Running Renaissance: One Skip Ahead of my Doom

[Baloo in MI]

Wow! Great time, congrats!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Awesome job!

 

[GollyGadget]

Grand Blue Mile Recap
By lunchtime on Tuesday, I was a big ball of nerves. My partner tried to console me by telling me that I wasn’t going to win . Obviously. Waiting until the evening to run is excruciating.

We walked to the race course around 5:30p, stopping by the library on the way to pick up Des’s book. I watched the kids quarter mile race at 6 and then headed off to warm up and find a potty. I ran into a few friends while warming up which was a good distraction.

Finally, it was time to line up. Once again, I didn’t know where to start and judged everyone based on their clothes . I swear I’m not this judgmental in my normal life, especially about clothes.

It was a quick start and one glance at my watch made it obvious that I started out too fast. I think my pace started with a 5!?!?

The race course was lined with cheering spectators which was made it a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I spent the last 3/4s of the race just trying to survive.

My quarter mile times were 1:31 , 3:15, 5:03 and….

6:55! By some miracle, I made it.

I was quite disappointed in the moment. It was very reminiscent of my January marathon. I met my goal and I should be happy but I felt like I could have executed it much better.

I also felt terrible, like there were rocks in my throat. I could barely whisper and could not stop coughing. I couldn’t imagine putting myself through that again. Additionally, I had chills and my muscles ached. It literally felt like I had instantly contracted the flu.

Now that I’m a few days removed, I’m thinking I’ve got some unfinished business for next year. plus, you have to run the mile race if you want the bulldog medal. And the bulldog photo is much much better with the medal



I’m happy to say that I accomplished both of my goals, sub 7 and a photo with Griff II, but the real highlight of the night was watching Nikki Hiltz win the USATF road mile championship. Even though I could barely whisper, I found a way to cheer for them as they crossed the finish line. I can’t wait to watch them in the 1500 on Saturday

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Congrats!

 

[NYC_MW]

Double congrats!!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

 

[Naomeri]

Great job!!

 

[striker1064]

Congrats!! Aww, bulldog! SO CUTE

 

[jmasgat]

Way to go! I admit, my curiosity got the best of me and I found your result yesterday. Two strong efforts-and a great mile result especially considering you raced just before that.

 

[nancipants]

Fantastic job! I'd run that fast too to get a bulldog photo.

 

[GollyGadget]

Thank you all for celebrating with me! it was a couple of fun events with good weather. I’ve got two more events this training cycle. Next week is a 10K with a goal of breaking 50 min for the first official time. Then I have a half marathon on 3 June that will likely just be for fun, but maybe not if the weather cooperates.

One more thing, I forgot to mention that I have a new official mile PR since that was the first time I actually raced the distance . An age group award and a PR is an amazing way to kick off the season. Stay tuned to see how it ends!

 

[GollyGadget]

Way to go! I admit, my curiosity got the best of me and I found your result yesterday. Two strong efforts-and a great mile result especially considering you raced just before that.

No shame in that. I’ve done the same for fellow DISers. I have a feeling that @DopeyBadger peaked the results as well. Or he just had a LOT of confidence in me when he posted those race cars.

 

[DopeyBadger]

 

[GollyGadget]

here’s a photo of my dogs to distract you from the fact that I struggle to use technology…

 

[GollyGadget]

Spring Training - Phase 2 - Week 1/6

And now back to the somewhat regularly scheduled training journal updates. I made the decision early on to mentally split my training into two blocks and we’ve officially made it to the second stage! Race season!!

Since I’ve already recapped Monday & Tuesday and Wednesday was a rest day, we’ve got a short week this time around. But don’t worry, I’ve got some bonus content at the end about how my year is going

Thursday - Easy 6 - I was still feeling the races in my legs and thought about taking an extra days rest, but I knew I could do the easy miles as slow as needed. Much to my surprise, my first mile clocked in at 9:30. I didn’t feel like I was going that fast and my hr was still in the easy range so I kept going. It wasn’t until I got the second mile alert that I realized the distances were off. Initially, I assumed that garmin was having a bad gps day but after looking at my watch screens, I realized that I was doing a treadmill run . I ran to where the two mile mark actually was, stopped the workout, and started a new one. This time using gps .

Does this happen to anyone else? It’s happened to me enough that I’d like to think it’s not a user error but I’m guessing it probably is .

Anyway, rest of the run was uneventful. I stopped to take a photo of this construction sign because I thought we all could use the reminder.


You’ve come a long way.

Friday - Easy 6 - My legs still weren’t 100% but it was nothing that impacted my running form. It did make me nervous for Saturday’s run though, my first with actual paces since the races.

Saturday - 10K 16x400 - As mentioned, I wasn’t so sure how this would go. My volunteer shift at the zoo started at 8:30 and we were going to the Drake Relays afterward so this was an early morning run. The good thing about that is I had no time to stress about the run . It was also very good running weather. Much better than the weather at the track later.

Anyway, after a mile warm up, it was time for the first 10K repeat. This was my first time running this pace, so of course it took some time to find. Also, I really thought my rest intervals were 2 minutes so imagine my surprise when I only got 15 seconds after the first interval. The goal for each 400 was 1:55 and I actually did much better than I expected. Second differential was -1,-1,0,+3,+3,-2,-3,+1,-1,0,-1,+1,+4,+1,-3,0. Particularly proud of that last one . It was also good to try out what 10K pace should feel like ahead of my race. I’m still not so sure that 15 seconds counts for a rest interval but I’m also really bad at focusing on pace for much longer than 2 minutes, so I guess this is a good option for me.

Here’s a photo of the very wet track.

Like I said, very happy that I didn’t run in that. You can see the women’s 1500 lined up about to start in the top left but this photo is actually of the shot put competition. I know very little about field events but the athletes make it a lot of fun to watch.

Sunday - Easy 6 - I felt very good during this run despite the 30mph winds with 50mph gusts. I’m sure I’d be singing a different tune if it was some sort of paced workout, but for an easy run where pace didn’t matter it was manageable. I was also extremely thankful that the wind had disappeared for my races the few days prior.

And now for the bonus content . We’re officially 1/3 of the way through 2023. I don’t know if I ever officially typed up my goals for the year but they are as follows

1. Set a new mile PR
2. Run 1500 miles this year
3. More strength training

Item 3 needs some work. I started off really strong but then was impacting my running so I completely stopped. The plan is to start small again after my race this weekend then really bump it up this summer. It still won’t be anything crazy, but enough that I can continue running injury free.

Item 2 is on track. Numbers wise it looks a bit behind, but I took two weeks off in January for marathon recovery. And my mileage will most certainly ramp up this fall when I start marathon training again.

Below are a few fun graphs to see how my running has progressed the last few years. Quick reminder that I was training quite a bit in 2016-2018. Then I injured myself and took a couple of years to really get back into it. In 2021, I set myself a goal to run 1000 miles to have some consistency again and I haven’t stopped since . This is easily the longest period of time that I have consistently trained. It’s been a lot of fun and I think I’ve found enough variety to keep going.

Jan-April Comparison

I’ve ran more miles each month in 2023 than the previous two years. I expect this to continue for the next month and then we’ll have to see what summer brings. The mileage will likely dip down for a bit as I focus on base building & strength training.

Year over year, my increase in mileage is obvious. It’s up +50% compared to two years ago! Just a hare under the 500 miles but still in good position to hit 1500 for the year.


That’s all for now folks. I hope you are progressing on your running goals. Have a great week!

 

[Naomeri]

My watch user error usually involves stopping a workout instead of pausing it, or forgetting to unpause when I start again

 

[GollyGadget]

My watch user error usually involves stopping a workout instead of pausing it, or forgetting to unpause when I start again

I haven’t done that one yet but I don’t usually pause my runs. I have accidentally lapped my workout when I meant to end it. My watch only has two buttons and you’d think I’d know them apart, but nope

 

[GollyGadget]

Spring Training - Phase 2 - Week 2/6

What is happening with my legs? They took longer to recover than I expected but felt pretty good today. Let’s hope they can hang on for tomorrow!

Monday - Easy 6 - It was still so so very windy but forecast to stop by Wednesday so I decided to postpone this run to take advantage of better conditions.

Tuesday - Easy 6 - It was still windy but I didn’t really have any options but to get it done. At least the sun was out and the trees were looking spectacular.

I was surprised at how heavy and tired my legs felt. This was the run where I decided that I shouldn’t push it too much this week since I had a race coming up.

Wednesday - Rest Easy 3 - Originally the plan was to run my easy 6 from Monday but based on Tuesday I thought I’d take the scheduled rest day. Well, that didn’t happen. The GOTR lesson involved the coaches running and tagging the girls so I ended up running just over a 1.5 miles there and then my partner wanted to go check out a brand new social run group where we ran another 1.5 miles. Oh well. Both were nice and easy and included regular walk intervals.

Thursday - R+T Easy 6 - Because of my legs still in recovery and the race in a few days, I was nervous about this. When Mother Nature decided it was going to suddenly be 80 out, I opted just to take it easy and throw in a few strides.

Even Hattie thought it was too hot and found what little shade she could on the patio. (Please ignore the pile of hose, we’re still in process of setting up the irrigation for this year)


Friday - Easy 6 - I got this one done before work so it wouldn’t interfere with any Cinco de Mayo festivities . The temp was better than Thursday but the humidity was not. My legs were feeling fresher but a pain in my left arch appeared. What horrible timing

Saturday - Easy 3 - holy humidity! It was very soupy out. It was fine for the easy run but I hope it’s not a sign of the summer to come. Everything felt good and I took in a little course preview.



Really looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully the predicted storms tonight help with the humidity. Either way, the race ends at the local winery so it’s sure to be a good time


Happy running folks!

 

[striker1064]

Good luck today!

 

[azrivest]

Hope your race went how you wanted it to!