In Training: Marathon Weekend 2013 (Dopey Challenge)! 1/17 - LINK TO TRIP REPORT!

[Ariel484]

Congrats on getting the run in when you weren't feeling well! That's my biggest deterrent, it's so hard to run when you're feeling "off". And your puppy is adorable

Thanks! Most of the time when I am feeling crappy and I run it makes me feel better. MOST of the time (foreshadowing...)

Loving this. I am also going for my first Dopey, did Goofy in 2010 - Ice Age it was a crazy cold year. I have done alot of disney races but really excited for Dopey in 2013. I look forward to following along with your training.

Kim

May I just say, it always comforts me to hear people say they've done Goofy before and are coming back for more. It can't be that bad! Especially with you having run it in 2010...wow!

Thanks for following along!

 

[Ariel484]

Week 2: Run #1 (3 miles scheduled, 6-mile out-and-back completed)
Monday, September 3, 2012
Weather: 74 degrees and sunny, 84% humidity

6 miles completed/16 miles planned for the week
18 miles completed so far in training

Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone's been enjoying the long weekend. You really can't beat waking up on a Monday morning and NOT having to go to work!

So, the run today...it sucked. It sucked big time. I had another bad night of sleep and woke up feeling a bit better than I did yesterday, but still not great. This allergy crap is really lingering. But yesterday's run wasn't too bad and I really wanted to get the first long run for training in, so I decided to just go for it.

I decided to get back into my pre-long run routine right off the bat. I had two pieces of wheat toast with peanut butter and a cup of coffee. An hour later 9:45ish?) I was ready to go.

Mile 1: 9:56
Mile 2: 9:50

TOO FAST. I mentioned earlier in the thread that I have lost some weight recently, and as a result I have gotten quite a bit faster. This is great, and I am happy about it, but I really feel like I have no idea how to pace myself now. I feel like I should have been going for more like 10:30-10:45 for the first 3 miles. Woof. Plus, the sky was really clear today and that sun was just beating down. Even though it wasn't super hot out, I was drenched in sweat almost immediately.

Mile 3: 11:09
Mile 4: 10:13

At the beginning of mile 3 I took a walk break to have 3-4 ounces of water, blow my nose and wipe the sweat out of my eyes . I felt better after the water and while running back home a really nice lady doing some run/walk training encouraged me with a "looking good"...such a lie but so nice of her.

At the start of mile 5 I stopped for my second walk break and the s*** hit the fan.

Mile 5: 12:23
Mile 6: 12:07

Basically I felt awful during those last 2 miles and shifted into survival mode. I felt like I had zero energy and was very, very hot. I took LOTS of walk breaks, drank the rest of my water and finally made it home. I was too out of it to even feel miserable about what had happened.

Stats:
Total time: 1:05:39
Average pace: 10:57/mile
Number of dogs spotted on the run: I have no idea. I was just focusing on finishing.

I'm actually not too disappointed in my time (if I had averaged 10:30 like I wanted to I would have finished in 1:03, so overall I wasn't too far off). The splits are horrendous though. The first 2 miles were way too fast and the last two...well, they speak for themselves. A positive split (second half slower than the first half) is just no good. I think my poor pacing, plus the weather and the fact that I have been sick was jut a recipe for disaster. Plus, I know I was VERY dehydrated: I drank 56 ounces of water when I got home and (TMI?) didn't pee for, like 5 hours. Not good. I am sure being sick caused the dehydration and contributed to low energy levels in general.

I certainly learned a lot from this run. I am going to just move on from it, possibly sleep in and take an unscheduled rest day tomorrow to fully kick this allergy thing, and hope that I do better next time.

Ah well. Have a great week!! :

Continued in Next Post

 

[annabanna]

Allergies are the worst to run with. I totally feel for you. I have terrible allergies, nothing really works. I often times find myself having to bring water on even short runs because I breath through my mouth so much that I feel so dry. It's probably a mental thing, but I find I feel better if I can drink while I am running, even if it's just a 2-3 mile run.

I hope that you feel better soon! You'll have to share your weight loss strategies sometime, I would like to know what you did!

 

[Ariel484]

Allergies are the worst to run with. I totally feel for you. I have terrible allergies, nothing really works. I often times find myself having to bring water on even short runs because I breath through my mouth so much that I feel so dry. It's probably a mental thing, but I find I feel better if I can drink while I am running, even if it's just a 2-3 mile run.

Nothing works?! Ugh. That stinks. Up until this year I have been pretty lucky...normally I just have one day where it's really bad, but this time it's just lingering on. I guess it's due to us not getting enough rain this year?

I hope that you feel better soon! You'll have to share your weight loss strategies sometime, I would like to know what you did!

Thanks for the get well wishes

The weight loss - I've been doing Weight Watchers since the week before Christmas. I think that's a response not many people like (since Weight Watchers = $$$...in my case my employer pays for it ) but that's what's been working for me.

 

[Ariel484]

Week 2: Rest Day (unscheduled)
Tuesday, September 4, 2012

As I mentioned yesterday, I decided to sleep in this morning and skip strength training. The allergies are still lingering, but I think they're getting better. I did have another crappy night of sleep last night, but I know I was completely out for a decent stretch (2:30AM - 6AM). Progress?

Right now I'm hoping that I can get to bed early tonight (9:30ish) and feel good enough to get in 3 miles on the treadmill tomorrow. We'll see! If I still feel crappy I might sleep in again on Thursday, meaning no strength training at all this week. I'm hoping not to do that, but I also just want to feel better and not skip any runs. If I have to though, I will - missing a run or two is not going to be the end of the world. I'd rather not this early in training though.

In other news, did anyone see the winning time for the Disneyland Half Marathon?! 1:05:29...amazing! That's a little over twice as fast as my half marathon PR!

Continued in Next Post

 

[dburg30]

I dont know what part of Ohio you are in, but it just downright sucked to be outside this weekend. I think this was even worse then the heat wave(s) we've had this year. Just humid stagnant air. I'm impressed with your allergies flaring up and the humidity you did as well as you did!! Did I mention how horrible I thought it was outside this weekend?

 

[steph0808]

I dont know what part of Ohio you are in, but it just downright sucked to be outside this weekend. I think this was even worse then the heat wave(s) we've had this year. Just humid stagnant air. I'm impressed with your allergies flaring up and the humidity you did as well as you did!! Did I mention how horrible I thought it was outside this weekend?

I'm not in Ohio, but PA, so probably same-ish longitude. But I agree, this weekend was horrendous! I ran yesterday morning - big mistake. Only 75 but something astronomical like 97% humidity. I almost died. Not really, but it was not a good run for me either, and I don't have any allergy stuff going on!

 

[dburg30]

I'm not in Ohio, but PA, so probably same-ish longitude. But I agree, this weekend was horrendous! I ran yesterday morning - big mistake. Only 75 but something astronomical like 97% humidity. I almost died. Not really, but it was not a good run for me either, and I don't have any allergy stuff going on!

Yea, I always thought it would nice to live in the 'tropics' but if that's the air you get... heck with that

 

[Ariel484]

I dont know what part of Ohio you are in, but it just downright sucked to be outside this weekend. I think this was even worse then the heat wave(s) we've had this year. Just humid stagnant air. I'm impressed with your allergies flaring up and the humidity you did as well as you did!! Did I mention how horrible I thought it was outside this weekend?

Northeastern part - practically in the lake. And you're right, it DID suck to be outside this weekend.

I'm not in Ohio, but PA, so probably same-ish longitude. But I agree, this weekend was horrendous! I ran yesterday morning - big mistake. Only 75 but something astronomical like 97% humidity. I almost died. Not really, but it was not a good run for me either, and I don't have any allergy stuff going on!

Yikes! Way to go! That must have felt like running through soup.

Yea, I always thought it would nice to live in the 'tropics' but if that's the air you get... heck with that

 

[butiflfeet]

My allergies seem to have taken a turn for the worse this weekend too. They've been lingering for the last 2 weeks but I guess after our 10 miler on Saturday and spending extra time outside during the holiday weekend I'm really feeling it today I'm in Michigan just north of Detroit.

 

[Ariel484]

My allergies seem to have taken a turn for the worse this weekend too. They've been lingering for the last 2 weeks but I guess after our 10 miler on Saturday and spending extra time outside during the holiday weekend I'm really feeling it today I'm in Michigan just north of Detroit.

Okay, well I'm glad to know it's not just me! Hopefully we'll both be feeling better soon. And way to go on that 10-miler!

 

[Ariel484]

Surviving the Treadmill

(in which I take a brief timeout from whining about my allergies to talk about something else...)

I’m pretty sure I’m not alone when I say that I don’t like the treadmill. Don’t like it one bit…boo. Where's a thumbs-down icon when I need it?

However I do 2 of my runs each week (the shorter ones that are normally on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) on the treadmill. Here’s why:

1.) It saves me money on my health insurance. My employer is a big advocate of what they like to call Employee Wellness, and we have some nice programs available to us: free yoga classes (which I have already mentioned), free memberships to on-site workout facilities and Curves centers, free membership to Weight Watchers (which I just mentioned to annabanna...I'll talk about this more eventually), smoking cessation programs, etc. If we take advantage of these programs, we can get a discount on health insurance since we're "proving our commitment to wellness" or something. Specifically in my case if I go to the on-site workout center 10 times per month for 10 months out of the calendar year, my insurance premium is reduced. So most weeks I go in before work Monday – Thursday to do either IronStrength or treadmill running (I like getting it done and out of the way early) and save about $100-$150 on insurance per year. This is without a doubt the #1 reason I run on the treadmill. If this perk wasn’t here I’m not sure I would use it.

2.) It’s getting me ready for running in Florida. I THINK this is true at least. I live in Ohio…our winters here are intense and I see myself having a lot of cold-weather outdoor runs in the weeks leading up to the Dopey Challenge. So it makes sense to me that if I do every run outside in cold weather, that’s what my body will acclimate to. If I arrive in Florida – where it will (hopefully) be warmer than in Ohio and (sadly) more humid – I’m not sure how I could handle that after getting used to running in the cold weather. The room with the treadmills at work is WARM, so I think this is as close as I can get to what Florida will be like.

3.) Convenience. The treadmills I use are right on my work campus. I roll out of bed, drive to the gym, shower and get ready in the locker room and then head to my building, aka cube farm. It’s SO nice being able to get my workouts out of the way in the morning right at work. Plus by driving in early I avoid lots of rush-hour traffic, which is a HUGE plus.

4.) Safety. I COULD run outside around my work campus, but it’s downtown (which makes me nervous as a gal running by myself), very dark in the morning, and there’s always traffic. Running inside on a treadmill is much safer. I've run around my neighborhood in the morning, but if I do this I'm stuck right back in rush-hour traffic, and I've grown to really like my quick, quiet drives in to the rec center at 5:45 AM instead of sitting in traffic on the highway at 7AM. Also, I've noticed that our street is really poorly lit, so I'm constantly afraid I'm going to trip over the sidewalk...since I'm a klutz.

5.) Speedwork. Not as big of an issue training for Dopey, but I like using a treadmill for speed intervals. It’s just easier for me and I don’t often have access to a track.

6.) Weather. This hasn’t come into play yet, but I’m preparing myself for the possibility that I’ll need to hit the treadmill a bit more in the winter if the weather calls for it. Icy conditions will definitely send me inside…other than that I’ll have to play it by ear.

All good reasons to use the treadmill…I still don’t like it though. It’s just so BORING and I sometimes find that I get so mentally defeated because I’m bored that I really have to talk myself into finishing a treadmill run, where that rarely happens when I’m running outside. For me, the way to make it more tolerable is to break the runs up into intervals…I can’t get on the treadmill, set it at 6 MPH or whatever, and just go for 30 minutes. It’s too boring (I feel like I could turn this into a "how many times can I use the word 'boring' in one post" game...BORING BORING BORING ).

So right now I’ve been alternating between 2 little interval workouts that total to 3 miles and take me about 30 minutes.

Treadmill Workout #1

Mile 1:
0.5 miles @ 5.9 MPH
0.4 miles @ 6.0 MPH
0.1 miles @ 6.1 MPH

Mile 2:
0.5 miles @ 6.0 MPH
0.4 miles @ 6.1 MPH
0.1 miles @ 6.2 MPH

Mile 3 (this one is a little weird and just shows how short my attention span is…):
So by the time I finish the first 2 miles I have about 10 minutes of running remaining. The treadmills I use have an option of showing elapsed time or remaining time, and I always have it on remaining time.

So with one mile left, I switch the speed to 6.1 MPH and run at that until there’s 5 minutes left.
Then I switch the speed to 6.2 MPH and run at that until there’s 2:30 left.
Then I switch the speed to 6.3 MPH and run at that until there’s 1:00 left.
And for the last minute or so I run at 6:4 MPH.

It sounds bizarre, but it keeps things interesting.

Treadmill Workout #2 (I recently found this on a running blog and I like it better than the one above…it seems to fly by!)

0.5 miles @ 5.9 MPH
0.5 miles @ 6.1 MPH
0.5 miles @ 6.3 MPH
0.25 miles @ 6.4 MPH
0.25 miles @ 6.3 MPH
0.25 miles @ 6.2 MPH
0.25 miles @ 6.1 MPH
0.25 miles @ 6.0 MPH
0.25 miles @ 5.9 MPH

My favorite thing about this one is when I start to decrease the speed for the last 1.25 miles…these speeds that felt so fast to me in the first 1.75 miles suddenly feel…dare I say…easy? Gasp!

I’m to the point where I can complete a 3-mile run without walk breaks, which is good…in the past my taking a walk break normally led to a conversation with myself about how bored I was, how much this sucked, etc., and it was likely I’d stop the run for no good reason at all. Eek!

So these treadmill workouts are working for me right now. I’ll have to adjust them when these shorter runs jump to 4 and 5 miles though…yikes! That seems so far away right now. Let’s not think about that just yet, okay?

Continued in Next Post

 

[pxefig]

I can't believe you are four pages into the training report and I am only now making it over here. Well, now I have followed you over from your old trip report and am subscribed to this one, so count me in for the journey!

 

[Ariel484]

I can't believe you are four pages into the training report and I am only now making it over here. Well, now I have followed you over from your old trip report and am subscribed to this one, so count me in for the journey!

Better late than never! Thanks for following me over...I'm glad you're here!

 

[ZellyB]

Treadmill running. That was the way I used to do all my running before I started training for the half-marathon back in April. I liked it because I would watch TV and it kept me distracted from what I was doing. But, now that I've gotten used to running outside with other people and talking the whole time, I know any change back to the treadmill will not be fun.

 

[annabanna]

I am glad that you posted this about treadmills. I just bought one - $50 at a garage sale and it's brand new , but I have just been staring at it, trying to figure out how to even run on it

I know that I will need it sooner than later. I live in South Dakota, and we have pretty hard winters. The snow isn't so bad, but the cold can get downright brutal. And, having to run mostly at night I worry about not wanting to get out there when it's 10 degrees above zero. Hence the treadmill! Now I have a better idea of how a workout can look!

 

[Ariel484]

Treadmill running. That was the way I used to do all my running before I started training for the half-marathon back in April. I liked it because I would watch TV and it kept me distracted from what I was doing. But, now that I've gotten used to running outside with other people and talking the whole time, I know any change back to the treadmill will not be fun.

I used to be a 100% treadmill runner also, I think due to my getting the free access at work and the fact that it was easier to keep track of the intervals when I was doing the Couch-to-5K plan. I'm just like you though - once I got used to running outside I knew the switch back was going to be hard...and it is!

I am glad that you posted this about treadmills. I just bought one - $50 at a garage sale and it's brand new , but I have just been staring at it, trying to figure out how to even run on it

I know that I will need it sooner than later. I live in South Dakota, and we have pretty hard winters. The snow isn't so bad, but the cold can get downright brutal. And, having to run mostly at night I worry about not wanting to get out there when it's 10 degrees above zero. Hence the treadmill! Now I have a better idea of how a workout can look!

Wow...$50 for a brand-new treadmill?! That is a steal! You can also program run/walk intervals on some treadmills, so maybe you could try that to get used to using it. Listen to ZellyB above though...it definitely helps when you have a TV in front of your face!

 

[Ariel484]

Week 2: Run #2 (3 miles on the treadmill)
Wednesday, September 5, 2012

9 miles completed/16 miles planned for the week
21 miles completed so far in training

Well, I think I'm finally turning the corner on this allergy thing! This run didn't feel magical or anything, but it went well overall and I don't feel any worse for wear after completing it. I'll take it!

After 3 nights in a row of bad sleep, I finally slept decently last night (only woke up twice! Although the second time was 15 minutes before my alarm was due to go off ...I HATE when that happens!).

Since I'm still getting over this sickness/allergy thing I decided to dial down the pace a bit. I did the second treadmill workout from this post with a starting speed of 5.7 MPH instead of my usual 5.9 MPH. Let's face it, I'm not trying to break any speed records here or win any races...if slowing the run down a bit gives me a better chance to successfully complete the run when I'm not feeling 100%, then that's what has to be done! I definitely felt like I had a little less energy, my throat felt drier, and I felt warmer and sweat more than usual, but it went pretty well otherwise. I actually found I could breathe a bit better once I was done. I'd consider that a successful morning.

I'm undecided about what I'm going to do tomorrow...normally it would be strength training in the morning and yoga over my lunch hour, but I'm debating sleeping in, bagging strength training for the week and just going to yoga. At this point I'm leaning more toward getting to bed early and treating tomorrow as a normal Thursday where I do go to the gym in the morning...I guess I'll see how I feel this evening as far as this little bug I have, but right now I feel pretty good.

Stats from the run:

Total time: 30:38 for 3 miles
Average pace: 10:13ish/mile

Happy Wednesday!

Continued in Next Post

 

[steph0808]

I'm undecided about what I'm going to do tomorrow...normally it would be strength training in the morning and yoga over my lunch hour, but I'm debating sleeping in, bagging strength training for the week and just going to yoga. At this point I'm leaning more toward getting to bed early and treating tomorrow as a normal Thursday where I do go to the gym in the morning...I guess I'll see how I feel this evening as far as this little bug I have, but right now I feel pretty good.

For me, the most important thing is being healthy enough to get my miles in. If sleeping in and skipping strength training gets you better faster, I say go for it!

Of course, I also haven't been back to the gym to strength train since my vacation in July, so maybe I'm not the best person to give you advice. I was on a good schedule and vacation threw it off! So if skipping tomorrow is going to have an effect on your ability to get up next week - don't do it!

 

[Ariel484]

For me, the most important thing is being healthy enough to get my miles in. If sleeping in and skipping strength training gets you better faster, I say go for it!

Of course, I also haven't been back to the gym to strength train since my vacation in July, so maybe I'm not the best person to give you advice. I was on a good schedule and vacation threw it off! So if skipping tomorrow is going to have an effect on your ability to get up next week - don't do it!

Yep, I know what you mean. So far I've felt pretty good today, so I'm leaning toward getting back to it tomorrow...

And yeah, that's my concern - that I'm going to miss a week of strength training and never get back in the groove! I did have a random 2-month break at one point this spring and I don't want that to happen again.