February 2017 Running Challenge

MobyCarp wrote: »

shanaber wrote: »

Today's run should have been great. The weather is beautiful (70F); I wore my new Topo-ST shoes!!; My legs actually felt great... I just wish the rest of my body was on board with it. My heart rate was all over the place and I had to keep stopping. When I got home and looked at my HR - the low was 33 and the high was 191!! What makes it worse honestly is that it has been fine for the last week and staying right around 38-120 range that is normal for me. Tomorrow I had planned for an interval day but I will just have to see how it feels. I hate the way it feels when it is so erratic but I have to figure out a better way to deal with it than I have been.

@shanaber - I've looked at this several times, and I can't make sense of your HR numbers. 38 beats per minute would be a very good, well conditioned resting heart rate. 33 might be a resting heart rate for a world class athlete, I don't know. I can't imagine anyone actually running and having a HR below 40. 120 would be a nice low HR for an easy run. 191 is way high; I think I had a report of 189 at the top of the 3rd hill in Tallahassee, when I felt like I just couldn't keep running fast any more. (Granted, I'm an old guy; younger folk might not feel it as bad.)

The broad range from 33 to 191 looks bizarre, but even normal from 38 to 120 looks odd. tWith these numbers, I'd suspect that whatever HR monitor you're using has a flaw and is producing inaccurate results. If they're accurate, that's a potential serious health problem that you should get checked out. Presumably if your HR was really bouncing around as much as the monitor says, you would have felt way off, rested and exhausted by turns. That would be a clue that you need medical attention.

I hope it's just a flaky HR monitor, which would be the easiest problem to fix. But if this turns out to be a real medical issue, I hope you get it taken care of and can get back to running healthy.

For reference, my resting HR is somewhere around 40 (it's hard to detect when I'm lying down in the morning), but it goes over 50 just from standing up and walking around gently. Garmin thinks my max HR should be 185, and I spend most of my easy runs with HR in the mid 120s to upper 130s. Races, 150-ish to mid-160s. Over 170, and I can feel that it won't be sustainable for any length of time. But I'm 61 years old. Younger runners will have faster heart rates.

Thanks @MobyCarp and @BeeerRunner - the 33 was my resting, well... right before I headed out the door. It is usually in the low 40s when I am up and walking around. In the past my max has never been above 150. I did see the cardiologist the week before my HM earlier this month because I have been feeling so off. He did a 24 hour monitor and told me that while my HR was not 'normal' and is being erratic at times corresponding to when I feel it, he did not want to do anything at this time. I just need to pay attention to how I am feeling and stop when I feel bad - honestly it is automatic because I really can't keep running when it happens... I have known that I have a very low HR - it has always been low and has gotten lower with my running. The last monitoring by the cardiologist prior to this time my RH was 35 and this last one was consistent with that. When I had my surgery on my hand the nurses were all panicking because the HR monitor kept alarming when it went into the 30's. They finally just turned it off. I know that at some point I will need a pacemaker but he didn't feel it is necessary yet. I am thinking a 2nd opinion may be in my best interest too.

5.5 more...

@skippygirlsmom- Fingers crossed for you here too. Nobody wants to get that news, hoping it's not the worst. But either way, I am sure you will make the best of it.

I just realized that I mis-calculated my mileage for the month.....My training plan has 148 miles plus strides set for the month. I was skipping the strides to give my leg a little more rest....looks like I'll have to get back to doing those so I can make my goal....

What a bummer @skippygirlsmom. Not what you wanted to hear.

After my hunting desperately for a replacement HM since the one I wanted to do was full, and booking the one with the cool bling, today I got a message that my original choice has now space available.

I'd thought of I was on the waiting lists people would pull out just a couple of weeks before, so whether they've just made more space I'm not sure.

Too late though. I can't do both, and now I've found a race where the bling is colourful cow shaped, the hills are muddy and there is no attempt to take themselves seriously, plus apparently there is a water station called the 'Lovestation', with cakes, pies and homemade schnapps, how can I possibly return to my first choice? My chosen race is like the Marathon de Medoc, West Country-style where everyone ends up in a heap on a campsite rolling in cider. How could I resist?


Oh and I'm sick again this week. I'm having a bit of a running rest for a couple of days as I ache and feel rubbish. Tomorrow I have a session with an Alexander Technique teacher to see how that can improve my running posture.

Azercord wrote: »

@skippygirlsmom that really sucks but at least they found the issue and have a fairly clear path forward.

@Elise4270 just a side note you were the inspiration to finally buy a cello and start practicing. I'm horrible at it (never played a stringed instrument) but it's been fun so far.

A few years from now, I plan on branching out to learn the cello. I've always loved it. FWIW, I'm still terrible too. But I booked an online tutor and plan on setting up in the shed so I can practice more. I said I wouldn't do that, because it felt demeaning. But I think I'd like that alone time where no one but the ghost of the greats can hear me.

Sorry to hear you're sick again. That HM, with the pie? Omg! I wanna run eat that! Maybe they need help manning that station... Or a little music? EEE, EEE, EEE, eeeeee! Ta-da!

7lenny7 wrote: »

@MNLittleFinn does the reason for resting your legs no longer apply?

To an extent, I was resting my leg to let it heal up, and it's been feeling much better. I have strides assigned 2 days a week, I was thinking about adding them back in 1 day a week. With the little bits farther than a mile on the end of each run, I'll probably be over my goal any way by a tiny bit anyway.

Really, the mileage foal is a secondary consideration, I also want to see how my legs handle them, and when I saw I set my goal 2 miles higher than my monthly assignment-strides, I thought that would be a way to get the extra distance back..

HonuNui wrote: »

@skippygirlsmom : I'm so sorry....revel for the moment in Skip's runs....
@shanaber : my first thought was that you need a pacemaker.....a second opinion is a good idea.

@honunui thank you that made me smile

@skippygirlsmom I'll add my best wishes for the better outcomes with MRI findings and surgery and recovery. Hope your time out from running is as short as possible. A new hobby or other sport does sound like a way to keep from going too crazy. Keep us posted. Hope you can enjoy the HM with Skip in some fashion.

Speaking of, how's that violin progress @Elise4270? I don't think the shed is demeaning at all if it gives you some nice practice space.

@shanaber that's really a low heart rate. I thought I had (per self diagnoses) bradycardia when I was suffering from excessive and unexplained fatigue. But the sleep study doctor was not at all impressed by my resting heart rate in the low 40s. Anyway, I would definitely pursue another opinion if I were you.

@girlinahat the replacement HM sounds awesome! Too little too late, original HM! On to much cooler things.

No run today. Tuesdays have been difficult for me schedule-wise lately so have ended up being my default rest day. The weather was pretty good though today so I was a bit bummed not to have time to get out there. I took a bit of a walk at lunch to stretch my legs and wished I had brought my running clothes. Lack of a shower, though, keeps me from trying that.

2.13.17 - 9.9 m. 9:32 pace. Beautiful February Day.
2.14.17 - 5 m 8:30 pace.

Got a question for the crowd-sourced knowledgebase: I was having some real soreness in my left shoulder/neck, like I'd slept on it wrong. It would ease some, but wouldn't go away. So I decided to go for a massage. I didn't look for a "sports massage" place, just went to the place where I've done mani/pedi, 'cause I knew they also did massage (not a hootchie-kootchie kinda place).

When I went in, I explained the shoulder thing, and said I'm also a runner, so also concentrate on the legs. It was a good session, and I haven't had anymore shoulder twinges. But this was Monday, and both of my runs today were more-or-less terrible - like I didn't have anything left in the tank.

For those of you who do massages regularly (or at all!), is that a normal outcome for the next day? I'm hoping that I'll be back to my usual tomorrow. But is it typical to take a day (or more?!) to get over a massage like that?

February Running Totals (miles)
2/1 – 7.00 easy
2/2 – 2.63 easy shakedown run
2/3 – travel day, didn't get a run in
2/4 – 7.99 warm up on road + 8K cross country
2/5 – travel day, didn't get a run in
2/6 – travel day
2/7 – 9.26 warm up, speed work, cool down
2/8 – 7.02 group run
2/9 – 12.03 MP intervals
2/10 – rest day
2/11 – 18.63 paced run + solo miles
2/12 – 11.48 easy 90 minutes
2/13 – rest day
2/14 – 12.25 warm up, speed work, cool down

February total to date – 88.29

Nominal Challenge Goal – 225 miles
Real Goals: Survive travel to and from Bend. Train well toward Boston. Avoid injury.

Today's notes – You know you're in marathon training when your warm up, speed intervals, and cool down add up to 12 miles and it isn't even close to your assigned long run distance.

Speed work on the indoor track this evening. After a 2 mile warm up, the assignment was 2 sets of (1000, 1200, 1000) at I pace with same time recovery, then 4 x 200 at R pace with 200 recovery. Coach threw a wrinkle in, 5 minutes recovery between the I sets. So instead of same time recovery for the last 1000, I got 5 minutes. That might not have been necessary between the 2 sets of I intervals, but it was definitely needed before attempting the set of 200s at R.

Some runners take the recovery as walking or standing around; I typically take mine as easy run and don't worry about being a few seconds off from exactly the same time recovery. This gives me roughly 3/4 the distance of easy running that I had at I pace, so it wasn't a shock when Garmin reported 58 minutes and 8.08 miles for the interval portion of the workout. I was pleased that I pretty much nailed my target I pace (46 seconds per 200 m) and after that generous 5 minutes recovery cranked out 4 200s at 42 seconds each. I would have thought I'd be so wiped out that 43 seconds would be tough to achieve.

It's workouts like this that make me really appreciate the cool down run. I feel like I don't even want to start, but a couple easy miles does wonders for recovering from the beating I gave myself running intervals. That, and a good stretching session. Then a hot shower and some food, and life is perfect.

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) Finished in 1:32:40
January 14, 2017 Freezeroo #3 (Pineway Ponds Park 5 mile) (Spencerport, NY) Finished in 33:42
January 28, 2017 Freezeroo #4 (Hearnish 5 mile) (Victor, NY) short course, finished 4.88 miles in 32:50
February 4, 2017 USATF Cross Country National Championship Masters 8K (Bend, OR) Finished in 35:39, team won the 60+ Men's cross country championship
February 11, 2017 Freezeroo #5 (Valentines Run "In Memory of Tom Brannon" 8 Mile) (Greece, NY) sat out due to training schedule
February 25, 2017 Freezeroo #6 (White House Challenge 4.4 mile) (Webster, NY)
March 11, 2017 Johnny's Runnin' of the Green 5 mile (Rochester, NY)
March 18, 2017 USATF Masters 8K Championship (Virginia Beach, VA)
April 17, 2017 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)

I am new to this and am out of shape. What would you recommend starting with?

7.8 miles today, including 10 runs up and down 0.2 mile hill.