March 2017 Running Challenge

Date     Miles      MTD
------   -----    -------
Mar 02     4.6T       4.6

3/1 6.3r + 4.2w
3/2 7.25r + 4.5w + 1000m row
Total so far: 13.55r + 8.7w = 22.25 miles

In trying to come up with a way to work different muscle groups, I decided to give rowing a go. I think I will be incorporating this into my workouts a couple times a week.

My left big toe hurts, the same one that was having toenail issues before. I think I may have an ingrown. I have never experienced an ingrown toenail before, though, so I'm not sure what to do about it. Are ingrown toenails a thing for runners, or am I just special?

Orphia wrote: »

@MobyCarp @Stoshew71 @BeeerRunner @lporter229

The discussion on marathon training is SO helpful! Cheers to @MNLittleFinn for kicking it off.

I'm building miles, and aiming to increase from January's 27 km to a 30 km later this month, so should I stop running Saturday's 5K parkrun at speed?

ETA: parkrun is the only speed work I usually do. I've run 351 km (218 miles) so far this year.

A fast 5K once a week isn't going to hurt you. Running all your runs fast and none of them easy will.

March Running Totals (miles)
3/1 – 7.32 easy with hills
3/2 – 13.10 long intervals

March total to date – 20.42

Nominal Challenge Goal – 225 miles
Real Goals: Stay healthy. Train well toward Boston. Run well at the USATF Masters 8K Championship in Virginia Beach.

Today's notes – Today I ran 13 miles on an indoor track. It was not a long run. It was an interval workout. The long run will be Saturday, and it will be longer and slower.

The assignment today was 2 miles easy; 2 x (4 miles at MP, 1 mile at T); 1 mile easy. With the discussion of pace control fresh in everyone's mind, I'll say that I'm targeting easy between 7:45 and 8:15 per mile, MP at 7:30 per mile, and T on the track at 6:30 to 6:40 per mile.

Had to run this one on the upper track. It's not as nice as the standard track that was being cleaned up after a non-athletic event from yesterday, and there is some uncertainty about distance. It looks like a 200m track. There's a sign that says it's 8 laps to the mile. Coach tells me an honest 200m is one pole short of a full lap of the track, which would make 1600m about 7.75 laps and make 8 laps more than a mile. For a workout like this, I simply count 8 laps as a mile and call it close enough. Garmin, going by cadence, called it 13.10 miles; but I lapped the watch every 8 track laps, and Garmin had those distances ranging from 0.97 to 1.05 miles. So I can't really trust the fine detail in the Garmin distance without GPS.

Results: My mile splits came in as follows:

Easy 8:00, 7:52
MP 7:24, 7:22, 7:23, 7:21
T 6:41
MP 7:18, 7:18, 7:20, 7:21
T 6:46
Easy 8:17

The T intervals were truly lactic threshold effort. So either I'm a little off today, or the track is a little long. Which means I'm running the MP a bit faster than target, what a surprise. Part of that is a mental game, deliberately picking a slower target MP so that when I go faster I'm not killing myself. I notice that this type of workout is much easier this training cycle with a 7:30 target MP than it was last year when I targeted a 7:15 MP. 7:15 turned out to be too aggressive on race day. FWIW, depending on where I think my real T pace is the standard calculations think I can run MP anywhere from 6:56 to 7:09. I disagree.

And of course it's quite normal for my easy pace after running the speed intervals to be a bit slower than my easy pace when I'm fresh.

Average HR for the workout, 139. Max HR, 158. Definitely out of the range for an easy run, but this one wasn't supposed to be easy. When I looked at my HR during the MP intervals, I saw pretty consistent numbers from 140 to 142. Not terrible, but higher than it should be for easy. That's the difference between easy and MP.

Rest day tomorrow. Long run Saturday, outdoors, with a forecast of winter weather conditions. Should be fun.

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) short course, finished 4.34 miles in 27:51
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)

@MNLittleFinn just prompting all the good marathon convos today! Glad to hear
you spotted your pacing issue! What were you aiming to run it in?

My treadmill needing to be lubed every 150 miles (1-2 times a month) is really starting to tick me off -_-

March 1- 15km
March 2- 18km

33/250km

MobyCarp wrote: »

Orphia wrote: »

@MobyCarp @Stoshew71 @BeeerRunner @lporter229

The discussion on marathon training is SO helpful! Cheers to @MNLittleFinn for kicking it off.

I'm building miles, and aiming to increase from January's 27 km to a 30 km later this month, so should I stop running Saturday's 5K parkrun at speed?

ETA: parkrun is the only speed work I usually do. I've run 351 km (218 miles) so far this year.

A fast 5K once a week isn't going to hurt you. Running all your runs fast and none of them easy will.

Awesome! Very happy to hear you say that, @MobyCarp

@ariceroni @ROBOTFOOD Welcome back!!

March goal: stay healthy and continue training for Grandma's.
Nominal mileage goal: 175

3/1- 6.15
3/2- REST
3/3- No RUN. Stopped before I really got going

Total: 6.15

Today's notes: After more than a week of worrying about my left shin, it's my right knee that's the real issue. I started out on my 3 miler and had to stop about 100 yards in. My knee hurt bad enough that I knew that running anymore would be a bad idea. Good thing I have that DR appointment today, looks like I'll be bringing that up too.

There goes my monthly mileage goal, I have a feeling I'll be taking a somewhat extended layoff from running starting today. I just hope I'll still be able to do the marathon in 3.5 months, but only time will tell.

Feeling pretty down right now.

@MNLittleFinn Good call stopping your run instead of running through the pain. I hope you doctor's appointment goes well and all you need is a few days off

---

3/1: 2 miles run/walk
3/2: rest
3/3: 3.1 miles

Total: 5.1/60 miles

Holy ice! I didn't realize how slippery the roads were otherwise I would have chosen to go to the gym or run later. Took it very slow and had to either run in the middle of the road where there was lesser ice or through the snow on the grass in order to stay upright. Still has a few close calls. Ended up with 3.1 miles in 34:10. Running intervals of 0.75/0.25/0.75/0.25/0.75 miles with either 30 or 60 seconds walking between running intervals. Running intervals were all between 10 and 10:30 min/mile (got faster as the run progressed and I could tell were the icy spots were better).

@garygse @OSUbuckeye906 Thanks guys. I started my training plan 2 weeks early, so "hopefully" That gives me enough cushion to take time off and train up enough to run/walk the thing.

There's another MFPer running it who was going to be taking it easy....as if you can take a marathon easy....so if I can recover in time to do something, that's always a possibility (7 hour time limit makes it a doable, if VERY long walk....I've walked that far in a day before)

All that said, I'm going to be listening to EVERYTHING my Dr. Says, even if it kills my chances at my June marathon, health has to come first. I have a fall marathon on the schedule as well so, worst case, I should be able to get in a full this calendar year.