Running Renaissance: One Skip Ahead of my Doom

[GollyGadget]

May 1-May 14 Recap (235 Days until WDW Marathon)
I’ve fallen a bit behind on my training journal. I have been travelling and training for work and also just wasn’t doing a whole lot of running. Unfortunately, I got caught with a nasty cold and my 12 mile run was cut short (by about 8 miles) and I didn’t have the energy to get any of my other runs in that week either.

I was finally feeling a bit better by Friday so decided to go ahead with the 5k race on Saturday. I still wasn’t 100% and had no idea how I would fare. Since it was only a 5k, I decided to just go out as if I wasn’t sick and see what happened. Worst case, I would only be 1.5 miles from the start/finish. Well, at about the halfway point, my body was sucked of all energy. I kept going and managed my fastest 5k of the year (23:58) but even my arms and back were tired at the finish. This had me incredibly nervous for my half marathon the next weekend. How would I be able to complete 13.1 miles when I was barely able to keep it together for 3.1?

Apparently, I wasn’t quite as over my sickness as I thought, as round 2 of the cold hit hard on Sunday. I lost my voice for 4 days and was constantly coughing and once again didn’t have any energy left for running. By Friday I was feeling quite a bit better but with family visiting and graduation I just didn’t have the time to sneak even a quick run. Finally, on Saturday I was able to get out for a quick 3 miles to shake out any rust.

Initially when I signed up for this half, I was planning to use it to improve my proof of time for the WDW Marathon. I even did some google research and based on past corral placements, determined I needed to PR by about 3.5 minutes to move up a corral. This seemed quite reasonable and was my goal for the last few months. Unfortunately, the universe was working against me on this. Due to the ill –timed cold, my longest run was only 10.5 miles during this training cycle. I knew I could complete the half marathon but I was really worried about how my body would hold up without as much training as I would have liked. The under training coupled with predicted warm temperatures filled me with a lot of doubt about achieving a better POT.

Come race morning, I knew I was in for a doozy. The temperature was about 10 degrees warmer than normal and 15 degrees warmer than the previous weekend. In case I haven’t mentioned it before, my body is not meant for warm weather. Especially when it hasn’t had any time to adapt to running in the warmer temperatures (which now makes me a little nervous for how it will handle running in Orlando in January…). Despite this, I decided to still go out as if I would break 1:50 and see how it went.

I felt good for the first half, but by the second half the warmth was taking its toll on me. Starting around mile 7, I elected to stop and walk through the water stations and my goal changed to “just finish.” I ended up feeling great for about ¼ mile after each water stop, but that feeling quickly went away. I was really disappointed to not find any shade on the second half of the course as I really could have used a break from the sun. With 5k to go, I tried to tell my body it was time to push, but my legs felt like lead and would just not move any faster. I managed to finish in 1:55:27. Considering the conditions, I was very pleased and it’s also my second fastest finishing time. A few years ago, I never would have been able to run under 2 hours given these circumstances so it was very rewarding to see that my hard work is paying off even if it didn’t mean a new PR that day. The warm weather did have one advantage, it was a great afternoon for some active and not-so-active recovery in the pool J.

Even though the universe wasn’t on my side, I apparently deserved a second chance. While picking up my bib and looking over the fliers for nearby upcoming races, I discovered a 10 mi run in early September. So now my plans have shifted. I’m still not sure what training plan I’ll follow, but I hope to figure something out by the end of this week to get me ready for September 2nd and a second shot at improving my POT. I’ll still run the 7 mi race in July but it will be part of my training for September instead of training specifically for it.


Total miles: 22.73
Total time: 3:21:09

This week’s schedule:
Rest and recovery. I plan to pick up a few easy runs but will just see how the week goes.

 

[GollyGadget]

That's interesting. Does the app know you have a HM race coming up? Seems odd to me to schedule a long run 8 days out as it starts to fall in the window of cost of recovery/benefits of adaptations. What was the duration of the long run it tried to schedule?



Even if you did some maintenance running while in Europe, you're unlikely to lose too much fitness (not running at all would be ~6% loss, but regained in two weeks time). Any running at all would diminish the losses. Now as for the time afterwards, 6 weeks is a really small timeframe to realize any significant gains in fitness. Most mini-cycles last around 8 weeks because of how the body adapts to training. So a 6 week timeframe means you're likely to make a very marginal gain during that time. If you wanted to do some 10k pacing, I'd suggest something like 3 total miles split in intervals with rest breaks. Rest breaks should be 45 secs in duration for every 4 min of 10k pace (so if you run a 8:00 min/mile 10k, then 800m would be 4 min of running then 45 sec rest, then 800m at 10k, then 45 sec rest, continued). You want to change only one variable in three week blocks:

Intensity - (not intensity because you'd want to stick with 10k pace)
Duration - which can be done changing the distance
Rest - alter the rest periods to elicit different benefits (be mindful that less rest isn't always more beneficial)
Frequency - increase the number of intervals so that the total distance run at 10k pace increase. However, this should be capped at 6-8% of total weekly mileage or 5 miles (whichever occurs first).

Be mindful of the fade when doing these types of workouts. If you see a fade, then you pushed too hard in that particular workout and it needs to be reassessed.

If you need help setting something up more specific than this let me know, and I can try to help. Just remember that 6 weeks is a small timeframe and thus you're more likely to be maintaining (making minimal gains) during this training cycle for the upcoming 7 miler.

Thanks for the info and the offer! I've decided to switch gears and train for a 10 miler in September. Does the training plan offer still stand?

I'll still be running the 7 mi race but as long as I maintain fitness should have no trouble breaking my goal of 1 hr. Looking at my vacation plans, there are 5 days when running won't be an option but that still gives me 9 days where I can which is only one less than the 5 days/wk I'm accustomed to.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I would be more than happy to help come up with a training plan. When I get a chance I'll send you a PM with a list of questions to get started on.

 

[GollyGadget]

May 15-May 21 Recap (230 Days until WDW Marathon)
My plans for rest and recovery went swimmingly! Maybe a little too well…I had planned to get out for a few easy runs but quickly found out that unless I specifically scheduled the run something else would come up. Much to Bucky’s disapproval, this meant I only actually got out once.

There was a race about two blocks from my house on Saturday which I had previously debated running. They offered a 5k, 10k, and Half and I was leaning towards the 5 or 10k. Unfortunately, mother nature was not on their side and there was a strong chance of storms so I opted out. While we didn’t get any storms it did rain ALL morning and was really quite miserable out. I actually kind of enjoy the rain once it warms up but when it’s only 50 out, no thank you. Anyway, the whole point of mentioning this is that as we were leaving the neighborhood 3 hours after the race had started the last finisher was just passing the 13 mi marker. The amount of determination it takes to slog out 3 hrs of cold rainy running is unbelievable and I was so thrilled to see this person completing the race.

As a total side note, last year the weather wasn’t really ideal for this race either. It was at least 10 degrees above normal and sunny. I mentioned last week how much I tend to just wilt in the heat. The funny thing is that the race I ran the weekend before actually had rain the entire race last year. Moral of the story, I’m going to stick with April racing instead of May. Someone please remind me of this when I start picking races for 2018.

As I mentioned last week, my main focus was on finding a training plan for a 10 mi race in September. I didn’t want to follow a traditional half marathon plan because I wanted to focus on more speed and 10 mi plans are difficult to find.

Fortunately, @DopeyBadger agreed to step in and put something together. I’m very excited to see how this turns out but also a little bit nervous. The training plan is unlike anything I’ve ever done before. I’ve never focused on hitting specific paces during a run and definitely never followed the 80/20 rule. Instead, I’ve run based on the effort I wanted to put in that day. I’m sure this means I was running a lot of my easy/recovery runs too fast. I have done some speedwork in the past, but nothing as precise as what’s been presented. It’s also got a bit more mileage that I’m used to but should be a good stepping-stone on my way to Hanson’s Marathon Method later this fall. Basically, it’s a lot of new things all at once. It might take me a while to nail the pacing, but I’m eager to see how this training cycle progresses.

Total miles: 2.8
Total time: 0:27:49


This week’s schedule:
Monday – 2 mi WU + 5 miles @ M Tempo
Tuesday – 6 miles @ EA
Wednesday – 8 miles @ Long Run
Thursday – REST
Friday – 6 miles @ EA
Saturday – 6 miles @ EA
Sunday - REST

 

[GollyGadget]

May 22-June 11 Recap (207 Days until WDW Marathon)
Three weeks in one! I promise this will not be the norm. I have been on vacation since May 27 with limited to no internet access, hence no updates. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m starting a new plan and the first three weeks were sort of an appetizer before it really gets to the main course. This was done because I’d be on vacation, but it also worked really well in getting my body back into training mode.

Week 1 (May 22-28)
Monday – 2 mi WU + 5 miles @ M Tempo
As I mentioned before, I’m new to the whole running a prescribed pace thing and I knew that it may take me a while to figure it out. I wasn’t sure what sort of effort was required for each pace. I went into the run deciding to run my warm up as slow as possible. As it turns out, I really have no problems running slow. I know a lot of people have mentioned that they find it difficult to maintain form when running slow but I somehow managed to run 40 seconds/mi slower than the described pace. I didn’t want to try to speed up at all during the warm up since I was a little worried about the 5 miles at tempo so I just kept slogging along. Speaking of warm ups, this is also something totally new to me. I always assumed warm ups were for your leg muscles so you didn’t pull something and since I wasn’t particularly fast, I’d just use the first bit of a race to warm up. I would jog for 200m or so before any speed work but still not much of a warm up. I did more jumping around and dynamic stretches than anything. Anyway, along comes @DopeyBadger and he tells me that I need to warm up so that my body can use oxygen to produce energy more efficiently. Who knew? Not this girl. So now I’m trying out this whole warming up thing and I don’t hate it.

After the warm up was 5 miles at tempo. I was looking forward to running down to river and back but nature had other ideas. I mentioned before that I have an irrational fear of worms. My biggest rational fear? Birds. No joke. We have these evil birds that swoop down and peck at your head and they are relentless. Supposedly, they won’t attack if you’re looking at them and this works to some degree. However, on top of looking like a crazy person spinning down the road it’s pretty difficult to maintain any sort of run. Once I exited my subdivision it became obvious that running on the rural road was not going to happen so I had to turn back around. The unfortunate thing about this is that it’s not very big and it’s very hilly. Oh, and there were also sustained winds of 20 mph. If I were to run down every dead end and loop in my subdivision, it’d be about 5 miles so that’s exactly what I had to do.
Goal Pace – 8:50
Mile 1 – 9:25…too slow.
Mile 2 – 9:31..how did I get slower?
Mile 3 – 9:20...that’s the right direction
Mile 4 – 9:12...getting better
Mile 5 – 9:00 …not quite.
I’m not sure how the hills and wind affected it but I was a little disheartened afterwards that I failed to hit the 8:50 pace. My other thoughts were that it could have been a lack of race adrenaline or spectators since I usually don’t run sub 9 in training on runs longer than 3 miles.

Tuesday – 6 miles @ EA
Goal Pace – 10:41
I woke up Tuesday feeling a bit sore from the run before but it was the kind of sore that makes you feel strong and alive. It was the type of soreness that reminds me my muscles can do great things. I wouldn’t even really call it sore, more of a “hey, did you forget you had these muscles?”

After Mondays failure to hit goal pace I decided to find a flatter route without mean birds. This was only partially effective as the river trail I went on was full of geese that would hiss as I went by. Not fun. Pacing was also a problem. I went out faster than intended on the first mile, nailed the second mile, and then never saw another mile below 11.

Wednesday – 8 miles @ Long Run
My thoughts going into this run: “Oh good, a new pace to figure out and I haven’t even figured out “easy” yet.“ I headed to a different part of the trail that would be free of geese and mean birds. For some reason, I also decided to run across a bridge to switch things up. I hate this bridge and I’m really not sure why I decided to run across it other than I don’t like running the same routes. There were of course still birds around so I looked slightly crazy spinning around to prevent attacks but I managed to finish unscathed.

Once again I started out too fast managed to slow down a bit too much and didn’t manage a single mile in the +/- 10 seconds. This pacing thing is harder than I thought it would be.

Thursday – REST
Woooo rest. I’m really good at resting and my body was definitely appreciative.

Friday – 6 miles @ EA
Why do today what you can do tomorrow? Plus, I needed to pack so I decided to push this run out one day. After Sunday, I had 4 days of rest/vacation so I figured it wouldn’t really hurt anything to delay it a bit. In the end, I don’t think it mattered too much but this is exactly why I prefer running 5 days/week. Anything less, and I’m likely to push it off, then push it off again, and eventually just skip the workout altogether.

Saturday – 6 miles @ EA
It was wicked foggy out this morning. I could barely see the houses across the street but the temperature was good and the fog worked great at keeping me cool. I actually came home soaking wet because the fog was so thick. I still didn’t nail the paces but I was a lot closer than I had been and 2/6 were in the window.

Sunday – REST
No rest for me. Had to get that other 6 miles in. This morning the weather was completely different. It was incredibly humid out even at 5am and I nearly got lost running in an unfamiliar neighborhood. I only had one mile at the right pace but I also knowingly sped up the last half and still kept it below long run pace. I was eager to finish the drive to the airport and with 4 rest days in a row coming up I figured it wouldn’t hurt.

Total miles: 33.1
Total time: 5:39:00 (For those keeping track at home, that’s an increase of 5 hours from the week before! Yowza!)

Week 2 (May 29-June 4)
Monday – REST
Tuesday – REST
Wednesday – REST
Thursday – REST
Nothing really to report on these days. We literally walked all over Venice and Rome so I’m not sure “REST” is the right word to describe my activity but it was a break from running.

Friday – 4 miles @ EA
By Friday, I practically had ants in my pants I was so eager to run again but first we had to get to the cruise ship. The whole train ride and check in process I was just thinking how I couldn’t wait to get back to it. Once checked in, I headed straight for the gym and the treadmill. I’m really terrible at running on treadmills. I have a hard time staying engaged mentally unless I vary the pace along the way which usually means gradually increasing it. I decided I would keep my pace somewhere between EA and Long Run. Plus, there was lunch, a pool, and frozen fruity drinks waiting for me when I finished so I wasn’t too keen on going as slow as possible even though that really only meant a 2.5 minute difference, all those precious seconds counted.

Saturday – 5 miles @ EA
Saturday I woke up early and took to the track. It was a 1/6 mile track which I actually really enjoyed. It’s always nicer to have a longer track but since I’m used to my indoor track that’s 1/8 mile, 1/6 was a good improvement. I didn’t purposely push the pace but my easiest effort took me into the long run pacing. I don’t have totally accurate data since I couldn’t use GPS with account of the ship sailing. I think the quick effort was the result of a few things but mostly the 4 days of rest before it and finally running on a flat surface.

Sunday – 5 miles @ Long Run
Again on Sunday I woke up early and headed to the track. It was soaking wet this morning which would turn out to be the norm so I had to pay extra attention to my footing. Once again, I didn’t purposely push the effort and never felt like I was pushing it but I still finished with an avg pace of 8:57 instead of the 9:31 I should have been aiming for. I really wasn’t sure what to make of it, but chalked it up once again to having a flat surface. Even though I know this workout didn’t hit the pace, I was relieved to have paces that were too fast instead of too slow. After my first week of going too slow, I was nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to complete the training at the prescribed paces.

Total miles: 14.1
Total time: 2:12:39

Week 3 (June 5-11)
Monday – REST
Tuesday – 6 miles @ EA
Once again on Tuesday I was up early and headed for the track. The sun was just peaking over horizon but much to my surprise the track was closed. Luckily, the gym was open so I headed to the treadmill once again. This time I paid a little more attention to my pacing and started at the easy effort ramped toward the long run pace and back down. Even this was mentally tough to stay engaged. Anyone have any other tips? Hopefully this is my last treadmill run for a while, but I have a feeling varying my pacing so much isn’t exactly what these easy workouts are intended for.

Wednesday – 2 mi WU + 5 miles @ M Tempo
Luckily on Wednesday the track was open again. It actually opened mid run the day before but at that point I was committed to the treadmill. Once again my pacing was too fast. 8:28 instead of 8:50 but I was really just enjoying the run. I promise to pay more attention to my pacing this week as the training really gets started.

Thursday – REST
Friday – 6 miles @ EA
Friday morning was incredibly windy. If there was any morning the track should have been closed, it was this day but I was thankful it wasn’t. The wind managed to trip up my feet a few times and blow me off the track but I persevered and avoided any falls. The ship was really hauling it this morning and there was also a lot of motion. This turned my flat fast track into a windy roller coaster. When I finished, my Fitbit said I had climbed 136 floors. About 7 of those were from climbing the steps to the track, but the others were all the motion of the ocean.

Saturday – 8 miles @ Long Run
Once again the deck was closed when I got to the track on Saturday morning so I headed for the treadmill. I was less than a half mile in when I saw people using the track, so I decided to finish that mile and head outside. By some miracle of miracles, I finished with an average pace just 4 seconds slower than desired. I was ecstatic to finally have a run within the prescribed pacing.

Sunday – REST

Total miles: 27.0
Total time: 4:22:07


And now, is when the real training begins. I’m eager to see how my paces adjust going from fast flat track back to hills. Plus, I came home to 90+ degree temperatures which is near record temps for my area at this time of the year. I may finally have to switch to running before work instead of after...maybe.

This week’s schedule:
M - REST
Tu - 2 mi @ WU + (8x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + 800m RI + (8x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + 2 mi @ CD
W - 5.5 @ EA
Th - REST
Fr - 2 mi @ WU + 4 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 2 x 1 @ T w/ 1 min rest + 4 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 2 mi @ CD
Sa - 5.5 @ EA
Su - 5.5 @ EA

 

[GollyGadget]

June 12-June 18 Recap (201 Days until WDW Marathon)
Almost under 200 days! I’m getting really excited for this trip. I haven’t done WDW proper since Dec 2010. This trip was also looking to be a quick in/out but while on vacation I somehow talked my husband into going to all of the parks. We’re still only going for 6 nights but I’ll take it over the 3 nights that were planned before. Now to actually books some flights and accommodations…

When I first started this journal I was reporting out my weekly resting heart rate to look for any trends. It wasn’t really changing much so I stopped reporting it but I am still tracking it. A couple of interesting observations:
1. It dropped by 5 bpm while on vacation. I guess my body really enjoyed the break from regular life.
2. Yesterday I woke up with a sore throat and was worried I’m getting sick. My rHR has jumped up 4 bpm so now I’m pretty sure of it. I just hope it isn’t as severe or as long as the last time.

Now onto the training recap…..

Monday – REST
Not much to report here. I was still traveling home from vacation and really enjoyed the extra rest/trying to adjust back to the proper time zone.

Tuesday - 2 mi @ WU + (8x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + 800m RI + (8x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + 2 mi @ CD
Ahh, first speed session under this plan. The weather forecasted temps in the 90s so I knew my choices were either to wake up early and go to the nearby middle school track or go to the indoor track at the YMCA after work. The indoor track is actually 1/8 mile so I opted for that figuring 1 lap per interval would make it easier. I tried to get out of work quickly so I would get to the track before it got too crowded. It really wasn’t too bad but there always seems to be someone walking in the running lanes which can be annoying.

I was nervous how the pacing would feel and if I could get the hang of it. During my warm up my calves felt really tight so this only compounded my nerves. I stopped to stretch them out a bit but they still felt tight heading into it. Spoiler: once I got going they were fine.

My first two intervals were a bit slower than prescribed as I was trying to figure out the pacing but after that I hit most of them. Overall, I got 12/16 in the +/- 1 sec window so I consider this work-out a great victory. It actually seemed to get easier as I progressed. I think this was partly because I found my groove on how the pace should feel but also the track was a lot less crowded by the time I finished so there was less weaving around people.

Once finished, I had a mental struggle through the cool down. If anyone wants to tell me all the benefits of the cool down, that’d be great as I’m sure I’ll need to regularly remind myself of these. I considered cutting it short several times and kept telling myself that the only person I’d be shorting is myself. This didn’t really work out so well, but luckily my competitive drive for the weekly step challenge reminded me I needed those steps to stay in the top 3.

After my training session, I went to an info session about a local running team that’s starting up. This is something totally out of my comfort zone. I typically run alone and really enjoy having that time to myself. Plus, the other clubs/teams around here have membership fees and while I’m sure they do a lot of great things with that money, I can’t get over the thought that I’d be paying for someone’s friendship. This new team requires a commitment but no money and it’s open to all levels. I’m going to try it out for a while and see how it goes. I’ve got this little bird in my ear telling me I could run a BQ someday and I figure having a local support group for that journey would be a huge asset.

Wednesday - 5.5 @ EA
After a crowded day on the track and another day of 90+ degrees I decided to try the whole morning run thing. One benefit of my internal clock being out of whack is that I naturally woke up before 5, giving myself plenty of time to run before work. Other than being humid and hilly, nothing too exciting to report here. My pace was slower than prescribed but I was also just taking it easy due to the humidity.

Thursday - REST

Friday - 2 mi @ WU + 4 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 2 x 1 @ T w/ 1 min rest + 4 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 2 mi @ CD
Friday morning I decided to give the whole morning running thing another try. Instead of the YMCA, I headed for the nearby track. I was hoping to be able to run to the track since it’s only ½ mile from my house but there are waaaaaaay too many evil birds so I ended up driving and doing my warm up on the track.

I’ve never actually used the track and was kind of nervous the entire time someone might come tell me to leave. It didn’t help that there’s construction at the school so a lot of the campus is fenced off. I was the only one there for the first half and then I saw a truck coming behind the school and I thought for certain this guy was going to tell me to leave. Turns out, he just wanted to go for a walk. He probably thought I was a total weirdo because I had decided to switch directions at the halfway point so was running the “wrong” way. Oh well. No major catastrophes so I’ll be returning again this week for my speed sessions.

The actual work-out was a learning process but I’m hoping to nail it better this week. I ran the first 200s too fast and then the second set too slow. Only by 2-3 seconds each way but still not meeting the goal. The tempo miles also came with a learning curve. I wasn’t really sure what the pace should feel like but figured it might be somewhat close to my 5k pace so I aimed for that effort level. The first mile was 20 seconds too slow so I knew I had to speed up but I must have stepped on the gas too hard. I was noticeably panting halfway through the second mile. I don’t even know the last time I noticed my breathing during a run. I ended that mile 20 seconds too fast so now I just have to find the place in between.

Again, I had a mental struggle during the cool down. Eventually, it was the step competition that kept me motivated to keep going until I realized I needed to find a bathroom ASAP so with that I headed to my car after only completing half of the cool down.

Saturday - 5.5 @ EA
I’m a much more motivated runner when my day is busy. On Saturday, I had nothing planned so while I intended to go out in the morning first thing, that didn’t happen. Then it quickly became lunch time and then I wanted a nap and it wasn’t until 6pm that I decided I needed to get my butt out the door. I could visibly see a storm from the windows but thought I could get 3 miles in before it hit then finish up on the treadmill. I made it as far as the driveway when my husband called and told me to go inside. It was already sprinkling a bit and I could hear the storm siren but I still thought “maybe 2 miles.” It’s a good thing I have him looking out for my safety. With that, I headed for 5.5 uneventful miles on the treadmill.

Sunday - 5.5 @ EA
By Sunday the weather around here had much improved with highs in the upper 70s. This wasn’t really ideal for the pool party later that day but it was great for running. Bucky had been exceptionally pouty the last few days so I decided to take her for the first 2 miles then finish the last 3.5 on my own. Interestingly, my pace with her was much quicker and I don’t remember the perceived effort changing at all. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s more enjoyable to run with her or because I didn’t really get to the hills in my neighborhood until after I dropped her off. I have no doubt that the hills play a part but since running is such a mental activity I can’t help but think running with my dog is just easier than alone.

Total miles: 32.1
Total time: 5:34:57

This week’s schedule:
M - 2 mi @ WU + 4 sets of (200m R + 200m WU + 200m R + 200m WU + 400m R + 400m WU) + 2 mi @ CD
Tu - 5.5 @ EA
W - REST
Th - 2 mi @ WU + 3 x 1 @ T w/ 1 min rest + 6 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 2 mi @ CD
Fr - 5.5 @ EA
Sa – 1 mi WU + 8 miles @ M Tempo
Su - REST

 

[DopeyBadger]

Great training week. Just keeping focusing on nailing those individual intervals.

Once finished, I had a mental struggle through the cool down. If anyone wants to tell me all the benefits of the cool down, that’d be great as I’m sure I’ll need to regularly remind myself of these.

The cool down can serve two main purposes:

1) It teaches you how to run (and what it feels like to run) on fatigued/tired legs. The workout is over, the motivation is gone, you're tired and just want to be over it. You need to learn what it feels like to push through this because this may well be the feeling on race day. So learn how to cope with this feeling to use those tools on race day.

2) It builds the total cumulative fatigue and easy mileage to balance the training plan. By having these extra miles at the end of the workout, it enables you to do more "fun" stuff. Less cool down miles means you likely unbalance the plan and put yourself at a higher risk for injury.

Is it a matter of you want to be done, or that you can't go slow enough?

 

[GollyGadget]

The cool down can serve two main purposes:

1) It teaches you how to run (and what it feels like to run) on fatigued/tired legs. The workout is over, the motivation is gone, you're tired and just want to be over it. You need to learn what it feels like to push through this because this may well be the feeling on race day. So learn how to cope with this feeling to use those tools on race day.

2) It builds the total cumulative fatigue and easy mileage to balance the training plan. By having these extra miles at the end of the workout, it enables you to do more "fun" stuff. Less cool down miles means you likely unbalance the plan and put yourself at a higher risk for injury.

Is it a matter of you want to be done, or that you can't go slow enough?

I figured the cool down had a part in the whole cumulative fatigue/running on tired legs thing. I was hoping for something more exciting. Like, by completing the cool down, I'm one step closer to becoming a velociraptor.

It's definitely a matter of I'm ready to be done. Not really because I'm tired, just that I have other things to do.
Speaking of slow, is there harm in going too slow? I've found myself occasionally creeping into the 11 min/mi range.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I figured the cool down had a part in the whole cumulative fatigue/running on tired legs thing. I was hoping for something more exciting. Like, by completing the cool down, I'm one step closer to becoming a velociraptor.

No such luck! But maybe you'll get so fast you could out run one if you had to. Thanks cool down miles!

It's definitely a matter of I'm ready to be done. Not really because I'm tired, just that I have other things to do.

It's understandable. Would it make it easier if you maybe reduced the cool down but increased the warm up? That might be doable. I'd keep the CD at at least 1 mile though. Optimally, leaving as is would be best.

Speaking of slow, is there harm in going too slow? I've found myself occasionally creeping into the 11 min/mi range.

Yes and no. If you find yourself comfortably creeping into that, then you're fine. Especially as summer rolls on and the T+D rises. In the last two weeks, I did a run at a 9:22 min/mile and an 8:22 min/mile average. The effort was exactly the same and the HR was the same (131). Only difference was the T+D outside. So I ventured way outside my easy range, but that's fine because that's what "felt" right.

Where people tend to get in trouble is intentionally slowing way down to run with someone else but only very rarely. This can cause issues because you're using the muscles differently then they've been trained recently. But it's usually more of an extra fatigue type thing than an injury type thing.

 

[GollyGadget]

June 19-June 25 Recap (194 Days until WDW Marathon)
I made some bad math last week, I blame it on Monday brain. We’re actually only staying for 5 nights, but like I said before, big improvement over 3! We had already rented DVC at OKW for Jan 4-7 and our lessor didn’t have any more points so we were forced into a split stay. In an effort to save a few bucks, we decided to go value and book at All Star Sports. The weird thing is I’ve been checking the prices and it was $96/night before the 2018 booking opened and once 2018 booking opened it jumped to $140/night. I managed to get the $96 rate by starting my booking in 2017 with hopes that if I update the dates later the pricing will stay the same. Only time will tell… Up next, committing to flights.

As I eluded to last week, I was most definitely getting sick. Nothing that would stop me from running completely but definitely feeling more fatigued than usual. The biggest thing is that it had a huge impact on my runs and that was disappointing and frustrating when I wasn’t able to hit my paces. The good news is things seem to be back to normal today with only a few remaining sniffles.

I’ve also still been struggling a lot with pacing. I definitely think there is a learning curve to holding certain paces and learning what those feel like which I haven’t quite got the hang of but I also wonder if the routes in my area just aren’t conducive to even pacing. I run a lot of hills, even my “flat” routes have hills except for on the track. Anyone got any experience with how to adjust pacing to account for hills?

Monday - 2 mi @ WU + 4 sets of (200m R + 200m WU + 200m R + 200m WU + 400m R + 400m WU) + 2 mi @ CD
The temperature was on the cool side and after spending the day in the pool on Sunday I opted to sleep in Monday morning. This meant running in the evening which is what I prefer anyway. The one thing I hadn’t accounted for was all of the bugs that would be out so on top of being highly annoying I’m also covered in bites.

As I completed my warm up, I realized my legs felt like lead and this was going to be a tough work out. I was hoping that maybe I would find my groove but it never really happened. My first set of 200s was on target but my 400 was about 10 seconds too slow (from what I remember, I apparently forgot to stop the lap so my timing includes my rest interval as well.) From then on, it became a struggle to hit the 200s, only nailing it twice with the others 5-6 seconds slower than desired. The 400s kept the same story with my best lap at 8 seconds over and my worst at 12 over. By my last 400, I was again noticeably panting and glad that I had survived.

There were several times when I thought about calling it in since I wasn’t hitting the paces. However, since my pacing was staying consistent and I wasn’t getting slower, I decided to just keep trying. In the end, I’m glad I kept going because one skipped/shortened workout seems to only lead to more. Plus, I knew I just had easy miles the next day followed by a day of rest. I could only hope to be feeling better before my next track session on Thursday.

Tuesday - 5.5 @ EA
Tuesday was scheduled to get back into the 80s and I had meetings until 5:30 so I opted to go for the pre-work run. I’m not sure this is really ideal to follow my hard workouts with another run 10 hours later, even if it’s easy, but that is just how it worked out. I woke up feeling a bit more tired than usual and with a few sniffles. Again, there were several times when I thought about calling it quits early due to not feeling 100% but decided I might as well finish it. It was a pretty uneventful run with only two near bird attacks.

Wednesday – REST

Thursday - 2 mi @ WU + 3 x 1 @ T w/ 1 min rest + 6 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 2 mi @ CD
Like I said, I was hoping to feel better by Thursday but I just wasn’t. The heat kept me indoors so I elected to hit the treadmill. At least this means my pacing was spot on . Unfortunately, due to my cold I decided to skip the 200s so it was another work out not quite complete.

The one good thing about this run was that I got to catch up on Ellen and discovered this:

Now if only I can teach Bucky, I might be more dedicated to my strength training.

Friday - 3 @ EA
In my workout preview, I mentioned that Friday was 5.5 miles. It was actually prescribed as 3 or 5.5 miles. I had every intention of running the full 5.5 until Thursday when I still wasn’t feeling well. In the end, I decided the 3 miles would have to do.

Saturday – 1 mi WU + 8 miles @ M Tempo
Saturday was again a struggle. I just felt so tired and quite honestly, I could barely keep my eyes open. I kept having an internal debate of pushing off the run until Sunday. Eventually, it was my husband who convinced me I just had to get up and get it done. He knew that once I got running I would feel much better. He was right.

I was really nervous about 8 miles at tempo pace. I knew I could easily run 8 miles so it wasn’t so much the distance as it was the combination of pace and distance. Because of this, I started out a little slow and only hit the +/- 10 sec in the last 3 miles. Some of that is obviously my fault, but also I think I might need a new running app. My current app only tells me my average pace which means it takes a great deal of math and memorization for me to figure out what my pace actually was on the last mile. Based on my running math, I thought I was at least in the range of my paces but in the end, I wasn’t. I was at least getting faster each mile.

Sunday - REST

Total miles: 33.0
Total time: 5:35:02


This week’s schedule:
M - 2 mi @ WU + (4x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + (4x400m @ R w/400m RI) + (4x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + 2 mi @ CD
Tu - 5.5 @ EA
W - REST
Th - 2 mi @ WU + 7 x 2 min @ I w/ 1 min RI @ WU + 2 mi @ CD
Fr - 5.5 @ EA
Sa – 9 miles @ Long Run (Birthday Run!)
Su - REST

 

[DopeyBadger]

I'm hoping after the cold that things will start to return to normal for you.

From then on, it became a struggle to hit the 200s, only nailing it twice with the others 5-6 seconds slower than desired. The 400s kept the same story with my best lap at 8 seconds over and my worst at 12 over. By my last 400, I was again noticeably panting and glad that I had survived.

So when you say you were off by 5-6 seconds on the 200s, does that mean you were running at a 7:01-7:02 pace (thus 6:56 min/mile + 5-6 seconds) or at a 57-58 seconds 200m (thus 7:36-7:44 min/mile)? Same with the 400s, 112 seconds was you best one or 7:04 min/mile was your best one?

I ask because there's a big difference between the two.

I was really nervous about 8 miles at tempo pace. I knew I could easily run 8 miles so it wasn’t so much the distance as it was the combination of pace and distance. Because of this, I started out a little slow and only hit the +/- 10 sec in the last 3 miles. Some of that is obviously my fault, but also I think I might need a new running app. My current app only tells me my average pace which means it takes a great deal of math and memorization for me to figure out what my pace actually was on the last mile. Based on my running math, I thought I was at least in the range of my paces but in the end, I wasn’t. I was at least getting faster each mile.

Even if you don't want to go full blown Garmin 235, you might find it useful to use a timex or something similar. This one is only $12 and has a lap feature. So when your running app says you hit a mile, then just hit the button to see the split. It will be even more valuable for the intervals you're doing.

https://www.amazon.com/Marathon-Tim...rd_wg=jWEMj&psc=1&refRID=0DBYN81XM335YCPGM5QV

http://assets.timex.com/user_guides/Marathon/W292-Marathon-AllLanguages.pdf

 

[GollyGadget]

So when you say you were off by 5-6 seconds on the 200s, does that mean you were running at a 7:01-7:02 pace (thus 6:56 min/mile + 5-6 seconds) or at a 57-58 seconds 200m (thus 7:36-7:44 min/mile)? Same with the 400s, 112 seconds was you best one or 7:04 min/mile was your best one?

Now I'm really questioning my mathing abilities. I meant 5-6 seconds off from the 52 seconds but when I go and look my paces are all between 6:21 (which seems made up) and 7:21.
For the 400s, I'm missing the first one due to not resetting during the rest but those were 7:21, 7:27, 7:24

Even if you don't want to go full blown Garmin 235, you might find it useful to use a timex or something similar. This one is only $12 and has a lap feature. So when your running app says you hit a mile, then just hit the button to see the split. It will be even more valuable for the intervals you're doing.

My running app lets me do laps and that's what I use for the intervals. Annoyingly, it only displays distance and pace so then I have to math my way into duration. Theoretically, I could do this for my other runs but then I'd have to remember to dig it out each mile. Ideally, there's some app that would just tell me each time I hit a mile what my pace was for the last mile.
I do keep an eye on my fitbit so I knew my miles on Saturday were in the 9 minute range. I just didn't realize it was 9:08 vs 8:58 sort of thing. I debated looking at a Garmin but until the internet tells me I can sync my garmin steps to a fitbit challenge, I don't think I can make the leap. Those step challenges are addicting and one of my main sources of motivation.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Now I'm really questioning my mathing abilities. I meant 5-6 seconds off from the 52 seconds but when I go and look my paces are all between 6:21 (which seems made up) and 7:21.
For the 400s, I'm missing the first one due to not resetting during the rest but those were 7:21, 7:27, 7:24

Honestly, when it comes down to 200s and 400s the matter of 1 second of real time (52 vs 53 seconds) is the difference between 8 seconds of 200m pace. That's why I think a timex would be really useful because it would give you instant feedback of the exact split value (52 or 53 or 55). When I did these I would keep them within a +/- 1 second window, but in reality that was 41.0-42.9. That's 5:28 min/mile to 5:43 min/mile. So not quite a minute of variation, but it will definitely show. I think the key with these 200m and 400m is to run them from man made to man made and then look at the actual time, not so much the pace. But if you are in fact hitting around 57-58 seconds for the 200m, then we are going to need to keep a close eye on this. We'll need to see whether this is heat, sickness, or too much. Because we don't want to mess around in the wrong extreme speed pace zone too much.

My running app lets me do laps and that's what I use for the intervals. Annoyingly, it only displays distance and pace so then I have to math my way into duration. Theoretically, I could do this for my other runs but then I'd have to remember to dig it out each mile. Ideally, there's some app that would just tell me each time I hit a mile what my pace was for the last mile.

Pretty sure the paid version of Runtastic tells you the splits of each individual mile as you pass it. Although I know my Runtastic was off by 5% from reality (thus it measured 0.95 miles as 1 mile). Not sure if it was the phone or the app, but that's when I made the leap to a Garmin.

I debated looking at a Garmin but until the internet tells me I can sync my garmin steps to a fitbit challenge, I don't think I can make the leap. Those step challenges are addicting and one of my main sources of motivation.

What kind of "fitbit challenge"? I have a Garmin 235 and am part of a steps challenge group (I only actually know canglim52 from DIS) as well as am afforded the opportunity to join a random collection of people with similar steps. I guess it isn't fitbit, but a similar concept?

 

[GollyGadget]

Spoiler alert... Attached are my splits from yesterday's session. I thought this might help show you what I'm working with. At the end of each interval it displays the time (plus pace & distance) so I know at that time if I hit the time or not. There just isn't a good display afterwards.

What I'm struggling with is who to believe. Did I start/stop the timing at the right place? Is my gps off? Am I really that bad at running tangents? So far I've been following the clocked time and not the pacing. For example, I don't think I really ran a 5:50 pace. It was probably closer to 6:30 but only 200m instead of 231m.

The Fitbit challenge is really just a step challenge. The fun and motivating part is that it's against people I know and I really like beating my husband's co-workers. I don't think it'd have the same effect with people I didn't regularly see.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Did I start/stop the timing at the right place?

I think this really is the crux. If you go mailbox to mailbox and you're getting 5-8 seconds of real time variation, then yea there's a slow down. But the GPS can certainly be all over the place, and that'll make interpretation really hard. That display certainly makes it tough.

Here's a similar workout from me and I know mine were very close to 200 and 400m and that I ran to the same points.



If you don't want to go full Garmin, then I think the $12 option is a good one. It'll give you reliable timing at the distance in the moment. Doesn't upload nicely, but it gets the job done out there on the course.

The Fitbit challenge is really just a step challenge. The fun and motivating part is that it's against people I know and I really like beating my husband's co-workers. I don't think it'd have the same effect with people I didn't regularly see.

Yea, then you'd lose that part. Bummer!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I'll add, this is what I came up with based on the information you have provided:



This assumes that the distance (points on the street) you actually ran was the same each time. But we can make the following statement -

The pace is calculated by the device using the "meters" and "time". Since the "time" is not provided to you, we can calculate it based on the "pace" which the device creates. So it renders the accuracy of the "meters" irrelevant as long as you are running consistently from the same point on the street to the same point on the street.

So, the goal times were 52 seconds and 1:44. So, the window is 51.0-53.9 seconds and 1:43.0-1:45.9 seconds. This likely means the first 2 were too fast, then next 2 on point, the next 7 too slow, and the last one on point. Total score of 3/12 (25%) with interval #11 really really close.

Now this could easily be off by a touch if you were consistently running 225m instead of 200m in reality. But the website (https://www.goodrunguide.co.uk/MeasuringRoutes.asp) does provide GPS distance to the 0.001 mile. According to the website and others like it, it is about 1% off at most when used well. I personally measured my 200m and 400m 10 times and got the same value almost identically.

 

[GollyGadget]

If you don't want to go full Garmin, then I think the $12 option is a good one. It'll give you reliable timing at the distance in the moment. Doesn't upload nicely, but it gets the job done out there on the course.

Sorry if I'm being daft here, but I'm still unclear what the Timex gets me. Isn't it just a stopwatch? I'm confident that my phone is counting seconds correctly. If it's not, well, Apple has some things it needs to work on.
When I finish each interval, the duration is displayed. It just doesn't display it later in the report because the app designers are silly.

That's exactly the math I've been doing to review my workouts at the end...except I'm rounding to the nearest second so I guess there's a small error there.

I've been running the middle school track so I sure hope the distance is accurate. What could be off are my tangents on the curve. My phone consistently reports I ran further. But also the human factor of when I hit start/stop. Until I train Bucky to work a stopwatch that's just something I'll have to deal with.

 

[DopeyBadger]

When I finish each interval, the duration is displayed. It just doesn't display it later in the report because the app designers are silly.

Nope, I'm the daft one. Now it makes sense to me. You can't see the seconds per CV interval at the end of the workout (as per the display), but mid-workout at the conclusion of each interval you can see the split in seconds. Thus, you're getting the instant feedback as to whether you're too slow/too fast that the timex would provide (thus making the timex irrelevant). Plus, with the MS track distance I have to believe that's pretty accurate. The phone will be off like the article states by about 8% on a track so this would make sense (poor satellite can't keep up with the turns). My apologies, but I understand better now.

 

[Dopeyintraining]

I debated looking at a Garmin but until the internet tells me I can sync my garmin steps to a fitbit challenge, I don't think I can make the leap. Those step challenges are addicting and one of my main sources of motivation.

So you're a Workweek hustler! I have gone from a Fitbit to a Garmin and you can sync activities but I couldn't figure out a way of syncing steps. I liked the the Adventures on the fitbit app but I'm quite happy with my Forerunner.

 

[GollyGadget]

So you're a Workweek hustler! I have gone from a Fitbit to a Garmin and you can sync activities but I couldn't figure out a way of syncing steps. I liked the the Adventures on the fitbit app but I'm quite happy with my Forerunner.

I'm glad to hear you're not unhappy about the switch. I'm still debating but it will be a while if I do decide to switch. Right now, I really need that extra motivation of steps to get me out on some of my runs. Summer is the worst time for my running. I don't particularly enjoy the heat, the morning, or the treadmill so summer is really sucking some of the enjoyment out of my runs.
If you ever figure out how to sync the steps, do let me know!