July (2016) Running Challenge

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  • shanaber
    shanaber Posts: 6,390 Member
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    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    There is no reason anyone should rethink their goals or strategies unless they feel they should. That said, anyone who is approaching the magical 50+ ages where people really take notice and change their lifestyles due to aging performance decline (a fair portion of it self-imposed it seems) would be well served to at least have knowledge of this information. That way they can decide on their own if they wish to leverage this information for their own health and in which way.
    So what doe all this mean for those of us past and maybe (ahem) well past that magical 50 age? Especially those of us who started running after that age and never knew we had a performance decline and really have only seen improvement over time? When I had my watch that measured VO2Max and the one time I had it tested as part of other tests, my VO2Max levels were high (low 50's) - higher than expected for someone at my 'advanced' age. I have not really thought much about it or even considered that I needed to be concerned about it declining. We all know we slow down as we get older and I would not have expected to remain at the same level as I continue to age. True I wouldn't mind slowing it down as much as possible so I may have a look at this book.
    I also think that what @lporter229 said is true that you set yourself a good solid base with the LSD miles so you can do the intense workouts now. Phil Maffetone does talk about incorporating speed workouts into your training, but once you have that solid base in place.
  • shanaber
    shanaber Posts: 6,390 Member
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    Rest day yesterday. Got a good but late run in today between meetings. I wanted a tempo run but my legs didn't really want to cooperate until almost mile 3, will try again tomorrow. Strength training tonight!

    Date.........Miles........Total
    07/01.......6.28.........6.28
    07/02.......7.36.......13.64
    07/03.......0.00.......13.64
    07/04.....13.50.......27.14 - ShePower Virtual HM
    07/05.......4.13.......31.27 - + Strength Training
    07/06.......0.00.......31.27
    07/07.......5.63.......36.90 - + Strength Training & Rally

    exercise.png

    Upcoming Races - Let me know if you will be running too!
    07/04/16 - SHEPower Virtual Half Marathon
    07/31/16 - San Francisco 2nd Half Marathon
    09/18/16 - Beat the Blerch Half Marathon, Seattle
    11/19/16 - USA Invitational Half Marathon (Yay, I qualified again!)
    12/18/16 - San Diego Holiday Half Marathon
    02/05/17 - Surf City Half Marathon

    @skippygirlsmom - love that meme! Thanks for posting here too! Your SkippyGirl is too funny! Love that little boy! 'Linda! You aren't Listening to ME!'
    @TattooedDolphinGirl78 and @Somebody_Loved - I do strength training with a trainer 2x per week and run 5 days per week. My rest days are typically active rest but I don't train or run on those days. I started the strength training before I started running and I think being strong (all over) really helps with running. I didn't realize all the 'other' parts of my body that get engaged when I am running until they were sore from a strength workout, especially when running up and down hills! I also do agility with Hobbes the Vizsla but that is just more running, in shorter bursts.
    @ROBOTFOOD - so glad you are back and feeling great!
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    edited July 2016
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    shanaber wrote: »
    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    There is no reason anyone should rethink their goals or strategies unless they feel they should. That said, anyone who is approaching the magical 50+ ages where people really take notice and change their lifestyles due to aging performance decline (a fair portion of it self-imposed it seems) would be well served to at least have knowledge of this information. That way they can decide on their own if they wish to leverage this information for their own health and in which way.
    So what doe all this mean for those of us past and maybe (ahem) well past that magical 50 age? Especially those of us who started running after that age and never knew we had a performance decline and really have only seen improvement over time? When I had my watch that measured VO2Max and the one time I had it tested as part of other tests, my VO2Max levels were high (low 50's) - higher than expected for someone at my 'advanced' age. I have not really thought much about it or even considered that I needed to be concerned about it declining. We all know we slow down as we get older and I would not have expected to remain at the same level as I continue to age. True I wouldn't mind slowing it down as much as possible so I may have a look at this book.
    I also think that what @lporter229 said is true that you set yourself a good solid base with the LSD miles so you can do the intense workouts now. Phil Maffetone does talk about incorporating speed workouts into your training, but once you have that solid base in place.

    So does Lydiard and Daniels.

    EDIT: I should also add Brother Colm O'Connell (the guy who helped transform the Kenyan running program into a World Class program).
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    edited July 2016
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    McMillan covers speed workouts too. Next training cycle, I have 3 LS (Leg Speed) workouts in addition to the easy runs, long runs, and Stamina runs (Cruise Intervals, Tempo Runs, Steady State Runs and Tempo Intervals). McMillan has Fartleks as fitting in Stamina and speed workoouts, depending on the fast interval (vLT or vVO2Max)

    yes, I'm on a McMillan kick right now. I've read his book cover to cover twice in the last 2 months....

    Edit: On that note. I'm sorely tempted to get a McMillan Pro account. it's like $1.99/mo
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
    edited July 2016
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    shanaber wrote: »
    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    There is no reason anyone should rethink their goals or strategies unless they feel they should. That said, anyone who is approaching the magical 50+ ages where people really take notice and change their lifestyles due to aging performance decline (a fair portion of it self-imposed it seems) would be well served to at least have knowledge of this information. That way they can decide on their own if they wish to leverage this information for their own health and in which way.
    So what doe all this mean for those of us past and maybe (ahem) well past that magical 50 age? Especially those of us who started running after that age and never knew we had a performance decline and really have only seen improvement over time? When I had my watch that measured VO2Max and the one time I had it tested as part of other tests, my VO2Max levels were high (low 50's) - higher than expected for someone at my 'advanced' age. I have not really thought much about it or even considered that I needed to be concerned about it declining. We all know we slow down as we get older and I would not have expected to remain at the same level as I continue to age. True I wouldn't mind slowing it down as much as possible so I may have a look at this book.
    I also think that what @lporter229 said is true that you set yourself a good solid base with the LSD miles so you can do the intense workouts now. Phil Maffetone does talk about incorporating speed workouts into your training, but once you have that solid base in place.
    It's never too late from what he is alluding to so far. I'm looking at it from the "approaching 50" angle, and the title of the book is "Fast After 50", but this idea applies even for the greater decades. Each muscle, each part of your aerobic system will only decline if you don't continue to engage it. Likewise, by engaging these systems you can strengthen them. I have not heard an age limit yet for being able to improve anything. I recall he mentioned cases where people showed increases even in their 70's I believe (for people not already at the top of their health for their age that is, once there you will slowly decline with age but at a slower rate so long as you keep on going at it)

    If you could boil it down to something simple, he keeps repeating "use it or lose it" and each part of fitness applies, and seems only natural. He also talks about how aging is both "nature and nurture", with some of the aging process being an unavoidable process of nature, but another part of it is how you nurture yourself and without proper nurturing you age faster in both categories. He also shows how the "nurture" side of aging plays a more significant role in your physical aging than the nature side, but there is no measurement, but probably something like 60/40 or 70/30 with the nature part being the smaller percentage. So he is saying that a lot of aging can be avoided just by not slowing down basically. It seems like common sense, but in reality most studies ever done on athletes as they age show the majority choose to either continue exercising but at more mild/moderate levels or stop completely, and they show sharp declines compared to those who stay active at higher levels. All of that applies at any age, really after 30 most likely, but people in their 30's rarely feel the aging process or decline to such a degree unless they are perhaps professional athletes and are facing retirement. Even then many may tend to be pretty active for at least another 10 years before slowing down in some cases.

    Honestly, just in case any of this comes off wrong, he is not saying to train like you are 20 years old all the way into your 70's. All he is saying is that you need to still target each muscle and system in the same varying intensities as you did when you were younger.

    Here's one concept he alluded to on his blog but I have not seen yet in the book. The 9 day training week. That should give you an idea of how he is suggesting that someone who may be retired and in the 60's or 70's could continue to get in all of their training workouts in a week still yet get the required rest that their age requires. I won't say any more than that because I don't know any more than that. But one thing about being athletic that I have noticed is that people will find ways to make things happen, maybe even in surprising ways. That seems to be the key here, find out how you can still make it happen. I suspect this book just gives some ways to do that for anyone who isn't sure how to do that. But that is speculation on my part at this point.
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
    edited July 2016
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    Stoshew71 wrote: »
    shanaber wrote: »
    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    There is no reason anyone should rethink their goals or strategies unless they feel they should. That said, anyone who is approaching the magical 50+ ages where people really take notice and change their lifestyles due to aging performance decline (a fair portion of it self-imposed it seems) would be well served to at least have knowledge of this information. That way they can decide on their own if they wish to leverage this information for their own health and in which way.
    So what doe all this mean for those of us past and maybe (ahem) well past that magical 50 age? Especially those of us who started running after that age and never knew we had a performance decline and really have only seen improvement over time? When I had my watch that measured VO2Max and the one time I had it tested as part of other tests, my VO2Max levels were high (low 50's) - higher than expected for someone at my 'advanced' age. I have not really thought much about it or even considered that I needed to be concerned about it declining. We all know we slow down as we get older and I would not have expected to remain at the same level as I continue to age. True I wouldn't mind slowing it down as much as possible so I may have a look at this book.
    I also think that what @lporter229 said is true that you set yourself a good solid base with the LSD miles so you can do the intense workouts now. Phil Maffetone does talk about incorporating speed workouts into your training, but once you have that solid base in place.

    So does Lydiard and Daniels.

    EDIT: I should also add Brother Colm O'Connell (the guy who helped transform the Kenyan running program into a World Class program).
    This book says the same. Build up first. It's just not a beginner's guide. So it is assuming you either have the base already, or have had it in the past and know how to train to get it again. The focus of the book is simply going forward after you have that knowledge and the base and strength to keep yourself as well rounded in fitness as you can in your later years. Part of it is common sense, part of it is reminding you of that common sense, and another part is to make you question why you may not be pushing yourself (maybe you are not ready, or maybe you just think you can't do it). Part of it is also showing data of what happens if you don't, and also at that same time shows how a majority of people don't do this for whatever reason they may have had (the studies don't report that, only how active they still were and their fitness levels).
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
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    I suppose one thing this book made me consider about aging is looking back at people new here at MFP, or even when I was new here. The motivation may be temporary at first, but some come here (or return) saying "I hope to make long term health changes that I can apply for the rest of my life". And that's the key for diet, right? Just because you turn 70 doesn't mean you should start eating more pizza delivery because it's easier than cooking, right? Well, the same should be said of exercising, I suppose. But for some reason society tends to almost encourage people to take it easy and stop doing all that work when they age. Sure, they are not as capable as before, they have had some real physical deterioration. But if they just keep letting more and more easy living in, at some point they will lose so much of what they worked for. Maybe they are OK with that, maybe not. Maybe they never really thought about it and just took the easy way out? I dunno.

    Enough of that for me though. Damn I get wordy sometimes. :lol:
  • juliet3455
    juliet3455 Posts: 3,015 Member
    edited July 2016
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    TattooedDolphinGirl78 wrote: »
    Question: What do you do to cross-train with your running? I'm looking for ideas to add to my book of tips as I like variety and would love to pick your running brains. :smiley:
    @TattooedDolphinGirl78 I am a fairly active swimmer and do some biking ( Sprint Triathlon anyone? ). One of the local gyms has what they call Braking Bad Boot(y) camps - yea a bad play on words/stereotypes - at what I would call random times. I think they are just filling in empty time spots in their schedule. So lots of Body Weight exercises ( squat variations, planks etc ) using the ladder repeat technique 5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5 reps (or seconds increase) to exhaustion/failure >:) . Balance exercises on Bosu Balls and Wobble boards while doing light ( 2-15 kg/ 4 - 33lbs ) weights ( squats etc ). The lady instructor >:) made the stronger people use unbalanced weights ( 7kg left/12kg right ) to increase the load on the core while maintaining balance on the wobble board.
  • _nikkiwolf_
    _nikkiwolf_ Posts: 1,380 Member
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    ROBOTFOOD wrote: »
    Stoshew71 wrote: »
    greenolivetree wrote: »
    @MNLittleFinn The most I've done is 5 hill repeats so far and I can't imagine losing track of each brutal one. LOL Here's another question...... Should I keep doing my 1/3 mile 2% incline hill and add more reps....or should I move to a 1/3 mile 3% incline hill and do 5 there???? I can't decide. I'm also considering a much shorter but steeper hill for hill sprints and try to work up to 10-12. I'm really finding that stuff like this makes running more interesting and passes the miles quicker vs. just running a big loop or something.

    Rule of thumb is that you don't want to go too steep that you mess up your form. 3% incline I think is the ideal and shouldn't go steeper than that.

    Unless you are going to be training for a steep mtn 5k. Then you get to enjoy 15% (dies) :neutral:
    Nah, 15% doesn't kill you, it just makes you suffer. 25% is where you start wishing you were dead! :p
  • Ohhim
    Ohhim Posts: 1,142 Member
    edited July 2016
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    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    I suppose one thing this book made me consider about aging is looking back at people new here at MFP, or even when I was new here. The motivation may be temporary at first, but some come here (or return) saying "I hope to make long term health changes that I can apply for the rest of my life". And that's the key for diet, right? Just because you turn 70 doesn't mean you should start eating more pizza delivery because it's easier than cooking, right? Well, the same should be said of exercising, I suppose.

    For me, I've found speedwork works like a crash diet. I can add it to a 50 mile/week training cycle for bits of time (2-3 months leading up to a marathon), but I notice that if I try to sustain it, running becomes less fun, my weekly mileage drops pretty substantially, I'm less motivated to bike as well, and my weight starts inching up. Given that I'm pretty awful at adjusting my diet down when my workout totals drop, I've come to the conclusion that outside of training leading up to my A races, I'm better off just cutting out the non-fun running, keeping my mileage/time up, and the weight related time benefits (I've seen about 2 minutes/pound lost at marathons) usually trumps the extra squeeked out minutes from better fitness.

    Once I get closer to Chicago in October, as I'd like to inch under the 3 hour mark (given the flat course) I'll be back up to 2-3 faster sessions/week, but for now, I'm totally ok just slogging it out for a few extra miles at a comfortable pace so I can enjoy some dessert, and not feel like I'm hoping for death doing threshold pace runs in the summer Florida heat/humidity. I may re-evaluate things once my BMI get closer to the magical 21 mark (and I lose the ability to just get faster from keeping up my running and losing weight), or if Boston becomes a transcendental experience that I feel the need to repeat every year and slow down when older, but as long as I'm still above that mark (and have about 15 more pounds to lose on top of the 100 so far), LSD is definitely the answer for me.
  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
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    07/01- 4.28km
    07/02- 5.01km
    07/03- Rest/Weights Day
    07/04- 5.48km
    07/05- Forced Rest Day (Husband OOT)
    07/06- Forced Rest Day (Husband OOT)
    07/07- 6.13km

    With all my husbands' OOT work this month and being stranded with all our littles I'm beginning to wonder if I'll make my mileage this month :/

    exercise.png
  • ROBOTFOOD
    ROBOTFOOD Posts: 5,527 Member
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    _nikkiwolf_ wrote: »
    ROBOTFOOD wrote: »
    Stoshew71 wrote: »
    greenolivetree wrote: »
    @MNLittleFinn The most I've done is 5 hill repeats so far and I can't imagine losing track of each brutal one. LOL Here's another question...... Should I keep doing my 1/3 mile 2% incline hill and add more reps....or should I move to a 1/3 mile 3% incline hill and do 5 there???? I can't decide. I'm also considering a much shorter but steeper hill for hill sprints and try to work up to 10-12. I'm really finding that stuff like this makes running more interesting and passes the miles quicker vs. just running a big loop or something.

    Rule of thumb is that you don't want to go too steep that you mess up your form. 3% incline I think is the ideal and shouldn't go steeper than that.

    Unless you are going to be training for a steep mtn 5k. Then you get to enjoy 15% (dies) :neutral:
    Nah, 15% doesn't kill you, it just makes you suffer. 25% is where you start wishing you were dead! :p

    How about 35-40% at 14,000ft in Colorado? I was so destroyed at the ttop of Pike's Peak. I once ran up Breckenridge. Lodge to peak. Oh man. That was a treat. Also: Always can run the rims at the Grand Canyon for a good *kitten* whoppin! Haha
  • djspacecaptain
    djspacecaptain Posts: 366 Member
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    Day 7: 4.5 miles (high incline treadmill)

    Monthly total: 47.25/100 miles
  • 9voice9
    9voice9 Posts: 693 Member
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    dtmwed wrote: »
    I'm late but want to join. I'm going to be a newbie and start with only 30miles. It will still be a lot for me since I'm not a runner at all. Trying to start Couch to 5k.
    Welcome! Late is nothing. You're here, and that's all that matters. Just take it easy - don't push, and glean as much as you can from the experts around here.
  • HonuNui
    HonuNui Posts: 1,464 Member
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    July goal.....run

    7/1 snorkel 4 hours
    7/2 7.53
    7/3 3.23
    7/4 3.29
    7/5 rest
    7/6 4.39
    7/7 3.25

    Total 21.69

    Upcoming races:
    SHEPower Virtual Half: July 18
    Las Vegas RocknRoll Virtual runs--making the band
    ......Guitar Solo 6/28 3.85
    ......Drum Solo in August
    ......Lead Singer in September
    Las Vegas RocknRoll Half 11/13/16

    Ticker is my goal for 2016 and accumulation to date:
    exercise.png


    @TattooedDolphinGirl78 asked "Question: What do you do to cross-train with your running? I'm looking for ideas to add to my book of tips as I like variety and would love to pick your running brains.'
    ...I snorkel....and am a tattoed Honu!
    g10bk9dd5lzf.jpg


  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    2 July – 5 km parkrun alongside my niece
    3 July – 10 km
    5 July – 10 km
    7 July – 10 km
    8 July – 5.6 km & Body Balance

    July Goal: 150 km (93 miles)
    Total: 40.6 km

    TattooedDolphinGirl78 wrote: »
    TattooedDolphinGirl78 wrote: »
    Question: What do you do to cross-train with your running? I'm looking for ideas to add to my book of tips as I like variety and would love to pick your running brains. :smiley:

    A follow-up question: Do you run every day, or skip a day and cross-train the days you don't run?

    I ask, but there's so much literature out there that says that running every day isn't good or yes, do run everyday.
    Personally, I run 5 times a week and try to do something different on weekends. It's the "something different" that tends to mess me up. Lately it's been yoga, but I feel I need more strength training as the yoga moves I do are more therapeutic/restorative.

    If you run 5 days and don't want to change that, yoga on a day off would be good since it's restorative. Your muscles might not need more micro-tears from lifting AND running.

    I do a Les Mills "Body Balance" class on Fridays, which is a combination of yoga, Pilates, tai-chi and core moves, with some relaxation at the end. I love it. Before I tried it, I thought it would be hippy *kitten*, but it's actually a good workout and gives me useful stretching, core and balance practice, and I feel centred afterwards.

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