March 2016 Running Challenge

I've been analyzing the data from my hrm lately and I have to the conclusion that I may have ran my easy runs and recovery runs way too hard. It's closer to my tempo hr. So I'm cutting out. Thinking about it I did my long run at conversational pace, but more like talk 1 sentence max conversational. Need to be conversational as in I'll tell you my life story. So there's that. Weather been sucky lately so I'm staying indoor on the dreadmill. 5.6 km yesterday followed by 3.6 km with 2 intervals at lactate threshold. These were pretty hard but maintainable. Gotta say. It takes real slow runs and ability to relax your body to maintain an easy enough pace

.....Date.....Distance...Pace (min/km).........................Random thought of the day
March 01 - rest
March 02 - 5 km............(4:42).........Stop bouncing like Bambi you idiot you gonna kill your knees
March 03 - 7 km............(6:00)............................Bend at the ankles not the waist.
March 04 - 3.5 km.........(7.46)....................A metronome app helps with your cadence
March 05 - rest
March 06 - 15 km..........(6:00)............Need to taper long run next week but don't want to
March 07 - 5 km............(7:08).........................,.............Treadmills suck
March 08 - rest(4k walk)
March 09 - 3 km............(6:00).................................Treadmills really suck
March 10 - dead
March 11 - dead
March 12 - dead
March 13 - dead
March 14 - 4 km.............(4:20).......................Turns out I'm quite good at biomechanics
March 15 - rest
March 16 - 4.4 km..........(6:50).................I can't do this any slower watch leave me alone
March 17 - 3.4 km..........(5:50)......................Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap
March 18 - 3.4 km..........(5:00)........................................Gotta go fast
March 19 - rest (xt)
March 20 - 6.5 km..........(5:40)........................................Praise the sun
March 21 - 5.3 km+ONE (1) hour of stationary bike..............Music
March 22 - 5.6 km
March 23 - 3.6 km....................................................I ate 5 bananas today



03/04: Bucharest 10k and Family run (registered)
16/04: Color Run Bucharest (registered)
15/05: Bucharest Half Marathon (need to register till march 31)

It really is surprisingly hard to run at the proper slow pace. Once I started tracking my HRM and knowing what zones I was targeting I tried finding ways to help keep me on pace. The most helpful way is counting my steps per breath. I find that when I am running at 4 steps per breath I am in my easy pace zone, and once I am regularly into 3 steps per breath I am in tempo range. That same thing may not work for everyone, but once you make yourself run at a pace by tracking your HR you can probably find something to help guide you like that.

March Running Totals (km)
3/1- 1.4 (1.4/35)
3/2- 2.51 (3.91/35)
3/3- 1.42 (5.33/35)
3/4- DOMS hit hard. Need to remember to foam roll!
3/5- Life
3/6- 3 (8.33/35)
3/7- Life
3/8- 3.5 & 1.97 (13.8/35)
3/9- 1.41 (15.21/35)
3/10- Cross training
3/11- Life
3/12- 3.1 (18.31/35)
3/13- 3.6 (21.91/35)
3/14- Strength
3/15- 3.6 (25.51/35)
3/16- 5.1 (30.61/35) Shamrock 5k
3/17- Rest kind of. Walked at work, taught fitness class (participated in about half)
3/18- Rest and fun night out with friends
3/19- 3.2 (33.81/35)
3/20- Rest
3/21- 3.6 (37.41/35)
3/22- Walk at work and yoga
3/23- 3.8 (41.21/35) AMAZING!! W8D2 of C25K done and I feel awesome even with my allergies attacking at full force (4 Benadryl and a trip to get Flonase I can finally almost breath through my nose again). 28 minutes with zero stops and zero walking (not even to stretch my calves). I realized today that running is similar to yoga in the sense that you always stop for pain, but working through discomfort is how you get better. Don't know why it took so long to realize that! Really feeling the runner high today lol.
3/24-
3/25-
3/26-
3/27-
3/28-
3/29-
3/30-
3/31-

Races
March 16th- Shamrock Run (47:05)
April 10th- Run For Home HM (Relay Team)
May ?- TuscBDD 5k
June 25th- Indian Mud Run
August 13th- Insane Inflatable 5k
August 20th- Warrior Dash

kristinegift wrote: »

@4leighbee Re; Chafing: I found that Body Glide didn't quite do the trick for me. I have a travel sized tub of Vaseline that I take with me to races and it sits on my bathroom counter otherwise. I put the Vaseline under my sports bra and on my toes and anywhere else I may need it. It's thicker so I find it works better for some tricky spots. Since I started using Vaseline, my perma-chafe from my VS sports bras (which sadly I must retire as they are now too big ) has disappeared.

Sounds good, maybe I have to try Vaseline as well! I bought some body glide last summer, but found that it didn't do a lot to help with chafing on the inside of the thighs I get whem my shorts are too short and the weather is hot...
Regarding stinging in the shower: for me, cold water is actually great on chafed skin. Although I usually only have that problem on hot summer days; not sure I'd be too enthusiastic about a cold shower in winter.

@skippygirlsmom So sorry to hear about your ITB! That must be extra frustrating, to have the pain flare back up just when you thought everything was finally okay again. I hope you'll be able to figure out how to make it better quickly.

@brian_gunther Wow, running with an aching tooth, that's real dedication! Congratulations on running 30 minutes straight, great job!

@MNLittleFinn Like Stoshew71, I use Strava and runningahead. Strava is kind of nice with the social stuff and the app and photo uploads and challenges, etc. And runningahead is what I use for actual "tracking" - like making graphs of "pace vs day", and noting down the weather, that kind of thing.


I'm kinda proud of myself today, I took the bike to work twice this week already (good resolutions ftw!), and these times my legs didn't feel as tired during the run in the evening afterwards. But those hills were as freaking hard to ride up as last week. Funnily enough, I also climbed the same "evil hill" during my run tonight, that was both easier as well as much more enjoyable.
Tonights 12km put me at 163.5 km for the month, and we still have a lot of month to go. Compared to 166km for the entire month of February, it looks like I ran a bit too much during the last three weeks. I was actually puzzled about that for a moment, until I realised I've gone and replaced cross-country skiing with running, which leaves me with five days of running per week instead of four. Duh! That explaines where the extra kilometers come from. Guess I should make the last week of the month an easy one, to make sure the ramp up in mileage isn't too agressive...

1---3.57 walk
2---7.06
3---3.55
4---7.47 walk
5---5.75
6---3.03
7--- work late, DOMS, rain
8---work late, headache, rain
9---6.61cramps
10---5.05 cramps
11---5.41
12---7.33
13---worked, slept
14---2.3 walk, biked 9
15---7.23 easy
16,17---eat days
18---travel/crazy day
19---5k turned out to be 2.85miles, about 0.5k short. So no PR. 
20---13.4 RNR half OT 2:20:47
21---5.01 recovery run/walk
22---DOMs
23---3.16

 89.80 miles/150 Dang, I'm behind!


Upcoming races:

04/24/16 OKC Memorial undecided
10/16/16 THAT dam half, Lewisville TX
11/05/16 Jenks Half Jenks OK
Run the year 2016  441.64/ 2016

March Running Totals (miles)
[2/28 – 7.78 easy]
[2/29 – 7.22 easy + 4 strides]
3/1 – 9.31 warm up + 8 x Yasso 800s
3/2 – 6.02 easy
3/3 – 15.05 easy
3/4 – scheduled rest day
3/5 – 17.01 2 easy, 13 MP, 2 easy
Weekly total 62.39 vs. target 62

3/6 – 7.70 easy
3/7 – 8.17 easy + 4 strides
3/8 – 11.67 warm up, speed work, cool down
3/9 – 11.03 easy
3/10 – 8.92 warm up, speed work, cool down
3/11 – scheduled rest day
3/12 – 15.10 easy 2 solo, pace 8, race 5
Weekly total 62.59 vs. target 62

3/13 – 11.00 – 4 easy, 3 MP, 4 easy
3/14 – 5.74 easy + 4 strides
3/15 – 7.96 easy
3/16 – 9.41 easy
3/17 – 9.79 easy
3/18 – scheduled rest day 2.38 easy
3/19 – 22.03 (14 with 8:00 pace group + 8 solo)
Weekly total 68.31 vs. target 68

3/20 – 7.39 easy with stride at end
3/21 – 8.24 easy + 4 strides
3/22 – 11.46 easy, speed work, easy
3/23 – 7.76 easy
3/24 –
3/25 –
3/26 –
Weekly total TBD vs. target 62

March total to date – 213.14

Goal – 56, 62, or 68 miles per week, per training plan
Expected March total - ~282 miles

Today's notes – This evening I went running in a Winter Weather Advisory. Note that "Advisory" is a step below "Watch" and much less severe than "Warning." I saw snowflakes when I went walking at noon, but only saw rain showers and some wintry mix when I went running in the evening. It was light enough I could see where I was going, but I wore my reflective harness and lights anyway. I figure a lot of motorists would not be expecting to see a runner in this weather.

My non-runner brain said, "This is ugly weather. You don't really want to run in this, do you?" But my runner brain said, "There is no bad weather. There is only inappropriate clothing." So I put on some appropriate clothing, went out, and had a very pleasant easy run. The pavement was wet, but I was fine in road shoes. Got home and found a coating of slush on the edge of my porch that hadn't been there when I left. Somehow, it doesn't bother me much at this point; I know it isn't all that long until we're totally done with snow for another half year.

Upcoming races:
March 26, 2016 Spring Forward Distance Run 15K (Mendon, NY)
April 18, 2016 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)
April 24, 2016 Flower City Challenge Half Marathon (Rochester, NY)

Not sure if I will make it to the 90 this month (I had a bad week where I fell off) but I signed up for a 10k this weekend and I've made progress on my speed!

9 km Hill Climb with the Wednesday Night Running Clowns/Crazies. What else can you call us when we do a Hill Climb in 15 cm ( 6 in ) of Fresh Heavy Wet Snow. At times the snow was sticking to your shoes slowly building up and then you would have to do the Shake a Leg in mid stride to dump the load. Some managed to wander off the main trail and found some Deep Snow in drifts. A run is a run and this was a good workout. I am the on-call tech for the next two week-ends so could be a challenge to meet goal this month.

03/01 – 0.0 Km – 0.0 - 140 km – 263.8 Km
03/02- 10.0 Km – 10.0 - 130 km – 273.8 Km
03/04- 11.0 Km – 21.0 - 119 km – 284.8 Km
03/05- 13.0 Km – 34.0 - 106 km – 297.8 Km
03/06- 8.0 Km – 42.0 - 98 km – 305.8 Km
03/12- 20.0 Km – 62.0 - 78 km – 325.8 Km
03/13- 6.0 Km – 68.0 - 72 km – 331.8 Km
03/14- 7.0 Km – 75.0 - 65 km – 338.8 Km
03/16- 8.0 Km – 83.0 - 57 km – 346.8 Km
03/23- 9.0 Km – 92.0 - 48 km – 355.8 Km



Way to many posts to comment on. Glad to see all the old regulars and the New members who have moved up from the C25K & B10K groups. Welcome everyone to the Shoe Destroyers Club! Have always enjoyed the positive Feedback-support and encouragement. Especially when I drop into the C25K or B10K groups and see the support and encouragement being offered to the people just starting out.
The hint of Spring is around the corner, even though we Traditionally get more snow in March than any Month of the Year.
Impatiently Waiting for the snow to disappear from the Bush Trails along the Rolling River Bank Trails. This is probably how a Dog feels when he is looking at an empty Bowl waiting for his supper. Which explains why we went for a Hill Climb in Fresh Snow.

HAVE NO IDEA HOW I CREATED TWO TICKERS....

There is no way...y'all are more than 500 posts ahead of me! I was out with lots of life happening including a college visit to Appalachian State with my daughter. We had fun! Gotta get her hiking now, or she'll never fit in, though, lol!

3/1.....3.0 @ 10:40 on the TM, plus strength training
3/3....3.5 @ 11:25 on the TM
3/5....4.5 @ 10:33 on the TM ( .5 walking and 4 @ 10:00, which I think is my farthest distance at that speed)
3/8....4.5 @ 11:53 on the park trail
3/9...2.5 @ 15:00ish walking the world's fattest, most slothful dog
3/10...4.25 @ 11:37 on the rail trail near my house. It was so nice to be outside--and warm!--at 6 am!
3/11...3.00 @ 10:39 on the rail trail
3/14...3.0 @ 10:56 on the rail trail--it was a little wet and slippery; I almost landed on my rear in the creek at the water crossing!
3/15...3.0 @ 10:24 on the treadmill and strength training
3/17...2.25 @ 11:06 on the treadmill and strength training
3/21...5.0 @ 12:00 on the treadmill
3/23...3.25 @ 10:39 on the treadmill and strength training

Got in a nice longish run tonight at a mixed pace after leaving my guests with a documentary to watch. Finally shipping the guests back up north on Friday, then will have a week of peace and quiet until my next set of friends arrive from up north. Aiming for another 11 miles tomorrow, bringing my final week's requisite total down to a more manageable 60 miles to hit my target for the month. I'll be done with my monthly biking goal tomorrow (600 miles), and should be able to get in more running (and hopefully swimming) time leading up to my 4/10 ironman 70.3 race.

3/1 - 3.5 miles
3/2 - 10 miles
3/3 - 5 miles
3/4 - 3 miles
3/6 - 11 miles
3/7 - 18 miles
3/8 - 7.5 miles
3/10 - 13 miles
3/12 - 5 miles
3/15 - 6 miles
3/17 - 5 miles (St. Patrick's day run past lots of bars in my shiny gold hat & green shirt)
3/18 - 1 mile (pre lift warmup)
3/19 - 10 miles
3/21 - 20 miles
3/23 - 11 miles

Total: 129 miles
Goal: 200 miles
Remaining: 71 miles

03/01 3.23
03/02 3.19
03/03 3.17
03/04 3.27
03/05 6.83
03/06 8.15
03/07 3.17
03/08 3.43
03/09 3.59
03/10 6.25
03/11 2.70
03/12 0.00 (16 mile bike ride)
03/13 7.01
03/14 3.09
03/15 3.28
03/17 3.34
03/18 5.21
03/19 4.90
03/20 7.01
03/21 2.79
03/22 3.11
03/23 3.29
03/24 3.30

TOTAL 95.2
GOAL 100

@sthoma13 - Good luck on that upcoming 10k!

@juliet3455 - That sounds like a good fun group of crazies tackling challenges like that.

Also, I guess I had not realized how awesome MFP's forums are allowing people to build up comfortably in C25k and B10k communities and then even progressing here. That is awesome! And welcome to anyone new here or lurking from there.

@greenolivetree - Way to get the run done, and congrats on the new mileage territory! You may want to get a nice pair of shorts and shirt specifically for running in the summer sun/heat (if you don't already). Can make a huge difference. Summer running is always hot, but good clothing can at least help prevent the added stress that may make you decide to not run in the summer. I find a super hat important too to keep sweat and sun off my face, look for a headsweats hat or my favorite a UA coldblack running hat. The price for these leaves a lot to be desired, but you only need one pair and can do laundry. They will last for a long, long time too, I think that is part of the price equation.

@4leighbee we are close! I'm in Portsmouth.