April 2016 Running Challenge

@Orphia My shoe collection seems to grows every time I go to a race. Funny smoothie recipe.

@ddmom0811 4 retired shoes and 3 in the rotation. Last year they had a shoe drive for charity and we turned in all our Clean Retired shoes that were still good for walking. These went to Haiti. Some of my local friends take them on vacation ( Mexico,Cuba etc ) with soccer/footballs/baseballs and give them to the Hotel Staff.

@MNLittleFinn I run Trails through the winter snow and summer mud and have never had a pair of Trail shoes in my collection. I find that unless I get into really rough-rocky mountainous terrain I don't need the extra footbed/traction of trail shoes. But then I do need an excuse to buy some shoes with deeper tread patterns.

@WhatMeRunning 9 pairs in rotation - impressive and now you have talked me into new trail shoes.

Well off to meet our Saturday Morning crew as we are heading into the Hills and Trees on the North East Riverbank Benchlands around town. Roots, Ruts and Trails that I have not explored yet.

01/04 4 miles
04/04 5 miles
05/04 4 miles
06/04 4 miles
08/04 5 miles
09/04 4 miles
11/04 4 miles
13/04 4 miles
14/04 5miles
16/04 4miles
19/04 6.25 miles
20/04 4 miles
22/04 3 miles
23/04 4 miles
24/04 3 miles
26/04 5.25 miles
27/04 5 miles
28/04 4 miles
30/04 3.25miles

Good luck to everyone with marathons and half marathons this weekend!!

Orphia wrote: »

Holy crap, I've got shoe envy.

I've only been using my Nikes since February. My Asics weren't supporting my flat feet enough.

Need to buy more shoes!

OK, since I lose the shoe competition, how's THIS for a smoothie?

My husband says 3 grams would kill you. A quarter gram is plenty... Half tops.

So if you have 3 grams, you gotta share

WhatMeRunning wrote: »

Elise4270 wrote: »

Orphia wrote: »

Holy crap, I've got shoe envy.

I've only been using my Nikes since February. My Asics weren't supporting my flat feet enough.

Need to buy more shoes!

OK, since I lose the shoe competition, how's THIS for a smoothie?

My husband says 3 grams would kill you. A quarter gram is plenty... Half tops.

So if you have 3 grams, you gotta share

Honestly though, with the ratio of kale to everything else, I'm guessing this is a one sip ordeal. Maybe that's why it's so strong in....kale?

Ah, the recipe serves 10-12!

PoppetsMaster wrote: »

3 grams will NOT kill you. You are free to speculate on the absolute confidence behind that statement.

Maybe so. But people are really going to regret those 2 whole cups of kale.

@WhatMeRunning - my husband would totally agree with you on the kale!
@PoppetsMaster - I am sure your absolute confidence comes from work with your clients and not from personal experience!

Elise4270 wrote: »

PoppetsMaster wrote: »

3 grams will NOT kill you. You are free to speculate on the absolute confidence behind that statement.

So...... You makin' the smoothie...... Then takin' us shoe shoppin'?

I'm in - at least for the shopping!

Shoes, smoothies, whats a girl to do. Today is myrest day and i just wanna thank y'all for providing the entertainment! Thank You-all!

April Running Totals (miles)
4/1 – scheduled rest day
4/2 – 13.31 easy
4/3 – 7.83 easy
4/4 – 4.59 easy 30 minutes + 4 strides
4/5 – 14.14 warm up + speed work
4/6 – 5.18 easy
4/7 – 11.45 – short warmup, long speed work
4/8 – scheduled rest day
4/9 – 7.30 speed work
4/10 – 11.67 easy
4/11 – 3.87 easy
4/12 – 7.78 warm up, speed work, cool down, commute
4/13 – 3.92 easy
4/14 – 7.30 warmup + light speed work
4/15 – 3.86 easy
4/16 – travel day, no running
4/17 – 2.70 very easy
4/18 – 26.39 Boston Marathon (couldn’t' run good tangents)
4/19 – travel day, no running
4/20 – 4.05 recovery run
4/21 – 5.28 easy
4/22 – 4.00 easy
4/23 – ad hoc rest day
4/24 – 13.26 Flower City Half
4/25 – planned rest day
4/26 – extra rest day
4/27 – 4 to 6 miles 3rd rest day
4/28 – maybe 2 or 3 easy miles 4th rest day
4/29 – 4.00 easy
4/30 – rest day

April total to date – 161.88

Nominal Challenge Goal – 200 miles
Real Goals: Taper well. Arrive at Hopkinton healthy. Run Boston well. Recover well.

Today's notes – Closing out the month with a rest day. After yesterday's 4 miles, the pesky right hip abductor is still sore this morning. I think I set myself back a day or two on leg recovery, but definitely helped with recovery from the cold.

Murphy's law and weather: The 4 days in a row I didn't run featured drop-dead gorgeous running weather. Weather was okay yesterday evening, clouds and mist/drizzle. Today I won't run, and it's drop-dead gorgeous running weather again. I hope to feel good enough to run tomorrow; the forecast is for a steady rain. If the legs cooperate, the rain will be the least of my worries.

Mentally, I feel much better for having run yesterday. Lots of non-running days in a row tend to get to me.

I threw out a May goal of 150 miles; I have no idea whether that will be too much or ludicrously low. The intellectual side says recover, run a couple weeks normal, then start training for Rochester. The emotional side of me says, "OMG! Your days of running long miles are over!" Kind of like taper, but with no race imminent.

Thinking about adding races to the calendar, but can't bring myself to pay up until I can run normally again. Normal for me, that is.

2016 races:
January 1, 2016 Resolution Run 7.5 mile (Mendon, NY) finished in 53:58
January 9, 2016 Winter Warrior Half Marathon (Gates, NY) finished in 1:30:59
March 12, 2016 Johnny's Runnin' of the Green 5 mile (Rochester, NY) finished in 32:32
March 26, 2016 Spring Forward Distance Run 15K (Mendon, NY) finished in 1:05:24
April 18, 2016 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA) finished in 3:23:01
April 24, 2016 Flower City Challenge Half Marathon (Rochester, NY) finished in 1:36:50, targeting MP
May 15, 2016 Highland Hospital Lilac Run 10K (Rochester, NY)
June 19, 2016 Medved 5K to Cure ALS (Rochester, NY)
July 16, 2016 Shoreline Half Marathon (Hilton, NY)
September 18, 2016 Rochester Marathon (Rochester, NY)

4/1...5.0 @ 12:00 on the TM (4.0 @ 11:15 and 1.0 walking)
4/2....3.1 @ 11:45 through the neighborhood. My ankle hurt the first mile or so, especially on the uphill bits--downhill isn't too bad
4/3...Rest day
4/4...4.6 @ 11:32 on the rail trail and neighborhood streets
4/5...2.8 @ 11:50 on the TM--that's 2.3 (just to make it even!) @ 11:15 and .5 at a walk, plus strength training
4/6...Rest day, but I got to go help out at my son's RunFit club. Next time I'm wearing my own running shoes so I can chase him with a sharp stick so he doesn't walk so much! (That was a joke...don't call CPS or Jeff Galloway...)
4/7...7.0 @ 11:25 on the TM (This was really 6.25 at 11:05 and .75 walking to cool down)
4/8...2.0 @ 12:06 (just had a short time to run while the kids were at gym)
4/9...Unintended rest day. I got dressed to run...that counts for something, right? LOL
4/10...4.6 @ 13:39 with the slow poke pup. We ran about 3 miles in the 12:00 neighborhood and walked the rest. Well, I walked. He sniffed and did...doggy stuff.
4/11...3.0 @ 12:00 ish on the basement beheamoth. The kiddos were home sick from school so I was grounded, too.
4/12...2.25 @ 12:00 on the treadmill and strength training
4/13...6.2 @ 12:34 on the rail trail and neighborhood streets
4/14...Rest Day
4/15...4.75 @ 11:56 on the park trail. I decided to try running with earbuds so I couldn't hear my phone telling me how fast I was going. I settled in to a nice easy pace, but I didn't hold back either. This is the pace I love to run, and it was remarkably consistent, with splits of 11:55, 11:46, 12:03, 11:51 and 12:00.
4/16-17 I've been a slug with a terrible head cold, so no running.
4/18...5.0 @ 12:23 My first run in the heat...I was wilting by mile 4. The funny thing is that I looked at last year's run for today and lo and behold, I told myself then that I should remember water and sunscreen. Some people never learn!
4/19...3.5 @ 13:16 Ugh. I started out with the dog and then had to bring him back home because he just wouldn't get with the program. And then I was just sluggish with breathing troubles (oh, Spring, you are lovely but sneezy!!) It's probably good for me to just do a nice, easy run, but I was still a little disappointed.
4/20...4.75 @ 12:06 on the park trail. I'll be honest and say that I'm surprised my time was this slow--it felt like I was flying. It was a really nice run, though, and the weather was perfect. I think I was smiling the whole time.
4/21...Rest Day. I took my daughter to Temple University to visit with lots of walking...and food trucks!
4/22...3.5 @ a super easy 12:38 on the Perkiomen Trail--it was a wonderful run
4/23...6.25 @ 11:57 on the lake trail and roads for the Healthy Strides Community 10K
4/24...Rest Day
4/25...4.75 @ at an easy 12:23 on a new-to-me lake trail.
4/26...3.0 @ 12:40 (2 running, 1 walking) on the treadmill at the gym, and strength training
4/27-28 Rest Days
4/29...This was a planned run day, but had some sort of gallbladder attack? the night before and was in a bit of pain still in the morning.
4/30...5.2 @ 11:10 at the Run for the Children 8K. The three days of rest didn't seem to hurt too much. I had a good race today. It was far hillier than I anticipated, but I managed to keep a pretty steady pace (although not negative intervals) for the whole thing. I see that it isn't any better than my January race, but I was at the height of my half-marathon training and *not* dealing with anemia and gallbladder problems, so I'm still going to call it a win. I came in 9/21 for women in my age group, and 121/173 overall.

Completed races:
1/18 MLK 8K, Burke, VA 56:14
2/22 Princess Half, Orlando FL, 2:49:33
4/23 Healthy Strides Community 10K, Burke, VA 1:14:29
4/30 Run for the Children 8K, Fairfax, VA 56:35

Upcoming races:
5/21 RunFitKidz 5K, Springfield, VA
6/12 Celebrate Fairfax 5K, Fairfax, VA
7/4 Freedom 5K, Fairfax VA
9/5 Great American 5K, Fairfax, VA
Either Hemlock Half or Divas Half in September
10/30 MCM 10K, Washington, DC
11/6 The Parks 10K, Washington, DC
11/19 Potomac River Half, Carderock, MD