The February 2016 Running Challenge

I'm going to come up one day shy of my goal, due to last weeks orientation for my new job. But it's close enough for me. The main thing is I have become very consistent with it. Getting up and getting it done no matter how I felt when I got up, today included, I nearly didn't do it. But I HAD to. I'm noticing a big difference since I started adding
strengthening again, and it seems to be light enough that it is aiding my run and not throwing things off. I have been struggling with Peroneal tightness though, I have been using a roller, and also using a band for stretching and resistance, but gripping the band has messed with my tendon on the top of my hand, so I'm going to have to stop that, which is a great stretch, so now I have to find something else that will be just as effective.


Goal for February is to stay on schedule with the training. Get through week 6.

Feb 1 - Run/ .9 miles, Walk/ 1.21 miles -10k Trainer
Feb 3 - Run/ .9 miles, Walk/ 1.21 miles - 10k Trainer
Feb 5 - Run/ .9 miles, Walk/ 1.25 miles - 10k Trainer
Feb 8 - Run/ 1 mile, Walk/ 1.13 miles - 10k Trainer
Feb 9 - Run/ 0 mile, Walk/ 3.12 miles - Walk
Feb 11 - Run/ 1 mile, Walk/ 3.17 mile - Intervals/Later Walk
Feb 14 - Run/1 mile, Walk/ 1 mile - Intervals with 5 min straight run, SWO
Feb 15 - Run/ 0 mile, Walk/ 3.09 miles - Walk
Feb 16 - Run/ 1.2 miles, Walk/ .64 miles - 10k Trainer Week 4 Day 1, SWO
Feb 20 - Run/ 1 mile, Walk/ .8 miles - 10k Trainer Week 5 Day 1, SWO
Feb 22 - Run/ 1 mile, Walk/ .85 miles - 10k Trainer Week 5 Day 2, SWO
Feb 23 - Run/ 1.3 miles, Walk/ .6 mile - 10k Trainer Week 5 Day 3,(20 min straight run) SWO


Monthly Total Miles - Run/ 10.2, Walk/ 14.98

DATE...............MILES...............TOTAL
2/1.....................REST..................0.00
2/2.......................6.50...................6.50
2/3.......................5.00.................11.50
2/4.......................5.00.................16.50
2/5.....................REST.................16.50
2/6...................... 7.50..................24.00
2/7.....................20.00..................44.00
2/8.....................REST.................44.00
2/9.......................6.25..................50.25
2/10.....................4.00..................54.25
2/11...................REST.................54.25
2/12.....................6.00..................60.25
2/13.....................4.75..................65.00
2/14...................12.75..................77.75
2/15...................REST.................77.75
2/16.....................5.25..................83.00
2/17...................REST.................83.00
2/18...................REST.................83.00
2/19.....................4.25..................87.25
2/20.....................3.00..................90.25
2/21...................REST.................90.25
2/22...................REST.................90.25
2/23.....................8.00..................98.25
2/24.....................6.25................104.50







Upcoming races:
May 14, 2016 Glacier Ridge Trail Ultra 50K (Portersville, PA)
June 4, 2106 38 Mile Night Fun Run (Kettle Moraine State Forest, WI)
October 1, 2016 Cloudsplitter 100 Mile (Pine Mountain, KY)

1---6.10
2---rest
3---6.25
4---6.26
5---not enough rest day
6---15K
7-9--busted knee.
10-- 6.30
11---rest
12---7.05
13---rest dumb knee
14---7.39 (4.41) behind
15---rest dumb knee
16--- 4.60
17---5.73 run/walk
18---7.73 Sulphur park
19---Nada
20---6.72 group run
21---7.61 walk
22---rest
23---feelin' lazy/storm
24---3.11lunch+ 5 in Newtons (boo) Left foot hates every shoe ever made.

89.29/Goal 110+ miles

Upcoming races:
03/19/16 Rock N Roll 5K Dallas
03/20/16 Rock N Roll Half Dallas
04/24/16 OKC Memorial undecided distance
10/16/16 THAT dam half, Lewisville TX
11/05/16 Jenks Half Jenks OK
Run the year 2016  189.33/2016

I was just on my torture device this morning

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-treadmill-s-dark-and-twisted-past-conor-heffernan?utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=lesson&utm_term=technology

@9voice9 Glad the surgery went well! Here's to quick and easy healing/recovery!

@9voice9 Glad your on the road to recovery!

Leap year, one more day to run, so I'll up the ante by 10
February
In it for 60
Valentines Relay Race this weekend(whoo hoo)

• 01 - 5.3mi SuperBowl run around the Embarccadero Festivities
• 03 - 12.6mi
• 09 - 6.2mi Commute run to work
• 14 - 1.5 Speed work: Fartleks, Suicides, Stairs..Oh My!
• 18 - 7.9mi Commute to work
• 22 - 6.0mi
• 24 - 6.8mi
• 29 -3.2 *prelogged: Valentines Couples Relay

Year Totals - 2016 (Goal:600miles)

Work is getting CRAZY. Working until 10PM or later most nights, sometime until after midnight. I only have 2.5 more weeks of this...I hope.

I did bail out early last night for a run. I nearly skipped it. My knee, which had been improving, was barking pretty good and I wondered if I could go even around the block. Odd thing...the more I ran, the better it felt, and I ended up with over 8 miles on the night, which Kody loved. I iced it when I got home and popped some NSAIDs. Even today it feels better than yesterday before the run.

I'm debating the run tomorrow....run or work...run or work...run or work....

The knee issue I'm having is cutting into my miles. No only am I not meeting my goals, but I may have to rethink my approach to my May marathon. If I can't get my knee under control I may have to change my goal to just finishing, rather than finishing under 4 hours. Even though there's been some improvement, it's not as much as I'd like. I'm thinking I make make a doctor appointment next week, just to make sure I'm doing all I can to be ready. I blame diving into tempo runs rather than easing into them.

Monthly Miles:

93 Miles out of 140 mile goal (66%)

@7lenny7 - I know for me sitting all day is a killer for my knee and running, once I get going makes it so much better. The orthopedist basically told me that - I have to get up and move and move more than just walking around or I won't be able to...

@juliet3455 I enjoyed your race report. You had me feeling bad for you until I read about all the beer the night before! Sounds like you persevered well, all things considered.
@ddmom0811 Kody is thrilled to be famous!
@Virkati Glad the run was, at some level, fulfilling!!
@WhatMeRunning you may be modest, but you've been one of my three biggest inspirations here since I started running. The other two are @Stoshew71 and @mwyvr. Since we seem to have started our fitness journey at similar ages and in similar situations, the three of you have led the way and have shown me that what I wanted to do can, indeed, be done! BTW, you're race list is EPIC!

Stoshew71 wrote: »

Most ultra people I heard don't actually do a 30 mile training run (tho I could be wrong). Instead they do back to back long runs. So Saturday they would do a 20 miler and then Sunday do an 16 or 18 miler for example.

A met a new trail running friend in January. The first time I met him on the trails, he was running 20 miles on Saturday, 20 on Sunday. Then tells me he's had to cut back because of injury. Normally he does 30 miles Saturday, and another 30 miles on Sunday. For the month of January he ran over 350 miles. He tells me that he runs so much he never trains for any particular race. He's just always ready. I think he said his longest race has been 100 miles. Just one person, but an interesting anecdote, I thought.

Regarding the long run and a limit of 2.5 hours due to injury prevention...I've read about doing a simulated 20 mile run by running long (but shorter than 20 miles) two days back to back but what about using cross training? Say biking for an hour or more followed by 2.5 hours of running? Would there be benefit to that?

I can't wait to get back to the long, long distance run! My distance PR of 18 miles seems so long again (a little over 4 months ago).

@MorningGhost14, there's less weekly mileage in that plan that I would have guessed. Good to know for future reference...
@9voice9 glad to hear you came through surgery well! Best thing I did after I had my hernia surgery was to take a laxative.

@WhatMeRunning, I remember you disappearing for a while. We have a orthopedic center nearby that specializes in sports injury and even has a running program that I've thought about checking out. I think they'd be perfect for me. Fall marathon would be an option, but the reason I specifically picked a May marathon is that we bought a sailboat over the winter so I want to spend my summer and fall weekends on the water, not training for a marathon. I still plan on running a lot, but want to be more flexible with the amount of running.
@shanaber, what makes work worse this week is I have 3 solid days of training, which means even more sitting than normal. During our breaks I'm walking laps around the building. That and the extra hours at work doing my actual job are probably making the knee worse. you know, that might explain why my knee felt better after my 8 mile run last night...

Just got in 8 miles yesterday and another 7 today as my neighbor has been good for doing daily shorter runs, and with some pre/post miles I've been reaching more reasonable daily totals. I'm planning to hold off on speedwork until 9 days after my 15K (going by the 1 day/mile of racing rule of thumb), but I'll try a long 18 mile run on Sunday night to see how my body reacts to the longer than usual distance.

2/1 - 4 miles (up/down part of Park City mountain through 2 feet of powder)
2/2 - 5.5 miles
2/3 - 1 miles (pre lifting warmup)
2/4 - 10 miles (7 mile tempo run + 3 recovery)
2/5 - 5 miles
2/6 - 10 miles
2/8 - 9 miles
2/9 - 12 miles (w. 3x15 min @ 7:15/mile pace w. 90 sec recovery)
2/10 - 5 miles
2/11 - 12 miles (8 miles speedwork + 4 mile late recovery run)
2/12 - 1 mile (pre lifting warmup)
2/13 - 10 miles
2/15 - 4 miles
2/16 - 5 miles (threshold run w. 3 @ 7 pace in middle)
2/17 - 10 miles
2/18 - 5.5 miles (w. 10x0.25 repeats @ 5:30/mile w. 30 sec recovery)
2/20 - 15k race (6:39 pace, 89/5500)
2/22 - 7 miles
2/23 - 8 miles
2/24 - 7 miles

Total: 140 miles
Goal: 180 miles
Remaining: 40 miles

Upcoming Races:
Half Ironman - Florida 70.3 - Apr 10
Marathon - Pittsburgh - May 1
Half Ironman - Augusta 70.3 - Sep 25
Marathon - Chicago - Oct 9 (if accepted)
Ironman - Florida - Nov 5

@5BeautifulDays - Glad you survived your HM! Good luck with the family emergency.
@9voice9 - Speedy recovery!
@7lenny7 - I've heard lots of stories from more hardcore friends about having surprisingly good race performances after taking off a full week mid-training cycle to fully recuperate from an injury. Taking 2 weeks off will only set you back by about 2-3%, so don't hesitate to step away and fully heal. Not the end of the world if you miss a monthly goal from time to time so you get back to 100%, and although speedwork has helped me make more recent gains, save it for when you are fully healed.

7lenny7 wrote: »

@shanaber, what makes work worse this week is I have 3 solid days of training, which means even more sitting than normal. During our breaks I'm walking laps around the building. That and the extra hours at work doing my actual job are probably making the knee worse. you know, that might explain why my knee felt better after my 8 mile run last night...

@7lenny7 - yep, that is why when I had my training for that week in Dallas I sat in the back and as much as possible I stood up rather than sitting. The chairs were uncomfortable and I really can't sit like that anymore. I also did the walk around too - we were in a conference center at a hotel so I would walk all the way around and back to the hotel and then back to the conference center - just to move a bit.

@9voice9 - so glad the surgery went well! Hope you will be back up and about soon!

No run for me today - rest day with many (too many) hours of work. Early meetings in the morning with hopefully a run fit in between.

02/09 3.25miles - found it hard after the break
02/10 3.25miles - same route, much better 30 sec faster
02/15 3 miles
02/23 3.5 miles
02/24 3.5miles

16.5 done of 30miles