April 20-26 Runs

[Susan Otcenas]

My long run was scheduled for Sunday, but after a serious climbing workout on my bike on Saturday (Delorme said 6600' over 41 miles, though I'm skeptical), I decided to push my long run until Monday. Glad I did, too! After feeling how tired my legs were during my Sunday swim class, I knew I'd made the right choice.

I ran the same 7.25 mile course for the 3rd week in a row. Averaged 10 minute miles, which I was very pleased about.

One small problem was that my Achilles tendons felt a little sore after mile 5 or so. I tend to get really sore achilles tendons on very long bike rides or after 3-4 consecutive days of riding. My bike fitter says that comes from a tendency to drop the heel when tired. So, I imagine yesterday's achilles issues were actually from Saturday's ride, not the run itself.

I'm glad I have until October to train for the 1/2 marathon. It will allow me to build my mileage very very slowly, which will hopefully keep these minor aches and pains to a minimum.

[OakLeaf]

I did a little over 10 yesterday. I was all stressed out and didn't have that great of a run, but I really tried to keep a serene outlook, focused on form, energy and gratitude.

Moving day tomorrow. I packed up my bike and took it to FedEx yesterday. I might get a little run in the morning, might not.

Weird Susan, my Achilles trouble comes from dropping my TOES when I ride, pushing off with the toes when I run (both of which I'm really really working on) and toeing off in aerobics (pretty much unavoidable, I'm not really looking forward all that much to going back to the gym). Working out the trigger points in my calves really helps (lots of them :rolleyes:), but not creating them to begin with is even better.

[yellow]

Susan, I'm with you. The 20-somethings at the Crossfit gym don't understand why I do the whole mileage build, rest weeks, tapering, etc. Could I make the distance? Sure. But would I want to undertrain and be totally wiped out for days afterwards or injured? No. But I also need to be careful about too much training and getting the proper amount of rest. The line between undertraining and overtraining is so very thin. I learn a lot every time I take on a new challenge.

Oak, good luck with the move. I hate moving. I'd rather have a root canal. :p

After my rest week last week, it's back at it this week. Lots of crosstraining...I've ended up replacing one of my running days entirely with an intense crosstrain day, which I think has ended up making my legs much happier. There is a Fat A$$ trail marathon here this weekend and I might do most (or all) of it (it's in my 'hood, so I can drop just about anywhere and walk home). I am scheduled for a 22-24 miler, so I could use it as a training run and have some company. The hardest part of the long runs for me is staying focused and motivated; much easier to accomplish with a group of people needing the same sort of company.

Happy running, everyone!

[jesvetmed]

Yellow: The company on your long run sounds like a good bet. Over 6 miles and I am BORED (although the focus on trying to breathe helps :rolleyes:). Good luck either way!

I only had 3.5 miles on the schedule today -- a warm up, and #16 x 30 sec sprints, followed by 30 sec "active rest". Today, I took that to mean fast walking :o. As I get more sprinting in I'll jog that section, but not today! It actually felt VERY good. I was surprised. 16 sprints sounded daunting going into it.

So far, so good... all injuries at bay. But, as Yellow and Oak mentioned -- smart training and taking care of problems BEFORE they occur will be the key. Otherwise, you get forced rest weeks... several in a row! I'm hoping to be done with that!

Happy Moving Day, Oak!

[Crankin]

Riding 3 days in a row last weekend wiped me out! Spring allergies are in the air and I am swamped with work for grad school.
Monday I "rested" by walking 3 miles in the Patriot's Day parade with the military family support group. Marching over the Old North Bridge with people clapping for us and saying "thank you" made up for my aching body.
Yesterday, it was raining. I went to the gym, hoping I would run, but as soon as I got on the treadmill, I knew it was a no-go. I did 15 minutes of a run-walk interval, about 1.5 miles. I did the run at 5.7 mph and I walked at 4.0 mph, at a 3% incline. Then I went and got on the elliptical for 15 minutes and did intervals in terms of both resistance and intensity. Then I lifted weights and did all of my core/stretching.
Today is beautiful out and I have to go into Cambridge to work on a group project. By the time I get back, it's probably going to be raining :mad:. I had hoped to ride, but it looks like I might be doing a short run.
I don't know what I will have time for tomorrow....

[SJCzar]

I've been reading these weekly run threads for awhile now so I guess it's time I joined in too.

I'm in week 13 of a 16 week half-marathon training program (my first). It's been going fine so far but now that the mileage has increased so much I'm finding it harder to schedule the runs around work, all the cycling I'd like to be doing, other competitive events, and family obligations. I'm sure that every other one of you experiences this same problem.

I've learned to be flexible and not be so hard on myself if I don't stick to the program exactly as it is. Moving my long run day or speed work day forward or back won't cause me to loose all the progress I made so far .... at least that's what I try to tell myself. I'm taking some vacation time tomorrow morning so I can get in my 8 mile tempo run to stay on track for this week. I have never loved running like I love cycling so using vacation time for that is definitely not something I would have thought of doing before I started all this. Oh well, I'm sure I'll think it's all worth it when I hopefully cross the finish line (with a smile on my face)

[Susan Otcenas]

Speedwork on the treadmill this morning:

1.0 mile warmup @ 11:00/mile
1.0 mile @ 9:48
0.5 mile @ 11:00
1.0 mile @ 9:48
0.5 mile @ 11:00
1.0 mile @ 9:48
1.0 mile cool @ 11:00
0.35 walking
Total distance = 6.35mile Time = 70 minutes.

This workout was one additional mile at race pace than the last speed workout I did 3 weeks ago. About halfway through the 3rd fast mile I was ready for it to be done, but I managed to hold the pace without my form falling apart. :)

SJCzar - my solution is getting up really stinkin' early. I'm out there by 5:30a.m. typically. I'm working up to a half as well, but mine isn't until October.

My long run day is Sunday, but sometimes I'm just too tired after my Saturday ride to make it happen. I'll swim on Sunday and take it relatively easy the rest of the day (I'm not a big kicker, so swimming doesn't tax my legs that much.) Then, I'll do the long run on Monday morning instead. Monday is supposed to be my rest day, so doing it Monday doesn't really throw off my schedule (since I'm basically resting my legs Sunday instead.)

Be flexible and don't be too hard on yourself. A missed workout here or there, in the grand scheme, doesn't usually amount to much lost. Sometimes we just need a break.

Susan

[Crankin]

Well, I am more than half way through my week from H*ll. Did a quick run this morning, 2.2 miles. It was cold, 39, but I was dressed right for once.
Didn't wear my Garmin, didn't care, either. Actually, I decided to go up the steep side of the hill, a first for a run. Then I found out why I don't usually do this; my right knee was really complaining, so I walked to the top and then ran down to my driveway.
I am still obsessing on the nice weather I will miss when I am in class all weekend, but I will be able to get a good ride in tomorrow. Not long, but enough to make me feel like I rode. I will probably run Saturday when I get home. I've actually thought about riding into Cambridge on Sunday, on my Jamis, but I know that when we are done at 4 PM, I will want to get home as quickly as possible and the ride would probably be 1 hr. 15, given the city riding in the beginning, going through a couple of busy areas after that, and riding a heavier bike, loaded with my books. So, I'll probably ride when I get home.
I'm testing out the WIFI on the commuter train. Pretty cool.

[Urlea]

Meshing the busy work schedule with a busy training schedule is difficult. Getting up at 5am to run actually worked out well this morning, feels like I have a lot more hours in my day. :)

Decent run, warm weather & nice company. I only went 5miles as I am starting to taper for the marathon. Trying to still maintain some HIM training while tapering is a trick. So far so good. My left hamstring has been tight most of this week, not sure why, but it has happened before. Thinking I just need to baby my muscles a little bit & make sure I am stretching.

Great job getting out there & running so far this week ladies! Keep it up! :D

[yellow]

My running has been a little "off" this week, but this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsoAQwhKKm0)made me feel better. And then I started to watch a bunch of the other ones from Running Superfans (http://www.youtube.com/user/runningsuperfans). :D

Looking like rain for tomorrow. I'm not running the trail mary (portion) if it's raining!

[Urlea]

LOL! I love those! Somebody on twitter tipped me off to them last week, I laughed so hard. :D

[Susan Otcenas]

Meshing the busy work schedule with a busy training schedule is difficult. Getting up at 5am to run actually worked out well this morning, feels like I have a lot more hours in my day. :)


Yup! That's why I get up so dang early and do my workouts. It's the only way I can get more hours in the day!

4.4 miles this morning. After a few weeks of a warming trend, it was back to 33 degrees again this morning. Had to whip out the warmer tights and run tuke.

The last couple of weeks I've been dragging Jeff out of bed so he can go do some early morning run/walk workouts on his own. (That man is NOT a morning person ;) ) He has some knee issues so he generally tries to take it easy. He ran 40 minutes without a break this morning. I was so proud of him! But also a little jealous. :o It took me nearly 3 months of effort, 3 days a week, to work up to running that long. And his legs are sooooo long that he covers much more distance in that time period that I can. *sigh*

I watched the final of the women's Boston marathon. I was struck by the height (and leg length) difference between the two gals who finisihed first & second. What this tells me is that I need to suck it up and not use my stubby little legs as an excuse, eh? :D

Susan

[michelem]

Another whacky-weather day here in N. CA! So, early last week it was in the 50's and low 60's, then bang! it was 80. Then, it got up to 96 on Wednesday this week! Yesterday it was 75. Today, woke up to rain. It cleared, got up to about 70, but quite windy. Well, I had my heart set on a run after work, so I went anyway! I headed over to the river trail and started out at about 70 with wind gusts at around 25mph. The wind was in my face THE WHOLE WAY, out and back! I kept telling myself that when I turned around at the dam to head back I’d have the wind at my back! HAH! It didn’t work that way. Maybe it was a cross-wind. Whatever. It felt like I was running in slo-mo. But, I made it the whole approx. 6.5 miles, hills included (and there were plenty) in under an hour. Not great, but not horrible considering I’ve been concentrating on P90X and not running. Saw a coyote, lots of wild turkeys, and a few geese as well. The dark clouds were rolling back in as I got back, so I’m thinking perhaps more rain tonight. We’ll see. I think we are safely out of the heat wave for now! :)

Wishing you all a Happy Weekend! :D

[OakLeaf]

Hills. :eek: Wind. Heat. Three days with no cardio. 6.25 miles, easy, just to let my legs start to remember what hills feel like. Think I'll slack off the speedwork for a couple of weeks while I get reacquainted with elevation change. Ack.

[Urlea]

Kudos to those of you running in the wind & warmer temps this week. That is tough!!! It has been windy here as well, but it was a warm wind so I really shouldn't complain.

This morning however, was a different story. No wind thankfully, but no warmth. I was back to wearing tights, beanie, gloves & fleece jacket. I along with many running the Fargo Marathon still have no idea what gear we are going to be able to wear, but Lord knows we've gotten the opportunity to try every possible outfit at least once since the temps have been fluctuating between 30-80 degrees. :p

Unfortunately my marathon training program ended a week short, it somehow had me running my next Sunday, but it isn't for another 13 days so I called up Maggy my running buddy (it's awesome to have a running buddy now) and found out what time the marathon training group was leaving from the LRS & how far they were going.

Ran a very pleasant 13miles with them @ at 10:45 pace today. Felt great. I had to take my first unallocated rest day in three months yesterday to give my legs a break. Did me a world of good, I got home from running wishing I could have gone farther. But I'll be doing that soon enough, for now I'm trying to obey the taper. Argh. :)

I don't know about all of you, but I'm getting excited to read some more race reports! It's getting to be that season. :)

Happy running this weekend ladies!

[yellow]

Urlea, when is your marathon? For some reason I was thinking it's at the end of May, but if you're tapering, it must be sooner. Tapering...good times. :p

I didn't do the trail race yesterday because I exercised poor judgment and actually believed the weather forecast. It didn't rain much (although the trail was muddy), so it would have been a good day to go out and run with others. Instead I sulked and grumbled but went to Crossfit, which made me feel better. And I decided to try to get in the 22-miler today, and woke up to rain/snow. Nice. So off to the dreadmill I went. But while I was at the gym it cleared enough to entice me to finish my run on the trail, so I'm happy to report that I did not run 22 miles on the dreadmill (only 14 :rolleyes:). The other 8 were on a muddy trail. I saw 2 Lewis' woodpeckers, which are a sure sign of spring. The mule's ears are starting to bloom, too.

Took my first ice bath of the season. I love ice baths. http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Love/hearts-018.gif

Mileage was lower than it should have been this week. And the coming week will be challenging as well since we're going on a mountain bike adventure in Fruita, CO next weekend. There won't be any running there!

[Urlea]

Yellow- The Fargo Marathon is May 9th! Which is coming pretty quick & I'm getting very excited! Been excited for a while actually. :D

I don't know how you can stand ice baths. I tried one yesterday and it was no fun. Then again maybe I would enjoy it more if I hadn't spent the last 2hrs running in 30 degree temps, but still. Yikes.

Have fun biking in Fruita! Lots of ppl looking forward to that from what I've heard.

[SadieKate]

I saw 2 Lewis' woodpeckers, which are a sure sign of spring. Hey, us too! They hung out in the yard a long time (looked like a little flirting was going on), even used the groundfeeder and checked out the woodpecker house. That would be way cool if they moved in.

[Susan Otcenas]

Morning everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend of running.

Once again, I pushed my long run from Sunday to Monday. I'm thinking that I need to re-organize my run schedule so that the long run happens mid-week. The reality is that I always have a long, hard bike ride on the weekend, usually on Saturday. I think moving my long run to mid-week would give me time to recover, and balance my efforts a little better.

Instead of running yesterday, I went to swim class, then spent the afternoon shoveling dirt in my front yard. :o

This morning's run was 7.25 miles. I really struggled with it - felt very tired from the get-go. At mile 3, I walked for 3 minutes, sucked down a 2nd Gu, and drank some water. That sustained me for the rest of the run, though I was very tired by the end.

What went wrong? Well, I went to bed a little hungry, so it's not surprising that I was low on energy when I woke up. I also think the yardwork took more out of me than I'd like to admit (I moved a huge pile of dirt!). And I also think I'm feeling the accumulated effects of not enough sleep. I'm an 8 hour a night kind of gal, and I've not gotten that much in the past week or so.

My first tri of the season is May 9th - a week from Saturday! (and the same day as Urlea's marathon.) I'm going to take it easy for the next 10 days, especially the run training, which I think wears me down more than anything else I do. I'm hoping to start the tri feeling very fresh.

Susan

[Urlea]

Good job pushing through a tiring run Susan!

[Crankin]

I haven't run at all in a few days. Besides allergies, course work and getting in a few little rides, I just don't feel like it. I am going on a long ride Wednesday and plan to run Thursday and get back on schedule.
My muscle weaknesses/imbalances are really bothering me. This is not Fibromyalgia. I*have* to get to a PT, but that involves getting to the doctor to write a prescription. I am just being lazy.
OK, I will run Thursday.

[divingbiker]

OK, I've never really felt like a runner so I haven't posted here, but now I think I qualify. Yesterday I did the MORE/Fitness magazine half marathon in New York City. Due to the heat, they canceled the marathon and said that if you couldn't complete the half marathon in 3 hours, then you could only do the first loop of the course (7 miles.) I had been planning to mostly walk the race, shooting for a time of 3:30.

Well, there was no way in hell that I was going to throw away all the training I'd done, along with the expense of a trip to NYC, so I started off running and never really stopped. I walked a bit, but mostly ran the first 7 miles and made it well before the 1:40 cutoff. The second half was harder, but I continued running for about 4 more miles, till my body started balking. I walked most of the last three miles, because every time I started running my stomach and calves would start cramping.

I finished in 3:03. I really wanted to make it in under 3 hours, but my crampy body wouldn't cooperate. I ended up in the medical tent feeling woozy, and a nice medic gave me salt and an ice pack and I got better pretty quickly. I guess I wasn't drinking as much gatorade at the water stops as I thought I was (warm gatorade is kinda disgusting.)

So there it is--my first and last half marathon. I'm so glad I don't have to do those long training walk/runs any more!

Here are the only two pictures I have from the day (Zen has more, but I think they're pretty unflattering.)

9164 9165

[Jolt]

I haven't run at all in a few days. Besides allergies, course work and getting in a few little rides, I just don't feel like it. I am going on a long ride Wednesday and plan to run Thursday and get back on schedule.
My muscle weaknesses/imbalances are really bothering me. This is not Fibromyalgia. I*have* to get to a PT, but that involves getting to the doctor to write a prescription. I am just being lazy.
OK, I will run Thursday.

You're not the only one! I haven't run in a few days either. As for muscle weaknesses/imbalances, I can relate--I think I may have finally figured out what was creating my IT band issues/weak glutes on the left side and why the problem has kept trying to come back. It's the fact that the adductor magnus has a nasty trigger point (that I now am pretty sure was there before the ITB stuff started, hence the theory that it helped cause the problem) and is just generally tight, which is making it harder for the glute medius (which has an opposing action) to work and sort of shutting it off. Needless to say, I'm irritated that I didn't figure that one out sooner--it was frustrating to be doing the PT exercises etc. and not getting the expected results. Hopefully with some work on loosening that up I can finally get my form right and not feel lopsided anymore--that's one of the reasons I haven't run in a few days, decided it might be good to hold off until things improve. So...anyone with recurrent ITB issues, check your adductors!! One indication of the problem may be if you do the "fire hydrant" exercise and have less range of motion on the affected side compared to the other.

[OakLeaf]

Way to go divingbiker! Good grief, you were waiting for a half mary to feel like a runner! :eek: Great job and I hope you keep posting here!

Put me on the slacking off list too. I'm just trying to get myself re-combobulated after the move. Yesterday I pushed the tiller around and spread compost for about three hours and counted that as my workout. (Managed to get a sunburn too, how do I do that after five months in Florida? :confused:)

Yellow, ice baths, :eek:. I still remember the one time I tried that technique, and it wasn't even ice, not even close, it was an unheated pool, the water temperature was probably around 50° or 55°F. I wound up with hypothermia and had to get in a hot shower for about half an hour. :rolleyes: Pretty much defeated the purpose I think.

[Crankin]

Jolt, it may well be the adductors, Right now my left groin is on fire and I am also having neck/head pain, along with some hip/sitz bone stuff. All on the left. I rode to W. Concord to do errands this morning on my hybrid. Just the 12 mile rt made me feel like kicking my bike and getting fat and lazy.
Since I have had MRIs of everything and all they show is a little degeneration, sort of normal for my age and activity level, I have got to do something. I've been doing all of the exercises she had me do last year, stretching, the roller, but the more I do, the worse it gets.

[Jolt]

Jolt, it may well be the adductors, Right now my left groin is on fire and I am also having neck/head pain, along with some hip/sitz bone stuff. All on the left. I rode to W. Concord to do errands this morning on my hybrid. Just the 12 mile rt made me feel like kicking my bike and getting fat and lazy.
Since I have had MRIs of everything and all they show is a little degeneration, sort of normal for my age and activity level, I have got to do something. I've been doing all of the exercises she had me do last year, stretching, the roller, but the more I do, the worse it gets.

What a bummer! I have something to recommend looking into: I recently picked up this book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back (by Esther Gokhale), that is all about posture and using your body the right way, and am so far finding it very useful. You might want to look at it--it's not just for back problems even though that's the title of the book and is a big part of what it focuses on. The woman who wrote it went to several countries where the incidence of back pain is very low and observed their posture and movement; there are photographs of people doing daily activities in those and other places throughout. There are sections dealing with sleeping positions, sitting, standing, using the core muscles to protect the spine, bending and walking (the walking one focuses a lot on using the glutes, and that is the main reason I decided the book would be helpful in my situation). It also has a section with exercises you can do for specific areas that need work on strength or flexibility. Be forewarned that you'll learn how bad the way so many things are set up is for posture--seats in cars are awful (as are the ones on the commuter rail and the T, I have realized--no wonder one can never get really comfortable on a long ride), most chairs and couches aren't so great either, etc. Sort of makes you want to overhaul your whole furniture setup... Anyway, I highly recommend this book based on my experience so far.

[michelem]

Oops! Missed posting for this week's thread, so figure better late than never.

Couldn’t stand to let the nice weather go to waste, so went for an approx. 7 mile run Sunday morning. Left the house at 8am and somewhere between 45 and 50 degrees. It’s an out-and-back route I’m familiar with, from my house along surface streets, to a lovely paved trail. No real hills to speak of (although plenty of “false flats” -- slight upgrades you can barely see, but sure can feel) until the last 3/4 miles home, which is an approx. 6.5% grade up. Anyway, felt pretty good up to the turnaround point, approximately 30 minutes in, but really struggled on the way back. For one, there was that lovely wind again (although it was less than 10mph, so nothing like Friday). And two, I started feeling super-hungry and like I was losing energy big-time. I think this new way of eating (higher protein/lower carbs to support the strength training I'm doing with P90X) is not providing enough glycogen for me to run on an empty stomach like I’m used to doing in the mornings. However, I can’t eat or drink anything any sooner than 3 hours before I run unless I want to be making pit stops along the way. Sigh . . . Anyway, completed the run/jog in just over an hour.

So, I learned my lesson and will adjust my intake accordingly when planning to go for a run!

Wow, congrats divingbiker! Sounds like you picked quite a doozy for your first race!

Yellow, Ice bath??? YIKES!!! There is NO WAY I'd ever do one of those. You are one strong woman!

Urlea, I'm getting excited for you and can't wait to hear how May 9 goes for you.

Everyone else, keep on running! :)