Dopey Again???

[jele30]

Hello my name is Jessie. My husband (Josh) and I ran the Dopey together this past January (2022). This wasn’t something that we went into planning in advance. Sure we had enough time to meet most of the weeks of a standard running plan, but the base was weak at best. Truth be told, the pictures came out for the medals and after bringing it up a few times to him, my husband said ok. When I asked him to run it, I didn’t think he would say yes. The longest race he had run prior was a 10k, so this would be his first half and full. It would be my first marathon, so lots of firsts.

When we finished the marathon, I thought we were done. We were happy, but glad to be done. It felt that we were the odd ones out as we talked to people on the bus and they seemed to be making plans for next year. For me, I was happy to have finished all four races and the accomplishment. About a month ago, Josh started to bring up running the Dopey again. He’s got the bug. I think I’d rather try Wine and Dine as we have never been there in the fall, but I’m sure I’m a couple weeks I’ll be on the Dopey train…

I’ve lurked round for many years and decided it was finally time to do a training journal. I know Dopey would have been much better for me had I been more consistent with my training. I knew I wanted to do things differently, so I’ll have my first chance with the Grandma’s half marathon in June. I’m starting week four of the Hanson’s half marathon plan (beginner). At best I was 2-3 days a week running prior with sometimes long gaps, but I worked on being consistent after Dopey (took 2 weeks off) so this plan is intimidating! One step at a time!

 

[sandam1]

I think I’d rather try Wine and Dine as we have never been there in the fall, but I’m sure I’m a couple weeks I’ll be on the Dopey train…

You could always do both.

(Yes, fellow runners are the worst enablers)

 

[jele30]

Week #3 - Recap
Mon - Core, strength train
Did not happen

Tues - Core, Tunde arms challenge wk#6, easy 4 miles
Skipped core due to time, but fit in the arms.
Did 4 miles on the treadmill between 4.3 and 4.5 mph paying close attention to my heart rate.

Wed - Core, strength, barre
Early to bed, had a migraine all day that would not go away

Thurs - Yoga, Tunde Arms, easy 4 miles
4 miles on treadmill with some incline blocks (did part of it as a Peloton endurance workout). Pushed the pace to 12 min per mile, but had to back it down to 12:40 as HR was spiking. After the run did the arm workout, but no yoga.

Fri - core, barre, easy 4 miles
I did the run over lunch break on the tread, so was nervous about the time so tried to do 12 mph, but after two miles brought it down to 12:40 for the remaining 2 miles. No core or barre, but fit in a stretch later after work.

Sat - core, arms, easy 4 miles
Did the core and arm workout first and after did 4 miles at 12:40. I think this is the run when I started to feel my body starting to adjust to the running again. The last few weeks had me really questioning if I was ready.

Sun - yoga, easy 5 miles
Watched a movie on the tread while playing around with the speed a little. Ultimately, ended up averaging 13 mph for the 5 miles while staying in z3 for 68% of the run. I’m really trying to pay attention to my HR with the increase in runs. I haven’t before as I always thought my watch was wrong as it was always in threshold, so trying the whole slow down route.

Getting late so will post this week‘s training plan later.

 

[jele30]

With the miles increasing, it is becoming harder to fit in the other XT related activities that I had been doing. Completing the runs is my number one goal, followed by the arms challenge (10 min x 3 times a week), and 10 min core. I also want to focus on getting the stretching in after running. I‘m still putting those activities on my plan for this week, but in two weeks another day of running is added. In the past I have struggled running in the winter, but we finally purchased a treadmill and that helps greatly as I’m not ready to return outside yet. We didn’t purchase the treadmill until almost all the dopey training had been completed, so I’m really enjoying having that. I’ll start running outside again when the weather warms up here.

Week 4 - March 7
Mon - Core, XT
Tues - Core, arms, 5 miles
Wed - Core, XT
Thurs - arms, 3 miles
Fri - Core, 3 miles
Sat - Core, arms, 5 miles
Sun - 6 miles

 

[jele30]

You could always do both.

(Yes, fellow runners are the worst enablers)

That may have also been suggested .

 

[Naomeri]

Welcome to the addiction!!

 

[jele30]

Welcome to the addiction!!

Thank you! It seems we are in the deep end now, lol

 

[DopeyBadger]

Thank you! It seems we are in the deep end now, lol

 

[jele30]

Week 4 - March 7 Recap
Mon - Core, XT
10 min core and no XT.

Tues - Core, arms, 5 miles
I had pushed off the workout/run after work with the great idea to do it while my family was at swim. My husband helps coach, so he is there anyway. By the time practice rolled around, I was procrastinating and doing the whole “I could do the run tomorrow, since there is no run thing. I eventually made it downstairs and got it all done! I did core first and followed with the arms workout. After 5 miles @ 13.5 - 13.7 with a 1% incline. Garmin showed 85% in Z3 and 0% in Z4, which is a first for me.

Wed - Core, XT
20 min core. Had planned to do other strength training, but the core was with weights and felt tougher so felt good with doing just the core.

Thurs - arms, 3 miles
Started out with the 10 min arm challenge. It’s the same workout 3 x week, so same as Tues. On Tues, it felt easier than others so used the 5 lb weights this time. Definitely felt it more today and arms were shaking at parts. After the plan called for an easy 3 miles at 1% incline. 13-13.5, so ended up in Z4 for 40% but think it was on the low end of 4. Stressful day at work so knew keeping it in 3 was going to tough.

Fri - Core, 3 miles
Worked late and noticed after that my right calf was pretty knotted and sore. Decided to stretch and take the night off. Should have rolled too.

Sat - Core, arms, 5 miles
After core and arms did the 5 miles on the treadmill while watching a movie. 13.3 at 0.5% incline. Did not hit above Z3 at all!

Sun - 6 miles
Made up my core from the missed Friday (goal is 5 x a week), so started with that. Finished up the movie from the day before and started a new one. It had snowed overnight, but had warmed up to the low 40’s so thought about going outside. Maybe next weekend. 13.3 at 0.5% incline at 93% Z3 and 3% Z4.

Total: 19 miles (missed 3 miles), 5x core, 3x arms

Next week:
Core 5x
Arms wk 8 (3x)
Tues - 5 mi
Thurs- 3 mi tempo + w/u and c/d
Fri - 5 mi
Sat - 3 mi
Sun - 8 mi

 

[jele30]

Week 5 - March 14th recap

Core 5x - Tues only, so missed 4 times
Arms wk 8 (3x) - done, Tues, Fri, Sun

Tues - 5 mi
Treadmill run, pretty uneventful stayed mainly easy at 13.2 pace at 0.5% incline

Thurs- 3 mi tempo + w/u and c/d
Beautiful warm WI day, I think it was low 60’s when I started after work. I struggle keeping my a slower pace when I am outside. By feel an easy run is in the 11-12 mph, but my heart rate does not agree. After a half mile warm up, I was ready to go so cut the warm up short. I should have realized that this would not be fun for splits as didn’t hit the lap button after the w/u. I was aiming for a pace of 10 mph for my tempo run and I hit the splits really well as mile 1 and 4 included a half mile w/u, c/d.
1: 10:49, 2: 10:01 3: 10:00 4: 10:58
This effort was tough, but made it through with a few mental games.

Fri - 5 mi
This run did not happen. My allergies were bothering me (the hard effort kicked them into overdrive) and working on stuff late so did my arms workout and that was it.

Sat - 4 mi
Another beautiful day after an early morning snow/rain mix so did this one outside. Was 50 and sunny. Overshot the loop so made up a little distance and finished at 4.50 miles for 11:21 avg. Felt good, but effort was in Z4 93% of the time so watch did not agree.

Sun - 8 mi
55 degrees and sunny for a late afternoon run. Did this one with my husband and tried to keep the pace at an easy effort. Avg 11:27 Z3: 41% and Z4: 57%, so similar pace to the day before but watch thought it was easier .


Next week:
Core 5x
Arms wk 8 (3x)
Mon - 4 mi - spoiler alert, did not happen. Not ready for 6 days a week!
Tues - 12x 400 + w/u and c/d
Thurs- 3 mi tempo + w/u and c/d
Fri - 4 mi
Sat - 5 mi
Sun - 9 mi

 

[DopeyBadger]

Beautiful warm WI day

Party in WI!

Felt good, but effort was in Z4 93% of the time so watch did not agree.

Z3: 41% and Z4: 57%, so similar pace to the day before but watch thought it was easier .

How confident are you in the accuracy of your zones setup? Did you change the values in any way from the preset? Seems like they may be set too low based on your real life data.

 

[jele30]

Party in WI!

it‘s the fools spring, but we’ll take it


How confident are you in the accuracy of your zones setup? Did you change the values in any way from the preset? Seems like they may be set too low based on your real life data.

I’m not really confident in them. I left them at the defaults and figured they were wrong, but when I used a chest strap and that came in similar I started looking at it closer. I’m guessing the formula for both is the same and I likely run higher for my age, so the default is off. Not sure how much though. I have learned that treadmill definitely feels tougher for me than outside.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I’m not really confident in them. I left them at the defaults and figured they were wrong, but when I used a chest strap and that came in similar I started looking at it closer. I’m guessing the formula for both is the same and I likely run higher for my age, so the default is off. Not sure how much though. I have learned that treadmill definitely feels tougher for me than outside.

One thing you could look for is the highest non-erroneous value the HR strap has given you. On Garmin Connect you can sort activities by "max HR" and it makes it relatively easy to find the highest value. Compare that HRmax value from your strap to the HRmax value found in your settings on Garmin Connect and you'll get a reasonable idea if the default settings are close. But based on your consistent Z4/5 running, I'd venture to guess your true HRmax is higher than the default setting. I've known runners with a HRmax in the 220s.

 

[jele30]

One thing you could look for is the highest non-erroneous value the HR strap has given you. On Garmin Connect you can sort activities by "max HR" and it makes it relatively easy to find the highest value. Compare that HRmax value from your strap to the HRmax value found in your settings on Garmin Connect and you'll get a reasonable idea if the default settings are close. But based on your consistent Z4/5 running, I'd venture to guess your true HRmax is higher than the default setting. I've known runners with a HRmax in the 220s.

Thank you, I’ll dig into that!

 

[jele30]

Week 6 Recap - Week of March 21st

Best laid plans….on Thursday we took a late flight out of Milwaukee to Orlando. I should have realized earlier in the week that I was unlikely to get up early to do that run knowing our flight was getting into Orlando near 1 am. I should have pushed to get that Mom run in, but oh well lots of walking so all in all I’m ok with it.

Core 5x - 0!
Arms wk 8 (3x) - 1x, first week did not make this happen.
Mon - 4 mi - This was the first week that 6x a week was on the schedule and was pretty tired from the long run on Sun, so did not do this. I’m pretty sure my max is 5 days, but we’ll see as I get better conditioned as I’m coming from 2-3 runs a week at most.

Tues - 12x 400 + w/u and c/d
Did this on the treadmill. Did a 1 mile warm up and focused on hitting 6.4/9:46 mph for .25 miles. I would then walk .25 at 15 mph. This took a loooong time, but made it through it. I finished up with a .50 mile cool down for a total of 7.50 miles.

Thurs- 3 mi tempo + w/u and c/d
Fri - 4 mi
Sat - 5 mi
Sun - 9 mi

The rest of the runs this week did not happen. We switched hotels on Friday to the cottage we rented at Margaritavile and it wasn’t ready until later so by the time that happened I was too warm to do that before dinner (plus still tired from the late flight). Saturday we slept a little too long and it was time to meet my daughter‘s school trip at Animal Kingdom. After we dropped her with her group, my husband and I walked around AK for a while. There were discussions about drinking some Nuun and going for a run, but I looked at the temp and decided that it was better if we just forgo it. We did get some decent walking in at AK. Sunday was our Magic Kingdom day. Our daughter’s school was marching in MK at 6 pm, so I wanted to get over there near park opening to get some rides in before it became too busy. It was a great day and seeing the kids come down main street was a really cool experience. We stayed for fireworks and called it a night after.

Next Week:
Mon - 4 miles
Tues - 8x600
Wed - Rest
Thurs - 3 mile tempo
Fri - 4 miles
Sat - 6 miles
Sun - 10 miles

We fly home on Saturday evening, so will be in FL all week. I have to figure out the Tues speed session, maybe use a parking lot or something