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Monday April 7th Workouts

608 views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  cak73 
#1 ·
<p>Happy Monday!  (Is that really a thing?  LOL)</p>
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<p>Thor:  WOW!  I can't imagine.  Running for 8+ hours  50 miles.  WOW.  So exciting Boston will be marathon 100 for you :)</p>
<p>Beth:  You are sooooo fast.  Great job at your race.  I agree I don't like late races.  Really hard to do a weird start time.</p>
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<p>Me:  9.5 mile long run yesterday.  Today is weights and a walk.  Temps are increasing here and I am getting excited about being able to take out Rita for a spin soon!!!!</p>
 
#2 ·
Julie - nice long run!<br>
Thor - glad you get to party through #100!<br>
Beth - smokin' fast! I think I'm in the minority here, but my top 3 5k races have been during evening starts.<br>
X - 22 miles...is that your last long run before your marathon?<br><br>
Yesterday I pretended to run trails by running in the squishy leaf covered grass along the sides of the road. Covered 2.5 mi and my leg never twitched, so a win!! Wasn't planning on running today, but I bought a new pair of shoes and my return window with the store is pretty small so I'll like hop on the treadmill for a couple miles this afternoon.
 
#3 ·
<p>Yesterday was 15 miles including a fairly hilly 1/2 marathon after a 2 mile warm-up. Paced it well for the first half and then did a tempo for the second half.  good time, now for the taper! </p>
 
#4 ·
<p>No, Julie, there is no happiness in a Monday that returns you to... work! :)</p>
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<p>And thanks for the good words. It amazes me too that the human body can power that long by running for 9 hours, or 8:55 to be precise. I had a very rough stretch from 31 to 38 but then started coming out of the funk and actually finished the last 5 miles very strong. Although it did help that of the 12,000 feet of total climbing on the day, the last 5 miles were coming back to earth, so to speak, with a major down or flatter.</p>
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<p>Beth: Solid race this weekend, girl. And yes, always bring it. The way I look at it is that if that person were behind me, they'd go for the kill. And so you owe it to yourself in doing the same. BTW, if it was a mental fatigue thing for you, with the later time, a trick that works for me is to focus with pin point attention on the here and now. Get in the moment and spend your energies staying there rather than thinking stray thoughts. It's hard to figure out but once you do it it'll be among the best tools you'll have when it comes to racing. Trust me on that one. I there this past weekend for, oh, about 5 hours worth :)</p>
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<p>Tamster: Sorry about the ride this weekend. But you know what, and this is a very good thing what I'm about to say... you don't need it. 45 miles on the bike will gain you zero over what you have. And that's because you've been an amazing little trainer, getting in all of the good stuff. Onward!</p>
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<p>Weekend Recap...</p>
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<p>Saturday: 2.5 mile easy run with a few strides. That's it!</p>
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<p>Sunday: Twin States 50 - 8:55 (not sure on placement yet, but maybe 3rd, maybe 5th, maybe 8th, results will be out later) - Twin States 50 is a new 50 mile race in Vermont that has 45% of its course identical to the Vermont 100. The 50 miler had, I think, 12,000 feet of total climbing. The course traverse back dirt roads of rolling -- and I mean rolling (see elevation) -- Vermont and into New Hampshire, hence the Twin States name. I went up the night before with my buddy, who was seeking his first 50 miler. He was fit, strong, and very in-shape. So fit he was that on the way up I cautioned him about burying me by going too fast. "If you're a step ahead of me for more than a tenth of a mile," I warned, "you're pulling me and will wind up burying me." Race morning came at a 28F made chilly, even a little too cold, by a steady wind. The race had 200 original entrants, but race morning only 50 showed up. No worries. My goal was to help my buddy conquer his first 50. Off we went with a climb to kick the race off that ascended 700 feet in the first two miles and then continue on, just not as steep, through mile 5. Up and down and up and up and down and up and up the course went. Around 3 miles in, my buddy got quiet. I asked if he was okay. He said he was cold and could not warm up. He also said he was sick, and he was. I could tell because he wasn't himself. At first I thought it was nerves, but I learned quickly he was genuinely sick. By the time we got to mile 5, with all the climbing we did, he still couldn't warm up. The furnace wouldn't fire for him. I was cold and warm and cold and warm, as we were working hard enough but also fighting into that head wind that got strong and cold as we ascended closer to the clouds on these icy and wet and pitted dirt roads. By then, instead of me leading the charge on pace, I had to let him dictate pace, and before long we were walking. He wasn't doing well. At all. He was sucking down water as if he hadn't had a lick in three days. We walked from 5 to 10, very slowly, when he finally convinced me to go ahead. I had refused saying that I'd only let him go if we got to a point where he could short circuit the course for a quick return to base. That point was mile 12. By then we were, what I would imagine, last in the race by far, as we walked from 5 to 12. I gave him my iPhone with the GPS map with a clear, easy to follow route home. His day was, unfortunately, done. Meanwhile, I forged on, running all by myself, way in the back. It took me until roughly mile 17 to see someone in the race. It was a set of brothers, one of which wasn't doing well. From there I went another mile or two before picking off another. Then I started seeing many runners. I ran with one for 3 miles. He had picked up pace to stay with me. It was a nice diversion and helped take my mind off the fact that my start had been so slow with still so many miles ahead. The course was set up with two large loops. The first loop, 27 miles, went into Vermont around Mount Ascutney; the second, at 23 miles, went on the other side of the Connecticut River into New Hampshire. I completed the first loop feeling very fatigued but in decent enough shape, especially mentally, to continue on. First loop was roughly 4:35 time. I went through marathon distance in something like 4:28. My buddy was waiting for me as I finished the loop. He was doing well but pretty lethargic. I urged him to grab a long nap and some lunch. He wound up doing just that. On to the second loop I went with a refill of my pack. Water, gatorade, more bars and gels. The second loop got difficult not long after crossing the Connecticut River through a picture-perfect covered bridge. The course jumped back on dirt roads and went up and down and up and up and down and back way up, undulating. Around mile 31, right around the 50K mark, I slid very quickly into a bad spot. I pulled from my pocket my Ironman training tools and tried to correct what was wrong. Unfortunately, it wasn't until mile 38, an eternity when you're hurting and climbing terrain like this, when I started coming out of that bad spot. I stayed mentally focused through it, concentrating not on where I was on the course or even my boy back home; instead, I had no choice if I wanted to stay in the game by focusing only on being in the moment. Feeling the hurt, striding as light and efficiently as possible, assessing hydration and nutrition. On I went. To this point there was much climbing. I was now walking anything on the steeper side, say anything over 4 or 5% incline, which meant I was walking a lot. But I was still moving, and I was moving efficiently from a time perspective, and when the terrain would dip back down, I ran the downs and flats and mild ups. I noticed that when the uneven, pitted dirt roads turned smooth or to pavement, that's when my pace and vigor would return. You can't keep the road runner in me away. By now I was all by myself and had been for miles. Every few hours I'd pick off another runner. It wasn't lonely. I was focused, enjoying the scenery, enjoying being an athlete surviving a tough race, and in the moment. Every now and then I would see a few locals out either walking their dogs or strolling with binoculars for bird watching. It was nice because, ever so friendly, when I would say hello we'd get into a short exchange about what I was doing. Around mile 42, when I was circling around a farm and heading back up a few thousand feet to get to the top (the views were just stunning), I saw way up the dirt road navigating up the "hill" two runners wearing orange. I was buoyed with new energy for company. I got on my horse, ran more of the hill than I probably should have, and caught them right over the top. I was impressed with myself because they really were at least a quarter mile up, probably more. As soon as I caught them we realized we were lost, off course. After 10 minutes looking at our phones, a local came by walking her dog. She helped us find our way again. We had made a wrong turn due to the unfortunate placement of marking tape, similar to that we were following (right on red; left on lime). Our detour fortunately added no extra miles. On we went. The guys in orange were interesting. Because earlier around mile 31 to 33, I passed the one guy; and then I recognized the other. One guy was in the race; I had passed him. He did not pass me back. This was odd. The other guy was the one driving a car, and now I saw the car, which was being driven as support by a woman, who was running earlier. What happened was one of the guys and girl were pacing this guy. But how did he end up ahead of me? At one point I saw three people in the car, as it came by me at around mile 36. It was on a thousand foot climb. Although I don't know for certain, I think he cheated. In any event, those two guys kept pulling ahead of me. Although I was feeling a little better, I didn't have much for the ups after chasing them down. We ran together, they then pulled ahead when I walked the ups, and I would catch up on other sections. We did this from mile 42 through 47. Finally, the course popped out on a road. I could tell that the other guy (not his pacer; the guy in the race) was very competitive. He had actually never said hello to me, and anything I got ahead of him, he was start running and try to put distance on me. But when we hit that road section, I started coming to life. Off I went getting faster and faster and faster. I was probably running 7:30's because it was smooth road and either flat or mildly down. Staying focused, thinking nothing about anything or anyone but staying in the moment, I popped out to realize I was now a good tenth of a mile ahead. As I came down toward the covered bridge, the same one we took to start this loop, I saw lime marker and stopped in my tracks. The lime marker meant go left. But going left, that's not where we came from. The covered bridge was a half mile down, I was sure though I couldn't see it. That's when the car support of the two guys in orange stopped. The woman driver pointed up this road that climbed 300 feet and said, "Yes, that way." I was tired and decided to go against my better judgement and take her word. I knew I was near the end, so with the grade of this hill, I would have walked but decided to run it. Near the top I looked back to see if the orange guys were following. And that's when I saw them down on the road I had come from, continuing on, where I thought I was supposed to go. "That bitch". I cursed the woman in the car as I ran back down the hill, my quads burning. Left at the bottom, I chased the guys in orange. I was all set to let that woman hear it when I saw her next. She left me to go the wrong way. As I was approaching the guys in orange, the woman driver flipped around and came my way. "Sorry," she said as she pulled over with a rolled down window. "I was on my way to get you." Yeah, like what, after those guys ran a mile? Like really. Instead of wasting negative energy, I simply said, "No worries," and got back on my horse. I was still running very strong, though my lungs were burning due to breathing more heavily. I passed orange guys in the first third of the covered bridge spanning the Connecticut and hammered the rest of the way to the finish. I looked at my watch now and then because I really wanted to go under 9 hours. By the time I ran through town and into the high school for the finish, total time was 8:55. Orange dudes finished in over 9 hours.</p>
 
#7 ·
<div class="quote-container" data-huddler-embed="/t/79810/monday-april-7th-workouts#post_2064096" data-huddler-embed-placeholder="false">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>SpartyGirl</strong> <a href="/t/79810/monday-april-7th-workouts#post_2064096"><img alt="View Post" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br>
 
<p>Thor - Seriously?!  What in the world is wrong with people?  *shaking my head* I don't know that I would have been able to respond quite as nicely...</p>
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<p><br>
Sparty, I was *so* pissed, but I was also so tired and because I was running strong, I knew that although I just tagged on an extra quarter to half mile, I would still hammer home. My approach to this woman might have been different if I wasn't feeling as good. But yeah, I still don't get why it took her so long to come back for me. She's a runner. She should understand. And I actually ran with her and encouraged her (when I still thought she was in the race, not just a support person pacing and longing miles). I still can't believe she did that. If it were me, or you, or anybody else, we would have drove after that person right after those two guys told her the proper way. But no, she had to drive up again following them. Guessing her conscious started eating at her. Damn!</p>
 
#8 ·
<p>Thor - way to keep your head in the game and your temper under control.  I am a firm believer in keeping your karma cat box clean.  Hers is not and it will come back to her.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A quick weekend recap for me:</p>
<p>Fri: easy 40 min run</p>
<p>Sat am: 45 min in the fishbowl</p>
<p>Sat pm: 2.5 hrs on the trainer followed by a 40-min brick run</p>
<p>Sun am: 2.5 hours on the trainer (ouch, my girl parts did not like the back-to-back days)</p>
<p>Sun pm; Masters swim</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We did stations for the first time.  It was hard but fun.  We did:</p>
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<p>WU: 150 swim, 150 kick, 150 pull</p>
<p>Stations Round 1 was 5 min at ea station, Round 2 was 3 min at ea station):</p>
<p>1. 30 sec hard kick w/ arms out of the water/ 30 sec easy tread</p>
<p>2. Brick throw as dive down and grab the brick, push off bottom and shoot to surface, do 3 presses and then throw the brick; 15sR then repeat</p>
<p>3. Parachute swim on 15sR after each 50</p>
<p>4. Tennis ball swim on 15sR after each 50</p>
<p>5. Land exercises: 30 crunches, 10 push-ups, 30-sec plank</p>
<p>6. Sprint 12.5 and then rest the same amount of time it took to do the 12.5; continue until time is up</p>
<p>CD: 100 easy</p>
 
#9 ·
Thor: Congrats but really what is wrong with people? I really cannot fathom it. I will say this reminded me of the story of the person who came on here looking for advice about reporting that cyclist I think at IMMoo who stopped and cheated the course during the bike leg. Did you report your suspicions to anyone at race management or comment to them on the directional issues so next year could be improved upon?<br><br>
Recap for me:<br>
Saturday: 67 min trainer ride. Was going to do Friday's swim but I just did not have it in me. Trainer ride went well though.<br>
Sunday: Great Bay half marathon. Ran with a friend, Martha, who had to mentally take back this course. She did and it was awesome to share that with her. We averaged about 10:43 per mile which was fine with me as this was about Martha and learning to feel that pace for me which I think will be close to my 70.3 pace for Tremblant in June. Speaking of which I'm really wondering how A this race is for me now. I don't know if I'm still in winter funk and just need some outside riding to get back my spirit but right now my spirit for racing is taking a hit.<br>
Monday: DOR planned.
 
#10 ·
<p>Congrats Thor, that sounds like quite an interesting adventure!</p>
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<p>Sparty- yep, the last long one, and back to the usual solo and unsupported.  :)</p>
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<p>Yesterday was a 2 mile recovery run for me.</p>
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<p>Today was an interval run that came out to 6.06 miles, followed by a 45 minute trainer ride with 4x3 minute threshold intervals, followed by planking then stretching.</p>
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<p>Have a great day!</p>
 
#11 ·
<p>Thor- Wow, just wow.  These folks just don't get the point, do they?  I'm with MQ... did you report anything?  I'm glad that you are Super Thor and could catch and pass them!!!!!  <img alt=";)" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/wink.gif" style=""></p>
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<p>I did end up riding my 45 yesterday.  I, fortunately, chose an awesome route that gave us a few peeks of sunshine and no rain.  The rest of my team out training for CdA were rained on their entire ride.  Alas, it's springtime in the PNW. </p>
<p>I had a really great 34 miles and a not so great 11 miles at the end.  Coach told me to only focus on the good because it was GOOD!  But the bad... Idk, something with my left knee.  Since it's on my left side (the side with all of my issues) I'm assuming that I'm going to hear all about my ITB.  But I also suspect that I need to take my bike in to make sure that it still fits and my cleat position hasn't changed.   I'm going in for DT massage and a chiro adjustment here in a couple of hours so I'll know more later. </p>
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<p>Starting to feel like a total hypochondriac though... I feel like I'm constantly pondering the following questions- Is this a normal stiff/sore muscle or is that pain?  Is it something I need to consider?  Do I need to stretch/roll?  What do I need to stretch/roll?  Do I need to call my PT, Chiro or Coach?  Am I nuts.... okay, just seeing if any of you actually read that.  <img alt=":D" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="">  But just so you all know, I really am enjoying this journey.  It's had some dark spots but for the most part I wake up every morning exhausted and looking forward to my next workout.  lol</p>
 
#12 ·
Thor, wow, crazy awful. What an insane day for you. Big congratulations on your long run, stong finish, staying in the moment, taking the "high road" (pun intended). Shows the tremendous strength of your body and character.<br><br>
Thanks for the kind words on my 5k this wknd. Yes, bring it, not staying in the moment was what failed me. I have a mantra, "I can do anything for the next xx minutes," that keeps me focused on a set time period. Just failed to really believe it during this race. Might do another 5k next month and try to beat my time, see what I can do.<br><br>
45-min trainer ride. Hard, needed it during a trying morning. Did the job of changing my attitude around!
 
#13 ·
<p>Thor: Nice ultra and way to keep your temper under control. I know I wouldn't have been half as nice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Weekend Recap:</p>
<p>Saturday: DOR</p>
<p>Sunday: 26 mile ride and I saw a field of tulips that stopped me in my tracks. Once of the best reasons to ride. It forces you to slow down and really see the world.</p>
<p>Today: 1800 m over lunch</p>
 
#14 ·
Thor - wow, enjoy reading your report. You know, cheaters find ways to cheat no matter what. Let losers lose. Sorry to hear your friend wasn't feeling well. That must have been a torture for him on such a challenging terrain. And you, stayed focused and strong for that many hours. Amazing triumph. We all know another win for Thor!<br><br>
TT - so great hear you are enjoying this journey. Amazing attitude and focus. Something I would love to have when/if I decide to tackle the journey.<br><br>
6.6miles including 3x1mile hard. I don't know why but my legs just feel so heavy all the time. I guess I just need to slow down more....<br>
Evening was 2500m swim. Felt great. I really don't know how each workout goes until I start and several minutes into it.
 
#15 ·
<p>Couldn't agree more with the sentiments above, Thor (and once again, wow)! I have no idea how anyone could gain satisfaction from cheating (allegedly) - especially in a race where the satisfaction is in the immense accomplishment!</p>
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<p>Woo-hoo! to the Husky men. Way to go .....</p>
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<p>About a 10K afternoon run ... low 8's pace. Felt good...</p>
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<p>geo</p>
 
#16 ·
<p>1 hour recovery ride on the trainer.  Trying to keep it easy as I'm tapering. </p>
 
#17 ·
<p>Thor...congrats!  Looking forward to seeing you at Boston!  Super crazy about the runners in orange.  Sheesh.  Like it was mentioned, your karma bucket is clean.</p>
<p>Beth...nice 5K!</p>
<p>Julie...sounds like you're feeling better</p>
<p>TT...hang in there, girl!  Embracing everything is the way you have to go</p>
<p>topo...crazy swim workout!  I don't dive so that one would be a huge challenge for me.  Solid workouts.</p>
<p>MQ...get thee outside on the bike...it'll help</p>
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<p> </p>
<p>Sunday- rode outside for just under 49.25 miles, still poking along as I was out there for almost 3:12, but had an enjoyable ride and did manage the suggested znII avg effort.  met up with a local cycling club so had some company for part of the ride.  rode with a 2x cancer survivor (rectal and thyroid) until I got a bloody nose and let him go on ahead.  after a lengthy transition (like 10min holy smokes...couldn't get one of my shoes unclipped, had to put stuff into the car, had to change, etc, etc, etc) I ran 2.5 miles.  LOL.  first mile was supposed to be znIII, and even though I managed it in 9:25, my body was like, "znIII screw it."  got the run done in 24:56 and a high znII HR avg...even with a second bloody nose.  Took a nap that afternoon.</p>
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<p>Monday- swam 2450y and did a strength workout</p>
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<p>Tuesday- planned DOR  <img alt=":D" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif" style=""></p>
 
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