Long and Less Long Runs: 4-2 to 4-8

[KSH]

Well, I am not scheduled to run again until Wednesday, but I figured I would start the thread!

Have a great week of running lady warriors! :D

[Grog]

Thanks KSH. :)

It worked well for last week so let's do it again this week:

MONDAY
Probably a bike ride in the afternoon if I've been nice. I'm still quite sore from yesterday's run.

TUESDAY
Early morning 30-40 minutes with my running partner.

WEDNESDAY
Probably another bike ride.

THURSDAY
OUTDOOR POOL OPENS!!! Swimming will be a joy again. Even when it's cold, I love swimming outside (the outdoor pool runs on the same water as the indoor one so it's warm enough). That might motivate me with the swimming routine.

FRIDAY
Speed work. Can anyone make a suggestion? I'm getting bored with the usual stuff we do.

SATURDAY
Club bike ride.

SUNDAY
Another long run, maybe I'll suggest pushing it to 18-19 km? Next week will be sort of a recovery week so this might be the week with the biggest volume before our half-marathon.

The half is in a month. I almost wish it was next week, I'm afraid I'm peaking to early. Or it's the sun (at last!!!) that makes me so energetic?

[KSH]

Hey Grog... happy to hear posting up your week helped you stick to it. That's cool that the outdoor pool is opening again.

I did everything as planned by my coach.... except I only swam once last week.

I SWORE I would start swimming 2 days a week this week, but alas... no swimming on Friday with my tri club (due to holidays). So... next week I start 2 times a week.

Otherwise, here is the plan my coach gave me:

April 2 - 8

MONDAY
OFF


TUESDAY
Swim workout #1B
20 - 25 mile ride

WEDNESDAY
3- 4 mile easy run

THURSDAY
4 mile run:
1 mile easy, 2 miles hard, 1 mile easy

FRIDAY
Swim workout #2B
3 mile easy run

SATURDAY
30 - 40 mile ride

SUNDAY
25 mile ride/3 mile run brick

[kelownagirl]

Well, I fit into the "less-long" category. I ran 2.5 km today. My legs are still a bit sore from Saturday but thought I'd go out anyway and run a little.

I hope to do 3km two more times this week.

[Wahine]

My lunch run was about 1:26 and a little over 9 miles. It included 3 reps of a half mile hill working in zone 4 and pushing up into zone 5 for the last 1 minute. Then I did 5 reps of 6 min on zone 4 running on relatively flat terraine.

Phew. It was a toughy.:o

[KSH]

My lunch run was about 1:26 and a little over 9 miles. It included 3 reps of a half mile hill working in zone 4 and pushing up into zone 5 for the last 1 minute. Then I did 5 reps of 6 min on zone 4 running on relatively flat terraine.

Phew. It was a toughy.:o


I hope I can run like you someday.

[yellow]

KSH, you'll continue to improve. We've all seen you take giant steps already. It takes time. We're all so close to our own personal training regimes and the day-to-day that I don't think we realize just how far we've come sometimes! I think it's taken me a good 1.5 years of pretty hard work to bring myself to the point where I am now. I was in good shape before, but I'm now at a point where I am surprising myself with my own fitness on a regular basis.

I am still on my family visit (returning home tomorrow--yay!) and decided that I needed to find someplace that wasn't totally flat. Running on the beach is nice, but I found that the constant flat was starting to make my back hurt. :confused: It's all in what you're used to.

So after yesterday's 7.5 on the beach, which was nice, I headed to a local state park to hit some trails. Found one with the word "peak" in it and decided I needed to run it. Aside from the minor considerations of ticks, mountain lions, and poison oak, it was an absolutely fabulous run. I was only going to go about 5 miles but ended up with between 9-10 (as near as I can tell...gps died on me during the run as I forgot my charger). And I felt great the whole time, still feel good, and never really felt tired. Spooky. It seems that after 2 runs of that length 2 days in a row I should be tired, but I'm not.

I was thinking that there was no way I was ever going to be able to run anything longer than a 20-25k but now I'm thinking pretty hard about one of the fall trail marathons. I would definitely say that the experience I had today was a big surprise (of course, it could also be that I'm running at sea level and am used to running at about 5000', but I'm not sure how the reverse altitude adjustment thing really works). I do need to start riding eventually. But running is going so well I'm not sure I really want to switch gears. Bad, bad.

[Shiraz]

So far it's been a great week. I ran 7 miles Sunday and today ran 5.25 miles then biked 39 miles (I would have went around the block until I had a full 40 but had to get the taxes dropped off). I plan to run 12-13miles on Friday AM with the buddies.Wow, how I miss my bike rides. My half mary is 2 1/2weeks away........

Yellow, it sounds like you have had some amazing runs!! Trail running is your thing. I find running in the sand very hard. I would love to be able to run on dirt trails more often. Today I took some detours from my usual path and hit some dirt roads and it is some much nicer to your joints.

KSH, you are doing wonderful! I am so impressed with your determination.

[Grog]

So far so good. I cycled as planned yesterday, than ran a not-too-hard 7km this morning and, well, it was too nice to be true so I went for a bike ride in the afternoon. It's probably not that smart to tax my legs like that but I didn't go too hard on the bike. It's just that I'm surrounded by hills!

No more running until Friday now. Or maybe just a tiny one on my own with the MP3 player? I must admit that I take some pleasure in running by myself... Much more relaxing, for some reason...

[Wahine]

I hope I can run like you someday.

I think you will. It's all about consistency and you're certainly consistent with your training.

Like Yellow said, You've made huge improvements, just in the last 2 months!!

You're doing great.:)

[tattiefritter]

KSH - second what Wahine says being consistent really pays off.

I was quite busy at work yesterday so didn't get a chance to update. Went out at lunchtime to do 7 miles at a steady pace. It was a hard run from the off as my legs felt pretty tired from yesterdays commute (16 miles in and 27 home at carried away speed as I was on the roadie for the first time this year :D ). A little voice in my head kept telling me to cut it short but I made myself run the whole seven miles. When I looked at my lap splits they were quite consistent around the 9:00mm mark until I started to head back to work at mile 4 and the last three got quicker and quicker :) . I've not had a mentally tough run for a while and although they hurt at the time I find them very useful (especially when I win) in that they train me to ignore the quitter voice when it gets tough. So 7.2 miles in 1:04, 8:45 mm average.

That's as much distance as I want to do for now I think. I will be doing 5 or 6 miles on Thursday with some fartleks and 5 miles easy on Friday. Next week will be a step back week with 2 or 3 runs of 3.5 miles max and easy commuting. My plan after my stepback week is to repeat this weeks sessions to consolidate and then possibly introduce some intervals in place of the fartleks but no more distance for a while. Still need to find a 10K to enter which is proving more difficult than I anticipated.

[crazycanuck]

:o

I went running tonight for the first time in a few months...:o :eek:

Urrmmm..let's say i've got some work to do if i want to do the Anaconda in September..:o

I've been so keen on cycling & swimming I forgot about running....

C

[KSH]

I think you will. It's all about consistency and you're certainly consistent with your training.

Like Yellow said, You've made huge improvements, just in the last 2 months!!

You're doing great.:)

Yellow and Wahine... thank you both for the kind words of encouragement. I really do appreciate it. :)

Tattie and Shariz... thank you so much too! Very kind words indeed.

I have come a long way... as I wasn't even running last year.

From May to December of 2006, I only ran 85 miles! :eek: From January to March of 2007, I have logged 125 miles. :eek:

It's just frustrating sometimes... the lower leg pain that never goes away... the side cramps... being so DAMN SLOW!!! :mad:

I know I should be proud of what I can do... but when I see that I could do pretty dang well in tri's (placing top 3-5 in my age group!)... IF I could RUN FAST... I get frustrated.



Well, I ran last night on the treadmill as it was raining.

45m 4.00 miles 11m 15s /mile

No side cramp! WOO-HOO! My legs were hurting pretty bad, but not my side. HA!

It's always one or to the other... although the legs typically always hurt.

[KSH]

So after yesterday's 7.5 on the beach, which was nice, I headed to a local state park to hit some trails. Found one with the word "peak" in it and decided I needed to run it. Aside from the minor considerations of ticks, mountain lions, and poison oak, it was an absolutely fabulous run. I was only going to go about 5 miles but ended up with between 9-10 (as near as I can tell...gps died on me during the run as I forgot my charger). And I felt great the whole time, still feel good, and never really felt tired. Spooky. It seems that after 2 runs of that length 2 days in a row I should be tired, but I'm not.


That sounds beautiful Yellow. Running for the fun of it! :D

[alpinerabbit]

Phew. second run after the break. I feel so sluggish. I managed something like 4K in 35 minutes. I also did some laps around the football field. Grass is tiring to run on.

I am religiously treating my hip with antiinflammatory cream and I think it is going away.

I got new running shoes. "Same" model as before which I used 3 winters (of little running until this one). The new ones feel much stiffer so maybe the dampening material was wearing out after all.

[Deborajen]

Great job everyone! I can't believe all the miles that are being put in.

I did an 8-mile easy run on Monday evening. Temps were in the mid 80's and it was windy. Towards the end, I started getting a little queasy and my calves started cramping, so I slowed down (even slower than the easy run/walk pace ;) ) and came home. Guess the heat got to me a little since I haven't been out in those temps in awhile.

This evening is a 6-mile tempo run. It should be in the mid 50's, so quite a change from Monday. I'm looking forward to it. :)

Don't know how you girls manage a run over lunch hour - especially more than a short one. That would be a nice break. Then again, with the short lunch break we have here at my work, the full day is shorter so a before or after work run is more doable.

Keep up the great work everyone! It's always inspiring to read everyone's posts. It really helps keep me motivated!

Deb

[Wahine]

Don't know how you girls manage a run over lunch hour - especially more than a short one. That would be a nice break. Then again, with the short lunch break we have here at my work, the full day is shorter so a before or after work run is more doable.



It helps that when I took this job I duly informed my employers that I would need long lunches to get in IM worthy workouts. I assured them that I would get the job done efficiently and well but not to expect me in the clinic for 2 to 2.5 hours in the middle of the day. So they schedule my patients around my workouts. I block them out on the appointment sheet a week in advance and they just make it work.

[tattiefritter]

We have almost flexible hours - if I use up 1.5 to 2 hours at lunch then I make it up by either coming in earlier or staying a bit later (normal). As long as I do my 37.5 hours a week my boss doesn't mind. I started running at lunchtime because there are several men in my current team who take long lunches to play football, squash, go to the gym so there is precedent and I'm not the only one so nobody bats an eyelid. I'm hoping the same will be true of the next team I move to but I think people have just got used to seeing me going out/coming back from a run and know its something I do, luckily work commitments tend not to get in the way at the minute.

I think for me about 8 miles is as much as I could comfortably fit in at lunchtime until I sort out my faffing issues!

[alpinerabbit]

Yep, yay for flextime.

Considering I have 180 h overtime I could still leave early.
I could take up to 2.5 hours for a lunch break without a problem.
But usually my runs haven't been that long.

[tattiefritter]

Did 4.6 miles today with 2 miles of fartleks thrown in and it felt such hard work. I'm PMSing so exercise always feels that bit more difficult (and explains why I had a massive craving for Cadburys Dairy Milk yesterday that I gave into with gusto :D ). It was supposed to be 5 miles but my digestive system was objecting to running so I decided to just head back asap. :eek: Todays run felt like a treadmill run, I kept looking at my watch and thinking "is that all, I thought more time had passed than that"! Also realised what I thought were nice short fartleks of 20 - 30 seconds are actually a minute long when I timed one, oops. Definitely seem to have a problem with my time perception.

Will try to do 6 very easy miles tomorrow morning as I'm off work for the Easter break, yay!

[KSH]

43m 40s
4.00 miles
10m 55s /mile


Went and ran at lunch on the treadmill. Had to do the TM so I could gauge my speed on my 2 fast miles.

1st mile- 11:30
2nd mile- 10:30
3rd mile- 10:00
4th mile- 11:30

Overall a pretty good run. The side cramp started to rear its head towards the end of the 3rd mile, but it was very minor. I kept it away.

Otherwise, my legs are hurting! Thank goodness I had some BioFreeze to slather on before the run.

I also get to finally see my Chiro/ART practicioner tomorrow. WOO HOO!

[colby]

Great job, everyone. Good to see what progress we've all made as we move back a better season for running... and events! ;)

Monday, I did 4 miles. Tuesday, a quick 3 miles, Wednesday I tried cardio kickboxing at a friend's gym, Thursday 4 miles with 20 minutes of hill repeats. Tomorrow... we'll see. This weekend is the last weekend of ski season and I'm already committed to that, so there won't be anything productive then.

My plan is 12k in 1 month, 1/2 marathon in almost 2 months. I'm excited to see what my progress is... I'd like to better my times by 1-2 minutes per mile, which comes out to almost 30 minutes for the 1/2 marathon and 10-15 minutes for the 12k. We'll see... hill training, here I come. ;)

[limewave]

You gals are making me feel so lazy this week! I did one 3.5 mile hill training run back on Monday. Tuesday I skipped out on my running club to eat pork chops with the in-laws and tonight I passed up running to eat buttery bread with DH who happened to get out of work early :D I'm not running again until Saturday.

And, to make this worse, this darn snow has forced me to bring my road bike back into the basement and onto the trainer again :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Wahine]

Don't feel bad Limewave. I blew of my ride and my run today. I went out at lunch with full intent to ride and found a deep slash in my sidewall so I didn't ride. Then I ended up having a really long day and didn't have any energy left to run, plus my allergies have been kinda bad this week. So I proudly said "Screw it!" and decided to take a spontaneous day of. I even had 2 glasses of wine with dinner.

[rocknrollgirl]

Oh Thank God...you machines are showing some weakness....he he he:)

[Shiraz]

I ran 12.9 with my running buddy Cindy this AM at a steady but slower pace than ususal (10 mpm). Overall it went well and I feel pretty good. I am still having some foot pain where I had surgery a year and half ago: I am just hoping it improves before April 21rst. I should have made an appointment with my foot doc before now. I start my taper next week.
Sunday : 7 miles
Tuesday : 5.25 miles and 39 miles bike ride
Friday : 12.9 miles
On call Saturday 7a-7p so I may not get to run
Sunday hopefully ride with the DH

[rocknrollgirl]

Hi Guys,

Well I am on a rest week (yea right), and so I only did two short transition runs this week, each about two miles. Yesterday we rode the race venue for my upcoming Xterra race. Tough stuff.

I ran today with the DH intending on have a long slow easy run, but NOOOOO, it got ramped up in the middle and became more of a tempo run on a great trail. I am surprised at how good my legs felt after the ride yesterday. They are tired now, but I am taking off completely tomorrow.

So we did about 6 today. It was a good run...Mantra of the day....

" I do NOT suck" !!!!!!!

[kelownagirl]

I went for a 2 km run after a 40km bike ride today. Interesting feeling. :)

[limewave]

I finally got out and ran this morning after being lazy most of the week. Mother nature paid me back for slacking off--I had to run in 3-4 inches of snow in a blizzard. Managed to get in 6 miles.

On a not so good note, I have an injured back which kills when I run. I guess I hurt way back in December when I was mountain biking. I flipped over the handlebars, landing on my back and my bike on top of me. I have 8 weeks of physical therapy :mad: But, hopefully after that I won't need DH to put on my shoes for me anymore. :rolleyes:

[KSH]

57m 25s
5.00 miles
11m 29s /mile


Rode the stationary bike for 20 minutes and then got on the treadmill.

I was scheduled to run 3 miles, but since I skipped running on Saturday, I ran 5 miles.

No side cramp, but I kept my speed under control to keep it away.

My legs were hurting. Nothing new. I just wish it would go away... someday. I doubt it ever will though.

[Wahine]

12.5 hilly miles. About 70% of it on trails so my pace was pretty slow for me. Didn't help that I had the residue of about 44 miles of bike with a 3 mile run afterward from yesterday. This first month of switching my schedule around so I can run on tired legs is a killer.:p

KSH - I honestly think that you should get tested for compartment syndrome. I know that someone else has brought this up before, but I'm bringing it up again. If that's what it is, it's really treatable and you could be painfree.

[KSH]

12.5 hilly miles. About 70% of it on trails so my pace was pretty slow for me. Didn't help that I had the residue of about 44 miles of bike with a 3 mile run afterward from yesterday. This first month of switching my schedule around so I can run on tired legs is a killer.:p

KSH - I honestly think that you should get tested for compartment syndrome. I know that someone else has brought this up before, but I'm bringing it up again. If that's what it is, it's really treatable and you could be painfree.

12.5 miles is very impressive! I hear ya about the tired legs. I have had them for about a week now.

Well, I really don't think that is what I have. You see, the pain NEVER goes away. I believe with compartment syndrome, it does go away after running a bit... right? My legs even hurt/ache hours/days after running.

I should look around for a Dr. who tests for it... what kind of Dr. does this anyways? But I kind of doubt that is my problem. Unfortunately. I wish my pain had a name. But I don't think it does.

[Wahine]

Well, I really don't think that is what I have. You see, the pain NEVER goes away. I believe with compartment syndrome, it does go away after running a bit... right? My legs even hurt/ache hours/days after running.

I should look around for a Dr. who tests for it... what kind of Dr. does this anyways? But I kind of doubt that is my problem. Unfortunately. I wish my pain had a name. But I don't think it does.

It won't necessarily go away after you run. If the compression is bad enough you'll get a certain amount of tissue damage with every run related to lack of adequate blood flow to the muscles. This can set up an inflammatory response, just like any other injury, that can cause pain for 4 to 7 days after the event. So, if you run more often than every 4 to 7 days and you have very high pressures in the compartments of the lower leg, you could quite easily have constant pain.

I would try to get into see a Sports Medicine Doc or a Physiatrist, preferrably one that does some sports related work.

[tattiefritter]

Well done every body. I have been a lazy moo exercise wise over this Easter break, however Friday and Saturday I did loads of work in the garden (hauling turf and digging etc) and on Sunday I just felt exhausted. I'm going to try to get out for a short run today as I'm having a step back week anyway its not such a crisis I'm not doing anything except heavy gardening. Back to work tomorrow (boo) so I should get back into my routine then.