Running Renaissance: WDW Marathon 2025

[GollyGadget]

This training journal will tell the story of my running renaissance. Why a renaissance? Well, let’s start at the beginning…Once upon a time, in a land far away, a beautiful princess.. just kidding.

I started my adult running in 2010 when a friend decided to run a half marathon and I thought “hey, what a great idea!” At the time I was overweight and had a lot of free time on my hands (re: single and living in a new place where I didn’t know anyone). Plus, I had always enjoyed running. I could go out for 3 mile runs with no issue. I wasn’t fast, but I took pride in the fact that I could complete 3 miles when some struggled to complete a single mile.

That first half marathon was a great success. My goal was to finish and I did. As an added bonus, I lost 25 lbs and was finally back to a healthy weight. My finish time was 2:01:47 and despite my coworkers telling me this was a great first finishing time, I couldn’t help but think that I could have been under 2 hours so I decided I’d try again the next year.

Flash-forward to spring 2011, I was living in yet another new town but in this one I had friends and a boyfriend. I also knew that I was capable of finishing a half marathon with a respectable time. These factors negatively impacted my training and I wasn’t nearly as dedicated or prepared this time around. I still managed to get another decent finishing time (2:04:57) but decided I needed bigger goals to motivate me (re: Marathon!).

This really didn’t turn out like I had planned. The problem is, my running inspiration was at an all-time low. Now that I look back on it, I have no idea why I thought increasing my mileage by such a drastic amount would somehow reignite my joy for running. I should have done the opposite and taken a break, eased up on my running, and registered for some shorter fun races.

Instead, I found myself ill prepared on marathon day. Based on my half a couple months before (2:00:27), I thought that I would have no problems finishing the marathon in 4.5 hours. In fact, I still felt pretty good at the halfway mark (2:15:58) and was on pace for at least somewhere near my goal. A few miles later the wheels fell off. I stopped to walk a few times -- something that was not in my plan. To make matters worse, even during my rare running spurts I was being passed by people walking. This was very discouraging. I had no idea if I was going to finish. Of course, I was also in a lot of pain, like a lot of pain. I had no idea my body could hurt so badly in so many places. By mile 23, I swore I’d never do this again and being the headstrong woman that I am, this meant it was now or never. I was going to finish this wretched race no matter what. I started running again which surprised a lot of the on-course volunteers and I distinctly remember them telling me that no one else at this point was running. Eventually, my stubbornness paid off and I made my way across the finish line in 5:33:38.

The next year I finally broke 2 hours in the half marathon with a 1:58:14. After that, my dedication to running waned once again. I was still running at least one half every year but my training would falter as the weather warmed (my body was not built for warm weather). Every spring, I would start running with the best of intentions but by the time July came around, I was struggling to stick with it. The lack of running also meant that my weight was increasing and I had gained back 15 of those precious pounds I had worked so hard to lose a few years before. I was officially overweight again. This came as quite a shock, and once again I found a half marathon and planned to properly train (for real this time ).

I set my sights on a spring race and stuck with the training. My goal was 1:57:xx. I crushed that goal and finished in 1:50:49. This is despite an unplanned bathroom break which taught me the important lesson of nothing new on race day, even if that new thing is just an apple and apples are good for you.

Of course, there were still moments when I didn’t feel like running, but this was the beginning of my running renaissance. Overall, I loved training in the late winter/spring. I began thinking about my marathon redemption. I’ve always been a bit embarrassed about the whole ordeal. Unquestionably, finishing a marathon is a huge accomplishment; only .5% of Americans have finished one, but I knew I could do so much better. With my stubbornness once again set on finishing a marathon, it was only a matter of deciding when and where. To be honest, this wasn’t much of a decision. How could I choose anything but the 25th anniversary of the WDW Marathon?

And here were are, 279 days until race day. I’m actively training for a half marathon on May 13th where I hope to improve my POT. After that, I’ll switch my focus to getting faster without losing too much fitness over the hotter summer months. Come September, I’ll be ready to dive headfirst into training for my second marathon. Over the next several months, I will chronicle the tales of my training in order to keep me honest, motivated, and learning from my mistakes. Hopefully, it will do the same for you and, with any luck, it will be a little bit entertaining as well.

 

[Sailormoon2]

On board for the journey. I too have struggled with consistency in my training and as a result have only ever run a sub-2 hour half once out of the 21 halls I have done. This is my year too, to buckle down and commit to consistency!

 

[GollyGadget]

On board for the journey. I too have struggled with consistency in my training and as a result have only ever run a sub-2 hour half once out of the 21 halls I have done. This is my year too, to buckle down and commit to consistency!

Great to have you along! In general, I like to live in the now and not worry about the future. When it comes to training I have to be more conscious of the repercussions. Sure, spending an evening on the couch sounds great at the time but I know long term I'm only hindering myself. I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I've had that exact internal argument. Luckily, my training has been winning more lately.

 

[GollyGadget]

April 3-9 Recap (272 Days until WDW Marathon):
Last week was a great week for completing my workouts. Two weeks ago, some travel (planned & unplanned) as well as school work made it difficult to find the time for training so I was happy to get back on track.

The schedule last week included one benchmark run, three recovery runs, a little strength training, and the Chi Town 10k on Saturday. Unfortunately, the rain prevented me from running outside as much as I would have liked so I was forced to the indoor track and treadmill on a couple of occasions. I know that I could run in the rain, and sometimes I do, but I really didn’t feel like putting up with all the worms this week. Worms are undoubtedly my biggest irrational fear. I just don’t want to be anywhere near them so my runs end up looking a little more like hopscotch as I carefully leap around making sure not to land on any of them. Speaking of worms, I came across this over the weekend.

How is this a thing? Do they just collect the sun-dried worms left on the sidewalk after the rain?

Due to a great discussion over on the Running Thread about form, I paid special attention to my form on Friday and was amazed at the difference. Typically, I spend most of my time looking down as I’m a bit clumsy and tend to get tripped up on the uneven sidewalks/potholes. Looking ahead made a noticeable difference, the running felt easier, and as an added bonus I didn’t trip or fall.

Total miles: 16.36
Total time: 2:28:41
Avg Resting HR: 50


This week’s schedule:
Monday: Recovery 2.25 mi
Tuesday: Recovery 6.25 mi
Wednesday: Recovery 3.75 mi
Thursday: Strength
Friday: Recovery 4.75
Saturday: Bunny Hop 5k
Sunday: Rest

Stay tuned for a recap of the Chi Town 10k.

 

[ZellyB]

Joining in to follow your training. My husband and I will also be there for marathon weekend in 2018.

Earthworm jerky??? Seriously.

 

[GollyGadget]

Chi Town 10k Race Review
Weather:
The weather this weekend was AWESOME; low 40s and sunny at the start. I don’t remember any real wind either which is always a concern on the lakefront. Last year it had snowed and a lot of the course was covered in ice so I was extra thankful for the nicer weather.

Course:
Meh. It was fairly flat which was nice. The course was sort of a hybrid between an out-and-back and a loop. It started by winding around the portalets, which despite the smell wasn’t awful. It then continued along the lake front for the next 2ish miles. After that, it headed back to the start area but not next to the lake and with a few odd loops thrown in. My least favorite part was probably the finish (blasphemy, I know). You could see the finish area around mile 5 but had to circle around a couple of fields before getting there. Plus, that whole portalet section again which is much worse toward the end of the race. Overall, it wasn’t a terrible course, but I’ve run much better courses in Chicago and for that reason it was sort of a letdown. I think if the course was run in reverse with the boring park bits at the beginning and the lake at the end it would be much improved.

Results:

Confession time…sometimes I feel like I’m not a real runner because I don’t persistently track my PRs. If you ran into me on the street, I wouldn’t be able to tell you a single one of them. I tried to start tracking in a spreadsheet a couple of years ago but I haven’t updated that sheet in over a year. I know that my 5k is 23:xx and my half is 1:50:xx and that’s it, no idea on the seconds. I run the same 7 mile race every year and have no idea my PR. What I do track are my goals and progress towards those. Specifically, I want to break the 23 min 5k, 1:50 half, and an hour on that 7 mile race.

With all that said, my goal for this race was to break 50 minutes. This was entirely based on picking a “nice round number” somewhat near my pace. In the end, I finished with 50:15. Obviously, I would have liked to break 50 min but I’m not disappointed at all in my effort. Plus, I wasn’t necessarily training for this race so much as using it as part of my training for my upcoming half in 5 weeks. For good measure, I went and looked up my 10k PR and according to the internet it was 51:16 last summer so looks like I have a new PR I may never remember .

Time: 50:15
Age Group Rank: 10/278
Overall Rank: 113/1580

Random Ramblings:
Corrals – I’m a big fan of corral starts when done right. This race had 3 corrals and I was placed in the first one. I had minimal problems with crowding and no problem getting into my corral. The other two corrals were overflowing about 10 min before the start and I have no idea what it was like for the runners in those. The one odd thing to me was the corral specifications: 1. <8:59/mi, no walkers, no joggers; 2. <10:59/mi, no walkers; 3. everybody else. I’ve never seen anyone specify jogging vs running so that was really peculiar. The other thing was the no walkers. Personally, I don’t follow any of the Galloway plans but it seems like an increasing number of people do and I’m certain some of them are faster than I am.

Post-Race Refreshments – Like a lot of runners, one of my favorite post-race rituals is enjoying a fresh beer. This race included one free Lagunitas. It’s always a nice perk when there’s something more than the traditional light domestics offered. There were also your typical granola bars, cookies, and bananas. The one unique item this race advertised was the post-race hot dog. Personally, I hate hot dogs and had no intentions of going near one. I was intrigued by the condiment table though which featured pickle spears among other things. This leads me to one question, why aren’t post-race pickles a thing? Besides being delicious, they also help replace lost electrolytes.

Overall Impression:
It was a well-organized event that lucked out with terrific weather. I probably won’t run it again, but only because it didn’t blow me away and there are lots of other options.

 

[roxymama]

Congrats on the PR!!
Was that the same event as the Chi-Town Half? I had been seeing advertisements for that one pop up a lot lately. Not sure I'd be too happy with the portapotty loops especially since there is so much lovelier scenery in the area. Glad you got nice weather. And I agree with you totally on the "no jogger" thing being super weird. I feel like even at my fastest I probably appear to be a jogger because I just do more of a fast shuffle than a big gallop if that makes sense. Weiiiiird!

And awesome idea about post-race pickles. I would like that a lot!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Due to a great discussion over on the Running Thread about form, I paid special attention to my form on Friday and was amazed at the difference. Typically, I spend most of my time looking down as I’m a bit clumsy and tend to get tripped up on the uneven sidewalks/potholes. Looking ahead made a noticeable difference, the running felt easier, and as an added bonus I didn’t trip or fall.

Happy to hear some of the form changes led to a positive outcome!

Avg Resting HR: 50

That's a stellar resting HR and shows a very huge potential for endurance running! No doubt you will break 23 min, 1:50 HM and based on this alone you could have a decent shot at a BQ in your life (if you ever wanted that for yourself). It's in no way a sole determinant, but it is a key indicator/factor.

For good measure, I went and looked up my 10k PR and according to the internet it was 51:16 last summer so looks like I have a new PR I may never remember .

Congrats on the PR!

 

[GollyGadget]

Joining in to follow your training. My husband and I will also be there for marathon weekend in 2018.

Earthworm jerky??? Seriously.

Great to have you along! I'm really excited for the experience.

Congrats on the PR!!
Was that the same event as the Chi-Town Half? I had been seeing advertisements for that one pop up a lot lately. Not sure I'd be too happy with the portapotty loops especially since there is so much lovelier scenery in the area. Glad you got nice weather. And I agree with you totally on the "no jogger" thing being super weird. I feel like even at my fastest I probably appear to be a jogger because I just do more of a fast shuffle than a big gallop if that makes sense. Weiiiiird!

And awesome idea about post-race pickles. I would like that a lot!

It was the same event as Chi-Town Half. I'm never really sure what to call races when I don't do the titled distance...The half course did have more lake time so it might have been a little better than the 10k overall.

That's a stellar resting HR and shows a very huge potential for endurance running! No doubt you will break 23 min, 1:50 HM and based on this alone you could have a decent shot at a BQ in your life (if you ever wanted that for yourself). It's in no way a sole determinant, but it is a key indicator/factor.

Ahh, don't play with my heart. When I started running, I assumed I was too slow to ever go to Boston. I only recently looked at BQ times and realized that it is something within reach. I've already warned my husband. I'm actually using this marathon to decide if that is something I want to pursue or if I prefer to just stick with shorter distances.

I've found my resting HR tracks pretty well with my training. I'm curious to see how low it will go with the marathon training. It was up near 60 a couple of months ago when I wasn't running regularly and I'm glad to see it back below 55.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Ahh, don't play with my heart. When I started running, I assumed I was too slow to ever go to Boston. I only recently looked at BQ times and realized that it is something within reach. I've already warned my husband. I'm actually using this marathon to decide if that is something I want to pursue or if I prefer to just stick with shorter distances.

I try not to play with people's emotions too much because I know for some how much a "BQ" means (especially since I've been working on mine for 5 years now). But here's my number crunching:

What marathon time do you need for a BQ? I'm guessing a 3:35 (age 18-34). Your 1:50:xx HM and 50:15 10k, both suggest your marathon fitness to be ~3:53 under ideal conditions (ideal course, weather, and training). For the sake of over-qualifying, let's say you need a 3:32 from a 3:53. This is a ~9% improvement. A normal improvement rate is between 2-16% dependent on the level/quality of training in a single 16-18 week cycle. I would venture to guess that dependent on how much you wanted it, you could reach a 3:32 by fall 2018 (by completing an ideal training cycle this fall/winter and a second ideal training cycle next summer/fall). Where your 5k time of 23:xx is (23:01 vs 23:59) would tell me whether you're in need of more speed or endurance, but I'd venture to guess it's more endurance.

 

[GollyGadget]

April 10-16 Recap (265 Days until WDW Marathon):
Last week was hectic. I’m not sure if I mentioned it here before, but I’m currently finishing up my MBA. Actually, tonight is my last night (Woo hoo! I’m looking forward to getting those 10-15 hrs a week back in my evenings/weekends). With the semester wrapping up, this also meant final papers, presentations, case studies, and exams colliding to create a perfect storm. It’s actually been pretty manageable, but I found myself in a spot last Tuesday where I had to stay at work 2 hours later than planned and then write a paper due that night at midnight.

The schedule called for a 6.25 mi run and I just didn’t have the time so I decided to postpone the run to Wednesday. My intent at the time was to push everything off a day and then Thursday I would do the 3.75 mi run and strength training. Well, once Thursday rolled around I had flashbacks of the week before where the strength training on Thursday meant overly sore legs for the race on Saturday. (For some reason my muscle soreness is always on a two day delay, is that normal?) Since I had another race on Saturday, I decided to postpone the strength training. My thoughts were that the race was only a 5k and I could do the workout afterwards. Well, come Saturday, I totally forgot about the strength training, so that just never materialized. On a positive note, I completed all of my runs! I plan to get back on the strength training this week, but in all honesty, I don’t feel all that guilty for missing it. I know it’s important, but my priority is definitely on hitting my runs.

Speaking of schedule and skipping strength training, I’m using the Nike+ Run Club app for training. One of the things I like about it is that it also includes strength workouts. Strength training isn’t exactly my favorite thing, especially this time of year when it’s so nice to be outside. However, having the training plan put together for me with specific workouts really helps me actually complete them (just not this week…). I used the app last spring when I broke my half PR by over 7 minutes so I’d say it works for me. Before that, I followed Hal Higdon’s plans. Initially the beginner and then the intermediate. At some point I got bored with the training and wanted something new. Nike does a good job of mixing up the workouts to make it interesting (recovery, speed repeats, tempo, long) and they include target paces based on the benchmark runs.

The one thing that is a little weird is that the plan isn’t set in stone. I know for some people, they like to see the entire training plan at the beginning. With Nike, you can do that, but it also has a feature to adapt your plan every week. It takes into account your completed workouts and pacing and adjusts the schedule. This can be a little frustrating when trying to plan for the upcoming weeks and knowing that your training plan will most likely change between now and then. However, I think the pros outweigh the cons here. If I miss a few runs, I’m never quite sure if I should try to make them up or skip them and how to adjust my training. This feature gives the app a coach like feel. I’ve actually never had a coach, but I would hope they would also be able to help adjust training plans when life got in the way.

Total miles: 20.16
Total time: 3:16:15
Avg Resting HR: 53 – Pretty sure the minor rise is due to the stress of school finishing up. We’ll see how it goes this week…


This week’s schedule:
Monday: Recovery 3.75 mi
Tuesday: Recovery 9.5 mi
Wednesday: Recovery 3.75 mi
Thursday: Strength
Friday: Long 10.5
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Recovery 4.75 mi

 

[GollyGadget]

I try not to play with people's emotions too much because I know for some how much a "BQ" means (especially since I've been working on mine for 5 years now). But here's my number crunching:

What marathon time do you need for a BQ? I'm guessing a 3:35 (age 18-34). Your 1:50:xx HM and 50:15 10k, both suggest your marathon fitness to be ~3:53 under ideal conditions (ideal course, weather, and training). For the sake of over-qualifying, let's say you need a 3:32 from a 3:53. This is a ~9% improvement. A normal improvement rate is between 2-16% dependent on the level/quality of training in a single 16-18 week cycle. I would venture to guess that dependent on how much you wanted it, you could reach a 3:32 by fall 2018 (by completing an ideal training cycle this fall/winter and a second ideal training cycle next summer/fall). Where your 5k time of 23:xx is (23:01 vs 23:59) would tell me whether you're in need of more speed or endurance, but I'd venture to guess it's more endurance.

You nailed it! 3:35. My 5k PR was 23:10 last April. I had a freak injury last May (dropped a dresser on my ankle) which sidelined me for most of the summer and I'm still trying to get back to that fitness level with this training cycle but I feel I'm getting closer.

 

[GollyGadget]

Easter Egg Scramble 5k Race Review
Weather:
AMAZING. It was 65 and overcast at race start. There were some winds coming off the river that made the last mile or so a little rough, but overall can’t complain. The wind also made it difficult to keep my bunny ears on my head. Before the race, my husband told me I needed to fold them down for aerodynamics and I thought he was silly. I’m not that fast after all. Turns out, he was right. From mile 1.5 on, I had them folded down close to my head. I popped them back up for the finish but had to hold on to keep them from flying off. I’m sure there’s some really bizarre pictures of me at the finish out on the internet somewhere.

Course:
On the race website they advertised it as a “fast course.” I knew the area well enough to know that this was some sort of play on words because they could not promise a flat course. The first half mile included a 100 ft climb. My mile splits are enough to tell you the story of the first two miles. Mile 1: 8:10; Mile 2: 7:16. Basically, what goes up must come down. The last mile was flat for the first half and then uphill toward the finish. Despite the rough start, I enjoyed the course. It had great scenery looping around some houses built in the 1800s and along the river.

Results:
Knowing the hilly profile of the course and how sore my legs had been just a few days prior, I didn’t set any specific time goals for the race. I was hoping to place in my age group but never associated that with a time. I was just going to run the race and see how it went. There were a few people in bunny ears and once the race started I decided I wanted to be the first bunny finisher (weird goal, I know).

Right after the finish my husband came up to me and asked if the girl that finished right in front of me was in my age group. I gave him a puzzled look as I honestly didn't notice any girl ahead of me because I was too focused on keeping my bunny ears on my head. Immediately, I told him I had no idea but more importantly wanted to know if there were any bunnies ahead of me. He confirmed that there were not so I’m happy to say that I met my goal for the race! I also managed to be in the top 10 female finishers and got 1st in my age division. The age group victory awarded me a gift certificate to a local running store and an awesome bunny sculpture from a local artist (If I ever learn to add pictures properly, I’ll post one here. I see my pics from my last review aren’t working).

Time: 24:19
Age Group Rank: 2/53 (1 finished 2nd overall so was pulled out)
Overall Rank: 56/541

Random Ramblings:
Kids Races – Kids races are one of my favorite things. I don’t have any kids, but I love seeing the joy on their faces as they run freely down the course and the even bigger smiles when they win their medals.

Post-Race Refreshments –Beer! I’m seriously lucking out so far on my race circuit as this race featured Sam Adams Summer Ale, so tasty. I have a feeling it’s going to go down from here, but it was nice while it lasted. The race was sponsored by a local Mexican restaurant and they were providing breakfast burritos. I didn’t eat one, but I thought this was a pretty legit finishers snack. There was also water, Gatorade, and protein bars.

Overall Impression:
I will definitely run this race again in the future. It’s a smaller race with about 500 participants and a great family atmosphere. There was even an Easter egg hunt afterwards. I’m not typically in town for Easter weekend, but next time I am, I will definitely be running this race again.

 

[DopeyBadger]

(For some reason my muscle soreness is always on a two day delay, is that normal?)

Completely normal. It's called DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness). Depending on the type of workout the fatigue generally appears within 24-48 hours. So feeling more sore two days later is a normal effect.

You nailed it! 3:35. My 5k PR was 23:10 last April. I had a freak injury last May (dropped a dresser on my ankle) which sidelined me for most of the summer and I'm still trying to get back to that fitness level with this training cycle but I feel I'm getting closer.

Keep up the great work and you'll get there!

Time: 24:19
Age Group Rank: 2/53 (1 finished 2nd overall so was pulled out)
Overall Rank: 56/541

Wahoo! Congrats on an age group award! That's sweet!

 

[GollyGadget]

April 17-23 Recap (258 Days until WDW Marathon):
This past week was a mental struggle. Some parts of me don't want to admit it because admitting it might make it more real, but admitting is the famous first step of recovery. There wasn’t a single run I was particularly excited about beforehand.

On Monday, I was supposed to have an easy 3.75 miles. It was hotter than I expected, coupled with no shade, a puppy who insisted on stopping several times, a smart phone that wasn’t being particularly smart, and a looming final presentation that evening, I just didn’t have it in me. I made it 5k and called it quits. Based on the subpar run the day before, I was really nervous about Tuesday; it was scheduled to be my longest run since last August. I found a shady trail and decided to start out as slowly as I wanted. This worked out very well as I was able to gradually increase my speed and build my confidence. Wednesday was another slower paced run for recovery and not too eventful.

Thursday was strength training and I was very nervous about this as well. A few weeks ago, my legs were really sore after the workout and I knew I had a long run scheduled the next day. Amazingly, my legs were fine. I’m sure they were a bit fatigued but nothing like the soreness of last time. I had legitimate butterflies in my stomach before Friday’s long run of 10.5 miles. With the workout the day before and the 9.5 miles just a few days before, I wasn’t sure how I would hold up. I picked out a new route to mix it up a bit and it had quite a few big hills because I apparently like to torture myself. Overall, the run went great. There was some minor discomfort after mile 9 and the parts downwind from the dog park weren’t awesome, but it was another big confidence boosting run.

You might think after stringing together a few good runs that my running motivation would be overflowing, but Sunday proved to be another mental battle. I spent 3 hours driving home Sunday morning and any sort of extended car time just sucks all of the energy out of me. Honestly, the main reason I completed yesterday's run was this journal. Yay for accountability!

Before my run on Tuesday, I ran into an old coworker while filling up my water bottles. He was a bit curious about them and so I told him how I was going to run 9.5 miles and the water fountains won’t be operational for another month so I have to run with a really awesome fanny pack if I want to stay hydrated. He couldn’t seem to comprehend why someone would run so far. I hadn’t really thought about it in quite some time. Running has just become something that I do. I spent my drive to the trail and first couple of miles contemplating why I ran. I came up with a few reasons: my health, stress relief, designated “me time,” the race atmosphere, and the feeling of accomplishment but none of these really said what I was feeling. Then it hit me. Not physically, but pretty close. A high school XC team passed me on the trail and one of the boys was wearing a shirt that said “I don’t need a reason. I only need a route.” I couldn't sum it up any better.

Total Miles: 31.72
Total Time: 5:31:18
Avg Resting HR: 54 – Up again; I wish I understood this better to make some educated guesses on what’s going on. Anyone got any good resources? Everything I’ve come across just tells me lower is more efficient but not any good info on what could cause it to go up or down or how big of fluctuations to pay attention to.


This Week’s Schedule:
Monday – Recovery 6.5 mi
Tuesday – Benchmark & Strength
Wednesday – Recovery 3.75 mi
Thursday –Strength
Friday – Rest
Saturday – Speed 7x800
Sunday – Recovery 4.75 mi

 

[DopeyBadger]

Everything I’ve come across just tells me lower is more efficient but not any good info on what could cause it to go up or down or how big of fluctuations to pay attention to.

I'm not sure if I've ever found a set fluctuation % to monitor for. I personally just take note of when I'm sick what is it, when I'm healthy what is it, when I'm in a high-level of training what is it. I believe the lower heart rate is ultimately caused by an increase in stroke volume (the amount of blood that can be sent to the rest of the body in a single stroke). If the body is able to have less beats per minute for a resting HR than the body is able to work more efficiently to pump blood around. I think the main concerns with a sudden increase in rHR is sickness and overtraining. When I had a sinus infection my rHR went from 45-47 to 68 as an example. When I had just finished up Dopey 2017 (overtrained/overextended), my rHR went up to 60-62. When I recently increased my paces during this current training cycle my rHR jumped to 56, but as the weeks have progressed since it has worked its way back down to 45. I'll see if I can find any scientific literature but at first glance I wasn't able to find anything solid.

 

[GollyGadget]

I'm not sure if I've ever found a set fluctuation % to monitor for. I personally just take note of when I'm sick what is it, when I'm healthy what is it, when I'm in a high-level of training what is it. I believe the lower heart rate is ultimately caused by an increase in stroke volume (the amount of blood that can be sent to the rest of the body in a single stroke). If the body is able to have less beats per minute for a resting HR than the body is able to work more efficiently to pump blood around. I think the main concerns with a sudden increase in rHR is sickness and overtraining. When I had a sinus infection my rHR went from 45-47 to 68 as an example. When I had just finished up Dopey 2017 (overtrained/overextended), my rHR went up to 60-62. When I recently increased my paces during this current training cycle my rHR jumped to 56, but as the weeks have progressed since it has worked its way back down to 45. I'll see if I can find any scientific literature but at first glance I wasn't able to find anything solid.

Thanks for that info. My mileage has increased quite a bit so maybe it's that. I'm currently training for a half in 2.5 weeks so hopefully it adjusts back down in a few weeks.

 

[GollyGadget]

April 24-30 Recap (251 Days until WDW Marathon)
I almost wasn’t going to post this recap today. I skipped a run last week and wasn’t sure how I would justify that here. I was traveling, it was storming, blah blah blah. Truth is, I don’t even feel bad about it because I think that rest day was exactly what my body needed. The week before was the highest mileage my body has seen for a while (30+) and my run yesterday was the best I’ve had in a couple weeks. Sometimes, you just need a break.

The highlight of the week was definitely yesterday. My husband wanted to go to the YMCA with me and since it wasn’t particularly nice out, I knew I was likely running there or on the treadmill. Usually, he will stick to the elliptical while I run around the indoor track so while we’re there at the same time, we aren’t really working out together. Yesterday though, he left the elliptical about 30 minutes in and joined me on the track for a couple of laps. It was such a boost to my mood and broke up the monotony of the 1/8th mi track. When we first started dating, he would run with me a lot. At some point, he decided he didn’t like running anymore and that was the end of our runs. I’ve always wished he would get back into it but at this point I’ve stopped pushing him. However, I’m still hopeful .

Two weeks after touting how much I loved the Nike+ training, I’m now second guessing it. As I mentioned before, it will adapt your plan based on the mileage of the previous week. Yesterday during its adaptation it decided that I needed a long run today and another long run on Saturday, 8 days before my half marathon. Since I already had a 5k planned and history tells me my mileage should be winding down, I’ve decided to eliminate that second long run. Who knows what kind of crazy schedule adjustment it will try to make next week, but by then I’ll just be tapering into race day.

This whole thing has me questioning what to do for my next race though. I was set to do a 15k training plan through Nike for my 7 mi race on July 29. Since 7 mi training plans don’t seem to exist, I was debating between 10k & 15k. This race has a particularly hilly profile and since I’m already in half marathon shape, I thought the 15k might suit me better. But now, I just don’t know. I searched for other 15k plans and only found Higdon which is a 10 week program. I’ll be spending two weeks in Europe and will only have about 6 weeks to train afterwards. I plan to run some while on vacation, but I don’t want to commit to a plan knowing there will be hotels without treadmills and areas I don’t feel safe running alone. I’ve got a few weeks to figure it out, but please let me know if you have any suggestions!

Total miles: 16.91
Total time: 2:43:55
Avg Resting HR: 56 (It’s finally trending down! I think it was a case of heavy training)


This week’s schedule:
Monday – Long Run 12 mi
Tuesday – Recovery 3.75 mi
Wednesday – Speed 7 x 1200m
Thursday – Recovery 4 mi
Friday – Rest
Saturday – Cinco de Mayo 5k
Sunday - Strength

 

[ZellyB]

Shoot, don't worry about posting about missing runs here. That seems to be all I post about lately.

Sometimes you have to miss runs. As long as it doesn't become a habit, you'll be okay. Just move on and follow your plan. And, you are right that sometimes a bit of a rest is better than going out for that run.

I'm not so good on working out running plans when traveling, but hopefully @DopeyBadger will have some ideas for you.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Two weeks after touting how much I loved the Nike+ training, I’m now second guessing it. As I mentioned before, it will adapt your plan based on the mileage of the previous week. Yesterday during its adaptation it decided that I needed a long run today and another long run on Saturday, 8 days before my half marathon. Since I already had a 5k planned and history tells me my mileage should be winding down, I’ve decided to eliminate that second long run. Who knows what kind of crazy schedule adjustment it will try to make next week, but by then I’ll just be tapering into race day.

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?

This whole thing has me questioning what to do for my next race though. I was set to do a 15k training plan through Nike for my 7 mi race on July 29. Since 7 mi training plans don’t seem to exist, I was debating between 10k & 15k. This race has a particularly hilly profile and since I’m already in half marathon shape, I thought the 15k might suit me better. But now, I just don’t know. I searched for other 15k plans and only found Higdon which is a 10 week program. I’ll be spending two weeks in Europe and will only have about 6 weeks to train afterwards. I plan to run some while on vacation, but I don’t want to commit to a plan knowing there will be hotels without treadmills and areas I don’t feel safe running alone. I’ve got a few weeks to figure it out, but please let me know if you have any suggestions!

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.