Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

[ZellyB]

I’d also suggest going with the tech first and doing a large if you plan to layer. I like my tops to be a bit looser as well. I have some mediums and some larges and tend to like the larges better plus the option for layering.

I’ve been buying too much running stuff lately!!

 

[SarahDisney]

Here's the shirt through a different retailer:
http://the-ultra-running-company.sh...urn-inknburn-tech-tee-w-kaze.html?id=16903408

Thank you! I've been looking at the InB website and didn't even think to check authorized retailers...

I have the shirt and like it - I do agree that it's a little hard to match. I would wear it with solid black/grey/denim-type bottoms. I agree that if you want to layer under it that large may be a better choice.

Yeah, I think the difficulty matching is what I'm hesitant about - but I do plan to eventually buy a black skirt, so I think I'll be okay. I might be able to get away with wearing it with my blue skirt, even though it's a little light (it's actually probably somewhere between all the blues in the skirt, so it might work...).

I am passing on the pre-order this time around but I do have that in the Rose pattern, which I also like a lot. The fabric is a little thicker (the inside feels almost fleece-y) and I find I actually wear it as a lighter jacket in the spring, I don't think I have ever run in mine. I like the thumbholes. The sizing was wonky on the Rose hoodie and most everyone that bought one ended up having to size up, but they say they have fixed that for this one so it should be more accurate size-wise. Again if you want to layer under it, large may be the way to go.

I was wondering if it was the same as the Rose hoodie, which I've seen lots of pictures of you wearing. Hmm ... I'm thinking it might be good for when I'm looking to buy a new life hoodie, but maybe not as a running hoodie...

I’d also suggest going with the tech first and doing a large if you plan to layer. I like my tops to be a bit looser as well. I have some mediums and some larges and tend to like the larges better plus the option for layering.

Thanks for the tip! I think it looks like I will be going with the size large tech shirt ... definitely seems like that's the recommended entry point for a new InB obsession.

I’ve been buying too much running stuff lately!!

Is that a concept that exists? Too much running stuff?

 

[JulieODC]

Catching up - so many exciting things! Congrats on the new job - so glad it’s going well! And allllll the races! Love all the fun distances.

I really need to think about an NYC race at some point! I missed out on a run when visiting for a wedding last summer (ahem, a little hangover doesn’t set you up for an early morning run so we’ll) - and I’m still sad about it!

 

[SarahDisney]

Catching up - so many exciting things! Congrats on the new job - so glad it’s going well! And allllll the races! Love all the fun distances.

Thank you! I'm pretty excited about the fun distances ... it's nice to run something other than the standard 5K/10K/Half

I really need to think about an NYC race at some point! I missed out on a run when visiting for a wedding last summer (ahem, a little hangover doesn’t set you up for an early morning run so we’ll) - and I’m still sad about it!

Yes! Come to NYC for a race! We have a lot of great races here!

---

Guys ... I pulled the trigger on the InB. I went with the Kaze tech shirt, size large. More on that if I ever get around to posting about #buyallthethings

Also ... I started my job on Monday, but I haven't gotten paid yet. SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE ME STOP BUYING THE THINGS!!!

 

[ZellyB]

Yay for your first InB purchase. I hope you love it!

 

[evre13]

Yay for surviving your first week of work! I haven’t fallen down the rabbit hole of Ink N Burn yet, but you ladies make it tempting. I’m generally more Old Navy workout gear than designer, at this point.

 

[SarahDisney]

Yay for your first InB purchase. I hope you love it!

Thank you! (I hope so too ... but maybe not enough to cause a very expensive addiction)

Yay for surviving your first week of work! I haven’t fallen down the rabbit hole of Ink N Burn yet, but you ladies make it tempting. I’m generally more Old Navy workout gear than designer, at this point.

Thanks! I'm all about the Old Navy bottoms. Theyre good stuff. I don't love their shirts, though (dunno why, I just haven't really found one I like), so for shirts I go either Kohls or "fancy" designer (or race shirts ... but since I refuse to wear a different race's shirt to a race, I do occasionally need to buy shirts)

 

[SarahDisney]

Update: My smart scale has arrived, and my InB (btw, my phone keeps changing that to Ing) Tech is scheduled to arrive today too. Expect reviews for both of those soonish.
Also, I got my corral for the half. I was hoping to be in K. I'm not.

I'm in wave 2, corral J.
No idea how they did the corrals for this thing ... clearly it's not regular nyrr corrals.

 

[ZellyB]

So, corral J is good right? J before K means better placement I'm assuming?

Yay for the InB arrival and your new smart scale. I'm excited to hear your reviews.

 

[SarahDisney]

So, corral J is good right? J before K means better placement I'm assuming?

I think so. This was a happy surprise.
I just had to throw a little suspense in there because it's what I do.

Yay for the InB arrival and your new smart scale. I'm excited to hear your reviews.

I'm hoping to wear the InB for my next run and use the scale either tomorrow or Friday (or possibly tonight), so hopefully I'll have reviews soon!

 

[SarahDisney]

Miscellaneous: A Series of Updates​

I have a few small things going on, and rather than post many small updates, I figured I’d just throw them all together.

Lack of Race Suspense: Wine & Dine

So .. Wine & Dine. I really wanted to do this race, for a few reasons:

1. Even though I don’t eat the food or drink the drinks, I happen to like Food & Wine. I just think it’s a fun new thing in the parks.
2. A return to runDisney in 2018!
3. Doing my first runDisney half before my first runDisney marathon!

All good reasons to go, right? But then … why is Wine & Dine no longer listed on the front page of this thread as a race I want to run?

Life.

I really want to do Disneyland with Beth in May. I’m planning a long trip for marathon weekend (like, over a week). Between those two and a personal day I’m already planning to take next month … I’m going to be running low on vacation days.

I could make Wine & Dine happen. If I didn’t do the 5K & 10K marathon weekend, I could come down on Friday (thus saving myself two vacation days which I could use for Wine & Dine). If I just did the W&D half and didn’t to the 5K, the only vacation day I’d have to take for W&D would be Friday (since I can't fly Saturday, I'd still have to come down Friday). But I really don’t want to compromise. My focus right now is marathon weekend. I’d rather do the trip I want to do for marathon weekend, then come back a different year to do the trip I want to do for Wine & Dine. It’s tough, because I really wanted to do W&D, but I need to be practical.

#BuySomeOfTheThings
So … a few weeks ago I expressed my intentions to buy all of the things. I have not yet done that. I did buy some of the things. Here’s what we’ve got so far:

Running Skirts Red Dot Golf Skirt


(sorry about the dirty mirror)

I have two other Running Skirts golf skirts, so this wasn’t really anything new for me. What was new was the size – they didn’t have it in my size (the danger of buying things on sale), so I went down a size. It fits, but I can’t really wear it the way I wear my other skirts (they’re meant to be worn on the waist, but I wear them on my hips). It does work, though, and I can run in it, so it’s good to go for the marathon (which will be its race debut … it’s training-only until then).

Nokia Body WiFi Smart Scale

(picture taken from the internet because taking a picture of a reflective surface isn’t easy)

I spent some time trying to decide what scale to get. I’ve been thinking about the Fitbit Aria for a few years now, but I wasn’t in love with the price tag. I also considered the Garmin Index, and discarded it for the same reason. Ultimately, I decided that I wanted to pay something in the $50-$60 range, so I started looking at reviews for scales in that range. I narrowed it down to a few options, but ultimately decided on the Nokia Body for two reasons:

1. It syncs over WiFi. Most smart scales sync over Bluetooth, which means I have to remember to turn on the Bluetooth on my phone and open the app … that’s way too much work for me.
2. From what I had seen, it seems to work with all of the various apps I use, which means I can weigh in once, not have to type that weight anywhere, and have it show up everywhere I want it (more on this later).

I also like the fact that the scale gives you weight, BMI, weight trend over time, and that’s it. The only thing I need from the scale is a number … but I like the idea of the trend too.

Once the scale arrived, it was pretty easy to set it up – all I had to do was turn on the scale and the Bluetooth on my phone, and once the phone found the scale, I set up an account and then the app did all the work. At the end it asked me to put in my WiFi information, and now it syncs over WiFi.

In terms of connecting with apps … they say it works with over 100 partner apps. What I discovered they actually mean is … it can sync with like 5 apps, and those can sync with many other apps. Right now I have it synced with MyFitnessPal, which is what I’m using as my single source of truth until I can figure out how to get the weight to transfer over to Garmin (it hasn’t been syncing automatically, weirdly), which is what I prefer to use as my single source of truth (mostly because I like the mobile app a lot).

So far I’m definitely happy with the scale, and I think it was a good purchase. Other than the app syncing situation, it’s exactly what I wanted – a scale I can step on for a few seconds and then check what it said on my phone a few hours later.

INKnBURN Kaze Tech Shirt


(sorry, I’m terrible at selfies and couldn’t get the whole shirt in … also, sorry about the mess.)

A lot of people here on the DIS are all about the INKnBURN, and I do like a lot of their designs, so I’ve been thinking of buying for a while. On Sunday, for reasons I can’t quite explain, I decided to pull the trigger. Since I’m between sizes, the general consensus was that I should size up (good call, ladies … the large is small enough that there’s no way a medium would have fit, but large enough that I can fit a layer underneath), and the tech shirt I wanted wasn’t available in my size directly from InB, so @Ariel484 shared a link to Ultra Running Company, who did have it in stock.

Ultra Running Company is the best, and I would definitely consider them for any potential future InB needs (and if I’m ever in Charlotte, NC, I might go visit). I ordered the shirt on Sunday and it arrived on Wednesday. It was in a tiny little box, but that’s just because there wasn’t any unnecessary package filling (unlike my scale, which was in a giant box). The best part, though, was this …



A personalized note! I thought that was a really nice touch and I really appreciated it.

I ran in the shirt on Wednesday night. I didn’t hate it, but … I didn’t think it was the most comfortable shirt ever. The seam on the sleeve bothered me a bit, but it wasn’t terrible. Beyond that, it was just as comfortable as any other shirt I own. I didn’t seem to overheat, which I’ve been doing on the treadmill lately, so that was good. I may fall in love with it during the summer when heat is more of an issue.

I don’t think I’d pay $50 for a tech shirt again, but I might buy something on sale. Obviously YMMV, but for me, it’s not worth what they charge for it.


Next Purchase: Sports Bra
That’ll be next week’s project, probably. I realized yesterday that I really need to invest in a better sports bra. This will not be fun.


Why Long Run?
This is something that Coach @DopeyBadger and I spent some time discussing last week. Basically, I was struggling a lot on my long runs, and I didn’t really understand why I had to concentrate on maintaining a specific pace (which was stopping me from zoning out and using my long run as “Sarah Time”).

After some back and forth and a little required reading, here are some “facts” about the long run that I discovered:

1. The point of the long run is to get acclimated to long distances

2. The long run is done slower than race pace to allow for proper recovery​

3. (I’m not 100% sure on this one, but I think I’m close because I’ve done some research) Long runs are good for working on your running efficiency, which relates to your lactate threshold. Lactate threshold is a pace at which you can run for 1 hour without feeling fatigue. During this hour, your body is producing lactic acid, but it is also able to convert that all of that lactic acid to energy.
If your lactate threshold is 10:00/mile, you should be able to run forever at 10:15/mile. The problem is … your lactate threshold won’t stay at the same pace for the duration of your run. When you’re running at your lactate threshold, there comes a point where your body can no longer convert all of the lactic acid being produced, and that’s when fatigue sets in. You can get to a point where your body will once again be able to convert all of the lactic acid being produced … but that means slowing down. The less efficiently you’re running (eg, if you’re expending extra energy by having your center of gravity be in the wrong place), the sooner you will hit the point where your lactate threshold gets slower. An inefficient runner’s lactate threshold may move from 10:00/mile to 10:10/mile after 45 minutes, whereas the more efficient runner can maintain the 10:00/mile lactate threshold for an hour and fifteen minutes, which means they can run a 10K at lactate threshold.
As for why lactate threshold matters … the longer it takes for your lactate threshold to move, the longer you can maintain a faster pace. Also (and this is really just a Sarah theory, not sure if it’s accurate), I’m thinking that if you want to consistently run a “slower than lactate threshold” pace throughout the race, the more efficient of a runner you are, the faster that pace can be (because your lactate threshold won’t move as much because it’s not moving as quickly).
tl;dr – Long runs are good for correcting bad running habits and making your body more efficient.

4. Running slower gives you the biological tools to increase blood/oxygen flow to the muscles, which will increase power later​

5. Fat is a more efficient energy source than carbs. When you run faster than a particular pace (which varies by person), your body burns carbs. Running slower teaches your body to burn fat and the pace at which your body starts to burn carbs will slowly get faster (so that you can gradually start to run faster and still burn fat)​

With these facts in mind, I proposed a new idea for my long run. I had been using the long run as a chance for my brain to take it easy, and I needed to learn to use it as a time for my body to take it easy too. I’m not going to worry about pace, but I will check my pace at the end of each mile, and if I’m not in the 12:30-13:30 range, I’ll take a few seconds to zone back in and evaluate whether or not I really am taking it easy. I ran this idea by Coach Billy and he was okay with it.

Of course, I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet because last week was a half treadmill half outside rain-soaked non-adventure, and this week’s long run has tempo in it, but … I will test it out next week. AKA the last long run on my plan.

This kind of leads to a general thought about my Coach DB plan. It’s been really hard for me to give up control of my plan. Coach has been great about answering all of my (probably very annoying) questions and working with my changing schedule and helping me understand when I struggle, but … I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that at the end of the day, I’m not doing each run because it’s what I want to do, I’m doing it because someone else told me it was the best thing to do that day. Yes, this is all because I wanted Coach to make me a plan, but … I didn’t expect to feel like I couldn’t make my own decisions (and I also know that the plan is not intended to make me feel that way (heck, I just made up my own way of doing the long runs, which clearly means that I can take some control), which makes it even harder).

I mean, the plan seems to be going well (at least it feels like it’s going well), but … it’s just tough to not be fully in control of my own plans. Even though I know it’s better that way because every run has a purpose. It just bothers me more than I’d like it to some days.

(Yeah, I know, I'm weird)

Life Update
I went to a minor league hockey game last week. Yes, such a thing exists. It was actually princess night. This is what princess night looks like at a minor league hockey game:

I think that's Merida, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Belle, and Elsa ... but I'm not entirely sure.

In case anyone was wondering … the Baby Rangers are just as terrible as the Adult Rangers. It was not a fun game to watch.

Hmm … what else is going on. Work is fine. Not great. I haven’t been assigned to a project yet, and its hard showing up every day when you don’t really know why you’re there. But I am working on something small in the meantime, and I’m hoping that things will pick up soon. Whatever.

Oh, for those of you who didn’t see – I got my corral placement for the United Airlines NYC Half. Corral J, which is better than I expected. I’m in the second wave, which means I don’t start until 8 (maybe 8:15, I can’t remember), which means an extra 20-30 minutes of sleep. Yay!

And ... that's all I got for right now. Sunday is my last 10-miler of the plan, and then I'm in Sarah-taper (I don't know when the official taper starts, but I've always thought of taper as after my longest long run). Hopefully next week I'll find a few minutes to write a race update, including outfit choice and basically nothing else.

 

[DopeyBadger]

This kind of leads to a general thought about my Coach DB plan. It’s been really hard for me to give up control of my plan. Coach has been great about answering all of my (probably very annoying) questions and working with my changing schedule and helping me understand when I struggle, but … I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that at the end of the day, I’m not doing each run because it’s what I want to do, I’m doing it because someone else told me it was the best thing to do that day. Yes, this is all because I wanted Coach to make me a plan, but … I didn’t expect to feel like I couldn’t make my own decisions (and I also know that the plan is not intended to make me feel that way (heck, I just made up my own way of doing the long runs, which clearly means that I can take some control), which makes it even harder).

I mean, the plan seems to be going well (at least it feels like it’s going well), but … it’s just tough to not be fully in control of my own plans. Even though I know it’s better that way because every run has a purpose. It just bothers me more than I’d like it to some days.

Nothing about what I do is special. That's to say, that all I did for months was read, read, and read. Absorbed as much running related knowledge from well-sourced materials to come up with some core concepts. And then using those core concepts mold them to fit individuals and their goals. So, that's to say - there is no reason why you can't be in control of your plan and decisions. At this moment, you're in the process of learning why behind some of the core concepts. Once you've got a solid grasp, you'll be able to choose whether doing two M Tempos in a week is a good idea, or whether running HM Tempo over 60 min is wise, or when a rainy day comes up how to choose what to do on the scheduled plan, or what types of workouts are best for a certain "A" distance race, or how to look at the big picture and progressively change workouts by manipulating one of the three key variables (duration, pace, rest), or choose for yourself whether runs over 150 min are the best choice or whether it's more or less. With your tenacity and hunger to know the why behind these concepts through your not annoying questions, you are well on your way to being able to make any and all sound decisions without me.

Although, first things first, I'm excited to see how this HM goes in such a short period of time working together. We'll have a pretty good idea of what the goal will be after this weekend's extended Long Run Hybrid HM Tempo run.

 

[ZellyB]

Miscellaneous: A Series of Updates​

I have a few small things going on, and rather than post many small updates, I figured I’d just throw them all together.

Lack of Race Suspense: Wine & Dine

So .. Wine & Dine. I really wanted to do this race, for a few reasons:

1. Even though I don’t eat the food or drink the drinks, I happen to like Food & Wine. I just think it’s a fun new thing in the parks.
2. A return to runDisney in 2018!
3. Doing my first runDisney half before my first runDisney marathon!

All good reasons to go, right? But then … why is Wine & Dine no longer listed on the front page of this thread as a race I want to run?

Life.

I really want to do Disneyland with Beth in May. I’m planning a long trip for marathon weekend (like, over a week). Between those two and a personal day I’m already planning to take next month … I’m going to be running low on vacation days.

I could make Wine & Dine happen. If I didn’t do the 5K & 10K marathon weekend, I could come down on Friday (thus saving myself two vacation days which I could use for Wine & Dine). If I just did the W&D half and didn’t to the 5K, the only vacation day I’d have to take for W&D would be Friday (since I can't fly Saturday, I'd still have to come down Friday). But I really don’t want to compromise. My focus right now is marathon weekend. I’d rather do the trip I want to do for marathon weekend, then come back a different year to do the trip I want to do for Wine & Dine. It’s tough, because I really wanted to do W&D, but I need to be practical.

Love this update! So much stuff!!

Anyway, disappointing about W&D, but yeah, life. I really want a redo on W&D someday since we went the year they shortened the course. I keep telling myself that hopefully that race is a staple and there will be time later to go do it again when it works for us.

#BuySomeOfTheThings

So … a few weeks ago I expressed my intentions to buy all of the things. I have not yet done that. I did buy some of the things. Here’s what we’ve got so far:

Running Skirts Red Dot Golf Skirt

View attachment 305867
(sorry about the dirty mirror)

I have two other Running Skirts golf skirts, so this wasn’t really anything new for me. What was new was the size – they didn’t have it in my size (the danger of buying things on sale), so I went down a size. It fits, but I can’t really wear it the way I wear my other skirts (they’re meant to be worn on the waist, but I wear them on my hips). It does work, though, and I can run in it, so it’s good to go for the marathon (which will be its race debut … it’s training-only until then).

Nokia Body WiFi Smart Scale

(picture taken from the internet because taking a picture of a reflective surface isn’t easy)

I spent some time trying to decide what scale to get. I’ve been thinking about the Fitbit Aria for a few years now, but I wasn’t in love with the price tag. I also considered the Garmin Index, and discarded it for the same reason. Ultimately, I decided that I wanted to pay something in the $50-$60 range, so I started looking at reviews for scales in that range. I narrowed it down to a few options, but ultimately decided on the Nokia Body for two reasons:

1. It syncs over WiFi. Most smart scales sync over Bluetooth, which means I have to remember to turn on the Bluetooth on my phone and open the app … that’s way too much work for me.
2. From what I had seen, it seems to work with all of the various apps I use, which means I can weigh in once, not have to type that weight anywhere, and have it show up everywhere I want it (more on this later).

I also like the fact that the scale gives you weight, BMI, weight trend over time, and that’s it. The only thing I need from the scale is a number … but I like the idea of the trend too.

Once the scale arrived, it was pretty easy to set it up – all I had to do was turn on the scale and the Bluetooth on my phone, and once the phone found the scale, I set up an account and then the app did all the work. At the end it asked me to put in my WiFi information, and now it syncs over WiFi.

In terms of connecting with apps … they say it works with over 100 partner apps. What I discovered they actually mean is … it can sync with like 5 apps, and those can sync with many other apps. Right now I have it synced with MyFitnessPal, which is what I’m using as my single source of truth until I can figure out how to get the weight to transfer over to Garmin (it hasn’t been syncing automatically, weirdly), which is what I prefer to use as my single source of truth (mostly because I like the mobile app a lot).

So far I’m definitely happy with the scale, and I think it was a good purchase. Other than the app syncing situation, it’s exactly what I wanted – a scale I can step on for a few seconds and then check what it said on my phone a few hours later.

INKnBURN Kaze Tech Shirt

View attachment 305868
(sorry, I’m terrible at selfies and couldn’t get the whole shirt in … also, sorry about the mess.)

A lot of people here on the DIS are all about the INKnBURN, and I do like a lot of their designs, so I’ve been thinking of buying for a while. On Sunday, for reasons I can’t quite explain, I decided to pull the trigger. Since I’m between sizes, the general consensus was that I should size up (good call, ladies … the large is small enough that there’s no way a medium would have fit, but large enough that I can fit a layer underneath), and the tech shirt I wanted wasn’t available in my size directly from InB, so @Ariel484 shared a link to Ultra Running Company, who did have it in stock.

Ultra Running Company is the best, and I would definitely consider them for any potential future InB needs (and if I’m ever in Charlotte, NC, I might go visit). I ordered the shirt on Sunday and it arrived on Wednesday. It was in a tiny little box, but that’s just because there wasn’t any unnecessary package filling (unlike my scale, which was in a giant box). The best part, though, was this …

View attachment 305869

A personalized note! I thought that was a really nice touch and I really appreciated it.

I ran in the shirt on Wednesday night. I didn’t hate it, but … I didn’t think it was the most comfortable shirt ever. The seam on the sleeve bothered me a bit, but it wasn’t terrible. Beyond that, it was just as comfortable as any other shirt I own. I didn’t seem to overheat, which I’ve been doing on the treadmill lately, so that was good. I may fall in love with it during the summer when heat is more of an issue.

I don’t think I’d pay $50 for a tech shirt again, but I might buy something on sale. Obviously YMMV, but for me, it’s not worth what they charge for it.


Next Purchase: Sports Bra
That’ll be next week’s project, probably. I realized yesterday that I really need to invest in a better sports bra. This will not be fun.

LOVE that skirt on you. So very cute!!

The scale looks pretty cool, but not sure I can handle that much TRUTH!

And, you look adorable in your InB. I do agree that the tech shirts aren't necessarily the most comfortable shirts I own, but I love the designs so much, I just deal with that. It's the sleeve that bothers me too. I like my sleeves on my tech shirts a bit longer, so for me they end up feeling a bit uncomfortable in my armpit, but the rest of the shirt fits well. But, given the price point, you are right that you should really love it completely. I'm finding now, that I just don't buy the shirts that much (other than the pullovers which I do love) and stick more to buying bottoms from them.

Why Long Run?

This is something that Coach @DopeyBadger and I spent some time discussing last week. Basically, I was struggling a lot on my long runs, and I didn’t really understand why I had to concentrate on maintaining a specific pace (which was stopping me from zoning out and using my long run as “Sarah Time”).

After some back and forth and a little required reading, here are some “facts” about the long run that I discovered:

1. The point of the long run is to get acclimated to long distances

2. The long run is done slower than race pace to allow for proper recovery​

3. (I’m not 100% sure on this one, but I think I’m close because I’ve done some research) Long runs are good for working on your running efficiency, which relates to your lactate threshold. Lactate threshold is a pace at which you can run for 1 hour without feeling fatigue. During this hour, your body is producing lactic acid, but it is also able to convert that all of that lactic acid to energy.
If your lactate threshold is 10:00/mile, you should be able to run forever at 10:15/mile. The problem is … your lactate threshold won’t stay at the same pace for the duration of your run. When you’re running at your lactate threshold, there comes a point where your body can no longer convert all of the lactic acid being produced, and that’s when fatigue sets in. You can get to a point where your body will once again be able to convert all of the lactic acid being produced … but that means slowing down. The less efficiently you’re running (eg, if you’re expending extra energy by having your center of gravity be in the wrong place), the sooner you will hit the point where your lactate threshold gets slower. An inefficient runner’s lactate threshold may move from 10:00/mile to 10:10/mile after 45 minutes, whereas the more efficient runner can maintain the 10:00/mile lactate threshold for an hour and fifteen minutes, which means they can run a 10K at lactate threshold.
As for why lactate threshold matters … the longer it takes for your lactate threshold to move, the longer you can maintain a faster pace. Also (and this is really just a Sarah theory, not sure if it’s accurate), I’m thinking that if you want to consistently run a “slower than lactate threshold” pace throughout the race, the more efficient of a runner you are, the faster that pace can be (because your lactate threshold won’t move as much because it’s not moving as quickly).
tl;dr – Long runs are good for correcting bad running habits and making your body more efficient.

4. Running slower gives you the biological tools to increase blood/oxygen flow to the muscles, which will increase power later​

5. Fat is a more efficient energy source than carbs. When you run faster than a particular pace (which varies by person), your body burns carbs. Running slower teaches your body to burn fat and the pace at which your body starts to burn carbs will slowly get faster (so that you can gradually start to run faster and still burn fat)​

With these facts in mind, I proposed a new idea for my long run. I had been using the long run as a chance for my brain to take it easy, and I needed to learn to use it as a time for my body to take it easy too. I’m not going to worry about pace, but I will check my pace at the end of each mile, and if I’m not in the 12:30-13:30 range, I’ll take a few seconds to zone back in and evaluate whether or not I really am taking it easy. I ran this idea by Coach Billy and he was okay with it.

Of course, I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet because last week was a half treadmill half outside rain-soaked non-adventure, and this week’s long run has tempo in it, but … I will test it out next week. AKA the last long run on my plan.

This kind of leads to a general thought about my Coach DB plan. It’s been really hard for me to give up control of my plan. Coach has been great about answering all of my (probably very annoying) questions and working with my changing schedule and helping me understand when I struggle, but … I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that at the end of the day, I’m not doing each run because it’s what I want to do, I’m doing it because someone else told me it was the best thing to do that day. Yes, this is all because I wanted Coach to make me a plan, but … I didn’t expect to feel like I couldn’t make my own decisions (and I also know that the plan is not intended to make me feel that way (heck, I just made up my own way of doing the long runs, which clearly means that I can take some control), which makes it even harder).

I mean, the plan seems to be going well (at least it feels like it’s going well), but … it’s just tough to not be fully in control of my own plans. Even though I know it’s better that way because every run has a purpose. It just bothers me more than I’d like it to some days.

(Yeah, I know, I'm weird)

This is all really good stuff. You know that we are also on our first DB plan and that yeah, it's a new feeling somewhat to completely follow another plan. The good thing for me, is that it helps create an added level of accountability that I didn't have before. I mean, I'm pretty disciplined anyway to do my runs, but there are times I may skip for poor reasons. I find I'm less inclined to do that now on Billy's plan mostly because I really do want to give it every opportunity to get me results like I've seen others get from it, so I'm just keeping the faith on it. But, there are many times I have some doubts because it's hard for me to believe that all this slow running isn't going to translate to a slow race. But, again, I know what mountains of literature and research says and I've seen the testimonials on here, so I remind myself of that and have faith. We've got a 15k coming up in a couple of weeks and I'm planning to really race that as best I can and hope to show myself that slow training doesn't equal slow racing.

Life Update

I went to a minor league hockey game last week. Yes, such a thing exists. It was actually princess night. This is what princess night looks like at a minor league hockey game:
View attachment 305872
I think that's Merida, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Belle, and Elsa ... but I'm not entirely sure.

In case anyone was wondering … the Baby Rangers are just as terrible as the Adult Rangers. It was not a fun game to watch.

Hmm … what else is going on. Work is fine. Not great. I haven’t been assigned to a project yet, and its hard showing up every day when you don’t really know why you’re there. But I am working on something small in the meantime, and I’m hoping that things will pick up soon. Whatever.

Oh, for those of you who didn’t see – I got my corral placement for the United Airlines NYC Half. Corral J, which is better than I expected. I’m in the second wave, which means I don’t start until 8 (maybe 8:15, I can’t remember), which means an extra 20-30 minutes of sleep. Yay!

And ... that's all I got for right now. Sunday is my last 10-miler of the plan, and then I'm in Sarah-taper (I don't know when the official taper starts, but I've always thought of taper as after my longest long run). Hopefully next week I'll find a few minutes to write a race update, including outfit choice and basically nothing else.

Princess night at the hockey game is sort of hysterical!

 

[Bree]

I love the skirt! Very pretty! I need a new scale and was thinking about one of those fancy smart ones. The one we have now is 12 years old and the digital display is starting to crap out.

 

[jennamfeo]

Bummer about W&D but as long as you're still coming to Marathon weekend I am selfishly happy! (You know, unless I stalk you in May at DL, haha.) I love that skirt soooo much! So fun and perfect for a Minnie costume! I don't even wanna talk about bra shopping ever, sports or otherwise. Probably my least favorite thing to shop for. I am completely opposite when it comes to training. I never felt like I knew what I was doing to better myself, so giving up control to DB was easy. I hope you find a happy medium for you in that realm!

 

[SarahDisney]

Nothing about what I do is special. That's to say, that all I did for months was read, read, and read. Absorbed as much running related knowledge from well-sourced materials to come up with some core concepts. And then using those core concepts mold them to fit individuals and their goals. So, that's to say - there is no reason why you can't be in control of your plan and decisions. At this moment, you're in the process of learning why behind some of the core concepts. Once you've got a solid grasp, you'll be able to choose whether doing two M Tempos in a week is a good idea, or whether running HM Tempo over 60 min is wise, or when a rainy day comes up how to choose what to do on the scheduled plan, or what types of workouts are best for a certain "A" distance race, or how to look at the big picture and progressively change workouts by manipulating one of the three key variables (duration, pace, rest), or choose for yourself whether runs over 150 min are the best choice or whether it's more or less. With your tenacity and hunger to know the why behind these concepts through your not annoying questions, you are well on your way to being able to make any and all sound decisions without me.

First of all ... there is something incredibly special about what you do, and that's the person who is doing it. No matter how much you want to help others, it's always hard to take time out of your own busy schedule and dedicate that time to sharing your knowlwdge and expertise with others. Taking the time to make customized plans and help other people reach their goals seems pretty darn special to me.

Second ...
I actually have a kind of crazy idea that we'll discuss more either right before or after my half marathon ... it involves me making my own 4 week plan for my April 22nd race and having you look over it and make suggestions for improvement. This seems like the perfect time because my goal is something I could probably do right now, it gives me some reassurance that I can eventually become somewhat independent in my plan making, and it gives both of us a few weeks to figure out what my next "A" race should be and develop a plan for it.

Although, first things first, I'm excited to see how this HM goes in such a short period of time working together. We'll have a pretty good idea of what the goal will be after this weekend's extended Long Run Hybrid HM Tempo run.

Yeah, I'm excited to see how it goes. I haven't really figured out the secret to getting through a half yet, so hopefully this plan has started me on the right path.

Anyway, disappointing about W&D, but yeah, life. I really want a redo on W&D someday since we went the year they shortened the course. I keep telling myself that hopefully that race is a staple and there will be time later to go do it again when it works for us.

Yeah, I keep reminding myself that there will be time to do it in the future. The need to #runalltheraces is real, but ... You just have to wait until you can make it work. I feel ya.

LOVE that skirt on you. So very cute!!

Thank you! I wore it with my WDW q0K shirt from my last runDisney adventure, so I was really all Minnie.

The scale looks pretty cool, but not sure I can handle that much TRUTH!

Haha! That's why I bought the more basic one that only does weight and bmp, not the one that does body fat and all that jazz. There's such thing as too much TRUTH!

, you look adorable in your InB. I do agree that the tech shirts aren't necessarily the most comfortable shirts I own, but I love the designs so much, I just deal with that. It's the sleeve that bothers me too. I like my sleeves on my tech shirts a bit longer, so for me they end up feeling a bit uncomfortable in my armpit, but the rest of the shirt fits well. But, given the price point, you are right that you should really love it completely. I'm finding now, that I just don't buy the shirts that much (other than the pullovers which I do love) and stick more to buying bottoms from them.

Thanks.
I think the shortness of the sleeves was definitely a factor. I have a few shirts that have sleeves that short, but they're underneath layers, so they're a little different.
I totally get sticking with the InB bottoms ... they do make super cute bottoms. I really like the mermaid capris especially l, but ... I tend to buy plain capris/tights because I buy fun skirts (and InB doesn't make skirts the length I like, so ... no luck there).

This is all really good stuff. You know that we are also on our first DB plan and that yeah, it's a new feeling somewhat to completely follow another plan. The good thing for me, is that it helps create an added level of accountability that I didn't have before. I mean, I'm pretty disciplined anyway to do my runs, but there are times I may skip for poor reasons. I find I'm less inclined to do that now on Billy's plan mostly because I really do want to give it every opportunity to get me results like I've seen others get from it, so I'm just keeping the faith on it. But, there are many times I have some doubts because it's hard for me to believe that all this slow running isn't going to translate to a slow race. But, again, I know what mountains of literature and research says and I've seen the testimonials on here, so I remind myself of that and have faith. We've got a 15k coming up in a couple of weeks and I'm planning to really race that as best I can and hope to show myself that slow training doesn't equal slow racing.

The accountability is definitely a good thing - I think it was a big factor in my running schedule not getting interrupted at all when I started the new job. That's definitely one of the things I like about it - knowing that if I don't go out there and do a scheduled run, I'll have to explain it to Billy.
I'm interested to see how you do in the 15k and if you think the slower training really helps!

Princess night at the hockey game is sort of hysterical!

This isn't even the funniest part. They sang Be Our Guest. It was so terrible that I couldn't stop cracking up.

I love the skirt! Very pretty! I need a new scale and was thinking about one of those fancy smart ones. The one we have now is 12 years old and the digital display is starting to crap out.

Thank you!
I'm definitely happy with my decision to get a smart scale- much better for me than the regular one I have downstairs. I got a pretty basic oen, but they make a lot of really fancy ones- I think it's definitely worth doing the research.
Plus, if the display craps out on a smart scale, you can still see your weight in the app

Bummer about W&D but as long as you're still coming to Marathon weekend I am selfishly happy! (You know, unless I stalk you in May at DL, haha.) I love that skirt soooo much! So fun and perfect for a Minnie costume! I don't even wanna talk about bra shopping ever, sports or otherwise. Probably my least favorite thing to shop for. I am completely opposite when it comes to training. I never felt like I knew what I was doing to better myself, so giving up control to DB was easy. I hope you find a happy medium for you in that realm!

Definitely still planning marathon weekend. It seems like there's going to be a good group of us there, and I'm excited to see everyone.
Plus, I'm planning to be there solo, so I might just attach myself to other people's plans like the leech that I am.
I'm really excited for my Minnie costume - the skirt is perfect, and I have a few shirt options I'm looking at too. Is it too early for me to have my costume for a race that's 10 months away?
I get what you're saying about not knowing what you were doing to better yourself ... I was like that at first too. It took me a while to get to a point where I felt like I knew what I was doing, and when I hit a point where I didn't know what to do, it made sense to ask for help. I just have to adjust to taking advice and guidance from someone else and not being my normal stubborn self.

 

[michigandergirl]

Bummer about Wine & Dine, but it's good to be practical. I'm not always practical when it comes to vacations, DH has to keep me in check!

About control, I am usually the type of person that likes control of most things, but when it comes to training plans, I love having @DopeyBadger tell me what to do! In fact, he rarely hears from me. He makes the plan, I do the work, no questions asked. But I can see how it might be hard for you to give up some of that control.

Is it too early for me to have my costume for a race that's 10 months away?

Nope, not too early at all!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I actually have a kind of crazy idea that we'll discuss more either right before or after my half marathon ... it involves me making my own 4 week plan for my April 22nd race and having you look over it and make suggestions for improvement. This seems like the perfect time because my goal is something I could probably do right now, it gives me some reassurance that I can eventually become somewhat independent in my plan making, and it gives both of us a few weeks to figure out what my next "A" race should be and develop a plan for it.

Sounds like a great idea. I do that with a few other people as well.

 

[Keels]

I'm starting to plan spectating my BFF running the Marathon this year, so I may need your help and advice!!

 

[SarahDisney]

Bummer about Wine & Dine, but it's good to be practical. I'm not always practical when it comes to vacations, DH has to keep me in check!

I don't have anyone to keep me in check, so I have to do it myself. Adulting is the worst.

About control, I am usually the type of person that likes control of most things, but when it comes to training plans, I love having @DopeyBadger tell me what to do! In fact, he rarely hears from me. He makes the plan, I do the work, no questions asked. But I can see how it might be hard for you to give up some of that control.

That's the easy way do to things ... I probably spend too much time asking questions and should spend more time running.

Sounds like a great idea. I do that with a few other people as well.

Excellent!

I'm starting to plan spectating my BFF running the Marathon this year, so I may need your help and advice!!

I'm happy to help if I can!
I'll probably be volunteering ... I haven't signed up yet, but I plan to.