescription. If I were a little more serious, I'd probably look for a running coach and we could pick out a plan that was more tailored based on his/her expert opinion. I welcome the advice (even when contrary) that I get here. I think all plans I use at the moment are experiments in what will and won't work for me. When altering a plan or following a plan my biggest concern is injury. The basics that I gather from reading and the MRC are to not have long runs that are to high a percent of your weekly total, have speed work but not too much (once a week) and have recovery runs to build endurance free of excessive stress on the body. This plan is questionable because the long runs are a very high proportion, I can ignore the violation and just do the plan as written or I can add a small alteration by using some easy runs instead of the cross-training. For now I may just do the cross-training as written and see how it feels, if it doesn't feel right then I will change. If Moby, Pastor, Stan or others here were to ,in consensus, think the plan is a total "kitten" then I would alter or find a new plan. Keeping in mind that one must listen to their own body. If today's plan called for an 8 mile run at pace and my knees, or ankle were just killing me I'm altering the plan and listening to my body. If I avoid injury, I can run another day. On that note the alteration of the plan that most concerns me is the 5k for fun. They are part of weekly races put out on by a local running club. I think if I go and find myself racing that could be the wrong thing, and so I am open to suggestions as to run/not run these.


    the bold is exactly what I was getting at.....you did rather imply you were going to change it right from the start because it didn't make sense to you.
  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
    girlinahat wrote: »
    cburke8909 wrote: »
    @MobyCarp @PastorVincent and @girlinahat that's the plan she listed. The reason for additional run is because it's lack of runs makes me less than 100% confident in the plan. I like the three workouts quality but I think at least one more easy day of running makes more sense. I would even think 2 easy runs a week wouldn't hurt. I think the designer of the plan is emphasizing recovery and rest, which can come from those intentional slow paced runs. The plan suggests two additional workouts a week.

    But it's a plan that has been tested AS IS. It may make more sense to you to add in an extra easy workout, but isn't the whole point of the plan that you SHOULDN'T add in an extra run? if you add in runs, you are no longer following the plan.

    I would follow it as it is set for a period of say 6-8 weeks and see what improvements you can get. Add in easy runs after that if you are not seeing improvement

    It's an interesting plan, with an interesting story behind hit. The first thing that struck me was, this is not a plan that was used for first time marathon runners. It is a plan that was used by experienced, established distance runners who were substantially cross-training in other sports. I question how well it would work for people who have not already established a record of consistent marathon finishes.

    The next thing that I found interesting was the target paces, which are all based off a 10K race pace. If I take my two most recent 10K races and round the pace up to the nearest half minute, that gives me some numbers I can work with and think about. Long run, 10K pace + 60 to 75 seconds per mile. That's a range between what I was targeting for MP and the fast end of my easy range. Okay, I get that for a plan that generally wants faster paces.

    Long tempo, 10K pace + 30 to 35 seconds. A bit slower than the T pace that features prominently in my plan, so I'm guessing "long tempo" means 7 to 10 miles. Mid tempo, 10K pace + 15 to 20 seconds. Right around my T pace. Short tempo, 10K pace. I'm not sure where the break between short and mid tempo should be on runs of 3 to 6 miles.

    Then we get to the intervals. 1600m at 10K pace - 35 to 40 seconds. That puts me under a 6 minute mile. I don't think I have 3 reps of 1600m at that pace. 1200m, 10K pace - 40 to 45 seconds. Essentially my mile race pace. Like running 1200s at R pace. When 600s at R were as much as I could handle yesterday. 800m and 400m paces are a little faster. I might pull out all the stops and hit the target for 400m. I'm not going to hit it for 8 intervals in a row on the first day of training, even if I take full recovery.

    Wow. This target is for runners who are very, very good. It's for runners who are better at short distances than I am, relative to their 10K race pace.

    I note that the plan also encourages 40-45 minutes of cross training on two other days. Since I'm not much of a cyclist and I'm not a swimmer, I have to think in terms of running. Say the cross training is the equivalent of easy running, for cardio purposes. The plan as a whole would be roughly equivalent to a 5 day a week running plan, except replacing two of the easy days with training for the cycling or swimming legs of a tri.

    Yeah, it makes sense in the context of the population of athletes it was developed for. The volume of very fast speed work on Tuesdays looks really aggressive to me, and I think I'd go nuts without the mental release of easier running on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

    I also noticed that the article was posted in 2006 and describes a program that started in autumn 2003. There's been more than a decade for people to try this and similar ideas and see how it's gone for a larger population of runners than the original group. I suppose people must have tried it; I wonder what the results have been, beyond that initial study? Dr. Google found a contrary opinion of the FIRST Training plan. I don't necessarily agree with everything the critical article says, but it does make some good points.

    I'd be interested to read what @Stoshew71 thinks about the FIRST training plan. He's done a lot more research on training methods than I have.
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    @girlinahat @MobyCarp @cburke8909

    I do not do interval work. I personally think that is of the devil and probably never will :) So I would trust @MobyCarp's opinion on that and really question this plan based on the information he provided.

    @cburke8909 - I do not recall who has said what... so maybe you have done this already... but if not... perhaps you should pick up that 80/20 book and try the plans he provides?
  • hesfeld
    hesfeld Posts: 95 Member
    So I have a tennis tournament this Saturday and I haven't played tennis since college.. should be interesting. At least it's a fun one for charity, so no real pressure. I haven't been running much because I see why people avoid the treadmill. It brings out aches I don't have while road running, but right now it is just too hot/humid to run outside too often. I'm thinking of doing an agility workout tonight to help prepare me for tennis. I'm just trying to figure out the best bang for my buck workout to get me prepared for my 5k on the 4th and tennis. Any better ideas?
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    @KatieJane83 Great job!!! Congrats!

    Love the pics. I never think to take pics during a race.
  • BruinsGal_91
    BruinsGal_91 Posts: 1,400 Member
    @KatieJane83 Cool pics, and I love that medal!
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    @KatieJane83 well done on the half and great photos and medal!!!
  • KatieJane83
    KatieJane83 Posts: 2,002 Member
    @KatieJane83 Great job!!! Congrats!

    Love the pics. I never think to take pics during a race.

    This is one of my biggest reasons for loving when I find running pants with decent-sized pockets! Lol. I can just really easily slip my phone out, and then I take bursts of photos, just holding the button down while I'm running, since I'm not gonna stop, lol, and that way I still get some decent, not-blurry photos.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    @KatieJane83 -That looks like a fantastic race! And big congrats on your PR! It's amazing what a little hard core training can do for you, isn't it???
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    lporter229 wrote: »
    Because this route is a familiar segment to me, I had all of the data for the route saved in Garmin Connect from previous runs. I went back and measured the distance of my run and was surprised to see that it was 3.43 miles. Almost 3.5 miles in 28 minutes means I was running at just over 8 min mile average, including my warm up, so I must have been cruising at sub 8 minutes for a good piece of that. I would never have guessed this to be my pace based on how I felt (and I probably would not have allowed myself to run at this pace if I had my Garmin to tell me what it was). Needless to say, I am feeling very encouraged. I did lots of foam rolling last night!

    Great report!

    I have found I run a bit faster without headphones. I rarely do it cause well I like them :smiley: but I wonder if it is just easier to work out your pace without the distraction or something.
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    @MobyCarp

    interesting breakdown of the paces from that training plan. It’s a plan marketed by Runner’s World as being a good alternative training for running a marathon, although I have a feeling it was originally developed for training for a half (I may be wrong). That would suggest it is geared to us plebs and not just experienced runners.

    I would question whether easy running is actually cross-training. Surely the point of cross-training is that you are using different muscles that running? So more running can’t really be called cross-training.

    I have at the back of my mind a full for next year sometime. But, before I do that, I want to become solid at the half. Not fast, just solid. Capable of taking on that distance and running it casually with no ill effects still hanging round two days later. I see burn out for me in a 16 week training plan for a full (the usual timescale). The marathon I have my eye on is this time next year. So when I’m done with the next HM at the end of July, I’m focussing on swimming, cycling and strength training with only an occasional run thrown in – I have a 5 week open water swim course lined up meaning I can’t run with my club that day, and while I may do the odd gentle run there won’t be much going on.

    I want to build strength to start a new training cycle. I might even look at a formal plan, but I find many of the formal plans too short – I want a 24 week plan that eases me in gradually, not something to add a mile to each long run a week. I feel that will make me a more solid runner.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,162 Member
    @KatieJane83 Awesome race report! Love the pictures!
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    @lporter229 one thing I have been learning from swimming more is that most of us try and swim too fast. The trick is to slow your stroke down, and you'll go further for less effort.

    Slow down and you won’t get out of breath either. Have you heard of the SWOLF score? It’s a way of training where you add the distance travelled to the number of strokes to get there. So if it takes 25 strokes to do 25m, you have a score of 50. The lower the score the better. My tomtom gives me an actual swolf score (although I don’t think it can measure properly…)
  • AmyOutOfControl
    AmyOutOfControl Posts: 1,425 Member
    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

    Ughhhh...96% humidity for 8 miles. So very not "woo". They were also very slow miles because I overdid the squats on my gym/weight day on Monday. I had to psych myself up every time I got up from a chair yesterday - ouch!

    June mileage goal met - Woo!

    (June miles to date) 157.5/150 (June goal miles)

    Upcoming 2017 Races:
    10/28 = Hill Country Halloween Half Marathon
    11/23 = Georgetown Turkey Trot
    12/10 = BCS Half Marathon
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    @KatieJane83 the female me...lol...to do that you'd have to to from non-runner to ultra attempt in 19 months.... I'm a very special kind of crazy....

    Great race report and pictures. You've got an official sub 2 IN you and you'll do it soon.
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    I feel like such an imposter on Strava (https://www.strava.com/athletes/21288640) all of my runs are listed at way faster paces, like over a minute per mile faster than I actually ran them. :smiley: No idea why Strava can not get it right. RunKeeper has them all correct.
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    I feel like such an imposter on Strava (https://www.strava.com/athletes/21288640) all of my runs are listed at way faster paces, like over a minute per mile faster than I actually ran them. :smiley: No idea why Strava can not get it right. RunKeeper has them all correct.

    That's really weird. Maybe it's a runkeeper thing..Garmin and Strava match up for me.
  • KatieJane83
    KatieJane83 Posts: 2,002 Member
    I feel like such an imposter on Strava (https://www.strava.com/athletes/21288640) all of my runs are listed at way faster paces, like over a minute per mile faster than I actually ran them. :smiley: No idea why Strava can not get it right. RunKeeper has them all correct.

    That's really weird. Maybe it's a runkeeper thing..Garmin and Strava match up for me.

    Yeah, I'm thinking that too. Garmin and Strava match up for me as well.

    I have to say, the place where Garmin really sucks is elevation. For the 900ft elevation gain on my race Garmin only gave me 277ft! Strava was right on the money, verified by the actual race website. I know it does something like ignore hills that are below a certain threshold, which is pretty stupid to me, since obviously they add up over the miles.
  • KatieJane83
    KatieJane83 Posts: 2,002 Member
    @KatieJane83 the female me...lol...to do that you'd have to to from non-runner to ultra attempt in 19 months.... I'm a very special kind of crazy....

    Great race report and pictures. You've got an official sub 2 IN you and you'll do it soon.

    Welll, I don't know about the ultra thing, lol. But, I think I'm gonna be asking lots of questions, and for lots of advice, and probably way overthinking lots of things :D
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    I feel like such an imposter on Strava (https://www.strava.com/athletes/21288640) all of my runs are listed at way faster paces, like over a minute per mile faster than I actually ran them. :smiley: No idea why Strava can not get it right. RunKeeper has them all correct.

    That's really weird. Maybe it's a runkeeper thing..Garmin and Strava match up for me.

    No, the math works out. RunKeeper is correct. Strava likes to keep the DISTANCE I ran, but adjust TIME down by 7-10 minutes. Strava is definitely wrong. So sure IF I ran 7 miles in an hour instead of 1:07 I would have been faster by a minute per mile... but I did not. I ran it in 1:07.

    Does Garmin only work with Garmin watches? I assume so. So can not try creating Garmin account to see what it comes up with.

  • KatieJane83
    KatieJane83 Posts: 2,002 Member
    I feel like such an imposter on Strava (https://www.strava.com/athletes/21288640) all of my runs are listed at way faster paces, like over a minute per mile faster than I actually ran them. :smiley: No idea why Strava can not get it right. RunKeeper has them all correct.

    That's really weird. Maybe it's a runkeeper thing..Garmin and Strava match up for me.

    No, the math works out. RunKeeper is correct. Strava likes to keep the DISTANCE I ran, but adjust TIME down by 7-10 minutes. Strava is definitely wrong. So sure IF I ran 7 miles in an hour instead of 1:07 I would have been faster by a minute per mile... but I did not. I ran it in 1:07.

    Does Garmin only work with Garmin watches? I assume so. So can not try creating Garmin account to see what it comes up with.

    Yeah, I wasn't so much thinking that your Runkeeper was wrong, just that something about the way Runkeeper specifically and Strava communicate with each other is broken. That is very strange, maybe you can file some type of tech support ticket or something.
  • shrcpr
    shrcpr Posts: 885 Member
    No run for me today. I ran last three days in a row and that's new for me so I'm feeling it with some muscle fatigue. I plan on doing a long (for me) run tomorrow because I won't be able to run the next three days. Or be on here so I'll probably have a bazillion pages to catch up on!

    @KatieJane83, congratulations on your PR and thanks for sharing the pics! Sounds like it was a great experience.

    @mk2fit, welcome!
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    edited June 2017
    I feel like such an imposter on Strava (https://www.strava.com/athletes/21288640) all of my runs are listed at way faster paces, like over a minute per mile faster than I actually ran them. :smiley: No idea why Strava can not get it right. RunKeeper has them all correct.

    That's really weird. Maybe it's a runkeeper thing..Garmin and Strava match up for me.

    No, the math works out. RunKeeper is correct. Strava likes to keep the DISTANCE I ran, but adjust TIME down by 7-10 minutes. Strava is definitely wrong. So sure IF I ran 7 miles in an hour instead of 1:07 I would have been faster by a minute per mile... but I did not. I ran it in 1:07.

    Does Garmin only work with Garmin watches? I assume so. So can not try creating Garmin account to see what it comes up with.

    Garmin only works with a garmin. My guess is bad/weird data transfer from runkeeper to Strava... Interesting. I use all 3 and runkeeper gives distances/paces than the other 2 using the same info from my watch.... Garmin and Strava match up more than runkeeper with the other 2.

    Here's an interesting thing maybe try running both apps at once to track a run and see what happens? That would give you a better idea of the issue maybe....
  • cburke8909
    cburke8909 Posts: 990 Member
    @KatieJane83 Great race, love the medal, love the pictures
    @Girlinahat @PastorVincent and @MobyCarp I will pick of the 80/20 book and follow this plan for now. I didn't fully understand all the aspects of the speed days in the plan and didn't think I could keep the paces they suggested. Being still somewhat new, I don't have a 10k pace. I ran my half-marathon at close to 8:30 which I think is good enough to say I'm ready to train for the full but I don't have information on what my 5k time or 10k time would be. I like the idea of a plan that doesn't require all the training to be running but I worry if that will work well. As Pastor said most of us don't do enough cross-training and that may be our undoing. I think the interval work is important. There seems to be the constant battle with distance runners of finding the balance of over training and under training. The 80/20 plan is most certainly and attempt at finding that happy medium.
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