April 2016 Running Challenge

9voice9 wrote: »

samthepanda wrote: »

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?

1) Short, long, feh! The only comparison you make is to the yesterday-you. If you're doing better today than that one, you're good!
2) Don't feel like you need to drop out now - we're not even half-way thru the month. If you're otherwise healthy, then the best advice I can give (which is entirely negligible!) is keep moving, but slow down. Walking is still moving, and is a great way to build/rebuild a base. If you can throw in a few steps at a very slow run, that's great. Remember - walking is both feet on the ground the entire time, running is both feet off the ground at some point in the cycle/gait.
We believe in ALL runners! and that includes YOU!

+1 to this. It's not about the mileage, it's about the mindset. Keep moving, go slow, rebuild your base and it will all come together.

ugh, such a rough day. such a rough weekend. and then i went to the gym and forgot pants. had to go buy shorts. and still did a super slow sweaty run. it sucked. well the run was fine but I don't feel any better.

i'm thinking about doing a race this weekend. maybe even a trail series. sigh. feeling irritable. not enough running and not enough yoga

4/01: Off, rest day
4/02: 12 miles, long and easy
4/03: 8K race - 36:36 (7:22 pace) - new PR! + 1 mile warm up
4/04: 4 miles, easy
4/05: 5 miles, easy
4/06: 5 miles total, 2 miles @ 7:38 (LT) pace (am)
4/06: 4 miles, easy (pm)
4/07: 5 miles, easy
4/08: Off, rest day
4/09: Half Marathon - 1:53:11 - treated as a long run with strong finish
4/10: 4 miles, easy
4/11: 6 miles, easy
Total: 64.36 miles

Overview:
Today’s run was an easy 6 miles in the sun! Finally warm enough that I only had to wear ONE layer on top, and I probably could have done with capris instead of pants. My legs are still feeling incredibly sore from the weekend but I’m hoping that they’ll be back to normal in another day or two.





Races I'm registered for:
04/03 - Shamrock Shuffle (8K) 36:36 - new 8K PR!
04/09 - Chi Town Half Marathon 1:53:11 - took it nice and easy
04/24 - Ravenswood Run (5K)
05/22 - Chicago Spring 13.1
05/28 - Soldier Field Run (10 miles)
07/21 - Esprit de She 5K
09/10 - Magnificent Mile Half Marathon
09/25 - Chicago Lifetime 5K
10/09 - Chicago Marathon
10/30 - Hot Chocolate 5K
11/27 - Space Coast Half Marathon

4/1 - 5.5 miles
4/2 - family day
4/3 - 5 miles
4/4 -6 - lazy butt days
4/7 - 5 miles
4/8 -9 - rest days
4/10 - 13.2 Bridge Street Half Marathon
4/11 - 3.2 recovery miles

31 out of 100 miles

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!

Sorry I'm a little late to the game here! I'm not sure exactly what type of advice you are looking for, but I can tell you what has worked for me. From what I understand, menstrual irregularities can lead to decreased bone strength (not sure how exactly this works though?). Not eating enough and having a low body fat % both can lead to missed periods, and decreased bone density as a result. In my case, a combination of chronic overexercise and undereating caused me to stop menstruating for ~2 years. When I finally got treatment for my eating disorder, I was told that, at 21 years of age, I had the same bone density as the average 55 year old woman and evidence of multiple stress fractures in my tibias and feet. Fortunately I was still young, so daily calcium (with vitamin D) supplements, birth control, and getting back to a healthy body weight has helped improve my bone density since then. Also, I added in strength training once I was medically cleared to do so. Even with everything I've done over the last four years though, I still have below average bone density for my age and am prone to stress fractures, and it's only within the last year and a half that I've really been able to run again. The point is, if you or another athlete you know is having menstrual irregularities, please go see a doctor as soon as you can to get things sorted out! The consequences can be pretty serious and life-long so it's better to be safe.

Some of the things my doctor has recommended over the years: calcium supplements (with vitamin D), birth control, iron supplements, omega 3, eating enough, and strength training.

@adrianchr92 thank you for the compliment - I guess I'm not too bad for an old broad LOLOL
@stoshew71 Skip told me you yelled to her. She said Mom people were going by yelling "hey Skip" she said it was so weird. Some of them I knew but not all of them. Then I told her about the picture I put on WRH, she just cracked up. Your legs won't even be warmed up in a 5K
@civicsista awesome time!! After 3 beers I'd be laying on the ground
@ron_Dco nice 5K time!!!
@instantmartian ugh I hate uphills at the start of a race. Super job on the PR.
@pcarvalho3 awesome job on both the 5K and 10K times!
@samthepanda like @9voice9 and others have said, never compare yourself to others. Here's an example, @stoshew71 and I live near each other, a couple times a year we run in the same race. Yesterday we both ran in the same HM. He is home, showered and watching TV and I'm still out there running LOL. I don't compare myself to him (or anyone else out there) I would end up making myself crazy. In my case I run for health and fitness and I run 2 miles a day or 20 miles a day it's about my fitness. I like to "race" because it gives me something to look forward to that I can with friends or my daughter and we live in an awesome racing community.

As a matter of fact this is how awesome they are. These are the folks that @Stoshew71 runs with during the week. They were one of the aid stations yesterday. They were awesome, they even had a band or at least it was a guy singing. How can you not want to run in this environment ha ha





Oh and look I found a picture of me crossing the finish line. See @kristinegift it's not always so nice LOL

Stoshew71 wrote: »

OK! I just signed up for my first 5K ever. Shortest race I ever done up until this point was an 8K. My work is putting on a 5K (as part of the Team Day Commander's Cup) and I was kinda guilted in participating. Wed April 15th. Technically I will get paid to run this thing (since it is sponsored by work and during work hours), so do I now consider myself a professional runner? LOL

@Stoshew71 - You must feel like I did last June, when I got talked into a mile race. I told one of the guys trying to talk me into it, I'm not much of a sprinter. Big mistake. I got a long lecture on how a mile isn't a sprint, and there are race strategies, and you do thus and such. Funny thing was, aside from the ridiculously short distances and times, it sounded a lot like the race strategy for a half or a marathon.

But from my perspective, a mile is still just a case of go out and run as hard as I can for a mile. A 5K isn't quite that bad, but it's close. Think of it as going out too fast for an 8K, and getting bailed out by an early finish line.

And yeah, what a luxury to get paid for it! I've done the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge (3.5 miles) for my employer, but I had to pay the entry fee and it wasn't during work hours. I was able to take off a couple hours early to get ready, and my employer provided post-race food; but that's about the extent of sponsorship that I got.

This is my first time with this challenge... looks fun. I'll set my goal at 180.

Congrats on the great 10k time @pcarvalho!

@Stoshew71 - Wow, a business is paying you to run now? That seems like a professional sposorship to me. Maybe they will buy running gear too?

skippygirlsmom wrote: »

@samthepanda like @9voice9 and others have said, never compare yourself to others. Here's an example, @stoshew71 and I live near each other, a couple times a year we run in the same race. Yesterday we both ran in the same HM. He is home, showered and watching TV and I'm still out there running LOL. I don't compare myself to him (or anyone else out there) I would end up making myself crazy. In my case I run for health and fitness and I run 2 miles a day or 20 miles a day it's about my fitness. I like to "race" because it gives me something to look forward to that I can with friends or my daughter and we live in an awesome racing community.

This is a great point. I became a bit more aware of this just the other day during my half marathon.

My sister-in-law went with me to the race, but since she is faster than me we did not run it together. It was her first half marathon, and she is who approached me about the 39.3 series of 3 half marathons we are both doing. I could tell she was interested but hesitant and figured if I told her I would do it with her she would finally go for it, and she did!

On the way there I asked if she was ready, in a tone to kind of help psych us up for it. Well, she seemed a bit unsure and not that excited really due to her feeling she had not run much recently (she hadn't but had trained well until about 3 weeks ago). Of course I reassured her, and let her know that maybe that break could help her even!

Well, to keep this from getting too long winded, she confided in me that she really does not think she likes running (who does, really?) and thinks she may stick to 5k's from here on out. No big thing, but she also seemed to be a bit unsure what the point of "running races" was and all that. I'm guessing because she knows she is not going to win (neither am I). She asked about my races last year (particularly the 3 marathons in 30 days) and this year (the 6 half marathons in 3 weeks). She said I was crazy, and I am! She also said ultra runners were crazy, etc...

So, my mindset going in was not as pumped as normal just to be there and have fun. I did have fun, I still enjoyed my run. But it made me question a bit more about why I pay money to do these events when I can run that distance anywhere else for free. I mean, I am NOT just about the bling (although I do like it). I do not flaunt my running to people and am very humble (despite having chrome 13.1 and 26.2 lettering on the back of the car). So why do I do these events?

I dunno. They are fun though. They are a goal to meet that keeps me running in between events. I may run to set a new PR, or I may run just to add it to the list of races I have done. Or maybe I run it to level up in Half Fanatics (or some day a higher level in Marathon Maniacs). They are so vastly different than a training run for so many reasons.

So I run races. And I generally come in at the bottom 15% of my age group and sex even! I have even been dead last in a full marathon...and that was my favorite full marathon even, the one I had the most fun in.

I would love to be as fast as many, many people. And the funny thing is, the great majority of people who think they are "too slow" are faster than me!

Do I care? Nope. I just run.

@Elise4270 I guess that's basically what I've been doing this month. Like Friday should've been 7.5 miles but I did only 3.1 to test out my knee and honestly it felt fine. Then Saturday I did 5 and again, fine. But I have pain IN BETWEEN running and that worries me. I hate seeing my mileage falling off. I've been tracking in weeks since Friday Jan 1 since I resumed running that day. Week 12 I ran 20.6, week 13 was 17.3, week 14 was 11.75, and now if I don't run tomorrow, week 15 will be 8.1 miles I'm freaking out that I'm going in reverse due to shortening long runs to short runs and skipping some days all together.

No, I haven't tried physical therapy. I probably should.