avondale training journal, starting Dec. 2018 (comments welcome)

[WillRunForPizza]

Have an awesome race!

 

[nancipants]

Good luck!

 

[Herding_Cats]

After work: power hiking hills on treadmill

• time: 1:02:35
• distance: 3.16 mi
• workout:
  • 5 min: 3.0 mph, increasing 0 to 12% incline
  • 5 min: 3.0 mph, 15% incline
  • 5 min: 3.0 mph, 14% incline
  • 5 min: 3.0 mph, 13: incline
  • 5 min: 3.1 mph, 12% incline
  • 5 min: 3.1 mph, 11% incline
  • 5 min: 3.1 mph, 10% incline
  • 5 min: 3.1 mph, 9% incline
  • 5 min: 3.2 mph, 8% incline
  • 5 min: 3.2 mph, 7% incline
  • 5 min: 3.2 mph, 6% incline
  • 5 min: 3.2 mph, 5% incline
  • rest: 2.5 mph, 0% incline
• comments: I did a lot of this sort of workout when training for my 28k in the spring, and I forgot how good it could be. With a calculator, figured out this was over 1500 ft of elevation gain.

OOooooh. I'm totally gonna steal this for this winter/spring.

Good luck with your race!

 

[avondale]

@GollyGadget @WillRunForPizza @nancipants
Thank you!!!

 

[avondale]

Week of Oct. 28 - Nov. 1, 2024

I'm running the Schaeffer Farms 10k+ (6.7 mi) Trail Run tomorrow (Nov. 2), so this is recording my activities for the week before the race. The race is at the very civilized time of 10:30am - I almost don't have to set an alarm to get up, LOL!

Work stepped up a notch in busyness this week, so less time for morning activities.


Monday

• Before breakfast: Knee PT exercises - cut short for time, but I finished the last couple after my treadmill walk later.
• After work: walk on treadmill
  • time: 43:58
  • distance: 2.42 mi
  • ave pace: 18:10
  • incline: 0%

Tuesday after work: power hiking hills on treadmill

• time: 1:02:46
• distance: 3.16 mi
• elevation gain: 1475 ft
• workout:
  • 5 min: 3.0 mph, increasing 0 to 12% incline
  • 5 min: 3.0 mph, 15% incline
  • 5 min: 3.0 mph, 14% incline
  • 5 min: 3.0 mph, 13: incline
  • 5 min: 3.1 mph, 12% incline
  • 5 min: 3.1 mph, 11% incline
  • 5 min: 3.1 mph, 10% incline
  • 5 min: 3.1 mph, 9% incline
  • 5 min: 3.2 mph, 8% incline
  • 5 min: 3.2 mph, 7% incline
  • 5 min: 3.2 mph, 6% incline
  • 5 min: 3.2 mph, 5% incline
  • rest: 2.5 mph, 0% incline
• comments: I realized my treadmill does calculate the elevation gain and shows it at the end of the workout, so I didn't have to calculate it.

Wednesday

• Before breakfast: knee PT exercises

After work:

• Hill repeat HIIT -- 13min easy + 3 x [7 x (20sec sprint uphill + 20sec walk downhill) + 4min walk downhill]
  • T+D 128, 2% effect, T 76 F
  • time: 40:00
  • distance: 2.84 mi
  • repeat splits: 9:28, 8:58, 9:46, 9:21, 9:25, 9:51, 10:10, 8:51, 9:14, 9:18, 9:30, 9:34, 9:41, 9:32, 8:53, 9:15, 9:38, 9:29, 9:08, 9:38, 10:22
  • elevation gain: 196 ft (corrected)
  • route: neighborhood loop 1
  • comments: I take these splits with a huge grain of salt! I think they were too short for the GPS to necessarily track well. The point was to be going all-out. I was sprinting uphill, then turning and walking downhill for about 15 sec before using the last 5 sec of walking to get turned around uphill again. It takes me 7 intervals to get to the top of the hill, and so that's when I have the 4-min walk back down to the bottom.

Thursday

• Before breakfast: core workout
  • 60-sec plank
  • 20 starfish
  • 20 dead bugs
  • 20 bird dogs
  • 20 each side flutter kicks
  • 20 bicycle crunches with hold
  • 5 10-sec hollow-body holds
  • 2 30-sec side planks
  • 20 double leg lift/lowers
• After work:
  • 40 min easy
    • T+D 138, 3% effect, T 76 F
    • time: 40:01
    • distance: 3.3 mi
    • average pace: 12:09 (GAP ave pace 12:11)
    • splits: 12:16, 12:12, 11:57, 12:10
    • ave HR: 132 BPM - within my target range
    • elevation gain: 96 ft (corrected)
    • route: Sligo Creek Trail
    • comments: This trail is paved, so it's not really trail running. But I could fit it in before sunset!

Friday

• Before breakfast:
  • Knee PT exercises
  • Foam rolling
• After work: walk around the neighborhood
  • time: 1:00:29
  • distance: 2.96 mi
  • ave pace: 20:25
  • elevation gain: 180 ft (corrected)

Health

Overall my knees and related issues have been a bit better this week, especially the tightness behind my knees/legs. I did feel the medial upper calf tightness behind my right knee when doing the steep uphill walking on the treadmill.

I did less running...so is the lessening of pain an actual improvement or just because I was less active? I guess we'll see. Although I plan to take two weeks off from running after my race to hopefully help things.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Good luck tomorrow!

 

[RuntheMouse]

Have a great race today!!!

 

[superchime]

Have a great race!

 

[avondale]

@Herding_Cats @RuntheMouse @superchime
Thank you!!!

 

[avondale]

Schaeffer Farms 10k+ Trail Run
Nov. 2, 2024

I'm happy to say that the short story is: I crushed this race!

I had originally been planning to do a 20k trail race in upstate NY with quite a bit of elevation gain. Because of all of the knee-related issues, I decided it would be better to scale back my goals. I chose a 10k trail race that was at a state park about 30 min from my house. Besides being shorter, it also had less elevation gain per mile, so easier in that way. The park/trails were the same location as my July trail 5k, which I recapped here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/a...c-2018-comments-welcome.3725621/post-65636226

There was a half-marathon and 10k trail race today. The races were put on by EX2 Adventures, which is really a great race company. They are extremely well-organized, have good communication, and good venues. They might be a hair more expensive than some bare-bones trail races, but not crazy. They do a good job, I think, of pulling people from road racing into trying trail racing. The courses are always extremely well-marked, with lots of marshals to keep people on track.

For this race, a volunteer walked the entire course with a leaf blower a couple of days before so there weren't any leaves hiding the roots, etc. (Remember there was a HM, so it was about 10 miles of trails.) I can't tell you how amazing that was!!! If you don't trail run, you may not realize how many leaves can fall on the trails, and they bury the surface and hide the rocks, roots, holes, etc. I had been thinking before the race that II was going to have to meter my speed a bit depending on how deep the leaves were. I went to the check-in folks to thank them for removing the leaves, and it turns out that it was the husband of one of the volunteers there!

If you're looking for trail races in Maryland and Northern Virginia, I really suggest checking them out.

Back to my race. The start time for the 10k was a very civilized 10:30am (HM at 9am), so I didn't really even get up early! Full breakfast 2.5 hrs before the race. I got to the venue about 9:30am. Picked up my bib and used a potty. I take some caffeine pills about 1 hour before the race (I don't drink coffee or much caffeine normally) and then BCAAs closer to the start. I had 1.5 L of water + Nuun. I brought a Honey Stinger waffle for during the race, but didn't end up eating it.

I did a couple of my long runs on the course, so I was reasonably familiar with it. I did some walking and then about 10 minutes of running on part of the end of the course that was easily accessible from the start area as a warm-up. Finished that at about 10:10am, used the potty again, and then just kept moving a bit with some dynamic warm-up moves and walking.

The weather was perfect! At the start, the temperature was 52 F and the T+D 90. Sunny - but most of the course is dappled shade - and not really any wind. I was in my usual tank top and shorts.

Here's a screenshot of my route from the race, and then the elevation graph:



I should mention that the 10k was "10k+" because the course had been measured to be about 6.7 mi - trail races aren't usually "exact" distances.

We started in two waves: runners faster than 11:30 min/mi at 10:30am and then the rest of us at 10:32am. These races always start on time.

The first half mile is uphill across a field and then along the gravel driveway to the trail. This is honestly annoying to start out with, but it does let people spread out a bit before single track. The key for me is to not go out too fast, which I'm good about doing, but I also don't want to get stuck on the single track behind people who did go out too fast and then get gassed quickly on the single track. I did ok with this today. I got in with a group of about a half-dozen with a woman at the front who kept a pretty consistent pace on the trail.

The first ~1.5 mi has a lot of uphill, and those folks not used to trail running always get surprised by how hard it is, especially uphill. Got some people stopping for breaks and walking already. My first mile was 12:04! (GAP 11:35) At about 1.5 miles, we hit the top of a local high spot (actually, looks like the highest spot in the race), where there was an aid station, which meant I was able to get around several people because I didn't stop. After that, there is mostly downhill until about halfway through the race.

My second mile was 12:25 (GAP 12:02). During the next mile, we went out of the woods and through a field. Fortunately the trail was worn enough to be dirt (no grass) but unfortunately since it's open for mountain biking, the trail becomes a narrow rut in some areas, which means running alongside it. During one of my long runs, this is where I'd met some people riding horses, but no horses today. I was still running nearly everything, even uphills, and I was a bit worried that I was burning myself out, but I still seemed to have legs, so kept going. Mile 3 was 11:35! (GAP 11:25)

At the end of the field and back into the woods, we hung a left and had some more nice downhill. In fact, so much downhill that my time for mile 4 was 11:35 with a GAP of 11:45, showing how much the downhill helped me. I think it was at the end of this downhill where we had our first no-bridge stream crossing. Splish, splash, no problem.

Then I knew the rest of the course was mostly uphill, unfortunately. But somehow I was still going really strong. Some sections are pretty steep, so I was power hiking more of the uphills (rather than running), but still doing well. Somewhere around here was when I realized that I was well over halfway through the race and it had only been an hour. Given how my training had not been great, I was thinking it would be a long shot to finish in fewer than 90 minutes, but now it was looking highly likely. That was definitely motivating. We hit our second stream crossing, and I definitely plowed right through that and passed a couple folks worrying more about getting their shoes wet, LOL.

There were some annoying uphills here, and three downed trees to go over (uphill!). Readers of my training log will recall the vert I've been getting on training runs plus those treadmill walks at very high inclines...this is where that pays off. I was power hiking some of these uphills and passing folks who were "running" - gotta choose the best gait for the terrain. Mile 5 was 12:41 (GAP 11:58).

The race director had warned us that the course went by the start/finish area closely at a mile before the race ended, so we shouldn't get too excited there. My watch was a little ahead of the course mileage, so I could see that I would finish when my watch said about 6.9 miles. Mile 6 was 12:45 (GAP 11:59) - lots of uphill there. We had to get back up to the elevation where the driveway was, where we originally entered the single track.

We got up there with about 0.5 mile left to go - then it's some field running (annoying grass!) as the course is routed around the parking to the finish. I finished the last chunk at a pace of 12:27 (GAP 12:08) - knowing the finish was coming up let me put out the last push, and at least that part was a bit downhill!

My official finish time was 1:24:18!!!! Still can't believe that. My watch said the distance was 6.91 mi, instead of the official 6.7 mi. With a distance of 6.7 mi, my average pace was 12:35, which is fantastic for me in a trail race. My corrected elevation gain was 627 ft, a bit more than the advertised 500 ft. The split times that I mentioned in my recap above are all based on my watch's time/distance, so obviously a bit off compared to reality, but close enough. My average HR was 159 BPM - got up there in about 10 minutes and really stayed there for the rest of the race. There was a bit of a bump around that big climb at the start of the second half.

My place was 103 out of 151 finishers of the 10k. I was 44th out of 81 women, and 7th out of 16 in my age group. I'm definitely happy with that!

The photos below of the course are from my warm-up running. Except the one of me at the finish!

If this first photo looks like a steep uphill - it is! Notice the tree to go over on the way up.





I was not optimistic at all about this race. I've had so many knee/leg issues lately. Even this morning before the race, I was feeling a lot of niggles and problems. But once I got going, I felt great! I stepped in one hole (when someone was passing) early in the race and that could have been very Bad News, but fortunately I kept going and the ankle worked itself out. I had a few trip-and-catches (not trip-and-falls) in the back half of the race with all the uphill and tired legs. But I came out unscathed!

Of course, now that I'm done, I am sore all over. Besides the obvious legs and knees, my neck and upper back are complaining loudly. Well, I'm planning to take two weeks off from running!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Congrats!! That's a lot of up and down!

 

[RuntheMouse]

Way to go!

 

[Naomeri]

Good job!!

 

[GollyGadget]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a lot of fun!

 

[col1]

Fantastic, well done sounds like a great event.

 

[avondale]

Congrats!! That's a lot of up and down!

Thanks! Yes, that is trail racing for you. And roots mixed in.

Way to go!

Thank you!

Good job!!

Thanks so much!

Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a lot of fun!

Yes, it was a good day to race and the stars aligned for my race to go well.

Fantastic, well done sounds like a great event.

Many thanks! Yes, it's run well.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Woot woot!

 

[jmasgat]

Congrats on a great race! Always a plus when it goes better than expected.

 

[avondale]

Planning the Next Trail Race

I'm currently in the middle of two weeks off from running. Time to plan my next major race!

Originally I was hoping to do a 50k in the spring. However, since I scaled back my running and effort this fall, I don't have as much of a long-distance base as I had been planning. Also, with the knee/leg issues I've been having, it's probably a bad idea to ramp up to a 50k. So, I'm going to aim for a 25k trail trace for spring, then hopefully ~35k in the fall and 50k in spring 2026.

An issue for my spring race is that I teach a class where the students have about three weeks of observing that takes a lot of my time and doesn't let me get a lot of sleep. But we have to take almost 10 days off around full Moon, so I thought I'd check the date of full Moon and see if that works. Full Moon in April 2025 is on Saturday, April 12 - perfect!

There are quite a few interesting 25ks happening that weekend, but the Amasa 25k Trail Race caught my eye: https://www.madmooseevents.com/amasa-trail-race It's southwest of Moab, UT, basically between Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I've been to pretty much every national park in Utah, so I know how gorgeous the area is. It would be a very exciting goal race for me!

I always need to have cool weather to race well. It's possible that the temperature will get into the 70s F that day, but the race starts at 7am and it should be 40s - 50s F then, and I should be done before noon, so I'll miss most of the heat. Also, with how dry it is, the T+D would probably still be less than 100 F. The direct sunlight will be an issue, however. The area is also at an altitude of about 4000 ft, which will potentially be an issue. I have some plans for that.

Based on the maps provided, it looks like the route is a bit short for a 25k - about 15 miles. The approximate elevation gain for the 25k is about 2450 ft, which is an amount I've done before over this distance. The course shouldn't be too technical, from what I have read. A lot of slickrock, but not much in the way of roots, rocks sticking up, etc. (If you don't know, contrary to the name, slickrock is not very slick. Maybe when it's wet?) However, there will definitely be some challenging parts to it.

The start is in the upper-right of the course marked on the map. The course has three loops, essentially. The first loop, which has the start/end, is on top of the mesa. The middle loop is down at a lower level, beside the mesa, and the third loop is back on top of the mesa.

The biggest challenge is going off of and then back on to the mesa. This is an area apparently called Jacob's Ladder. It's about 450 ft of elevation gain/loss in about 0.2 miles. From what I've read, this section has very steep switchbacks - it's not actual climbing. But that's a grade of about 40%. Definitely something to plan for.

Other parts of the course have steep sections. There are several sections of about 1 mile in length that have uphill grades of 7% or so. Perhaps more of a challenge will be three different sections of about 1 mile in length that have downhill grades of up to 9%. These are toward the end, when my legs will be tired.

Keeping these challenges in mind, my training plan will have these workouts:

• Stairs! No way I'm running a 40% uphill grade, so I want to be able to climb it quickly. More importantly, not be too burnt out when I'm done. And I will need to go down that grade, too.
• High-incline power hiking on the treadmill. This worked very well for my trail race this past spring. While I want to be able to run more of the uphill grades, power hiking up to 15% briskly is great training.
• Tempo runs on hills. I would like to improve my ability to run on uphill grades - right now, I can pretty much do 3 - 5% grades for awhile, but I can't sustain too much more for a long time. Hopefully improve this.
• Deliberate downhill running. Of course my trail runs involve both uphill and downhill running, but I'm going to have some runs where I focus more on going faster on the downhills (rather than slacking off and coasting) to improve my agility and confidence, as well as prepare those muscles. Steeper downhill running requires a high cadence, and I need to practice that.

I have a lot of time between now and April 12. I've worked up a training plan with 4 weeks of base-building first. I'm taking this time off now, and I want to make sure my knees/legs are happy with a good base. Then I start into the main plan.

The main plan will have three weekday runs and two weekend runs. The weekday runs can be shifted around to whatever day of the week works, although I try not to do the workouts on consecutive days.

• Weekday run 1: 40 min hill repeat HIIT - I've been doing this for awhile and will continue.
• Weekday run 2: a workout with one of the uphill goals that I mentioned above. I plan to cycle between power hiking uphill, stairs, and tempo runs will uphill. The tempo runs will move to trails in ~March when the Sun sets late enough.
• Weekday run 3: an easy run - I will start including uphill strides at the end. This will move to trails in ~March when the Sun sets late enough.
• Saturday: trail run up to 90 min at easy pace, but on alternating weeks I will have the focus on downhill running and will choose an appropriate trail.
• Sunday: long trail run up to 3.5 hrs (hopefully how long it will take me to finish)

I've written out a full plan for myself with increasing progressions in time. As usual, I'll adjust where needed. For the moment, I'm letting it rest to see if I think of any things I should change about it.

 

[avondale]

Week of Nov. 4 - 10, 2024
I took this week off to let my legs rest after my race. I'll be taking next week off, too. Lots of walking. It's good timing for a break because work is really, really busy right now.

Monday

• Before breakfast: knee PT exercises
• After work and PT: walking on treadmill
  • time: 43:31
  • distance: 2.4 mi
  • ave pace: 18:08
  • incline: 0%

Tuesday

• Before breakfast: core workout
  • 60-sec plank
  • 20 starfish
  • 20 dead bugs
  • 20 bird dogs
  • 20 each side flutter kicks
  • 20 bicycle crunches with hold
  • 5 10-sec hollow-body holds
  • 2 30-sec side planks
  • 20 double leg lift/lowers
• In evening: 2-hr tennis doubles round-robin

Wednesday

• Before breakfast:
  • Knee PT exercises
  • Foam rolling and stretching
• After work: walk on treadmill
  • time: 43:25
  • distance: 2.39 mi
  • ave pace: 18:10
  • incline: 0%

Thursday

• Before breakfast: Workout 3
  • 3 x 5 each leg - Bulgarian split-squats with 20-lb vest + 5 lb
  • superset
    • 3 x 5 - prone lat pulls with 49-lb bands
    • 3 x 5 = overhead pull-overs with 32.5 lb
  • 3 x 5 each leg - bench step-ups with 20-lb vest
  • superset
    • 3 x 5 - front raises with 12 lb each arm
    • 3 x 5 - reverse flyes with 12 lb each arm
• After work: walk on treadmill
  • time: 47:59
  • distance: 2.65 mi
  • ave pace: 18:06
  • incline: 0%

Friday

• Before breakfast: knee PT exercises
• After work: walk on treadmill
  • time: 43:15
  • distance: 2.39 mi
  • ave pace: 18:06
  • incline: 0%

Saturday

• Before lunch:
  • Agility HIIT workout - warm-up + 3 x 8 x (20 sec work + 20 sec rest) + 4 min rest). The exercises were:
    • Fast feet forward/back in ladder
    • Forward/back hop
    • Fast feet in/out in ladder
    • Sprint/backpedal
    • Fast feet forward through ladder
    • Left/right hop
    • Fast feet sideways through ladder
    • Side shuffle
    • comments: This used my agility ladder.
  • Knee PT exercises
  • Foam rolling and stretching
• Before dinner: walk outside
  • time: 1:25:33
  • distance: 4.87 mi
  • ave pace: 17:34
  • elevation gain: 163 ft (corrected)

Sunday before dinner: walk on treadmill

• time: 1:27:11
• distance: 4.79 mi
• ave pace: 18:12
• incline: 0%

Health

My knee/leg issues continued to be much better this week. After my race on Sunday/Monday, I was sore in various areas, but that was to be expected. I continued to NOT have the tightness/problems behind my knees, especially my right knee. The tennis on Tuesday night tightened things up a bit, but fortunately it didn't last. I still have the odd swollen area behind/below my right knee. I still have the under-kneecap pain at different levels. The stiffness has been better, but still there. So I think things are improving, but there is a way to go.

I had a PT appointment on Monday. She continues to think that the strengthening of various muscles is going to help. We did various exercises and manual work and stim/heat. Unfortunately she's leaving the organization...but she's going to a different company in the area, so I may be able to follow her. We'll see. I did set up my next appointment, which will be with a different therapist.