March 2020 Monthly Running Challenge
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You know that talk about gazelles vs gliders? Well, I have finally figured out where I fit...
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Wine, pizza and cake happened and I failed.6
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Guh Hills. I'm learning to like them. I see them as a challenge, and I'd rather a hill than a wind when running. But yeah definitely a mental challenge for me.
What philosophy do you fall into: fast to get them over with and keep your average pace the same, or slow and steady to the top?
I'm usually in the first category, which is probably why I hate them lol. Should really take them slow and steady2 -
Guh Hills. I'm learning to like them. I see them as a challenge, and I'd rather a hill than a wind when running. But yeah definitely a mental challenge for me.
What philosophy do you fall into: fast to get them over with and keep your average pace the same, or slow and steady to the top?
I'm usually in the first category, which is probably why I hate them lol. Should really take them slow and steady
I’m usually slower on hills, I try to keep the effort the same but the pace is for sure slower. Why I want/need to do more hill work..so my pace can increase and not be so hard lol2 -
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Guh Hills. I'm learning to like them. I see them as a challenge, and I'd rather a hill than a wind when running. But yeah definitely a mental challenge for me.
What philosophy do you fall into: fast to get them over with and keep your average pace the same, or slow and steady to the top?
I'm usually in the first category, which is probably why I hate them lol. Should really take them slow and steady
Are we talking race or workout or casual run?
For a workout, you should attack the hills. That is how you get stronger. Show those hills who is boss and rip them down!
In a more casual run, you should take hills based on EFFORT not speed. That is you put as much effort into running uphill as you do running the flats. This, of course, will mean you slow down, but it will keep you running for longer which is where most of us need to worry about.
For a race, it will largely depend on your goal for that race. If you want to hit a specific time, then your pace matters. You will need to hit the hills at whatever pace you need to make your goal. In a shorter race (like a 5k) this means hit them hard. In a longer race (like say HM) you will want your overall pace for the first 3/4ths of the race a bit bellow your target, and finish the last part of the race a bit faster.
Now if you just want to finish the race and you are not pushing for a time, then run the entire thing, hills and all based on EFFORT not pace. You will slow down and speed up naturally as you go, so long as you pay attention to effort level. That will also give you the best chance for a strong finish.3 -
@LoveyChar I love that your son and husband are doing that. They'll both have great memories from these times!
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@pastorvincent - I respectfully disagree on 'attacking hills' on a workout. Yes you can push yourself but trying to go all out on a hill without working up to that training level can result in injuries. If you have been running hills by effort, i.e. keeping your effort the same as the rest of your run/workout, for a while and also doing other speed workouts where you push your pace, then yes upping the effort on hills can be a good thing and increasing that effort with each hill workout or hill run makes sense.
Running hills regularly will make you stronger in all aspects of your running.2 -
Hills. Let me tell you about hills. I ran the Riverhead Rampage - a 10k trail event - this morning but when I say ran, I mean mostly ran. The hills were so steep in places running simply wasn’t possible, certainly not at my level of fitness, and I like to think I’m pretty fit. My time tells a better story: on the road I can race 10k just under 50 minutes. Today’s 10k took me just over 1:10. The scenery was lovely though 😂.11
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Today ran 3.5 miles at 4.8 mph
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@pastorvincent - I respectfully disagree on 'attacking hills' on a workout. Yes you can push yourself but trying to go all out on a hill without working up to that training level can result in injuries. If you have been running hills by effort, i.e. keeping your effort the same as the rest of your run/workout, for a while and also doing other speed workouts where you push your pace, then yes upping the effort on hills can be a good thing and increasing that effort with each hill workout or hill run makes sense.
Running hills regularly will make you stronger in all aspects of your running.
Maybe attacking was too strong of a wording. I was having a bit of fun with the wording, but if you are doing a workout, you need to push yourself. How far, how much, etc, is very individualistic.4 -
Duck_Puddle wrote: »My slow crawl back from OTS. I got a little overconfident after yesterday’s 4.5. Tried 3.5 today. I’ll probably need 3 weeks to recover before I try that again. Seeing as yesterday was the first time I could run at all since the marathon, a consecutive day attempt was not my best decision. But man was I super optimistic anyway. At least I felt like trying-that’s a huge improvement.
You put forth the effort! Do what's comfortable for you..it gets easier 🤗1 -
I’m having a bit of a dilemma and trying to make a choice about my run tomorrow.
My original plan was to run Parkrun tomorrow and do my normal thing. My leg is feeling so much stronger and I had a new PB at Parkrun again even though I wasn’t racing and was running comfortably by feel.
But this week, a coach in my run club has offered to start a half marathon training to take runners from 10k to half marathon distance in a series of Saturday runs over 16 weeks. At a pace of 10-12... which is basically exactly my pace. I REALLY want to do this. But, I haven’t pushed past 5k since recovering from the hamstring injury. His first run is planned at 7 miles. My cardio can handle that distance since I’ve been including plenty of cross training with my running. I just don’t know yet if it would be safe to try the distance. I’ve been at 5k distance 4 times weekly for about 5 weeks now without increasing mileage. Partly out of caution and partly out of fear. I could plan to go by feel and cut the run short if needed. But would I have to cut it short every week? If he was starting this project 4 weeks from now I wouldn’t blink about starting it. But he is also gauging interest to see about offering it regularly as a long run for those of us at the slower pace. So there is also part of me that feels like showing up now helps build opportunities for other club members at a slower pace that isn’t currently offered. But it also means I’ll miss Parkrun for several weeks after the time change.
I want to do all the things...3 -
emmamcgarity wrote: »I’m having a bit of a dilemma and trying to make a choice about my run tomorrow.
My original plan was to run Parkrun tomorrow and do my normal thing. My leg is feeling so much stronger and I had a new PB at Parkrun again even though I wasn’t racing and was running comfortably by feel.
But this week, a coach in my run club has offered to start a half marathon training to take runners from 10k to half marathon distance in a series of Saturday runs over 16 weeks. At a pace of 10-12... which is basically exactly my pace. I REALLY want to do this. But, I haven’t pushed past 5k since recovering from the hamstring injury. His first run is planned at 7 miles. My cardio can handle that distance since I’ve been including plenty of cross training with my running. I just don’t know yet if it would be safe to try the distance. I’ve been at 5k distance 4 times weekly for about 5 weeks now without increasing mileage. Partly out of caution and partly out of fear. I could plan to go by feel and cut the run short if needed. But would I have to cut it short every week? If he was starting this project 4 weeks from now I wouldn’t blink about starting it. But he is also gauging interest to see about offering it regularly as a long run for those of us at the slower pace. So there is also part of me that feels like showing up now helps build opportunities for other club members at a slower pace that isn’t currently offered. But it also means I’ll miss Parkrun for several weeks after the time change.
I want to do all the things...
IF (and this is a big if for some of us) you will pay attention to what your body is telling you and bail before pushing too hard, then I would try it. I would also share all these concerns with your coach.
What if you have to cut short each week? Then you just take a bit longer than his plan to make it to the level, but you will still get there. If you do not try at all you will never make it.
Now if you are the kind of person that will ignore your body and overdo it, then I would advise against it.
Either way, share your concerns with your coach and see what he says.4 -
PastorVincent wrote: »Guh Hills. I'm learning to like them. I see them as a challenge, and I'd rather a hill than a wind when running. But yeah definitely a mental challenge for me.
What philosophy do you fall into: fast to get them over with and keep your average pace the same, or slow and steady to the top?
I'm usually in the first category, which is probably why I hate them lol. Should really take them slow and steady
Are we talking race or workout or casual run?
For a workout, you should attack the hills. That is how you get stronger. Show those hills who is boss and rip them down!
In a more casual run, you should take hills based on EFFORT not speed. That is you put as much effort into running uphill as you do running the flats. This, of course, will mean you slow down, but it will keep you running for longer which is where most of us need to worry about.
For a race, it will largely depend on your goal for that race. If you want to hit a specific time, then your pace matters. You will need to hit the hills at whatever pace you need to make your goal. In a shorter race (like a 5k) this means hit them hard. In a longer race (like say HM) you will want your overall pace for the first 3/4ths of the race a bit bellow your target, and finish the last part of the race a bit faster.
Now if you just want to finish the race and you are not pushing for a time, then run the entire thing, hills and all based on EFFORT not pace. You will slow down and speed up naturally as you go, so long as you pay attention to effort level. That will also give you the best chance for a strong finish.
I agree with all this, including @PastorVincent 's qualifier in response to @shanaber . No matter the workout, any hard workout, speed work, hill work, etc needs to be incrementally increased.
I will add to his post and say that if you are a trail runner, you should include power hiking up hills in your training I prefer to push hard during short training runs but i know that during a marathon or longer trail race, I'll be doing a lot of power hiking up hills to preserve my strength and energy. That being the case, the better I am at power hiking the hills, the faster I'll finish the race so for long training runs on the trail, power hiking the hills is required.
Just like there are good reasons for training at different paces, or efforts, there good reasons for running (or hiking) hills at different paces or efforts.5 -
PastorVincent wrote: »emmamcgarity wrote: »I’m having a bit of a dilemma and trying to make a choice about my run tomorrow.
My original plan was to run Parkrun tomorrow and do my normal thing. My leg is feeling so much stronger and I had a new PB at Parkrun again even though I wasn’t racing and was running comfortably by feel.
But this week, a coach in my run club has offered to start a half marathon training to take runners from 10k to half marathon distance in a series of Saturday runs over 16 weeks. At a pace of 10-12... which is basically exactly my pace. I REALLY want to do this. But, I haven’t pushed past 5k since recovering from the hamstring injury. His first run is planned at 7 miles. My cardio can handle that distance since I’ve been including plenty of cross training with my running. I just don’t know yet if it would be safe to try the distance. I’ve been at 5k distance 4 times weekly for about 5 weeks now without increasing mileage. Partly out of caution and partly out of fear. I could plan to go by feel and cut the run short if needed. But would I have to cut it short every week? If he was starting this project 4 weeks from now I wouldn’t blink about starting it. But he is also gauging interest to see about offering it regularly as a long run for those of us at the slower pace. So there is also part of me that feels like showing up now helps build opportunities for other club members at a slower pace that isn’t currently offered. But it also means I’ll miss Parkrun for several weeks after the time change.
I want to do all the things...
IF (and this is a big if for some of us) you will pay attention to what your body is telling you and bail before pushing too hard, then I would try it. I would also share all these concerns with your coach.
What if you have to cut short each week? Then you just take a bit longer than his plan to make it to the level, but you will still get there. If you do not try at all you will never make it.
Now if you are the kind of person that will ignore your body and overdo it, then I would advise against it.
Either way, share your concerns with your coach and see what he says.
Excellent points. I’m leaning toward trying it. It turns out the first run will be 6.5 miles instead of 7. (It’s funny to me that the half mile shorter makes it sound soooo much easier). I did mention the issue to the coach and he feels like I can cut the run short if I need to. Next week he is skipping the long run due to a race. So that gives me an extra week to acclimate to the extra weekly mileage. With as much walking as I do regularly I think I could plan to walk part of it tomorrow if I find myself getting worn out.
Also I just did the math and could still make it to coffee with my Parkrun friends afterwards.
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PastorVincent wrote: »Guh Hills. I'm learning to like them. I see them as a challenge, and I'd rather a hill than a wind when running. But yeah definitely a mental challenge for me.
What philosophy do you fall into: fast to get them over with and keep your average pace the same, or slow and steady to the top?
I'm usually in the first category, which is probably why I hate them lol. Should really take them slow and steady
Are we talking race or workout or casual run?
For a workout, you should attack the hills. That is how you get stronger. Show those hills who is boss and rip them down!
In a more casual run, you should take hills based on EFFORT not speed. That is you put as much effort into running uphill as you do running the flats. This, of course, will mean you slow down, but it will keep you running for longer which is where most of us need to worry about.
For a race, it will largely depend on your goal for that race. If you want to hit a specific time, then your pace matters. You will need to hit the hills at whatever pace you need to make your goal. In a shorter race (like a 5k) this means hit them hard. In a longer race (like say HM) you will want your overall pace for the first 3/4ths of the race a bit bellow your target, and finish the last part of the race a bit faster.
Now if you just want to finish the race and you are not pushing for a time, then run the entire thing, hills and all based on EFFORT not pace. You will slow down and speed up naturally as you go, so long as you pay attention to effort level. That will also give you the best chance for a strong finish.
I agree with all this, including @PastorVincent 's qualifier in response to @shanaber . No matter the workout, any hard workout, speed work, hill work, etc needs to be incrementally increased.
I will add to his post and say that if you are a trail runner, you should include power hiking up hills in your training I prefer to push hard during short training runs but i know that during a marathon or longer trail race, I'll be doing a lot of power hiking up hills to preserve my strength and energy. That being the case, the better I am at power hiking the hills, the faster I'll finish the race so for long training runs on the trail, power hiking the hills is required.
Just like there are good reasons for training at different paces, or efforts, there good reasons for running (or hiking) hills at different paces or efforts.
Yeah, Trail running is a different world. The terrain can force a walk or even a scramble. I got into trouble trying to run my first trials at 5k street pace. Do not do that.
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Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
03/01/20 :::: 4.1 :::: 4.1
03/02/20 :::: 3.9 :::: 8.0
03/03/20 :::: 3.0 :::: 11.0
03/04/20 :::: 3.3 :::: 14.3
03/05/20 :::: 5.0 :::: 19.4
03/06/20 :::: 3.2 :::: 22.5
I woke up early (time change is in my favor there) and went out for another run this morning before my conference sessions started. This afternoon, I went for a hike up Camelback Mountain, which was labeled as "extremely difficult" but I didn't remember it being that hard. Well most of it isn't, but the last bit to the summit s pretty tricky. My friend decided not to continue up when we got to a rock scramble, but I really wanted to finish it, so she waited - and wondered if I had fallen off the mountain. But all was well and I really enjoyed the challenge and the views.
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3-1 7k moderate
3-2 7k thresholdish + resistance bands
3-3 7k moderate
3-4 rest
3-5 11k slow
3-6 7k moderate
3-7 7k easy
March Total: 46k
March Goal: 170k
January Total: 161k
February Total: 167k
2020 Total through February: 328k
High 20s F and clearing today. A little snow overnight made the footing tricky, so I decided easy pace was appropriate. Did get to see otter tracks in the snow, so that was a bonus.
Next year when you pop in here claiming your December 2020 mileage, what accomplishments will you have made?
Return to a good running weight of 175 lbs
Run at least 4 5k races
Get a 5k PR
Average at least 138k per month, to meet my Run the Year pledge of 1,020 miles
Stretch goal: If I can average 169k per month, I can run 2020K in 2020
Run the Year Team: Pavement Pounders
2020 races:
4-25 Shine the Light 5k, Twinsburg, OH
5-23 Race for the Parks 5k, Hudson OH
6-20 Freedom Run 5k, Aurora, OH5
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