April 2016 Running Challenge

@MobyCarp - Well, you are the rock star that is running Boston, so we want to follow. Thanks for the info! I will just be looking online since I'm teaching that day. Note to self - info is on the bottom of page 29.

4/1- rest
4/2- 6.23 miles
4/3- 4 miles
4/4- rest
4/5- 4 miles
4/6- rest
4/7- 4 miles
4/8- rest
4/9- 6.24 miles
4/10- 4 Miles

Total: 28.47/60

Notes on today: Recovery run today, and I finally had an average pace that was (according to the McMillan Calculator) at 12:03 min/mile, it was my slowest run yet. It was actually harder than I thought it would be. Despite my legs feeling heavy, from yesterday's 6.24 miles at the fast end of Long Run pace, I had a harder time keeping it slower. So, Miles 2 and 3 were too fast, but miles 1 and 4 were slow enough to bring the average pace o where it should be. It was a beautiful morning, withe the sun coming up as I was running. Great way to start the day/week.

Wore my new Nike pegasus 32 Flash shoes today. They felt kind of tight at first, but I think that's because I was wearing heavy socks which, it turns out, were unnecessary. Other than that, the shoes performed just fine, nothing amazing, but I expected them to work well, since my other pair of runners is basically the same shoe.

Been out of pocket for a few days. I decided on the plane to Vegas that I am going to train for my first marathon this year. The marathon is in Richmond, Virginia, in November ("the friendliest marathon"), and I am running about 25 miles a week currently, with 12 being my longest. I would love your insight. Could you share one or two of your most valuable pieces of advice in re: training, diet, injury prevention, the race, hydrating, recuperation, etc. I'm reading and researching, of course, but would love your input (and maybe it will also help someone else)! Thanks!

OK, time to catch up on the 4 pages of posts since I last caught up Friday night!

@shanaber - So sorry to hear the news.

@Orphia - Great pic on that park run track! And congrats on the PB! Oh, and congrats on the 1 year MFP anniversary!!

@juliet3455 - Hope that calf is back under control.

@louubelle16 - That's some great progress on your 5k times! I love it when clear progress is shown like that.

@9voice9 - Don't worry, you'll speed up over time if you keep training. Not that it helps, but I am looking forward to getting up to 11 min/miles myself. I did 11:27 at my half yesterday, the best yet. So maybe next year (or maybe the fall, who knows?).

@MNLittleFinn - Nice long run! How was that westbound route? As for the leags feeling heavy on the recovery run, that is pretty normal. Mine felt a bit like lead today, and on that last mile they felt a few times like they might revolt. But keeping things slow like that they can keep moving on, and also still recover due to not pushing the muscles all that much.

@ariceroni - Way to go taking on that HM in the ice and cold! And to finish as strong as you did. Sounds like you definitely have a good HM in your future.

@dennie24 - Way to go on pushing yourself with the new 5k time!

@kristinegift - I do have a goal HM race coming up on 5/14 (Running with the Cows). That comes after a one week break after my 4 consecutive HM weekends. So these 4 HM weekends are "training", then I get a bit of a break to rest up fo rhte effort on 5/14. For the fall, I am torn about the Kansas City Marathon. It is my only full and is currently my target race for the fall. I am torn between leaving it as a full or bumping down to the half and having it as a fall half target. My only concern with the full is if I race it as a full, I shoudl be able to reverse taper in time to do my 6 halfs over 3 weekends, but I kind of wonder if that isn't pushing things a bit. I still have plenty of time to make up my mind on that.

@ROBOTFOOD - That sounds like a crazy trail race! I'm guessing that was challenging on the hills. I'm also guessing it was the most fun ever?

@juliet3455 - That is a very kind thing you did helping that new runner.

@Ohhim - Best wishes on the 70.3 today!!

@mk2loser - I LOVE your trail running enthusiasm!

@MobyCarp - Thanks for the info! I think it will be a lot of fun tracking your progress. Best wishes next week! Any butterflies yet?

@greenolivetree - I think some of my favorite PR's are tough hill segments.

@4leighbee - YAY!!! WOOT!!! Awesome!!! Honestly, I think some of the best advice might be in @Stoshew71's blog post where he talks about training plans. It consolidated a lot of great info in one place. Start with a base building phase and I would suggest trying to get around 50-60 miles/weeks (just based on my experience). Don't worry about speed or workout runs too much (if at all) during that phase, just slowly build up mileage. Once you get up to that mileage then start adding in the tempo and intervals runs slowly to build up strength/speed on top of the established mileage. Then run your marathon. And give us a full race report. During your training you will have ample opportunity to test hydration/fueling. Take advantage of that and run the race using your proven, tested method.

4/3 5.56
4/8 7.9
4/10 5.04

18.5/70

Big moment for me today, i ran my first 5K-35:05...its was called the "Spring Thaw" for a reason eh! 31 degrees running beside Lake St.Clair perfect weather for us thick skinned Canadians. I went into the race with the attitude to just have fun....and fun was had by all.

Cheers to all you inspiring runners on this April Challenge!

4/1-Run 4.1 miles
4/2- Rest
4/3-Run 3.27 miles
4/4-Cycle
4/5-Walk-3 miles
4/6-Run-4 miles.......Total Running Miles 11.37
4/7-Cycle
4/8-Run 3.1 Miles
4/9-Walk 4 Miles
4/10-3.1 Miles~Ran my first 5K~...Total Running Miles ~17.57~

Date      Miles      MTD
------    -----    -----
Apr 01    103.7    103.7  April Fools!!
Apr 03      6.2      6.2  Cohasset 10K, PR and 19th in my age group!
Apr 05      5.3T    11.5
Apr 06      3.8T    15.3
Apr 09      6.4     21.7
Apr 10      5.0     26.7

What a great group! Will shoot for 40 miles this month. So far have done about 3! So awesome to hear about others setting fitness/running goals and completing them. Subgoal - to daily fit in the workout and not let work get in the way.

Thanks @WhatMeRunning ! If anyone has any advice about long runs and menstrual cycle (i.e., related injury prevention - avoiding female athlete triad), feel free to inbox me about how you handle it. I suffered a fracture to the femoral head during that perfect storm - would prefer to avoid that!

4leighbee wrote: »

Thanks @WhatMeRunning ! If anyone has any advice about long runs and menstrual cycle (i.e., related injury prevention - avoiding female athlete triad), feel free to inbox me about how you handle it. I suffered a fracture to the femoral head during that perfect storm - would prefer to avoid that!

I've heard about it, but from what I understand it's also nutritional, right? I eat a lot so I've never looked into it. I'll forgo the PM, cuz this IS running related, and the fellas can skim or skip

I'd be interested in hearing others advice too. I'd think @skippygirlsmom with Skip's age, and maybe @kristinegift would have some info?

Lauren Fleshman brushes over it in the Believe training journal. But, like I said- I kinda skiped that.

wow amazing people on here and awesome runs! i'm afraid I might be one of the shortest lasting contributors on here. 10th April and I have only managed my 2nd run of 1.5 miles and I have been paying for it all day - chest is awful. Maybe I need to rejoin you in May? You guys are awesome though. Keep going!

So I did my bike ride today, prepping for a three day ride in South GA next weekend. This coming week I'm going to have to take it easy on the running so I can rest up for the ride. More core strengthening instead, and maybe a swim.

Unfortuantely, between last week's lack of motivation for running into 25mph winds and this coming weeks taking it easy week, I'm way behind on my mileage.

I have an event every month unitil October, where I finish my season with a half iron man.

March- Spartan sprint 6 mile - DONE
April - BRAG spring tune up
May - tough mudder & 5k
June - haven't got anything scheduled.... Yet
July - Crows like TRI- sprint & Peachtree road race 10k
August- spartan super 10mils & TRI to Beat Cancer sprint
Sept - Lake Lanier island TRI
Oct - RocknrollMan 1/2 iron man & Spartan beast 12miles

I started all prepping for this in October. Prior to that, I didnt do much. Smoking didn't really allow for alot of excercise. But I've quit and my running is improving quickly. I'm even beginning to enjoy it. *gasp. Everyone on this thread is motivating me to push my self to do better.

@WhatMeRunning Yes hills got a little tough towards the end. But it's fun. --- Today, ran up Black mtn again. It's raining here and 45f (38f at the top). Ran right through the clouds. So amazing! 7.1mi total, 14:11/mi avg pace, vertical gain: 2,234ft, time: 1:41 PR's all around! Wahoo! Posted some rad pics on Strava and IG. @_nikkiwolf_ Thanks! It was a blast! And congrats to everyone racing today! WTG!

4/1 - Easy 10.1mi @ 8:25/mi
4/2 - rest.
4/3 - 1mi fun hike for views of SLC. 400ft vertical.
4/4 - Snowboard 41.8mi 30,000ft, descent (not counted on April total), 55.8mph top speed.
4/5 - 7.3mi mountain (steep) run. About 2,000ft vertical, 14:31/avg. Medium effort.
4/6 - Rest
4/7 - 4.5mi easy w speed bursts 8:50 - 5:40/mi
4/8 - rest
4/9 - Beginners Luck 25k trail race (2:53)
4/10 - 7.1mi on Black Mtn, 2,234ft vertical gain, 14:11/mi (PR)

April total - 46.2/153mi

I ran my first 10k race today! Not surprisingly (since it was my first ), it was a PR: 1:01:02 - best 10km time in training runs was 1:08:30.
I'm pretty happy with my time - I plugged my last 5k time from 10 days ago into a race time predictor, which told me 1:01:30 was possible, and I managed to do slightly better than that.
Okay, if I'm completely honest, I might have been dreaming of a sub-60 10k, but I'd decided before the race to be happy with everything under 1:05:00.

Below is a picture of the course with my split times (if you can read them). They are all over the place - there were some hills to climb in the first 4km, and for most parts the way there was just wide enough for two runners side by side, which made overtaking people an additional challenge. After those 4km, my average pace was 6:26min/km, so I was more or less resigned to the fact that I would "only" hit my "minimum" goal of 1:05h.

The next bit was a beautiful bit of downhill trail by the riverside, and I was able to speed up a bit. That didn't last long, km-6-to-7 right after that ended up being the slowest of them all, with a pace of 6:58min/km. No hills to blame from this one, but a combination of walking to drink something at an aid station, and stairs. My sense of balance is really aweful, trying to run down stairs is bound to end up with me tumbling down. Might be a fast way to make the descent, but I chose to walk instead.

After that though, the course was lovely - the field started to stretch out, it was finally enough space that everyone could overtake whomever and whenever they wanted, and save for a bit of climbing at the end, it was also flat. My average pace on the last 3km was 5:48min/km - pretty much my 5k race pace. When I crossed the finish line, I was in a state of "keep walking, breath slow, don't stop or you'll throw up", so I guess that means I gave it my best effort.
For the next four weeks, I want to focuss on my HM training now. But after that one, I might have to find myself another 10km race and see if I can't shave some 63 seconds off along the way...

No running for me today. It's crazy windy and I should really rest my knee and not overdo it. I'm on track still to make 60 miles this month but I secretly wanted to make 70 or 80. Ha. Not gonna happen right now. So an hour low impact aerobics today. Tomorrow is stormy so hopefully back to running Tuesday.

@_nikkiwolf_ Great job on your first 10k!

@ROBOTFOOD Your elevation blows my mind.

@Stoshew71 Awesome PR

@KoraMT Congrats on giving up smoking and becoming active.

Okay, that's as far back as I'm going but hi everyone else!