Every Wish That We Put Into Motion.... (comments welcome!)

[DopeyBadger]

Part of that might be that I need to set up my watch display/info differently. when i would finish a lap it would tell me the lap number and the duration (duh on that since I had an interval timer going) but NOT the pace. And I feel like the real-time pace on my watch fluctuates sooooo much that I have a hard time trusting it. So i kind of ran it blind, except I knew that what I was doing was really close to half mile loops (which was my goal at 0.46) in the 5 minutes of the "hard" interval. I'll have to play around with the setting and see if I can get the pace for the lap to show when i'm using the lap key.

Which watch do you have? You want "lap pace". That's the gold standard, and once you're past about 30-60 seconds it's accurate enough. You'll also want to set the watch to 1-second GPS if it's available on your device. That'll refresh the GPS signal more often improving accuracy. I agree on "instant pace", it's essentially useless.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I just got a vivoactive 4 on Tuesday. I googled and youtubed and figured out that I needed to turn on one more of the data screens while I run.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I just got a vivoactive 4 on Tuesday. I googled and youtubed and figured out that I needed to turn on one more of the data screens while I run.

Perfect! And it looks like it has 1-second GPS too!

 

[Herding_Cats]

Race report:
Firecracker 5k.
T72+67= 139. 92% humidity.
146ft total elevation gain (pretty much all on one hill just before the half way point, and I walked up about 2/3 of it) and a downhill through the woods on a washed out two-track.

According to my watch I finished in 33:49.
Chip time was 33:46. 9th in my age group. (My “goal” time was 32:37 so I’m happy with how I did considering how sticky it was outside.)
It was a nice turnout for our one traffic light town. Several hundred people (447 according to the results page) were there. Lots of people who vacation up here or have a lake house. A few people with dogs. One mom with a jogging stroller. One lady in a FABULOUS red white and blue tutu.
Did my scheduled 1.5mi warmup (too fast) and finished that about 15min before the race started. My arms and legs were tingling during the last 0.1 as I attempted to run faster for the end so that was fun. 5k races are definitely not my thing. Run as fast as you can for 3 miles? No thanks. . Will I do it again next year? Probably.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Weekly wrap up:
Did all of my runs as scheduled. Only missed one weekend lifting workout that I’ll mash in probably tomorrow or Wednesday because it’s one that I really like.

Sunday: did 9WCF shoulders AND total body (was playing catch up) I’m really enjoying these so far...last week for phase one of this program, so it’ll be nice to have some new workouts next week.

Monday: 3 miles EB plus strides. Ran this a little too fast, which will be a theme for most of this week. Got my new watch. I found an open-box vivoactive 4s on Amazon for a great price and jumped on it. It has a lot more bells and whistles than I need, but I like how it looks for everyday wear a lot more than my FR35 and ds2 is happy to have a watch now for cross country. So, it’s a win-win. 9WCF back/biceps

Tuesday: R intervals. It was pouring rain, so getting to the Hs track for these 100m intervals didn’t happen. Used the treadmill instead. 9WCF chest/tris.

Wednesday: rest. Ahhhhh. So nice.

Thursday: T intervals. Discussed a few posts back. Ran this a lot faster than I should have and paid the price.

Friday: 2.5mi EA. Accidentally put my watch on indoor run AND took a different route looking for a little more shade. Guessed at the distance and ran for my target duration instead. 9WCF shoulders.

Saturday: rest day (missed my lifting workout because a bunch of my cousins from out of state were up and we did brunch and then I was their DD for winery-hopping.)

Sunday: 5k race discussed in the post above this. 1.5 mile warm up (too fast) and then the race. Didn’t quite make my goal time, but it was still fun. Race results listed 447 people but our XC coaches are the coordinators and they in said there’s were over 558 participants? I had auto lap turned off so I don’t have my garmin splits. Strava says they were 11:05, 11:34 (uphill section), 10:29 (downhill section), and whatever the 0.1 was...it’s too early to math.
DS1(15) ran in 23:01, DS2(13) in 22:31, and DH in 31:25

 

[Herding_Cats]

Did my t-intervals today since it was nice and cool out (t+d around 110) and had a goal of 11:00 for my fast intervals. AND I used the lap pace page on my watch and this was incredibly easier than the last time it did it, when I ran most of it way too fast. Funny how that works!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Awesome job! That's much better! Be sure to change tomorrow to an EA workout with no strides since you did the hard workout today. And if your legs say go less than 40 min, that's ok too. Since the sequence has been reversed it's ok this time around.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Good to know about tomorrow. I wouldnt have switched things if it was anything longer than the 3 mile EB run just because I know things are in an order for a reason. The weather was too good to pass up, and I actually got a decent night’s sleep last night and figured I should take full advantage.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I'm officially registered for the full marathon in October. SIL upgraded hers at the beginning of the week, so peer pressure dictates that I must also upgrade mine. Excuse me while I go have anxiety for the rest of the day now.

 

[DopeyBadger]

 

[Herding_Cats]

I’m going to do my weekly wrap up in the next post, but while I sit here and drink my coffee I’m thinking about the half I have planned for 8/8. And I have thoughts. (Thats what happens when you think.) It's an out and back 5k/10k/half that's chip timed, and we don't even know if Disney will accept these races with the USATF-specific language on the website now (although what that might mean for international runners is a whole different thing.)

Originally, this was a “maybe run fast enough for a POT for corral placement” race. Like I would have to run pretty fast for me. (Plus experience running/racing a longer distance since I’ve run a whole TWO races at this point.) But with Disney changing the threshold on the POT so much, I’m trying to decide if it’ll be “worth it” from a healthy running perspective when there is 0 chance of me running a sub 2:00 half, or even a sub 2:20. Let's be realistic about how hot it can be in August and the humidity of being on the shore of Lake Michigan.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to sign dh up for the 5k because he wants to do another real race to finish up his lion king series, and I could easily run the 10k instead of the half for the experience.

Full disclosure: I’m kind of apprehensive about how much a half will hurt considering how much mile 12-finish did during my half in May. But the other part of me says that it won’t be as bad this time because I’ll have more training and (fingers crossed!) won’t have just taken 2 weeks off because of my ankle. And I think I just need to get over it since I’m doing the full in October. I’m also nervous that there is only one spot with bathrooms (out and back course) and they’re at approximately miles 3 and 10.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Weekly wrap up:
My ankle was really cranky on Monday, so it got a nice cold epsom salt soak and I decided to take the week off from lifting (originally I was only taking the first day off since there are weighted jump squats in Monday's workout, but it just morphed into the whole week.)

The toddler (I can't keep calling her a baby....well.....I CAN, but we are firmly into toddler behaviors and personality at this point) has been sleeping so so so badly. Her 2.5-3.5 hour nap is suddenly 1 hour. She's waking up at least once during the night and sometimes deciding it's play time for an hour or two. And we are up for the day no later than 6:30am. Yaaaaay.


Monday: 2 miles of EA that I ran an average pace of 14:18. Nice and easy.

Tuesday: 3 miles EB plus I tacked on 0.5 to finish my strides. This felt pretty good.

Wednesday: rest day (plus it rained/thunder stormed quite a bit)

Thursday: flip-flopped with Friday's run because it was 60 outside and I had actually slept OK. T-interval workout totaling 8.13miles. Warmup was a little fast, but I did a much better job on my T pacing this week. Details are a few posts above. This was also a "practice your nutrition" run so I had a couple of extra carbs above what my eating plan recommends on Wednesday, and had a caramel coffee stroopwaffle right before the run. I ran with my hydration pack, which is something I haven't been doing lately since most of the runs have been in the 3-4 mile range and I'm trying to not drink as much water during my runs (trying to make sure I'm hydrated before and re-hydrating after instead of drinking 1.5L during an 8 mile run.)

Also. As I finished my T intervals, at around the last 2, my feet started to hurt. More specifically, the bottom of my feet. The "ball" of my foot and the bottom of my heels. This is pretty similar to how my feet started feeling at the end of my half back in May, which got progressively worse until the race was over. I had walking recovery-intervals, and those helped, but it wasn't a very pleasant last 2 miles. I'm not sure if this is a "your feet need to get used this" thing (it was an almost 2 hour run....and 2 hours is about when my feet started really hurting in May) or if it's a SHOE thing, and I need something with more cushion than my 880s are giving me for these longer runs.

Friday: this day completely got away from me, so I bumped my 3 mile EA to Saturday since I would be taking DS3 to baseball and have 0 excuses to NOT run during his practice.

Saturday: 3 miles EA. 14:31 average pace. Did the first mile with the stroller and by that point DS2 was nearly finished with his 2 miles so I handed the bob off to him and finished my run.

Sunday (today): rest day.

It's going to be much more "normal" temperatures this week so I'm going to have to really make an effort to run in the morning, which is not my favorite. Of course the picture is sideways. *sigh* Here's the mama deer I saw during my Saturday run. She let me get within about 30 yards before running off and having a fit in the woods for the next 5 minutes (I'm assuming she had a fawn nearby.)

 

[Herding_Cats]

I’m blaming all of the excitement of w&d registration on how far off my run was today. 2nd time doing R intervals, but the first time outside. Last time I did these I used the treadmill. Today I took all of the kids to the track at the high school and ran there. Too fast all around. I would take off on the fast portion of the interval and half way through force myself to slow waaaaay down. For all of them. I got closer toward the end when I tried to go slower, but even those were too fast. And it never felt difficult. T+D was around 135 and my pace “should” have been like 9:45. So

 

[DopeyBadger]

Looks great to me! The goal splits were 36.0-37.9 seconds for 100m and 71.0-72.9 seconds for 200m (not taking into account the T+D).

 

[Herding_Cats]

The split times are only correct because I used an interval timer and went by that, so that may not be the best measure. my pace for each fast interval was in no way consistent for the duration.

 

[Herding_Cats]

T interval workout again today, only they were 10min long instead of 5. The warmup felt awful, my legs were tired, I was tired (very loud thunderstorms last night and the baby was up twice), and despite it only being 70, the dew point was like 63. So the pace expectations were scaled back. Goal was 11:05ish.

At around minute 7 of each interval I wanted to be done. Every time, always at around the 7 minute mark. But I forced myself to push through it. By the 4th one it wasn’t SO bad, but I was glad to be done. I’m so glad I figured out the lap pace screen because I feel like I’m really getting the hang of these t intervals now.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Solid work! Really looks like you're hitting a groove now. Just about 3 weeks until the August HM!

BTW, how's the SIL doing these days? She finding similar success on your effort matched plans?

 

[Herding_Cats]

I haven’t done a specific check in with her about the training. I know she is running. Aaaand she took a new job at a new school 4 days after she upgraded her registration from the half to the full and they might sell their house and move closer to the new school. So things are crazy at her house. I will check in with her about how things are going specifically with the training plan.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Checked in with SIL. She is on plan (a week behind I think, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to jump a week so we will be back on the same weeks when we are camping) and says things are going well. She’s hitting the pacing goals and using her nearby HS track for the intervals. Stressing out about maybe moving and the new job. She is “thinking about” doing the half marathon with me in 3 weeks. That’s pretty close to when she has to start reporting for school days/setting up a whole new classroom but it helps that it’s on a Sunday morning. Fingers crossed she decides to run it with me.

 

[DopeyBadger]

She is on plan (a week behind I think, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to jump a week so we will be back on the same weeks when we are camping

Just warn her to be careful missing a week and then jumping ahead. Ripe for injury without proper adjustments.

She is “thinking about” doing the half marathon with me in 3 weeks. That’s pretty close to when she has to start reporting for school days/setting up a whole new classroom but it helps that it’s on a Sunday morning. Fingers crossed she decides to run it with me.

Here's hoping!