Pandemic Running Thoughts (Comments Welcome)

[DopeyBadger]

It's so true. And that's why I like to refer to it as the "victory lap" of training. For plenty of reasons, just sometimes that race day isn't your day.

 

[mankle30]

10 Weeks to WDW Marathon​

Been a while since I've updated and I've already done the first three runs of the week this week, but here are last week's runs.

October 21 - 8.3 miles - 11:37/mile - I was going for a 12 minute mile for this run but that didn't happen. I wasn't trying to run fast and the run was fairly easy.
October 22 - 4 miles - 12:32/mile - Again, I was trying for slower but seemed to just lock into this pace, although the fourth mile was the slowest at 13:09 (with some uphill.
October 23 - Speed! 6.5 miles total - 1m WU, 8x600m 400m (ish) recovery, 1m CD - these are tough runs. My interval goal time was 3:40 and here are the intervals: 3:52, 3:46, 3:40, 3:38, 3:38, 3:40, 3:45, 3:37. Not bad.
October 24 - off!
October 25 - 5 miles tempo with 1m WU, 1 m CD - Tempo is around 11:00 mile and I hit these times for the intervals: 10:31, 11:11, 11:00,10:44, 10:26
October 26 - 4 miles - 13:03/mile - As you can see, I slowed down my run on Friday to really try to recover from the tempo run.
October 27 - 6 miles - 12:43/mile - Another slower recovery run on Saturday.

The biggest issue has been trying to lock into my paces. I also think that the increased load is starting to take a toll. This week, I've shortened two runs already due to critical fatigue but hopefully that's been enough to get me back on track. Last week I ran 33.8 miles which is a huge jump for me. I may end up bringing overall mileage down a little bit on some of the runs just to make sure I can get them in rather than bail and feel exhausted all the time. I really don't want to get into overtraining so I'm going to be careful these next couple of weeks. Since I'm off on Wednesday, I'll finish the month with 103+ miles and that's my highest except for September and the first week and half of September I was recovering from a half marathon. I'm definitely going to monitor things like my sleeping and how I'm feeling for the next few weeks.

This week:

Sunday: 10 miles long run
Monday: 4 miles
Tuesday: Speed - 6X800m
Wed: Off
Thursday: 5 miles tempo (+1m WU/1m CD)
Friday: 5 miles
Saturday: 6 miles

 

[mankle30]

Ok, I'm confused about how many weeks we've got until the marathon.
But it's coming.
​

It's been a rough last week and a half, running wise and health wise. I've had a very busy schedule including a major concert last Friday (Nov. 2) and cold that settled in on Saturday (Nov 3) and has really persisted until yesterday (Nov 7). I think I'm back on the road to training, making a couple of concessions to how I was feeling, so here's my update from the last week and a half.

Sunday October 28: 8 miles long run 12:39/mile - I flat out ran out of gas on this one and only could manage 8 miles out of the 10 that it was supposed to be. I think it was the cumulative fatigue talking. I was shooting for a 12:15 pace on the run and ran 12:52, 11:08, 12:29, 12:49, 12:42, 12:33, 13:12 and 13:20 intervals, really sowing down for those last two.

Monday october 29: 1.5 miles treadmill - I cut my run 2.5 miles short of the regular run. I was definitely showing fatigue.

Tuesday, October 30: Speed. 1m WU, 6x800m, 400 recovery, 1m CD - This run was tough but I felt pretty good abut the results. My goal time for the 800m interval was 4:55 I think and I hit the following intervals: 4:54, 4:47, 5:01, 4:51, 4:52, 4:58. I've been finding in some of my tempo runs and in my long runs I've been having trouble finding my pace but I'm getting better at hitting them in the speed workouts.

Wednesday, October 31: Off

Thursday, November 1: Tempo - 1m WU, 5m Tempo, 1m CD - This run actually felt pretty good and I was hitting my goal of an 11:00 min/mile well, even until the last mile (although I was running downhill most of it). Intervals: 11:00, 11:06, 10:58, 10:57, 10:32.

Friday, November 2: Easy 5 miles and I thought GPS was short, so I added .34 miles. Average pace was 12:31/mile, but if the GPS was off, then that number is lower than it actually should have been. The pace was a little all over the place but I was definitely trying to keep it easy. My heart rate was around 110 for most of the run, so it was pretty easy.

Saturday, November 3: 3 miles treadmill. 13:40 min/mile - The weather was really awful with high winds and I was starting to feel off due to my cold. I cut my 6 mile easy run in half.

Sunday, November 4: I didn't do my long run. Didn't feel up to it.

Monday, November 5: Long run 10 miles. Actually felt decent despite my cold and the cold outside. Rather than trying to average around 12:15 for long runs that my pace would normally be, I averaged 12:42/mile.

Tuesday, November 6: I really wasn't feeling it. The cold was hanging around and although I was just going to do an easy 5 miler, it wasn't happening. I was gearing up for a speed workout on Wednesday.

Wednesday, November 7: Off. I was going to push my speed workout to Wednesday, but getting just two hours of sleep (mostly from having a grant application due Thursday) really ran me down and didn't want to do a high-quality workout without any rest. Sue me.

Thursday, November 8: 8 miles - 1m WU, 6 miles Tempo, 1m CD. So the Hansons Marathon Method has you jumping from 5 miles of tempo (plus WU/CD) to 8 miles in a week's span. That wasn't happening for me, particularly coming off this cold, although I really felt better for the first time. That said, I did want to do more than the 5 miles at marathon pace (around 11:15/mile), so I figured I would get out, see how I was feeling at around 6 miles of tempo and then see. So, I did 6 miles at M pace and called it a day. Not bad. I'll go for the 8 miles tempo next week. It also sets me up well to jump back into the scheduled program without having to shuffle any more workouts around. Mile intervals: 10:41 (downhill), 11:22, 10:54, 10:59, 10:25 (downhill), 10:51.

I'm hoping that this was my "fall cold" and I'll be able to keep to the schedule for the remainder of the training cycle. I'm really starting to feel the weight of the training volume, but I think that I'm really going to make getting all of the mileage in a priority.

It's tough, but a marathon isn't supposed to be easy, is it? This week, I definitely had moments of doubt and wonder of whether I even wanted to do this to myself, but I think today's run has given me some more resolve, at least until i have to face a mix of rain and snow in my run tomorrow morning. Yay, Canada.

 

[mankle30]

Less Than 8 Weeks to WDW Marathon
It's Been a Grind
​

The last week and a half have been tough. I'll fully admit it. I'm getting out and doing my runs (mostly) but I've been finding that the legs just aren't there on some days. I admit that this Hansons Marathon Method is very tough and the mileage is way more than anything I've ever done. I also wonder many things about whether I'm eating enough (still trying to lose weight but I may have to focus more on eating enough to be strong for the workouts), whether I'm getting enough quality sleep (probably not), and whether the workload is just too much for me to handle right now physically.

Let's continue where we left off:

Friday, November 9: 5.16 miles, 12:58/mile - This was a recovery run that was fine.

Saturday, November 10: 4 miles, 12:36/mile - Ran a little faster but cut it short. It was supposed to be a longer run.

Sunday, November 11: Was supposed to do 15 miles and wanted to do at least 12 but my legs just died around 8 miles and I stuck it out another mile to get 9 in with a 12:20/mile pace.

Monday, November 12: I didn't feel bad, doing 5.3 miles at 12:47/mile.

Tuesday, November 13: My last speed workout on the track. I ran 1m WU with 4x1200m intervals and 475m recovery and a 1-mile cooldown. Interval times -- going for 7:23 -- 7:30, 7:19, 7:17, 7:15. Not bad.

Wednesday, November 14: Off

Thursday, November 15: Supposed to be an 8-mile Tempo run with 1 mile warmup and cooldown but I ended up doing a 7 mile tempo run with 1 mile warmup and 0.5 mile cooldown. It took me some time to find my pace. I'm shooting for about 11:10-11:20 pace but started at 10:17 with the second mile at 10:33, then 11:08, 11:05, 11:00, 11:07 and 11:11. Now, I'm not sure that my Strava GPS on my phone is always accurate, so there may be that.

Friday, November 16: Thursday was my wife's birthday, so we went down to Buffalo, NY to meet her parents there (who wanted to celebrate with her). Unfortunately, we didn't end up getting there until around 12:30am (after her birthday was technically over) because of a big snowstorm that rocked the eastern part of the US. So I didn't get much sleep. Combined with the drive back to Toronto on Friday, I didn't do my run.

Saturday, November 17: I cut this run short due to GI issues. It was supposed to be 8 miles, but I ended up doing 6.3 at 12:25/mile.

Sunday, November 18: Dead legs part 1. This was supposed to be a 10-mile long run but I wanted to do 12. But the legs were absolutely dead. I knew it from the beginning of the run and I just didn't have anything left after 6 miles. Did 6.1 miles at 12:23/mile.

Monday, November 19: Dead legs part 2. Was supposed to run 5 miles easy but did 3. It says 12:45/mile but it felt slower. Still, I really am getting worried about the quality of my runs and my complete failure to get anything in beyond 9 miles in my long runs.

Tuesday, November 20: Strength workout. I went back to the track and ran a 1-mile warmup and was supposed to do 6 intervals of 1 mile at about 10-seconds faster than marathon pace with a 400m recovery in between. I ended up doing 5 intervals with about a 470m recovery (due to length of the indoor track and lack of time to finsih the workout). I was going for an 11:15-11:20 interval - 11:36, 11:02, 10:59, 11:07, 11:01.

I definitely felt better about my legs after the strength workout. I'll see how the tempo goes on Thursday. It's another 8 miles of tempo with 1 mile WU and 1 mile CD.

I'm also super sick of the cold. It's supposed to be -6 C on Thursday, the coldest it's been so far and it's not making me a happy camper (I was very pleased to be running on the indoor track today). When do I get to go to Florida?

 

[mankle30]

I'll also add a note that I"ve been running a few times with tights under my pants in the cold, including for my "long" run on Sunday. I generally feel like it takes way more effort to swing my legs when wearing the tights which could be contributing to my fatigue in the long runs and when I'm wearing the tights. I'm going to not wear them Thursday (ugh. legs are going to be cold) and hopefully things might be a little better following a rest day.

 

[Princess KP]

Its been too cold for me so I’ve been running on the treadmill but I think it’s supposed to warm up to 6C this weekend!

 

[mankle30]

Its been too cold for me so I’ve been running on the treadmill but I think it’s supposed to warm up to 6C this weekend!

That's very heartening! But I just can't bring myself to run for more than 40-45 minutes on a treadmill and the runs lately have been starting at an hour . . . so i must brave the elements. It's supposed to make you tough or something like that.

 

[Princess KP]

That's very heartening! But I just can't bring myself to run for more than 40-45 minutes on a treadmill and the runs lately have been starting at an hour . . . so i must brave the elements. It's supposed to make you tough or something like that.

Hahaha...then I am a wimp. I'll probably be inside for the next little while but I don't mind it.
But seriously, you're doing great!
Is your wife ready for her 5K?

 

[mankle30]

Hahaha...then I am a wimp. I'll probably be inside for the next little while but I don't mind it.
But seriously, you're doing great!
Is your wife ready for her 5K?

She's working on it! Knowing that we can walk in parts takes the pressure off. She's been having some knee issues since March, so she's also trying to not go too hard on it.

 

[Princess KP]

Oh no! Hope it's nothing too serious. I'm sure she'll still have fun. It's Disney!

 

[mankle30]

6 1/2 Weeks to WDW Marathon!
Closer and Closer we Creep
​

In the week since my last update, I think I've come out the other side of an existential crisis (for running) of sorts. After talking things over with the always-gracious @DopeyBadger, it would seem that just using the Hansons Marathon Method distances as they are in the book are too much for me, particularly considering my slow pace. That said, I'm going to continue cutting distance and focusing on staying within recommended workout times for each workout rather than focusing on distances.

I was definitely not feeling great following my last update as more cold weather has returned to Toronto. Yay. As a result, I did all the runs from Thursday to Tuesday, but I cut some short, moved some inside and rearranged others in order to manage both the fatigue, and to focus on getting through the harder workouts.

Wednesday, November 21: Rest day

Thursday, November 22: Supposed to be a tempo run but the weather was VERY cold. I moved the tempo run to Friday and did 3.3 miles on the treadmill, cutting the workout short (was going to do 5 miles) because of GI issues.

Friday, November 23: This run really convinced me that I need to get a GPS watch as some of the times reported for mile splits in my tempo run were incredibly fast and definitely not what I was running. I'm pretty sure that GI issues cut this run short at 6.25 miles overall (although that number is probably not accurate), but it might have been dead legs. Must take better notes. Anyways, I did do about 5 miles in the 11 min/mile range.

Saturday, November 24: 4 miles on the treadmill at 13:17/mile. This should have been longer according to the Hansons book, but I've had trouble with my long runs so I wanted to be somewhat fresh for it.

Sunday, November 25: The moment of truth. Could I do the desired 13 miles? Hansons would have me doing 16 miles but my slowness and the fact that I've not done anything longer than 10 miles up to this point in training, except for the half marathon a couple of months ago, had me cap it at 13. Longest is probably going to be about 14-15. I did my 13 miles but I'm thinking it might have been as low as 12.5 in real life because Strava had me running two miles below 10 min/mile which, at my effort level, is pretty much impossible. Yup, the Garmin is on it's way.

Monday, November 26: Was supposed to be 5 or 6 miles but I cut it at 3 miles on the treadmill. The legs were still hurting from the long run.

Tuesday, November 27: I went to the indoor track and ran the strength workout but i got it wrong but skipping a workout. Instead of doing 4x1.5m intervals, I was going to do the 3x2 mile intervals but cutting it short to do five miles of faster running, ending up with 2 intervals of 2 miles and the last one at 1 mile. I was shooting for 11:15/mile for this but, after running an 11:28 in the first mile, was able to hold my per-mile interval to about 11:05-11:10 for the rest of the workout. With a 1-mile warmup and 1-mile cooldown, plus 2 recovery intervals of just over 400m (more like 450), my total was more like 7.5 miles for the workout rather than the 6.13 that my phone GPS says. Also, the "mile" on the outside lane of the indoor track (where slowpokes like me hang out) is really about 1627.5 metres, making it a bit of a long mile.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

She's working on it! Knowing that we can walk in parts takes the pressure off. She's been having some knee issues since March, so she's also trying to not go too hard on it.

I had substantial knee pain in January and February of this year. So bad that I feared it would destroy my rather modest goals of finishing all 3 Dark Side races. I actually took 2-3 weeks off running altogether and when I did return, I kept training at a 16 minute pace for a week or so and never again even tried to work up to my pace before the knee pain hit. I eventually made it up to 15 minutes and decided that was good enough since I knew I could finish and wanted to finish more than I wanted to run fast (and possibly ruin the goal of finishing). I hope your wife meets her goals. Just wanted to say that it is possible to finish. I had some reminders of the knee pain when I went too fast during the half that weekend, but I slowed down and everything was fine.

In the week since my last update, I think I've come out the other side of an existential crisis (for running) of sorts.

I feel like a lot of us have faced struggles over the past couple of weeks in one form or another. I know I certainly have. I hope it doesn't sound overly simplistic, but I've come to believe that perhaps the most important reason to train is not to build up the fitness and endurance necessary to finish, but rather to learn how to overcome mental challenges when they come. Because eventually they will.

 

[mankle30]

I had substantial knee pain in January and February of this year. So bad that I feared it would destroy my rather modest goals of finishing all 3 Dark Side races. I actually took 2-3 weeks off running altogether and when I did return, I kept training at a 16 minute pace for a week or so and never again even tried to work up to my pace before the knee pain hit. I eventually made it up to 15 minutes and decided that was good enough since I knew I could finish and wanted to finish more than I wanted to run fast (and possibly ruin the goal of finishing). I hope your wife meets her goals. Just wanted to say that it is possible to finish. I had some reminders of the knee pain when I went too fast during the half that weekend, but I slowed down and everything was fine.

I feel like a lot of us have faced struggles over the past couple of weeks in one form or another. I know I certainly have. I hope it doesn't sound overly simplistic, but I've come to believe that perhaps the most important reason to train is not to build up the fitness and endurance necessary to finish, but rather to learn how to overcome mental challenges when they come. Because eventually they will.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

You're welcome. I always want people to know that it is possible to finish races even after setbacks in training. They may have to go slower than they had hoped, but they do not need to give up their hopes of finishing.

 

[mankle30]

So, my Garmin Vivoactive 3 arrived today. (They sent it via FEDEX to avoid the remnants of the rotating postal strikes.) So complicated! Now I have to figure out how to link my Strava account with the Garmin device/account. But I'll give it a try out this afternoon!

 

[mankle30]

I've got an update coming but, in the "oh crap" department, I think I'm a little injured. I started having pain on the inside of my lower shin during my tempo run today and, it's lingered since walking. I'm hoping things are better tomorrow but I'm ready to do some bike work, some elliptical or swimming tomorrow (recovery day) to rest it. I'm hoping it's not structural but some soft tissue inflammation or injury. Fingers crossed folks.

 

[mankle30]

So this morning has been a bit of a s**t show. Brother-in-law (who is also landlord) told me last night that our car is leaking oil and he didn't want it on the driveway leaking oil because it will damage the driveway. Parked on the street last night and got a parking ticket. Now I'm waiting at a coffee shop near the mechanic to find out what's causing the leak and how much it'll cost to fix.

Plus, the pain in my leg is not better at all and I called the doctor and made an appointment for Monday.

Today is not a good day.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Hoping for good news on medical front. Parking tickets can be very frustrating.

 

[Princess KP]

So this morning has been a bit of a s**t show. Brother-in-law (who is also landlord) told me last night that our car is leaking oil and he didn't want it on the driveway leaking oil because it will damage the driveway. Parked on the street last night and got a parking ticket. Now I'm waiting at a coffee shop near the mechanic to find out what's causing the leak and how much it'll cost to fix.

Plus, the pain in my leg is not better at all and I called the doctor and made an appointment for Monday.

Today is not a good day.

Sorry you're having a crappy day...Give the parking ticket to your BIL??

 

[mankle30]

Hoping for good news on medical front. Parking tickets can be very frustrating.

YES!

Sorry you're having a crappy day...Give the parking ticket to your BIL??

Gonna do that.

Fortunately, the car wasn't leaking oil. It was leaking coolant and the repair bill for fixing the part (and replacing a headlight that had burnt out) was close to $500. And that's before I've changed the tires over to the winter tires. Yay! Looks like we'll be dining on peanut butter sandwiches when we're at Disney!