Not so good.
Monday: rest scheduled.
Late long run from week before, with the threat of escaped convicts.
Tuesday: 8 miles scheduled.
Ran 4 miles as recovery in 91 degrees, 49% humidity. My notes say "hard to stay slow." Classic foreshadowing.
Wednesday: 5 mile recovery scheduled.
(I flip flopped Tuesday and Wednesday, and then messed with them some more. Oh, hindsight.)
Ran 10 miles in 1:39:xx at 4:30 a.m. 72 degrees, 96% humidity.
10:57/9:49/9:40/9:44/9:26/9:17/9:41/9:43/9:43/10:10
Thursday: 11 mile long run scheduled.
Ran 5 mile recovery at 5:15 a.m. 71 degrees, 100% humidity.
12:01/11:10/10:42/10:30/10:30
Notes say "tired!" Oh, really?
Friday: Rest scheduled. (I planned on doing Thursday's 11 miles- so why did I run 5 on Thursday?)
Impossible to get up. Felt horrible. Perhaps the newly acquired fever (and accompanying heat rash) and stomach cramps are the trouble? Didn't do anything but wallow in self-pity.
Saturday: 7 miles scheduled.
Again, went the self-pity route. Still had a fever and what I thought was a touch of a stomach virus. I started thinking my fever was low enough to run, but the stomach cramping made me nervous.
Sunday: 18 mile long run scheduled.
The curse of the long run strikes again. Fever gone, but still had stomach issues. I spent the entire day wondering if I should just focus on the half distance. I briefly considering changing goal races to one in December, but that would mean more training weeks (and that is unthinkable at this point).
OK, so this is getting ahead, but by a freak coincidence, I had a check up with a new doctor on Monday. She's a runner too so yay! I told her my symptoms and about the whole running in the morning thing, and she said I was probably suffering from dehydration. Hello! That does make more sense than a mild stomach virus (cause who's ever even heard of a stomach virus being mild?) Even though I was drinking water and taking Endurolytes, I think the increased humidity in the mornings (plus the increased exhaustion factor) was doing me in. So, that's that. I bought some Gatorade and will look into buying some more Heed and stuff too- I really hate consuming extra calories while running, but keeling over isn't a better option.
And that's it for a very demoralizing week 4.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Training week 3
Monday: rest.
Did 6 miles at recovery pace, 11:00 a.m., 91 degrees, 76% humidity. Have given up hope for my Garmin. Sad.
Tuesday: 9 miles with 5 at half pace.
Yeah, right. Half pace...
Did the 9 miles in 1:28:xx at 4:30 a.m. 78 degrees, 84% humidity. First mile feels fast, but never is. So they say heat is bad and humidity is bad, but together is more than a doubling effect (really, really bad). I think getting up at 4:00 a.m. and running 9 miles has the same impact...
11:07/9:52/9:31/9:48/9:25/9:23/9:11/9:34/9:42
Wednesday: 5 recovery miles.
Ran 4.81 at noon. 91 degrees, 58% humidity. OK, didn't have to get up at some insane time, but lots o'sun.
Thursday: 10 miles general aerobic pace.
Ran 10.05 miles in 1:40:xx at 4:30 a.m. 78 degrees, 84% humidity. Did a bunch of hills cause I was bored with my immediate neighborhood.
11:29/10:25/9:41/9:55/9:47/9:45/9:50/10:08/9:27/9:37
When debating what to do this weekend, we came up with the brilliant "let's trick the kids and go to Disney for Saturday" plan. Always fun, but not part of training schedule!
Friday: rest
Does driving 4.5 hours to Disney count as rest?
Saturday: 5 mile recovery.
Follow up question: does hitting the Magic Kingdom at 8:20 and finishing the night at Epcot count? What if you throw in dragging a 30 pound irrational kid?
Sunday: 16 mile long run with 10 miles at marathon pace.
Wow. Not realistic. I brought my stuff, but I didn't have the stamina to get up. Drove home in a bit of a panic. And seriously? marathon pace? I don't think so.
Monday: rest.
I included Monday in this week because my OCD kicked in and I had to do the missed long run. After dropping kids off and checking in at the office, I headed out at 9:45. Somewhere around mile 2 I was thinking about how I really need to stick to half marathons (or just stop this nonsense altogether). Somewhere around mile 7 I had a change in attitude and knew I would finish this run...
Mile 9.5? Sirens and blazing cops- I get stopped. Get this: "You need to get inside. There's an escaped convict in the neighborhood." I kid you not. So I raced back home in a frenzy... I went back to work, because what else could I do?
10:18/9:51/11:10/9:58/9:46/9:51/9:49/9:27/9:28 (and mad dash with Garmin turned off...) 81 degrees, 64% humidity.
Monday Long Run, part two:
The 9.5 miles is killing me. It's not long enough to be a long run and stopping was totally out of my control, but I'm freaked out about not hitting the total distance. There's no way I'm going to try to hit 16 all over again the next day...So, I hit the road again at 4:35 p.m. and finished for 15.5 miles. It still wasn't the full 16 miles, but I was pushing the carpooling envelope big time.
I know you aren't really supposed to break up a long run (certainly not by five hours or so) but when three cops stop you in about three blocks telling you to go home, you pretty much go home.
10:10/9:23/9:31/9:14/8:58. 90 degrees, 60% humidity.
Oh, and the escaped convict truly was in my neighborhood (he crashed a stolen car), but he was caught before I went back out in the afternoon.
Did 6 miles at recovery pace, 11:00 a.m., 91 degrees, 76% humidity. Have given up hope for my Garmin. Sad.
Tuesday: 9 miles with 5 at half pace.
Yeah, right. Half pace...
Did the 9 miles in 1:28:xx at 4:30 a.m. 78 degrees, 84% humidity. First mile feels fast, but never is. So they say heat is bad and humidity is bad, but together is more than a doubling effect (really, really bad). I think getting up at 4:00 a.m. and running 9 miles has the same impact...
11:07/9:52/9:31/9:48/9:25/9:23/9:11/9:34/9:42
Wednesday: 5 recovery miles.
Ran 4.81 at noon. 91 degrees, 58% humidity. OK, didn't have to get up at some insane time, but lots o'sun.
Thursday: 10 miles general aerobic pace.
Ran 10.05 miles in 1:40:xx at 4:30 a.m. 78 degrees, 84% humidity. Did a bunch of hills cause I was bored with my immediate neighborhood.
11:29/10:25/9:41/9:55/9:47/9:45/9:50/10:08/9:27/9:37
When debating what to do this weekend, we came up with the brilliant "let's trick the kids and go to Disney for Saturday" plan. Always fun, but not part of training schedule!
Friday: rest
Does driving 4.5 hours to Disney count as rest?
Saturday: 5 mile recovery.
Follow up question: does hitting the Magic Kingdom at 8:20 and finishing the night at Epcot count? What if you throw in dragging a 30 pound irrational kid?
Sunday: 16 mile long run with 10 miles at marathon pace.
Wow. Not realistic. I brought my stuff, but I didn't have the stamina to get up. Drove home in a bit of a panic. And seriously? marathon pace? I don't think so.
Monday: rest.
I included Monday in this week because my OCD kicked in and I had to do the missed long run. After dropping kids off and checking in at the office, I headed out at 9:45. Somewhere around mile 2 I was thinking about how I really need to stick to half marathons (or just stop this nonsense altogether). Somewhere around mile 7 I had a change in attitude and knew I would finish this run...
Mile 9.5? Sirens and blazing cops- I get stopped. Get this: "You need to get inside. There's an escaped convict in the neighborhood." I kid you not. So I raced back home in a frenzy... I went back to work, because what else could I do?
10:18/9:51/11:10/9:58/9:46/9:51/9:49/9:27/9:28 (and mad dash with Garmin turned off...) 81 degrees, 64% humidity.
Monday Long Run, part two:
The 9.5 miles is killing me. It's not long enough to be a long run and stopping was totally out of my control, but I'm freaked out about not hitting the total distance. There's no way I'm going to try to hit 16 all over again the next day...So, I hit the road again at 4:35 p.m. and finished for 15.5 miles. It still wasn't the full 16 miles, but I was pushing the carpooling envelope big time.
I know you aren't really supposed to break up a long run (certainly not by five hours or so) but when three cops stop you in about three blocks telling you to go home, you pretty much go home.
10:10/9:23/9:31/9:14/8:58. 90 degrees, 60% humidity.
Oh, and the escaped convict truly was in my neighborhood (he crashed a stolen car), but he was caught before I went back out in the afternoon.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Training week 2
I could call this Pfitz week 14 but that just confuses me.
Monday: rest day.
Best.day.ever. Well, running wise. It was also the first day of school- middle school for Emma and kindergarten for Harry. The kids seemed better with it than me.
Tuesday: 8 miles with 10 X 100 strides.
Lunch time, 91 degrees, 71% humidity.
First four miles were great- worked the strides in at somewhere around a 7:00ish pace. And then the heat hit me. Stuck my head under a faucet in a park. That helped for the next mile. Ran home, reloaded on water, stuck my head in the kitchen sink, and went back out for another grueling 3 miles to finish my 8 total. In retrospect, probably should have just called it a day when I was trying to crawl inside the kitchen sink.
Wednesday: 5 miles recovery.
Lunch time, 90 degrees, 70% humidity.
Still hot, but not nearly as bad thanks to a frozen water bottle and a slower pace. Hard to stay slow.
Thursday: 10 miles general aerobic.
4:30 a.m., 78 degrees, 91% humidity.
I couldn't bear the thought of a repeat of Tuesday (sure no strides, but an EXTRA two miles?!) so I decided I'd get up early. So there I was, out the door at 4:30 a.m. I had my runner's Mace attached to my hand, my water bottle, my iPhone, and a flashlight. Nothing like traveling light! Running in the dark wasn't that eventful- most of the streets were lit enough to leave the flashlight off, the sun wasn't wilting me (obviously), and there was no real traffic. There were two horrible Chihauhaus by the stadium and a little old lady moving her trashcan at 4:45 almost did me in, but I finished my 10 miles. And as a bonus, I got the kids to school on time with lunch boxes.
Friday: rest.
Noon, 90 degrees, 70% humidity.
To heck with rest. I did 4 miles at a recovery pace today to free up Saturday!
Sunday: scheduled 15 miles.
4:37 a.m., 78 degrees, 94% humidity.
Again, with the early stuff. 4:37 a.m. out the door with all my junk. The two Chihauhaus by the stadium have friends- another little one and a big boxer looking monster. The big one charged me (with his little friends following)- I yelled "NO" and kept backing out of the way. They charged a few times- never closer than 15 feet but close enough. Note to self: practice using Mace. I had my finger on the spray thing, but realized I didn't know the range. Second note to self: surrender stadium route.
So at least I was awake. Nothing else exciting happened except my Garmin died at 8 miles. I pushed on for a little over an hour. I had told Ted I'd be home around 6:45, so I called it quits. I think I got in about 14 miles. My Garmin was fully charged, but it's almost 5 years old. Next time I'll take Ted's...
That last missed mile made me a little crazy, but I've worked through it and think I can call this week a success (minus one mile... d'oh!)
Monday: rest day.
Best.day.ever. Well, running wise. It was also the first day of school- middle school for Emma and kindergarten for Harry. The kids seemed better with it than me.
Tuesday: 8 miles with 10 X 100 strides.
Lunch time, 91 degrees, 71% humidity.
First four miles were great- worked the strides in at somewhere around a 7:00ish pace. And then the heat hit me. Stuck my head under a faucet in a park. That helped for the next mile. Ran home, reloaded on water, stuck my head in the kitchen sink, and went back out for another grueling 3 miles to finish my 8 total. In retrospect, probably should have just called it a day when I was trying to crawl inside the kitchen sink.
Wednesday: 5 miles recovery.
Lunch time, 90 degrees, 70% humidity.
Still hot, but not nearly as bad thanks to a frozen water bottle and a slower pace. Hard to stay slow.
Thursday: 10 miles general aerobic.
4:30 a.m., 78 degrees, 91% humidity.
I couldn't bear the thought of a repeat of Tuesday (sure no strides, but an EXTRA two miles?!) so I decided I'd get up early. So there I was, out the door at 4:30 a.m. I had my runner's Mace attached to my hand, my water bottle, my iPhone, and a flashlight. Nothing like traveling light! Running in the dark wasn't that eventful- most of the streets were lit enough to leave the flashlight off, the sun wasn't wilting me (obviously), and there was no real traffic. There were two horrible Chihauhaus by the stadium and a little old lady moving her trashcan at 4:45 almost did me in, but I finished my 10 miles. And as a bonus, I got the kids to school on time with lunch boxes.
Friday: rest.
Noon, 90 degrees, 70% humidity.
To heck with rest. I did 4 miles at a recovery pace today to free up Saturday!
Sunday: scheduled 15 miles.
4:37 a.m., 78 degrees, 94% humidity.
Again, with the early stuff. 4:37 a.m. out the door with all my junk. The two Chihauhaus by the stadium have friends- another little one and a big boxer looking monster. The big one charged me (with his little friends following)- I yelled "NO" and kept backing out of the way. They charged a few times- never closer than 15 feet but close enough. Note to self: practice using Mace. I had my finger on the spray thing, but realized I didn't know the range. Second note to self: surrender stadium route.
So at least I was awake. Nothing else exciting happened except my Garmin died at 8 miles. I pushed on for a little over an hour. I had told Ted I'd be home around 6:45, so I called it quits. I think I got in about 14 miles. My Garmin was fully charged, but it's almost 5 years old. Next time I'll take Ted's...
That last missed mile made me a little crazy, but I've worked through it and think I can call this week a success (minus one mile... d'oh!)
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
PFITZ 18/55
Yeah, so I've been a little negligent. I found myself in a bit of a rut last spring. I can't even remember where I left off, but I did four halfs (halves?) in four months. Let's see- Jacksonville Marine Corps Half, Soldier Half, Jacksonville Bank Half, and finally the Ocala Half. They all went reasonably well. I finished between 1:53 and 1:56 in all of them. I can't even remember my finishing time in Ocala, but I ended up first in my age group and scored a cool horse statue! That, my friends, was a hard race. Never-ending hills. Ouch.
In March, I finished the Gate River Run in Jax and found myself with a Top Ten Percent hat. Awesome! My scorching 8:30ish pace worked for the top ten women, but they weren't giving the hats to the guys around me. Ha. So in the future, 8:30 for women may get you a hat, probably not for guys. (I very rarely wear my hat cause I feel silly, but I still wanted one!)
The spring came- I finally can recognize a pattern to my running. Even though the summer and fall are horrible temperature wise, the rest of my life is more under control (no holidays and the kids' school stuff isn't in full swing)- my running seems better. In the spring, I'm pretty fit, but tired... and then the pollen kicks in. February is not a good month for me. I hung on this year and survived the Gate River Run (although I couldn't talk after the race). March through May is a disaster of school stuff- can you say field trips? And then it's hot again.
I like to gauge my summer fitness by the Fourth of July Sunshine Festival run. It was maybe a little hotter this year and I was ridiculously tired, but all excuses aside, it kind of sucked. I finished in something like 24:3x. It wasn't bad by any means, but was a full minute off last year's time and made it obvious that I'd been slacking. Oh, and gained a few pounds...
SO... I've decided to change things up a bit this year. First, I've accepted that summer through fall is my best training time. As much fun as it was to run the four halfs in four months, I think I'm going to focus on one or two races. Last year's training consisted of running races (the halfs) with a few weekend long runs (maybe 10 miles each) and about 4 weekly runs of 6-7 miles each with an average pace of 9:30 or so. I didn't follow a training plan for the halfs, and it showed. I was consistent, but I wasn't really improving. And I was always a little tired and on the edge of injury (weird tendon/foot swelling thing).
Drum Roll-- I just finished the first week of Pfitzinger's 18/55 plan. (Ok, actually it was more like the 3rd week but I had to jump in there and I'd already built up my base after the humiliation of the Fourth of July race).
I'm signing up for the Soldier Marathon. That's right-- the FULL. I might do a half as a training run along the way, but come November, I'll be running my first real Full (I don't count the Goofy because it was it's own crazy thing.)
So last week looked like this:
PFITZ: 15 weeks before the race:
Monday: rest (not a problem).
Tuesday: 10 miles at average 9:55 pace in the rain. I thought I looked like pretty hard core running in the rain until a little old lady tried to force me on her porch...
Wednesday: 4 miles at recovery pace (10:00ish). Again with the rain. Ugh. Had to avoid old lady's house.
Thursday: scheduled 8 miles with 4 at half pace. Only had time for 7 at lunch:
Mile 1: 9:38
Mile 2: 8:18
Mile 3: 8:26
Mile 4: 8:55
Mile 5: 8:57
Mile 6: 9:40
Mile 7: 9:53
I was supposed to hit a pace around 8:09-8:30 for the fast stuff. Obviously, I didn't. It was 86 degrees with 65% humidity and a dew point of 74 degrees-- I'm hoping these numbers will creep back down when (if??) the weather gets better. It certainly felt like a hard effort.
Friday: rest. Sweet!
Saturday: 4 recovery miles (ave. pace 10:05). This time the dewpoint was 77 degrees. Pleasant. And actually, I mean it. Sure the weather was horrendous, but slowing down the pace made it bearable. I had to keep changing to mellow music to slow myself down.
Sunday: Scheduled 14 miles at 9:06-10:06 pace. This one was rather daunting. I got up early (like dark early!) and ate some Greek yogurt and had a Diet Dr. Pepper. Out the door at 5:30 a.m. with a water bottle filled with Heed, my phone, shiny clothing, and a flash light. The temperature was 81, humidity 83%, and dewpoint 76 degrees. Ran by the stadium where two chihuahuas charged me (WTH?!) Waved to some cops. Really weird to run in the dark. Didn't need my flashlight so I tossed it in a friend's yard. Did the fourteen miles in 2:16:xx. Times were 10:59/10:11/9:58/9:47/9:39/9:23/9:33/9:31/9:17/9:18/9:49/9:30/9:44/9:56. This was a hard run but mostly because I was so worried about the dark that I didn't prepare to run 14 miles. By about mile 10 I was hating the now hot Heed- got a bit of a sidestitch going downhill- only made better by going uphill (but that hurt everything else!). Should have probably had a few more carbs before I left, should have at least brought a gel just in case, and really need to freeze my water ahead of time. I made it home well before 8:00 a.m. to find the boys watching TV and playing on Harry's DS- perfectly happy.
Thoughts on the week: two firsts-- I've never run any major distance in the rain and never in the dark (except at the start of a Disney race!). I found my paces based on times plugged into the McMillan calculator. I can already tell a difference in how I feel- I didn't realize how important it is to really slow down for the recovery runs. I put in a lot of miles this week (39) including my longest run in forever and only had minor soreness on Monday- I recognize it's silly to judge a plan by one week of runs, but I'm feeling optimistic.
In March, I finished the Gate River Run in Jax and found myself with a Top Ten Percent hat. Awesome! My scorching 8:30ish pace worked for the top ten women, but they weren't giving the hats to the guys around me. Ha. So in the future, 8:30 for women may get you a hat, probably not for guys. (I very rarely wear my hat cause I feel silly, but I still wanted one!)
The spring came- I finally can recognize a pattern to my running. Even though the summer and fall are horrible temperature wise, the rest of my life is more under control (no holidays and the kids' school stuff isn't in full swing)- my running seems better. In the spring, I'm pretty fit, but tired... and then the pollen kicks in. February is not a good month for me. I hung on this year and survived the Gate River Run (although I couldn't talk after the race). March through May is a disaster of school stuff- can you say field trips? And then it's hot again.
I like to gauge my summer fitness by the Fourth of July Sunshine Festival run. It was maybe a little hotter this year and I was ridiculously tired, but all excuses aside, it kind of sucked. I finished in something like 24:3x. It wasn't bad by any means, but was a full minute off last year's time and made it obvious that I'd been slacking. Oh, and gained a few pounds...
SO... I've decided to change things up a bit this year. First, I've accepted that summer through fall is my best training time. As much fun as it was to run the four halfs in four months, I think I'm going to focus on one or two races. Last year's training consisted of running races (the halfs) with a few weekend long runs (maybe 10 miles each) and about 4 weekly runs of 6-7 miles each with an average pace of 9:30 or so. I didn't follow a training plan for the halfs, and it showed. I was consistent, but I wasn't really improving. And I was always a little tired and on the edge of injury (weird tendon/foot swelling thing).
Drum Roll-- I just finished the first week of Pfitzinger's 18/55 plan. (Ok, actually it was more like the 3rd week but I had to jump in there and I'd already built up my base after the humiliation of the Fourth of July race).
I'm signing up for the Soldier Marathon. That's right-- the FULL. I might do a half as a training run along the way, but come November, I'll be running my first real Full (I don't count the Goofy because it was it's own crazy thing.)
So last week looked like this:
PFITZ: 15 weeks before the race:
Monday: rest (not a problem).
Tuesday: 10 miles at average 9:55 pace in the rain. I thought I looked like pretty hard core running in the rain until a little old lady tried to force me on her porch...
Wednesday: 4 miles at recovery pace (10:00ish). Again with the rain. Ugh. Had to avoid old lady's house.
Thursday: scheduled 8 miles with 4 at half pace. Only had time for 7 at lunch:
Mile 1: 9:38
Mile 2: 8:18
Mile 3: 8:26
Mile 4: 8:55
Mile 5: 8:57
Mile 6: 9:40
Mile 7: 9:53
I was supposed to hit a pace around 8:09-8:30 for the fast stuff. Obviously, I didn't. It was 86 degrees with 65% humidity and a dew point of 74 degrees-- I'm hoping these numbers will creep back down when (if??) the weather gets better. It certainly felt like a hard effort.
Friday: rest. Sweet!
Saturday: 4 recovery miles (ave. pace 10:05). This time the dewpoint was 77 degrees. Pleasant. And actually, I mean it. Sure the weather was horrendous, but slowing down the pace made it bearable. I had to keep changing to mellow music to slow myself down.
Sunday: Scheduled 14 miles at 9:06-10:06 pace. This one was rather daunting. I got up early (like dark early!) and ate some Greek yogurt and had a Diet Dr. Pepper. Out the door at 5:30 a.m. with a water bottle filled with Heed, my phone, shiny clothing, and a flash light. The temperature was 81, humidity 83%, and dewpoint 76 degrees. Ran by the stadium where two chihuahuas charged me (WTH?!) Waved to some cops. Really weird to run in the dark. Didn't need my flashlight so I tossed it in a friend's yard. Did the fourteen miles in 2:16:xx. Times were 10:59/10:11/9:58/9:47/9:39/9:23/9:33/9:31/9:17/9:18/9:49/9:30/9:44/9:56. This was a hard run but mostly because I was so worried about the dark that I didn't prepare to run 14 miles. By about mile 10 I was hating the now hot Heed- got a bit of a sidestitch going downhill- only made better by going uphill (but that hurt everything else!). Should have probably had a few more carbs before I left, should have at least brought a gel just in case, and really need to freeze my water ahead of time. I made it home well before 8:00 a.m. to find the boys watching TV and playing on Harry's DS- perfectly happy.
Thoughts on the week: two firsts-- I've never run any major distance in the rain and never in the dark (except at the start of a Disney race!). I found my paces based on times plugged into the McMillan calculator. I can already tell a difference in how I feel- I didn't realize how important it is to really slow down for the recovery runs. I put in a lot of miles this week (39) including my longest run in forever and only had minor soreness on Monday- I recognize it's silly to judge a plan by one week of runs, but I'm feeling optimistic.
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