April 2016 Running Challenge

Options
18485878990112

Replies

  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
    edited April 2016
    Options
    Ok, I have decided to stop providing "like" and "awesome" feedback in lieu of textual "likes" and "awesomes".

    @ohhim - "like" + "awesome" on the costume idea!

    @9voice9 - Programmer here too so I sympathize all too well. Good luck!

    @juliet3455 - Summer is a tough time for running. I recall on the hottest days last summer doing marathon training long runs and being thankful I was running slow as opposed to any sort of speedwork. I may have been fooling myself though.

    @username301 - "awesome" the effort trying out a morning run!

    @07KatieP13 - Congrats on the PB! That's "like" totally "awesome"!!
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
    Options
    Congrats @Diantha21!!

    Looking forward to more training reports @MNLittleFinn!
  • ddmom0811
    ddmom0811 Posts: 1,878 Member
    Options
    @ohhim - lol on your costume!
    @MobyCarp - You've got more miles than your car. :wink:
    @9voice9 - programmer and now teacher of programming so I get it too. My students sometimes tell me they are "done" and haven't even tested their code once!
    @WhatMeRunning - I don't have enough time to give much feedback but I keep forgetting about the like and awesome buttons.
    @_nikkiwolf_ love some of those signs. :lol:


    Nice moonlight run this morning. Intervals! I'm glad I took about a year of just increasing my distance and not worrying about speed at all. Not that I had a plan for that... it just sort of happened. So maybe I'll take a year of doing intervals. Still need to sign up for some races for later this year.

    4/1- 5.1 miles in the rain
    4/2 - rest/travel day
    4/3 - 34 miles on bike
    4/4 - 5.1 miles (intervals)
    4/5 - 5.1 miles - intervals (although slower than yesterday)
    4/6 - 22 miles on bike + Strength training
    4/7 - 4.2 miles - slow and steady
    4/8 - strength training
    4/9 - 34 miles on bike
    4/10 - 50 miles on bike
    4/11 - 5.1 miles - recovery run from all the biking + strength training
    4/12 - 4.2 miles
    4/13 - rest day (biking rained out).
    4/14 - 4.8 miles
    4/15 - sick day
    4/16 - 4.2 very slow miles (feeling better)
    4/17 - 35 miles on bike
    4/18 - 5 miles (intervals)
    4/19 - strength training
    4/20 - 4 miles + 24 mile bike ride
    4/21 - 5 miles


    exercise.png

  • instantmartian
    instantmartian Posts: 335 Member
    Options
    4leighbee wrote: »
    Thought this would bring a smile to some (all?) of you today: a friend I hadn't seen in a while who isn't crazy about working out told me that she'd run two miles the other day. Turns out she calls what she does on the elliptical "running." ;)

    That's so cute! It only takes like 15 minutes to "run" two miles on an eliptical, too, so she was really booking it! :)

    I actually started "running" using the elliptical--I was too fat to do anything else. But as soon as I started actual running, there was no way you could get me back on that beast! Some people hate treadmills, but I really hate ellipticals!

    I HATE ellipticals! I have so many friends who use them, own them, and love them. They don't understand how I can run six-plus miles on a treadmill in the winter. I don't understand how they can stand being on an elliptical for more than two minutes. They claim it's the "best workout." I claim I can name about 500 things that are better. To each his own, I guess.
    When I was recovering some foot pain after my first HM I found I could go 3 hours at the same HR on the ellipticals a lot easier, and much more frequently than running for 3 hours (my HM time then). I would do that 3x/week to keep my cardio up while recovering. No way I could have run 3 hours 3x/week then. And the day I run 3 hours on the treadmill, please shoot me (no offense to treadmill users).

    I consider this a perfectly valid reason to use an elliptical! When I do run on a treadmill, it's never for more than 6-8 miles. It is excruciatingly boring, and I know for training purposes it's better to just suck it up and run outside in the cold, but I just can't bring myself to do so. I'd rather be bored out of my mind running 8 miles on a treadmill messing with the speed and incline the entire time than having a massive headache for the rest of the day from sucking in cold air. I know if I ever get to the point where I train for anything further than a half I will have to put on my big girl pants and get my butt outside in the middle of the winter, but I'm not there, yet.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    edited April 2016
    Options
    April

    1-no run yet, maybe later
    2-13.2mi
    3-nothing
    4-nothing
    5-5.35
    6-yoga tonight
    7-nope
    8-late night tonight(ani difranco concert), so no run this morning
    9-nothing
    10-nothing
    11-4.27mi
    12- slept in
    13-yoga (foam rolling-esque aerial yoga)
    14-nothing
    15-nothing
    16-my bacholette party-lots of dancing
    17-recovery from party.
    18-nothing
    19-4.86mi hard one
    20-5.00mi and yoga
    21-nothing



    exercise.png


    RACES:
    Jan 16-Frosty 5k-33:43:123 (gun time-don't have chip time)
    Feb 13-Steve Cullen Run 8k chip time: 53:37
    Feb 15 Puppy Love Virtual Run 10k runkeeper time: 1:13:20
    Mar 12-Great Pi Run 5k 32:17
    May 7-Door County Half Marathon
    May 28-Top Gun Run 5k
    June 19th through Sunday, July 10th SHE Power Virtual Half


  • CivicSista
    CivicSista Posts: 459 Member
    Options
    I'm in!!!

    Anyone else get in for Chicago marathon?

    I ran it in 2014, and need redemption. I did so poorly. 6:11 ugh
  • instantmartian
    instantmartian Posts: 335 Member
    Options
    9voice9 wrote: »
    A mildly crappy day:
    • Had to take the long commute, because Google told me there was a bad accident on the interstate
    • I'm a programmer, but I've been "loaned out" to a different group because of their bad planning (IMHO), so I had a program that HAD to be coded & tested TODAY
    • Coding was simple (and, in fact, I coded all 4 of the programs I was assigned), but the testing is a BEAR, and this particular bear put me in a situation of sitting on my *kitten* for 6 straight hours (no bio-break, no H20 break) doing a cut-and-paste from one screen to another 533 times. Read that last 2 words again, please.
    • BTW as I neared the end of those 533 cut-and-pastes, the lead developer sent out an email saying that the DB2 engineers had decided they didn't like the way the template was designed, so we ALL had to change that part of the code. And recompile. And restart testing. Remember, I'm supposed to turn over one of these programs TODAY.
    Needless to say, I was grumpy when, at 3:00, I decided, "Screw it, I'm going for my lunch run and they'll have to suffer with not getting the stupid program today (since they moved the goal posts mid-game anyway)." No, I hadn't eaten since 8:30, and had not much hydration. I knew I'd take it slow and easy, but didn't necessarily plan on a 11:41/mile/mostly-walking run.

    You know those times when you run to get out of your head and just get away from the lousy day you're having? Today should've been one of those, but it just wasn't.

    Fortunately, choir practice with my Chancel Choir made up for it. I love those folks!

    Fun story:

    I was a CIS major in college. I wanted to work with computers so badly (I still do). I was a mediocre programmer, but I did love my major. After three semesters, I had an epiphany and decided I didn't want to spend the rest of my life sitting in a cubical testing code all day, every day. In order to change my major, I needed permission from the department head, and he did everything in his power to sway me away from my decision. At the time, I was one of only a handful of females in the program, and I wasn't even close to failing out, so he couldn't understand my decision. He tried telling me that I would probably only write/test code for "about five or eight years" before I'd be in some sort of management roll. My response was, "That's five or eight years too many."

    Not to mention in the Spring/Early Fall on nice days when the rest of the world was hanging around outside reading class material and I was stuck in a computer lab for hours working on a program.

    My major was changed to MIS, and I had every intention of still being in the tech field on the system administrator side, but life never works out quite like one planned. I ended up accepting a position as a health insurance sales rep after nearly a year of unsuccessful job hunting in the IT field, then I managed a tourist operation for 7 years, and I am now in purchasing for a fire truck manufacturer. I still have hopes and dreams of IT, but I'm not sure that'll ever happen at this point in life.

    I'm glad you were able to recover from such an awful day. If I was smart, I would have taken up running when I was doing my undergrad - it would have gotten me outside for a little while, at least. It's amazing how great of a stress-reliever it is!
  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
    Options
    CivicSista wrote: »
    I'm in!!!

    Anyone else get in for Chicago marathon?

    I ran it in 2014, and need redemption. I did so poorly. 6:11 ugh

    Congratulations!
  • 9voice9
    9voice9 Posts: 693 Member
    Options
    The comments about heat echo in my own thoughts, but OTOH, I'm prepping for the Peachtree Road Race - downtown Atlanta, 04-Jul. I'm expecting heat in the high 70's to 80's, and humidity above 60%, so I'm doing the lion's share of my running (at least thru July) in the middle of the day so I can acclimate. BRING ON THE SMELLY SWEATS! :)
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    Options
    @WhatMeRunning I'll be posting small reports on here for each run. A lot of them will look like "45m-1h at E" for the first 2-3 weeks, then I'll have something more interesting for 1 of my 4 runs per week and, of course, my LR days will have a little more variety.
  • karllundy
    karllundy Posts: 1,490 Member
    Options
    4/1 - 3.5 miles on indoor track + weights/abs
    4/2 - Life day
    4/3 - 10 miles. Very windy.
    4/4 - Rest day.
    4/5 - 4 miles on the treadmill, then weights/abs.
    4/6 - 4.3 miles. Cool, damp and breezy.
    4/7 - 4.5 miles on treadmill (Trek class)
    4/8 - Rest day...lots of housework/painting/yardwork
    4/9 - 4.05 mile trail race...super fun with local microbrews at the end! Had way more fun than I expected!
    4/10 - Skipped my long run due to back pain / spasms. Not sure if they were from the trail race or from moving my son's room. Had to skip my planned 10+ mile long run. Hope it gets better fast!
    4/11 - Woke up with continued back pain. Getting cranky.
    4/12 - 4.4 miles. Chilly, but tolerable. Back was tender, but not painful.
    4/13 - 5.43 miles. Went further than planned, because it was beautiful out.
    4/14 - 3.48 mile evening run.
    4/15 - 10.01 miles. UGLY. Hot, humid early afternoon run. Went out too fast. Had to take a short walk break in the middle.
    4/16 - Rest day.
    4/17 - 5.19 miles. Cool, comfortable.
    4/18 - 4.72 miles.
    4/19 - 3.98 miles while my daughter had soccer practice

    exercise.png

    @MobyCarp - Congrats again on Boston! Love your recap and assessment!
    @Ohhim - That # is fantastic! Enjoy the costume and race! I have a friend who has all sorts of crazy theories about race bib karma. Cracks me up every time she goes off about it.
    @Elise4270 - The whole bag?!? Impressive!
    @9voice9 - Way to stay positive and find a way to recover from the day!
    @CivicSista - Congrats on your lottery win! I lived in the Chicago area in the late 90s (when I weighed nearly 300 lbs and couldn't run a block) and my college roommate would come to run that race. The whole vibe is fun there. Enjoy!
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    Options
    Date Miles today. Miles for April
    4/1 REST DAY
    4/2 14.3 miles - 14.3 <<< 13.1 HM + 1.2 warmup
    4/3 REST DAY
    4/4 4.2 miles - 18.5 << will try and get a second lunch time run in
    4/4 4.0 miles - 22.5 << daily double, 3E +1HMP
    4/5 8 miles - 30.5
    4/6 4.2 miles - 34.7 << easy recovery 4 (taper week)
    4/7 6 miles - 40.7
    4/8 5 miles - 45.7
    4/9 3.3 miles - 49
    4/10 14.2 miles - 63.2 << 13.1 + 1.1 w/u
    4/11 6.2 miles - 69.4
    4/12 9 miles - 78.4
    4/12 6.2 miles - 84.6 << daily double
    4/13 6.2 miles - 90.8
    4/14 9.6 miles - 100.4
    4/14 6.2 miles - 106.6 << daily double
    4/15 6.2 miles - 112.8 << recovery run
    4/16 16 miles - 128.8 << LSD run with a fast finish
    4/17 REST DAY
    4/18 10.5 miles 139.3
    4/19 8 miles 147.3 << Tempo pace for a few miles
    4/19 6.2 miles 153.5 << daily double
    4/20 6.2 miles - 159.7
    4/21 9 miles - 168.7 << Madkin Mnt + some tempo work



    exercise.png

    Upcoming races:
    UAH 8K - 3/6 <<< 34:33 3 in AG
    Oak Barrel HM - 4/2 <<<< 1:38:00 3 in AG
    Bridge Street HM - 4/10 <<< 1:36:33 3 in AG
    PEO-AVN Team Day 5K - 5/4
    Cotton Row Run 10K - 5/30
    Firecracker Chase 10.2 miler 6/25



  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    Options
    Basic outline of the plan I'm using, with some modifications made by me to fit my race schedule a little better.
    5w9oaw0p7yng.png
  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
    Options
    karllundy wrote: »

    @Elise4270 - The whole bag?!? Impressive!

    What was left of the bag. I don't advise a marshmallow dinner. My body is not happy with that choice.

    My son came over. Such a stress trigger. I love him and all. DH gets perturbed. I'm just in the middle.
  • ariceroni
    ariceroni Posts: 422 Member
    Options
    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
    4/12: 7 miles total, 3x1 mile repeats @ 7:19 pace
    4/13: 6 miles, easy (am)
    4/13: 4 miles, easy (pm)
    4/14: 8 miles total, 5 miles @ 7:45 (goal HM) pace
    4/15: Off, rest day
    4/16: 6 miles, easy
    4/17: 13 miles, long and easy
    4/18: 6 miles, easy
    4/19: 7 miles total, 3x1 mile repeats @ 5K effort
    4/20: 5 miles, easy (am)
    4/20: 4 miles, easy (pm)
    4/21: 6 miles, easy
    Total: 136.70 miles

    Overview:
    A nice, easy 6 miles this lovely morning! I’ve been in a bit of a running funk the last week or so, but finally felt back to normal today! Still planning to cut back my mileage a bit this week to help my legs recover from how sore they’ve been the last few days.


    exercise.png


    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
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    Options
    gabbo34 wrote: »
    gabbo34 wrote: »
    Amazon just delivered a new Garmin running watch....(my first one)....

    so I guess it's time for me to jump back in.... :)

    Nice! Which one you get?

    I'm easing in, so I got a Forerunner 220. The GPS on my phone isn't working correctly and the Apple Store couldn't figure out what's wrong. I didn't want to buy a whole new phone or drop $299 for a replacement, so I opted for a watch instead....

    That's what I use. FR-220. Welcome back!
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    Options
    9voice9 wrote: »
    A mildly crappy day:
    • Had to take the long commute, because Google told me there was a bad accident on the interstate
    • I'm a programmer, but I've been "loaned out" to a different group because of their bad planning (IMHO), so I had a program that HAD to be coded & tested TODAY
    • Coding was simple (and, in fact, I coded all 4 of the programs I was assigned), but the testing is a BEAR, and this particular bear put me in a situation of sitting on my *kitten* for 6 straight hours (no bio-break, no H20 break) doing a cut-and-paste from one screen to another 533 times. Read that last 2 words again, please.
    • BTW as I neared the end of those 533 cut-and-pastes, the lead developer sent out an email saying that the DB2 engineers had decided they didn't like the way the template was designed, so we ALL had to change that part of the code. And recompile. And restart testing. Remember, I'm supposed to turn over one of these programs TODAY.
    Needless to say, I was grumpy when, at 3:00, I decided, "Screw it, I'm going for my lunch run and they'll have to suffer with not getting the stupid program today (since they moved the goal posts mid-game anyway)." No, I hadn't eaten since 8:30, and had not much hydration. I knew I'd take it slow and easy, but didn't necessarily plan on a 11:41/mile/mostly-walking run.

    You know those times when you run to get out of your head and just get away from the lousy day you're having? Today should've been one of those, but it just wasn't.

    Fortunately, choir practice with my Chancel Choir made up for it. I love those folks!

    Sorry to hear about your aggrivating day. Hope you didn't have a core dump on your run walk.

  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    Options
    9voice9 wrote: »
    A mildly crappy day:
    • Had to take the long commute, because Google told me there was a bad accident on the interstate
    • I'm a programmer, but I've been "loaned out" to a different group because of their bad planning (IMHO), so I had a program that HAD to be coded & tested TODAY
    • Coding was simple (and, in fact, I coded all 4 of the programs I was assigned), but the testing is a BEAR, and this particular bear put me in a situation of sitting on my *kitten* for 6 straight hours (no bio-break, no H20 break) doing a cut-and-paste from one screen to another 533 times. Read that last 2 words again, please.
    • BTW as I neared the end of those 533 cut-and-pastes, the lead developer sent out an email saying that the DB2 engineers had decided they didn't like the way the template was designed, so we ALL had to change that part of the code. And recompile. And restart testing. Remember, I'm supposed to turn over one of these programs TODAY.
    Needless to say, I was grumpy when, at 3:00, I decided, "Screw it, I'm going for my lunch run and they'll have to suffer with not getting the stupid program today (since they moved the goal posts mid-game anyway)." No, I hadn't eaten since 8:30, and had not much hydration. I knew I'd take it slow and easy, but didn't necessarily plan on a 11:41/mile/mostly-walking run.

    You know those times when you run to get out of your head and just get away from the lousy day you're having? Today should've been one of those, but it just wasn't.

    Fortunately, choir practice with my Chancel Choir made up for it. I love those folks!

    Fun story:

    I was a CIS major in college. I wanted to work with computers so badly (I still do). I was a mediocre programmer, but I did love my major. After three semesters, I had an epiphany and decided I didn't want to spend the rest of my life sitting in a cubical testing code all day, every day. In order to change my major, I needed permission from the department head, and he did everything in his power to sway me away from my decision. At the time, I was one of only a handful of females in the program, and I wasn't even close to failing out, so he couldn't understand my decision. He tried telling me that I would probably only write/test code for "about five or eight years" before I'd be in some sort of management roll. My response was, "That's five or eight years too many."

    Not to mention in the Spring/Early Fall on nice days when the rest of the world was hanging around outside reading class material and I was stuck in a computer lab for hours working on a program.

    My major was changed to MIS, and I had every intention of still being in the tech field on the system administrator side, but life never works out quite like one planned. I ended up accepting a position as a health insurance sales rep after nearly a year of unsuccessful job hunting in the IT field, then I managed a tourist operation for 7 years, and I am now in purchasing for a fire truck manufacturer. I still have hopes and dreams of IT, but I'm not sure that'll ever happen at this point in life.

    I'm glad you were able to recover from such an awful day. If I was smart, I would have taken up running when I was doing my undergrad - it would have gotten me outside for a little while, at least. It's amazing how great of a stress-reliever it is!

    I got my bachelors in CS. I only programmed my first year. Then got into Technology Insertion and Technology Transition for the Army (contractor) which included a lot of security and networking stuff. Now I am a tech lead for a major program. Every once in a while I have to dig into someone else's code to try and figure what they did wrong and why their code isn't talking to my box correctly. They always blame it on my box and I have to prove that it's their part that's broken. Gotta love WireShark.

  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
    Options
    9voice9 wrote: »
    A mildly crappy day:
    • Had to take the long commute, because Google told me there was a bad accident on the interstate
    • I'm a programmer, but I've been "loaned out" to a different group because of their bad planning (IMHO), so I had a program that HAD to be coded & tested TODAY
    • Coding was simple (and, in fact, I coded all 4 of the programs I was assigned), but the testing is a BEAR, and this particular bear put me in a situation of sitting on my *kitten* for 6 straight hours (no bio-break, no H20 break) doing a cut-and-paste from one screen to another 533 times. Read that last 2 words again, please.
    • BTW as I neared the end of those 533 cut-and-pastes, the lead developer sent out an email saying that the DB2 engineers had decided they didn't like the way the template was designed, so we ALL had to change that part of the code. And recompile. And restart testing. Remember, I'm supposed to turn over one of these programs TODAY.
    Needless to say, I was grumpy when, at 3:00, I decided, "Screw it, I'm going for my lunch run and they'll have to suffer with not getting the stupid program today (since they moved the goal posts mid-game anyway)." No, I hadn't eaten since 8:30, and had not much hydration. I knew I'd take it slow and easy, but didn't necessarily plan on a 11:41/mile/mostly-walking run.

    You know those times when you run to get out of your head and just get away from the lousy day you're having? Today should've been one of those, but it just wasn't.

    Fortunately, choir practice with my Chancel Choir made up for it. I love those folks!

    Sounds like one of those days when you need someone holding a punching bag next to you while you run!