July (2016) Running Challenge

7/1 - 11.5 - Easy
7/2 - 5.86 - Recovery
7/3 - 18.11 - Long Run
7/4 - 2.0 - Strength Training Warmup
7/5 - 9.0 - Tempo
7/6 - 14.07 - Easy
7/7 - 5.14 - Recovery
7/8 - 12.1 - Easy W/ Strides
7/9 - 5.1 - Recovery
7/10 - 20.0 - Long Run

Total 102.87 of 289

First of (5) 20+ mile long runs today. temps at 5am was 73 degrees with 83% humidity. Knew this runs would probably kick my butt as soon as the sun came out and started steaming the air. By about mile 15 it was close to 80 and my HR was climbing and pace was declining. I ended up taking 64oz of water throughout the run and still lost 6 lbs of water weight. Cardiac drift was almost 15 BPM from my easy pace and closing in on threshold on mile 20. Last 3 miles was just gutting it out. A miscalculation of a turn around point meant i had to run past my house for about .10 of a mile, which was painful. This ended week 5 of my training cycle with 67.41 miles of running and another 5.1 on the elliptical for strength training warmups. Glorious rest day tomorrow.

I officially just signed up for my half marathon - I decided on the Empire State Half, the hometown choice. Thanks to all of you who chimed in with advice.

It is only 91 days away! That's 13 weeks! Or...

• 2184 hours
• 131,040 minutes
• 7,862,400 seconds

I'm suddenly very nervous!

@RespectTheKitty Re Calories: Usually I just stick with a simple formula I read once: "1 kcal burned per kg of weight and km of running". So for example, if you weight 65kg, and you run 10km, that would be 650 kcal burned. It worked well for me, and it's super easy to remember and calculate. Unless you think in pounds and miles, it's not as nice anymore - 0.73kcal per miles and lbs, I guess.

@Stoshew71 Those photos are really cool!

@kristinegift Congratulations on your PR! And that's a really nice photo too - everyone looks so happy
The fox sounds cute, but also weird. I'm so used to them dashing off the second they notice me, if one stayed around and started following along, I'd probably be creeped out too.

@skippygirlsmom I rarely get side stitches anymore (used to get them all the time when I started running). Usually it's when I drink while running. In addition to breathing out when the opposite foot hits the ground, grabbing a pebble (or anything else) and squeezing it really hard when you breath out can also sometimes help.
I never heard that fruit juice before a run is bad - when I run in the morning, I always make myself a "juice and greek yoghurt" shake as a quick pre-run meal.

@greenolivetree Wow, you already made huge progress towards your goal. Hope your sickness doesn't slow you down for long, get well soon!

@juliet3455 Taking your recovery slow is for sure the wiser approach, compared to risking water slide hills. If you re-injure yourself, that would be one less runner to beat down the stuff growing on the trails. Plus getting injured doesn't sound like a good idea, even if there were no overgrown trails to take care off...

@cljoe7 Great work on running 20 minutes straight, and that despite the asthma. Sounds like a good reason for more cherry pies in the future ;-p

@MobyCarp Glad to hear your leg is getting better and better. I hope the work stuff doesn't stress you out too much.

@Elise4270 Woohoo, doubles! :-)

@JessicaMcB Despite the forced rest days, you are already more than halfway to your goal, that's awesome!

@ROBOTFOOD What an eventful race day! Not the kind of interesting stories you'd want to be telling after every race - but at least you got more miles out of your entry fee than everyone else who signed up for that 5k ^^

@Amandajs232 Oh no! That only happened to me once, and I got lucky and found the key eventually after backtracking a few kms.

@5512bf That sounds like a tough long run. Enjoy your well-earned rest day tomorrow!

@katharmonic You'll do great in the half! 13 weeks is a long time to train yet, and I'm sure you'll have lots of fun in your local race.

First real long run in a month!
The last three weekends were busy with vacation / travelling, and while I did a bit of running, there weren't any runs longer than 10km. I decided to celebrate the return to long distances with some trails in the mountains. Long AND hilly was a new one for me, but I was hoping it would be a little colder further up. That didn't work out so well - despite setting my alarm, it was already 24°C/75°F when I started, so I decided to split the distance in two loops, to refill my water bottle halfway.

The first loop was a bit of an adventure, since I had decided to try a new trail, planned based on Strava heatmaps. I only saw one other runner while I was out - wearing long tights in the heat, but looking like a "real" trail runner, with poles and hydration vest and everything. I thought long pants in this weather were insane! Until I got to the really interesting part of my planned course, after about 6km. I was still able to make out where the trail should be (a 1-2m wide stretch without trees or serious bushes), but the grass and nettels there were waist-high! If the runner I saw earlier was the one responsible for the entries on the Strava heatmap, the long pants suddenly made a lot more sense. A few hours after the run, I can still tell how short my shorts were, because that's exactly how far up all the scratches go on my legs. Once I heard about people that whip themselfs with nettles, because it's supposed to increase circulation and purify the skin or something like that - if that works, I'm pretty sure I have earned perfect skin on my legs with that bit of the trail ^^

When I got back to my car, the temperatures had risen to 29°C/85°F, and I was really tempted to jump in and drive home towards a cold shower. Instead, I ate a gel, drank half a bottle of water, refilled my running water bottle, and took off again. I did chicken out somewhat and picked a less hilly course for the second half of my run. Less hilly, and less trail fun as well, that bit was mostly country roads and fields. At least I made up for some of the missed elevation by some "agility training" - I just read about using training ladders you can put on the ground for speed or agility training, but I figured an abandoned railway track would do the job just as well, without the need to buy anything, so I spent a few hundred meters crosstie-hopping. The last few kms back to the car were almost flat, but a real struggle anyway - too hot! And I had run out of water before the end. Apparently, 1.5 litres aren't enough for a 3 hour run in weather like this. I think I'll need to get myself some of those water purifer tablets that hikers use, so that I can refill my bottle on the run.

The heat and hills combined made this my slowest long run ever (or at least in the last 12 month). Strava is giving me an okay pace, but only because it reduced my running time from 3:15 hours to below 3h, taking out the 5 minute break at the car and a few times where I stopped to pick Strawberries or dunk my head underwater in a river.

Here are a few pictures (sorry to everyone who already saw them on Strava): the overgrown trail, some of the strawberries I picked along the way (really small and sour, but sooooo good!) and my "agility ladder"





With 23.3 kms today, I am now at 70.7 km (of 220km) for the month.