March 2016 Running Challenge

Thanks guys, I've got Club on Mondays, so what I do for that session tends to be dictated by that, I think i'll start doing the 5k route once a week, but on my 3rd run i'll just get out there and enjoy a shorter route, and try not to push myself too much, maybe do some intervals and see how that goes.

@Amandajs232 - Big well done on losing all that weight, i'm 25lb down so far and still going, like you say, it's quite a shock to see your reflection in proper running gear and you think "god, that is actually me!".

Grrr....I can't get the ticker to pull up for me to add to it.
I went out and ran 3.09 this morning which was more then I had planned. It gave me time to be frustrated and use as a release for my emotions -who knew running could be so beneficial for that. So that being said I've done 18.85 miles which is 6.85 miles more then my March goal.

3/1/16 - 2 miles
3/4/16 - 6 miles
3/5/16 - 4.5 miles
3/6/16 - 3.1 miles
3/11/16 - 6.2 miles
3/12/16 - 5 miles
3/14/16 - 3 miles
3/15/16 - 4 miles
3/18/16 - 6.5 miles
3/19/16 - 4 miles
3/20/16 - 5 miles
3/21/16 - 3 miles
3/23/16 - 2 miles
3/25/16 - 4 miles
3/26/16 - 7 miles

March goal: 52 March actual: 65.5 (numbers above are rounded so that's why there's a slight difference).

Right or wrong, 7 miles got done this morning. I slept a good 8 hours with Nyquil and once I got up and around I felt okay this morning. Averaged 9:27 pace. Not bad considering I stopped at 3 little parks to blow my nose and throw away tissues. Also running all over town (neighborhoods) vs. trail, I had to wait for cars a few times. Tomorrow will be rest/family day.

Oh, one question: I recently downloaded Strava and sometimes when my run transfers from garmin to strava the pace is different. Today garmin says 9:27 and strava says 9:11. Does strava delete out the time I was standing still (blowing my nose at Park trashcans)?

I did it! Ten miles outside!

Ran over to Jamestowne Island, water all around, breezy and beautiful, Captain Jack on the ipod ... so lucky.

greenolivetree wrote: »

Oh, one question: I recently downloaded Strava and sometimes when my run transfers from garmin to strava the pace is different. Today garmin says 9:27 and strava says 9:11. Does strava delete out the time I was standing still (blowing my nose at Park trashcans)?

Yes, Strava removes standing still time automatically, although I think this can be changed in settingd. Garmin Connect should show two paces, your overall pace and your moving pace. That moving pace will probably be similar to Strava.

@Elise4270 - Nice! Although you might be careful not to mess up the adhesive by doing that too much.

4leighbee wrote: »

I did it! Ten miles outside!

Ran over to Jamestowne Island, water all around, breezy and beautiful, Captain Jack on the ipod ... so lucky.

Congratulations! That's a super accomplishment!

3/1: Rest day
3/2: 12 miles (am), 5 miles (pm)
3/3: 7 miles speedwork (am), 6 miles with Thursday crew (pm)
3/4: Rest day
3/5: 7.3 miles
3/6: 15.2 miles
3/7: 6 miles with Joe to Go crew
3/8: Rest day
3/9: 12 miles (am), 5 miles (pm)
3/10: 8 miles (am), 6 miles with Thursday crew (pm)
3/11: Rest day
3/12: 5.6 miles (2.5 mile warm up and 5k race)
3/13: 18 miles
3/14: Impromptu rest day
3/15: 6 miles (am), 8 miles (pm)
3/16: 10 miles (am), 7 miles with Wednesday crew (pm)
3/17: DC mini-vacation
3/18: DC mini-vacation
3/19: 7.2 miles
3/20: 20 birthday miles!
3/21: 6 miles with Joe to Go crew
3/22: Rest day!
3/23: 10 miles (am), 6 miles (pm)
3/24: 8 miles speedwork (am), 6.1 miles with Thursday crew (pm)
3/25: 1 mile, 3 pairs of shorts!
3/26: 8 miles - NJM course preview!

Went down to Long Branch today to meet up with people from the Pacers store to run 8 miles on the New Jersey Marathon course. We did 4 miles out and back from nearish the finish, and scouted out the finish line. The race ends on 1.5-2 miles of boardwalk, so it'll be nice to know on race day which building marks the actual end of the race. We also ran the second half against a headwind, which is likely to happen on race day, so it was good practice both physically and for pre-race visualization exercises (which I highly endorse!). The course is pretty darn flat -- the biggest hills are only 40 feet of gain -- so we Princeton folk who are used to running many hills ran much faster than we thought we would! I paced 7:58 and left all the guys eating my dust when I smoked them with a 7:23 final mile

Oh and to end the shorts crisis saga: I tried the Oiselle distance shorts and they did not turn into running short undies (yay!!) and I didn't chafe (thanks, Vaseline!), so I think I may be training in these for April and wearing them on marathon day! I ran with my IDs and a chapstick and my car key in the side zip pocket and my phone (in a baggie) in the rear zip pocket and it was all very comfortable. Yay! Though I will say, letting a breeze come up under the shorts and touch my butt was very weird; I haven't worn loose-leg shorts since high school, MAYBE early college. That was something to get used to -- and to assure myself that while the air was touching my butt, no one behind me could actually SEE my butt, lol!



Upcoming Races:
3/12: Run O' The Mill 5K: New PR! 21:55
4/3: Caesar Rodney HM (Wilmington, DE)
4/16: River Horse 6K (Ewing, NJ)
5/1: New Jersey Marathon (Lots of towns, NJ)

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
03/25 3.07
03/26 8.01 CHALLENGE ACHIEVED!!!!!

TOTAL 106.28
GOAL 100

Way to go @ariceroni!!

Elise4270 wrote: »

26---5.74 fast group run


Took the kinavaras out on the group run. My calves need to adjust and the group was small, only the faster folks showed up. Hard run for me, but I suppose it's a good change once in a while.
I think I like long slow distance rather than the OMG I'm dying short runs. Of course, they ran 8-9 miles, I get dropped off to get my 6.

I noticed that I can hit a 6 pace for a very short time. Normal? Or is there hope that I could go from a 9:3 race pace to about an 8:3 at some point? My comfortable race pace is 9:45


Numbers don't lie, good run today. But hard feels like failure. Even with a potty break and milling around walking off cramps I was just under and hour for 5.74 miles. My 10k PR is 1:04 I think. So, least I hung with them for a bit. Woman that organizes the group is a BQer.

I feel like I should go run this afternoon. Early morning runs kind of leave me unsure what I should do with the rest of my day... Meal plan and read I suppose.. Maybe a walk...

Goals are funny things. Thursday I ran a hard 10 mile workout, and felt like a failure because I didn't complete the planned harder 15 mile workout.

Group running can be great . . . except when the group is just a little bit too fast. If the group is way faster than you are, you let it go and it's okay. But if the group is a little bit faster, and you can keep up for a while but not for the distance, that can feel like failure. It's a purely mental thing, but mostly it means you found the wrong group for your training.

Being able to run much faster than you can sustain for a short period is normal. If you run races of widely varying distances, and train to do each of them as well as you can, you will see faster paces on the shorter races, perhaps much faster.

Improvement in race pace with time and good training is normal, but the big question is how much improvement? Some people shed a minute per mile off the pace from getting serious. Others, who may have been closer to optimally trained to start with, aren't able to reduce their race pace as much. The only way to know how much *you* can drop your pace is to train well and see how it affects your pace.

MobyCarp wrote: »

Elise4270 wrote: »

26---5.74 fast group run


Took the kinavaras out on the group run. My calves need to adjust and the group was small, only the faster folks showed up. Hard run for me, but I suppose it's a good change once in a while.
I think I like long slow distance rather than the OMG I'm dying short runs. Of course, they ran 8-9 miles, I get dropped off to get my 6.

I noticed that I can hit a 6 pace for a very short time. Normal? Or is there hope that I could go from a 9:3 race pace to about an 8:3 at some point? My comfortable race pace is 9:45


Numbers don't lie, good run today. But hard feels like failure. Even with a potty break and milling around walking off cramps I was just under and hour for 5.74 miles. My 10k PR is 1:04 I think. So, least I hung with them for a bit. Woman that organizes the group is a BQer.

I feel like I should go run this afternoon. Early morning runs kind of leave me unsure what I should do with the rest of my day... Meal plan and read I suppose.. Maybe a walk...

Goals are funny things. Thursday I ran a hard 10 mile workout, and felt like a failure because I didn't complete the planned harder 15 mile workout.

Group running can be great . . . except when the group is just a little bit too fast. If the group is way faster than you are, you let it go and it's okay. But if the group is a little bit faster, and you can keep up for a while but not for the distance, that can feel like failure. It's a purely mental thing, but mostly it means you found the wrong group for your training.

Being able to run much faster than you can sustain for a short period is normal. If you run races of widely varying distances, and train to do each of them as well as you can, you will see faster paces on the shorter races, perhaps much faster.

Improvement in race pace with time and good training is normal, but the big question is how much improvement? Some people shed a minute per mile off the pace from getting serious. Others, who may have been closer to optimally trained to start with, aren't able to reduce their race pace as much. The only way to know how much *you* can drop your pace is to train well and see how it affects your pace.

Thanks! Of course, that's what I figured. I was hoping it was a sign I'll be glad to start speed work, maybe this fall.

The groups was missing all of the 10-11m/m folks. So I was the only straggler. I just hate feeling like I'm holding them up, and I'm unfamiliar running the road, area, and traffic. So I get ansy. But was proud of myself for speaking up, saying " I gotta walk this out" instead of hurting myself. I lost maybe 0.5 miles with them on the drop. And I didn't feel like a whiner.

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 – 12.13 aborted long workout, cool down
3/25 – scheduled rest day
3/26 – 15.10 warm up, 15K race, cool down
Weekly total 62.08 vs. target 62

March total to date – 240.37

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

Today's notes – After Thursday's debacle, I honored the scheduled rest day on Friday. That left me needing 15.02 miles today to hit my weekly target. Today was the Spring Forward 15K, so I needed a bit less than 6 non-race miles. Got to Mendon Ponds Park an hour before gun time, so I could get a parking place close to the finish line. That gave me time for a long warm up, which I took as an out and back on the last part of the race course. There was 4.62 miles, and a good understanding of the terrain on the last 2.3 miles of the course. It was well worth the time.

The plan was to try to run the first 10K of the race at MP minus 10 seconds, where it's net downhill, then run the last 5K between MP and MP plus 10 seconds, where it's net uphill. I'm targeting an MP of 7:10 on the Garmin, so that means targeting a 7:00 pace for the first two thirds of the race. It was challenging to target an average pace in rolling hills, but I managed to run them slower than last year. At the 6 mile flag, I was just a few seconds under 42 minutes, so that much went well.

Then it didn't turn uphill right away. I kept running at pace on the level, and cruised down a minor incline, and then I didn't notice the first couple of uphills. Then the longest uphill didn't seem very challenging, because it wasn't all that steep. Near the top of that uphill, at 7.7 miles, I passed the last water stop and knew the rest of the course pretty well from two prior years and today's preview. About that point, it turned into a race. I tried to take advantage of what downhills there were, and the steep uphills left weren't very long.

I ended up finishing in 1:05:24 gun time, 1:05:22 net time. If I'd been in race mode for the entire race, I might have shaved 2 minutes off that time; but I was in great shape at the finish line and the final hills weren't all that big a deal. Compare and contrast to last year, when I ran this as a race (and ran it about a minute faster), but barely made it up the last hill. I guess there is something to the strategy of deliberately holding back at the start of the race, at least for feeling good afterward. Garmin reported 9.37 miles for the race. Fair enough. The roads were open, so I couldn't always run tangents. Garmin computed an average pace of 6:59, as compared to 7:01 by race distance. Essentially, it was like I targeted MP minus 10 seconds for the entire race.

Then I went out and to run a mile cool down, which came in at 1.11 miles on Garmin. That put the week right where I wanted it.

A guy who was happier about my 60th birthday than I was informed me that he won his age group because I wasn't in it, and "of course you won your age group." This, before I even got to the computer to look up standings. 24th of 467 overall, 1st of 12 in the M 60-64 age group. The age group win got me a curved glass plaque and a box of organic sunflower seed butter:



That makes 4 age group wins in 4 local races so far this year. The age group win streak will break at my next race, which is Boston. There are a lot of 60 year old guys registered for Boston who are faster than I am.

2016 races:
January 1, 2016 Resolution Run 7.5 mile (Mendon, NY) finished in 53:58
January 9, 2016 Winter Warrior Half Marathon (Gates, NY) finished in 1:30:59
March 12, 2016 Johnny's Runnin' of the Green 5 mile (Rochester, NY) finished in 32:32
March 26, 2016 Spring Forward Distance Run 15K (Mendon, NY) finished in 1:05:24
April 18, 2016 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)
April 24, 2016 Flower City Challenge Half Marathon (Rochester, NY)
July 16, 2016 Shoreline Half Marathon (Hilton, NY)
September 18, 2016 Rochester Marathon (Rochester, NY)

Congrats on the great race and age group win @MobyCarp! And that other guy too!