That was utterly terrifying and I regret having joined you (comments welcome)

[azrivest]

Congrats, that's a great time!

 

[SimbaMufasa321]

Congrats!! I have considered doing the LA marathon next year. Do you think its a good experience/course?

 

[RuntheMouse]

Nice write up, congratulations on the great time!

Happy belated birthday!!!

 

[NYC_MW]

Congrats!! I have considered doing the LA marathon next year. Do you think its a good experience/course?

I would definitely recommend, especially if you're relatively local. There seem to also be a lot of local running groups that train together and offer support. And next year is the 40th, so that should be special. @Marebear_runs also wrote a short recap in the 2024 Running main forum thread.

Only thing is to make sure to have a plan if you'll have a cheer squad as the tracking app is terrible

 

[NYC_MW]

woo hoo! Sounds like you had an awesome race!

I did! Thanks for all the journal support along the way

Awesome job, congrats! Sounds like a fun race weekend. And happy belated birthday!

It definitely was, and thank you!

Congrats and happy birthday!! Love all that bling!!

Bling is what drives my racing (and running) haha.

Congrats, that's a great time!

Thank you!

Nice write up, congratulations on the great time!

Happy belated birthday!!!

Thanks for reading

 

[SimbaMufasa321]

I would definitely recommend, especially if you're relatively local. There seem to also be a lot of local running groups that train together and offer support. And next year is the 40th, so that should be special. @Marebear_runs also wrote a short recap in the 2024 Running main forum thread.

Only thing is to make sure to have a plan if you'll have a cheer squad as the tracking app is terrible

Thanks for the rec! Hopefully it aligns with my schedule next year =)

 

[NYC_MW]

It's been a minute, but I've still been plodding away. Took a week off after the marathon, then back into maintenance mode, loosely following schedule of one long-ish run, one workout, and two easy runs a week. On advice of PT, have been trying to add in more strength work since mileage is lower now, but I'm so bad at "remembering" to do it. Hopefully she won't be too mad/disappointed when I go back in July .


~1 more month of maintenance mode before starting Berlin training in early June. Was pleasantly surprised to find that the Chicago plan I had bought on McMillan was saved (I guess once you buy it, you get to reuse it forever), so am going to see if it works better the second time around. I did change the values to use the metric system though, so I can get my brain used to seeing km markers rather than mile ones.

 

[NYC_MW]

Thanks for the rec! Hopefully it aligns with my schedule next year =)

Will definitely be coming out to cheer next year, so lmk if you do end up running it.

 

[NYC_MW]

I'm back! Fell off the boards for a bit again, but Berlin training has started, so hoping the journal will help keep me accountable to the plan. 4 days a week of running: 1 long, 1 workout, 1 easy+strength training, and 1 easy. Will try to add 1 cross train day (though that would be the first to go), and finally got connected with the Santa Monica BoMF team, so back to that as well (though so far seems like it will be mostly walking).

Last couple weeks of maintenance mode:


Also fit in a DL/DCA trip to scope out Pixar Fest with my sister over Mother's Day wknd! Not quite open->close over 3 days, but pretty close. All the new characters were great! Will put together a trip report, but here's one of my fave pix:

 

[azrivest]

Love. It. DL has such great character stops.

 

[NYC_MW]

1 week down, 15 to go.

Feeling a little sluggish and paces are just within what's prescribed, so hoping things will kick up a bit as training comes back. Had entered a goal time of 4:25:00 (0:03:30PR) with current time of 4:31:49, so fingers crossed.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I feel like whenever I start a new training plan, the first few weeks are always kind of a mess, but then it starts to come together. It'll get there!

 

[NYC_MW]

Weeks 2 & 3 done, and switching up calendar weeks so long runs (Mondays) are at the ends of weeks (since that's also when I usually end up posting here).


Ended up re-rolling the ankle on a run/walk jaunt with labmates two weeks ago, but thankfully, the PT strength training has been doing its job so the damage wasn't too bad. Was able to run the next day and moved up the next PT appointment to this last week. She was happy with how things looked, and ankle feels pretty much back to where it was before the re-roll, so yay!

Made the mistake of going out for long run today at 4PM. Humidity may be gloriously low here, but the midday summer sun in LA is no joke. Also, not bringing water was a rookie mistake

 

[NYC_MW]

4 weeks down, 12 weeks to go. Managed to roll the left ankle AGAIN on Thursday, this time when going downhill on a trail-ish path so probably foot landed wrong (first two times were from landing badly on those spiky thorn ball seeds, which apparently are from "the most dangerous tree in the suburbs" ). Hobbled a bit but was able to finish the remaining ~2.5 miles. Ankle ended up being pretty badly bruised and tender on Friday, but mostly gone by Saturday. This is just getting ridiculous. I can definitely feel myself stepping a lot more gingerly on downhills and when coming off curbs, but not really sure what else to do besides continuing with PT's strength exercises. Was not wearing the same shoes all three times, so at least that's ruled out. bleh.

In a more fun vein, finally got around to getting some Cal visors for me and one of the other friends running in Berlin (had promised her I'd get us matching personalized visors if we got in). Now to find a shop to embroider our team name (Nacho Average Bears) and possibly Berlin 2024 on the sides. Had briefly contemplated trying to do it myself, but am definitely not nearly as talented as all you costume geniuses are.

 

[jmasgat]

Nacho Average Bears

There must be a story here......

 

[NYC_MW]

There must be a story here......

Haha, not too exciting. When we were both living in NY, we decided to try to go on a Nacho Tour of Manhattan (given that we both looove cheese). It was short lived, but spawned the team name. What's more funny is that the 3rd person on our team hates cheese with a passion and definitely did NOT want in on the visor action


5 down, 11 to go.
Hill workout was not fun. Started out bad when I accidentally included a huge hill in the warmup (it is NOT flat where I live), but also started the 1st interval too fast. Didn't quite make it all the way down the hill for the second recovery interval (incidentally, is there a way to extend an interval on a Garmin in the middle of a workout?) and everything just sort of unraveled. Was supposed to be 6-8 intervals, and made it to 7 before deciding that I had died enough for the day. 10-12 repeats coming up in 2 weeks...

Mid-week easy runs were uneventful, which is good. Long run today could have gone better though. Overall okay, given T/D, but last 3-4 miles were definitely not at GMP. Again, it's hilly where I live, and back half of the run was more uphill than down (last mile included a big hill that I just ended up walking). Definitely stopped at more red lights than absolutely necessary and felt myself being more out of breath than I should have been. But on to another week.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Didn't quite make it all the way down the hill for the second recovery interval (incidentally, is there a way to extend an interval on a Garmin in the middle of a workout?)

Can you set your intervals as "open"? That's what I do when I don't know exactly how long it'll be, and then I just hit the lap button when I'm ready for the next rep. Alternatively, you could always set it to longer than you think you'll need and do the same thing.

I don't know about lengthening an interval in the middle, though.

 

[DopeyBadger]

incidentally, is there a way to extend an interval on a Garmin in the middle of a workout?

I don't know about lengthening an interval in the middle, though.

I agree with @WillRunForPizza's ideas about how to change the workout pre execution. But even when the best laid plans end up wrong, I just hit the stop/pause button if my recovery interval doesn't put me in the correct location to be ready to start again. You'll lose a little of the recording of the workout, but you're still executing the workout correctly in real life. Just hit stop, and then there's a choice to restart the workout instead of saving and ending it. I'm not aware of how to add something extra mid-workout that would be recorded though.

 

[NYC_MW]

Thanks to @WillRunForPizza and @DopeyBadger for the reminder. Had previously set interval ends at lap button push when inputting workouts manually, but didn't realize I could change that setting when workouts were being automatically pushed to the watch from a 3rd party. Changed it for this week's hill intervals so that should be better.


Wednesday's Steady State was unexpectedly nice and felt good. Much flatter terrain + shade are good things.

PT appointment again on Thursday and she thinks I'm not effectively isolating my arch with the old exercises. So some new exercises selectively targeting the post tib that are to be done every day (Toe walks #20 ea; Heel raises with ball; Foot intrinsic bridge; Post tib banded; Tripod foot squat with focus on arch lift).

Today's long run felt MUCH better than last week. Slightly cooler and less total ascent, but also just started out and kept to a slower moving pace (though elapsed pace faster since didn't feel the need to stop at every almost red light). But, shins and knees not happy afterwards. Due to the new exercises? But will be keeping an eye on that.

 

[NYC_MW]

Wednesday's hills were a redemption. Using the lap press button was so much better than preset intervals. While nowhere near hitting the 5k pace required (4:49-5:07), felt much more controlled than 2 weeks ago and was able to hit all 12 repeats, so I'm calling that a win. Comparing the two pace/elevation charts is telling.


Saturday's work day ran long, so moved the run to Sunday morning, but both Thurs and Sun easy runs felt good (likely due to the lowered temperatures this week).

Got lazy today and instead of heading out in the morning for the progression run, hit the treadmill at night. Lack of hills and the blasting A/C (plus watching canoeing and dressage on the TV) really helped to make it a good, strong run at the prescribed paces. Had a PT session in the afternoon where technique was adjusted again--apparently I overcompensated after the last session and was aggravating the peroneals again . Given 4 weeks to just work on activating and using the post-tib, so .

Been having a lot of fun watching the games (this former wannabe rugger is very much appreciating the screen-time NBC's been giving the 7s and go USA women!) but also recognizing I do not have the grit to do what these amazing people do day in and out in training. And reinforcing that if I want to see the gains in my running, need to be putting in more of the work haha.