May 2017 Running Challenge

May goal....50 miles

May 4...3.66 miles
May 6...13.1miles (Indianapolis mini-marathon)
May 7....3 miles (recovery run)

Total: 19.76 miles

2017 races....5/6 Indianapolis mini-marathon
5/20..Geist Reservoir Half Marathon

So I ran my half marathon yesterday. It was a cold morning (46 degrees). It had rained all week with intermittent flooding and, according to the forecast, it was going to rain at 7 a.m. and again at 10. I have never run a race with rain and was pre-occupied with having to deal with it. I decided to wear a long sleeved shirt, a light jacket, a pull over cap, and mittens. I had to leave before 7 a.m. because the road blocks were to the north and south of my house, and if you don't leave by a certain time, you are blocked in. I managed to leave in time, found a parking place, noted that it was starting to sprinkle. It actually stopped before the race started, and the weather, although, cold at the beginning was perfect running weather.

I am not a fast runner. My best time was 2:36 last fall. My goal was to try to break the 2:30 time. My plan was to try to run each mile under 12 minutes and by the end, I was going to sprint the last 1.1 mile. What I didn't factor in, was the large group of people in the race that I had to pass, side-step, or run in the grass to get around. I discovered that the attendance was 22,763. I was assigned the fourth corral (5 corrals total).

The middle of the race is around the Indy 500 race track. I started out well, averaging 11:30-11:40 pace, just above my zone pace, but by the time I finished running around the track (9 miles), I was hot, tired and just wanted it to be over. I felt cold air leaving the Speedway, and it felt so good. I checked my time and finished mile nine in almost 13 minutes. I tried picking up the pace and another wall of people in front. It was worse at the hydration stations.

This event is the fourth time I have run it....I think it had the most people I have ever seen. I wished that I had practiced lateral moves, like football players practice. I finished at 2:42, or 50 seconds better than last year but 6 minutes slower than last fall.

Although I was tired, I wasn't that sore...I just couldn't get my legs to run any faster. I drove home via a circuitous route (my house was still blocked). Then I watched the Kentucky Derby and did pick the winning horse (Always Dreaming, who was really peaking at the right time.) I don't bet on the races..I just really enjoy the sport itself.

I wonder if I had an off day, if I regressed, or if the weather or crowd affected my race. I will be running Geist in 2 more weeks....so I will see if the results are similar.

Today I did a recovery run to help loosen my tight muscles (quads and buttocks). It went well....I sprinted a little and it felt great.

Go the Extra Mile 50 km walk recap
Saturday 6 May 2017

I’d followed a Strava/McMillan marathon training plan fairly closely with the longest runs 27, 30, and 26 km, since I figured I wouldn’t need 35-ish km training runs for a walk, and not having run a full 42km marathon before.
My friend (Beastie) and I did a 35 km walk in October, and loved it so much we made plans to do this 50 km one. Her mum lives near where this walk finishes, so we were able to stay there the night before and after.
I was up at 4:30 am, Beastie a bit later. Beastie’s other half drove us to the start and we set off without incident at 7 am.
The first section was 14 km along the Dandenong Creek Trail, and was nice and flat. Beasts in the forest, me on the right:

Here’s a view of the first mountain we would climb (Mount Dandenong) from near the start:

We steamed along at a nice 9 minutes per kilometre, though Beastie can walk faster, and continued that pace into the second section, a stretch of 9 km including a climb at the end. Here’s the view of where were heading, taken about 20 km into the walk. Mount Dandenong is on the left; then we would walk over to the far right, then do a loop behind that.

Looks pretty flat?
This is the elevation:

When we got to the mountainous section, we were in rainforest:



After a bit of a climb, we hit checkpoint 2 at about 11 am, 24 km into the walk. I ate my lunch, lentil and chickpea salad, grabbed more water, and off we went again. I ate some black jelly beans as we began walking again.
It got tough. Steep climbing, and steep downhills. There were several sections with rope to assist going uphill and downhill. I found the downhill hardest because it was tough on my knees and I felt like I would slip on the *kitten* gravel surface.

This third section of 14 km of mountains seemed to last forever. Each time we met a marshal (who all had lollies and snacks to offer us) we couldn’t believe the distance they said we had to go. And Strava (I was using the app,(not Garmin which wouldn’t have enough battery for the distance) and it gave us lots of 5 minute kilometres so the GPS/distance was borked).
Then it started to rain. And it got squelchy and slippery underfoot. I’ll spare you the details of the toilet stops between checkpoints.
Luckily we reached the final checkpoint and had a bit of rest before the final push. At each checkpoint, they had loads of muesli bars, stewed fruit, fresh fruit, water, and energy drinks. This one even had tea and coffee, but we didn’t stop too long.
See that almost vertical line in the elevation chart? That’s the Lyrebird Track Fitness Steps. Over 1 km straight up, mostly steps. In the rain. Beastie and I took it slow, and I was grateful I’d done a lot of hiking and running up hills and mountains, as it was testing my strength, endurance, and cardio fitness. But Beastie started having negative thoughts, and stopped half way and said she wanted to quit. I dug deep and gave her a deep and meaningful pep talk. She rallied, and set off again, slowly, slowly, till we finally reached the top of the steps. Yay! Then it stopped raining. Yay!
It got misty, and even more scenic.



This was after we’d been going for 9 and a half hours, with an hour to go:

More walking through rainforest, squelchy and slippery, and I rolled both ankles slightly on the path that was very narrow now, and in the half light of dusk.
The final couple of k’s I was holding my headlamp, and I think even my arms hurt at this point. Then the last marshal said we had 100 metres to the finish, and we walked through it with our arm around each other. We made it!!! A 50 km Awesome Adventure!

5/1 - 4.6 run + 4.8 walk
5/2 - 1.0 run + 7.1 walk
5/3 - 5.1 run + 3.9 walk
5/4 - 0.0 run + 5.1 walk
5/5 - 5.2 run + 4.8 walk
5/6 - 5.1 run + 1.8 walk
5/7 - 0.5 run + 5.6 walk
5/8 - 5.1 run + TBD

Totals so far - 26.6 run + 33.1 walk = 59.7 miles

This morning's run was absolutely great. I felt like pushing myself a little bit to try to get my pace back to where it was before, and it mostly worked. I had my best mile time yet (10:02, according to Garmin) and overall averaged just barely over 11:00/mile with three miles under 11:00. The first mile always throws everything off because I've been walking 0.2 mile to warm up instead of starting out of the gate running.

I'd like to start throwing in some tempo runs this month in preparation for my 10k in June. I think I can do it.

Edit: I was seriously heckled by a pack of blue jays this morning. Boy, were they loud! It made me smile, though.

Hi All! Just checking in this morning for the first time since Friday. Boy it was a busy weekend for you guys. I just kind of skimmed through the posts, but looks like some awesome running was going on!

@kgirlhart -Congrats on that awesome first 5K! I am sure there will be many more!
@skippygirlsmom - Congrats to both you and Skip on a great race!
@_nikkiwolf_ - Way to tough it out with the injury....and get a PR in the process! Amazing job!
@KeepRunningFatboy - Congrats on slaying the Pig. I ended up not making it down on Sunday for a number of reasons, but I did watch all of the race coverage on TV. I just love that event!
@Orphia - Wow! Just wow! That looks like an amazing adventure. I am in awe of you!
@MNLittleFinn - Congrats on the distance PR! I think you are going to crush this marathon!

Sorry if I missed anyone else that had major accomplishments this weekend. The 140 posts were a lot to get through on a Monday AM!

I am still not running, but my hubby and our pup Stella did the Flying Fur 2 mile dog run (part of the Pig marathon weekend events) on Saturday. It was a blast! Tons of great costumes on the pups, including flying pig wings, a miniature kilt on a little Scottie and even a girl that died her puppy pink (maybe a little too far, not sure, but it was funny). There was a group of Whippets who my hubby referred to as "the Kenyans". We had a great time. Eric and Stella finished in 20:01, which included a stop to lap some water and also a couple of butt sniffs, according to Eric. This is a good pace for him. Kind of a walk in the park for Stella, but I amazed that she managed to stay focused enough to get through at that pace! Stella got her medal and wore it proudly!

She didn't want to take it off!