July 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

Elise4270 wrote: »

rjedwards96 wrote: »

well, that didn't work. On the website, it says I ran two miles, and did. But I can't see it on the above

Could be just another case of “ticker lag”. I can see the 2 mile. Way to go! Hey since it’s so hot and we’ve all tortured ourselves out in it, why not we all come over and you take us out on that lake for a cold one.😉 maybe some floatin’ in an upside-down life jacket worn like pants... and we can all watch the fireworks after @PastorVincent cooks up some of them kosher dogs and a few brats.... just a thought ya know...

This ^^^ even if it is the day or two after the 4th and there isn't any more fireworks... I'd still be up for a lake and some grilled brats! Maybe we could get @7lenny7 to bring his sailboat too!
@Samantharavenclaw84 - congratulations!! You did awesome running as much as you could and getting to a new milestone in how far you could run with out stopping! On top of that you finished the race!!
@rheddmobile - that race sounds brutal but you and hubby did a great job getting through it!! I would have DNS'd it. I don't think I could have even walked it.
Congratulations @MobyCarp on another great age group win! I think you probably have enough pint glasses now to host a fairly large party. Hey, bring them to the lake party mentioned above with @rjedwards96! 😁
@katharmonic - a brutal race for you too but you made it through!I love all the support with water, ice and a fire hose shower!

Today was The Run that Almost Wasn't... I almost didn't get out and kept putting it off and changing back and forth from my training plan what I was going to run and then there was an earthquake and all that excitement... and then it was getting too hot (I thought)... I did finally go out and decided to run what was on the plan for Friday (3 miles). I was originally going to make up yesterday's tempo run that was put off because life got in the way, then I changed to do my long run instead of doing it on Saturday as we are going to a concert tomorrow night and will be out very late. Also we had marine layer early so it should have been lovely and cool IF I had gotten out in it. So instead the plan became Friday's plan of 3 miles plus wu. When I headed out it was actually really nice (only 72 and minimal humidity with a lovely breeze). It warmed up to maybe 74 while I was out but it was actually quite nice. As I was running I thought maybe I would do 4 miles for the 4th of July but then I was almost to 5 so why not just keep going 😂 it was just one of those days but I am blaming it all on the earthquake for shaking things up!

I will run my tempo run tomorrow and then we are off to the Hollywood Bowl to see Leon Bridges and RHYE (one of my all time favorites!). This is the first concert of our summer series and there will be lots of food and wine! Hopefully I will be able to get out for my long run per the plan, on Saturday morning... we'll see if I can get up before it is too hot!

Date........Miles.......Total
07/01......4.55........4.55
07/02......0.00........4.55
07/03......0.00........4.55
07/04......5.52......10.07



2019 Planned and Completed Races
02/03/19 - Surf City Half Marathon Deferred to 2020
05/11/19 - Santa Barbara Wine Country HM
09/15/19 - Jack and Jill Downhill HM - Boise
11/23/19 - USA Women's HM
02/02/20 - Surf City Half Marathon

I guess I'm going to give that "No More Than 'X' Miles" goal a shot then - forgive the retroactive mileage for the month.

No More Than 120 Miles

July 1 - 4 miles

July 3 - 6 miles
July 4 - 5 miles

Total: 15 miles

0705-5k total-13.3k, goal-100k

It was super hot and windy yesterday. Walking home from the subway station felt like passing through a giant blowdryer. Woke up this morning just as the sky was opening up.

Tempo runs in the pelting rain are just the best thing. Stayed close to home because it was thundering, so I could go indoors at the first sign of lightening, but none showed. The area I ran in is closed off to cars and usually flooded with people walking their toddlers, but today it was nearly kid-free. I think the parents must've wimped out (the kiddies I saw certainly didn't mind).

July 1: C210K W1D1. 1.51 miles. (Harder than i remembered )
July 3: C210K W1D2. 1.55 miles. Felt better!
July 5: C210K W1D3. 1.60 miles...first week done!

Thank you @shanaber, @Tramboman, @PastorVincent and @Scott6255!

@eleanorhawkins my review on the collapsible water bottle is mixed. This is the one I got. I found it easy to drink from (you have to bite down on it and then you can squeeze it into your mouth or just suck). I liked that it didn't leak out at all while carrying it and you didn't have to open and close anything. The feel in my hand was different from my other water bottles but not necessarily better. I still didn't like carrying something. A couple of people at my run group really seem to love theirs but I'm not totally sold. I think there is no option of carrying something that I'm going to like so perhaps it's the best I can do.

@shanaber - an earthquake? How bad? I assume all was well. Good job getting a run in anyway. I wasn't sure what "marine layer" was so I looked it up. Like a sea breeze kind of thing. Sounds nice. Enjoy your concert!

Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
07/01/19 :::: 3.0 :::: 3.0
07/02/19 :::: 4.4 :::: 7.5
07/03/19 :::: 0.0 :::: 7.5
07/04/19 :::: 10.1 :::: 17.5
07/05/19 :::: 3.1 :::: 20.6

I hit the canal for my warm-up/recovery run this morning before strength training. Warm-up was an understatement as it was downright hot already. I was thoroughly soaked so changed shirts before training, which was probably futile. He had me do 15 minutes on the stairmaster in a 25 lb weighted vest so I was pretty much immediately soaked again. We did some other Spartan training including rope climb and hoisting sandbags, and I did my highest box jump yet. Feeling pretty accomplished this morning. And tired.

Hi Everyone! Happy July!

I'm sorry I disappeared the second half of June- I moved some work shifts from July into June and then was sidelined with a stomach virus at the end of the month. July is always a "recovery" month for me since my A race of the year is July 4th (The Atlanta Peachtree Road Race) so I'm setting a nice low goal of 85 miles. I am also transitioning from a training perspective to a weight-loss perspective for July and August since I can't lose weight and "train" at the same time. My next race *might* be a 15K on October 17th but I'm going to make myself lose 7lbs before I allow myself to sign up for it. I want to lose 15 so this will be a good motivator to get at least half way there.

07.01: 3.0M Taper Run (3.1)
07.02: Extra Rest Day
07.03: 2.0M Taper Run (5.1)
07.04: Peachtree Road Race 10K (11.3)

Race Report:

If anyone has run the Peachtree Road Race, you know it's a hellish experience, especially miles 4 and 5. It is in Atlanta, on the 4th of July and is a huge tradition for the city, including recent residents like myself. Anyway, it is a point A to point B race from Buckhead (northern part of Atlanta) down Peachtree Street to midtown Atlanta and finishes in Piedmont Park. There are thousands of spectators, a F-18 3 plane flyover, and it really makes amateur runners like myself feel like a real athlete for the day. The race is downhill for miles 1-3, then climbs for mile 4, undulates for 5, relatively flat for 6 and is down hill for the last .22. It has 22 assigned waves which you have to qualify for by running a previous race with a verifiable time. The lower your letter, the better. Earlier start means cooler temps, less sun, and less crowds.

Anyway, I woke up at 4:00 and ate my race day breakfast of a Lender's Frozen Bagel, a bottle of water, and a bottle of Gatorade. I got dressed and left for the subway to take me to the start. I arrived at the start about 35 minutes before the race started. Went to the bathroom and finished my water. I brought a 20oz bottle of frozen Gatorade and drank about half of it a few minutes before the start. I was B wave and my start was 7:05. The temp was 80 with 78% humidity.

I ran miles 1-2.5 at a hard pace though the first .5M was tough with the crowds. My first mile was 8:07 which I wanted at 7:45-7:55. Miles 2 and 3 came in at 7:47 and 7:51. I wanted to bank some time on the downhills and crossed the 5K split at 25:05. I had to walk a bit on mile 4 but handled the second big uphill better than expected. Having not run a whole lot in the previous week due to my stomach virus and a smart taper, my legs felt great and the hills were only a cardiovascular struggle- not a muscular struggle. I ran mile 4 in 9:23 which was about what I expected. Got to mile 5 and I started to feel very hot. Walked and poured a cup of water over my head and told myself only 1.25 to go. Finished that mile in 9:10 which was slower than expected. Mile 6 was flat and I didn't do as well on it as I have in previous years- at 8:41 vs 8:31 and 8:15 in previous years. Rounded the corner at the 5.5M marker, ran under the photographer bridge at the 5.75M marker and decided that I needed to go for it. Got my head in the game and while it wasn't a sprint, I ran it as hard as I could with what energy I had left knowing the temps were getting up there and the humidity was over 80%. My parents and other half were there just past the 6M marker and I waved and gave them a big smile as I passed and went for it at that point. Crossed at 52:39 which wasn't as good as I was hoping, but better than I expected. The last .22 was at a 7:30 pace. The aforementioned paces are 10 seconds slower than what my GPS clocked me at- my GPS said I ran 6.38 miles so I adjusted the times to reflect a distance of 6.22 since it was giving me about 1.02 for each mile.

My best Peachtree Time was in 2017 at 51:56 so despite being 14lbs heavier, 2 years older, I only ran 43 seconds slower- I can't help but wonder if I was at the same weight I was two years ago, if my time would have been faster. The race is impossible to get a PR on because of the crowds, the heat and humidity, and the fact that it's a hard course hill wise. My splits were 25:05 and 27:34 so I definitely struggle on the hills. My goal this year is to be able to run harder on the hills and learn to recover from it so I can run mile 6 a bit stronger next year. I also want to start earlier in my wave because I probably lost 20-30 seconds by being trapped behind others.

Sorry for the long report, but I love reading detailed race reports so if anyone else is like me, there ya go.

Two questions:

1) Was anyone else there?
2) The old calculation of 2 seconds per mile per pound of fat loss, is that accurate or is it complete hogwash?

Hope everyone had a safe holiday. For those who don't live in the USA- I hope you had a wonderful Thursday just the same.

July 1 – 5.18 miles + 9 miles cycling
July 2 – 30 min kickboxing + 30 min Pilates
July 3 – 5 miles + 45 min Yoga + 11 miles cycling
July 4 – 4.09 miles – Red, White and Boom race
July 5 – 22 miles cycling

Total – 14.27 running miles (Goal 110 miles)

Congratulations @rheddmobile, @MobyCarp, @samantharavenclaw84, @katharmonic, @lazy_bones_85. I loved reading everyone’s race reports. You ALL inspire me!

@lazy_bones_85 – I made the mistake of running the innagural Hotlanta Half. I think it was in August. That Atlanta heat and humidity had me walking by mile 4 – it was tortious!

@eleanorhawkins – enjoy Bon Jovi!

I participated in the Red, White and Boom 4 mile race yesterday. As with most of the other race reports, it was hot and humid but at least it started at 8:00 am and not later in the evening. It’s not a large race and parking is plentiful so I arrived at 7:20 just so I would have time to visit with some friends also running. I usually run fasted when I run during the week but since I was running at 8:00 am instead of the usual 5:00 am, I decided to eat four peanut butter and crackers before the start and I drank some water on the drive to the race. The race is sponsored by one of the churches located in “church circle” and they had the church open so nice restrooms were readily available.

The race is an out-and-back and part of it is along the parade route so there were some people setting up the floats for the parade which started at 10:00 am and also some people either already sitting in chairs waiting on the parade to start or setting up their chairs to reserve prime viewing spots. Strangely, none of these people offered a cheer, hand clap or encouraging word. They just sat there. There was one water stop at the turn around point but I didn’t stop for any knowing it was only 4 miles and there would be water at the end.

I ended up with a finish time of 40:38 with a 10:10 average pace. I placed 5/13 in my age group and finished 180 out of a total of 283 participants. I was pleased with my time. I walked one time during mile 4 but tried to keep moving towards the finish as quick as I could manage. I stayed for the pancake breakfast after and more visiting with friends – the best part of the day!