Pandemic Running Thoughts (Comments Welcome)

[jennamfeo]

Anyone know how to transfer stats and run data from Runkeeper to Strava? Is it even possible?

I also used tapiriik before but it sometimes wouldn't even update and it annoyed me. So I actually just started exporting my runs from Runkeeper and uploading the file to Strava.

 

[mankle30]

Are there any 10 milers in the Toronto area? Let me know if you come across one!

Welcome! Unfortunately, I looked and didn't find any 10 milers in the Toronto area.

I also used tapiriik before but it sometimes wouldn't even update and it annoyed me. So I actually just started exporting my runs from Runkeeper and uploading the file to Strava.

I tried using tapiriik and it transferred the run from Runkeeper but it got the time I was running wrong. So, not sure about the accuracy.

 

[mankle30]

The weekly summary (even thought we've already started the next week)

Sunday Feb 11 - 2.5 miles on the treadmill - 32 minutes, 13:06 min/mile pace
Monday, Feb 12 - 1.5 miles on the treadmill - 20 minutes, 13:20 min/mile pace
Wednesday, Feb 14 - 2.1 miles in the real world! - 25:47 - avg heartrate - 128 bpm - 12:16 min/mile pace
Friday, Feb 16 - 2 miles on the treadmill - 26:45 - 13:22 min/mile pace

So that was the "down week."

This week, we ratchet it back up to 10.5 miles overall.
Sunday - 3.1 miles (done outside )
Monday - 2 miles (done outside )
Wednesday - 2.7 miles (we'll see how the weather is. It'll be more than warm enough but there's rain for the next few days so we'll see if running outside will be possible)
Friday - 2.7 miles (also should be warm enough outside)

I've been using the heart rate monitor with Runkeeper. So far so good, I think. I ran easier on Sunday and today and my average heartrate reflected the ease of pace, I think.

 

[mankle30]

Well, I ended up running the last two runs of the week inside and for some reason, the treadmill didn't agree with my body the way running outside does. I feel like I maybe get forced into a faster cadence while running on the treadmill but whatever it is, it didn't make me happy the day after.

Anyways, here's the summary for last week:

Sunday Feb 18: 3.11 miles - 40:23 - 12:59 min/mile - average heart rate - 125 bpm
Monday Feb 19: 2.02 miles - 26:47 - 13:17 min/mile - average heart rate - 124 bpm
Wednesday Feb 21: 2.70 miles (ish) - 35:30 - 13:09 min/mile - treadmill
Friday Feb 23: 2.70 miles (ish) - 36:00 - 13:20 min/mile - treadmill

The slower pace on Friday was likely due to me taking it easy after feeling a little under-recovered from Wednesday's run.

This week, we take things up a notch:

Sunday - 3.5 miles (done outside)
Monday - 2.5 miles (to be done outside)
Wednesday - 2.8 miles
Friday - 2.8 miles

So far so good. I can definitely the increase in miles starting to wear on me a little but it's more fatigue stuff on days off rather than any kind of pain or weakness while running.

 

[mankle30]

Another week, another week of running. While Last week I was definitely feeling the fatigue from the runs, particularly on the Monday. That said, after two runs this week (Sunday and Monday), I have to say that despite more distance in those two runs, I actually felt better today (Tuesday) and during the Monday run. I'm also starting to feel that I'm able to keep up a faster pace with a little less effort and a lower heart rate, as you'll see when the data starts to come in next week.

Sunday Feb 25: 3.56 miles - 46:47 - 13:09 min/mile - average heart rate - 123 bpm - I finished this one fast. Since most of my running is well below my aerobic threshold (which, for me should be about 134 bpm), I want to get a little bit of higher intensity training even though I'm deliberately keeping things slow to build the base. That said, one of the options given for adding intensity along the 80/20 principles is to do a fast finish when you increase pace/effort for the final mile or so of a long run. Not that my "long" runs are long yet.

Monday Feb 26 - 2.56 miles - 34:55 - 13:37 min/mile - average heart rate - 117 bpm - I really felt rough for this one. It's probably the first run I've had since I starting spinning things up after returning to India back in mid-January that made me want to just stop and crawl into bed. Legs felt weak, which explains why I took it so easy both in terms of pace (13:37 min/mile) and effort (117 bpm heart rate). I called this one pure "active recovery" and left it there.

Wed. Feb 28 - 2.81 miles - 37:26 - 13:19 min/mile - average heart rate - 121 bpm - Again, I just wanted to take it easy, although you can see that it was done at a slightly higher intensity than the recovery run on Monday.

Friday Mar 2 - 2.80 miles - 37:30 - 13:24 min/mile - Treadmill.

Next week:

Sunday - 4 miles (completed outside)
Monday - 2.5 miles (completed outside)
Wednesday - 3.3 miles
Friday - 3.2 miles
Total: 13 miles

 

[mankle30]

And we're back for another update!

Sunday Mar 4 - 4.12 miles - 52:26 - 12:43 min/mile - average heart rate - 131 bpm - This one I started to press a little more as there was a nasty, bitter wind. I think my heart rate peaked at 137 or so but I was really trying to stay in a band around 130 which should still be below my aerobic threshold.

Monday, Mar 5 - 2.51 miles - 33:11 - 13:13 min/mile - average heart rate - 117 bpm - You can see that I really took it easy as a recovery run. As a result, I actually felt pretty good overall, even after the 4 miles on Sunday.

Wednesday Mar 7 - 3.30 miles - 44:00 - 13:20 min/mile - treadmill

Friday Mar 9 - 3.20 miles - 41:20 - 12:55 min/mile - treadmill - This run I started instituting "speed" work. As I build my base, I'm trying to keep almost all of my runs below the aerobic threshold (for me about 135 bpm heart rate) but still building up some work at higher heart rates/effort levels. For this treadmill run, I sped up for Mile 2, running it at a 12:00 min/mile pace before backing off for the last 1.2 miles. I was feeling it at the end of the second mile but started to feel loose and relaxed by the time I got through about .50 miles into the final mile.

Next week:

Sunday: 4.5 miles (completed outside)
Monday: 3 miles (completed on treadmill)
Wednesday: 3.5 miles (to be done in Florida!)
Friday: 3.5 miles (to be done in Florida!)
Total: 14.5 miles

The next week is a "step back" week where I'll drop down to 12.5 miles, possibly less.

 

[Princess KP]

Welcome! Unfortunately, I looked and didn't find any 10 milers in the Toronto area.

FYI - There's a 10 miler on April 8 at Angus Glen in Markham.

 

[mankle30]

FYI - There's a 10 miler on April 8 at Angus Glen in Markham.

Thanks Karen! Unfortunately, I would have been looking for a 10 miler later in the season (around early September). I'm not going to be anywhere near in shape to run a 10 miler on April 8! In fact, I'm a little nervous about running a half marathon May 6 just for Proof of Time. I'm not confident that I'll be able to post a better time to get me in a better corral at this point in training (I'll have an update tomorrow, I hope). My long run was scheduled for 5 miles this past weekend and, while I did the 5 miles, the humidity in Florida was a killer and really sapped me.

I think I'm probably going to run a 10k the week after my originally intended HM unless a) I'm starting to feel better and/or more confident about my ability to post an improved HM time. I do have a 2:27 HM "in the bank" so (from October 2016), in my opinion, it's not worth it to run a HM in May when i may not be quite ready to give it my best for a POT. I'd rather run the shorter race and looking to keep increasing mileage. My planned longest run before either the HM or the 10k in May would be 8 miles.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I do have a 2:27 HM "in the bank" so (from October 2016)

Remind me again, are you planning on Marathon Weekend 2019? I think there is a misprint on the runDisney site that says POT is good from Jan 1, 2016. But I believe it should say Jan 1, 2017 (the standard is roughly 20 months from deadline to beginning date).

 

[mankle30]

Remind me again, are you planning on Marathon Weekend 2019? I think there is a misprint on the runDisney site that says POT is good from Jan 1, 2016. But I believe it should say Jan 1, 2017 (the standard is roughly 20 months from deadline to beginning date).

That's a misprint? Crap. Then I don't have it in the bank. Grumble.

 

[DopeyBadger]

That's a misprint? Crap. Then I don't have it in the bank. Grumble.

I'd shoot them an email to confirm, but it is out of the ordinary. My guess is they haven't updated because registration hasn't happened yet.

 

[Princess KP]

Thanks Karen! Unfortunately, I would have been looking for a 10 miler later in the season (around early September). I'm not going to be anywhere near in shape to run a 10 miler on April 8! In fact, I'm a little nervous about running a half marathon May 6 just for Proof of Time. I'm not confident that I'll be able to post a better time to get me in a better corral at this point in training (I'll have an update tomorrow, I hope). My long run was scheduled for 5 miles this past weekend and, while I did the 5 miles, the humidity in Florida was a killer and really sapped me.

I think I'm probably going to run a 10k the week after my originally intended HM unless a) I'm starting to feel better and/or more confident about my ability to post an improved HM time. I do have a 2:27 HM "in the bank" so (from October 2016), in my opinion, it's not worth it to run a HM in May when i may not be quite ready to give it my best for a POT. I'd rather run the shorter race and looking to keep increasing mileage. My planned longest run before either the HM or the 10k in May would be 8 miles.

That's too bad April 8 doesn't work for you. I've looked for other 10 milers in the GTA and this one was the only one I found. I'm still debating whether or not I should do it. I would like to have a better POT. If I don't run Angus Glen then I'm thinking the Toronto or Mississauga HM in May. Have you done either? Which one do you like? I've only run Mississauga cause it's close to home.

 

[mankle30]

That's too bad April 8 doesn't work for you. I've looked for other 10 milers in the GTA and this one was the only one I found. I'm still debating whether or not I should do it. I would like to have a better POT. If I don't run Angus Glen then I'm thinking the Toronto or Mississauga HM in May. Have you done either? Which one do you like? I've only run Mississauga cause it's close to home.

April 8 definitely isn't going to work. My longest run (in a post coming very soon) has been 7 miles and I haven't improved the speed enough to the point having a proof of time in a 10 miler is going to be any different than what I ran in the marathon in 2017 (5:28:xx). I haven't done either of the of the half-marathons in May. I've always been a fall marathon/half-marathon type of person! I've done the Sporting Life 10K several times (this year it's a week after the Toronto Marathon/Half Marathon) but I usually struggle to train over the winter and never feel ready for a HM or M in the spring.

Good luck with whichever you choose! I'm probably going to look for a 10 miler in the US or half marathon early enough in the fall that I'll be able to clock a proof of time.

 

[mankle30]

Training Update!

First off -- while I haven't been updating here, I have been running!

If you've been following me on Strava (send me a PM if you want to find me there), there has been a problem transfering the times run from Runkeeper. I'm using Runkeeper because Strava (on my phone) won't recognize my Heart Rate Monitor, so I'm back to Runkeeper. But when transfering the time over with tapiriik, it shortens the amount of time running. I've been posting a comment with the actual time so it should be visible, but any of my paces are going to be off on Strava.

Week of March 11:

Sunday - 4.51 miles - 58 min, 12:52 min/mile
Monday - 3 miles - 40 min - 13:20 min/mile (treadmill)
Wednesday - 3.5 miles (in Florida!) - 42:38, 12:11 min/mile - avg heart rate - 128 bpm - I'm starting to add a little speed work in to my runs. In this week, I ran mile 2 at 10:52 before cooling down for the last 1.5 miles
Friday - didn't run

Week of March 18:

Sunday - 5.01 miles (in Florida!) - 1:06:00 - 13:10 min/mile - avg heart rate - 130 bpm -- note, it started to get really warm and humid in Florida this week.
Monday - 2.51 miles (in Florida!) - 35:54 - 14:20 min/mile - avg heart rate - 122 bpm -- again, very hot and humid and was feeling really drained from the previous day's run.
Wednesday - 2.52 miles - 33:19 - 13:13 min/mile - avg heart rate - 121 bpm -- notice how, with about the same heart rate as on Monday, I was much faster? That's because of the cooler/cold weather back in Toronto
Friday - 1.2 miles - ??? - treadmill - really felt crappy and cut it short

Week of March 25:

Sunday - 6.22 miles - 1:17:45 - 12:30 min/mile - avg heart rate - 124 bpm
Monday - No run
Wednesday - 3.50 miles - 45:22 - 12:57 min/mile - avg heart rate - 120 bpm
Friday - 3.52 miles - 42:52 - 12:10 min/mile - ran the second mile in 10:17 before cooling down for the last 1.5 miles.

I'm finding it tough to get out and run on Mondays after the Sunday long run (see the missed run last week, I was also really busy with a project of mine so that was my other excuse). I'm moving all Monday runs to Tuesday from now on so that I have a full rest day after the long runs.

I'm also reconfiguring my training plan to shoot for a 10k on May 13. I'm going to break my recent record of 1:04:xx in this race. The last two years I've run within about 30 seconds of each other. My 10K PB is way out of reach (just under 50 minutes back in 2009 when I was much slimmer and younger) but I think that since I"m actually in full training mode now that the 1:04:00 is definitely a beatable goal. In the previous two years, I hadn't run 10k in training before the race and I hadn't accumulated nearly as many miles as I have since returning from India in January. This year, I ran over 10K in a training 6 weeks out from the race and therefore I think I'm going to be in much better condition to beat my previous time.

That said, my schedule is very up in the air right now. I've got that trip to Binghamton on the back burner (also a reason why I won't be running the half marathon) because of a work thing that may or may not happen that weekend.

 

[mankle30]

Will Spring ever arrive?

Week of April 1
Sunday: 7.01 miles - 1:26:31 - 12:21 min/mile - avg heart rate - 126 bpm
Tuesday: 3.31 miles - 43:08 - 13:02 min/mile - avg heart rate - 118 bpm
Wednesday: 3 miles (Treadmill) - 40:00 - 13:20 min/mile
Friday: 3 miles (Treadmill) - 39:30 - 13:10 min/mile

Don't we all love winter weather in April? It snowed on Friday and we had a crazy wind storm on Wednesday where gusts reached almost 60 mph and knocked down wires, tress and a giant bucket of KFC on a big sign in front of the store.

Now that it's April, I have less and less desire to "tough it out" and run outside when it's snowing or threatening to blow my large rear end away, hence the two treadmill runs.

Anyhoo. I deliberately cut back my running this week to 16.3 miles (it was supposed to be 17.6) because of the missed runs in previous weeks. Because I'm going to run a 10K rather than a half marathon, it'll allow me to continue to build up but without a larger jump in training from 13 miles in the week I missed a run to 17.6. Now I'm jumping from 13 to 16.3.

My training now peaks at 20.5 miles two weeks from now before I drop down to 18, then 18.5, then tapering at 16 before the 10K on May 13. I'll still get in two 8 mile runs before the 10 k, so I'm not too worried. I'll also reconfigure my training for Phase 2 that, right now, has me peaking at 33 miles before Dopey training begins.

Next week, I'll do 18 miles (also down from the original amount) with 6.5 on Sunday, 3.3 on Tuesday, 4.1 on Wednesday and 4.1 on Friday.

 

[mankle30]

The injury bug has reared its ugly head. I've got pain in my foot that feels like it's a muscle pull or strain along the top of my foot, but it's very tender to the touch. i thought it would go away after a few days and, after delaying Sunday's long run to Monday (and completing the run with some discomfort), it's feeling worse. I'm going to try some anti-inflammatories (aka Advil) to see if it truly is a soft tissue thing before heading to the doctor. I will also delay my Wednesday run to Thursday to give myself some time to rest it (although I'll try doing some eliptical at the gym).

 

[Princess KP]

Hope it isn't anything too serious. Hope it gets better soon!

 

[mankle30]

Hope it isn't anything too serious. Hope it gets better soon!

Thanks! It's actually already feeling better. I'm going to give it the weekend of just using the elliptical. I think what exacerbated the injury was that it was feeling better, and then I did a 6 1/2 mile run on it. I haven't run since Monday (the 6 1/2 mile run) and have done the elliptical a couple of times and things seem to be improving quite a lot.

 

[Princess KP]

Thanks! It's actually already feeling better. I'm going to give it the weekend of just using the elliptical. I think what exacerbated the injury was that it was feeling better, and then I did a 6 1/2 mile run on it. I haven't run since Monday (the 6 1/2 mile run) and have done the elliptical a couple of times and things seem to be improving quite a lot.

It was a good weekend to use the elliptical! The roads were horrible. Good thing I still had my snow tires on!

 

[mankle30]

It was a good weekend to use the elliptical! The roads were horrible. Good thing I still had my snow tires on!

As did I! I was driving my wife to her performances all day yesterday. The foot feels somewhat better but there is still lingering soreness when I walk so I'll keep hitting the elliptical.