The January 2016 Running Challenge

1/1: 6.2 miles
1/2: 11.6 miles
1/3: Rest/Travel day
1/4: 10 miles
1/5: Rest day
1/6: 4 miles (am), 8 miles tempo (pm)
1/7: 4 miles (am), 6 miles with the Thursday crew (pm)
1/8: Rest day
1/9: 12.2 miles with the Saturday crew
1/10: 5 miles
1/11: 5.8 miles with "Joe-to-Go" crew
1/12: Rest day
1/13: 4 miles treadmill (am), 7.1 miles with Wednesday crew (pm)
1/14: 6 miles (am), no second run :[
1/15: Rest day
1/16: 7 miles with Saturday crew
1/17: 10 miles
1/18: 6 miles with "Joe-to-Go" crew
1/19: Rest day/final finals day
1/20: 4 miles (am), no second run
1/21: No AM run, 7 miles with Thursday crew (pm)
1/22: 14 miles
1/23: SNOW DAY!
1/24: 9 miles
1/25: 6 miles
1/26: Rest day; sample Pure Barre class in evening
1/27: 5.5 miles (am), 10 miles (pm)

Really great run this afternoon as well! Was jamming up and down the hills. Stuck to the streets quite a bit since some of the sidewalks were pretty slushy. I meant to take this run easy (8:30-8:45 pace) but ended up pacing 8:16 with a 6:59 mile at the very end (thank you, gigantic down hill to my apartment!). Uphill miles were usually 8:40-8:50, and downhills and flats were 8:10-8:20. Felt really strong. May use this as my speedwork for the week instead of trying to push real hard tomorrow morning -- though if I'm on the treadmill, some kind of speed work is gonna happen a) to beat the 60 min cut off and b) so I'm not bored to death.

Plus: gotta give props to the Grilled Cheese + Chicken I got at Panera to eat on my walk home; ate that and ran 45 minutes later... then had a fantastic run. I must have a stomach of steel



Upcoming races:
4/3: Caesar Rodney HM
5/1: New Jersey Marathon
6/12: Race and Ride Cedar Point HM (maybe)

Beem busy the last few days but I will make sure I hit this goal. Not sure what to do about February. I kind of want to go with 100 to push myself but I'm scared of 25 miles per week.

1-2: 3 miles
1-4: 3 miles
1-6: 3 miles
1-7: 3 miles - 25 minutes of stairs
1-8: 4 miles
1-10: 3 miles - 30 minutes of stairs
1-12: 3.5 miles
1-13: 3.5 miles
1-14: 3.7 miles
1-15: 5 miles
1-17: 3.5 miles
1-18: 3 miles
1-19: 3.1 miles
1-22: 6.3 miles
1-23: 4 miles
1-25: 3.1 miles
1-27: 3 miles

Goal: 62 of 70

@Virkati - Probably no one good answer unless you see a PT (don't bother with GP for these sorts of things). I had IT band issues towards the end of my first HM that persisted into my training a couple months later for a HM series. The root cause is ultimately tied to muscle strength in your hips, glutes, core and upper legs. In later stages of running your form may deteriorate if you do not have enough strength in these areas and case stress on your IT band. Very common these days as almost everyone has desk jobs or sits more than people have done forever and ever (I have a full time desk job, all my life in fact). What cleared it up for me was doing runner specific strength exercises, particularly focusing on glutes, core, and everything legs basically. Originally this was very, very similar to my routine (without the resistance bands though) and it worked wonders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydcy3dPf__M

As I did these, after a few weeks I noticed that I could tell I was running stronger still at later points in my run and could start to notice when my form shifted due to various muscles getting tired. That also affected my pace in those later miles, particularly uphill. You'll likely feel yourself pushing off more with your glutes when going uphill. I know I sure noticed it.

@Virkati I second the notion that the best thing you can do for your hips is to make them stronger...which happens in the "gym" not on the road. (Figuratively--you can do all sorts of exercises at home). The two things that helped my hip issues were slowing down how quickly I was adding miles (I was always slow, lol) and doing lots of clamshells/donkey kicks/etc. (ETA: I'm noticing residual weakness again in my legs at 10 miles or so--so I need to put more time in there, again).


On that note, @Ch1psNQueso, you are doing awesomely, and I am amazed at how much you've added and so quickly! I'm assuming you were really fit before. That said, I don't think I'd just tack on 25-30 extra miles in a month. Or I should say--I *did* tack on 25 extra miles and regretted it. @Stoshew71 suggests not adding more than 25% of your miles each week, and I think it's a good point. Now, I'm middle aged, and was never fit, and I'm still 20 lbs heavier than I should be, so take what I have to say with a grain of salt, but I found that the jump from 3 mile runs to 5 mile runs most days has taken a long time to adapt to--both in terms of fitting the running times into my weekly schedule, but also the corresponding increase in my long runs has been really, really, difficult. So, anyway, my two cents...take it slow and you'll be going farther and faster, well...faster than if you hurt yourself discovering the limits of your newfound super powers.

1/1......3.68
2/1......5.20 walk
3/1......5.70
4/1......0.5
5/1......2.17
6/1......rest
7/1......5.10
8/1......rest
9/1......4.3 treadmill walk.
10/1....9.47
11/1.....Travel Dr appt
12/1.....lazy
13/1.....5.51
14/1.....3.31
15/1.....6.28
16/1.....rest
17/1.....6.05
18-19/1....I didn't run? No idea where those days went.
20/1.... Steroid shot #2
21/1......5.78
22,23.....Nada
24/1......11.21
25/1.....3.89
26/1.....Rest
27/1..... 6.26


84.41/100+ Miles

Upcoming races:

02/06/16 Hot Chocolate 15K Dallas
03/19/16 Rock N Roll 5K Dallas
03/20/16 Rock N Roll Half Dallas
04/24/16 OKC Memorial undecided distance
Run the year 2016  84.41/2016

@WhatMeRunning "stomp on the wimp" LOL!

Stoshew71 wrote: »

5BeautifulDays wrote: »

@Stoshew71 suggests not adding more than 25% of your miles each week

Actually, the rule of thumb is no more than 10% of weekly miles each week.
But there are those that say there is no backing behind this. Some can handle more and some can handle less.

There are also some that add 1 mile each week.

Jack Daniels goes by, however many days (or workouts) you run each week, add that many miles; but hold that new mileage for at least 4 weeks before attempting adding more mileage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnEI8MPVOas


EDIT:
Here is another viewpoint on increasing mileage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuxmCA3_EUI

I think my eyes glazed over and I read "don't add too much, too fast" lol! Anyway...what you said.

skippygirlsmom wrote: »

moyer566 wrote: »

Stoshew71 wrote: »

Ludavine the Half Marathon dog in Elkmont ended up on Fox News.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4721988916001/dog-accidentally-runs-half-marathon-comes-in-7th-place/?playlist_id=930909787001#playlist_id=930909787001&sp=show-clips&v=4721988916001

a rather adorable dog too

Of course this pup is all over our local FB running site and people are saying how he will run with them for 10 - 15 miles and then go off and run with another group who goes by. What a hoot.

@karllundy they need to meet and see if either gets a word in. LOL

This woman here is my hero...full marathon on a treadmill. Can't even begin to imagine. I had to grab the comment on the corral because it cracked me up.

Does 45,000 steps seem like its 26 miles? 10,000 is suppose to be about 4 miles.?.. Just curious.

Well maybe that's right with a longer stride... Never mind, mine calculated out to be 48,000 walking... Never mind...

Thank you everyone for the welcome!

My lowest daily step count at any of my few fulls so far was 40,439. My highest was 65,443. I know I walked more before the race on the higher count, but have to wonder why such a huge difference. I was dead after that lower one, might be why.

ETA - My phone died at mile 20 on that lower step count race. I forgot about that. I took way too long. Poor phone never had a chance.