Every Wish That We Put Into Motion.... (comments welcome!)

[GollyGadget]

My vote would be for Int 2. Yes, it's lower mileage and less intense but in this case that works in your favor because there's less risk of too much, too fast. I would also consider those pace runs to be quite beneficial. Those could be your "off-ramps" as @Cabius mentioned. If you're not able to hit your desired pace for multiple pace runs, it'd be time to re-evaluate.

There's also no shame in trying. If you realize a few weeks in that it just isn't going to work, that's totally fine. If you get thrown a bunch of wrenches on race day that put your goal at risk, also totally okay. Just keep your bigger goal in mind, whatever that may be. If it's having fun at MW, we all know that is possible with or without PoT.

 

[jmasgat]

I honestly don't know. That's the real answer.

That IS an answer. Cause if you can't work up the attitude/commitment to do it, then it's not likely to be successful. And it is a brave thing to recognize that and choose to not do it.

On the physical front: You know your body and your current level of fitness. How do you think it will react to a crash course of training? Have you considered going out and doing a mile/3 mile "current fitness" test? That way you can get a sense of where you truly are and whether or not the PoT is a realistic goal.

If you think you are physically "in the ballpark" and you find a reasonable plan to commit to, then maybe it's worth starting on the path.

There's also no shame in trying. If you realize a few weeks in that it just isn't going to work, that's totally fine. If you get thrown a bunch of wrenches on race day that put your goal at risk, also totally okay. Just keep your bigger goal in mind, whatever that may be. If it's having fun at MW, we all know that is possible with or without PoT.

Is there a "points up at this" emoji somewhere? Apparently so!

Good luck with deciding (and with the puppy...and the kids.....I'm exhausted just thinking about your commitments!)

 

[softballpooh]

Throwing this out there- we have similar goals (and paces, I think) so if you decide to go for it, I'll offer to be an accountability partner! I need the motivation to do the work daily and not just rely on the voice in my head to help me make the decision when I don't want to (she always wins ). And I won't be offended at all if you'd rather not since I know for some people that could actually cause more stress. Happy to chat more via message if you're interested!

 

[accm]

I obviously can't answer for you, but personally I know I'd want to at least try. Start training, and see how it's going throughout. If you think you can do it, go for it, if not, maybe scale back on the training to not risk an injury.

As for which training plan, on your previous training cycles, how many days/miles a week were you doing? With the addition of speed work, I wouldn't want to also add additional training days unless I knew my body would react well to it.

 

[Herding_Cats]

It's always super fun when your 5k event reminder email includes something like "we are monitoring the weather. if it is thunderstorms we will delay the start time until it is safe to run. we will run if it's only rain." And then you look at the weather forecast and see things like 3-6in of rain possible on Friday and Saturday.

 

[Naomeri]

My race reminder for this weekend looks like this—luckily the worst snow isn’t coming until Sunday

 

[Herding_Cats]

Well it definitely rained as forecast today. Lots of standing water while it came down, but a lot of it has already soaked in. We stopped by the park where the 5k is being run just it have an idea of where it is and if it looked like we might get standing water tomorrow. Fingers crossed it stays like it is, which is wet, but no standing water. Only a 40% chance of wet in the morning so . I’m debating between going all out for the whole 5k, as a sort of benchmark fitness test, and only going all out for part of it; my back was messed up this week and I went to the chiro twice. She told me my sacrum was twisted (which completely explains my irritated looowww back and limited mobility in my left leg.) It’s been fine since she adjusted it, thank goodness. Probably going to be a starting line decision, weather-depending.

And I’m so excited I have to share this pic with someone. 9 and a half days and this guy is ours! (Pic of a liver roan Brittany puppy)

 

[superchime]

Oh my goodness what an adorable baby!! <3

And I hope the weather holds and your 5k goes well.

 

[Naomeri]

Too cute!!!

I wish wet was all I had to worry about for tomorrow! I hope the city roads got as a clean and dry as my neighborhood roads today after the 3 inches of snow Thursday night, otherwise it could be slippery.

 

[jmasgat]

Trade you your rain for our 6" of snow. No? Okay.

Good luck with the race and with the cutie fur baby.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Thoughts:
-I’m not in 5k race shape.
-I drank too many drinks and slept like garbage the last couple of days.
-Mile 1 felt pretty good (hard, but good)
-Florida is so hot.
-And humid.
-These medals are huge.
-DS2 won his age group (4th overall)
-Mini race report later

 

[WillRunForPizza]

5Ks are hard. Looking forward to the mini report, but for now, congrats to DS2! I love your photo

Also, puppy is adorable!! Have you considered Eeyore for a name? Cause that expression...

 

[The Expert]

Thoughts:
-I’m not in 5k race shape.
-I drank too many drinks and slept like garbage the last couple of days.
-Mile 1 felt pretty good (hard, but good)
-Florida is so hot.
-And humid.
-These medals are huge.
-DS2 won his age group (4th overall)
-Mini race report later

View attachment 844402View attachment 844403

Great pic! And that medal is

 

[Herding_Cats]

Sunrise 5k race report!
Located in Sunrise, FL (west of Ft Lauderdale) this was a good location for me to grab a race before we go on our cruise for spring break, and was originally planned to keep me running after MW. Last year I quit running after completing Dopey for a few months and had some winter-related mental health challenges. When I found this race, I was originally planning on running the half, but the course looks awful (tons out out-and-backs that you repeat 2x) and I figured it wasn’t really fair to DS2 to make him sit there and wait for another 2+ hours for me to finish and then be a mess for the first couple days of the cruise.

So! Up at 4:30am for breakfast and getting dressed to we could be out the door by 5:10. DS2 accidentally shut his alarm off and I woke him up at 4:50 . It was about a 20min drive over, giving us plenty of time to use the bathrooms at the park, and for DS to go through his warmup routine. The 5k starts at 6:30, and the HM starts at 6:35 (but is routed so most of the 5k runners are through before overtaking the slower 5k runners.) Things were clearly marked, although it starts before the sun comes up and there are no lights along the road. DS wore my noxgear vest with the chest light since he would be running significantly faster than me. It wasn’t super necessary, but was helpful.

I decided to go a bit harder for pace at the beginning and see how long it lasted. I ran 60/20 intervals, and finished mile 1 in 10:49. Woohoo! And then the heat/humidity started setting in. It was 70 degrees, 70 degree dew point, and 96% humidity. I dialed my intervals back to 45/30 for mile 2 and finished that in 12:21. And then I pulled the plug because I felt not-great. I may have had a few adult beverages yesterday, and combined with the marked lack of sleep in the last 2 days, I was getting light headed between intervals. Finished in 38:10, and considering my lack of current conditioning, I’m ok with that.



This does give me somewhat of a starting point for POT training. I can hit the pace I need, now can I hit it for 2+ hours? I think I’m going to go for it on the POT training, but definitely have exit points if I’m not seeing/feeling any improvements, or if the schedule just isn’t going to be reasonable. I do want to see how my body responds to speedwork.

 

[NYC_MW]

Congrats to DS2!! Good luck with the POT training, and have fun on the cruise.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Oh snap! Just saw a comment on insta that they ran out of medals yesterday. That sucks.

And when I picked up our bibs, he said they had around 500 people registered, and according to the results, there were only 388 finishers (one person in the HM results is listed and then it says in all caps below that they are DQ’ed for cutting the course/missing a chip mat.)

 

[azrivest]

Oh snap! Just saw a comment on insta that they ran out of medals yesterday. That sucks.

And when I picked up our bibs, he said they had around 500 people registered, and according to the results, there were only 388 finishers (one person in the HM results is listed and then it says in all caps below that they are DQ’ed for cutting the course/missing a chip mat.)

Really? They ran out of medals even though less than 80% of runners who finished?

 

[jmasgat]

Really? They ran out of medals even though less than 80% of runners who finished?

My thought too. Times like these I'd love to go behind the scenes at a race to understand how it really gets done.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Vacation was…not relaxing.

So, looking ahead to a trip that might be relaxing:

Does anyone know how to view “costs” for united flights using miles? Their flights are the same (cheaper when you factor in the drive and parking) than driving to a larger airport but I’d need to transfer/convert my chase points to united points (assuming points are less than $ for value) and it’ll only show me costs based on the 2k points I currently have in there.

 

[jmasgat]

United has a very flexible mileage search--I have 0 points in my account but that has never impacted a search. I never sign in (you can just ignore the sign in box that opens). You can do flexible dates, cabins, etc. They will show calendar. Often it is easier to just search one way flights--and unlike Delta, they don't jack up the price if it's a one way ticket, so you can search one way there and one way back and then just add the 2 together. The search off the home page will get you started or go to the Advanced Search page.

Sorry your vacation wasn't relaxing. That sucks.