June (2016) Running Challenge

kimlight2 wrote: »

My question of the day, is it better to get up at o' dark 30 to run when it is cool and get a really good quality run in or should I run a little later in the morning since unfortunately my race doesn't start until 8 AM and I am worried about the heat on race day but I know my training runs will be crap?

I think there's another issue hiding behind the way you asked that question. Or maybe more than one. Anyway, here's my take from a couple of angles.

1.) Sleep is very important. If you don't get enough sleep, the wheels tend to come off. Young people may not notice this as much, but it slaps us older folks upside the head pretty obviously. Whether you run at 0 Dark Hundred and get up early, or run in the evening and end up going to bed late, it's like squeezing a balloon. The time has to come from somewhere, and if you don't pay attention it will come out of how much sleep you get. When that catches up to you, motivation goes into the toilet.

2.) Training in the conditions you expect for race day is helpful. If the race is hilly, train hills. If the race is outdoors in the winter, train outdoors in cold weather. And if you expect race day to be hot and humid, you want to train in hot and humid weather. It doesn't have to be every time you run, but you should have some runs that emulate what you'll face on race day. So . . . I have a half marathon on July 16. It is traditionally hot and humid. Between now and then, my runs on Sunday will be in the afternoon, in the heat of the day. I can't control whether I get heat and humidity, but that gives me a chance of facing something approximating race day weather. Note that I don't need to do this for *all* of my running; but I do need to do it for some.

3.) The only way training runs are crap is if you can't do what you intend to get done. Most runners would agree that running in heat and humidity is not as much fun as running in ideal running weather; but that doesn't make the run crap. That just makes it less fun. Work through it, and when you run past people who have slowed to a walk on race day, you'll be glad you conditioned yourself.

Bottom line is, you have to balance your goals, your schedule, and what your body is capable of doing this week. Maybe it's better to get up at 0 Dark Hundred because that's the only time you have to run. Maybe it's better to run at 8 AM because you think that will emulate race day weather. Maybe you have to run in the evening because that's the only time you have that won't cut into your sleep. Do the best you can, and don't regret it if you can't train perfectly. Neither can anyone else.

Hey again,

I failed so bad last month because of a stupid sinus infection that I held off on getting properly treated (stupid me lol). Anyway, now's a new month, so I'm down for 115 miles!

@mnlittlefinn - I have the same water bottle for the rare occasion I carry water. Works great!

My goal for June 2016 is 100 Km.
Good luck to everybody.

Getting in on this challenge as much as I can pre-custom orthotic bracing. Hopefully next month my goal can be more ambitious!

55 miles as recommended on my half-marathon training regimen.
Huzzah!

How do you guys take your cutback weeks? Do you still run the same amount of days or just shorten all the runs. I have one next week and I though I'd just skip one run and cut the long run in half

AdrianChr92 wrote: »

How do you guys take your cutback weeks? Do you still run the same amount of days or just shorten all the runs. I have one next week and I though I'd just skip one run and cut the long run in half

I typically run the same amount of days and reduce my total mileage by about 25%. I also don't do any big workouts that week either, trying to make them all easy runs. Others have different ways of doing cutbacks, with different percentages, or added rest days, etc.

6/1: 3.26 miles

6/1 - 3 miles

3 out of 100 miles



Skip had 3 easy and strides on her training plan so I went out with her. About 87F (30C) so a warm one. Of course now it feels like a storm is coming in and the temp has dropped 4 degrees in the last 30 mins ha ha!

@skippygirlsmom By time I got home from my run it was 10° cooler, 82-72F (28-22C) A small shower moved through.