You must be swift as the coursing river (as long as it's the Lazy River) - comments welcome

[avondale]

This all also depends on if you can get into MCM. If you do, keep in mind that MCM can be hard to PR because it's so crowded, especially in the first half of the race. No corrals. I agree with striker that it's hard to schedule all of that.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

There's also the option of treating MCM like a training run for your HM PR attempt.

I wouldn't, but you could.

I probably would not either

If you do, keep in mind that MCM can be hard to PR because it's so crowded, especially in the first half of the race. No corrals.

Wow, I didn't realize MCM didn't have corrals...good to know. Also, weird!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I'm just trying to figure out how that would work with trying to PR a HM in the fall as well - is that even feasible? And if so, is it better to do the HM before or after the marathon?

I'd put a HM PR attempt no closer than about 6 weeks out from the Marathon itself.

The HM (1:52:51) will be a little more challenging because I don't think I could have run much faster at the time. But I'm sure my fitness improved during marathon training and will continue to improve throughout the year, so it should be doable. Then there's the 5K. My 5K PR is from when I was 16 and running cross-country, and I don't remember exactly what it was, so that's its own challenge. But I'm confident it was in the 24 range, which means I should just aim for 23:59 or faster. So...no problem, right?

Your 23:59 is pretty close to your 1:52:51 HM as it stands (the equivalent is 1:50:25). So you're bumping up against a fitness level that you were at when you were 16. That's not to say you couldn't be better now then when you were 16. I certainly am. My mile PR in middle school and high school was 7:12. It's 5:42 now.

4/1: Cherry Blossom 5K
4/2: Cherry Blossom 10-miler

These are soon coming off the Jan M, but you may not need to build new fitness to reach new heights. Rather just getting to where you were last at the tail end of marathon training could be sufficient to PR these.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Okay, probably key question: if I'm training pretty much year-round, how much time/training do I need to devote to any individual race? Here is what I am sort of thinking:

Jan. 15-22: recovery (ease back into running with a few short, easy runs)
Jan. 23-29: return to normal running schedule and longer runs, still easy
Jan. 30-Mar. 31 (9 weeks): train for 5K/10M. Focus more on 5K as 10M should be fairly easy to PR
Apr. 1: 5K
Apr. 2: 10M

Apr. 3-9: recovery week (regular schedule; easy runs only)
Apr. 10-May 20 (6 weeks): train for 10K
May 21: 10K

If I get into MCM:
May 22-[somewhere between Jul. 9 and Aug. 7]: maintenance (Note to self: figure out what maintenance training looks like)
[Somewhere between Jul. 10 and Aug. 8]-Oct. 28 (12-16 weeks): marathon training
Possibly work a HM into marathon training but maybe not
Oct. 29: marathon

If I don't get into MCM:
HM options:
Fall Georgetown HM: Sept. 24
Space Coast HM (or full? Sept. HM could fit into training): Nov. 26
OUC Orlando HM: Dec. 2
8-12 weeks of HM training?

 

[DopeyBadger]

When I write a training plan, I try and keep the following time frames in mind:

-Equal time off is equal time return. If you take off 2 weeks from running, then you need 2-4 weeks of easy running before returning to training. If you maintain training volume at about 50% of recent peak, then you're about ready to go.
-Aerobic maximization occurs after about 8 weeks of training.
-Skeletal muscular maximization occurs after about 12 weeks of training. This combined with the above shows a potential grey area pitfall in training in between 8-12 weeks. You "feel" like you can do more, but your body is ready yet.
-Don't spend any more than 6-8 weeks on any area of the spectrum of training paces. After 6-8 weeks, you can touch those previous paces, but the focus should shift.
-It takes about 4-6 weeks to "reap" the full benefits of the training load. So typically the training that occurs in the last 4-6 weeks is more about maintaining.
-It takes about 10 days to "reap" the full benefits of a single training run. So you can run fast within 10 days (and should), but don't do a full tilt workout within that timeframe.
-The length of taper is dictated by the event distance. 5ks don't really need a taper, 10ks maybe one less hard workout that week, HMs 1-2 weeks, Ms 2-3 weeks.
-The length of time of recovery from a race event is about 1 day per 3k race. So a 5k takes about 1.5 days to recover from. A marathon takes about 14 days. This assumes an "A" level effort in the race. So in theory, you could do a 5k every 3-4 days, or a HM every 7-10 days. But eventually the training will get stale and you probably won't be able to sustain the same level of fitness anymore.
-The lifespan of mitochondria is about 14 days. Long hard training runs over 90, but more so 120 min really decimate mitochondria. So that's why it's common to see training modalities that split long runs away from each other that go over 120 min.
-It's hard for many, but not all, to be in "optimal" training load (when the load is different enough) for much longer than 8-12 weeks.
-Most, but not all people, are best served with a training plan of about 16-18 weeks. It's a sweet spot given the above. Some people do better with a longer training plan, but those that do usually don't suffer from mental burnout from running. After the 16-18 week training cycle, there needs to be a downturn in volume and intensity. This drops the training load. The most gains are seen when the training is different enough from what you've been doing the last 4-6 weeks, but not too different that it pushes you too hard. When you see fades in training, you're likely training too hard. If you don't take some down time after a training cycle ends, and try and jump the volume back up too soon, then you'll stunt the improvement during the next training cycle because the training is too similar in a big picture view, and potentially peak too soon for the next event. And the peak is at a lesser level then you could potentially have achieved.
-Peaks tend to happen every 3 weeks or so. So if you suddenly feel really really good, then you're probably peaking. That peak will last about 3-4 days, and then you'll go back to feeling normal again. When that happens, the peak is likely to return with continued good training in about 3-4 days.

That's everything I could think of off the top of my head in the moment.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Thanks for this! I have follow-up questions

-Aerobic maximization occurs after about 8 weeks of training.
-Skeletal muscular maximization occurs after about 12 weeks of training. This combined with the above shows a potential grey area pitfall in training in between 8-12 weeks. You "feel" like you can do more, but your body is ready yet.

So would you aim for at least 12 weeks for a training plan to complete the adaptation process? I know you said 16-18 weeks is ideal, but as a best-practice floor. Does the pace/distance you're aiming for make a difference in how quickly your body adapts?

And does that mean I should think of the 5K/10M plus 10K timeframe as one training block (late Jan.-May)? Or is that just six of one, half a dozen of the other?

-Don't spend any more than 6-8 weeks on any area of the spectrum of training paces. After 6-8 weeks, you can touch those previous paces, but the focus should shift.

What counts as an "area"? Does that mean if you're training for a HM, you should incorporate HP-pace runs only 6-8 weeks out? I'm not sure I'm understanding this one right.

-It takes about 4-6 weeks to "reap" the full benefits of the training load. So typically the training that occurs in the last 4-6 weeks is more about maintaining.

Is your body still doing the aerobic/skeletal muscular adaptation here and you're just giving it time to do the second half of the adjustment?

-Peaks tend to happen every 3 weeks or so. So if you suddenly feel really really good, then you're probably peaking. That peak will last about 3-4 days, and then you'll go back to feeling normal again. When that happens, the peak is likely to return with continued good training in about 3-4 days.

Interesting! I have definitely experienced this, but I thought it was just a weird fluke. Does the same thing happen with fatigue, i.e. every once in a while you're just going to have a period when you're tired? Because I have experienced that one also.

I have learned so much about running in the past year! I never really thought about the reasoning behind training plan length and focus. Thanks for sharing your expertise, @DopeyBadger!

 

[DopeyBadger]

So would you aim for at least 12 weeks for a training plan to complete the adaptation process? I know you said 16-18 weeks is ideal, but as a best-practice floor. Does the pace/distance you're aiming for make a difference in how quickly your body adapts?

If the goal is to be race ready, then I would set a floor of 8 weeks for shorter race distances and 12 weeks for longer distances. The longer the distance, the more volume and training load play a role so ideally a longer training plan. But with a short distance race (like the mile or a 5k) you can be closer to race ready on less volume, and thus the plan can be shorter.

And does that mean I should think of the 5K/10M plus 10K timeframe as one training block (late Jan.-May)? Or is that just six of one, half a dozen of the other?

Let's say you start training next week (1/16), then the May 27th race is 17 weeks away. It wouldn't be advisable to try and split that into two separate training plans because that would make it too short. The 17 week length is a good length. If you did split them "in theory", you would likely continue building the training volume between 1 and 2. But use the 6-8 week timeframe of a single pace spectrum focus as the cut between the two race distance focuses.

What counts as an "area"? Does that mean if you're training for a HM, you should incorporate HP-pace runs only 6-8 weeks out? I'm not sure I'm understanding this one right.

There are no cut lines per se on what is and what isn't an area. But let's say you're training for a HM. Many coaches, but not all, subscribe to the theory of specificity. The closer you get to race day, the more your paces hone in on the goal race distance pace. So let's say you're training for a HM, would you want to spend 17 weeks training at 5k pace? No. You'd be better severed spending 6-8 weeks at 5k pace, and then 6-8 weeks at a pace closer to HM. But what about training for 17 weeks at HM pace for a HM? That could be doable as long as you accept that what you're doing at the tail end is not necessarily improving the HM pace ability, but rather getting comfortable at that specific pace.

Is your body still doing the aerobic/skeletal muscular adaptation here and you're just giving it time to do the second half of the adjustment?

So think of this more in terms of the following:

-You run 30, 30, 30, 30, 35, 40 miles. You're body isn't fully realizing the 40 mile training week in Week 7, instead it takes to about Week 10-12. So that's why your body can not be prepared for multiple reasons if your previous peak mileage was something like 30 miles, and you did 25, 25, 30, 30, 50, 60. The jump is too aggressive because looking back at the last 4-6 weeks that volume (training load which is the combination of volume and intensity, but I'm leaving out intensity for simplicity) is too much of an increase.

So the 8-12 week aerobic and muscular adjustments are different, but the same as the bodies accepting of the training load in a big picture way.

Interesting! I have definitely experienced this, but I thought it was just a weird fluke. Does the same thing happen with fatigue, i.e. every once in a while you're just going to have a period when you're tired? Because I have experienced that one also.

Not that I'm aware of. But I do know the menstrual cycle does play a role in the body's response in training. I'm not well versed on the ins and outs of that though.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

-You run 30, 30, 30, 30, 35, 40 miles. You're body isn't fully realizing the 40 mile training week in Week 7, instead it takes to about Week 10-12. So that's why your body can not be prepared for multiple reasons if your previous peak mileage was something like 30 miles, and you did 25, 25, 30, 30, 50, 60. The jump is too aggressive because looking back at the last 4-6 weeks that volume (training load which is the combination of volume and intensity, but I'm leaving out intensity for simplicity) is too much of an increase.

Interesting - in my marathon plan, peak week was actually 2 weeks out from the marathon, albeit only slightly higher mileage than the previous peak 4 weeks out and similar intensity. But this suggests that that week didn't actually improve my fitness for the marathon, so that seems like a curious decision. Maybe it makes more sense since the difference was only a few miles (<10%)?

Not that I'm aware of. But I do know the menstrual cycle does play a role in the body's response in training. I'm not well versed on the ins and outs of that though.

Oh, I actually just meant a period of time - an unspecified duration, a brief window, etc. Lol. Although I'm sure those kinds of periods affect training too.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Interesting - in my marathon plan, peak week was actually 2 weeks out from the marathon, albeit only slightly higher mileage than the previous peak 4 weeks out and similar intensity. But this suggests that that week didn't actually improve my fitness for the marathon, so that seems like a curious decision. Maybe it makes more sense since the difference was only a few miles (<10%)?

The purpose of the last few weeks of training is more meant to maintain then to gain new. Let's simplify and say that each week equally prepares you for the race. Let's also say you improve by 4% during the training cycle and the cycle lasts 18 weeks. This means any one week only gives you a 0.22% increase in fitness. Peak week is worth 0.22% and Week 7 is worth 0.22%. It's the cumulative of the training instead of any one run or any one week. But if you stagnate the training too soon, or you taper too soon then the body reacts and running gets funky. You don't necessarily lose fitness, but you don't feel sharp.

Oh, I actually just meant a period of time - an unspecified duration, a brief window, etc. Lol. Although I'm sure those kinds of periods affect training too.

Don't worry, I knew what you meant. Just so happens a period can be a "period" of time that fits as a possible time slice that can cause you to feel down in a cyclical manner.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

January 9-22, 2023
Recovery | 1-2 weeks post-marathon
In which I feel slow

Week 1
Monday - Wednesday
Rest

Thursday
22 min stationary bike, 145 bpm

Ahhh, movement. I missed you.

Friday
Yoga

Saturday
35 min stationary bike, 141 bpm

I put on a video from the HM that someone shared during this one, and it was cool to see a different race.

Sunday
32:12 easy (11:27)
2.81 miles, 153 bpm

Pre-marathon, if I ran 30 minutes at 11:27, I would expect my HR to be around 140. But not today. Hello new normal. Please go away soon.

I felt okay, though.

Week 2
Monday
Upper body strength

Instead of doing a Fitness Blender video for this one, I put on a replay of the Houston Marathon/HM and started watching that. (It was very exciting!) I did 3 sets of 10 of:

Curls / triceps kickbacks
Overhead press / pullovers
Chest fly / reverse fly

Tuesday
32:15 easy (11:12)
2.87 miles, 153 bpm

Still slower and yet harder than normal. Glad to know it's at least not unusual.

Wednesday
Lower body strength

This time I did a workout during a webinar at work. All bodyweight, 2 sets of 10 (per leg) each:

Alternating lunges / single leg deadlifts + knee
Curtsy lunges / single leg squats + calf raise
Side lunges / single leg calf raises
Squat to lunge / sumo squats

Thursday
45:02 easy (11:30)
3.91 miles, 156 bpm

Still slow but feeling a bit better, hence the additional 15 minutes.

Friday
Yoga

Short but lots of core work.

Saturday
46:05 easy (11:03)
4.17 miles, 159 bpm

My pace is starting to recover, but my HR is decidedly not. Sigh...

Sunday
1:15:56 easy (10:51)
7 miles, 166 bpm

I blame at least part of my HR for this run on having to go out during the hottest part of an especially warm day (T+D around 82 + 65). I had planned to go out early to avoid the heat, but I forgot that my mom and I were headed over to DAK for a cool one-off backstage visit to see how elephant and rhino care happens. It was really cool to see the cooperative care they do! Apparently we should watch Magic of Disney's Animal Kingdom, which shows a lot more of this process, including the animals (Mackey and Dougan) and vets (Dr. Geoff and Dr. Deirdre) who we met today. Exciting!

As part of the tour, we did the safari but with Dr. Deirdre as our guide, which gave us some insights into the animal care and general conservation practices. She told us there is a native parasite that lives in the grass in the "savannah" and is really bad for the giraffes. However, since the giraffes share space with other ruminants that are lower to the ground, those animals eat the parasites, which don't harm them, and keep the grass too low for the giraffes to bother with so they don't get sick. The circle of life!

ID: The opening sunrise from The Lion King

Biweekly totals
Mileage: 20.74
Time: 6h 4m

After marathon training, this feels like nothing. But I'm trying to remind myself that it's better to take it slow now and come back healthy.

Coming up
Planning to go back to a regular (6 day/week) running schedule but still keep it easy for the next week. HR, please go back to normal. (My resting HR was back to normal within a day or two after the marathon, but my exercising HR still leaves a lot to be desired.)

 

[WillRunForPizza]

January 23 - 29, 2023
Recovery | 3 weeks post-marathon
In which marathon recovery is a frigging journey

Monday
46:41 easy (11:35)
4.03 miles, 149 bpm

Remember when I ran two days in a row and decided I was pretty much fine? Well, I was wrong. I took this run extra slow and got my HR closer to normal, and I felt okay during the run. But by mid-afternoon, I was exhausted. Like, eyes-blurring-looking-at-my-computer-screen-while-I'm-trying-to-work tired. So, not recovered. Ugh.

Tuesday
Lower body strength

I had planned to run Tuesday, but since I was so tired on Monday I decided to skip it. I did some strength training but kept it fairly light, and I wasn't as worn out.

Wednesday
1:01:12 easy (11:37)
5.26 miles, 151 bpm

I ran to the end of the trail by my parents' house and back. It was slow. Blah.

Thursday
57:01 easy (11:21)
5.02 miles, 144 bpm

This run felt a little better, which was kind of surprising because I was also pretty congested overnight. Fortunately running seemed to clear it up rather than make it worse. I did a few strides at the end of the run - the first one felt a bit weird but the others were good. And I tested negative for covid.

Plus: core

Friday
Rest

Still a little congested; tested negative again.

Saturday
57:21 easy (10:58)
5.23 miles, 150 bpm

When I was whining about marathon recovery being slow in another group, a couple of people suggested using run/walk for recovery. I am not a huge fan of run/walk personally*, but I figured I should at least try it. I sort of generally aimed for 2:00/:30 intervals but was too lazy to set it up on my watch so it was all very approximate. I don't know whether it helped or not because I just ended up doing the run intervals faster.

*I have no problem with run/walk in principle; I just personally find switching back and forth annoying. I know lots of people have used it with great success at a wide variety of paces, including a coworker who ran a 3:40 marathon using run/walk. So, great option in general, just not my favorite.

Plus: upper body strength

Sunday
1:10:47 easy (11:06)
6.38 miles, 145 bpm

I thought I would give run/walk at least one more try to see if I would adjust. I still didn't like it. The walk intervals kept my HR lower, but switching back and forth felt more tiring. By the last mile or so I just gave up and went back to running all the way through

Plus: Disney

When I got back from my run, my mom said, "Hey, do you want to go over to the Festival of the Arts this afternoon?" and of course I said yes. (My sinuses were feeling mostly better and yet another covid test was negative, so it seemed pretty safe, especially since all the festival stuff is outdoors.) For anyone who might be visiting the festival, I think the food was actually better than Food and Wine for the most part - although we didn't try anything from the very colorful and weird Figment booth.

• Grilled cheese and tomato soup (Pop Eats!): Grilled cheese wasn't terribly fresh but it seemed like it would have been good if it had been. I don't like soup, but my mom said it was good. 3/5
• Brooklyn Brewery Pulp Art Hazy IPA (Pop Eats!): I'm a fan of hazy IPAs, so I liked this. 4/5
• Gnocchi poutine (Refreshment Port): I really enjoyed this. All the elements were good, and it was a pretty decent-sized portion. 5/5
• Chorizo and potato empanada (Vibrante y Vívido: Encanto Cocina): Last year, the Encanto booth had arepas, which was exciting because I like arepas. However, Disney's version of arepas left a lot to be desired (i.e. they were disgusting hockey pucks). So I was a little skeptical but willing to try the empanadas. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised: they were fairly decent. 3/5
• 
• Piña colada (Vibrante y Vívido: Encanto Cocina): The only coconutty things I like are piña coladas and mango sticky rice. It was a decent piña colada, although the little pieces of pineapple they put in there kept getting stuck in the straw. 3.5/5
• Duck and dumplings (The Artist's Table): Not bad and actually had enough salt (which might mean it's too salty for some people). The ricotta dumplings were very creamy. 3.5/5
• Beer flight (The Artist's Table): This included the Boulevard Brewing Co. Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, Parish Brewing Co. South Coast Session Amber Ale, and Brewery Ommegang Three Philosophers Belgian Quad. I don't remember enough about any of them to give specific comments, but they were all pretty good. 4/5
• 
• Symphony in chocolate: A flight of sipping chocolates with cream liqueurs. These were very thick and chocolatey. They probably would have been great on a cool day, but it was like 85º and sunny, so they were a bit much. Also they did not list the cream liqueur flavors, and while the white chocolate and dark chocolate ones were paired with the same flavor liqueurs, respectively, the milk chocolate came with strawberry cream liqueur. My mom was disappointed because she does not like berries. So I drank most of that one. Anyway, 3.5/5 but mostly because it was too hot to really enjoy them.
• 

We saw Voices of Liberty (of course, they're my favorite) in their more modern guise. They sang the 50 states song, which is definitely the most useful song I know but made me feel left out because I do not live in a state We also saw one of the festival entertainment groups, Art Defying Gravity. The description in the booklet says "Experience the spectacle of thrilling strength acts," and they actually are really impressive. I took terrible photos because the sun was right behind the performers, but you can still get a sense of how impossible they look.

ID: A man standing with one arm in the air, holding up a woman standing on one foot


ID: One man balanced on his hands with his body straight out behind him parallel to the ground, with another man stretched out in the opposite direction (still parallel to the ground) with his shoulders resting on the first man's shoulders and his arms wrapped around the first man's chest. The core strength!

And as always they had chalk artists decorating the sidewalk between World Showcase and the rest of the park.

ID: Two chalk artists at work with a completed chalk Mickey between them

Pretty good for a few hours' visit! We'll have to go back and try the other side of World Showcase soon.

Totals
Mileage: 25.93 miles
Running: 4h 53m
Strength: 1h
Total: 5h 53m

Coming up
More easy running. Someday I will be fully recovered from the marathon I guess. May that someday be soon...

 

[striker1064]

People hate walking through Epcot with me when the chalk artists are out because I always get so mesmerized.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

People hate walking through Epcot with me when the chalk artists are out because I always get so mesmerized.

They're so impressive! I'm a below-average artist anyway, but give me a piece of chalk and I can barely manage a stick figure. Meanwhile they're siting there doing actual art!

 

[azrivest]

Those equilibrists (is that the right term?) are so impressive. Look at me with my 1 minute high plank

 

[WillRunForPizza]

January 30 - February 5, 2023
Spring training week 1 of 16 | 55 days until Cherry Blossom Challenge
In which I play the shell game with the schedule

Here we are, back to an actual training plan courtesy of @DopeyBadger, who kindly created a plan that incorporated a 5K/10M challenge followed by a 10K (theoretically) about 6 weeks later. It turns out that's not a typical race schedule; who'd have thought? So, many thanks to Billy for putting together this plan, and apologies for already moving basically everything around

Fortunately Billy is smarter than I am (remember how I keep thinking I'm fine and being wrong) and kept the first couple of weeks of the plan easy as I (slowly) recover from MW. So I think moving things around is not a big deal at this point.

Monday
Planned: 4 miles @ EA (10:46)
Completed: rest

I was feeling tired again after 6+ miles and Festival of the Arts on Sunday, so I decided to swap Monday's run for Tuesday's rest day. I did do a short core workout, partly for closing-of-rings purposes.

Tuesday
Planned: rest 4 miles @ EA
Completed: 4.36 miles easy (11:33)
Total: 50:23, 156 bpm

This run felt okay, but as you might guess from the pace/HR data, I was a little tired. Yup, still not recovered. I have elected not to care about my pace for easy runs, and Billy confirmed that's fine as long as I don't run faster than the planned pace (ha).

Wednesday
Planned: 4 miles @ EA
Completed: 5.03 miles easy (11:06)
Total: 55:52, 156 bpm

I am honestly not sure whether I forgot what easy feels like or my HR is just randomly high. Could be either, but minor cold symptoms were still lingering and my resting HR was also up. Also this time I swapped Wednesday's 4-mile run for Friday's 5-miler because of travel.

Plus: lower body strength

I don't know if this was a difficult routine or I just haven't been doing much strength training the past few weeks (again, could go either way), but I was sore after this one. For like three days. Good workout!

Thursday
Planned: rest
Completed: rest

I was back up in DC for one day only for a work event, so lots of moving but no workouts. I did go to the Cherry Blossom race's 50th birthday party because it happened to be that evening, and it turns out I know a LOT of people who are running a race that weekend (but so far I'm the only person I know who's doing both; go me lol).

Friday
Planned: 5 4 miles @ EA
Completed: 4.49 miles easy (11:19)
Total: 50:55, 150 bpm

I had a 6:50 a.m. flight back to Orlando, so I did this run around lunchtime. I was pretty tired from waking up at 4:30, but it felt okay. And it turns out the loop I sometimes do around my parents' neighborhood is a little more than 4 miles, which is why I keep going over. Oh well, an extra half a mile or so never hurt anyone.

Saturday
Planned: 5 miles @ EA
Completed: 7.2 miles easy (11:24)
Total: 1:22:10, 149 bpm

This time, my swap was weather-related: it was supposed to rain basically all day Sunday, and I figured I'd rather do 5 miles in the rain than 7. Saturday's weather was a bit on the warm and sunny side, but a stiff breeze kept things tolerable, and I actually felt good enough that I had to consciously slow myself down a few times.

Me: I feel great! I could run faster!
Also me: Remember what happened the last time. Recovery now, fast later.
Also also me: Long time no fast
Still me: NO
*sulking*

Me again, 2 minutes later: *whispers* ssspppeeeeeeeeeeeed.....

Sunday
Planned: 7 5 miles @ EA
Completed: 4.5 miles easy + 0.8 miles faster = 5.3 miles (10:41)
Total: 56:44, 150 bpm

Okay, this time I really feel like I'm recovered. My HR and pace were pretty much back to normal even after Saturday's long-ish run, and this run felt great. The weather was pleasantly comfortable and cloudy, and I was trying hard to keep it slow again. I was doing a pretty good job, too, until I got to a little less than a mile from my parents' house and my watch told me it had only 7% battery left. Battery life: the biggest downside of using your Apple Watch for running.

Anyway, I didn't want the battery to run out before I finished my run (does it even count if you don't record it?), so I turned off my podcast and picked up the pace a bit. I naturally settled into somewhere between HMP and MP, and it felt awesome. Yay for paces faster than easy! I missed you.

Even with that speedier finish, my HR was still quite reasonable for the run. I wanted to throw a party, but I don't think my family would have understood "my HR v. pace relationship is finally back to normal 28 days after the marathon" as a reason to celebrate. So I just felt happy by myself.

Plus: upper body strength

Total
Mileage: 26.4 miles
Running time: 4h 56m
Strength time: 1h 12m
Total time: 6h 8m

Coming up
More easy running - this time with strides! Also more moving things around because I have another one-day trip back to DC for work

 

[Herding_Cats]

JMe: I feel great! I could run faster!
Also me: Remember what happened the last time. Recovery now, fast later.
Also also me: Long time no fast
Still me: NO
*sulking*

Me again, 2 minutes later: *whispers* ssspppeeeeeeeeeeeed.....

This is how I felt during taper for my first marathon. "I just wanna ruuuuun!!!!!"

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Bucket list races

This past weekend, we had a couple of guests (my mom's childhood friends), and I was talking with one of them who lives two blocks from the start line of the NYC Marathon. She's also a runner and has done the marathon before, and she invited me to stay with her if I ever run the marathon there (score!), which was super nice of her. I wasn't planning to enter the lottery this year, but maybe I should? Lol.

Anyway, that got me thinking about other races on my bucket list. I decided to compile them here for future reference.

- World Marathon Majors (Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, NYC, Tokyo): basically obligatory bucket list races, and crowd support sounds like fun

US
- the rest of the Disney race weekends: for me that's everything except MW, although I'll probably do at least one of those again next year
- Marine Corps Marathon: my local marathon!
- Big Sur: sounds gorgeous
- Peachtree: I hear it's a lot of fun, if hot
- other Rock 'n' Roll races: I have a friend in Nashville, so that would be a good one, and I like the sound of Arizona. Also apparently they have international races too??
- Space Coast: not too far from my parents' house, and I love space stuff
- Honolulu Marathon: I feel like this needs no explanation
- one of the Revel races: no idea which, but I like downhill much better than uphill, so these sound fun
- Napa Valley HM/Marathon: why yes, I would like an excuse to go back to wine country

International
- Athens Marathon: it would be pretty cool to run from Marathon to Athens. I feel like if I do this one, it needs to be some kind of personal milestone as well.
- Sydney Marathon/HM: have never been to Australia
- Marathon du Médoc: you run through vineyards and there are wine stops (obviously not going to be a PR here!)
- Big Five Marathon/HM: like doing a safari, but running. This seems safe.
- Great Wall Marathon: okay, this one sounds really hard, but also what a cool way to see an iconic monument

What favorite races do you have that I should include? Any others on your destination running list?

 

[The Expert]

Peachtree yes is HOT but also amazzzinnnnng course support from the whole city. WORTH IT!

And put Rock n Roll Vegas on your list. It's run down the strip to downtown and back at night.

 

[GollyGadget]

Big Five Marathon/HM: like doing a safari, but running. This seems safe.

This sounds amazing! Safari is on my bucket list.

Sydney Marathon/HM: have never been to Australia

I've heard the gold coast marathon is better. I don't remember from who, but definitely something to look into if you're seriously considering it.

Marathon du Médoc: you run through vineyards and there are wine stops (obviously not going to be a PR here!)

I had a friend ask if I was doing this once. I'd never initiate the plans but it sounds fun enough that I'd tag along.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Since you listed Big Sur Marathon. One other in California really worth doing is Avenue if the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park (far Northern California). I used to live and work there. You literally trace under the tallest trees in the world. I worked the event as a park ranger but hope to run it one day myself.