My Journey to 50 miles (2nd attempt)... (comments welcome)

[disneygpa]

Whew. What a week!
Christmas with all the grandkids and kids was great! Sounds like we are going to Disneyland at the end of April! Can't believe the kids are taking us on another vacation.

Tuesday-
10lb medicine ball core workout. I'm getting closer to being able to do 3 rounds without any mini breaks.

Wednesday-
6 miles easy pace
T+D 106-102, T+D pace 13:49.
Hips were a little achy today. Nothing too serious though. Run itself was nice and easy. Pleasant morning for a run.



Thursday-
7 miles trail pace
T+D 114, T+D pace 14:52.
Pre-run fuel 1 stroop waffle with peanut butter, 30 min mandarin orange GU, 60 min 1/2 uncrustable, 90 min 1/2 uncrustable. Plenty of water.



Friday-
3 miles easy pace
T+D 114, T+D pace 13:53.
Nice and easy.



Saturday-
4 miles easy pace
T+D 117, T+D pace 13:53.
Another nice easy day.



Sunday-
16 miles, 8 @ trail & 8 @ easy
T+D 121-134
T+D trail pace 14:56-15:05
T+D easy pace 13:58-14:06

So, I kinda blew this run. For some reason I convinced myself that I needed to be at 12:50/mile for the 8 easy miles. I'm not sure where this came from. My watch told me it should have been between 13:35 and 13:55 and with T+D being somewhere in the high 120's when I started the easy 8, I should have probably been closer to 14:00 or so. Anyway, I ran the last 8 miles WAY too fast, and it felt like it. I might have to write my paces on my palm in sharpie.

Fueling went well. I had a stroop waffle and pb before the run. @ 30 min a GU, @ 60 min most of 1 uncrustable + 1 oz of ruffles, 90 min another GU, 120 min most of 1 uncrustable + 1 oz of chips + 1 saltstick capsule, 150 min 1 GU, 180 min most of a crustable + 1 oz of ruffles + 1 saltstick capsule. Water was roughly 18 oz/hr. All the fueling went well. Nothing upset my belly, so I think I'm figuring that part out.

Other than the being too fast part, the run itself was pretty good. My left hip was barking a bit. But not anything I can't tolerate. All in all, a good week of running.

 

[disneygpa]

A little late updating this thing. Last week was one of lessons for me. Sometimes I may be pushing myself a little too far.

After my 16 miles on Christmas Eve, I felt pretty good considering that I ran the last 8 miles a tad too fast. I had the next two days off from running and I thought all was well. I got up Wednesday morning and got my 3 easy miles done and I felt pretty good. But not long after finishing the run I really started to feel like poo. I started to just feel beaten. I couldn't really place what was going on, but my body felt just exhausted.

I woke up Thursday morning with every intention of getting my 7-mile M tempo run in, but I still felt horrible. So, I slid Thursdays run until Friday. By late Thursday I was feeling better. I think the extra rest definitely helped. Friday, I did the 7-mile M tempo run and that felt great! Saturday was supposed to be 4 easy miles, but I ended up missing that run and I didn't just slide it until Sunday.

Monday, I got up and got my 2nd 7-mile M tempo run done and all felt pretty good. I know that missing runs isn't really good. But for some reason I was just not feeling great last week. This week has been much better so far.

Weekly summary:

Tuesday- medicine ball core workout.

Wednesday 3 easy miles, T+D 117, T+D pace 13:53. All felt good during this run. Nice and easy and pain free.



Thursday was supposed 7 M tempo miles. Slid to Friday.

Friday 7 miles M tempo, T+D 110, T+D pace 11:48. Left hip slightly achy after this run.



Saturday and Sunday, no runs, no core workout. I could say we had a lot going on (and we did) but I definitely could have managed 4 miles and a core workout. I just wasn't feeling up to it.

Monday 7 miles M tempo, T+D 90. No pace adjustment. With the rest of the country freezing, I shudder to complain about the cold, but this was a chilly morning! Had to start with stocking cap and gloves. Got rid of the cap pretty quickly though. I made a note about struggling mentally with why I am doing this. I'm not sure if it was the rough week of working out or what. But this whole run had me thinking about why I am attempting the upcoming run. I didn't really figure anything out. I just thought a lot about it.



I seem to be doing better so far this week, mentally and physically.

I really think I just needed some rest.

 

[nancipants]

Way to listen to your body!

 

[disneygpa]

I feel like I'm a bit behind here. But I'm really just a few days late. I had trouble logging in. The secondary code thingy was going to my spam mail and I didn't realize it. I'm not sure why it was going there. It never has in the past.

Anywho, after the last update where I missed a few runs because of being tired and honestly being lazy/unmotivated. I'm happy to say I'm feeling much better! I got all 39 miles in last week and I actually felt fairly decent at the end of my 18 mile run. I could have continued if I would have needed to, however my legs were definitely feeling the run!

Tuesday- core medicine ball workout

Wednesday- 6 easy miles. Stayed up at the kids house the night before so I had to run it through an unfamiliar neighborhood. I did wait until the sun came up as it was chilly and I hadn't brought my hat and gloves.





Thursday- 8 miles @ trail. T+D 115. T+D pace 14:52. Made a note that I didn't have any pain in my hips. That's weird.



Friday-3 easy miles T+D 104. Nice and easy. No problemo!



Saturday- core medicine ball workout

Sunday- 4 easy miles. T+D 115, T+D pace 13:53. I ran this run pre dawn and to my surprise there was another runner out! I've been running in this area for over a year now and I think that's the first time I've seen anyone else running before sunrise! Oh, and I saw a big fat raccoon. It hadn't missed any trash panda meals! Kinda reminded me of myself! Run was easy, no problems.



Monday- 18 miles, 9 @ trail pace and 9 @ easy pace. T+D started off at 101 and ended at 120. This was my longest run in this training plan as well as my highest mileage week. I'm pretty happy with the way the week went and I felt pretty good about the whole thing.

I had planned on adding my nutrition stuff in this post. But it's nearly my bedtime and I don't allow myself screen time within an hour of sleep. Maybe I'll add it later. But I wanted to get this posted tonight. Let's just say it went well! No issues other than I feel like I'm constantly eating and/or drinking.



Hope everyone had a great marathon weekend and can't wait to see all the runners pics from DL!!!

 

[disneygpa]

Well, I waited as long as I could, but I finally pulled the trigger and signed up for the race! It seems weird to wait so late to sign up, but I wanted to make sure I was feeling good after all the training. I think I'm feeling about as good as I can. Other than I tweaked my back a bit last night during my core workout. No worries though. I've felt this tweak before and I'm sure it'll be fine in a couple of days.

Last weeks summary.

Tuesday- medicine ball core workout.

Wednesday- 3 easy miles. T+D 109-106, T+D pace 13:49. Felt cool this morning. Saw a coyote run across the road in front of me. It was making a weird yelping/bark thing. I've never heard one make a sound like this.




Thursday- 7 M Tempo miles. T+D 88, T+D pace 11:45. Left hip was a little achy around mile 6.



Friday- I was having a little tummy trouble Friday morning. So instead of trying to push it, I took today off.

Saturday- 3 easy miles. T+D 142(what the heck!!!) 88 one day and 142 the next???? Welcome to Florida.... T+D pace 14:07. Muggy sweaty run.



Sunday- medicine ball core workout

Monday- 8 trail/easy miles. T+D 113-118, T+D paces 14:52 & 13:53. Fueling and liquid all went well.



Only a few more runs until the race. There's no denying that I'm a little worried about this distance. But as a very wise coach once told me. "Trust the training".....

 

[disneygpa]

Since you wonderful folks are really the only people in my life that might appreciate this. I'm gonna drop it on here.

According to Garmin. One year ago, my VO2 max was 36. After a year of fairly consistent training, I've managed to increase it to 41. I think the highest I've seen on Garmin was 43. That was when I was training for the 50k.

Just trying to get a little better every day.

 

[jmasgat]

So that's where my VO2 Max went! (After 2 mos dealing with an injury that kept me from doing anything, mine went from 43 to 35)

Congrats on the improvement, and good luck at your race.

 

[disneygpa]

So that's where my VO2 Max went! (After 2 mos dealing with an injury that kept me from doing anything, mine went from 43 to 35)

Congrats on the improvement, and good luck at your race.

Thanks! I'm starting to get a little nervous and stressing about little things. Thought I was coming down with a cold yesterday. Feeling okay so far today! Deep breaths......

 

[disneygpa]

6 days until race day and it's looking like it might be warm.



@DopeyBadger Billy, I know we discussed running the first 25 miles @ trail pace and the last 25 @ easy pace. I'm wondering if it would be better to swap that plan around. Run the first 25 @ easy and the last 25 @ trail. My reasoning is that it's supposed to be in the mid 60's at the start. Meaning T+D will most likely be something around 120 in FL. The high temp is supposed to be around noon. That should be about the time I hit the 25 mile mark. Then I'll be switching to trail pace for the hottest part of the afternoon.

Thoughts?

 

[DopeyBadger]

@DopeyBadger Billy, I know we discussed running the first 25 miles @ trail pace and the last 25 @ easy pace. I'm wondering if it would be better to swap that plan around. Run the first 25 @ easy and the last 25 @ trail. My reasoning is that it's supposed to be in the mid 60's at the start. Meaning T+D will most likely be something around 120 in FL. The high temp is supposed to be around noon. That should be about the time I hit the 25 mile mark. Then I'll be switching to trail pace for the hottest part of the afternoon.

Not a fan of the idea of starting faster due to increasing temps as the race proceeds. Instead, my advice is to look at what will be the hottest temp for the entirety of the race, and then adjust all pace goals as if that's the temp for the whole thing. That way you might under-run the first half, but ensure that you haven't placed yourself in a hole you can't get out of. A 50 mile race is really long, and no matter how good you feel early on, I feel like it's easy to over run it in the early phase. Go slower than you think you need to for a vast majority of the race.

 

[disneygpa]

Not a fan of the idea of starting faster due to increasing temps as the race proceeds. Instead, my advice is to look at what will be the hottest temp for the entirety of the race, and then adjust all pace goals as if that's the temp for the whole thing. That way you might under-run the first half, but ensure that you haven't placed yourself in a hole you can't get out of. A 50 mile race is really long, and no matter how good you feel early on, I feel like it's easy to over run it in the early phase. Go slower than you think you need to for a vast majority of the race.

That makes way more sense than running the faster paces early. It looks like temps will be around 80. I'm sure that dew point will be something north of 60. I'll look at the dew point as the day gets closer. I'm guessing T+D will be around 140. So I'll adjust my paces for around 3-3.5% correction. Sucks to have to run even slower. But since the goal is survival and just finishing I think this is the best option. Thanks!

 

[GollyGadget]

Best of luck and have fun at your race! I can’t imagine running for that far

 

[disneygpa]

Best of luck and have fun at your race! I can’t imagine running for that far

Thank you!

Last full week of training. Physically I'm doing well. Hip pain has been really not worth mentioning. All other joints are feeling good. Mentally I'm starting to stress. The weather is looking pretty warm and I'm not sure how that's going to impact the run. I'll be slowing down and making sure I have plenty of fuel/fluid. Weather is looking like low 80's. yikes!

Tuesday- core workout

Wednesday- 3 easy miles. T+D 106. T+D pace 13:49.



Thursday- 5 M Tempo miles. T+D 138. T+D pace 12:06. Started running in the afternoons. Probably should have started this a week ago. I didn't really think it might be in the 80s at that time. Bad planning. Ran these intervals too fast. But the run felt good!



Friday- 3 easy miles. T+D 136. T+D pace 14:10. Nice easy run. Muggy.



Saturday- core workout

Sunday- 4 easy miles. T+D 83. T+D pace 13:45. I put on an extra layer today to help with the upcoming temps. Whew. Definitely felt the extra layer!!



Monday- 4 M tempo miles. T+D 124. T+D 11:55. Run felt good! Again a little too fast!



Only a couple of easy runs left...... deep breaths....

 

[nancipants]

You got this!

I'm so mad for you about the weather, specially since it's been so cold lately!

 

[disneygpa]

If I had to sum up Saturday with one word, I think it would have to be disappointing.

I only managed a hair over 22 miles and the last 3 I pretty much had to limp.

Recap will be brief.

Woke up at 0345. Took a shower and got dressed. Double and triple checked everything and headed out. It was about a 35 min drive to the start line.

Arrived at the start line at 0515. Got checked in and got some goodies. Nothing super special except for a giant bag of Kachava. Tried it for the first time yesterday. It's not terrible but not my favorite. I'll probably drink what I have, but I'm not sure I would buy it for myself. Just my opinion. I'm sure some folks love it.

0530 Started my warmup. Went thru my usual. I was feeling a wee bit stressed about this run. I'm not sure why. Normally I can talk myself into being relaxed. But for some reason I just kept worrying.

0545 Walk to the start line. A very brief message from the race director, then the national anthem.

0600 We are off. Knowing I would be running slowly I purposely started at the back of the pack. It was still very dark and I was running with my headlamp. But it didn't take long until pretty much everyone else was out of sight.

Mile 1-4. All was going well. I had estimated that T+D would top out at about 150 for the day so going with my previous discussion with Billy I set my pace to 15:22. 45/30 run/walk. I was a little fast the first mile but by 2 I slowed down to over 15. I was feeling pretty good about everything. Donna met me at the 4 ish mile point and gave me a fresh water bottle, fuel and a kiss and I was off to our next point at about mile 8.



Mile 5-8. Still going fairly well. I felt good and it was still fairly cool out. I was slow, but I was steady. Donna again met me with a fresh water bottle and fuel.



Mile 9-12. Everything is still good at this point. I'm feeling confident that I can keep this up all day. Then the sun came up from behind the trees. HOLY SMOKES. I was not prepared for the dramatic increase in the heat. Even with the increase in the temps. I figured if I just stayed within myself that I would be ok. New water bottle, fuel at 12 miles.



Mile 13-16. By the time I got to mile 16 I was drenched in sweat. I toweled off the best I could, and Donna sprayed me down with sunblock. A new water bottle, some more fuel and I was off.



Mile 17-DNF. Miles 17 and 18 felt ok. I was starting to feel a little tight in my right knee. On the outside toward the base. I'm familiar with this. It was my IT band. What the heck???? I'd been nursing my left knee for the whole training plan with ZERO problems with my right knee. I felt like I could maybe run through the pain. I tried to during mile 19 but it was pretty much no use. I knew at that point my day was done. Unfortunately, at that point it was a 3 mile walk back to where Donna had met me, or a 3 mile walk forward to the next aid station. I opted to keep moving forward all be it at a snail's pace.

I called Donna to let the support crew know that if they needed to, they could pack up and head out. (They didn't). It was a miserable walk. I tried at a few points to get back to running but the pain was pretty sharp, so I hung my head and walked it in. As I got within closer, Donna and one of the support folks walked down to meet me and make sure I was ok. It was much appreciated but besides my knee the biggest pain was in my ego.



That was my first ever DNF. I had already convinced myself that I would probably finish DFL but I hadn't prepared myself to not finish at all. I'm still working thru the bruise to my ego.

I've racked my brain over what I could have done differently. I think I had the fuel/hydration thing down pretty well. Even with the heat and the sweating I was still feeling pretty strong.

I really think this comes down to a failure on my part to do my twice daily stretching. I had this same issue, same knee when I ran a half about 4 years ago. Stretching twice a day helped solve the issue then. I'm hoping it will help solve it now.

I'm also questioning if I have the ability to run 50 miles. Maybe I don't. I'm going to take a couple of weeks off for now and see how I feel. I'm leaning toward trying again. If I decide to do it, I'm going to have to be willing to spend ALL the time necessary to do the work. NOT just the running part of it. We'll see. For now, I'm just gonna be crying in my beer.

@DopeyBadger Billy, thanks for another great training plan!

 

[Naomeri]

I’m sorry the race didn’t go well. You had nice even miles up until the pain threw you for a loop. I hope you can find a solution for the future.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Sorry you didn't have the day you were hoping for. Injury aside, it sounds like you were heading in the right direction all race. I think it's worth another shot when the time comes.

 

[jmasgat]

Sorry you succumbed to the dreaded IT Band issue. Heat and humidity combine to really wreak havoc with bodies. I think the older we get, the less bandwidth we have to cope. Hope you recover well,

 

[nancipants]

Sorry you had to DNF. You should definitely be proud of your training. The weather this weekend was brutal. :/

 

[GollyGadget]

Well, that sucks. Hope you're feeling better now and find a solution.

I'm also in the camp of needing to spend time doing ALL the things and not just running to keep my body healthy.