We're all out there chasing our better selves (FredtheDuck chases on)

Not sure how I'd develop a T paced run for run/walk. I'd have to chew on that. My guess is that many of your current workouts are probably pretty close to T paced simulation runs without maintaining the pace for long enough.

AH, ok. That makes sense. Thank you for explaining!
 
Monday Training Update (Week 8): Week Ending 3/11

This was the plan for the week:
M - 4 @ EA
Tu - 1 @ WU, .5 @ T w/ 1 min RI, 1 @ T w/ 1 min RI, .5 @ T w/ 1 min RI, 1 @ CD
Th - .5 @ WU, 4 mile progression (11:47, 10:58, 10:33, 10:03), .5 @ CD
F - 5 @ EB + strides
S - 2 @ WU, 5 @ tempo, 2 @ CD

This was a tough week of running and my body was worn out at the end. My Monday EA run was fine, but as discussed, the mental shift from doing 3 miles to 4 miles is palpable.

Tuesday: This one was a little easier than my last T. Not sure if that's adaptation already occurring, or just because I'm not (as) sick anymore, or some combination. But my legs didn't feel as burn-y by the end of this one. I also liked the construction of this run, with the .5, 1, .5... I felt like there was a clear crest, and that helped mentally.

Thursday's progression was more mentally though. I knew every mile was going to get tougher. I also knew that I've run at these paces for sustained periods of time before, so it would be doable. It was just going to be a matter of not letting my brain get in the way of my body too much. Honestly, I expected to feel cruddier at the end than I did, but I was still tired. I was glad to get this one done, though, because I had a six hour plane ride later in the day.

Friday we were back in LA. @MoanasPapa's home town is one of my favorite places to run, and Friday was no exception. Just gorgeous naturally, and the houses are also really something to see. He helped me pick a route that went through some areas I'd never seen before, and that was nice. His neighborhood has some rolling hills and I was feeling pretty worn out, so I wanted to avoid any big inclines, which he said the route did. He forgot about a hill they call "Michigan" (I have no idea why), and it was a doozy. I ended up having to stop for about 10 seconds on the way up to catch by breath, which was frustrating. But the rest of the run was lovely, and I did a terrible job with pacing, which always happens to me when I run in CA.

Saturday's run was interesting. It was my first tempo run. My tempo pace is supposed to be 10:58/mi. I did my 2 WU miles a little faster than scheduled, but they were mostly downhill. I had a route that went from @MoanasPapa's family's house to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, ran the 5k loop at the Rose Bowl, and then led me to a parking lot, where he'd pick me up at the end of the run. Unfortunately, the 5k loop was closed for a special event, and so I couldn't go down the street that lead to it at all. That means that at mile 5, I had to stop and figure out a new route for my run. So I have one terribly-paced mile there because of it. I ended up deciding to make it a loop that would lead me back to the house, but would let me avoid "Michigan." That meant the second half of my run was all uphill. Oh. And it was raining. I'm OK with my ultimate pacing, but I'll need some more practice with this to get it right. Strava also cut out at mile 6, so all I have to go off of is the data on my AppleWatch, which doesn't capture elevation. Anyways, here are my splits for the tempo portion: 10:55, 10:58, 11:54 (rerouting), 10:54, 11:20. I don't think I faded for the 11:20, I think I just tried to maintain effort on the hill. I will say that my feet and calves were tired and tight at the end. After that, we all went to Universal to see Harry Potter World for my SIL's bachelorette, then the bridal party (me included) stayed out for dinner and drinks. Made for a long day and tired legs.

Unfortunately, this week isn't off to a pristine start. I missed yesterday's run because we had to get to the airport, and the three-hour time change means the day is lost. We didn't get to bed until almost midnight last night, and since it felt like 9:00, I was still awake at 1:00. That meant my normal 5:00 AM running alarm was a big fat NOPE. I'm going to try to get a lunch run in today so that I don't miss two runs this week, but I think I'm only going to be able to get 4 in, instead of the 5 I'm supposed to do. Better than nothing, to be sure.
 
Last week was super tough. So congrats on getting through it. I agree that based on how you're feeling and the time crunch that 4 days this week sounds good. Just do 4 miles EB today and then move on. If nothing today, then reduce the Friday and Saturday runs to 4 + 5.
 


Last week was super tough. So congrats on getting through it. I agree that based on how you're feeling and the time crunch that 4 days this week sounds good. Just do 4 miles EB today and then move on. If nothing today, then reduce the Friday and Saturday runs to 4 + 5.

Thanks! I did get the 4 @ EB in today. I will say that it took a solid mile and a half for my calves and shins to feel comfortable. Although some of that might have been the treadmill I started out on at my work gym. I switched at mile 2 to a different one and felt better quickly.
 
You might still want to consider backing off a touch later this week then. Better safe than sorry.
 
You might still want to consider backing off a touch later this week then. Better safe than sorry.

I'm thinking maybe I'll go in to Thursday assuming that I'll do the run as scheduled, but if I can't get comfortable after the one mile warmup and the first tempo mile, I'll back the second two tempo miles to EB and then report back? At this point I'm not overly concerned with Friday or Saturday, assuming I can get this calf tightness to loosen up. I've got a date with the foam roller tonight to see if that'll help.

Woo! What a week! But you did it! Great job!!

Thank you! It felt a little more grueling than I expected it to. That's one of the things I like about running, though... it's humbling.
 


Congrats on surviving a tough week - you did awesome! I'm impressed that you were able to recalculate your route in the middle of the tempo run!
(and yeah, losing 3 hours coming back from CA is really tough. It just completely throws you off. I take the red eye, which means that all I'm missing is 3 hours of sleep ... but it's still really tough)
 
Great job on a tough week!!

Thank you!

Congrats on surviving a tough week - you did awesome! I'm impressed that you were able to recalculate your route in the middle of the tempo run!
(and yeah, losing 3 hours coming back from CA is really tough. It just completely throws you off. I take the red eye, which means that all I'm missing is 3 hours of sleep ... but it's still really tough)

Thanks for the congrats! Re: red eyes: @MoanasPapa is adamantly opposed to them, so the only one I've ever been on was to India. He slept like a log and I hardly slept at all, so it's funny to me that he's the one that hates overnight flights... I feel like they'd make travel with a toddler much easier (she sleeps just fine in her car seat on the plane).
 
Paging @DopeyBadger. I have a question: Can I do a 10k race on 4/29? I was supposed to be in CA for a wedding but I'm not going to be able to make it, and my favorite 10k is being run here this weekend, so I thought maybe it'd be fun to race it? It's a good PR course. (side note: @MoanasPapa WILL be at that wedding, so he won't race).

Other scheduling adjustment needs potentially to come: I'm not going to be able to do the 5k I wanted to do the following weekend (5/6)... I have to travel that week for a memorial service that will be held that Saturday. So maybe that whole week gets adjusted to be post-race recovery from the 10k/regular running schedule? My entire week is up in the air from a scheduling standpoint that week, but I'm hopeful I'll be able to get my normally scheduled stuff in.
 
Paging @DopeyBadger. I have a question: Can I do a 10k race on 4/29? I was supposed to be in CA for a wedding but I'm not going to be able to make it, and my favorite 10k is being run here this weekend, so I thought maybe it'd be fun to race it? It's a good PR course. (side note: @MoanasPapa WILL be at that wedding, so he won't race).

Other scheduling adjustment needs potentially to come: I'm not going to be able to do the 5k I wanted to do the following weekend (5/6)... I have to travel that week for a memorial service that will be held that Saturday. So maybe that whole week gets adjusted to be post-race recovery from the 10k/regular running schedule? My entire week is up in the air from a scheduling standpoint that week, but I'm hopeful I'll be able to get my normally scheduled stuff in.

Racing on 4/29 for a 10k will impact your HM. So if you want a full max effort for the HM, then it probably wouldn't work well to run the 10k as well. Th biggest issue is that the 10k falls on a down week. Which means the schedule would have to be shuffled to accommodate including moving the up weeks during 4/16 and 4/30. So by adding the race, you'd likely lose two hard weeks of training for the HM. It can definitely be done, but it comes at a cost. Your choice.

The 5k was already scheduled as LR pace + 8 more miles LR pace. So even without the 5k present, the plan wouldn't change (still 11 miles LR). But if you added the 10k, then we'd need to shift some things around.

Let me know.
 
Racing on 4/29 for a 10k will impact your HM. So if you want a full max effort for the HM, then it probably wouldn't work well to run the 10k as well. Th biggest issue is that the 10k falls on a down week. Which means the schedule would have to be shuffled to accommodate including moving the up weeks during 4/16 and 4/30. So by adding the race, you'd likely lose two hard weeks of training for the HM. It can definitely be done, but it comes at a cost. Your choice.

The 5k was already scheduled as LR pace + 8 more miles LR pace. So even without the 5k present, the plan wouldn't change (still 11 miles LR). But if you added the 10k, then we'd need to shift some things around.

Let me know.

images


This is me, trying to decide if I'm capable of running this particular 10k at LR pace (and not faster) and just tacking 2 more miles on to it...
 
@DopeyBadger just reporting in on today's run: it went fine as scheduled... I was able to do the tempo and didn't have to back it off to EB. I have some tightness on the outside of my "bad" knee (I think it may actually be my ITB), but I think I just need to keep rolling, and it's just tight, not painful. I did decide to do the run on the treadmill because I didn't want to push my luck trying to tempo on the hills in my neighborhood when I wasn't sure how I'd feel. Also it's cold and you know how I feel about trying to breathe in the cold (I'm a wuss... or put more kindly, a California girl). And another also, we have roofers putting the new roof on right now, so I wanted to be home for that.

Anyways, I don't think we need to back things off for the rest of this week, but I'll keep an eye on how I feel and will ping you if anything comes up.
 
@DopeyBadger just reporting in on today's run: it went fine as scheduled... I was able to do the tempo and didn't have to back it off to EB. I have some tightness on the outside of my "bad" knee (I think it may actually be my ITB), but I think I just need to keep rolling, and it's just tight, not painful. I did decide to do the run on the treadmill because I didn't want to push my luck trying to tempo on the hills in my neighborhood when I wasn't sure how I'd feel. Also it's cold and you know how I feel about trying to breathe in the cold (I'm a wuss... or put more kindly, a California girl). And another also, we have roofers putting the new roof on right now, so I wanted to be home for that.

Anyways, I don't think we need to back things off for the rest of this week, but I'll keep an eye on how I feel and will ping you if anything comes up.

Sounds good. Just keep listening.
 
Decisions, decisions. I really want to run this 10k since I'll be in town. It would be really easy to tack another couple of miles on to get to 8 miles. I like the race premiums (last year's shirt is my favorite tech short-sleeve). BUT. If I run it at the LR pace I'm scheduled for that day, my finish would actually be slower than the finish I had last year (by a little over a minute), and I'm trying to figure out if I can stop my pride from getting in the way of doing the run the way I'm supposed to. I'm pretty sure I can, I just have to keep the HM PR big-picture in mind.

In other news, still feeling fine after my 5 miler this morning. I just realized that I'm not going to get Monday's run in - I have a travel conflict and there's no way to make it happen (maybe more on that later). I'm starting to wonder if my 1,000 miles in 2018 goal was too ambitious for my schedule.

I also think I realized why my feet and ankles hurt so much after my LR last weekend. I wore my NB 1500s for the LR, as I always do. Then, for Universal, I wore an old pair of Saucony's that I'd relegated to walking shoes (I don't like the Zealots for running, but they had lower mileage on them, so I kept them). I thought I was being smart wearing "sensible shoes," but they have a different toe drop and cushioning system, and I think changing in to them so soon after the run, then walking in them a ton, just kind of inflamed them. Plus they were fairly worn out from runs I did at the beginning of my running journey, and I think maybe I have a bit of a different stride now that I've built up more muscle. Anyways, that makes me wonder what I should do for our WDW trip in November in terms of shoes. It'll be post-fall HM (whichever one that'll be), so I'll be in maintenance mode and runs will be shorter, but I still want to make sure I'm not inflaming anything while we're there.

Also on the topic of running gear, my birthday was last week. DH planned to get me the Garmin 645 (non-music... I run with my phone for safety reasons so I don't need the music feature), but of course wasn't shipping yet. Boy did he feel bad to have nothing for me. I'm still not convinced that I need the 645 over the cheaper 235, but he's a stats guy (literally... he's a statistician for a living) and he geeked out over the additional metrics you can get with the newer tech. Anyways, I'm excited that eventually I'll have a true running watch.
 
BUT. If I run it at the LR pace I'm scheduled for that day, my finish would actually be slower than the finish I had last year (by a little over a minute), and I'm trying to figure out if I can stop my pride from getting in the way of doing the run the way I'm supposed to

I know this scenario all too well. Happened this morning in fact. My wife and I driving into work and we see the "no parking signs" for a special event. That would be the Shamrock Shuffle 10k which I signed up for months ago. Steph says, well you could still run it. And said, let's be honest steph we both know that if I run this race, then I'm going all-out. It's just who I am. So since my body isn't at the place to go all-out, then I shouldn't be at the race at all. Because otherwise I'm just setting myself up for a road I don't want to go down. It doesn't have to be a PR vs non-PR type thing. Just a, I shouldn't be running 6 miles at this point in time yet thing (let alone anything but easy). Hoping you can figure out whether it's something you can trust yourself with. Whatever ends up happening, we can adjust the schedule accordingly. You're still 10 weeks out so there's definitely an ability to adjust at this point.
 
I know this scenario all too well. Happened this morning in fact. My wife and I driving into work and we see the "no parking signs" for a special event. That would be the Shamrock Shuffle 10k which I signed up for months ago. Steph says, well you could still run it. And said, let's be honest steph we both know that if I run this race, then I'm going all-out. It's just who I am. So since my body isn't at the place to go all-out, then I shouldn't be at the race at all. Because otherwise I'm just setting myself up for a road I don't want to go down. It doesn't have to be a PR vs non-PR type thing. Just a, I shouldn't be running 6 miles at this point in time yet thing (let alone anything but easy). Hoping you can figure out whether it's something you can trust yourself with. Whatever ends up happening, we can adjust the schedule accordingly. You're still 10 weeks out so there's definitely an ability to adjust at this point.

Yeah, but the race is the one I was talking about yesterday that you suggested (and I agree) I NOT race because it's too close to the HM.

I totally get where you're coming from about trusting yourself and being smart. I'm still new to "all-out" racing races. The only 10k I've ever run at full effort was that MCM10k last year. But I was at least semi-close to an hour finish (1:02:22) at MCM10k. And this course is MUCH easier. MUCH. In fact, a lot of it is a slight downhill. I doubt I could shave 2:23 off, but I bet I could finish below 10:00/mi, which would be a huge accomplishment for me. So therein lies the temptation, and why I'm waffling about even signing up.

What I need to do is figure out which fall HM we'll focus on, and then see if I can slot a redo of MCM10k in as a full-out race effort. Yeah. That makes sense...
 
Ahh I misunderstood, I thought the 10k you were recently referring to was this weekend. I'm getting my mind crossed up.
 
Ahh I misunderstood, I thought the 10k you were recently referring to was this weekend. I'm getting my mind crossed up.

Don't apologize, my post was definitely stream of consciousness and not at all clear about when I was talking about, especially since I have an 8-mile tomorrow, too.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top