Pandemic Running Thoughts (Comments Welcome)

[mankle30]

Not a major update but I just wanted to tell someone that today, I had the best feeling run that I've had, possibly since I've started my comeback from injury this winter. I was a little daunted by the 5 miles on my schedule (and have a very busy afternoon evening, so I had to do the run in the morning). It was cool and windy (T+D of 113 at finishing!) and once I got going, I felt strong and I felt like 5 miles wasn't the end of me. I felt like I could keep going and my pace didn't really dip at all (except in the uphill portions of the run).

I know that I've made gains in my conditioning because my heart rate is lower now than a few months ago for running the same pace, but this was the first run I've had where I've really felt like I"m going faster without any additional effort.

Maybe it was the fact that the heat wave has broken and it was a very comfortable temperature and humidity level, but I'm starting to feel more confident for the half marathon coming up in exactly one month today.

 

[Princess KP]

Awesome!!!

 

[mankle30]

4 Weeks to Oakville Half Marathon​

Another milestone on the road to the Disney Marathon -- I bought our tickets for the theme parks! The 25% off 4-day and up tickets deal for Canadian Residents came up this week and that was what I was waiting for before booking tickets. So that's pretty much all we needed to do except book fastpasses (which don't come online until November 10).

Now to the running. It was a strange week with hot weather at the beginning of the week, cool/coldish weather in the middle and another heat wave at the end.

Sunday, August 26: 7.09 miles - 1:31:47 - 12:57 min/mile - 13:04, 12:22, 12:37, 13:15, 13:02, 12:55, 13:25 mile splits. I was doing a 30 second walk every five minutes and averaged 128 bpm heart rate. Overall not bad but I wasn't stressing over a 7 mile long run.

Monday, August 27: 3 miles - I ran this on a treadmill in 41 minutes to get out of the heat. It was somewhat of a milepost because it was the first time I was actually able to do the scheduled Monday run as I change my schedule to align with Hansons Method once marathon training gets underway after the half marathon.

Tuesday, August 28: 4 miles - 48:05 - 12:01 min/mile - This was a 1 mile WU, 2 mile faster pace and 1 mile CD so I ran 13:11 for the first mile, 11:02 the second, 11:36 the third and 12:11 the fourth. I might not have been trying to cool down too hard. This one was another very hot and humid day but my average heart rate was still only 128 bpm

Thursday, August 30: 5.07 miles - 1:04:05 - 12:38 min/mile - This was a fantastic run that still felt moderately easy. My heart rate averaged 120 bpm for this one and the weather was delightfully cool. I know from my heart rates, that I've been becoming more efficient in my running, hitting faster paces at the same effort level. Sometimes it's my legs that can't keep up but on this day, I felt like I could have kept going running fairly even splits through most of it (12:53, 12:16, 12:42, 12:51 (mile 3 and 4 had significant uphill sections), 12:29).

Saturday, September 1: 4 miles - 54:30; 13:37 min/mile - I was really taking it easy, and cut short a projected 4.5 mile run to 4 miles mainly because I knew I would have my longest run in a long time coming up on Sunday. That said, even though it was fairly muggy, my heart rate average only 111 bpm and never even got close to 120. The last mile was pretty slow (14:26) and I knew that the heat was getting to me so I decided to call it.

Total: 23 miles

Coming up this week:
Sunday: 9 miles
Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: 5 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: 2 miles (maybe)
Saturday: 3.5 miles

If I do all of the runs, I hit a high of 27.5 miles and I follow that by dropping to 22.5 for the following week, then 28 miles with a lower intensity, taper week leading up the to the half marathon on September 30.

I'm hoping the weather cools a bit for the end of September. I'm hoping for a good POT for the marathon but if it's hot and humid, like there's a great chance of it being, there's no way I can really sustain a faster pace for 13 miles. It's up to the weather now.

 

[Princess KP]

I'm hoping the weather cools a bit for the end of September. I'm hoping for a good POT for the marathon but if it's hot and humid, like there's a great chance of it being, there's no way I can really sustain a faster pace for 13 miles. It's up to the weather now.

Im hoping for cooler weather on September 30th too!

 

[mankle30]

So here's a question for @DopeyBadger - I've read that it takes about 3 weeks for the body to get the physiological benefits from training. That said, I'm wondering about the best way to organize the finale few weeks of training for my half marathon.

Current Long Run configuration:
Sept. 2 - 9 miles (27.5 total for the week)
Sept. 9 - 7 miles (22.5 total for the week)
Sept. 16 - 10 miles (28 total for the week)
Sept. 23 - 6 miles (18 total for the week)
Sept. 30 - HM

Do you think I'd be better off doing it this way:
Sept 2 - 9 miles (27.5 total for the week)
Sept. 9 - 10 miles (25+ total for the week - I'd rejig the week to raise total miles so that the long run wasn't quite as large of a percentage)
Sept. 16 - 7 miles (22ish miles for the week)
Sept. 23 - 6 miles (18 total for the week)
Sept. 30 - HM

What do you think?

 

[DopeyBadger]

At the tail end of training it matters more about recovery and maintaining gains then making much new tangible gains. For a HM, I usually have a 2 week taper. 2 weeks out is about 120 min and 1 week out is 60-90 min. If you feel like you need more time to recover from the training, then take a 3 week taper.

As for adaptation to training, it depends on the type of training you're doing. But most physical gains are made within 10 days of a workout. And the cumulative effect of all the training is the total fitness gain, so no one run means that much more than any other.

Hope that helps.

 

[mankle30]

At the tail end of training it matters more about recovery and maintaining gains then making much new tangible gains. For a HM, I usually have a 2 week taper. 2 weeks out is about 120 min and 1 week out is 60-90 min. If you feel like you need more time to recover from the training, then take a 3 week taper.

As for adaptation to training, it depends on the type of training you're doing. But most physical gains are made within 10 days of a workout. And the cumulative effect of all the training is the total fitness gain, so no one run means that much more than any other.

Hope that helps.

That helps a lot. I think I'll leave the schedule the way it is because the 10 miles will come in just over 120 minutes for the run (although I've been walking 30 seconds every five minutes). And since I've been doing some decent length runs the day before my long runs, I think the fatigue during them have come from the cumulative fatigue of a 40-60 minute run the day before, which i'm keeping much more minimal for the taper in the days before the HM.

 

[mankle30]

3 Weeks to Oakville Half Marathon ​

A pretty good week in general for me, hitting all of my runs.

Sunday, September 2 - 9.02 miles - 2:01:01 - 13:25/mile - I walked 30 seconds every five minutes and found that I had enough gas to get through the run.
Monday, September 3 - 3 miles treadmill - 40:35 - 13:32/mile - It was so hot and muggy this day, i went inside to the treadmill
Tuesday, September 4 - 5 miles - 1:04:40 - 12:56/mile. My splits were really consistent for this run, running 12:56, 12:51, 12:52, 12:54 and 13:19 (CD) for this one.
Thursday, September 6 - 5.2 miles - 1:02:33 - 12:01/mile - This was kind of a tempo run with a 1 mile WU and 1 mile CD. Splits for miles 2,3.4 were 11:28, 11:39 and 11:14 while mile 5 was 12:41 as a cool down. Average heart rate was 124 bpm and I peaked at 137, so I'd say i was working in the "comfortably hard" range. I'll probably try to lock in a 11:30-11:45 pace for the Half Marathon
Friday, September 7 - 2 miles - 27:22 - 13:35/mile. This was a "new" run, adding a sixth day of running to my week. I followed the run up with some weights and about 20 minutes of swimming.
Saturday, September 8 - 3:53 miles - 45:39 - 12:55/mile. This run was quite comfortable as an "easy" run, averaging 117 bpm heart rate.

On Saturday I also umpired a couple of women's university softball games in the afternoon and had a sore foot that lingered through the evening and into Sunday morning.

With the foot soreness in the morning and then work in the afternoon on Sunday, plus a late Rosh Hashanah dinner, I'm probably not going to be able to do my long run (7 miles) and will probably have to push it to Monday. I'm not too worried as (at 1:37pm on Sunday afternoon), my foot is feeling a bit better so I may attempt a post-dinner run or I'll get it in Monday, pushing my other runs by a day, catching up on Thursday and taking Friday off.

Schedule for the upcoming week:

Sunday - 7 miles (or 0 miles)
Monday - 2 miles (or 7 miles)
Tuesday - 4 miles (or 2 miles)
Wednesday - off (or 4 miles)
Thursday - 4 miles
Friday 2 miles (or off)
Saturday 3.5 miles

 

[mankle30]

2 Weeks to Oakville Half Marathon​

Well, two weeks to go and last week's running was a little hit and miss.

I did push Sunday's 7-miler to Monday so I was following the parenthetical plan.

Monday, September 10 - 7.03 miles - 1:32:02 - 13:06/mile - This actually felt pretty good, running seven miles, a step down from the previous week. I walked 30 seconds every five minutes and had a 15:02 mile in mile three although I'm not sure why that was. Maybe there was a glitch in the app.

Tuesday, September 11 - 2.01 miles - 27:11 - 13:33/mile - this was a short recovery run.

Wednesday, September 12 - 4.01 miles - 48:20 - 12:04/mile - I ran the first mile as a warm up and then ran faster for the next few miles to give myself more of a tempo run. Mile 2 was 11:16 (with a downhill), mile 3 was 11:23 and mile 4 was 12:32.

Friday, September 13 - 4 miles - 50:39 - 12:39/mile - This was a fairly easy run, getting the heart rate to a 126 bpm average and running mile 2 fastest at 12:15, falling to 12:29 and 12:59 for the last two miles (easing up in the last mile). It was quite hot and humid with a 144 T+D.

I skipped my Saturday run, mainly because I was just feeling run down from umpiring a couple of women's university softball games on Friday evening. Deep squats to get down to their strike zones!

So I ran only 17 miles this week but it was ok most of the time, except in the hit.

Coming up this week:

Sunday, September 16 - 10 miles (longest run, 2 weeks before Oakville Half Marathon)
Monday, September 17 - 3 miles
Tuesday, September 18 - 5 miles
Wednesday, September 19 - off
Thursday, September 20 - 5 miles
Friday, September 21 - 2 miles
Saturday, September 22 - 3 miles

I'm getting ready for the longer runs. I'll write more about Sunday's 10-miler in the next update, but I'm definitely getting mentally prepared for ramping things up after the half marathon!​

 

[mankle30]

I'll have a training update tomorrow (still need to get my run in today to complete the week) but I wanted to just write a little "status report."

It's been a long road since my last race (a 10k in May of 2017), but I'm feeling great and ready to get the half-marathon going next Sunday. Yup, 8 days away from my next race. Since then, I've aborted two. I was injured in the fall of 2017 when I was supposed to run the Rock n' Roll Montreal Marathon (even though that marathon was cancelled due to heat) and then again, in the spring of 2018 when I was supposed to run a 10k (not sure if I registered, though) but, again, injuries kept me out of the race.

Since I've started back up with a slow-and-steady approach, wearing orthotics since last year, I've been able to stay (mostly) injury free and, missing just about a month in the spring (which caused me to abort the 10k with a foot injury on the upper side of the foot, totally unrelated to anything else I've been dealing with), I feel better while running than ever.

There are a couple of things that I've really felt have improved my running and both have come from reading that I was inspired to by @DopeyBadger. One improvement has come from a book called 80/20 Running by Matt Fitzgerald. By getting a heart rate monitor and keeping an eye on my heart rate, I've been able to see first-hand the improvement in running efficiency. At a similar heart rate, I'm running faster with less effort. Now, running a 12-minute mile feels comfortable and relaxed and I'm able to run that pace with the same heart rate that I could run a 13-minute mile months ago.

The other book that I feel has really helped is the Hansons Marathon Method by Luke Humphrey and the Hanson brothers (no, not the ones from Slapshot). While I haven't ramped up to using their methods entirely yet, I can feel a real difference using the "cumulative fatigue" approach that the Hansons proscribe in their training plans. As I build up to their marathon plan (which will begin after my half marathon), I've been adding days of the week of running, building to 6 days a week now (although I've had some days off here and there and will take an extra day off next week in my taper). While I may be totally exhausted during a long run, I now have the confidence to say that it's because I ran "x" number of miles the day before. When I've had the occasion to do a long run following a day off, I have felt fantastic (which I'll describe in my next training update). That has given me the confidence leading up to the half marathon that I'll be able to maintain a pace that I may get me a better starting corral for the WDW marathon.

I'm really looking forward to the marathon training cycle to start to implement their pace guidelines and different type of runs that I'll follow more closely one I get beyond the half marathon. The past few months have really been building to the half marathon and increasing the number of miles I run. This week I'll come in at 28 miles, and I'm not sure if I've ever run that many miles in a week before, even training for two previous marathons.

Finally, I've figured out how to get Strava to recognize my heart rate monitor, so, if you're following me on Strava, you'll actually see accurate times for my runs (the times were screwing up as I transfered them over from Runkeeper via Tapiriik).

Now that I'm into the mini-taper for the half marathon next weekend, I'm really starting to look beyond -- to WDW Marathon, and even further ahead -- and I'm excited to see what I can do with this better fitness level.

Thanks to @DopeyBadger and all of the other runners who post here. I feel like I've really been able to reclaim my running mojo and the sharing of knowledge and experiences has led to me finally getting out and running confidently despite the frustrations over the past two years.

 

[Princess KP]

Sounds like you are well prepared for next week!
I’ll probably be hanging out at the Lifetime Fitness tent before the race if you want to come by and say hi!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Way to go! Excited to hear how it goes next weekend!

 

[mankle30]

Sounds like you are well prepared for next week!
I’ll probably be hanging out at the Lifetime Fitness tent before the race if you want to come by and say hi!

Will do! It's a nice way to kill some time before the start with a meet!

Way to go! Excited to hear how it goes next weekend!

Thanks! I'll definitely have a race report following!

 

[mankle30]

1 Week to Oakville Half Marathon
​

Well, it's just one week to the Oakville Half Marathon and, as you can see from my post above, things are getting down to the nitty gritty, but in a good way. As you can see from my mile splits, I think I'm finally starting to find a more even pacing.

Sunday, September 16 - 10 miles - 2:08:15 - 12:49/mile - After a day off on Saturday, I felt really fresh in the 10-mile run. I ran some pretty good splits with a 12:37 in the second mile (with a significant downhill), 12:53 in the third, 13:09 for the fourth, 13:06 in the fifth, 12:51 in the sixth (with a downhill), 13:03 in the seventh and 12:44 in the eighth. Around 7 1/2 miles in, I decided to pick up the pace and see what I had left in the tank and I ran a 12:19 ninth mile and an 11:54 10th mile. And I still didn't feel dead. My heart-rate ultimately peaked at around 147 in that last mile but it was sitting in the low-120s for most of the run, meaning that I'm not sure how much more I could have pushed the sub-12 minute pace but it wasn't bad. This run gave me a lot of confidence for the half marathon, but if I'm going to get a good PoT for the WDW Marathon, I'll need to make the first few miles in the 12:30 pace, rather than the 13:00 pace. So we'll see how much I have left for the final 3 miles.

Monday, September 17 - 3 miles - 39:02 - 13:00/mile - Easy recovery run but heart rate was a little high (120 bpm average) for this run.

Tuesday, September 18 - 5 miles - 1:05:20 - 13:04/mile - Easy run with solid splits (12:49, 12:25 (downhill), 13:07, 13:49, 13:24). Didn't push myself too hard and forgot the heart rate monitor. The 13:49 was due to uphill segments.

Thursday, September 20 - 5.10 miles - 1:00:57 - 11:56/mile - Another excellent feeling run. I felt like I could run all day, thanks to the day off before, and an average heart rate that was similar to the Sunday run. Splits were 12:25, 11:45, 11:55, 11:58, 11:39. Pretty even splits there.

Friday, September 21 - 2 miles on the treadmill - 27:20 - 13:40/mile. It was hot, humid, raining for brief periods and really windy. Indoors today.

Saturday, September 22 - 3 miles - 37:32 - 12:29/mile - I thought I was taking it easy and my average heart rate of 109 was indicative of this, but, you can see how "fast" my average pace was here. I did have a big downhill to start but there was a lot of climbing for the rest of the run. 12:14, 12:39, 12:39 were the splits.

I probably ran the most miles in a week ever in training this week. And, with the exception of some mild plantar fasciitis rearing its head (although it's fading quicker), I'm feeling great.

Coming up:

Sunday, September 23 - 6 miles - might be tough - I have a 14-hour turnaround from Saturday's run and I'm going to try to do more of a tempo run as I near the race.
Monday, September 24 - 2 miles
Tuesday, September 25 - 4 miles
Wednesday, September 26 - off
Thursday, September 27 - 4 miles
Friday, September 28 - 2 miles
Saturday, September 29 - off
Sunday, September 30 - Oakville Half Marathon!

 

[mankle30]

1 Day to Oakville Half Marathon
​

Woowee! It's almost here! I'll summarize my training and then I'll list some concerns about the upcoming race.

Sunday, September 23 - 6 miles - 1:06 - 10:59/mile - This was my tempo run as my last hard workout before the race. My splits were: 11:11, 10:49, 11:08, 11:05, 10:52, 10:46. I think mile 2 and 5 were downhill mostly. Not bad. Felt pretty good at the finish (as can be seen by my fastest mile).
Monday, September 24 - 2 miles - 0:25 - 12:52/mile - an easy recovery run.
Tuesday, September 25 - 4 miles - 50 min - 12:38/mile - Another taper run. Easy effort - 116 average hr.
Thursday, September 27 - 4 miles - 52 min - 13:04/mile - Another easy taper run - 115 average hr. This was a great run because I had a few hours in between students and the location was near the lake so I could head into the local branch of my gym, change and run down to the lake and run for a while.
Friday, September 28 - 1.5 miles - 21 min - This was done on a treadmill but I've been having some GI issues and had to cut the run short. Decided not to resume since I was in taper mode after all.
Saturday, September 29 - Race package pickup!



Tada -- It's a smaller race with (according to the race director) about 700 runners projected to be at the start line for the half marathon tomorrow morning, which I've been told is a "flat" number -- not increasing or decreasing from previous years. Finishers from the past several years have averaged in the high 500s/low 600s.

My Bib# is 14! Holy crap! I've never had such a low bib number! I had to quote my bib number when picking up my race package so I could see that people were listed alphabetically for the most part, with some exceptions, so the logic that I see is that they hit a certain point when they said "ok, we're going to issue bib numbers now" and did so in alphabetical order. Everyone who registered after that point was likely given a later number. They also listed my gender as female but I doubt I'll be competing for any category awards so even if they don't change it (i've asked them to), it shouldn't be a big deal.

My confidence has dropped however, due to a couple of issues that verge on TMI (too much information). I'll put the really icky stuff behind a spoiler bar so you can choose to ignore it if you'd like.

First, I've had some GI issues over the past few days and, although things are firming up over the past 12 hours or so, I'm hoping that I won't be struck by an immediate urge to use the porta-potty somewhere along the route.

Secondly, I seem to have developed something that resembles a

Spoiler: DO NOT READ

hemorrhoid

. Running hasn't been too bad, but it's made things a little sensitive down there and I'm not sure how it will react to 2 1/2 hours of running.

So wish me luck! Onwards to a better PoT and a better corral!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Good Luck!

 

[Princess KP]

Good luck tomorrow!! Looks like it’s going to be cool but at least no rain.

 

[mankle30]

Sounds like you are well prepared for next week!
I’ll probably be hanging out at the Lifetime Fitness tent before the race if you want to come by and say hi!

Lifetime fitness? Don't see that tent. I'm wearing a blue Mickey long sleeve shirt for from the 2017 WDW marathon in case you see me. Representing.

 

[Princess KP]

Lifetime fitness? Don't see that tent. I'm wearing a blue Mickey long sleeve shirt for from the 2017 WDW marathon in case you see me. Representing.

Apparently they had trouble getting the tent set up.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t there because the lines for the porta-potties were ridiculous. I was trying to see if I could find you during the race but no luck. Hope you had a good race!

And I spoke too soon about the no rain...oops!

 

[mankle30]

Apparently they had trouble getting the tent set up.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t there because the lines for the porta-potties were ridiculous. I was trying to see if I could find you during the race but no luck. Hope you had a good race!

And I spoke too soon about the no rain...oops!

Rain didn't bother me. It was pretty refreshing though!

Finished in 2:29:38.1. Will post a race recap tomorrow.