My Journey to 50 miles (2nd attempt)... (comments welcome)

[disneygpa]

Whoop whoop!!! New training plan!!! Thanks Billy!!

Super excited and a little nervous about this plan.

In a nutshell it is a plan to get me to a 37 mile run attempt on Sept 1st. Why a Wednesday you might ask? Well, I'm going to Vegas the following weekend and it just seemed like a good excuse to lay around the pool all weekend and recover! Just kidding. No way Donna is going to let me lay around all weekend. We'll be doing all the touristy things we can squeeze in. But I won't be running that weekend.

My peak week is just 40 miles and my longest single run is only 14. This is a fare bit less than what I had for the 50k plan, but I'm curious to see how it works. I'm confident that it'll work just fine! I like the variety of runs I have with it and I'm looking forward to the new challenges!!

First run of the plan was last night. 2 miles with Donna's run/walk. I told her we need to slow these down as they were a bit too fast. Why is slowing down so hard sometimes!!??

 

[disneygpa]

Last night 3 easy miles. Tried to run this by feel and not pay too much attention to my Garmin.

Turned out pretty well and felt nice and easy.



Right hamstring update. Can't get into the sports medicine doc until 5/20, but I see my primary on 5/10. I'll ask him about it and see if he thinks a deep massage might help. In the mean time, it still feels tight and I could feel it all the way into my glute last night. It's not really painful, it feels more like it could just cramp at any second. It's literally becoming a pain in the rear.

 

[disneygpa]

Thursday's run with Donna 1M run/walk + 1 mile continuous run.

This was fun! Easy enough that we talked pretty much the whole way about upcoming events and whining about not being on a beach in Hawaii!

Going to try adding a new feature here. I have finally gotten Donna's Garmin connect set up and I'm going to start including her stats in my journal.

Donna

Derek


A little fast on the paces again. But closer than Tuesday. Still, I feel like the effort to keep it easy was accomplished!

I find it very odd that even though we started our Garmin's at the same time we ended up with a 30 sec difference on the first mile. Weird.

So get this, while chatting last night Donna kinda hit me with a surprise! She said she wants to do some trail running this summer!! The day we hiked Chuckanut she was saying how crazy I was and that she would never trail run.... Well, son of a gun if she didn't change her mind! I asked what brought it on and she said it was when we were coming down from Diamond head. She felt like she just wanted to run down the trail and now she wants to give it a try!

 

[disneygpa]

The weekend didn't go quite as planned.

Friday, noon, got my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine. No major issues, a little soreness in my shoulder but nothing terrible. Saturday, felt fine except I couldn't seem to shake the feeling of being tired. I'm not one to sleep in, but I didn't crawl out of bed until 8am and then I took a nap at 11am. With the general feeling of sleepiness I decided to pass on Saturday's run. I'm a little concerned that I may feel similar or worse come the 5k on May 22nd. I get my second shot on the 21st. It's a virtual run and I it's really just a fund raiser so if I'm not feeling well I may have to take a pass on it.

Sunday was a better story! 4 miles with Donna!! Nice! It was a beautiful outside and was a nice easy run!

Derek

Donna


Still amazed at how much difference two Garmins can record. Started and stopped them at the same time, but boy oh boy do they record differently!

Was a little sore when I got up this morning. Not really sure why. I'm not normally sore after 4 easy miles. Hangover from the shot possibly? I felt fine after hopping in the shower so maybe I just slept extra hard.

 

[disneygpa]

I've really been slacking on updating this past week.

I've gotten all my runs in but didn't feel all that great about it. There wasn't anything particularly difficult about the runs or life last week. I just felt kind of blah about everything. (I'm blaming it on Hawaii withdrawals!)

So I had a little meeting with myself yesterday about how I was feeling. Decided I needed to change my attitude. Not only about running, but also about work and life in general.

Talked to Donna while we were out running and let her know about my meeting with myself and that I needed to make some mental changes. So, I'm back to being an earlier riser. The plan is to get up early enough to stretch and to get a core + resistance workout 3 days a week and then do my running in the afternoons. This morning I got up and stretched did a small workout with the TRX and then threw in some planks. I'll refine this as I go and I can figure out how much I can squeeze in before work.

On another note. We are going to do a little weekend getaway the weekend after next. This little weekend getaway will involve our virtual 5k. We will be passing through Eugene OR and I decided to see if there were any places to run a 5k. Turns out there are quite a few nice places to run there. But the spot I chose is called Pre's Trail. It's a 4 ish mile trail dedicated to Steve Prefontaine. I know this probably seems silly to some, but I'm stoked about running on it. After the run, we are off to Reno for a couple of nights and then a nice leisurely drive home before returning to work on Wednesday.

 

[disneygpa]

Wow, what a beautiful day in the PNW. Perfect for an easy run! 61 and SUNNY!!

Got up early and did a little workout.

Push-ups 3 sets x 15 reps
Tricep Ext 3 sets x 15 reps
Fly 3 sets x 15 reps
Tricep Pressdown 3 sets x 15 reps
Close-grip push-ups 3 sets x 15 reps

And in the afternoon 4 miles @ EB + Strides



So I had a doc appointment yesterday with my GP. Just a check-up with him and because Donna was concerned about my RHR (usually mid 40's). We discussed that it was probably nothing to be worried about and I should feel good that I have a healthy heart. As a precaution, he sent me for an EKG and will phone with the results after the heart doc has a look at it. Honestly, if it wasn't for my watch telling me what it was, I wouldn't even have known what it was. Briefly discussed the hamstring issue but he agreed the sports medicine doc will have more insight on that.

Speaking of the hamstring. Nothing really new to report. It's still just annoying. I was reading in the new issue of Runners Magazine where they have listed some of the more common injuries and it seems like it might be piriformis. I have most of the symptoms and reading through the causes it kind of lines up. Looks like more stretching and exercising coming my way. I'll let the doc finally make the call when I see him on the 20th.

Was supposed to go get a massage yesterday, but the therapist called last minute and had to cancel because of a family issue. No worries, not sure when I might be able to reschedule as I don't have much time I can take off now.

Easy run with Donna tonight! Supposed to be another spectacular day!

 

[disneygpa]

Dang, every time I go to update this, work gets in the way. So here goes another try.

We ran all our runs over the past week with the exception of last Thursday. Donna wasn't feeling very good and it didn't seem like a good idea to push it.
















Nothing really super eventful about these runs. They all felt good and we enjoyed the beautiful weather we had over the last week!
Sunday we went out and ran a portion of the Cascade Trail. Nice, flat, hard-packed gravel and the weather was amazing! Followed that up with lunch at my new favorite BBQ place! Delicious ribs!!

Running on the Cascade Trail brought up the discussion of trying to run my 37 miles on the trail. The trail itself is around 22 miles depending on what source you use with some areas that could be wet, like a creek crossing. So, I would have a few options.

1. Do an out and back of 18.5 miles each way.
2. Do the full length of 22 miles and then back 15.
3. Do the full length of the trail and tack on 15 ish miles to the end.
4. Stick with the original plan to run the Centennial Trail with a loop around the Arlington airport.

I'm leaning toward option 3. There would be a short 4-mile stretch that I would have to run along hwy 20. This wouldn't be super bad. It has a nice wide shoulder and I wouldn't have to cross traffic. After that, I would head into the town of Burlington, through Mt Vernon, and then down to Conway. It's a shade over 37 to get to Conway, but it's a good destination.

I personally like the idea of running through to a destination rather than an out and back. The biggest challenge would most likely be all the street crossings involved with going through the towns. I feel like I know enough routes to avoid the major intersections where I might get bogged down for several minutes.



I know it's a little tough to see in the pic. But this is what I'm thinking.

The benefits of the out and back are, no running through town or running along the highway. I'm not fully committed to any of the options right now. I think I'm going to do my long runs out there and check out different sections of the trail along the way.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[shellott-hill]

I am not from Washington, so I am not familiar with the trails. I took a look at google maps and see the Cascade trail.

• You could start a little further West on the trail at the Cement Silos.
• Run the trail West until you get to Cokedale.
• Head south on Harrison Road.
• Then head East on Burmaster road.
• Then head North on Hoehn Road until you hit the Cascade Trail again.
• Head East for a bit on Cascade Trail until...
• Head south on Lyman Hamilton Road.
• That will bend to the east and become Maple Street.
• Turn South on Nolle Street.
• Turn East on Water Street.
• That street will follow the rivers edge and go through multiple names as you head east.
• Turn north on Wilde Road
• Veer Right onto NE Cape Horn Road
• Follow that until you meet up with Cascade Trail again.
• Continue until you hit 37 miles.

I think you will be approximately half a mile from a road just east of wildwood chapel.

When I type this out, it sounds more complicated than when I drew it on the map. I was trying to go West , South until you were near the rivers edge and make your way back East to the starting point.

All I can say is that is a long run!

 

[disneygpa]

Thanks for the feedback! That is certainly a route I will consider.

Went to the doc and trainer last night. Basically, they feel like the problem with my hamstring is stemming from a misalignment in my hips and weakness in my running form as I fatigue. I have some new stretches and some exercises to not only help with the hips but to also strengthen and stretch out my upper back.

The theory is, as I fatigue, I hunch over my shoulders which are compressing my core. When I compress my core, I'm putting more pressure on the hamstring to try and keep me vertical. The trainer wants me to work on my form and sent me home with a list of videos to watch and learn from. I already know I'm going to have to make some changes and will probably take a while to relearn to run properly.

He and the doc don't feel like I need to lighten up on training, so at least there's that good news!! I don't go back to see them until July, by then I hope to be good as new!

Got all runs in this week except for last night. Donna wasn't feeling well and I was lazy after the doc appointment.

Heading out for a short trip to Reno this weekend. Stopping to run a virtual 5k in Eugene OR on Saturday and then on to Reno after that.

 

[disneygpa]

I hesitate to write this update, as I'm really disappointed in myself. But I really feel like I need to journal the bad stuff as well as the good.

We ran the virtual 5k in Eugene at the trail dedicated to Steve Prefontaine. It was a great trail! Well maintained, relatively flat, and wide enough to run side by side most of the time. It was a little chilly but not too bad. After we finished we got cleaned up and headed to Reno. Stopped in Klamath Falls for some BBQ. If you're ever passing through Klamath Falls, stop and get the ribs at Wubba's. You won't be disappointed.

On to the reason I'm disappointed with myself. Got to Reno and that was it for running. I did zero runs Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Even though I was home in plenty of time to run last night, I still chose to be lazy.

I'll be starting anew tonight and try not to kick myself too hard.

On the plus side, my hamstring feels a little better so maybe the time off wasn't all bad.

 

[DopeyBadger]

A mere blip in the grand scheme. Some times it's nice just to relax when on vacation. Just let 3 missed days be 3 missed days and move on from it. Good news on the hamstring!

 

[disneygpa]

Thanks Billy!

Forgot to mention that last Friday I got my second shot of Pfizer. The good news is that other than a slightly sore shoulder, I had no side effects.

Yesterday (Wednesday), got up early, stretched, and worked out with Donna. She's such a trooper getting up that early!

In the afternoon I ran by myself. 2.5-mile WU and the 5 repeats of 1 min @ HM and 1 min @ EB, then 1 mile CD. After taking the extra time off I was a little concerned about how I would feel. I really felt fine. No problems. Run felt good, paces were okay-ish as always. I really like the fast/slow combo runs. feels good to run a little hard once in a while!

Watched a few videos last night on running drills. A, B, and C skips as well as seated arm drives. Interesting. I got these ideas from the trainer. Not really sure how often or when I'm supposed to work these in. But, I'll figure it out. He also included a description of "fence cycles". I can't seem to find a video on these, so I'll have to just do them on his description.





The hamstring is annoying again this morning not too bad, just a little tight and annoying.

 

[disneygpa]

@DopeyBadger Billy, do you think it would be ok to incorporate these drills into Donna's Tuesday and Thursday runs? We normally run-up to a local middle school and back. We would do a mile (up to the school), do the drills, and then complete whatever is left of the workout for that day. Your thoughts?

 

[DopeyBadger]

@DopeyBadger Billy, do you think it would be ok to incorporate these drills into Donna's Tuesday and Thursday runs? We normally run-up to a local middle school and back. We would do a mile (up to the school), do the drills, and then complete whatever is left of the workout for that day. Your thoughts?

According to this TrainingPeaks article these running drills would be included 1-2 times per week.

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/drills-for-proper-running-form/
So you may be getting overzealous if you do them on your hard days and her Tues/Thurs workouts. But it looks like the two of you combined normally only do two relatively hard workouts (1 for you and 1 for Donna). The biggest issue I could see with limiting these to your two hard days per week is that the hard days are normally consecutive. So you'd be doing the running drills on consecutive days and none the other 5 days. I'd email the person who scheduled these for you and ask them how many times per week they want you doing them.

 

[disneygpa]

According to this TrainingPeaks article these running drills would be included 1-2 times per week.

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/drills-for-proper-running-form/
So you may be getting overzealous if you do them on your hard days and her Tues/Thurs workouts. But it looks like the two of you combined normally only do two relatively hard workouts (1 for you and 1 for Donna). The biggest issue I could see with limiting these to your two hard days per week is that the hard days are normally consecutive. So you'd be doing the running drills on consecutive days and none the other 5 days. I'd email the person who scheduled these for you and ask them how many times per week they want you doing them.

I was only planning on doing them Tuesday and Thursday on Donna's short run days.
Just twice a week.
Does that sound ok?

 

[DopeyBadger]

I was only planning on doing them Tuesday and Thursday on Donna's short run days.
Just twice a week.
Does that sound ok?

Sorry for the misunderstanding. It seems reasonable to me. Although I'm not sure if some of these are better to occur on your hard days than what will be your easier days (Donna's hard days). But if the goal is to try and to get both you and Donna to both be able to do these exercises, then I'd say it's worth a shot to try them Tues/Thurs and see how it feels.

 

[disneygpa]

Sorry for the misunderstanding. It seems reasonable to me. Although I'm not sure if some of these are better to occur on your hard days than what will be your easier days (Donna's hard days). But if the goal is to try and to get both you and Donna to both be able to do these exercises, then I'd say it's worth a shot to try them Tues/Thurs and see how it feels.

We'll give it a try over the next couple of weeks and see how it goes. If it ends up being too much for her/us we'll reevaluate! Thanks for the input!!

 

[disneygpa]

Been a bit since I updated so here it goes.

Last Thursday was a 1-mile interval and 1 mile continuous with Donna.



I think I really need to slow her down. She is definitely running some of these too fast.

Friday is always date night, so no running allowed.

Saturday 4 miles of intervals. Slowed down a bit on these, but still too fast.



Sunday 6.5 miles of intervals! Longest run on this plan so far.
I'd like to say she crushed it. But that really didn't happen. She seemed to really feel fatigued at about 3 miles or so.

A little background. While we were in Hawaii, we hiked up Koko crater stairs. We were woefully unprepared and not long after she started down
she was really feeling it. At about a quarter of the way down we ran out of water. This was a huge mistake. Halfway down she was on a major struggle bus.
Now we have no fuel or water. Toward the bottom, I told her we had to get her out of the sun and that we wouldn't be taking any more breaks. She would have to push through or I would need to leave her and go get help. She was starting to lose control of her fingers and had trouble with her feet. Finally got her to the car, cranked up the AC and got her to a restroom where we soaked her in cool water. Then got some Gatorade and chips. After about 20 min she was feeling better. My unprofessional diagnosis is she was near heat exhaustion/very dehydrated.

I say all that to get to this. She seems to really get fatigued since then when running in direct sunlight. She went to the doc, all blood work and ekg show she's normal. She is going to see a heart doc just to make sure nothing is damaged. Doc said that it's ok to keep running. Just be aware of how she is feeling.

We are going to also start playing with fuel before and during runs. It's quite possible she just isn't eating enough.



The average over the 6.5 miles was pretty much spot on. But you can see where she really started to struggle during the 4th mile. During the 5th mile, clouds rolled in and she cooled off a bit. The temp was still the same, but now she was out of the direct sunlight. Plus, she was taking in fuel by then.... Maybe she's a vampire and can't stay in the sun.

Monday, 3 miles at EB + strides. Solo. A little fast on mile 1, but when am I not. Strides felt good. Hamstring feels less knotted lately. Still a little annoying.



Donna got her second shot of Moderna on Tuesday. So, even though she felt good, we decided to not push that into a run and instead walked for a couple of miles. She was feeling fine until about 2 am Wednesday morning will the shot hit her with a vengeance. Body aches, fatigue, headache, she was hurting pretty badly. She laid around almost all day on Wednesday taking Dayquil and sleeping here and there. Last night she took a couple of Nyquil at 8 and slept till after 6 this morning. Says she feels 100% today! So, good news!! We'll see if she's up to a run this afternoon. But it might be best to either take an easy walk or just rest. We'll play it by ear.

My Wednesday run was titled Minutes and I gotta say I love these!! 1.5-mile WU, 10- 1 min HM/1 min EB, 1 mile CD. This might be one of my favorite runs on my plan so far. It was toasty out today. Mid 70's which is pretty toasty for me. I had a goal of trying to keep these at or above my recommended pace because of the temp. Overall, I guess it wasn't too bad. But, I was definitely fast on some of them. Still, it felt great! I really like the HM pacing!!



Looking ahead, 2.3 miles tonight with Donna. Which I will see how she is feeling. Might just be another long walk. Sat & Sun are supposed to be 4 miles each. Temps are supposed to be cooler with cloudy conditions. I'm really going to try and focus Donna on slowing down and taking it easy. Hopefully, the cooler temps and slowing down will help with the fatigue.

Geez... I really need to do this more often so it doesn't end up being so big all at once.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I think I really need to slow her down. She is definitely running some of these too fast.

Definitely too fast. That's a M Tempo interval + HM continuous. So no where close to easy/LR or easy continuous paces. Definitely need to slow down or it will catch up to her.

Saturday 4 miles of intervals. Slowed down a bit on these, but still too fast.

More like 4 miles of M Tempo work. So again way too fast.

Sunday 6.5 miles of intervals! Longest run on this plan so far.
I'd like to say she crushed it. But that really didn't happen. She seemed to really feel fatigued at about 3 miles or so.

And this easily is explained by the two runs that proceeded it. Instead of having 100% easy running on the two days proceeding her LR, she had 100% hard running. There wasn't anything easy for essentially the whole week if she did the 3x3 min CV workout on Tuesday as well. So it's just a reminder that an experience like Sunday can sometimes be as easily explained as pushing it too much on the other days of the week. Making what was originally 96% easy and 4% hard, into nearly 0%easy/100% hard. Plenty of time to adjust and get back on track. It's 14:46 and 13:45 pace or slower on those easy days. Unless she can show that her mile time is around 8:04 and 5k around 28:16. Because that's what the fitness level of someone with an easy pace around what she was doing this week.

Hoping the issues she was having on Sunday and the vaccine effects have subsided.

 

[disneygpa]

Definitely too fast. That's a M Tempo interval + HM continuous. So no where close to easy/LR or easy continuous paces. Definitely need to slow down or it will catch up to her.



More like 4 miles of M Tempo work. So again way too fast.



And this easily is explained by the two runs that proceeded it. Instead of having 100% easy running on the two days proceeding her LR, she had 100% hard running. There wasn't anything easy for essentially the whole week if she did the 3x3 min CV workout on Tuesday as well. So it's just a reminder that an experience like Sunday can sometimes be as easily explained as pushing it too much on the other days of the week. Making what was originally 96% easy and 4% hard, into nearly 0%easy/100% hard. Plenty of time to adjust and get back on track. It's 14:46 and 13:45 pace or slower on those easy days. Unless she can show that her mile time is around 8:04 and 5k around 28:16. Because that's what the fitness level of someone with an easy pace around what she was doing this week.

Hoping the issues she was having on Sunday and the vaccine effects have subsided.

Got it. I'll make sure she slows down!!! Thanks Coach!!