July (2016) Running Challenge

RespectTheKitty wrote: »

Since I'm really reluctant to do a real race (hate crowds, can't wake up early), I decided to look into virtual races. There seem to be quite a few virtual 5k races out there for various charities. This looks to be right up my alley. There's even a race to help sharks... who doesn't want to save the sharks??

Does anyone here have any virtual races they're doing? I'm looking for suggestions.

I'm doing The Oatmeal's "Beat the Blerch" Virtual HM on September 18.

http://www.beattheblerch.com/virtual.html

I think @shanaber is doing it too (or the meatspace one).

You can also do a 10K or a marathon.

I don't know if it supports any charity. I'm just doing it because I adore The Oatmeal (cartoon).

In particular:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running

(If any runners haven't read that, they need to. Now.)

21st July - 5km




Races this year
9th April - Spring Wolf Run
12th June - Summer Wolf Run
4th September - Autumn Wolf Run
6th November - Winter Wolf Run

7/1: Rest/moving day
7/2: 8 miles
7/3: 3 miles
7/4: 5.8 miles
7/5: 8 miles
7/6: 5 miles
7/7: 5.2 miles (am)
......: 6.4 miles (pm)
7/8: Rest day
7/9: 5.8 miles (Belmar 5 miler: 37:42)
7/10: 14.9 miles
7/11: 3 miles with Monday coffee crew
7/12: 5.7 miles (includes 5k XC race)
7/13: 8 miles
7/14: 7 miles (am)
.......: 6.4 miles (pm)
7/15: Rest day
7/16: 18 miles
7/17: 12.6 miles
7/18: 6.3 miles
7/19: Rest day
7/20: 8.2 miles
7/21: 8.2 miles again

.5 miles warm up/jog to my group run meeting spot, 7.2 miles at marathon pace (7:55 pace overall; there were some decent hills in there!), and a .5 mile cool down followed by an iced coffee that I chugged in about 15 seconds.

I've been trying to do a paced based/tempo run all summer, but every Thursday morning it's been 72+ degrees and 90-100% humidity which does not bode well for speedy running, and then I got sick and my lungs were crap for two weeks. Today was finally cooler weather (62F when we started before 6 am)... it's amazing what a difference 10F can make! I'm definitely out of practice at race pace so today wasn't as easy as I'd have liked, but I'm hoping to have a 7:50-8:00 min pace feel relatively "easy" again by the time my September marathon rolls around. Let's just hope marathon morning isn't a scorcher!




Upcoming Races:
9/11: Lehigh Valley Via Marathon (Allentown, PA)
11/20: Philadelphia Marathon (Philly, PA)

7/1- REST
7/2- REST
7/3- REST
7/4- 13.1 RW&B HM 2:15:26
7/5- REST
7/6- REST
7/7- REST
7/8- REST
7/9- 5.0
7/9- 1.0
7/10- 4.23
7/11-REST
7/12- 6.01
7/13- 4.04
7/14- 2.01
7/14- 5.0
7/15- REST
7/16-9.06
7/17- REST
7/18- 4.03
7/19- 6.91
7/20- 7.01
7/21-8.24

July Mile goal: 75.78/70

Actual goal: Run the Red White and Boom HM well, recover well, run the Park Point 5 Mile (7/14,not racing) well and begin training for September Boundary Waters Bank HM.

Today's notes: It was a muggy one! There was still lightening in the sky from a thunderstorm that had just ended when I started my run. Temp was 66F with nearly 100% Humidity.

Thursdays are my speed/stamina days. Today's assignment was to run 8-10x1000m with 2 minute recovery. I opted for 8, though, in retrospect, I could have done a full 10, but my body would not have liked me. Average pace on the intervals was about 5:20/1000m, which is right in the fast end of my Cruise Interval pace range.

All in all a very good run, but I am VERY glad that I have a rest day tomorrow. I'm feeling very good about my run, but also pretty tired after putting on 26 miles over the last 4 days, which is a lot for me, when it doesn't include my long run!

Today's run was intervals 1min jog/1 min walk. The weather cooperated in that it's only going to get stupid hot in the afternoon. I pushed myself maybe a little too hard during the jogs, my breathing was ragged and my legs felt shredded afterwards. I decided to walk around the parking lot for a bit before heading inside to the gym to do my yoga. Did some good stretches and now the legs are mildly sore. I think tomorrow and Saturday's runs will be steady pace that I can handle in breathing and in leg soreness. I feel like when I first started and the legs were always sore... lol

Also since I was getting so close to my original goal of 80 kms, I upped it to 100 kms for July.



1/7: REST
2/7: 5.44 km + 20 mins yoga
3/7: REST
4/7: 3.00 km + 20 mins yoga
5/7: sick
6/7: 1.00 km (still recovering) + 20 mins yoga
7/7: 3.64 km + 20 mins yoga
8/7: 4.00 km + 20 mins yoga
9/7: 5.00 km + 20 mins yoga
10/7: REST
11/7: 4.19 km + 20 mins yoga
12/7: 3.50 km + 20 mins yoga
13/7: 4.83 km + 20 mins yoga
14/7: 3.87 km + 20 mins yoga
15/7: 5.22 km + 20 mins yoga
16/7: 5.64 km + 20 mins yoga (new PR – 5K in 35:53)
17/7: REST
18/7: 5.04 km + 20 mins yoga (new PR – 5K in 35:35) + 4.30 km power walk
19/7: 5.06 km + 20 mins yoga
20/7: 5.20 km + 20 mins yoga (new PR – 5K in 35:18)
21/7: 5.06 km + 20 mins yoga
22/7:
23/7:
24/7: REST
25/7:
26/7:
27/7:
28/7:
29/7:
30/7:
31/7: REST (possibly, depending on whether I’ve passed my goal or not by then)

Races:

9/7: Tropicolour 5K
20/7: Zombies Run! App Ultra-Violet 5K
23/7: Zombies Run! App Big Cheese 5K
6/8: Colour Vibe 5K
24/9: Obstacle Course “Coureur des bois”
20/10-01/11 : Zombies Run! App 2016 Fall Virtual Run

7/1 - 2 miles
7/2 - 5 miles
7/3 - 3 miles
7/4- hiking day with Skip
7/5 - 5 miles
7/6 - 5 miles
7/7 - rest day
7/8 - 5 miles
7/9 - 8 miles
7/10 - 4 miles
7/11 - 5 miles
7/12 - rest day - took Skip to airport
7/13 - 6 miles
7/14 - 6 miles
7/15 - 6 miles
7/16 - 4 miles
7/17 - 9 miles
7/18 - rest day
7/19 - 6 miles
7/20 - 6 miles
7/21 - 6 miles

91 of 110 miles

No running for me today. I was wide awake before 6 and should've been working out from 6-7 but it felt mighty nice to lie in bed looking at my phone :-p I'll try to get a short workout done after work, before my evening obligations.

36.5 miles to go for July and 8 running days to get them done :-p But I'm kinda hoping to get it done in 7 and take July 31 as a rest day. I think I might need an extra one by that point!

@skippygirlsmom You're putting in a lot of miles day after day. Are you planning to pass your 110 goal? :-D

@TattooedDolphinGirl78 That's great that you're able to up your goal!

@MNLittleFinn Great workout

@Marissaxzxzxz I've never walked that many miles!

@orphia Thanks for the encouragement. I think I just feel like after all the miles I've put in this year I should at least be running as fast as I was in the winter - like the the heat and my overall improvement should be balancing out so I'm not fastER but equally as fast? LOL But I know it will feel easier once the weather cools off and who knows, maybe I WILL be setting PRs then.

3.95 miles

monthly total: 8 miles
Just getting back into it after a long work-induced break. Slow but forward progress. It was nice to get a "hey, I've missed you" from someone who also runs the neighborhood at 0 dark 30.

@greenolivetree I noticed I'm sneaking up on my goal with time to spare. Skip comes home next week from my mom's so I'm thinking next weekend might be more getting ready for school so I'm not sure how my runs with pan out so I'm planning ahead. She did text me last night that she's going to train with her Coach Saturday morning so I might tag along on that. They train for almost 2 hours so that will give me plenty of time to long run. I honestly don't want to blow past it because I've really been conscious this time about slowly coming back from injury.

I forgot to tell you all what happened with my iPod Nano, I told you it died and I was waiting to get paid this week to buy a shuffle and 2 days ago I picked up the Nano and hit the button and bam it worked! I was so excited!!! I charged it up and it's good to go. I really need to update the songs though, this was Skip's from quite a while ago and though it has quite a few of my songs I did run this morning to Beauty and the Beast and more than a few more Disney songs LOL