Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for? (comments welcome)

[NYC_MW]

Cool mushroom pics! Hope your ankle continues to be good.

 

[superchime]

I leave for Dopey in 100 days!!


Weekly Summary
Sept 23 - 29

Mon - Plan: strength
Did my Fit Fab Dopey strength.
I think it’s hilarious that, after hauling around an increasingly heavier puppy (she’s 44 lbs now) I still can’t do a pushup.
Plus 1.42 puppy miles

Tues - plan 3 easy miles
3 miles in 52:33
T+D 75+73 (modified pace goal 17:42)
avg pace 17:31
avg hr 122
HR range 103 - 147

Woke up to rain and a headache (probably connected) so I pushed this run to the afternoon when the air was thick enough to chew.

Wed - rest
Took a sudafed for the headache and ended up dizzy, so that was fun. But the headache went away. I need this storm to go ahead and move on through please.

Thurs - plan: 1 mile easy + 3 miles M tempo + 0.5 miles easy
T+D 71 + 71 (modified pace goal 14:55 for Tempo, 17:42 for easy)
1 mile easy in 17:12, 0.5 miles easy in 9:03
3 miles M Tempo in 44:44
Avg pace 14:53
avg HR 156
HR Range 137 - 175

Splits
1- 14:58
2 - 15:14 (blaming the hills for this)
3 -14:26

Plus 1.43 puppy miles before the run

I don’t know if it’s that I haven’t had very many consecutive nights of good sleep in 4 months, or that I’m walking the puppy a lot in addition to my running so I’m seeing my neighborhood streets a lot right now, but I’m finding it easier to zone out and just run lately. I hope that translates well to race day because that Marathon map that came out this week makes it all too real that it’s coming soon.

Fri - Plan - Strength
Fit Fab Dopey, mostly upper body with a little core and glutes. I had planned on doing a mini leg day today but we’re having a bit of a hurricane so I didn’t want to go out.

Plus 1.38 puppy miles

Sat - Plan: 3 miles easy
3 miles in 54:08
avg pace 18:01
T+D 66 + 66 (modified pace goal 17:27)
Avg HR 123
HR Range 104 - 141
Plus 1.17 puppy miles


Sun - Plan: 6 miles easy with nutrition strategy test
6 miles in 1:42:36
avg pace 17:06
T+D 66 + 64 at start (no pace modification) and 73 + 71 at finish (modified pace goal 17:42)
Avg HR 142
HR Range 114- 162

It was nice and foggy when I started, and no T+D modification! But the fog cleared and it got warmer towards the end of this run. Still not a bad one. Ran this one in my new running vest and it's much better after I've removed the offending toggles. I do need to find a couple of collapsible water bottles, though. I don't plan to use the bladder and the sloshing in the hard sided bottles drives me nuts.

For my nutrition strategy today I tried out teddy grahams. I'm pretty solid on UCAN Edge energy gels as my primary fuel, with Saltstik chews for extra sodium and potassium if needed, but I know that going into the marathon I am going to eventually get sick of UCAN so I thought I'd try out some alternative fuel that I could use at the end of the race.

I also noticed that one UCAN Edge gel has 180mg of vitamin C, which is 100% of the RDA. Over 2000mg of vitamin C is not recommended, and that's 11 gels, so I'll try not to exceed that because one of the side effects can be gastric upset. So, good to have alternatives in my pocket.

One bag of teddy grahams has 21g carbs, 85mg sodium, 50 potassium. For comparison, one Edge gel has 19g carbs, 50mg sodium, 0 potassium.

My plan for this run was 2 teddy grahams packs/hr + 4 salt stik chews/ hr = 50g carbs, 220 potassium, 570 sodium. The packs are bulky so I definitely won't want to carry too many of them, but they were pretty easy to eat during walk breaks. They are dry, though. The Edge gels are.... I don't remember the word, but they don't require you to drink extra water to digest them. I don't know how the teddy grahams fall scientifically but I definitely wanted to drink more water when I was eating them.

Other than that they were fine and my stomach didn't object to them. But after all the talk about Cokes on the marathon thread this week, I'll admit when the sun came out that's what I was wanting! I really don't drink soda very often any more but I had one this afternoon after my run and if I can find a way to work one into my marathon plan I think it'll hit the spot.

And my other news for the week: New Shoes!

Having exhausted the supply of Altra Torin 5s in my size, these are a Torin 7. I really hate change. I wish running shoe makers would just keep making the shoe I like forever, but that's not the case. These are fine, though. Maybe a little more narrow than the 5s but not that bad. The tongue is much nicer! The 5s demanded a blood sacrifice for the first few wears. The heels on the 7s come up much higher in the back. I was worried they were going to eat my socks but everything stayed put. I wore the new shoes for my 3 miles on Saturday and didn't notice any adjustment issues so I wore them for my 6 miles today too because my old shoes were really done.



And a few more mushroom pictures because they're still everywhere!

I want to put a face on this one!


I need to tally up my miles for the month. Maybe I can get that done tomorrow. I had to shift a day or two but I got all of my planned runs done this month!



And my song for the week is Sing by Pentatonix. I really enjoy running to songs where the BPM matches my pace, and this is one of my favorites. It has never failed to get me off the struggle bus. We'll see if it can work the same magic in the Blizzard Beach parking lot.

 

[jmasgat]

That first mushroom pic looks like it has bushy eyebrows! (And the word you're searching for is "isotonic")

 

[superchime]

(And the word you're searching for is "isotonic")

Thank you! I kept searching for hydro- words and coming up short.

 

[superchime]

Sept 30 - Oct 6

Mon - off

Tues - Plan: 3.5 easy
3.5 miles in 1:01
Avg pace 17:33

Wed - off

Thurs - Plan: 5 miles M Tempo
5 miles in 1:14:24
Avg pace 14:52

Fri - off

Sat - Plan 3.5 miles easy
3.5 miles in 1:00:29
Avg pace 17:16

Sun - Plan: Progression run
Skipped

Just putting up a quick summary for last week so I stay on track. I didn't do any strength and I skipped my Sunday run because the puppy is sick and we went to the emergency vet. Nothing serious, she's going to be fine, but I was tired from being up and down all night with her and then she was clingy because the emergency vet was scary, so no run for me. She's worth it, of course.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Glad the puppy is feeling better! That photo is so cute

 

[superchime]

September totals
Miles run: 58.01
Miles walked: 36.83 (mostly puppy miles but a few run warmups found their way onto this total)

Weekly Summary
Oct 7 - 13

Mon - off

Tues - Plan 3.5 easy
3.5 miles in 59:12
T+D 55 + 51 (modified pace target 17:02)
Avg pace 16:54
Avg hr 130
HR range 112 - 154

Wed - off

Thurs - Plan 3 miles M Tempo (plus 1 mile warmup and 0.5 mile cool down at easy pace)
3.02 miles in 43:21
T+D 53 + 44 (no pace modification! plan pace 14:54)
Avg pace 14:19
Avg hr 150
HR range 120 - 177)

Fri - off
The puppy's back to 100% so she got two walks today - 2.82 miles total.

Sat - Plan 3.5 miles easy
Swapped Saturday and Sunday due to kid activities
7 miles with nutrition strategy practice
7 miles in 1:58:03
T+D 50 + 48 (no modification, plan pace 16:57)
Avg pace 16:51
Avg hr 138
HR range120 - 164

Sun - Plan: 7 miles easy, nutrition strategy practice
3.5 miles in 59:17
T+D 57 + 51 (barely a pace modification - 17:02)
Avg pace 16:55
Avg hr 124
Hr range 105 - 151

Plus 1.19 puppy miles

It's cold! I don't remember how to run in the cold. I had to dig out my cold weather running pants! Couldn't find my gloves, or my ear warmers. I realize some of you are laughing at me for thinking 50 is cold. It's fine once I get going but I hate being cold when I start out, so I end up overdressed.

I tried Maurten 100 gels for my nutrition strategy practice on Saturday. Each gel has 25 grams of carbs, 20 mg of sodium, compared to my usual Ucan Edge 20 grams of carbs, 50 mg of sodium. They are more expensive at $3.50 per gel, vs $2.33 per Edge.

The Maurten 100 do contain sugar (both glucose and fructose), unlike the Ucan, but they don't contain vitamin C so I think I will probably include a few of them in my marathon nutrition plan just to help me not hit the max recommended amount of vitamin C for one day.

Flavor was fine, texture was unobjectionable. I also appreciate that, like the Edge, the Marurten gels don't require water. But they are sugary! I wasn't careful opening the first one and got some on my fingers only to discover that the gel is very sticky, so that was unpleasant, but that's the only real negative. Nice to have something else to add to my toolbox.

A couple more mushroom pics. It's been dry here this week so I haven't seen as many, but I did see this sweet little lemony thing and these giant gilled ones. I am very deliberately not learning the names of any of these mushrooms because I know where that would lead and I do not have the time to hyperfocus on anything else right now. So, unless the dog tried to eat it, I don't need to know what it's called.




Instead of a song, it's a podcast-of-the-week. The podcasters pick apart every episode of the new Rings of Power show and drop in tons of additional lore and speculation. Super fun and a great distraction for my easy pace runs.

 

[superchime]

Weekly Summary
Oct 7 - 13

Mon - off

Tues - Plan 3.5 easy
3.5 miles in 58:31
Avg pace 16:42
Ave hr 124
HR range 99 - 142
T + D = Brr, no adjustment needed

Wed - off

Thurs - Plan 6 miles M Tempo
6 miles in 1:30:06
avg pace 15:00
T + D = Brr, no adjustment needed


I hurt my neck sleeping because I am 1857 years old. So I wasn’t really feeling this run, but my legs were fine so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to push myself and develop a little grit. I told myself to just do the first mile and then I could reevaluate, knowing that just getting out the door was the biggest hurdle. I started out pretty grumpy, so I’ll include my thoughts with each split.

1 - 16:02 - I hate running. I hate being cold. I hate the sun. I hate the wind. My ears hurt. My neck hurts. How do you hurt yourself sleeping? Why do I do this to myself.
2 - 14:12 - Whee! All warmed up, running is amazing. Oops, too fast. Need to slow down a bit.
3 - 15:10 - That’s better
4 - 14:53 - Turned my brain off at this point
5 - 15:24 - Why do I live where there are so many hills?
6 - 14:14 - I did it. I still hate running but I love having run.

So, although my average pace was pretty close to target, my splits were all over the place.

Fri - off

Sat - Plan 3.5 miles easy
3.5 miles in 59:48
Avg pace 17:04
Avg hr 141 (It was cold, I don’t trust this number).
HR Range110 - 169
T + D = Brr, no adjustment needed

A bit of a slow start for the first mile because it was cold and I was fighting off the end of a sinus headache.


Sun - Plan: 1 mile WU + 5 rep progression (17:00, 16:00, 15:00, 14:15, 13:45) with each rep at 0.25 mile + 1 mile CD

1 - 16:55
2 - 16:20
3 - 15:06
4 - 14:27
5 - 13:40

I had a hard time with this one. I tried to set up the workout on my watch but got it wrong twice before I made it work (note to self: set up watch while wearing glasses next time). I generally enjoy things like this, thought, so I know next time will be better.



Ah, so we’ve entered the “marathon nightmares” phase of training. This week it was a dream where I left my hydration vest in the car a mile away, I went to put on my socks and they fell apart, I couldn’t find my bib and the race was starting. Just for fun, the next night my brain threw in a standard “first day of school, can’t find my classroom, assignments are already overdue” dream too. Whee!

Miles for the week:
16.25 running
8.52 puppy miles

 

[Scootin'By]

1 - 16:02 - I hate running. I hate being cold. I hate the sun. I hate the wind. My ears hurt. My neck hurts. How do you hurt yourself sleeping? Why do I do this to myself.
2 - 14:12 - Whee! All warmed up, running is amazing. Oops, too fast. Need to slow down a bit.
3 - 15:10 - That’s better
4 - 14:53 - Turned my brain off at this point
5 - 15:24 - Why do I live where there are so many hills?
6 - 14:14 - I did it. I still hate running but I love having run.

This made me laugh out loud. I want a recap like this every week

I had a hard time with this one. I tried to set up the workout on my watch but got it wrong twice before I made it work (note to self: set up watch while wearing glasses next time).

Once without my glasses on I opened the calculator app and tried to dial my mum's phone number. It's very hard to make phone calls on a calculator.

Ah, so we’ve entered the “marathon nightmares” phase of training. This week it was a dream where I left my hydration vest in the car a mile away, I went to put on my socks and they fell apart, I couldn’t find my bib and the race was starting. Just for fun, the next night my brain threw in a standard “first day of school, can’t find my classroom, assignments are already overdue” dream too. Whee!

Yuck! Yuck yuck and more yuck. This should be the time where you're dreaming about how amazing your costume is going to look. Like, you're running through the castle and Robin Williams pops out to say, "You look gorgeous. I love the feathers!"

 

[azrivest]

I did it. I still hate running but I love having run.

Don't we all

 

[superchime]

This made me laugh out loud. I want a recap like this every week

Haha. Welcome to the inside of my brain. It's like this nonstop.

Once without my glasses on I opened the calculator app and tried to dial my mum's phone number. It's very hard to make phone calls on a calculator.

Oh, I need to try this! "Sorry mom. I tried to call you and it didn't go through."

 

[superchime]

Weekly Summary

Oct 21 - 27

Mon - off

Tues - plan: 5.5 easy miles
5.5 in 1:33
avg pace 16:59
T+D 57 + 51, modified pace 17:02

Wed - off

Thurs - plan: 7 easy miles with nutrition strategy practice
7 miles in 2:01
Avg pace 17:20
T+D 59 + 55, modified pace 17:07

I took this one a little bit easier than modified pace because we were flying out that afternoon to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party!

Nutrition strategy: I tried Huma chia gels today. I had tried these before and liked them ok, so I thought they'd be another good one to throw into the mix of possibilities for marathon day. Unfortunately I didn't bring water on the run and realized too late that these require water, so I only ended up taking two at points that coincided with running past my house where I'd left a water bottle out. They were fine, though. Tasted like raspberry jam. I tried the raspberry with caffeine. It was only 25 mg of caffeine, so not too much but I don't generally consume any caffeine so I still wouldn't take too many of these.

Fri - plan: 3.5 easy Boardwalk miles
Wow it's hard to run easy pace at a place where I'm used to racing. I had a hard time keeping it slow enough to account for the T+D, so I ended up walking a lot more just to keep my pace slow enough. But I was pretty darn proud of myself for running on vacation.

After my run we went to Hollywood Studios where I got to see some of the new scenes in Star Tours, then we headed to Epcot for a little Food and Wine festival before ending our night at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

Here we are looking scary:
(and, yes, he's taller than me now)



Sat - plan 2 easy miles
Oh how the mighty smug have fallen. Today was an optional skip day and, after being out past midnight the night before (rare for me) I was pretty happy to sleep in.

We had a nice chill park day and just took our time and enjoyed a few snacks and rides. I had booked a standard Dolphin room and I asked for a high floor, so we ended up in the pyramid with views of both DHS and Epcot fireworks.

Sun - plan 2 easy miles
Another optional skip day, which I also took. Headed home this afternoon and now I'm doing all the usual things that are required to return to normal life. It was a great weekend, though.

Total miles for the week:
Running: 16
Walking: 21.15

 

[superchime]

Oh, and no puppy miles this week because she started limping with no obvious cause. Vet suspects hip dysplasia so she's going in on Wednesday for sedated x-rays. Until then she's on an activity restriction, which is zero fun for a high energy puppy.

 

[superchime]

October totals:
Running: 70.4
Walking: 57.27

And the puppy only has mild hip dysplasia which the vet said shouldn't be causing the issue we saw, so it was probably just a soft tissue injury. After a week of rest she's not limping anymore. So now she has one week of on-leash activity only, then she can resume normal puppy-ing.

Here she is "carving" a pumpkin.





And my two senior pups helped out as well.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Yay! Happy to hear she's doing okay now!

 

[superchime]

Weekly Summary
Oct 28 - Nov 3

Mon - off

Tues - 2.5 Easy
2.5 miles in 42:52
T+D 60 + 51 (modified pace goal 17:07)
avg pace 17:07
No notes.

Wed - off

Thurs - plan: 7 miles M tempo
T+D 73 + 62 (modified pace goal 15:20)
7 miles in 1:48:35
avg pace 15:30
Avg hr 157
HR range 122 - 181

1 - 15:13 (hr 146)
2 - 15:30 (hr 153)
3 - 15:36 (hr 160)
4 - 15:28 (hr 162)
5 - 15:29 (hr 160)
6 - 15:35 (hr 157)
7 - 15:38 (hr 162)

Nutrition strategy practice: honey stinger energy chews: 1 pack 39g carb, 65 mg sodium, no potassium, 60mg vitamin c
Pre run: pop tarts and coffee 2 hrs before run
Ucan edge gel 10 min before starting run
1st hr: honey stinger + 4 saltstik = 43 carbs, 265 sodium, 60 potassium
after that: 1 pickle juice shot at the 1 hr mark, then 1 Ucan edge gel at 1hr 20 min.
Also took 10 oz of water with me and that was all gone by the end.

Ugh, this was a roller coaster. I started off feeling great, went into a slump, started to feel better, slumped again, and was just happy to be done. My average heart rate for tempo runs is usually in the 140 - 150 range but today it kept jumping into the 170s and I was getting out of breath easily. Both kids have recently been sick and I feel fine but I wonder if I might be fighting off their illness anyway. The puppy had her X-rays yesterday and she had to be sedated, so when that wore off she was ready to party all night, so I didn’t sleep well either. Excellent Dopey practice.

It was sunny and a bit warm, so at the hour mark that pickle juice was the best thing ever. Nutrition strategy was fine. I like the honey stinger chews, although the package is bulky. Tried an unflavored Ucan gel today and it wasn’t terrible although I do still prefer the pineapple.

I don’t like the hydration vest. It’s nice for carrying all of my stuff, and I can’t really imagine doing that any other way, but I don’t like the extra layer on my core. I do need to find a collapsable water bottle because part of my irritation is the water sloshing around in my hard plastic bottle. I know I should get over it and use the hydration bladder but I never feel like I can really get them clean so I’m always a bit sketched out when I try to use one.

Fri - 2.5 Easy
2.51 miles in 43:42
T+D 68 + 64 (modified pace goal 17:27)
Avg pace 17:25
Toasty but I didn't get out until almost noon so I knew it was coming, and it's good for me to keep those heat adaptations as long as I can.

Sat - 2.5 Easy
2.51 miles in 42:56
T+D 62 + 50 (modified pace goal 17:07)
avg pace 17:06

Sun - Progression run
1 mi WU + 5 rep Progression (17:00, 16:00, 15:00, 14:15, 13:45) with each rep at 0.5 mile (Use 60/30 reps for all progression reps) + 1 mileCD

Got this workout set up in my watch ahead of time (glasses on!) so this one was much better than last time.

goal pace/actual pace
1 - 17:00/17:01
2 - 16:00/15:50
3 - 15:00/15:00
4 - 14:15/13:57
5 - 13:45/13:39

As you can see, my accuracy is not great with these. It's really hard to hit the exact target pace and I find myself looking at my watch a lot. But I was feeling great by the end of this progression and was actually sad I had to stop running at the end of my last rep.

My left knee is bothering me a bit, not sure if I've written about this before or not. It doesn't hurt, it just feels sort of tight on the inside of my leg below my knee, and only when I run. I got an appointment to see my sports medicine doctor this Thursday so hopefully she'll say it's nothing and send me to PT.


Total miles for the week:
Running - 19.02
Walking - 7.81(hooray for the return of puppy miles!)

 

[superchime]

Weekly Summary
Nov 4 - 10

Mon - off

Tues - plan: 4 easy
4 miles in 1:10
avg pace 17:35
T+D 68 + 64 (modified pace goal 17:27)
I knew it was going to be warm so I deliberately delayed today’s run a bit to keep that heat adaptation going, and it was lovely. Now that it’s fall the roads in my neighborhood are mostly shady even at mid day because there are so many tall trees (lots of pine). So it was warm, but shady, and a bit of a breeze. People were driving like maniacs today, though, so I did end up in the grass more than once.

Wed - off

Thurs -plan:1 mile @ Easy + 3.5 mile @ 40/30 sec @ 12:30/20:00 paces + 0.5 mile @ Easy
3.5 mile avg pace was 14:46 so I was pretty happy about that.
T+D 66 + 66 (modified pace goal 14:42)
My only notes from the run say: Sweaty. Grumpy. 


Went to my sports medicine dr this afternoon where she wasn’t too concerned and sent me to PT, which is exactly what I was thinking/hoping would happen.

Fri - plan: 2.5 miles easy
2.5 miles in 44:15
avg pace 17:40
T+D 68 + 66 (modified pace goal 17:27)

Of course the day after I go to the doctor, I start to feel actual twinges of pain in my knee, instead of just tightness. I was probably overthinking my stride, though, because once I got going I felt fine and even the usual tightness was lighter.

Sat - plan: 4 easy
4 miles in 1:07
Avg pace 16:48
T+D 59 + 41 (no modification)

Sun - 8 easy
8 miles in 2:16
Avg pace 17:04
T+D 55 + 48 (modified pace goal 17:02)

During Saturday's run I was hating every minute. The hills were too hilly. Why do I do this? Etc. Today, twice the distance, and I could have kept going. So now I analyze everything that was different. I ran at about the same time of day, T+D was similar but it was overcast today. Breakfast was similar. I did have creatine last night, I've sort of fallen out of the habit of taking it. I was fueling for the 8 miles. Who knows. There are so many factors.

For fuel today I tried Precision Fuel PF 30 chews. Two gummy blocks per pack. They're coated in something (cornstarch? powdered sugar?) so they aren't sticky to hold, but it wasn't hot today so I wonder how they do in the heat. My packs contained one mint and one lemon chew each. I loved how compact they were. Easy to carry and eat. I didn't love that they're carb only so I had to take in quite a few saltstik chews to get my sodium and potassium, but I don't really mind the saltstiks so it wasn't a huge issue. The chews are supposed to be used with the Precision Hydration products, which you can fine tune to your individual needs which is pretty cool. If I want to use these as a race fuel I'd put them in a baggie with the correct number of accompanying saltstik chews per hour because I know by now that running Kim can't count.

Fuel strategy notes (mostly for myself):
Precision Fuel chews - one chew+ 15g carb (comes in a packet of two chews)
need to eat one chew every 15 min for 60 g carb/hr
one chew every 20 min = 45g carb/hr
Have 6 chews to try, today’s run is 2:15, so will take one every 20 min

These are carb-only so I have to include saltstik chews:
2 every 15 min = 8/hr = 400mg sodium, 8g carb, 120 potassium

Total per hour = 53g carb, 400mg sodium, 120g potassium


Pic for the week is not very exciting, but here's one of the Precision Chews:


Will come back and add total weekly mileage later (hopefully, we'll see)
Total miles:
Running - 23.5
Puppy miles - 11.71

 

[superchime]

It's cold and raining! I don't want to run today.

This builds character, right?

 

[Naomeri]

It's cold and raining! I don't want to run today.

This builds character, right?

Yep. And preps you for less than delightful race-day weather

 

[superchime]

Update: Did the run. Didn't die of hypothermia.
I will not admit what counts as "cold" to me.