"How hard can it be?" Training Update

[Veronica]

That's the title on my fundraising page for Barb's Race.
http://www.active.com/donate/vineman08/VDyson

Some background - I've always wanted to do a triathlon, but they also freak me out a bit. Since I've missed out on some of the double centuries I planned to do this year, I decided I needed a new goal. I picked a Half IM tri. I know that sounds like a crazy first distance, but I have a swimming background - the mile was my event in college. I haven't been swimming regularly in the last few years, but I'm not worried about building that leg back up. I have been doing ultra distance cycling. My endurance is really good and I know how to regulate my effort so that I can finish a two hundred mile bike ride. Some of those have taken me 18 hours! I am not worried at all about the bike portion.

I am also still working on an R-12 award. That means doing a 200 K bike ride each month.

Running - well - I've never been a runner. So I'm really going to be focusing on being able to complete that leg.

I have no aspirations about being competitive in this tri. I'm doing this for me and to raise money for a good cause.

Week 1 - This first week has a few extra days because I decided to do this race Thurs. 4/17 and immediately started training on 4/18.

Fri. - First run in over a year - 2.2 miles about 25 minutes.
Sat. - Quads and shin muscles were pretty sore - Spinervals Yoga DVD
Sun. - Sprint Intervals on the bike. Shin muscles are still a bit sore from the run.
Mon. - Spinervals Yoga (SY) in the AM, rode up Mt. Diablo after to work. I only went to the Junction, took a minute off my season's personal best. I'm still way off from my all time personal best though.
Tues. - Another 2.2 mile run in the AM. SY in the PM.
Wed. - Not sore from the run! But I overslept and missed my morning yoga. Broke my goggle strap when I went to swim after work. Did Yoga for the Upper Body instead. (YUB)
Thurs. - 3 mile run, just under 34 minutes. I decided it was time to up the mileage since I had no soreness at all after Tuesday's run, and to push a little harder. The first two runs my average HR was 160 -161. Today's average was 165, with my last mile having an average of 169.
Fri. - I plan to do more yoga in the morning, probably SY, I like all the hip and hamstring stretching in it, and swim after work.
Sat. - We are working a rest stop on the Devil Mountain Double, so I'll be doing a three mile run before we head out, assuming everything still feels good. We'll be at the rest stop pretty much all day. The one we do is near the top of Mt Hamilton, about mile 130 so the riders are pretty strung out. Working a rest stop is tiring in its own way.

I'm beginning to like running more than I thought I would. Not being sore for days afterward helps.

V.

[roadie gal]

Good going! Remember to give yourself a day off now and then so your body can repair.

[Running Mommy]

++2 what RG said. NEVER train more than 6 days in a row. Esp. when you are working on building in something new. Running is hard on the bod, you need to give it time to recover and repair. Remember, you need to repair to build. If you are always breaking it down and not giving recovery time you'll end up hurt and w/chronic fatigue.
Of course you KNOW this... we all do... But sometimes we need to be reminded.

Otherwise- looks good. Just build that running slowly. And what kind of shoes are you running in? New ones? Have you been properly fit for your type of foot strike?

[Veronica]

A couple of years ago I gave running a try and I went to a running shoe store recommended by some of running buddies. At the store, they watched me run and I tried a bizillion different shoes it seemed. Those shoes have maybe 30 miles on them, since I didn't stick with it then.

After my knee issue this fall, I'm really trying to be super careful about what hurts. Muscle soreness is okay and to be expected. That's one reason I'm keeping these early runs close to home, so I can walk back if something just doesn't feel right.

V.

[HillSlugger]

The rubber in shoes can break down even when they are not being used. Please consider replacing them with something new before you start piling on the miles!

[Veronica]

How do you know when it's time to replace your shoes?

V.

[Grog]

How do you know when it's time to replace your shoes?

V.

I know it when my knees or other part of my anatomy starts hurting AND the shoes have gone a few hundred kilometers...

Which doesn't help you here, I know.

It wouldn't really show, I'm afraid...

Although the shoes are a prime suspect for your knee pain, I would primarily suspect that the quick increase in your running volume might be at fault. Going from zero to three runs in a week might be a bit much for your knees... You might want to give them a chance, include more walking, or something like that... But this is very unscientific.

[Veronica]

My knees are feeling great - ever since I had my bike fit and stopped overextending them every day.

I'm doing a lot of stretching in between run days. I'm really pleased with how I feel actually.

V.

[HillSlugger]

Generally something like 3-500 miles or 6-12 months. If you don't want to automatically replace these because they've "never been used", then you should definitely retire them early, say within 200 miles and 6 months.

[Grog]

My knees are feeling great - ever since I had my bike fit and stopped overextending them every day.

Oops I had misread what you wrote above.

If you don't have pain, I'd give the shoes a chance, but when light pain arises in any joint (ankles, knees, hips) - or at about 200 miles - I'd retire them to walking-shoe status...

It's also not a bad idea to have two pairs of shoes and to alternate, especially if you're going to be running two days in a row once in a while. I learned that the hard way. Running every day breaks shoes down much faster, it seems.

[Veronica]

Thanks, I wish you could see the wear, like on a bike tire.

Having two pair does make a lot of sense.

V.

[maillotpois]

I was a runner for almost 20 years. Hard to believe. When I got serious about it, in my (foolish) marathon days, I would have 2 pairs of shoes and would write on the foam stuff between the sole and the shoe part date of purchase. Then I would alternate them, trying to keep track of which ones were used for long runs, etc.

Boy am I glad I'm not running anymore. Have fun with that, though.

[roadie gal]

Another worthwhile thing to do is to spend an extra $25-30 and put good, cushioned insoles into your shoes. The ones the shoes come with are garbage. You can get them in any running store or online. I think they make a huge difference.

[Veronica]

Friday and Saturday did not go as I had hoped. Friday I stayed at work later than I had planned because one of my students is turning into quite the drama queen. So no swim on Friday.

Saturday morning I woke up with my stomach just feeling weird. But the time it felt better, it was time to get ready to work DMD.

Working a rest stop is a lot of work! But we got a lot of thank you's. Our weather has been weird; temperatures have been up and down the last few weeks. It goes up into the 80s for a couple of days, then back down to the low 60s. It was warm yesterday and our rest stop comes 4 miles into a 5 mile climb, 130 miles into the ride, with an average grade of 8.5% The rest stop is in this spot because it's where the ham operator can set up. There is no cell phone coverage out there. The riders were very happy to see us. We had Popsicles!

I have got to get into the pool this week.

V.

[kelownagirl]

Friday and Saturday did not go as I had hoped. Friday I stayed at work later than I had planned because one of my students is turning into quite the drama queen. So no swim on Friday.

Saturday morning I woke up with my stomach just feeling weird. But the time it felt better, it was time to get ready to work DMD.

Working a rest stop is a lot of work! But we got a lot of thank you's. Our weather has been weird; temperatures have been up and down the last few weeks. It goes up into the 80s for a couple of days, then back down to the low 60s. It was warm yesterday and our rest stop comes 4 miles into a 5 mile climb, 130 miles into the ride, with an average grade of 8.5% The rest stop is in this spot because it's where the ham operator can set up. There is no cell phone coverage out there. The riders were very happy to see us. We had Popsicles!

I have got to get into the pool this week.

V.

Working and training when you're a teacher is a challenge but the good thing is that we have a more flexible schedule. I've been running with the school Running Club at noon twice a week and that is giving me more free time after school to do other things (like marking) The kids only run 3km so I head out as soon as the bell rings and do one loop before they join me. Then I do another loop after they're done. I think I might keep running 5k at noon twice a week even after the Running Club program is finished.

Good luck with your training plans!

Can I throw in just one quiet warning about your running? When I first started running, I felt great and nothing hurt so I kept amping it up and it felt fine. It took awhile (3 months) before things started hurting and I was sidelined by injury. Again, I waited awhile, did all the PT stuff, then started back running, starting up again too fast and again, I had the injuries. This time, I've been adding on extremely slowly and have managed to stay more or less injury-free for 4 months. I just WISH I had understood this clearly in the first place and had built up slowly like everyone told me (10% rule) - I would have been waaaay further ahead than I am now if I had.

Now, you may be in way better shape than me and your increases may be absolutely fine so take this advice with a grain of salt. But I just had to say it anyway.