Running after the Easter Bunny

Ok, sorry about the thread title, but Easter is this weekend...right?
I can't believe I am being the first to post fo rthe new week...and this is my first REAL RUN since my marathon over 1 month ago. Woo-Hoo!
So my mom, sister, neice and a friend were here for the weekend. They left this AM, it had been raining and I was home alone and just could not figure out what to do w/ myself....so I decided to go for a run. It is windy, no longer raining, sun peeking out, high 60's....perfect for a run. So I headed out (sans garmin) w/ ipod and ole trusty timex and ran 4 miles. Just rain as I felt. And I had no aches, pains or anything (especially since I have a couple of missing toenails!).
So I think I may be back on the streets:D

Hey ladies!

I spent the last two months on & off my running rhythm between being sick and just life. Spring came a month early in Fargo which brought along with it additional work I wasn't quite expecting.

Anywho, it's been really fun tracking your progression/races even though I haven't been able to post much. It looks like the TE runners just keep getting stronger and stronger! :D

This past weekend was pretty epic. There are a few key/crutial training runs that ultra runners need to do before trying a 50 or 100miler and this weekend's back-to-back 26.2s was one of them. After two weeks of antibiotics, a lot of sleep and decent taper I was ready for it though. I turned 23 last Tuesday so I had a few extra runners along (kind of considered these my birthday runs) for the first marathon on Saturday to pace Maggie & I thru a good section of trail. Then on Sunday our ultra buddy Joel paced us on hilly gravel roads out in the country for another 26.2! To be honest I was completely expecting this to be a slog of a weekend with a lot of pain, but it went unbelievably well! :eek: Of course now I'm tired and on the sore side and I'm okay with that. Video from both days is up on my blog.

You never know what is possible until you try ladies, just keep pushing the limits.

Kat- I like the post title. :)

Urlea--:) Sounds like you had great runs this weekend! And Happy Birthday!

So, I sprained my left hamstring pretty badly last week. No running for me for 5 days. . . . but I can still bike :D So I'm happy about that at least. This was a lower-mileage week for me anyways. My longest run was to be 8 miles. Doctor said I should be good to go next week when I have my 16 miler.

Hey kat, welcome back at it! :D

Urlea, just wow. Happy birthday!

Me, I went and did it. It rained all morning and I felt lazy and pi$$y, but once it quit raining and I convinced myself I was going to run long today, there really wasn't any distance I wanted to run, but one. I knew I was ready from the way I felt after last week's 24, but as I said last week, I wanted to actually do the whole thing at least once before race day. My legs felt good after yesterday's 53 mile club ride (just about double 26.2, which felt like an omen too, even though it's what we ALWAYS ride :rolleyes:).

Five hours, ten minutes. Now to work toward that 4:30 goal.


ETA: Lime, man, if it's not one thing it's another. :( Heal up quick! Are you training for a marathon too? :confused:

Did my first 10 miler over the weekend and today I did an 8 miler. Pretty high miles for me. Still have tweeky achilles but just have to stop and stretch it ever so often. New shoes have been fantabulous and have really helped my hips. Ran with a friend today who is training for a full marathon which was really fun to have someone to talk to even though I was uber slow. Still not quite recovered from the 10 miler I guess. Tomorrow is a bike day! :):):)

Wow, you ladies are doing so well.

Urlea, back to back 26.2's is just an unbelievable accomplishment.

Oak, congrats on your 26.2. That has to be a huge confidence builder.

Winding, congrats to your on your 10 miler....I'm about a week behind you on my training schedule and my achilles tendons are pretty tender too. I did my 8 mile run on a limestone trail and it really made my ankles sore.

Good morning! Had to run on the dreadmill this morning as the roads are flooding. I do have my limits. ;) Ran 4.19.

Went for my first run after Sunday's half today-- 4 miles. I'm pretty sure my dead legs had more to do with last night's circuit training class at the Y than the race. But it felt good to be back out running, even if I was in old shoes (my current pair are still damp from all the rain).

Do I dare to put away the winter running gear yet? or is that a sure way to bring back the snow?

Oak - Congrats on getting to that milestone! Huge confidence booster, I'm sure.

Urlea wow, back to back marathons. You amaze me. Nice work!


As for me, I had an amazing 10K (actually 6.4 mile) race on Sunday. I was hoping to break one hour for 6.2 miles, which would have put me at a 9:40/mile pace.

I TOTALLY blew that out of the water. :D :D I ran 58:05 for 6.4 miles, or an average pace of 9:05/mile!!! My first two miles were sub-9:00. I'm delighted beyond belief. My pace on this same course last year was 10:11/mile, so I've made big strides this past year.

My coach is delighted too. I've followed her instructions very closely since I started working with her. She's had me do lots of interval and speed work and it would seem to be paying off. :)

My biggest problem on Sunday was that I did not follow her instructions for how to run the race itself. She told me to go out easy, and try to negative split the last 2 miles. Oooooops. :o I couldn't help myself. I got carried away on the adrenalin with everyone else, and my 1st two miles were really fast. I consciously slowed down for miles 3-4, but just didn't have any "kick" left at the end to pick it up in the last mile or so. So, I got a bit chastised by my coach for that. I know that her goal is to get me to learn to pace myself in race scenarios so that I can finish my HIM strong, and not have to walk at all during the run leg. Guess I need to work on obeying orders a little more....

Woohoo Susan! Terrific job. :)

You rock, Susan!

and I'm totally there with getting carried away early with the adrenalin-- my only hope for starting slow seems to be to get caught in heavy and slow traffic...

Today was a crappy 3 miles for me-- I gave blood yesterday, so my endurance is shot. But it brought my March to 130 miles, and that's pretty cool.

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Originally Posted by skhill

But it brought my March to 130 miles, and that's pretty cool.

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Wow, 130 - that's great! I had 91 (including 13 this morning). Was supposed to be 97, but I skipped one 6 miler on a sick day.

Nice work, everyone! Some NICE milestones in here. Very inspiring. :cool:

I was traveling the last week which made my workouts.... interesting. I missed Wednesday's ride, so Thursday I went to the hotel gym and did my ride (intervals) and then my run (hill repeats - longer, not as hard effort, at 8%). Was something like 50-60 minutes, and 50-60 minutes. I haven't really rode and then ran for a while. Maybe you just mentally tune it out, but I didn't really notice the difference of the effective brick vs. just straight running. Then, I had a day off, following by an actual brick (just aerobic) on Saturday - again, the running felt pretty normal, but I hate the treadmill as it is so maybe it gets mixed in. I missed Sunday, Monday, AND Tuesday, so I'm playing catch-up come Wednesday. We did a lot of walking, standing, and wandering around, so it's not like I was workout-free, just training-free. Oh well. I was pretty exhausted - we were 3 hours off our normal timezone and out of our eating/sleeping rhythm pretty badly. I'm afraid the workouts would have put me over the edge and I'd have ended up sick.

I'm debating taking my normal Friday off in prep for Saturday/Sunday long ride/run days vs. catching up on a workout. We're actually not in town this weekend (again) so I may have to shift my run/ride around, too. Good timing, though, this is about as late as I can be messing with my schedule like that.

Sorry for the diatribe... I am rationalising/reviewing. ;)

Tomorrow is a running day: warmup, 5x800m @ maximum w/ 800m walk for recovery, cooldown.

Congrats to everyone who are making progress on their routines. Good job. Spring's around the corner after all. Time to turn over a new leaf as they say.

Hi All... ran 5.25 this morning in advance of having to travel to Springfield, MA for the North American Alpaca Show. I might run in Springfield if I can figure out a route but if not, I won't be running until Sunday. We are supposed to do a 40ish mile ride in Westerly with the bike group on Sunday, but as Westerly suffered much from the flooding I am doubting it will go off. So I will plan for my long run instead, on Easter morning. Maybe a run / easter egg hunt? LOL.

indigoiis, have you thought about maybe canoeing through city streets instead of riding or running? RI sounds like it's a complete mess...

Today, 5 miles at an 8:57/mile pace-- first time I've managed to hold a sub-9 pace for that distance. And it's sunny and so warm I was seriously considering taking off my shirt; considering the neighborhood I was in, tho, I didn't. It's an area where you go if you're looking for a really cheap prostitute (a couple different guys drove by and made me an offer a few weeks ago, when I was walking home from church in a kinda short skirt)....

I'm thinking of celebrating my 39th birthday next week with a 39 mile week. Or maybe not!

I was cleared by my doc to run a 5k today. Running felt good. The hamstring definitely felt better than it did 4 days ago, but there were still some twinges of pain. I had to take it easy.

I hope the 8 miles I'm supposed to do on Saturday go better.

4.8 miles @ 9:20, trying out some new shoes, without the orthotics I've been wearing for years.

Hmmmm.

All feels good, but my left quad is kind of unusually fatigued. Noticed it during the run. I wonder if it's the stupid orthotics that created all the imbalances in my hips. :confused: I'm tempted to take them out of my old shoes too. We'll see how I feel tomorrow...

I'm kind of tearing my hair out wanting to stop doing anything that's contributing to injury or imbalance NOW, not wanting to change anything too quickly, needing to keep the volume up for the next 44 days. Ugh.

Anyway, kind of short for a "tempo" run, but didn't want to go too long the first time I'd worn these shoes.

Still feeling the cumulative effects of high-volume riding and running this week. May skip tomorrow's club ride.

5 miles tonight..........the HM is a month away :-)

I've been running okay this week. Just thankful to be running so soon off of the 2x26.2 Still waiting on energy to come back into my legs. It hasn't quite been there, but I'll take tired legs over painful ones any day!

So I'm trying something new this weekend and listening to an unfamiliar voice, I think it's called "reason". The ultra running crew decided on a 26mi trail run in the dark tomorrow night. Between terrain I'm not familiar with, the main ppl. going pushing the pace & too many miles too soon after last weekend I opted out. It's the right decision, but I'm still having a hard time accepting it. I'll get over it and enjoy my 13miles. :D

In other news...I have started shopping for new running shoes. In doing so I hopped on runner's world to look at reviews only to find out that for the last three years the LRS has been selling me shoes for runners that overpronate & I'm an underpronator! How does this happen? Could explain a lot of the blisters I have been habitually getting. Now the question is do I go with trail, racing flats or standard shoes? So hard to choose.

BikeChick- Only one month away? How exciting! :D

Urlea- sounds like a good choice. Reason and I don't always get along so well either, but its usually for the best :D

As for shoes, what feels good? If you're doing serious miles in VFFs (IIRC, you are), why not try some flats? I'm just starting to build mileage in mine, but I find that I can "sense" the ground much better in flats than in standard shoes, which ultimately leads to fewer injuries. As a bonus, my current shoe choice comes in both road and trail versions, making it each to rotate shoes and pick the right shoe for the terrain. Have fun shopping!

2nd run of the week (and since the marathon)! So I leisurely got out of bed, had my coffee, chilled a while then set out for the 5 mile loop. It is a bit more like 5.3 or so, but did not run w/ Garmin...just timex. Felt good most of run, a bit sluggish, heavy feet last mile or so. Goal was simple...do it under 1 hour. And I did...59 min and some off seconds. Just getting back to the "joy" of running. Tomorrow is "joy of biking"--maybe I'll be able to catch the Easter Bunny a bit easier on the bike!:)

K

Hi Runner girls.
You are all doing so great, I feel silly posting about a 5k race. The race was a benefit for the Leukemia Society, and yesterday I found out that one of my students, a 14 year old boy has AML. He is facing a month of chemo in the hospital, to start.

So today I raced for him.

My goal was to break 25mins and I finished in 25:08. There was such a cluster at the start, I probably lost a few seconds. I was bummed for a nano second about coming that close, and then I remembered.....

A young boy in the hospital.

happy easter to those that celebrate and happy spring to everyone else!

Throw out some good karma for my sick little Bio student.

Ruth

Never feel silly about posting any effort. You're out there "doing it" - and for a good cause! Your goals are yours and if you meet them or learn from them -it is all good!

Healing thoughts to your student.

And that is a very nice race time. Congrats!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rocknrollgirl

Hi Runner girls.
You are all doing so great, I feel silly posting about a 5k race. The race was a benefit for the Leukemia Society, and yesterday I found out that one of my students, a 14 year old boy has AML. He is facing a month of chemo in the hospital, to start.

So today I raced for him.

My goal was to break 25mins and I finished in 25:08. There was such a cluster at the start, I probably lost a few seconds. I was bummed for a nano second about coming that close, and then I remembered.....

A young boy in the hospital.

happy easter to those that celebrate and happy spring to everyone else!

Throw out some good karma for my sick little Bio student.

Ruth

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That's awesome, Ruth! Puts in all in perspective, doesn't it?

Ran 10 miles this morning!!!!! I'm so excited. It was my longest run so far and quite a milestone. We ran on the area bike trail that's an old railroad bed and some of it was breathtaking. After the rain last night, there were small waterfalls cascading off the bluffs and the creek was swollen and swift. I wish I had brought my camera. It's a blessing to be alive and experience a morning like this morning.

Way to go R&R! Great job ... and definitely no reason to feel silly! 5K takes a lot of toughness for sure. Sending healing vibes to your student.

Great job you too BC. Ten is definitely a milestone!

I took the orthotics out of my old shoes today, put the OEM insoles back in and did ten right at a 10:00 pace, including @8:20 for the last half mile. Felt fine. I really had to work to lift my second metatarsals, and my feet were definitely getting tired by the end, but it was actually better than with the stupid orthotics. Dang. It was HOT, okay, just 80° but I'm sure not acclimated to that yet - first really warm day this year.

By the time I got back and got my shower we were running late to get to the boat ride we'd reserved.... so we jumped on the hybrid bikes, hammered four miles, spent a couple of hours drinking wine, scarfing cheese and crackers, and watching dolphins and birds, then rode back at a leisurely pace. Half-@ssed duathlon. ;)

Oak, sorry to hear that about the orthotics. Was hoping it would have worked better for you since I'm thinking of taking mine out of my shoes. Your duathlon sounded splendid though. There was a nice, relaxing reward at the end, wasn't there;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bike Chick

Oak, sorry to hear that about the orthotics. Was hoping it would have worked better for you since I'm thinking of taking mine out of my shoes.

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No, really, it's good.

I'd been wearing these particular ones for YEARS - the money has been gone long enough that I don't miss it so much. ;) They were just part of a learning process ... part of learning to correct problems I've been having for the last 45 years, ever since I started having to wear shoes. :rolleyes: I don't feel bad that I bought them. (I'm pretty peeved at the ortho my parents took me to when I was six, but that's even longer gone than the fitter who put me in the orthotics. :p) I'm just glad I'm finally learning to pay attention to my feet, really glad for Knott's advice, and super glad my Achilles tendons aren't killing me right now. My feet are getting stronger all the time. Yay!

I understand, Oak. When I was in my 20's and wore stupid shoes because they looked good my great aunt kept repeating, "take care of your feet." I wish I had started sooner.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bike Chick

I understand, Oak. When I was in my 20's and wore stupid shoes because they looked good my great aunt kept repeating, "take care of your feet." I wish I had started sooner.

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... except my foot problems are the result of doctors telling me the exact wrong things to do to take care of my feet. So..... not sure it would be any worse if I'd been wearing 3" heels my whole life. :rolleyes:

Howdy all... just a quick hello and HAPPY EASTER to all of my TE friends. It is beautiful here and all of the water is drying up. They cancelled the Westerly ride so DH and I did our long run - 10 miles - and noted all of the washed out bridges, dams, and underminded roads all around us. Mother Nature definitely did her landscaping around here!
The show was good - two of our animals placed but we did not get a chance to run. So I am glad I ran today.
I am tempted to ride in tomorrow, but the route I take goes through West Warwick and Warwick where the worst of the flooding occurred. So I am not sure if I will do this or not.

Happy Easter all. Sounds like everyone is on track, and racking up the miles!!!

I did my 10 miler today... and OMG did it hurt. It was a REALLY mentally tough run. I've already done that distance but today was a different animal entirely. The fem cycle is close so all my joints hurt worse than normal. Anyone else notice that too? The BF gave me moral support through the whole thing but I still had to walk for a minute or two. :rolleyes: Dang it.

My ten miler was also a little rough because it was hot out and I am just not used to it. I do not like running in the heat!

But yeah, depending on my cycle, runs can definitely be different. But I think it also closely correlates with what I eat and drink the night before. Ten mile runs ARE strenuous, after all. Some runs are just better than others!