We're all out there chasing our better selves (FredtheDuck chases on)

[Dopeyintraining]

Well, I finally did it!

I'm sorry I'm a bit late with the congratulations but I'm really chuffed for you. I don't know if I would be brave enough to enter a Half with that time limit. Have a well earned rest and have fun planning your next challenge.

 

[FredtheDuck]

I ran today for the first time since the half and I was SO GLAD to do it. Just two miles easy on the treadmill, but it was great to be moving again. Body feels good, ready to get back to regular workouts. I think Thursday I'll aim for three miles, then do a four miler this weekend. Will probably shoot to stay in the 3-5 mile range 3-4x/week until @DopeyBadger tells me otherwise. We get a new tube to fix the tire on the jogging stroller, so it'll be fun to do some of these easier, less time-focused runs with my kiddo.

I always love post-race pizza, it is the perfect meal

I won't lie - a good pizza and an IPA are pretty much always the perfect meal for me - post-race or not.

I'm really chuffed for you.

You're so kind, thanks so much!

 

[FFigawi]

I won't lie - a good pizza and an IPA are pretty much always the perfect meal for me - post-race or not.

Pizza and champagne make for a good pre-long run dinner too. We had this pretty much every Thursday night while in Dubai after being evacuated out of Iraq.

 

[roxymama]

Pizza and champagne make for a good pre-long run dinner too. We had this pretty much every Thursday night while in Dubai after being evacuated out of Iraq.

We eat Chipotle at around 3 or 4pm before every big race. Which seems like a bad idea, but it has been our magic PR food so we keep going with it. At least it's not taco bell, more like just rice, veggies and meat.
The pizza thing would be a bad idea for me (before....after sounds perfect)

 

[FFigawi]

We eat Chipotle at around 3 or 4pm before every big race. Which seems like a bad idea, but it has been our magic PR food so we keep going with it. At least it's not taco bell, more like just rice, veggies and meat.
The pizza thing would be a bad idea for me (before....after sounds perfect)

Guess this means we have a year to find you a nearby Chipotle before Dopey 2019...

 

[FredtheDuck]

Pizza and champagne make for a good pre-long run dinner too. We had this pretty much every Thursday night while in Dubai after being evacuated out of Iraq.

There's a backstory here that has to be fascinating...

We eat Chipotle at around 3 or 4pm before every big race.

I wish I could do that! No way my stomach could handle it...

Guess this means we have a year to find you a nearby Chipotle before Dopey 2019...

 

[FFigawi]

There's a backstory here that has to be fascinating...

Nothing too fancy. Work evacuated people out of Iraq when ISIS invaded, and we spent several months in a hotel in Dubai before we were allowed to return. I must say, sitting on a balcony overlooking the Marina was pretty nice, even if we were living in a hotel room.

 

[FredtheDuck]

Well, a quick recap is in order, I suppose. After Parks, I took the full week off, per @DopeyBadger's guidance. I was a little surprised at how much I missed running that week. Last week, I did a couple of easy runs on the treadmill here at work (2 miles and then 3 miles), and then @MoanasPapa and I did a short outdoor run with our kiddo in the jogging stroller over the weekend. Those runs all felt good and easy, and I was really glad to be back at it.

I wondered quite a bit leading up to my first half what would be next. I think for me, the plan is important - it keeps me motivated and helps push me towards the side of getting up and running vs hitting the snooze alarm. But, as you may have seen, we elected NOT to run RnR DC in March 2018 and instead run Cleveland in May. Errrrr. So. Uh. That's a long time from now. I didn't think we'd need to start training for that in earnest until February 2018. Luckily, @DopeyBadger came to the rescue yet again. He designed a plan that will get me (us - @MoanasPapa has a plan, too) through the end of the year. Hooray for boxes to check off (literally - I print the plans and check each run off when I finish it)!

I got the plan and had some questions. Namely... we peak at 11 miles (12 for @MoanasPapa) in late December and then... the plan ends. Turns out we're basically doing a mock half training cycle. There'll be no medal at the end of it (womp womp), but the idea is that we'll continue to build fitness and endurance in each successive cycle. When this one ends, we'll taper and then take a bit of time off just like we would before and after a race, and then we'll start back up again in early 2018, this time for the real half in May. We're still trying to work out some details (@DopeyBadger, I'm not ignoring you, I promise! just trying to get a clearer picture of time constraints), because the plan has some high miles during weeks that we're traveling to see family across the country, and we don't think we can commit to the time for those runs during what will be a hectic travel period - especially without a race to justify it. The plan incorporates the two 10ks we have between now and year-end. The paces are the same, except my tempo has been replaced with a 10k pace that is about 30 seconds faster than my tempo was on the last training plan. So those will be tough days.

But. Here we are. The plan started this week. In what I hope is not a bad omen for it, I missed my Tuesday run because things are insane at work (and a little at home, too, but in a good way). But I was up bright (OK, dark - it was pitch black out) and early this morning doing my three miles at EB. It was glorious.

 

[ZellyB]

I always have a training schedule mapped out even if I don't have a specific race I'm training for. I'm compulsive that way.

 

[roxymama]

If you have no medal at the end of your mock half training cycle...I think y'all should each buy each other something nice and give it to each other as a surprise and that's your medal. That's just my suggestion.


And I'm like zellyb...always mapping things out!

 

[KathyM2]

Trying to catch up on your TR. I'm glad your recovery went well and you are slowly getting back into it. You have some amazing upcoming races. I love reading about other peoples' plans and how they plan to stay in shape for races that are farther out than an actual "plan"

I do sometimes wonder though, is it possible to just always "stay" in good enough shape to be able to run a half? Or is that just too hard on the body and that's why you have to keep planning to go up and down? Don't people who run full marathons and ultras just stay in that kind of shape? Not that I even dream that's possible for an average joe and soon to hopefully run a first half ole' me lol but just my musings....

 

[FredtheDuck]

I do sometimes wonder though, is it possible to just always "stay" in good enough shape to be able to run a half?

To be honest, I wonder the same thing. I have read that keeping a LR base of around 8 miles keeps you kind of perpetually HM ready, but I don't have experience to back that up. Plus, that feels like something a marathoner would say... "Oh yeah, I'm not trained for it but I could go out and do a half if I needed to." Kind of like how I think I can go out and run a 10k without a ton of training (remember though, I don't really race for time - I'm not fast enough to worry about that) with the recent training I've done. Probably more mental confidence than physical ability, but I learned during the half that the mental aspect goes a LONG way.

I did consider not doing a plan this cycle and just sticking with 3-5 mile weekday runs and 5-8 mile weekend long runs, then really ramping up for half training in February so that I was ready for Cleveland in May. I ended up asking @DopeyBadger for a training plan because I found the plan and the variety of runs to be motivating for me. For example, I was usually really daunted by my Thursday workouts (CVs, tempos, ladders, etc.), but ended up liking them the most and coming away the most proud of them. I worried that if I was just going out there and jogging a handful of miles, I'd get bored, demotivated, and would be more likely to hit snooze and sleep in, especially when it gets really cold this winter. So accountability, variety, and challenge won out.

 

[FredtheDuck]

Monday Training Update (Week 1): Week Ending 10/1

Since this is the first week of the current training plan, I thought I'd share my paces. Like many runners, I wish that I was faster, and I debated not sharing these. But I think it's an important part of the story. In the back of my mind, I have floating around that I'd like to do this cycle as an endurance building block (so we're keeping paces the same, especially since I didn't hit my target pace during Parks), and then will maybe ask for help getting faster. I also had to remind myself that I PR'd my last 5k and broke not one, but two 2017 speed goals I had, so the training that I'm doing is helping, especially at those shorter distances.

Anyways, the paces for this cycle:
WU/CD: 14:35/mi
EA: 13:44/mi
EB: 12:52/mi
LR: 12:27/mi
Tempo: 11:37/mi (a little slower than last cycle)
Strength: 11:27/mi
10k: 10:39/mi

I was originally disappointed that my tempo speed was lowered, but then looked at my plan and saw that all of my Thursday "speed" (word used very loosely here) workouts are at 10k - faster than my tempo speed by about 30 sec/mi. EEEEP! No tempo speed runs and no strength runs this cycle.


This was the plan for the week:

T - 3 miles @ EA + Strides
Th - 3 miles @ EB
F - 4 miles @ EB
Sa - 5 miles @ LR

The plan started off with a... fizzle. I've been swamped at work and at home, and Tuesday was a particularly busy day. I didn't have time to do that run in the morning and had hoped to sneak it in during the day, but just couldn't make it happen. My Thursday and Friday runs were great. I did them both outside - it was in the low 70s at 5:00 on Thursday morning and a full 20 degress cooler (52*) on Friday. What a difference. I was a little overzealous on Thursday, clocking 12:25 instead of 12:52, but I was on fresh legs and was happy to be back outside. I was a little closer on Friday, at 12:37. I know that as I get deeper in to the plan, some of that zeal will be replaced with fatigue, so my paces will start to edge back to where they should be.

Speaking of overzealous... I definitely blew my Saturday LR pace and I was feeling it yesterday. According to Strava, I did 11:34/mi. I have to keep reminding myself that @DopeyBadger was very clear that there are not physiological benefits to outrunning my paces. I ran with @MoanasPapa, who is much faster than I am. A couple of factors at play here: @MoanasPapa is very stubbornly running on an inflamed IT band... same IT band that really bugged him during the HM, and has dogged him in almost every run since. About a mile in, I could see that it was bugging him, but he wanted to soldier on. As we approached mile two, he finally agreed to turn around and cut his run short by a mile. So we turned at two miles, headed back up the hill, and he stopped at four miles, while I made a loop around our immediate neighborhood to get my fifth mile in. That fifth mile was my fastest of the run, so I can't entirely blame @MoanasPapa's speediness for the faster-than-assigned pace, but it was a lot of downhill running in that loop. Also, the weather was amazing... it was a gorgeous day for running.

Side note: we ran our long run with our daughter in our jogging stroller. I took the first half of the run, which has a net downhill, and @MoanasPapa took the second half, which goes back up the hill. He was a MONSTER on that hill, way outrunning my pace. It took some effort to keep up, and I wasn't even pushing the stroller! He said he was just trying to keep his mass and the mass of the stroller moving up the hill, but it was IMPRESSIVE. I never could have done that. Especially if I was already feeling some aches and pains in my IT band. Billy: He's going to wait and see how the band responds to increased rolling, stretching, and yoga at least through the Marine Corps 10k. After that, he'll reevaluate and may need help modifying his plan (he may skip the Turkey Trot). He's being somewhat stubborn about it right now, so we'll see what happens.

A peek at the week ahead: easy runs Tuesday and Friday, my first "speed" workout of the cycle on Wednesday (back to the track!), and a six mile LR on Saturday.

 

[ZellyB]

Never fear to share paces. There are always faster runners and always slower runners and your pace and your journey is YOURS and something to take pride in.

Great job on starting out with your new training plan and sometimes life gets in the way and makes it tough to get your runs to play out like you want. One missed run here or there won't change things. It's the overall consistency that matters and you have certainly shown the commitment for that.

I've never run with a stroller and my stroller days are long past me (until I guess grandbabies make an appearance), so I can't imagine running with one whether up, down or flat, so well-done there. Good training!

 

[FredtheDuck]

Never fear to share paces. There are always faster runners and always slower runners and your pace and your journey is YOURS and something to take pride in.

Thanks for this. You're absolutely right. I also had to remind myself that right now, I'm trying to get used to the distance. Pace will (hopefully) come with time and practice. And if it doesn't... I'm still out there making myself a better person mentally and physically, so who cares really?

so I can't imagine running with one whether up, down or flat, so well-done there. Good training!

I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love that it means that I can take my kid with me and not miss out on time with her. I hate that between her 30 lbs and the 25+ lbs of the stroller, it's a lot of weight. Plus it messes with your stride. I don't mind it on runs of 6 miles or less, but once I get up above that, I need to put too much effort in to the distance to be pushing around 60 lbs with awkward form.

BUT, she's learning to sing nursery songs right now (ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Bah Bah Black Sheep) and likes to sing to herself. Listening to her babble her way softly through the songs was an adorable distraction (the way she mispronounces "sheep" is NSFW, but absolutely hilarious)... so totally worth it this time.

 

[BikeFan]

To be honest, I wonder the same thing. I have read that keeping a LR base of around 8 miles keeps you kind of perpetually HM ready, but I don't have experience to back that up. Plus, that feels like something a marathoner would say... "Oh yeah, I'm not trained for it but I could go out and do a half if I needed to." Kind of like how I think I can go out and run a 10k without a ton of training (remember though, I don't really race for time - I'm not fast enough to worry about that) with the recent training I've done. Probably more mental confidence than physical ability, but I learned during the half that the mental aspect goes a LONG way.

I'd definitely agree that a LR base of 8 would keep you HM ready, but the bigger factor (at least to me) has been overall weekly volume rather than the length of a once-per-week long run. Honestly, I've never been a fan of long runs - I just get bored mentally. I do, however, find it easy enough to keep a 'base' of 40-50 miles per week (build up over a few years), and I find this keeps me in marathon shape year-round, such that I can complete the distance comfortably. I usually try to run six days a week, with at least two 'double-digit' runs of 10+, but rarely more than 14, and the rest in the 5-10 range. My pace is usually fairly easy, with some occasional speed or tempo work if I'm in the mood. Over time, quantity equals quality, and you'd be very surprised at what you can accomplish.

About your speed, I just want to say don't worry about it. We're only racing ourselves, and we're all getting the same t-shirt and medal. As a "faster runner" (so my wife says), I honestly respect the effort all runners give, regardless of the time. We're all out there chasing our better selves, so we're all the same regardless of what the clock says. Many of the runners who've inspired me most are also slower, but I know how hard they try, and I admire them for that. Any runner should be proud of an honest effort.

 

[Anisum]

I'm glad you guys all got to run (or in your daughter's case, ride) together!

There are definitely days I struggle with wanting to go faster than DopeyBadger suggested but I find that now I have a HR monitor it's much easier to rely on my HR zone than just 'I feel really good and want to go faster'.

 

[FredtheDuck]

There are definitely days I struggle with wanting to go faster than DopeyBadger suggested but I find that now I have a HR monitor it's much easier to rely on my HR zone than just 'I feel really good and want to go faster'.

This is an area that I definitely want to pay more attention to this cycle. My AppleWatch gives me HR and they recently started doing more with that data, but I have no idea what any of it means for my training. I suppose that's something to start researching. Annoyingly, that HR data won't port in to Strava, so I can't just rely on Strava to tell me what I'm doing right/wrong. I do have a Polar chest strap that I'm debating using until I eventually spring for a Garmin.

 

[KathyM2]

Plus, that feels like something a marathoner would say... "Oh yeah, I'm not trained for it but I could go out and do a half if I needed to." Kind of like how I think I can go out and run a 10k without a ton of training (remember though, I don't really race for time - I'm not fast enough to worry about that) with the recent training I've done. Probably more mental confidence than physical ability, but I learned during the half that the mental aspect goes a LONG way.

It totally does sound like something a marathoner would say, and I am not one of those lol. I would like to be one day though! But I hear you, for a 10K or a 5K I'm all "I could do that anytime" and it's not a big deal, so maybe it is possible to get to that point with the half distances, it would just take a heck of a lot more regular running, and a 10K becomes your "short" day lol. Mental for sure is a huge part of running no matter what distance and sometimes it works for you, sometimes not.

I have to keep reminding myself that @DopeyBadger was very clear that there are not physiological benefits to outrunning my paces.

This is such a tough thing to do, because I know for myself, I am a reallly....slooooow runner. So for me to take it even slower for me...it's well...a walking pace for a lot of people...and I don't feel proud of myself after...whereas if I beat my previous times...it makes me feel good mentally..though after notsomuch

 

[Anisum]

This is an area that I definitely want to pay more attention to this cycle. My AppleWatch gives me HR and they recently started doing more with that data, but I have no idea what any of it means for my training. I suppose that's something to start researching. Annoyingly, that HR data won't port in to Strava, so I can't just rely on Strava to tell me what I'm doing right/wrong. I do have a Polar chest strap that I'm debating using until I eventually spring for a Garmin.

I just got the Scosche Rhythm+ and I'm kind of in love with it but I doubt it would transfer to Strava any better.