April 2017 Running Challenge

So a slight change to my training plan. Slight being relative because really it's a big change. Yet in the end my target fitness and performance should be similar, maybe a few points higher!

Instead of being a down week after 3 base building weeks, I am continuing my base building for 3 more weeks at my next highest mileage before my down week, so 6 weeks up, one down. This way my HM next week is in the middle of a cycle of 12 mile long weekend training runs, and I have the opportunity for a two week taper before my next HM on 5/13. This seemed to be the best fit I could come up with to fit these HM's in.

So I needed a 12 mile route today. Sticking with my plan of tackling hills, I recalled a "12 mile Death by Hills" route I created last year. I couldn't wait for that!!

It was exactly as described. My legs were feeling good after the first 7 brutally hilly miles, but I was experiencing some notable cardiac drift already. Not the best sign at just over halfway in. By mile 10 I was having to walk all uphills and was hitting my Garmin high HR alert (entering zone 4) while walking up those hills. Even when running downhill my high HR alert would chirp before hitting the bottom.

I made it the whole 12 miles pain free, but my overall pace sucked *kitten* because of those last couple miles.

Still though, a good, successful run.

4/1 - 10 miles
4/2 - 4 miles
4/3 - 4 miles
4/4 - 4 miles
4/5 - 4 miles
4/6 - 4 miles
4/7 - rest
4/8 - 10 miles
4/9 - 4 miles
4/10 - 4 miles
4/11 - 4 miles
4/12 - 4 miles
4/13 - 4 miles
4/14 - rest
4/15 - 12 miles of death by hills

72 of 120 miles complete

WhatMeRunning wrote: »

@MNLittleFinn - That's the spirit! I like the way you think. I'm never running Boston either. Heck, I may never even be as fast as you!

I'm gimpy and I'm not ruling out Boston You never know where your body will take you if you just give it the chance. Of course, I'll be content if I can match my pre surgery PR's.

I'll add to the good luck wishes to you Boston runners; you're my heroes already.

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So today's run was the Texas Big Star Half Marathon. As my previous PR (unofficial) was 1:54:45, I'd planned on aiming for a 1:50 time, and so I set pace alerts for 8:15 (too fast) and 8:45 (too slow). However, I took a dose of Condense, which has about 200mg of caffeine...and as I'm not a regular caffeine drinker, that certainly kicked in on my heart rate. But the nice thing about caffeine is that it lowers your perception of effort, so I felt great, even though the 'too fast' pace alert kept going off. Relatively early, I passed the 1:45 pacers, and just ran my race according to how I felt (ignoring the alarm), but I knew I was slowing down a little when the same pacers caught back up with me, so then I just ran with them and decided to see how long I could match their pace.

I kept up with them until there was about a half mile to go, and then powered on ahead with the rest of runners that had been using the pacers. Crossing the finish line, I had an official time of 1:43:43, besting my previous PR by over 11 minutes. It's kinda amazing what race conditions will do to your run. My heart rate was pretty high too, averaging 187 and topping out at 202; that's caffeine for ya!

Funniest sign at the finish line? "That's a lot of work for a free banana."

Anyways, here's me with some of the other runners from my morning running group who also took part in the race. Super proud of them all for running the event, several of whom also set new PRs.



And here's my updated mileage for the month.

03 - 13.37
04 - 9.59
05 - 13.39
06 - 10.75
07 - 13.36
10 - 10.73
11 - 9.27
12 - 8.16
13 - 8.89
14 - 2.33
15 - 13.14

Total: 112.98 / 175 miles

My goal is 3 miles a day. I am getting in shape for the first time and after a small injury, my workout was limited to cardio a month ago so I started walking and have added jogging. 16 laps around my yard is a mile so I walk 2 and jog 3-4. I have been consistent since April 1st. I have to take a couple of weeks off to recover from surgery, but hope to jump back in and continue to build my stamina.

April Running Totals (miles)
4/1 – 18.19 paced run
4/2 – 3.90 easy 30 minutes
4/3 – rest day
4/4 – 10.75 tempo intervals
4/5 – 6.85 group run
4/6 – 8.18 tempo intervals
4/7 – rest day
4/8 – 12.07 paced run
4/9 – 7.83 almost easy 60 minutes
4/10 – 4.51 easy 30 minutes + 4 strides
4/11 – 7.81 warm up, speed work, cool down
4/12 – 3.81 easy 30 minutes
4/13 – 5.45 easy/MP workout
4/14 – travel day
4/15 – 4.12 easy run along the Charles River

April total to date – 93.47

Nominal Challenge Goal – 150 miles
Real Goals: Run Boston. Finish healthy. Recover well.

Today's notes – I've been struggling with a cold. Yesterday afternoon I felt like crap. Got to the hotel, put my nutrition in, and found I was 800 calories short of what I needed. Well. Went to McDonald's, had an Egg McMuffin and a cone, came back to the hotel and ate the Shot Blocks from the race packet.

In the night I had a fever; I slept better after it broke. Still, today was a day to be more careful and be sure I was getting enough calories. This is a new experience for me when traveling. When I travel with the club, I eat enough to gain weight. This trip, I met my sister. She eats very healthy, and not very much to maintain *her* weight. But she had also scoped out where there is a Trader Joe's, and now the mini-fridge in the hotel has some familiar stuff for snacks for the rest of my stay.

So this morning I got up, grabbed breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, and thought about running. Text from my sister; she was waiting to watch the BAA 5K. Ended up walking down to meet her. Found the wreath commemorating the 2013 Boylston Street bombing on its 4th anniversary:



After various conversations, we ended up at the corner of Hereford Street and Boylston Street when the leaders came through. This is just past the 2 mile mark of the BAA 5K:



We had plenty of time, so we positioned ourselves on the same side of the 5K route as the hotel. Went back there, regrouped, and headed out for an easy 30 minutes along the Charles River. I reverted to form, and didn't even think about taking pictures of the pretty scenery. My original intention was to use this run as practice for controlling pace.

In the first mile, I noticed a 7:15 pace. Looked at my HR. 153. Oops. Tried to run by HR after that; it was more challenging than I expected to keep it below 129. Ended up running 4.12 miles in 32:29, for an average pace of 7:54 per mile. Average HR came in at 130, but when I look at the graph I see a warmup plateau in the 150s during the first mile. And a dip when I stopped to tie my shoe. I'll take that as bad news, that pace control is still an issue that needs serious attention; and good news, that I was able to mostly correct it once I noticed my HR being way faster than intended. The plan is to wear my Vivofit on my right wrist on Monday, and try to keep my HR low for the first 6 to 10 miles of the race.

Last year, I didn't wear the Vivofit. I decided that it was one more distraction I didn't need. This year, I have some training experience (not much) running to HR. It's worth a try, particularly since the major goal is to finish health.

My cold has been bothering me off and on all day long, but it didn't seem to affect my running . . . at least for the short distance today. It remains to be seen how it will affect an endurance run on Monday, assuming it has not finished running its course by then.

Around 7 AM, @lporter229 sent me a PM with her contact info. I didn't see it until almost 5 PM, because I wasn't at my computer. Oh, well. Maybe I'll see her tomorrow morning on Commonwealth Avenue, maybe I won't. My sightseeing and social aspirations have been scaled back considerably due to my cold. The main goal at this point is to have enough energy to run the marathon and finish healthy uninjured.

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, PR for 8K
April 17, 2017 Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, MA)

@garygse - That's an amazing PR smash!! Well done!

To everyone running Boston (or any other race) have a fab time! Talk here of Boston plus seeing my mates in the pub this afternoon after a decent run has inspired me to do a marathon this year in advance of London next year.

Not sure which yet but one of the pub-goers is planning to do Beachy Head (aka Seven Sisters). It's both off-road and very hilly but very tempting as it's not until the end of October, (and also means someone to share hotel/travel costs with!)
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As for me today was 15k over 3 legs. Few (i.e. Lots of) beers since then so no report. Will just say I'm really pleased that although slightly behind I may actually make my goal this month for first time since December!


2-Apr: 19k easy
5-Apr: 5k very easy
6-Apr: 12k easy
7-Apr: 5k PR attempt + 2.4k cooldown [5K PR @ 24:28]
10-Apr: 4.3k + 4.1k easy
11-Apr: 11.9k + 5k easy
13-Apr: 13.7k MP
15-Apr: 5.2k + 10.1k easy

MNLittleFinn wrote: »

I just had an intervention with myself and came to a realization..... I now have accepted that I'll almost certainly never be fast enough to BQ, and I now realize that my relentless push toward ultra is a way for me to compensate for that...... I may always be slow, but if I can go slow for a LONG way, I can be OK with it........

........LOL, Saturday morning thoughts...... this is the problem with getting my LR done on Friday, and not getting a run in yet today.

Just as an aside, and absolutely not a negative as to those running Boston, but here in the U.K. We get asked all the time if you're aiming for a marathon 'oh, are you training for the London marathon?' And for me the answer will always be No. I'm a trail girl, so roads and tarmac races don't interest me. Talk to me about UTMB or the Spine Race or a Bob Graham Round and I might want to talk, but talk a famous road race and I'm not that bothered.

Being fast enough for a BQ may be important for some, but does it affect your overall running urge? If the attempt to BQ means you hold back on something else, then I would suggest that the urge to BQ is not the thing for you. Seek out something deeper and better. You will find the answer in some unexpected places.

@lporter229 and @MobyCarp All the best for Boston!

@garygse That's a huge PR. Congratulations!

@katharmonic Awesome race! Sounds like it was a brilliant idea to sign up.

@girlinahat UTMB?! Wow, now that would be something... If you ever run it, let me now, Chamonix is just 90min away from me by car. I'll come and cheer you on!

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Today was the last very long run in my training plan. I used the chance to try out new sunscreen and a new hydration vest that I saw on sale and couldn't resist.
The sunscreen was a complete failure. Especially in the face, it felt really oily and sticky during most of the run, yuck!
The vest (Nathan Firecatcher Race Vest) was great. It leave more of the back uncovered that my hydration pack, so it felt lighter. Unlike my backpack, it doesn't have a whistle included, I need to remember to add that before taking it out on some mountain trails.
And I need to fix some spare hair ties to the straps as well. Today, I lost the one I was wearing after ~27km. I guess it took a moment for my braid to unravel, because when I noticed and looked around, I couldn't find it. Which ment 6km of running without. You know how in movies you sometimes see women with running with long hair flowing behind them, and it looks wild and free and sexy? That ain't me I was sweating, and kept getting strands of hair in my face, and then they stuck to the oily mess that was the new sunscreen. I took a selfie at the end of the run, because I wanted to show off the new vest, but the I decided that nobody wants to see me after a 33km run with oily face and hair from hell, so I'll spare you that