March 2016 Running Challenge

@kristinegift Ya. 60mph gusts (70 yesterday). I'd say 35-45mph sustained. Wind sucks, but for a (flat?) race it shouldn't be that bad. Throw in big verticals though and you will be questioning continuing every 1/10mi lol. Good luck on you're race!

WhatMeRunning wrote: »

instantmartian wrote: »

WhatMeRunning wrote: »

instantmartian wrote: »

The most interesting wildlife I encountered on a run was a porcupine who decided to meander across the trail in front of me. I knew porcupine were in the area, as I could smell them while out running, sometimes, but that was the first and only time I saw one.

I guess I am loving the wildlife discussion today!

That reminded me of a very recent encounter on the same paved park trails I ran this morning. I don't recall if I mentioned it here or not, but I was running back from the same 5 mile route I took this morning along the stream in the wooded part of the park and a beaver popped out from the brush onto the trail about 100 feet ahead of me. I was very surprised to see a beaver there as this park is surrounded by residential on all sides. Just a couple miles away are prime beaver areas though, so this one meandered in close to civilization I guess.

Anyway, as I kept running (towards it) it got scared and started running away from me right down the trail the same way I was going. It would stop every 12-15 feet or so to look back and see if I was still coming right at him, and then he kept going right down the trail. I was laughing about it because the brush and stream were right there next to him on the side to dart into. But no, we chased each other until the trail veered away from the stream at which point he finally decided to head back to the stream.

I got to tell my wife I was chasing beaver. She was pleased.

There's not much other than few birds and a squirrel or two here or there on my usual loop that goes through the local cemetery. I do, however, look for zombies during every run. The cemetery has different sections with different names (including Faithful Friends pet section). One of these parts of the cemetery is called Resurrection Garden. It is at the very back of the cemetery. The way the named bench is placed, it makes it look like that section is behind a large gate (that leads into the woods) and very tall fence. Zombies are wildlife, right?

Well, now you know to also look out for vampires too!

Huh, I didn't have vampires on my list yet, either! I used to watch out for serial killers (too many episodes of Criminal Minds). Since I've been running with the "zombies! run" app for a few month now, I've been watching out for zoms instead. ;-)
At night, I get ocassionally startled by dogs, birds and deer - none of these scare me during the day, but sudden unexpected appearances in the dark are a different thing. The wildlife which is giving me most heart attacks on bright and sunny days are lizards. You never see them, you just hear the rustle of leaves as they disappear in the underbush. At least I tell myself it's lizards whenever that happens ^^

I am so, so happy I don't have any poisonous animals or large predators around. I think the only animals around which might hurt a runner are wild boars, and I haven't ever met one yet *knocks-on-wood*.

Ch1psNQueso wrote: »

1500 unread haha

Hello everyone. Hope you all have had a productive and healthy March. Finish strong!

A few of you may know from the Strava group feed that I went head first over the hood of a car three weeks ago while out on a long bike ride. The road rash has finally healed. The broken clavicle is on the mend. My bike has been to the bike shop and is confirmed to have come away relatively unscathed.

During the last three weeks I've been eating so bad to aid the healing. I've gained 8 pounds and I'm not even upset about it! That said, 10 pounds is too much. I'll be hopping on the bike (via trainer) tonight and getting back to keeping things in order.

As for running, which is what I really want to do, the doc says I'm still a few weeks away. I'm going to start looking into some stuff I can do with the rest of my body (other than biking) to keep as fit as possible for my return.

Thinking my April goal will be 1 mile. Can't wait to get back. Keep up the great work!

Glad you checked in! I was thinking about how you were doing today!

Ch1psNQueso wrote: »

1500 unread haha

Hello everyone. Hope you all have had a productive and healthy March. Finish strong!

A few of you may know from the Strava group feed that I went head first over the hood of a car three weeks ago while out on a long bike ride. The road rash has finally healed. The broken clavicle is on the mend. My bike has been to the bike shop and is confirmed to have come away relatively unscathed.

During the last three weeks I've been eating so bad to aid the healing. I've gained 8 pounds and I'm not even upset about it! That said, 10 pounds is too much. I'll be hopping on the bike (via trainer) tonight and getting back to keeping things in order.

As for running, which is what I really want to do, the doc says I'm still a few weeks away. I'm going to start looking into some stuff I can do with the rest of my body (other than biking) to keep as fit as possible for my return.

Thinking my April goal will be 1 mile. Can't wait to get back. Keep up the great work!

Whoa! I missed this on Strava! Sounds terrible, yet at the same time there is so much good news in there! Glad to hear you are well on the mend. Looking forward to any miles in April (partial or even zero). Glad you checked in.

Went out for a 6 mile walk today down to the river front and across the bridge (rest day from running, probably not a good idea to walk this much but it's been awhile and the weather is perfect and I needed the vitamin D) .On my way through the grade school down the street I saw a guy who had been out ranting and raving naked on the side of the school, get taken down by the police. Made for an unusual walk but does not help my case with my husband worrying about me being out there alone. Ha!

Let me add, I'm really bored with the whole C25k/10k trainer. But I'm at a loss as to how to plan what I should be doing. I've done these schedules based on time, and I'm tired of that too. I want to look at the mileage instead. So much of the info shared here goes straight over my head.

ceckhardt369 wrote: »

greenolivetree wrote: »

@WhatMeRunning The knitting comment made me laugh.

I really just run because I love being active. I still enjoy a walk. Strength train 3 times a week. And add in other odd workouts here and there. I love accomplishing new distance or new speed in running just like I love finding out I can lift a heavier weight strength training. People say I'm addicted to exercise and okay, yeah, so I am. So I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing :-D

I totally get this. I have friends who will ask me why I've started running now. They don't understand how yoga, lifting, teaching classes, and general gym stuff isn't enough. I always say I can't give up the high of a new accomplishment; whether that is a new pose in yoga, lifting a heavier weight, or helping a student to reach a new level. It also could be a little bit of an addiction....

Or a bit of a calling!

@kristinegift Loving the blog! I did the same thing the last race with both the 5k and the HM. I talked a lot of trash, thought I could do sub 25 5k (which I prob can, 7 minute pr). And was sure I was 2:10 on the HM- maybe on a flatter course... Then mile 9 I thought I could get sub 2 on the half. Idk why I try to do math while running

kristinegift wrote: »

@MNLittleFinn I used to run a Sun/Tues/Wed/Thurs/Sat plan. And my dad still does, diligently, to this day. I've found that a different rotation works best for me, but S/T/W/T/S is a great place to start. The best way to do it is to just do it and see if it works. Make a schedule for April -- which will help you pick a goal for next month's challenge! -- and if it needs to be tweaked, tweak it.

How long have you been running for? You got way more miles in this month than you expected, but I just want to warn you to take it slow! Right now, adding a mile to your midweek runs PLUS adding another run... just be cautious. If your body tells you to stop or back off, do it. You don't want to get this excited about running only to get injured a few weeks or months down the line because you tried to do too much too fast!

@kristinegift I've been running "for real" for 2 months now, before that it was 1-2 runs a week of 3-5 miles as a break from HIIT cardio and kettlebells...I fell in love with the runners high and didn't look back. I'm not looking at adding a mile AND another day right now, maybe in a month or so,,,. Today was the first 4 mile week day run (did it in 42:31, which is pretty god for me). Basically I'm looking longer term, with WAY too long of a time to gear up for my HM, I'm trying to look for ways to keep motivated for running, so adding mileage or another day are ways to do it and, yeah, I did kind of blow my mileage goal out of the water this month....and felt fine physically doing it, so I'm trying to look for ways to shake things up while keeping in shape for the HM, and try to figure out a reasonable time goal, I don't like the idea of "just finishing" I like gunning for something a little more, and gearing up for my 8k is July. Sorry, long answer.

Ok, here are my worst examples of self-sabotaging my original goals.

My first HM, the goal was just to finush within the 3 hour cutoff time. Easy, right? Except that due to parking issues I was among the hundred or so runners that started late. No worries, it was chip timed and they weren't going to cut anyone off. It had a good half mile hill up front that I was prepared for. I ran up that hill nice and easy, a great start. I found myself going faster than expected on the next few miles despite trying to sliw down, so I kept trying to continue the later miles at that pace too thinking I might catch up with the 2:50 pace group. I saw them up ahead. Never gave much thought to how I started about 10 minutes after that group. I had to start walking soon after and the last 3 miles sucked. I finished in 3:00:09. Not even within my original goal time...by 9 seconds.

My next 3 halfs were part of a 39.3 series of 3 halfs over 5 weekends. The goal was "just finish them all". I finished the first one in 2:42, much to my surprise. That was my fastest pace over such a distance ever. The next half was the following weekend and I finished it in 2:39 feeling strong! I was invincible!!! I had 3 weeks to the next HM and I lined up with the 2:35 group confident I could do it. I walked the last mile due to a tender Achilles finishing around 2:50. I was so depressed. The achilles healed with a few days rest before I realized I had smashed my original goals, not failed in any way.

My 3 fulls last fall were supposed to be "just finish them". Somehow as I kept analyzing it ahead of the first full comments from people about never wishing a 5+ hour hell of running sank in. I was honestly hoping to finish in less than 6 hours and now this felt even more urgent!! Needless to say, trying to go faster in a full is bad and I finished each one much slower than just 6 hours....and at first I felt terrible about how slow I performed in all of them. After a while I realized I made my goal though, and actuallt did something rather amazing all things considered.

I REALLY don't want any of that mindset in my goals this year! I just want to stick to the original goals. Time will tell...

3/1 - 4 miles
3/2 - 3.5 miles
3/3 and 4 - travel days
3/5 - 5 miles
3/6 - 6.5 miles
3/7 - rest day
3/8 - 5 miles
3/9 - 5.3 miles
3/10 - rest day
3/11 - 7.1 miles
3/12 and 13 - life days
3/14 - 6.5 miles
3/15 - 5.1 miles
3/16 - rest day
3/17 - 4 miles Happy St. Patrick's Day
3/18 - 4 miles with Skip and Macy
3/19 - 21 life days
3/22 - 6 miles
3/23 - 24 - ITB
3/25 - 2 miles
3/26 – track meet day and day 9:30 am to 8:00 pm kinda day
3/27 – 2 miles to check the ITB woohoo no pain
3/28 - rest
3/29 - 5 miles


71 out of 100 miles

Elise4270 wrote: »

ceckhardt369 wrote: »

greenolivetree wrote: »

@WhatMeRunning The knitting comment made me laugh.

I really just run because I love being active. I still enjoy a walk. Strength train 3 times a week. And add in other odd workouts here and there. I love accomplishing new distance or new speed in running just like I love finding out I can lift a heavier weight strength training. People say I'm addicted to exercise and okay, yeah, so I am. So I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing :-D

I totally get this. I have friends who will ask me why I've started running now. They don't understand how yoga, lifting, teaching classes, and general gym stuff isn't enough. I always say I can't give up the high of a new accomplishment; whether that is a new pose in yoga, lifting a heavier weight, or helping a student to reach a new level. It also could be a little bit of an addiction....

Or a bit of a calling!

Hahaha or maybe that. My husband is always confused by my new desire. I spent over a year of my life and more money than I want to think about getting my yoga teacher certification, then the start of this year I decided I wanted to get my personal training certification. He just kept asking why as I looked for an affordable program to go through, hoping to have it done around July. I'm a social worker for people with developmental disabilities in my non fitness life so it's not like I have a bunch of extra time to pursue my fitness life, but I like it so I make time