November Leaf Shuffling

[katluvr]

I, too, have been running but not posting. On Sunday i ran my first trail 1/2 marathon. It was about 84 degrees after the sun came up. Ah, fall in Florida! Here is the race report I posted on FB:

Race report: So it was my first trail 1/2 marathon. I've done many a road race and yes, I have done Pikes Peak--but that's totally different. I did pretty good to start, first 5 miles under 1 hour, made the half way mark at 1:40 so I thought I was doing well. But it was HOT. When not in the woods (where it more technical) we did flat, grassy areas with direct sun. I really think I would of done better if not so hot. It really hit me between miles 8 & 9 and the "walk/run" was on. By miles 11 & 12 it was mostly a walk and short, slow slogging. My best road 1/2 marathon was 2:09, my normal "good" 1/2 is between 2:17 & 2:24, and not trained for 1/2s are in the 2:30 mark. My goal was under 3 hours and I made it in 2:56--thus goal attained! As runners know since this is my first trail 1/2 marathon this is a new PR! Not bad for a short, chubby almost 50 year old!

So my next race is my usual race of a 5 K and 10 K --back to back, 3rd weekend in Jan. My plan is to change my training from endurance and just getting the distance to working on my speed. We shall see how that goes.

K

[yellow]

kat, that is AWESOME! Congratulations!

[OakLeaf]

Wow, way to go Kat! Very nice.

Yellow, nice picture! What a beautiful place to run. Unfortunately, between my asthma and my Raynaud's, I think I'll have to content myself with looking at pictures of anything below 20° ...

My foot is feeling a lot better. Not 100%, but definitely on the road to healing, enough that I'm probably going to go ahead and do the 5K Turkey Trot I'm signed up for. I'm starting to run a little more, and mainly right now I'm feeling the effects of how little running I've been doing the last few weeks. Ugh. I'm sending my recent training logs to my coach so he can get me started on my training plan, and it's flat-out embarrassing. I'm already making excuses to him for my lack of running and I haven't even started his program yet! But really ... they're good excuses ...

[Wahine]

Good work Kat! Nice job meeting your goal on your first trail half.

I am slowly building things back up. My achilles seems to be about 95% recovered and it's not bothering me when I run, just a little tight afterward. I've made it back up to 6 miles. If everything goes well over the next few months, I should be able to get up to a long run of 15 miles and still have 2 weeks to taper going into my first stand alone marathon.

[katluvr]

Love reading about everyone's runs, accomplishments and goals (and support)!
So today was a 30 minute run, a bit under 3 miles. I did "intervals". Just did schedule 1 minute "speed" work. No target pace just ran "as fast as I can without dying" for a minute. Well maybe I didn't run as fast as I can (then again, maybe it was! I'm so slow). But it went well. Except I am SOOOOOOOO damn tired of this humidity. It is like soup out there! Cool front hit us Sunday, hope it dries up some, too.

K

[GLC1968]

Yellow - great photo! I would *LOVE* to run in your neck of the woods. It sounds amazing to me!

Kat - awesome job on the trail 1/2! I'm not sure I could do a full half marathon on a trail without hurting myself (if yesterday was any indication!).

I too have been running without posting. Two weeks ago was a 'rest' week on my plan, so I had 4 short runs and no long one. This past week, I was traveling three days (three days of difficult travel, actually), so my run plan was all over the place. I did manage to get them all in, if a bit off on normal timing. Yesterday was my long run of 10 miles. It was beautiful weather, but it wasn't a great run. I had zero energy (entirely due to a massive calorie deficit I'm intentionally running right now) so it felt like a ridiculously long PLOD. I was so done at the end that when I cut through an unfamiliar parking lot at 9.5 miles to turn towards home, I totally tripped. It was the oddest thing - I guess I was dazed, because I was half way to the ground before I realized what was happening. I threw my arm out in front of me at the last second to stop my fall and skinned my elbow. I immediately turned to look at what I tripped over and it was a speed bump! How embarrassing!

Luckily, today I feel fine. No aches, no pains and no tiredness in my legs. My elbow smarts when in the shower but other than that, I don't even notice it. Phew!

[colby]

Winter running photos already! Feels like it was just summer. I love winter running once it gets past the slush point.

The trail half sounds awesome. No need to qualify - finishing and meeting your goal is awesome no matter what!

My husband is chasing off his blerch (as per The Oatmeal) and I am figuring out the best way to keep him motivated. We started focused running a few months ago (longer casually) with a goal in mind to see if goal-motivation is enough but the midweek stuff is still a challenge. I think we need to rewind and focus on daily consistency and a weekend longer run. Since I spend about 2/3 of my time in Austin and it's cooling off, it's a great time to start running and he's enjoying it (mostly). I've pretty much left personal goals behind for now, and am playing coach. It really works for him to have someone there with him, especially while he builds reinforcing habits, and he's started enjoying it and seeing the benefits (emotionally, physically). We'll probably switch to 5 days a week of 20-30 minutes almost daily (run/strength/bike/swim) and something longer on weekends.

We're running a half marathon next weekend together, with a goal of just finishing (in honor of chasing off the blerch!). I know there will be some walking, he can make it about 8 miles without a break (other than eat/drink) at a comfortable pace (11-11:30ish) but the longest we've gone is 10, and I did the 9-10 mile runs separately from him so I know he walked more than I would have allowed. Not to mention, it's a hillier course and we've been running mostly flats. On the bright side, I know the course really well, so I can explain what's going on, and the back half is great.

Also thinking about 2014 lately. This race will wrap up 2013 for me... and unfortunately a lot of 2014 (bright side: courtesy a baby girl due April 1). I have been thinking about focusing on running for a while, this might be the break from endurance triathlon that lets me give it a shot. We'll see.

Happy running!

[salsabike]

Colby! Congratulations!