March 2023 Monthly Running Challenge

Teresa502

tarun_yadavA wrote: »

@Teresa502 haha, love it! Resurrecting the sweet tooth discussion!


Saturday [Indian]was two helpings of ice creams... Coconut, pistachio (we all picked! I did not eat all that to myself! Haha!)

Right..... :-)

shanaber

@Laurz9191 - Awesome accomplishment besting that PR from 2011! The medal is really neat too! I think the only time I had issues with my legs feeling tired like that during a HM was when I under fueled. Did you train with more so you didn't have an issue during the training? It may have been too much time between the two on the course and then took a bit for the last one to kick in and give you the boost to finish strong - so maybe add in a fourth and have them at the beginning and then every 30mins?

It is good to see so many having nice spring weather! As @chris_in_cal mentioned we are too! I got in a great longish run yesterday out by the river. The paved trail was packed with too many people/bikes/dogs/kids and kids on bikes so we headed out onto the dirt river access road instead. Hobbes and I had the dirt road all to ourselves. The wind was blowing and at times it really felt cold (made my ears cold!) but the sunshine felt wonderful. We saw lots of bunnies and squirrels and a red shouldered hawk swooping down at them. There were lots of pelicans on the water, Canadian geese getting ready to nest and the swallows are back and nesting under the overpasses. I did a 60/40 interval run and it really felt great - one of those runs where it is so nice to be out and you are just so happy to be able to run and feel wonderful.

Adding in to the sweet tooth discussion - the stout cake did not turn out quite as expected. The chocolate stout I found for it was very tasty I have to say. The original recipe made a huge cake and they recommended you cut it in half for a smaller/normal size cake. Unfortunately the layers didn't rise as much as I thought they should have and they got a little dried out. I was embarrassed to take it to the family party but DH still really liked it when we cut it. It is very rich and chocolaty and a bite or two would be more than enough for me.

So instead we got a chocolate raspberry cake from a local Cuban bakery. It was delicious!

Scott6255

Had a pretty easy 8 miler outside after work. It was a little warm at 70F and light breeze, but not bad.
Inching toward that 200 mile mark for the month

tarun_yadavA

Morning all
Struggle bus today. Forced a smaller one

@shanaber - ooooh yum! Both cakes look yum! I know what you mean ... While it might not be "Instagram -able", bet it tasted amazing! Looks so moist and chocolate-y! 🤤

martaindale

@Laurz9191 Congrats on the new PR!! The medal is so cool. I love a unique medal! And perfect weather!! I’ll throw in my support for your marathon as well. You absolutely can do it. Find a training plan that you can fit into your life, embrace the total lack of free time for a few months, and go for it!
Re:mile 10 fade. I went back to the race on strava, and you had a definite drop off at mile 10 but you were able to recover, which is good. That tells me your legs weren’t totally spent. Was there a change in the course at that point? More uphill, more wind? Your first couple of miles were a little faster than average, but not dramatically faster. Your pacing is pretty consistent until mile 10. You mentioned fuel and that you took a gel with around 5k to go. Is it possible that you needed fuel a touch sooner? Were you using the same stuff you do during training? During marathon training you will have plenty of opportunities to play around with fueling so it may be worth trying a slightly shorter fueling interval and see how that feels.

martaindale

shanaber wrote: »

@Laurz9191 - Awesome accomplishment besting that PR from 2011! The medal is really neat too! I think the only time I had issues with my legs feeling tired like that during a HM was when I under fueled. Did you train with more so you didn't have an issue during the training? It may have been too much time between the two on the course and then took a bit for the last one to kick in and give you the boost to finish strong - so maybe add in a fourth and have them at the beginning and then every 30mins?

This is close to what I do. I eat a honey stinger waffle or some gummy bears in the corrals then take a gel at mile 3.5, 7, and 10 so they are pretty evenly spaced and I am fueling before I need it. I almost don’t need that 3rd gel but going without it is a set-up for a end of race fade. I need like half a gel, but what’s the point in that so I just take the whole thing and plan accordingly. My PR is almost 10 minutes slower than yours. I think if I were at your pace I’d shoot for mile 4.5 and 9 in addition to whatever you take in the corrals if you feel like a third is too much for you. I think @Scott6255 fuels at about 30 min intervals but uses half a gel at a time, so that might be an option as well. Smaller amounts closer together.

martaindale

@shanaber Disappointing about the chocolate stout cake. It looks really rich! Will you try it again? With baking it seems like the 2nd effort is usually better for me than the first.

martaindale

March total: 96.2/100 miles

3/4: 13.2 miles
3/8: 4.2 miles
3/9: 4 miles
3/10: 5.1 miles
3/11: 6.9 miles
3/13: 4.1 miles
3/14: 5.2 miles
3/15: 4.1 miles
3/17: 4.7 miles
3/18: 9.1 miles
3/21: 5.7 miles
3/22: 3.1 miles
3/23: 6.7 miles
3/25: 10 miles
3/26: 4 miles
3/28: 6.1 miles

I went out to the neighborhood trail today. Our morning weather is all over the place, typical for spring here. Today was decent. Mid 60’s, cloudy, slight breeze. If it never got any warmer than this I would be happy.
I went to Pilates again last night and had a new instructor. I really liked her style and will try to find her classes on the schedule moving forward.

Laurz9191

@shanaber That cake looks really good! I don’t know what a chocolate stout is supposed to look like, but I would eat it .

Thank you all for all the supporting words! I have just been relaxing a bit for the past 2 days to let my legs recover. I am not really sore but I know that my body needs a bit of time to heal.

One thing that might have messed up my leg strength could be that I might not have had enough to eat the morning of the race. I tried to make myself eat all my breakfast, but I was tired from getting up earlier than usual and wasn’t hungry from that and being nervous about the race. I still forced myself to eat about 2/3rds of my oat/yogurt/nut butter/ fruit mix that I have every day. My start wasn’t until 10:50, so it could be that I was a bit underfueled. It’s always such a fine line to walk. I really didn’t want to be overfueled either.

I did use gels that I was familiar with, but I think the first gel I took, which I bought last minute at the race) - a power gel hydro- maybe wasn’t the best choice for me. I was needlessly very worried about not having an aid station with water around 45 minute mark, so I took it in lieu of a GU gel. I could remember taking the same power gel during training, but I couldn’t remember whether my body liked it or not . Maybe it didn’t!

The course was pretty flat, but sometimes we had to go under an underpass/train tracks which meant going up and down a small hill/ or through a tunnel. I tried to be consistent, but did have to slow down/speed up to pass other runners often, which is more tiring. We’ll see how it goes next year!

As I’ve mentioned before, I tend to sign up for races on my day off and now that I’ve had 2 days off, I’ve signed up for 3 . The same half marathon next year and I want to double up with a 5k, then 10k in my city in May.

ScienceofTeaching

The last few days have been a mess. Grades are due for report cards at school, husband has been sick, and the weather has been crummy. So haven't done much.

Finally had a day with okay weather and some time, so managed to get out for 1.5 mile walk with my coworker after school. Not sure where I stand for my goal. Will have to count soon and try to get what I need the next few days.

quilteryoyo

Great running everyone. I'm trying to catch up from a couple of days of poor internet and other obligations that kept me from commenting.

Great race report @Laurz9191 . Congratulations on your PB. You had a great race!

Nice run and pretty bluebonnets @kgirlhart!

@shanaber Thanks for the cake porn. As long as it tastes good, I don't really care what it looks like. LOL Sounds like you had a great run too.


I got the stomach bug during the night...throwing up and diarrhea at the same time. Fortunately, I only threw up 3 times from 3:15 - 5:30....but that was enough. I was literally dripping sweat into the trash can when I was sick. So gross.

Anyway, I have felt ok today - not much energy or desire to eat. I didn't get much sleep, so have been laying on the couch most of the day. I may have napped a little, but not much. I decided I needed a little fresh air, so did a slow walk to get the mail and then another lap on the driveway to get in a mile. It was very slow - 24:35 min, 2.4 mph, but I am going to count it anyway. My avg HR was 112 with a max of 132, but that was probably when Tippy was trying to pull away from me to get at a dog that was in our yard. I told her I didn't have the energy to deal with that, but she didn't seem to care.

The days I missed due to internet issues, mostly, were Sunday (walked 2.0 miles after church and before lunch) and yesterday. I was supposed to play tennis at 10, so got up early enough to get in a 2 mile run and one mile walk before leaving for that. After I took a shower, tennis got cancelled due to potentially wet courts. Had I known, I would have run further/harder, but I didn't.

Seems this week is going to be a bust, exercise wise. I'm glad I had already met my monthly goal.

Scott6255

@quilteryoyo sorry you aren't feeling well. Just rest up this week and see how you feel next week.

I got in a nice 8 miles after work today. It was about 10F cooler (62F).

Teresa502

March 1 – 5.05 miles
March 4 – 12.01 miles
March 6 – 5.02 miles
March 8 – 5.09 miles
March 11 – 18.97 miles
March 15 – 5.14 miles
March 16 – 5.15 miles
March 18 – 8.02 miles
March 20 – 3.01 miles
March 21 – 5.01 miles
March 22 – 4.07 miles
March 23 – 5.03 miles
March 25 – 8.01 miles
March 26 – 3.07 miles
March 27 – 5.21 miles
March 28 – 3.36 miles
Total – 101.22 miles

I finally made my goal this month – the 100-mile club! I’m heading out of town in the morning on vacation so after work today I drove to Knoxville (more flight options) which is about 1 ½ hours from where I work and stopped at a local park and ran the trails there to finish out the month. I will be working out daily at the resort but I don’t plan on leaving the grounds the entire stay and I hate running on treadmills so that’s it for me this month.

@shanaber – I don’t know what a chocolate stout cake is either but it looks wonderful! I would choose it over the bakery cake. It reminds me of one my mom used to make using cocoa powder.

@quilteryoyo – So sorry you got the stomach bug. I hope you are back to 100% very soon!

katharmonic

Thanks for the many supportive messages. Each day gets a little easier. I'm trying to walk as much as possible but am not strictly logging it right now. I'm reluctant or nervous to get back to that feeling of having to document and add up miles. So for right now, just trying to walk every day for whatever the distance.

Because I can't use my arms too much, I got a new hands-free waist leash for Stella, and over the weekend tried it out for a brief walk and she did well with it (I used to have one she hated it because it was too short and she didn't like to be that close - plus I tried to get her to run. This one is longer and I know better). Yesterday we walked almost 3 miles in the morning before the weather turned to rain and then snow. Today was a bit better but still cool. We took a short walk in the morning. Then one of my running friends said she'd stop by after her work with some dinner and take a walk. Two other friends joined us and we were lucky enough that the sun came out and made it a pretty nice walk of about 2 miles. I forgot to wear my watch so that one didn't even get recorded but it felt really good. Hoping for a nicer day tomorrow too, which certainly makes getting out much more appealing.

@quilteryoyo is sorry about the stomach bug! Take the time you need to recover.

@Laurz9191 congratulations on your race! Sounds like you will be well prepared for training for and completing a marathon in the fall. Set your main goal as finishing it successfully - which working on your fueling might be a big part of. You'll learn a lot during training about what your secondary goals might be.

@shanaber I'll take a piece of that cake

chris_in_cal

Spring has sprung, it sure is nice to be out.

I'm committing to losing the covid gain (70 lbs) This extra weight does not make my life better, or my running any more fun or fulfilling. I am not going to depend on running, as the chief point a to point b of losing weight. I won't rely on running to lose the weight. It'll be an easy and enjoyable companion as I make all the changes to drop those lbs. A great side benefit is that my slow shuffling will feel more like brisk running.

March Running Goal: 16 runs, 21 miles

1. March 2 - 1.63 miles
2. March 5 - 1.86 miles
3. March 7 - 1.68 miles
4. March 9 - 1.92 miles
5. March 12- 2.72 miles
6. March 14- 2.35 miles
7. March 26- 2.98 miles
8. March 28- 3.06 miles

Current: 8 runs, 18.2 miles

Teresa502

@katharmonic I had forgotten about Stella! Glad she is enjoying the waist leash better this time. I agree with you that it is so much easier to get out when the weather is nice. I hope you have a bright, warm and sunshiny day!

quilteryoyo

Thanks @Scott6255 , @Teresa502 , @katharmonic . I do feel a lot better today. I was able to get a fairly good night's sleep. I'm still going to take it easy, but hope to be back to near normal tomorrow.

Great running @Scott6255 . Looks like the weather was great for an outdoor run.

Have a great vacation @Teresa502 . Congratulations on being in the 100 mile club this month! You inspire me.

@katharmonic It sounds like you are doing great with your recovery and walks. I love that Stella is okay with the new waist leash and is doing good. Walking the neighborhood with friends sounds lovely.

@chris_in_cal Good luck with losing the weight. Sounds like you have a good plan in place. Depending on running alone is not always successful, as you know, because as the old saying goes, "you can't outrun your fork."

tarun_yadavA

@quilteryoyo how are you feeling now? Hope you're feeling better? Guzzle lots of Water and stay hydrated!

tarun_yadavA

@Teresa502 well done on 100!! 🙌
Awesome

quilteryoyo

Thanks @tarun_yadavA . See below for your answer.

I'm feeling pretty good today. I can tell I'm not quite back to normal, but I'm getting there. A good night's sleep last night really helped.

I went out to walk to the mailbox and then laps on the driveway to make 2 mile walk. I was a bit faster today, but didn't push it. 34:32 min, 2 miles, 3.5 mph pace, avg HR 101 bpm, max HR 120 bpm.