Running - Week of Sept. 3-9

[emily_in_nc]

Just a little 2.75 mile treadmill run (plus .5 walk) at the work gym, but it felt fairly easy, and I managed to run a mile of it at a 10:00 pace, my fastest ever. I think the cross training (road riding, mountain biking, walking, running, sailing, and gym) is paying off. I am definitely a jack of all trades, master of none, but feel fitter than when I was doing many miles of road cycling 5 days a week and nothing else, and I'm never bored! And hiking season will be here before too long!!!

Emily

[annie]

My first time on the running thread, I think. Nice to see others who like to cross-train.

Running is NOT my exercise of choice. But I know it is good for me. Good for my bones, good for my aerobic system, and good for a change. I'm trying to run at a minumum, once a week. Didn't run at all this summer, just biked. In the last three weeks, I've been running twice each week. Just about killed me the first time out, but is much better now. I am up to a 5K. I'd like to eventually be able to do a 10K. Any ideas on how long I should take to build up to that? No competing in mind here, just keeping fitness over the winter. Thanks!

Annie

[limewave]

Annie--I would say take 3 months to build to the 10k. You could do it faster, say in 2 months if you really wanted to--depends on how motivated you are. Increase for three weeks, then have an easy week followed by 3 more weeks of building, rest week, etc.

Today was hill-repeats for me. There was a huge red blob on the radar just off the coast when I went out, so I kept it short.

Hill-repeat question: What kind of hill (%grade, distance) is good for hill repeat training?

[Kimmyt]

4.5 miserable miles last night after work. Decided to do hills, and in the heat. don't know what I was thinking. Also realized the power of training, ran with a friend of mine I'd done the last tri with, who had just started running then, but now is training for a 1/2, and she really kicked my ***. Ah well, it was all in good fun, and I'm super proud of her, but still. It was a rough night!

K.

[michelem]

We had a bit of a cooldown on Tuesday, so I was able to do an outdoor run in the early evening - yay! Did my regular "six mile" loop in an hour and 5 minutes. For the first time, I wore my heartrate monitor (which, did not work - kept fluctuating from 74 bpm's and then up way over 200 and back down again - weird) and looked at the watch that goes with it for my time. Normally, I just look at the clock as I leave home and look at it again when I get back in the house. Anyway, I know the mileage on the streets and for the part of the trail that shows up on Google and it looked as though I was running approx. 9 minute miles, which corresponds with what I've been doing on the treadmill. Odd, I had always thought I was doing more like 12-15 minute miles and was so discouraged at my slowness outdoors. So, I really think that my guesstimate of my loop is off. It's probably more like 7+ miles rather than 6. I wish Google would get it's act together and update their maps to show the area where my paved trail is – the area has been built out for well over two years, with houses, etc., but Google shows it’s just a bunch of dirt.

Okay, enough of that.

Last night it was back on the treadmill as we have been advised not to do outdoor activity due to (fire) smoke. Did about 8.25 miles, plus walked about .25 miles at the end, for a total of about an hour and 25 minutes. I say "about" because the treadmill turns off and loses all data after one hour and then I have to re-start it at 0.

That's it for running this week. Saturday and Sunday will be back on the bike for more hillclimbing!

[northstar]

4.3 miles that actually felt great today, Friday. This is the first time I've run over three miles without stopping to walk at least once...maybe I've broken out of my little plateau.

[Grog]

I was on the road at 7 Tuesday morning for a light 30-minute run with a new resident, and now I'm taking a small bunch for speedwork in about 15 minutes. I've had two short but fun bike rides too, so it's been a good week.

Now the long run on Sunday... not sure how well this is going to go! I'll just take it easy I guess.

Thanks for your postings all, it keep me motivated to see others are out there running...

[yellow]

I'm having a bit of a running crisis, and it's making me melancholy.

I've been following a training schedule for a "goal" event in November pretty closely and so far it's been going pretty well (I do better when I am training for something...hence this event). But I'm starting to feel a little out of sorts about it.

I don't think I'll have a problem getting the time/miles in this week, but the next few weeks are making me rethink this whole idea. The schedule I'm using has you do back to back days with a long run and then another one about half the distance of the long run, sometimes more. Today I did 14 and felt pretty bad (I think due to starting too late and having to run in the direct sun a lot of the time, something I've been avoiding most of the summer...and due to a calorie deficit) and tomorrow I do 8. I'm not too worried about that. However, next week is 16/10 (a little scary), week after that is 18/10 (scary), and week after that is 20/10 (really scary). Yikes. I then get an easy week before the big mileage starts (22/10 for two weeks and 24/10 as the BIG ONE). Of course you are also running the rest of the week, with 2 rest days. Running back to back days is one of the standard ultra training techniques as it trains your body to run on tired legs (you always get the following day off completely). And so far I have to give it a thumbs up (at my lower mileages, anyway); I usually feel really good the 2nd day.

But I may bail altogether.

I've been running alone, which means that after about 1.5 hours my head starts to get messy and I feel like I want to quit and go home. DH is not supportive of my effort and in fact thinks that I have a problem (problem: liking endurance activity) and has been a jerk about it, so I have to plan my runs so that they don't interfere with life. And then there are all those other things that I like to do or have planned, like the Tour de Vins with Shiraz the 20/10 week (which I've already signed up for and am really looking forward to) and a mtn biking trip to Moab in October (the first 22/10 week). I think I would still finish the 50k even if I did these things and didn't follow the "schedule", but I'm not sure I have it in me to train properly, schedule or no.

So we'll see. I'm going to try to stick with it, but mentally it's already hard and I'm not even at the big mileage yet. I'd like to do it because I really do love trail running and the 50k is in a beautiful location (Stinson Beach in Cali). Since I train at 6000' elev and up, I will have an advantage running at/near sea level. I can always do the 30k, and I think that might be a nice compromise.

Those people that do 50 and 100 milers are amazing (and most definitely a little off kilter ). I have a whole new appreciation for what they do. They must put in some serious miles the 2 months before an event!

OK, I'll quit whining now. I just wish I felt better about it all.