July 2017 Running Challenge

angmarie28 wrote: »

Thank you everyone for all your advise with all my marathon questions, today was the day.
Due to the high heat, they shortened the race from 7.5 to 6.5 hours, most the slow runners eother switched to the half or deferred to next year, but i was determined to do it. And my longest run to date was only 9 miles

I was up at 3am, lost my bananas I brought and had the only motel room with no coffee pot, so had a rice krispie treat and a store bought bottled frappe drink (didn't think that through since dairy doesn't like me) then I realized I forgot my compression shorts at home, 5 hours away, so I didn't have the pockets I needed, luckily I packed my compression capris, so I put my belt on and tucked my chews in there, seemed great, got to the bus pick up and realized i left my cooling towel in the motel, well *kitten*, oh well. Got to the start, they had bananas, yayyy. Joined in the back of the pack, definetly not many slow runners, oh well, took off, all 4 packs of my chews fell out before i passed the start, ugh, guess I'll deal with the cliff shot gels they provide, never used them but had no choice.
Felt great, was doing 12 min miles until mile 7, and my hip started hirting really bad, ugh, it's been an off and on issue for 2 months, but Bern fine the past month, still managed 12.5 to 13 min miles until mile 13, then there was 2 miles of a steep hill, my hip was not liking that, and I got passed by everyone on that hill. Ran with a lady up the hill, but she was so slow I had to move on or I wouldn't finish on time. Got to the top and passed one lady and left the lady I was with behind. They both ended up dropping out. Mile 19 I almost broke down, I was so sore and 8 miles left, At mile 20, their was a volunteer that asked if I was ok, I said ya, my hips killing me, but it's ok, he asked if he could ride hos bike beside me, I was really struggling so figured company was a good idea. At this point I had to do 15 Min miles to finish on time, mile 22 my hop finally loosened up, but my feet hurt so bad, felt like my shoes were shrinking, and it was as sooo hot, another volunteer kept bringing my frozen rags, and the other vopunter stuck with me (after all, I was last) mile 25 I realized I wasn't going to finish in 6:30:00, then I just wanted to cry, then I started having trouble breathing, I couldn't get breath on so I sat a minute, and vented to Tim (my volunteer buddy) that I wasn't going to finish on time, he told me if they weren't there to give me a medal, than he's find them and get me one, I got up and finished the damn race in dead last at 6:39:50, and got my medal, my husband was waiting at the end with me kids, 2 of them joined me the last 10 feet across the finish line. My final tome isn't "official"since I was 10 minutes past the cut off, but for not being a runner, and everything working against me, I really don't care, I finished it, and I'm pretty proud of that

What an amazing post! I really enjoyed readying the play by play on everything you were dealing with. I am so proud that you didn't give up!! Especially with your kids and husband at the finish line, I bet you were very happy you kept going. I know you can't control the circumstances, but it would have been a shame not to get to the end after all the miles you put in. Tim, the volunteer, sounds amazing too.

Got in 5.5 today. Just a nice relaxing run.

@PastorVincent That's some skinny lunch walking around! Guess they'd make a turkey dog or two!

@KatieJane83 When I had fitness testing done, Max HR was included as part of the VO2 Max testing. I was thinking it would be MaxHR as in what is the fastest my heart could actually beat. I've seen 190's... but the result was HR at VO2Max. So while my HR can actually go faster, it is an anaerobic state at that point and not sustainable for long. Now I need to train my lungs to be able to keep up with my heart.

7/1 - 3.4 miles
7/2 - 4 miles
7/3 - 7 miles
7/4 - 4.25 miles
7/5 - 8 miles
7/7 - 6.25 miles
7/9 - 6.5 miles
7/10 - 9 miles

July Running Totals (miles)
7/1 – 14.00 paced run
7/2 – 14.03 easy
7/3 – 6.21 easy + 4 strides
7/4 – 8.07 warm up + 4 mile race
7/5 – 7.40 group run
7/6 – 12.06 warm up + MP intervals
7/7 – rest day
7/8 – 15.01 paced 10 + ad hoc 5
7/9 – 11.83 easy 90 minutes
7/10 – 6.95 easy + 4 strides

July total to date – 95.56

Nominal Challenge Goal – 260 miles
Real Goals: Stay healthy. Train toward Rochester Marathon. Pace Shoreline Half as close as possible to a 1:40 finish with even splits. Run Karknocker 5K in under 20 minutes.

Today's notes – Today's assignment was easy + 4 strides, and I had 7 miles penciled into my plan. I was willing to accept a short 7 miles, because yesterday's 90 minutes came in a bit longer than the 11.5 miles I estimated and I'm targeting weekly mileage.

It occurred to me this morning that yesterday's average pace of 7:37 was very close to the 7:38 average I need to maintain to accurately pace the Shoreline Half on Saturday. Granted, I didn't produce even splits yesterday; but I came in close to the average. So today, I decided to watch pace and try not to run faster than 7:35 because my watch only tells me current pace to 5 seconds, and 7:35 Garmin pace is probably pretty close to 7:38 certified race distance pace.

I noticed early on that my Vivofit still had the same Zone distinctions it had yesterday; but I had not proactively synced it to Garmin Connect, so that didn't tell me anything. Still, it did give me the 80-20 Zones 1 and 2 to play with as I ran. Most of the time, my HR was in the mid to high 120s, near the border between 80-20 Zones 1 and 2. I slowed myself down a couple of times, when I saw a 7:20 or faster current pace and I was running on level or very slight decline. Watch the pace, watch the HR. Came to the same little bump of a hill where my HR went to 140 yesterday; it only went to 136 today. But I'm running slower, and I have been running less intensely. Adjusted the route on the fly, so I wouldn't get back home too soon and I could start my strides after I had completed 6 miles. Estimated that my strides (measured by the intervals between fire hydrants) would average 150 meters. I came close; when I got to the end of the recovery after the 4th stride, I looked at the watch and it said 6.95 miles. Thought about OCD running for 7, and stopped anyway.

So, how did I do? Mile splits were 7:46, 7:36, 7:38, 7:42, 7:37, and 7:33 for the full miles. At mile 6, the watch reported an average pace of 7:39, very close to the 7:38 target. I'm a bit shocked that I had 3 mile splits within 1 second of the 7:38 target. Then the average pace for the last 0.95 mile, which included those long strides, was 7:05.

Heart rate thoughts: Average HR for the run was 126. Max HR for the first 6 miles, where the idea was to run easy, was 136. Max for the entire run was 144. 52:37 total duration, and Garmin reports 48:41 in Zone 1 (set to be 80-20 Zones 1 and 2), and 1:26 in Zone 2 (set to be 80-20 Zone X). The remainder will be Zone Zero, before my heart rate got up to Zone 1. 80-20 doctrine is to stay out of Zone X; but the strides were not long enough to elevate my HR into 80-20 Zone 3. If I had run 600m continually at that pace, I would have got there, and probably into 80-20 Zone 4 as well. Garmin reports "best pace" of 5:25, which may be faster than I was actually running; but it is plausible that I was at a sub-6 minute pace for those strides. After all, I didn't work all that hard the first 6 miles and I was still pretty fresh for some short, fast running.

I'll have to think about whether I want to continue to look at the 80-20 HR zones. I have historically trained by pace, and not understood the HR data well enough to use it for training. I think I'm beginning to understand it better, but perhaps not well enough to train by HR. Factors I really don't understand include the impact of adverse weather on HR and pace and how pace and HR should be managed in adverse weather conditions. I know the principle, slow down when it's hot and humid; the difficulty is determining how much I should slow down. Today I was blessed with 79º F (26º C), overcast skies, a nice breeze, and 48% relative humidity. That feels pretty nice in July, until I stop running and start sweating profusely.

Oh, yeah. The sweaty runner meme. I don't think I sweat excessively while running, but in the summer I certainly do as soon as I stop. It's nice to be able to do stretches outside, so I cool down and the volume of new sweat abates before I go into the house.

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) finished in 3:49:42
April 30, 2017 USATF Masters 10K Championship (James Joyce Ramble, Dedham, MA) finished in 39:54, PR for 10K
May 21, 2017 Lilac Run 10K (Rochester, NY) finished in 40:04
May 27, 2017 Canandaigua Classic Half Marathon (Canandaigua, NY) finished in 1:33:06
June 9, 2017 Charlie McMullen Mile (Fairport, NY) finished in 5:44.90, PR for mile
June 18, 2017 Medved 5K to Cure ALS (Rochester, NY) finished in 19:32
July 4, 2017 Firecracker Four Mile (Fairport, NY) finished in 25:42
July 15, 2017 Shoreline Half Marathon [1:40 pacer] (Hamlin, NY)
July 28, 2017 Karknocker 5K (East Rochester, NY)
September 3, 2017 Oak Tree Half Marathon (Geneseo, NY)
September 17, 2017 MVP Rochester Marathon (Rochester, NY)
November 23, 2017 Race with Grace 10K (Hilton, NY)