January 2017 Running Challenge

@7lenny7 thanks for the link to the treadmill info., it was very helpful and made me feel more comfortable with running on a treadmill when I don't want to run outdoors. Thank you to everyone for your insight on running on an indoor track, sounds a little more dangerous than I thought!

There are so many posts its hard to keep up but I wanted to thank everyone who posted the links for stretching, yoga and running in the cold as well. These days I feel like a sponge trying to soak up as much information on running as I can, so keep it coming...

Date Km Today - Km for Jan.
1/3 5.73 - 5.73
1/5 3.79 - 9.52
=========
Goal 75 km



Upcoming Races:
Polar Hero 5km OCR? - 2/4
Ottawa Tamarack 10km - 5/27

@beeerunner thanks. I used to have this great view over my fence to the sun coming up then my neighbor put up to 2 sheds in their yard, okay so I can move a little to take the picture, then they put up a 40 x 30 foot 2 story garage. Really? I'm standing on the deck of my pool trying not to get the roof in my picture.

Heading to the gym for my strength training session but wanted to get this update posted. Had a good wet run in the rain this morning. Work is crazy and I am off to my daughter's in Seattle tomorrow for the weekend and to Atlanta from there on Sunday for client meetings Monday and Tuesday. Hoping I can fit in some running along the way - my clothes and shoes (running) are ready to go even if my suit and other stuff still needs to be packed
I will get caught up on everyone - maybe tonight - I am pages behind again though...

Date........Miles........Total
01/01......0.00........0.00
01/02......4.58........4.58 - + Agility
01/03......4.28........8.86 - + Strength Training
01/04......0.00........8.86
01/05......4.39......13.25 - + Strength Training



My completed and upcoming Races - Let me know if you will be running too!
02/05/17 - Surf City Half Marathon
07/23/17 - San Francisco 1st Half Marathon

@shanaber I hope you can get to Atlanta on Sunday. They are supposed to get snow, they don't do well with snow.

Date :::: Miles:::: Jan MTD (goal = 70)
01/01/17 :::: 4.3 :::: 4.3
01/02/17 :::: 2.9 :::: 7.1
01/03/17 :::: 3.1 :::: 10.3
01/04/17 :::: 3.6 :::: 13.9
01/05/17 :::: 3.3 :::: 17.2

Run group workout tonight was downgraded to just a base run due to snowy conditions. It was very pretty out but the footing was not good, so the coach didn't want us to run hard. So we had a nice group run in the winter wonderland. We still got credit for showing up

Tomorrow is a rest day, but I may try to get some snow shoeing or cross-country skiing in since we are having this nice snowfall.

Welcome back, @michable !

Yes, Summer is here. It'll be a warm parkrun tomorrow.

I'll be volunteering as a marshal...

shooting a water pistol at the parkrunners.

January Running Totals (miles)
1/1 – 10.39 warmup, 7.5 mile race, cool down
1/2 – 2.12 easy cross country
1/3 – 8.58 warmup, tempo intervals
1/4 – 5.01 easy
1/5 – 5.99 warmup, speed work, cool down

January total to date – 32.09

Nominal Challenge Goal – 225 miles
Real Goals: Train toward Boston, working 3 Freezeroo races plus Winter Warrior Half into the training plan. Avoid injury.

Today's notes – The training plan called for 1 x 800 at T, 2 x 1600 at T, 1 x 800 at T, and 2 laps striding the straights. But I raced 7.5 miles Sunday, and I have a half marathon in 2 days. Clearly, I needed to tone that down. Talked to Coach, and he said do 4 x 1000 at T. So that's what I did. I ran the traditional 2 mile warmup first, and at the end of the intervals I felt so good I just kept going for another mile to cool down.

I notice that I'm much better prepared mentally for speed work on a small indoor track than I was at this time last year. After 3 months of doing this a year ago, I have a bunch of mental games for coping with the small circuit. Because it's soft, smooth, and level, it becomes a game to target a precise pace. Today I was trying to run 200m laps at 49 to 50 seconds, which would make the target for my 1000 m intervals 4:05 to 4:10. That first lap came in pretty consistently at 47 seconds, every interval; then I was trying to keep each subsequent lap at 49 or 50. How did I do? The 1000 m intervals came in at 4:02, 4:04, 4:05, and 4:03. Close enough to target, and nicely consistent from one interval to the next. I wouldn't have thought so a year ago, but this is an easy speed workout to run two days before a race.

Then this evening there were posts on the FB group for the Fleet Feet training program where I pace long runs. The assignment today for half marathon trainees targeting Winter Warrior was an easy 3 miles followed by a group Happy Hour. I offer this example to the MFP group to illustrate different training plans for different purposes.

The Fleet Feet program is taking people who have run 5K and perhaps 10K races, and training them to complete the half marathon distance. The program bears some similarity to traditional marathon training, building up mileage, having cut back weeks, and having a taper before the race. It's designed to have the trainees peak out on race day.

I'm in the early weeks of a Boston training program. This program assumes a much more robust mileage base than the FF program does. It gets adapted for races I might want to run between now and Patriots' Day, such as Winter Warrior and the USATF Cross Country Championships in Bend, Oregon. And I have a coach who has a lot of experience training athletes toward multiple goal races in varying patterns on the calendar. So I've got a minor adjustment to speed work in a week that is building mileage, because I happen to be running a half marathon on Saturday.

I wouldn't want someone running their first half marathon to run 4 x 1000 m intervals two days before the race. But for the club I run with, it is truly a lighter workout to tune up for the race. The difference is between training for running the half marathon distance the first time, and fitting a half into a marathon training plan with the assumption that the half marathon distance is a given.

Three years ago, when I was training for my first half marathon, 4 x 1000 m intervals would have been totally inappropriate for the week before the race. Now, it fits right in and feels relaxing.

2017 races:
January 1, 2017 Freezeroo #2 (Resolution Run 7.5 mile) (Mendon, NY) Finished in 50:45
January 7, 2017 Winter Warrior Half Marathon (Gates, NY)
January 14, 2017 Freezeroo #3 (Pineway Ponds Park 5 mile) (Spencerport, NY)
January 28, 2017 Freezeroo #4 (Hearnish 5 mile) (Victor, NY)
February 4, 2017 USATF Cross Country National Championship 8K (Bend, OR)
February 11, 2017 Freezeroo #5 (Valentines Run "In Memory of Tom Brannon" 8 Mile) (Greece, NY)
February 25, 2017 Freezeroo #6 (White House Challenge 10K) (Webster, NY)
April 17, 2017 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)

I love living in the south, we might get up to 1" of snow tomorrow and the schools and businesses are closing. Skip's meet for Saturday was cancelled, which sucks because she's running out of meets to qualify for State. Her missing the first 2 meets is coming back to bite us.

I know you all up North are cracking up about our snow storm weather. The first year we lived here the kids were all excited about the blizzard, Skip was like what I don't even see snow. The flurries were so little and it was like for 5 minutes.

@dkabambe For that budget here in the U.K., I wouldn't look at a Garmin. The TomTom Runner watches do everything a Garmin does, only much cheaper. I think they are on to model 3 now, so if you look online for model 2 then I bet you could pick one up for £50. I love mine, I'm so glad I didn't waste money on a Garmin (they are just SO expensive here!)

@skippygirlsmom The response to a bit of snow is the same here in London. We just don't have the infrastructure to cope with it! I hope Skip gets a chance to qualify for state soon though.

@Orphia I bet marshalling in the summer is great fun. I did it in the late autumn and it was cooooold.

I didn't run yesterday, I slightly tweaked my hamstring when physically restraining a child (the joys of special ed teaching ), but I'll try to get out there tonight. I can feel a cold coming on too, so I might even try to get my long run done in case I need to rest up over the weekend, but I'll see how I feel after work/what my workload looks like.

@instantmartian I don't mean to laugh at your misfortune, but I had such a rotten day at work and was reading these posts to unwind. I burst our laughing at the rental car getting totalled. The whole scene you described reminded me of a Marx brother movie. So glad that no one got hurt.

Then I read @7lenny7 's post regarding facial exercises....I laughed so hard and had to show my husband...he researched it and you can purchase that appliance for $221.

You guys are the greatest!!!!!!!!