April 2016 Running Challenge

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  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
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    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    @9voice9 - It could be possible that you need to work the other way. Perhaps 11:16 is your training pace and maybe you could run a 10k faster?

    Correct. The time you enter into the McMillan calculator should be a race PR time. If you took it easier than race pace, then you are not correctly putting in a correct time. You may try running a single mile in the best time you can (leaving nothing in the tank at the end) and then entering that into the calculator and see if that makes a difference.

  • shanaber
    shanaber Posts: 6,394 Member
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    pthyay wrote: »

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    Oookay, you guys must find this a little funny, but I'm a beginner dragging a couple of health problems around, so I'm quite happy with my single kilometre. ;) I was going to do more, but my knee started acting up a bit, and I've learned to stop right away when that happens.

    @pthyay - when I started I could not run a single block. I would run a little and walk a little and when I felt I could I ran a little more... We all have to start from scratch and depending on where we are we may be able to a little or a lot but the point is we are doing it and that is the most important thing! You got up and got out that door!
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
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    9voice9 wrote: »
    @WhatMeRunning, @MNLittleFinn: thanks for the responses. I guess I was hoping for a magic formula that would let me be easier, not smart folks who know that I needed a kick in the *kitten*. :smiley:
    I'm in a strange "kick in the kitten" spot myself. I know my 5k time from a bunch of dedicated speedwork over the winter. While my long run, easy pace and even tempo paces in the McMillan calculator seem spot on given that 5k time, it is suggesting a half marathon time that I am not 100% confident is possible. Same with the marathon time. So I have to take it that I am being a wussy on those half marathon distances and not pushing hard enough apparently!:lol:
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
    edited April 2016
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    oops...duplicate post
  • shanaber
    shanaber Posts: 6,394 Member
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    Elise4270 wrote: »
    @WhatMeRunning dang, I figured alcohol was an appetite suppressant. But your right, it does mess with your blood sugar- I forgot it always makes me want ice cream. I think I'm going to have to plan better. My body knows we run after work, so it seems to be seriously concerned about getting food early in the day, which is when I eat the least.
    My scale is eeking down ever so slowly. I totally don't want to sabatoge that. I figured you must have develooed an appetite balance with all those miles and still moving the scale.

    As far as the miles from March- I just scrolled through the last few days of the posts and sought out the ones i couldnt find on Strava. Then just used Excel for the math.

    Hey! 1130! It's lunch time!
    @Elise4270 - for me the difference maker seems to be protein. I know carbs give us the energy for running but protein seems to be what I need to have more of to keep the rungaries away. I have reduced my carbs some and increased my proteins and when I stick to it my rungaries seem to stay in check...
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
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    My experience is similar to @shanaber as for reducing carbs a bit. I've adopted basically a "carb cycling for runners" approach but a bit more simple than the complex formulas presented by that whole routine. It works easily for me because I run in the mornings, I'm not sure how I could do this if I ran later in the day. :smile:

    What I do is run first thing before eating. Immediately after the run I have a recovery shake. That gets me a lot of carbs for refueling glycogen plus the protein. An hour or two later my "recovery meal" has fewer carbs than my recovery shake did, but no fewer than 50%. Between the two meals I try to have the calories from the carbs be somewhat near my burn from the run (except long runs of course). After that I go low carb the rest of the day. I have not suffered in performance one bit despite being low carb most of the day. Long run days are different though. Those days I have another meal or two with carbs, again with the goal of getting somewhat near the same number of cals from carbs that I burned on the run, and then go low carb the rest of the day.

    I have fewer cravings this way, although with the added carbs on long run days I have noticed those days are when I get some crazy cravings and sometimes eat something I wish I hadn't. But on all of hte other days it seems really easy to maintain.

    It might not be a real method, and maybe it only works for me. But I'm really happy with how I'm performing on that plan, and the weight started dropping too (might be coincidence).
  • SunnyDuckling
    SunnyDuckling Posts: 204 Member
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    Went out again this morning for a walk. This makes 3 now! I really want this consistency to stick.

    1) Mon 4 April 3.32km
    2) Mon 4 April 2.98km
    3) Tue 5 April 3.10km

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  • whatang
    whatang Posts: 102 Member
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    whatang wrote: »
    Missed my March goal by about 8 miles: I took the last week off when I had to abandon a long run 4 miles in with a calf strain. It didn't feel right so I wanted to stay off it rather than push it until it went seriously wrong, so no running for 10 days. Ugh.

    It's been feeling a bit better now, so I tried an easy 5k today. Still a bit tight, but nothing nasty going on, so I think I'll be ok to ease back in. Going to aim for the same 75 miles I was going for last month.
    Welp, that's not going to happen. Popped my hamstring tonight :(
  • AdrianChr92
    AdrianChr92 Posts: 567 Member
    edited April 2016
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    @9voice9 My cadence is 160-165 usually. I've been working on it trying to increase it. I did it today at a very very slow pace of 12 min/mile and got to around 168-170 for a couple of km.

    What I notices. The ride was smoother, pace was more silent, but my heart rate was 10 beats higher. It felt better but I think I am not used to it and I have to work extra for that faster turnover. My steps were real small though and my lower leg certainly didn't lift too much since it didn't have time. I've been working on this too, lower leg lift but it seems you need to go fast to happen. I'm not really convinced 180 is a magic number though. All things related to it are from observation of Olympic runners and those are pretty fast. Their recovery pace is my sprint pace. Any coaches I asked in person said they never considered cadence as part of their training. So I don't really know.

    Date.......Distance...Pace (min/km).........................Sarcastic tips from someone who ran since December
    April 1 - 3 km...........(7:30)..................................Your cotton shirts will do just fine. Your nipples won't bleed
    April 2 - rest
    April 3 - 10 km.........(4:51).................................Go fast first miles in a race, you won't bonk near the end
    April 4 - 5.2 km........(7:35)..........................................................Buy all the shoes

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    03/04: Bucharest 10k and Family run (registered) 48:37, 188/1010
    16/04: Color Run Bucharest (registered)
    15/05: Bucharest Half Marathon
  • whatang
    whatang Posts: 102 Member
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    @ceciliaslater so sorry to hear about Maggie. What a horrible situation. My sympathies.
  • onesmallchoice
    onesmallchoice Posts: 16 Member
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    4/1-rest
    4/2-2 mi
    4/3-2 mi
    4/4-2 mi

    Short runs three days in a row and my back/hip seem to be holding up! If this keeps up, I'll be back in actual training in no time! Not in time to run an upcoming 10k, but I tell myself I'm just feeling out the course to come back and kick its butt next year. :)
  • michable
    michable Posts: 312 Member
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    @ceciliaslater I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to your poor Maggie! You all must be traumatised by what has happened. I am so scared of aggressive dogs; we often hear about terrible dog attacks on small children here. Aggressive dogs really need to be restrained and contained at all times!
  • librarianlady2012
    librarianlady2012 Posts: 56 Member
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  • michable
    michable Posts: 312 Member
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    @MNLittleFinn Pleased to hear you are getting a headlamp for running through national forest in the dark! I always wear my head lamp when I am running early before it's light, and it helps me spot any spider webs across the path before I run through them (I really hate running through spider webs - it is almost enough to put me off early morning running); also helps me spot any dogs that might be loose too so I can turn around and go a different way - I find a lot of dogs tend to get out overnight, and I don't trust them at all. I don't have to worry about bears or cougars here, though.
  • michable
    michable Posts: 312 Member
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    Easy 8.7 km this morning, at 7:08 min/km; av HR 131; max HR 148. Nice, cool conditions this morning, at 20C. Winter is coming, I guess.

    Apr 1 – Rest
    Apr 2 – 27.55 km
    Apr 3 – Rest
    Apr 4 – 8.59 km
    Apr 5 – 8.72 km

    Total: 44.86 km / 240 km

    Races:
    5 June Rocky River Run 21km
    3 July Gold Coast Marathon


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  • shanaber
    shanaber Posts: 6,394 Member
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    I had a really great run today just doing my regular 5 mile loop. It was warm again but not nearly as warm as Saturday's 80. The problem I am having now is when I first start out my cast vibrates and bugs me so I am trying to hold it still with my fingers as much as possible. I will need to retrain myself to not clutch my hand once I get it off :) Then about midway into my run my arm starts to swell and by the time I get home it is feeling claustrophobic... It just wants out of that cast! The good news is I only have a little over a week to deal with it. I will still have to wear a brace when I run but I will be able to remove it when I get home until I shower and cool down.

    Date..........Miles.........Total
    04/01.......5.44..........5.44
    04/02.......8.33........13.77
    04/03.......0.00........13.77
    04/04.......5.25........19.02

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    Upcoming Races - Let me know if you will be running too!
    06/25/16 - SHEPower Virtual Half Marathon
    07/31/16 - San Francisco 2nd Half Marathon
    09/xx/16 - Beat the Blerch Half Marathon, Seattle
    xx/xx/xx - Nike Women's Half Marathon, Los Angeles
    12/18/16 - San Diego Holiday Half Marathon
  • ariceroni
    ariceroni Posts: 422 Member
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    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    9voice9 wrote: »
    @WhatMeRunning, @MNLittleFinn: thanks for the responses. I guess I was hoping for a magic formula that would let me be easier, not smart folks who know that I needed a kick in the *kitten*. :smiley:
    I'm in a strange "kick in the kitten" spot myself. I know my 5k time from a bunch of dedicated speedwork over the winter. While my long run, easy pace and even tempo paces in the McMillan calculator seem spot on given that 5k time, it is suggesting a half marathon time that I am not 100% confident is possible. Same with the marathon time. So I have to take it that I am being a wussy on those half marathon distances and not pushing hard enough apparently!:lol:

    This could also be an indication that you are better at short distance running than long distance! I'm the same way- if I use my 5K PR, race calculators consistently predict HM times that are ~5 minutes faster than my PR for that distance. Keep in mind, my HM PR was ran 2 weeks after the 5K race that I used to calculate that time and I puked/nearly passed out at the end so I really don't believe I could have done it any faster. I think this was discussed a little in last month's thread, that some people excel more in shorter or longer races. I have some characteristics of both categories, but when it comes to races I definitely do better on shorter races.
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
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    Shoes arrive Thursday, headlamp and new pants arrive Wed, in time for my Thursday run! Tomorrow will be my last day running without light.
  • librarianlady2012
    librarianlady2012 Posts: 56 Member
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    @ceciliaslater
    So sorry for your loss. That was a very traumatic way to lose a friend. We just lost our lab, Belle, to cancer and that was bad, but I couldn't imagine your sudden & traumatic loss.
  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    9voice9 wrote: »
    @WhatMeRunning, @MNLittleFinn: thanks for the responses. I guess I was hoping for a magic formula that would let me be easier, not smart folks who know that I needed a kick in the *kitten*. :smiley:
    I'm in a strange "kick in the kitten" spot myself. I know my 5k time from a bunch of dedicated speedwork over the winter. While my long run, easy pace and even tempo paces in the McMillan calculator seem spot on given that 5k time, it is suggesting a half marathon time that I am not 100% confident is possible. Same with the marathon time. So I have to take it that I am being a wussy on those half marathon distances and not pushing hard enough apparently!:lol:

    The standard calculators use formulas and assumptions. Among the assumptions are: 1) You are optimally trained for the race at the pace the calculator spits out, and 2) the limiting factor on speed is your cardio conditioning.

    What happens with longer races, particularly when the distance is new to you, is that the cardio might not be the limiting factor. The calculators all said I could run a marathon in 3:14 or so, from my half marathon times; but I actually ran my first marathon in 3:21 or so. The limiting factor was muscular/skeletal, not cardio. Also, my training was rather light and the "optimally trained for the distance" assumption probably didn't hold.

    With further training and development, the calculators now think I can run a marathon in the 3:05 to 3:07 range. I'll be delighted to hit the 3:10 to 3:15 range.

    FWIW, I know a guy who has run many marathons and tells me he could never hit the time the calculators spit out. My working assumption is that non-cardio factors are more important for non-elite runners, and the calculators are built off data from elites.

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