March 2017 Running Challenge

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  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    @Orphia I use Sport Tracks for their heatlh graph feature showing fitness and fatigue levels. I particularly like that you can plan forward 30 days of runs and it will estimate those future levels to help with modifying or tweaking your training. I'm also a Strava premium member but was unaware of that new feature. I'll have to check that out.

    @WhatMeRunning Cool! I signed up for Sport Tracks' free 45 day trial. Looks good, and only takes one click to import all your activities from Garmin. You have to upload individual runs to Runalzyze.

    Data frenzy!!
  • iofred
    iofred Posts: 488 Member
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    @HRKinchen - wow, what a gorgeous dog
  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    girlinahat wrote: »
    MobyCarp wrote: »

    I was kind of surprised when I looked at the stats that both pace and HR looked like a well managed easy run. I just wasn't feeling it today.

    I'm curious here. Did it FEEL easy to you? Your description makes it sound like it didn't feel easy, or was hard work because of the environmental conditions. I'm interested in how when something reads on paper as being 'easy', whether it actually is, or whether we should rely on our gut feeling as to how a run feels - which is pretty much the decision you made at the end there. I've just been listening to a podcast about enjoyment of running and running to play rather than run with a hard target, and I think I'm more of a player (certainly if I want to maintain my interest in running).

    I'd have to say it was physically easy, but mentally tough. The physical environment would have been no big deal if I'd been in a better mental state.
  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    March Running Totals (miles)
    3/1 – 7.32 easy with hills
    3/2 – 13.10 long intervals
    3/3 – rest day
    3/4 – 16.09 paced run
    3/5 – 12.67 easy with hills
    3/6 – rest day
    3/7 – 10.20 warm up, speed work, cool down
    3/8 – 7.02 easy
    3/9 – 14.25 easy with MP finish
    3/10 – rest day
    3/11 – 10.10 warm up + race
    3/12 – 9.65 easy with hills
    3/13 – 5.01 easy + 4 strides
    3/14 – snow day
    3/15 – snow day
    3/16 – 8.05 easy
    3/17 – travel day
    3/18 – 6.40 commutes + race


    March total to date – 119.86

    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 Yesterday's notes – Summary: Racing is fun. Travel sucks.

    The alleged 9 hour drive to Virginia Beach took 11.5 hours. We spent far too long stuck in traffic in Hampton, VA; at one point my friend, who was driving, gave the wheel to me to inch forward with traffic while he ran to the nearby McDonalds to use the rest room and came back. I didn't advance as far at the McDonald's when that was happening. This was a Waze-inspired detour around congestion on I-64; but we weren't the only car on the road with a traffic app. So we got to the hotel too late Friday for a shakedown run. Had dinner, had a team meeting, got maybe 6 hours of sleep before having to get up to make the 7:45 gun time.

    I suffered from not doing enough homework before hand. There was a drop bag service, but instead of using it I gave my bag to a team mate's wife. Turned out it took a while to find her after the race, would have been faster to use the drop bag service. I didn't even know the gun time until Thursday night; if I'd been thinking ahead, I might have just scheduled a 2 day drive and paid for an extra hotel night somewhere in rural Pennsylvania or Virginia. And I didn't know until shortly before we left that the 8K was the *small* event of the weekend. The major events were the Shamrock Half and Shamrock Marathon (estimated 20,000 runners) on Sunday. But we made it there, and we got to the start line on time.

    This was the first 8K I've run that had mutilple corrals. There were at least 4, because I saw corral 4 when I was hunting for corral 1 where all the USATF Masters competitors were placed. Spoke with a guy in a green bib who asked why I had a black bib:

    l6sjun9hyb5u.jpg

    If I had been thinking fast, I'd have said, "Because I'm a badass!" But I explained that the black bibs were for the USATF Masters Championship. He asked how long the race would take me. "Probably 32 to 34 minutes. I don't think I can break 32, but I'll beat 35 even if I have a bad race." His jaw dropped. This guy, who looked to be in his late 20s or early 30s thought that was incredibly fast. I told him, that's fast for 60 but the 40 year olds will blow me away.

    Overcast skies, allegedly 9 mph WSW wind (felt a bit stronger, and more southerly), 47º F (8º C) was good running weather. The course was fast and flat. I went out trying to key off the fastest guy on our M 60+ team; he dropped me about a mile in. A bit later, there was the Spectator Moment of the race. You have to understand that in USATF Masters competitions, you wear bibs on your back indicating your age group:

    7dg5615uokjn.jpg

    I was about 20 feet behind a guy with a "65" on his back, with a clump of runners close behind me. A spectator shouted, "Come on, guys, he's only 65!" And the 65-69 year old raised his hand to give her a middle finger salute. As a 61 year old, I appreciated the sentiment. Later I passed him, then he passed me, and I ended up finishing 2 seconds behind him. I made a point of telling him he had the right attitude there.

    Bottom line: I ran a PR 30:59. I had thought I might break 32 minutes if I had the race of my life, but breaking 31 never entered my mind. That's a 6:14 pace per mile (3:52 per kilometer), and about what I thought a decent 5K pace was for me. But it wasn't good enough for an individual award, and we didn't make the podium with the M 60-64 team. Part of that is that we just didn't have enough healthy guys running.

    My PR 30:59 was good for 8th of 18 in the M 60-64 age group and 42nd of 161 overall if restricted to the USATF Masters 8K field. In the full Shamrock 8K field, I was 8th of 139 in the age group and 73rd of 7760 overall. The USATF national events draw a tough field. I'm in no danger of dominating that field, but at least I look like I belong in it.

    This was the first 8K I've run that gave out finisher's medals. Since I'd seen enough "60" bibs in front of me to know I wouldn't win any individual awards and be pretty sure my team wouldn't win first place, it felt odd to get a medal for this race; but if they're going to give them to people who walk 5 miles, I'll take one too:

    514s8nfo6h2o.jpg

    Then there was travel home. The road in front of the hotel was scheduled to be closed from 4 AM to 10 AM on Sunday for the marathon. Can't get out then. The common wisdom strategy was to take the car out the day before and park in a public lot, then schlep bags to the car Sunday morning. But my traveling companion's suitcase zipper broke. He had to carry his suitcase in both arms instead of by a handle. A quarter mile walk was not feasible. So we left about noon on Saturday, and drove home. Took an alternate route that was 70 miles longer but without traffic jams; but had to slow down for snow in Pennsylvania. Ended up getting to my house just before 1 AM.

    The race was sure fun, but I don't know if it was worth being on the road for almost 25 hours to have 11 or 12 waking hours in Virginia Beach. Races are fun, but travel sucks.

    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) finished in 33:25
    March 18, 2017 USATF Masters 8K Championship (Shamrock 8K, Virginia Beach, VA) finished in 30:59
    April 17, 2017 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)

  • MobyCarp
    MobyCarp Posts: 2,927 Member
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    Ran into a spam number, comment will post after approved. It's my daily mileage and race report from the USATF Masters 8K. Past experience leads me to believe that when it posts, it won't trigger a new post indicator for the group.
  • vandinem
    vandinem Posts: 550 Member
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    Date     Miles      MTD
------   -----    -------
Mar 02     4.6T       4.6
Mar 04     6.5       11.1
Mar 06     4.4T      15.5
Mar 07     6.7T      22.2
Mar 09     5.3T      27.5
Mar 12    10.4       37.9
Mar 13     4.4T      42.3
Mar 15     4.7T      47.0
Mar 18     8.2       55.2
Mar 19     6.5       61.7

    exercise.png
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    Congratulations @dkabambe
  • dpwellman
    dpwellman Posts: 3,271 Member
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    @dkabambe I forgot to ask: where's the photos of the bling?

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