March 2018 Running Challenge
Replies
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3/11 4 miles
3/16 1 mile
5/35 Total for March
1km Kilt run. Wore a kilt, got a medal. 8k tomorrow and I'll get two medals (I love 2-day challenges LOL).6 -
I want to share this article since I think it might be of interest to some.
When a Stress Expert Battles Mental Illness
Our columnist literally wrote the book on peak performance, but he had to reconsider everything after an unexpected battle with mental illness
https://www.outsideonline.com/2279856/anxiety-cant-be-trained-away
Good points about dealing with the stigma (glad that doesn't bother me anymore).
I've been seeing a psychologist about my anxiety.
My psychologist explained really well how anxiety is caused by our natural "fight and flight" response to stress or danger.
In our modern lives, we often don't have an outlet for fighting or running from these situations. So our heartrate, breathing, bodily functions, sweating, etc are all affected indefinitely instead of going towards a physical battle which is over quickly.
This helped me understand what happens to me, and I'm learning how to use her breathing routine to cope with an anxious situation before it gets too bad.
Like in the article, she also recommended not avoiding the stressful situation you might be fearing which causes the event. If you keep avoiding it, you will keep being anxious about it even without ever facing it.
I like how the author of the article says to "lean into it".3 -
Day off, meant earlier pt visit, so I had time for a full mile. That puts me at 6 for the month. And I ALMOST finished the jump circuits, before things went wonky, even with the mile. Progress, I think. Pt conditionally approved mountain climbers on request of powerlifting coach.... ugh...4
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I thought that article was fascinating! I had no idea low blood sugar and dehydration could trigger a panic attack in someone with a predisposition. The author’s life changed overnight, and it could happen to anyone. I have anxiety, too, that came on very quickly years ago but I never identified a single triggering event.
You’d think I’d have better judgment, but I sometimes have low blood sugar and dehydration after working out. And I make recovery a low priority after taking care of other people. Just tonight I came home from a post-office swim, starving and thirsty but I still made other people dinner before I had a glass of water. I felt pressure from the Feed Me texts I received while in the pool. (I don’t have little children. I actually don’t have children at all. But mouths to feed.)
Anyway I admire the author for taking care of himself or herself.4 -
Mar 16: easy 5k on roads - haven't had a true easy run in a while so I concentrated on really relaxing and going slow, which is hard for me! Unlike when I started, when it took all my breath just to run, I do now have a running pace at which I can hold a conversation. Spitting rain and just generally ick but got it done, and then ate a pound of mudbugs and some catfish - it's crawdaddy season!
Definitely an interesting article - mental illness runs in my family, the mother of my half sisters was involuntarily committed and several of my sisters have varying degrees of mental illness. My mom's genes seem to have given me a pass on the big stuff but I did have an episode of depression in college - only lasted a few months, never recurred, and seems to have been brought on by a severe physical illness I had just before it started.
Several things about the article were interesting to me on a personal level, such as the author's onset seemingly being triggered by a physical event, the low blood sugar. I wonder how many mental illnesses occur following a physical event like this? I also recognized myself in the author's description of suddenly feeling the urge to wreck the car because this also happened to me. Being severely depressed was kind of like being kidnapped by aliens and replaced with a weird alien clone - I could see that I wasn't thinking rationally but knowing that made no difference, and there was a period when I would just go through life looking at everything as a way out - hey, if I rammed the car into that telephone pole I might die! The only thing that kept me from doing it was the possibility that I might not die and then my father would kill me for wrecking the car.
I had no real problems, I had no reason to be particularly miserable, but my brain chemistry just wasn't doing what it should have been doing. And then one day after a couple of months, the lights came back on and I was fine again. I feel fortunate to have had such an experience, because without it, I don't think I could have appeciated how much mental illness has nothing to do with the personality or willpower of the person it's happening to. You can't just "get over it" with a brain that doesn't work, any more than you can walk on a broken leg. And of course I feel incredibly fortunate that my experience was temporary and hasn't recurred. Anyone with ongoing issues, you have my deepest sympathy.
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March goal: March
3/1 3.41
3/2 3.68
3/3 3.12
3/4 rest
3/5 6.50
3/6 3.23
3/7 5.56
3/8 rest
3/9 3.41
3/10 4.01
3/11 rest
3/12 3.12
3/13 4.00
3/14 We took the living room and moved it downstairs to the dining room, moved the dining room to the library...
3/15 ....and moved the library into the bedroom, which we moved upstairs into the former living room....heavy lifting....cleaning.....scrubbing.....moving furniture......
3/16 3.00
Total 43.04
Ticker is my goal for 2018 and progress to date:
Upcoming races:
Big Island International Marathon (only doing the 5k) 3/18/18
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@7lenny7 Thanks for posting that article—it was really interesting. I thought his list of tools for mental health challenges was excellent.
March goal: 60 miles
3/1/2018 5 mi
3/2/2018 rest
3/3/2018 6 mi
3/4/2018 snowboarding w/kids
3/5/2018 xtrain rowing machine
3/6/2018 3.1 mi
3/7/2018 rest
3/8/2018 3.1 mi
3/9/2018 3 mi
3/10/2018 biked 11 mi w/my dad and kids
3/11/2018 7 mi
3/12/2018 bike commute day 1 (9 mi)
3/13/2018 2.4 mi
3/14/2018 3.1 mi + bike commute
3/15/2018 rest
3/16/2018 3.1 mi + bike commute
March total: 35.8 mi
Upcoming races:
4/29/2018 5K Top Pot Donut Dash
7/8/2018 See Jane Run! HM?
8/12/2018 Lake Union 10K
So, adding the bike commute in was overall a success so far, and I could pretty much maintain the running (though I haven’t tried a weekend long run yet). And I’m really enjoying the light evenings of daylight savings, so that’s been fun, if a little harder to get to bed on time.5 -
Interesting article @7lenny7
There doesn’t seem to be a day go by where and article - particularly about a sportsperson- is written about mental illness which shows how widespread the problems can be, and how we should talk about them more.
@rheddmobile I found this comment of yours interesting “I had no real problems, I had no reason to be particularly miserable, but my brain chemistry just wasn't doing what it should have been doing”. I’ve had conversations with friends (and been shot down over it) about how focussing on a depressed persons loss of job/family/dog etc is missing the point. Plenty of people have reasons to be miserable but not all get hit by debilitating depression, so surely the focus should be on why that has happened.
I’ve been hit with varying forms of depression and panic attacks over the years. I’ve never needed treatment but it’s a horrible place to pull yourself out of - like the author of the article I found meditation helped, and qigong, and what I found is that no one else can ‘fix’ you, it is you that has to do all the work.
I’ve been reading ‘Spark - how excercise will improve the performance of your brain’ and it’s really interesting in terms of using stress responses in a positive fashion. The idea that if we get a fight or flight response and then DON’T fight it flight, this is when our bodies will start to break down.7 -
03/05
Ok! I'm in!
I've started the c25k a few times but always flail at week 5! I'm currently on week 4 so should have a 5 km completed by the end of the month. Have done 2 10km runs before so aiming to get back up to that by end of the year!
A local park does timed 5k every day so my goal for march will be 50km and to do a timed 5km on 31st march! ❤️
Goal 50km
03/06 - No run as husband was late home from work...
03/07 3.55km. 3.55
03/08 - 3.95km 7.5
03/09 - No run
03/10- rest
03/11- gym - spinning
03/12 -rest
03/13 - 3.5km 11 slowly getting there…
03/14 - 3.75km 14.75
03/15 - 3.5km 18.25
03/16 - 7.5km 25.75 Half way through the month and half way to my goal!11 -
@Sparx_81 You are doing great!1
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Race morning! It is 16.3F at my house, and it is supposed to warm up to a balmy 17F by race start. Ugh. I know some of you think 22F is great temp... but man I wish it was in the 50's and sunny! Nothing to do now, but bundle up and try not trip!
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3/1: 2.4k -as warmup for strength training-
3/2: 8.1k -Easy-
3/3: 10.5k -Treadmill easy-
3/4: 5k -Easy with company-
3/5: 4.1k -as w/u and c/d fom HIIT-
3/6: 7.23k -Not so easy- and 1.5k -as warmup for strength training-
3/8: 7.12k -Easy-
3/9: 12.3k -Tempo?-
3/11: 13.2k -Easy-
3/12: 6.5k -Easy-
3/13: 2.1k -as warmup for strength training-
3/14: 12.2k -Fartlek-
3/16: 5k - As w/u and c/d for strength training-
3/17: 15.1k -LR-
Goal: 112.4k/120k
Getting stronger everyday!!
Stay free of injuries!
Upcoming races:
4/1: Alexander the Great 10k Thessaloniki4 -
Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
03/01/18 :::: 2.6 :::: 2.6
03/02/18 :::: 0.0 :::: 2.6
03/03/18 :::: 5.0 :::: 7.6
03/04/18 :::: 0.0 :::: 7.6
03/05/18 :::: 3.9 :::: 11.5
03/06/18 :::: 3.1 :::: 14.6
03/07/18 :::: 4.0 :::: 18.6
03/08/18 :::: 0.0 :::: 18.6
03/09/18 :::: 3.2 :::: 21.8
03/10/18 :::: 7.7 :::: 29.5
03/11/18 :::: 3.2 :::: 32.7
03/12/18 :::: 3.8 :::: 36.5
03/13/18 :::: 2.0 :::: 38.5
03/14/18 :::: 2.5 :::: 41.0
03/15/18 :::: 0.0 :::: 41.0
03/16/18 :::: 2.4 :::: 43.5
03/17/18 :::: 9.0 :::: 52.5
Goal = 90
Long run this morning was not as bad as I feared. Cold but sunny and the roads were clear. I met a new person in our running group so it was fun to chat while we ran - her very easy pace was my pushing it a bit pace considering how hilly it was. I had to run up the same dreaded hill 3 times and was getting pretty sick of that thing.
I was not as sore today, despite doing my circuit training workout yesterday, so maybe I'm adapting a bit better or worked different muscles. Still, the pace of doing two workouts a week with the trainer and trying to fit in 6 days a week of running (even if it is only 15-30 minutes of running some days) is tough for me. Not sure how to balance it all in schedule-wise for the best result, but I'm trying to be less worried about the total miles for right now.
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PastorVincent wrote: »@Sparx_81 You are doing great!
Thanks @PastorVincent still walking about half but still getting the legs moving more!
5km, no walking, in 2 weeks actually feels nearly achievable! 3 -
It was warm during last night's run, with the southerly wind putting temps in the 80s at the start, but it cooled down after a few hours until things were in the upper 60s. I'd bought some new Vomero 13s to do this run, as the Epic Reacts, while great for shorter runs, tend to hurt my knee on the long runs, and this time, the knee pain was nowhere near as apparent after 30 miles on tired legs. So now it's time for a couple of rest days before starting the whole weekly running cycle again!
And Happy St Patrick's Day to all the Irish folk out there!
02 - 27.37
05 - 15.59
07 - 11.93
08 - 12.05
09 - 30.21
12 - 14.57
13 - 13.02
14 - 15.22
15 - 12.96
16 - 30.17
Total: 183.09 / 250 miles10 -
Did my first ever parkrun this morning, and it was such a great experience. Lovely people and a very pretty double circuit of Jamaica Pond in Boston, MA. This parkrun is still in its infancy, but gaining in popularity and will have its official opening on March 31st.11
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RACE REPORT:
So we scouted out the race location the night before and discovered there was only parking for 60 cars, and there were 100's of race bibs to be picked up. So after doing some highly complex mathematical calculations we decided that parking would be an issue. Thus race morning we left early and arrived at the race around 90 mins before, and got a good spot. Then sat in the warm truck until almost race time.
The air temp was 18 at race start and was predicted to climb all the way to 22 by the end of the festivities. I had clothing planed out for this, and happy to say the foot warmers + my darn tough socks kept my toes cozy all day.
Well the race got started and I set off at my planned 8 min pace. Looking at my splits I held pretty close to that for six miles. Mile seven was the end of me. Here, I think the elevation chart shows it better than I could describe:
As you can see, the hill at mile seven was no joke. My plans all fell apart as I smashed into it. From that point forward my pace was slipping and I finished with an average pace of 9:15 and a clock time of 2 hours 9 seconds. Later when I check my suffer score in Strava:
It became obvious I pushed to hard for how hilly the track was. Well I still had a 5k to run, so I went back to my truck, dropped off al my water bottles, took off my wet gloves and grabbed a second pair I had brought for this. My upper body was still producing enough heat that I decided against getting changed in 20F temps.
Big mistake with the gloves. I guess my hands were swollen or something. Once I took the wet pair off, I could
not get my hands back in any gloves. I did the best I could and then ran the HM course backwards to eat up the time to the 5k Since I was 15 mins later than I wanted to start, and lost time dealing with gloves, I only got 1 mile in between the two races.
Lined up with the 5k people and started feeling really bad. A smart person would have dropped out at this point, but being a certified genius, I did not. Instead I told myself to take the 5k easy. Well by 1/2 into it my hands were screaming in pain from being so cold and I was ready to puke. I am legendary for my stubbornness though so I pushed through and finished the 5k in about 29:13, which for me is on the easy run side - if ALL I was doing was a 5k. Looking at my numbers now, it was too fast also.
At this point I am ready to collapse and having a hard time keeping water down and I was so cold I could not stop the shivers. Brain functions were slowing too and that is why it took so long for me to recognize the signs. Had I not been alone (wife was still running somewhere) maybe someone else might of figured it out. I was going into hypoglycemic shock. When I finally realized it I grabbed some mandarin oranges and forced myself to eat one. Then another. It took a while to reverse the trend, but 2 oranges and a hot coco later I was feeling stronger.
The problem with hypoglycemia is that it impairs your ability to think AND suppresses your hunger. In fact you feel as if you could not eat anything with out puking, but that is exactly what you need to do break out of it.
At this point, I decided to take a DNS on the 1 mile race. I ran a mile between the HM and 5k so I still got a total of 17 in today. I just hung out in the warm staging area and eventually headed home for a hot shower.
I think I did pretty good all things considered. The course was MUCH tougher than I had planed for, and should have been drinking the 72oz of Tailwinds that I was carrying on my back. Instead of running the mile between races to stay warm, I should have go to where they had food, eaten and warmed up. But, eh, I am not dead and I have my first official HM under my belt.
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1/3-13.1
2/3-rest
3/3-3.2
4/3-3.5
5/3-5.5
6/3-14.0
7/3-rest
8/3-4.2
9/3-strength
10/3-6.0
11/3-3.7
12/3-3.8
13/3-16.0
14/3-rest
15/3-strength
16/3-3.9
17/3-7.5
Total so far......84.8/150 Miles
YEsterdays run was lovely warm weather and flattish route- hated it, today was snow, hills and freezing headwind but I really enjoyed it. Yesterday was town running round streets, today was country running. Ive learnt recently Im certainly a country runner!
Upcoming races:
15th April - Brighton 10k
22nd April - London Marathon
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New runner of the couch potato variety
I still run by time rather than distance or speed. I am building endurance with c25k. I use a treadmill at no incline to low incline and dread running outside with elevation and wind resistance. (Really admire the Florida woman who here who started c25k outside!) My goals are to persist and not get injured while I shift my walk to run ratio toward running.
3/17/18: I just finished Week 4 Run 3, jogging slowly.
Total March treadmill time: 270 minutes
One other note, I’m really learning a lot from this community. Running involves so much more than I previously imagined.12 -
@PastorVincent Yeesh I'm glad you're okay! So much for the "I don't need to fuel for a half" theory! No harm done, congrats on finishing your first half!2
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3/11 4 miles
3/16 1 mile
3/17 4.45 miles
Total 9.45/35
Supposed to be an 8k but only had 4.45 when I crossed the line. I should have left my watch on and ran to my car but I had to go collect my challenge medal (1k Fri and 8k today) and didn't think of it. I then walked over to Dutch Bros and got a grasshopper latte. See? I really do run for espresso.
I apparently PR'd this race but I don't want to count it because it was so short! Their avg pace for me is like a minute faster than my garmin. So who knows?5 -
Got in 9 today on trail. Had to do three loops of the shorter route because the north facing hills were icy, and the longer route was an icy, upward climb that o wasn't equipped to deal with. Three more long runs before the 25k. Planning on doing 11m, 13m, 14m. Something in my brain likes to train closer to distance than most plans I've seen. I should get 1 or 2 more trail opportunities on weeknights while my son is at soccer. Pretty much running the distance that time allows, and kind of following a mash up of the Hal Higdon Novice 2 and Intermediate 1 plans for the last few weeks.
Adventures in finding a hydration vest have not been successful. I really want a Wunjo, but can't get it in time for the race. I might just do my handheld and rely on aid stations for refills. Most of the rest of my long runs will be two loops of the same trail which will allow me to refill at my vehicle, just ad I would at an aid station.
Also, I tried my first Gu today. It was like a shot of chocolate pudding, and it did what it was supposed to do.7 -
I did it 44:32 10k official race time. I'll submit a race report tonight. 3 miles warm up and 3.5 warm down for a 12.6 mile day. Congrats to all the racers today. 21/424 in my age bracket 226 overal out of 5200 and 195/2601 male runners.16
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rheddmobile wrote: »@PastorVincent Yeesh I'm glad you're okay! So much for the "I don't need to fuel for a half" theory! No harm done, congrats on finishing your first half!
I have gone 17 miles with out fuel, so I think this was a combination of factors include poor breakfast choices and not eating closer to race start, the hill, push to fast for course, and etc.
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Date Miles MTD ------- ----- ------- Mar 11 2.8 2.8 Mar 17 3.6 6.4
... and Happy St. Patrick's Day to all the MFP athletes!8 -
Nice slow run today, conditions on trail getting better all the time! Happy Saturday all!
March 1- Off
March 2 Off
March 3- 30
March 4 - Off
March 5 -18
March 6- 15
March 7- Off
March 8- 16
March 9- 20
March 10- 45
March 11- 16
March 12 & 13- Off
March 14- 27
March 15 & 16- Ben gone, *kitten* the treadmill
March 17- 50
237/400
1086/6000
2018 Races
*Gord's Frozen A** 50K, February 19 7:08:00, 1st place Women's Open
*JAJA Trail Marathon, April 1
*Red Deer Marathon, May 20
*Lone Wolf Last Man Standing Race, June 17
*Eddie's Half Marathon, June 24
*Lost Souls 100 Miler, September 7
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St Patrick's Day trail run tomorrow... supposed to be -4C in the morning so depending on wind I will wear my green capris and be all festive. Package pickup today (bailed on it last night) and got new shoes too. They are purple and up a half size from previous shoes.
I have felt like crap all day. Hoping whatever this is has gotten out of my system by tomorrow. Just lightheaded, weak and tired with a headache. Some of it seems to be dehydration so I'm working on that. My husband had something going on Thursday where he was dizzy so it could be that too. He was fine the next day.7 -
16.35 km WestBrook-Shaftsbury. Run 3k-Walk ~100m. Started out at -6C Finished +8C ( 25F change ).
The first 10km were great, then dehydration hit and the last 6k were a real struggle- didn't have any water with me. Had to walk some sections/hills that I never walk. Got through it and survived. Usually this distance is never a problem, slightly overdressed for the higher temp on the inbound so I burned through my hydration reserves. Lesson learned - it's spring conditions with big temperature swings.
In the summer we will do drop bottles under certain Pine Trees ( 5-8km ), can't do that right now as the Spring bottle pickers ( snow melts and bottles show up ) are out in full force and will take anything they find to the recycle centers.
03/01 0.0 km – 0.0km – 140.0 km – YTD 128.32km
03/03 12.0 km – 12.km – 128.0 km
03/04 5.0 km – 17.km – 123.0 km
03/07 11.0 km - 28 km - 112.0 km
03/10 15.0 km - 43 km - 97.0 km
03/14 4.4 km -47.4km - 92.6 km
03/17 16.35km -63.75km - 76.25 km - YTD 192.07 km Westbrook & 684
@7lenny7 Thanks for sharing that link. It was a good read.
This is one of those times when I read articles and they really resonate with me, as I think that some of the things they describe I can say I have experienced/felt. Never an all out Panic/anxiety attack - but definitely stressed with no idea of how to let go/release. I think the change from Stressed( physically or mentally) to Panic/Anxiety is a very small step as experienced by the author of the article and as @Orphia said " My psychologist explained really well how anxiety is caused by our natural "fight and flight" response to stress or danger.
In our modern lives, we often don't have an outlet for fighting or running from these situations. So our heartrate, breathing, bodily functions, sweating, etc are all affected indefinitely instead of going towards a physical battle which is over quickly."
To my MFP friends ( especially those who have openly admitted OCD/Anxiety etc ) @RespectTheKitty , @JessicaMcB and others these articles give me and probably many others a better idea of the daily struggles you survive.
Makes me realize how strong you are.
I know that I suffer from Seasonally Affected Disorder due to limited sunlight ( vitamin D Deficiency ) in the winter which can make me a Grumpy Grizzly bear - but that's more of a Dietary condition causing issues so it can't really be compared. Running = Outside = Increased Sun Exposure = . 5 -
cburke8909 wrote: »I did it 44:32 10k official race time. I'll submit a race report tonight. 3 miles warm up and 3.5 warm down for a 12.6 mile day. Congrats to all the racers today. 21/424 in my age bracket 226 overal out of 5200 and 195/2601 male runners.
@cburke8909 Holy crap that's a fantastic placing! You're so good!!
@garygse I ordered some Vomeros on Thursday.
@JessicaMcB Much admiration for your 50 km.1 -
March Running Totals (miles)
3/1 – 5.57 easy
3/2 – rest day
3/3 – 16.09 paced run
3/4 – 7.22 easy with hills
3/5 – rest day
3/6 – 6.21 easy with fast finish
3/7 – 6.60 group run
3/8 – 6.24 easy with fast finish
3/9 – rest day
3/10 – 18.07 paced run
3/11 – 6.54 easy
3/12 – rest day
3/13 – 6.51 warmup and group run
3/14 – 6.01 at marathon pace
3/15 – 6.23 easy
3/16 – travel day
3/17 – 6.99 warm up, 8K race, cool down
March running total to date – 98.28
Nominal challenge goal: 180 miles
Real goals: Build base. Work toward being able to run 26.2 miles by Patriots' Day.
Today's notes – Spent 13 hours on the road yesterday, ended up asking myself why the heck do I do this?
This morning it was 28º F (-2º C) with minimal wind at gun time, and the sun was just rising. For reference, here's a view from the hotel balacony an hour before gun time:
Set out to run a bit faster than threshold. Of course, I was sucked out too fast for the first mile but I moderated to be more sustainable and deliberately backed off the intensity for miles 3 and 4. Mile splits were 6:07, 6:28 6:25, 6:31, and 6:22 on a course as flat as a track in near-perfect running weather. Gun time was 31:55, net time 31:51. In the tough USATF Masters field, that was good for 69th of 183 overall, and 14th of 26 in the M 60-64 age group. Have I mentioned that the USATF Masters national events always have a tough field?
After I finished, I someone I didn't recognize called my name. It turned out to be @ctlaws44, who had started in corral 2, just behind the Masters in corral 1:
I'm pretty happy with the race; I finished about 30 seconds faster than what I would have considered a pretty good result, didn't kill myself, and feel pretty good. I'm not quite stupid enough to run the half marathon tomorrow as well, and I was not anywhere near stupid enough to do the ocean plunge with most of my team this afternoon.
Travel day tomorrow, and probably no run. I may run on my normal rest day Monday instead.
2018 races:
February 17, 2018 Freezeroo #5 (Valentines Run "In Memory of Tom Brannon" 8 Mile) (Greece, NY) finished in 54:48
February 24, 2018 Freezeroo #6 (White House Challenge 4.4 mile) (Webster, NY) finished in 28:46
March 17, 2018 USATF Masters 8K (Shamrock 8K, Virginia Beach, VA) finished in 31:55
March 24, 2018 Spring Forward 15K (Mendon, NY)
April 16, 2018 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)
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