"I Only Run in Purple." - Anisum's Road PRs in 2018

Anisum

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 15, 2015
Hello all, :yay:

I'm Anisum and after much consideration I decided to try to make a training journal. I'm notoriously bad at updating things but given that @DopeyBadger was kind enough to make me a training plan I figure I should provide more feedback than just my run data.

That being said I hate posting my personal information so be ready for some vague-blogging.


About Me
So, some history on how I ended up here. In 2014 my best friend L (who will appear often in stories and notes) was graduating from college. I went to her graduation party and learned that she was going to do the 2015 Princess Half Marathon Weekend. o_O Now, L was an athlete throughout college and a huge Disney fan so on the one hand this wasn't surprising but on the other hand, it sounded like complete madness! Post party, I went to visit my running cousins and they said that anyone could run if they tried and told me about C25k.

My lovely mother (from here on DM) agreed to try the program with me but it was the start of summer and well, we didn't stick with it all that long. So February 2015 rolls around and L runs the GSC and posts all the pictures online. I was so jealous. I wanted the bling, the accomplishment, the huge smile on my face. So at the start of March when it got warm enough to run outside. I started the C25k again and never looked back.

Along the way I met a lot of you lovely folks on the board who answered my questions and helped me on my journey to become a beautiful running butterfly!

2017 Goals!
1. Finish Dopey 2018 in the Upright - COMPLETED Finished Dopey Feeling Great
2. Get Comfortable on a Bike - COMPLETED During Tri Prep
3. Complete a Triathlon! - COMPLETED August 13!
4. Sub 2 hour 10 miler
5. Sub 1 hour 5 miler - COMPLETED April 30th
6. As always, lose weight - ONGOING AS ALWAYS

2018 Goals!
1. 2:45 Half Marathon - JUST MADE IT! April 21
2. Sub 2 hour 10 Miler
3. Sub 35 min 5k
4. Do another triathlon - In progress, signed up.
5. Try a Spinning Class - COMPLETED in March
6. PR a 10k
 
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Table of Contents:
1. Introduction & Goals
2. 2017 Training

Week 1: April 17-23
Week 2: April 24-30
Week 3: May 01-07
Week 4: May 08-14
Week 5: May 15-21
Week 6: May 22-28
Week 7: May 29-June 04
Week 8: June 05-11
Week 9: June 12-18
Week 10-11: June 19-July 02
Week 13: July 10-16
Week 14-16: July 17-August 6
Week 17: August 7-13

Week 18: August 14-20
Week 19: August 21-27
Week 20: August 28-September 03
Week 21: September 04-10
Week 23: September 18-24
Week 24: September 25-October 01
Week 25: October 02-08
Week 26: October 09-15
Week 27: October 16-22
Week 28: October 23-29
Week 29: October 30-November 05
Week 30: November 06-12
Week 31: November 13-19
Week 32: November 20-26
Week 33: November 27-December 03
Week 34: December 04-10
Week 35: December 11-17
Week 36: December 18-24
Week 37: December 25-January 1
3. Races
4. Other Stuff

 
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2018 Races
1. The Chili Run:

a. 2.0 Mile Fun Run with Chili at the Finish (30:00 / 28:16)
2. 26.2+ Miles of Wine:
a. Part 1: The 5 Miler (57:55 / N/A)
b. Part 2: The Trail 5k (36:00 / N/A)
c. Part 3: The Mysterious Winery 5k (35:40 / NA)
d. Part 4: The Two States One Winery 5k (35:40 / NA)
3. Castaway Cay 5k
a. Castaway Cay 5k Fun Run with Friends (NG / 46:30)
4. Spring PR Hopefuls
a. Runapalooza Half Marathon (2:45 / 2:45:05) PR!!
b. Broad Street 10 Miler (2:00 / NA)
5. Triathlon Summer
a. 0.25 mi Swim / 10 mi Bike / 5k Run (1:35:00 / NA)
b. 0.4 mi Swim / 13 mi Bike / 4k Trail Run (1:50:00 / NA)

2017 Races
1. 26.2+ Miles of Wine:
a. Part 1: The 5 Miler (59:59 / 57:55!) - April 30 PR!!!
b. Part 2: The 10 Miler (2:03:00 / 2:00:55) - May 07 PR!!
c. Part 3: The 15k (1:54:59 / 1:52:18) - September 10 PR!!
d. Part 4: The 5k (36:00 / 35:43) - October 15 PR!!
2. A New Hope:
a. The 10 Miler (2:30:00 / N/A) - May 21 DNS :(
3. The Triathlon and More Wine:
a. 0.4 mi Swim / 13 mi Bike / 4k Trail Run (NG / 1:53:10) - August 13 PR!!!
4. Down By the Boardwalk:
a. The 10 Miler (2:05:00 / 2:17ish) - September 24 :(
4. Dopey Challenge 2018
a. Part 1: The 5k (NG / 59:59) - January 4
b. Part 2: The 10k (NG / 1:35:02) - January 5
c. Part 3: The Half (NG / 2:55) - January 6
d. Part 4: The Full (NG / 6:21:03) - January 7
 
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Along the way I met a lot of you lovely folks on the board who answered my questions and helped me on my journey to become a beautiful running butterfly!
Heimlich!! :butterfly

Looking forward to following along with your journal!! Also, hooray for wine!
 




Ohhh, the suspense! :eek:
suspense.gif
 
Week 1 (04/17-04-23):
Mon: 3 mi @ EA (15:36)
Tue: OFF
Wed: Lunchtime Yoga, 3 mi @ 12:06, 2 mi @ CD (16:33)
Thu: OFF
Fri: 3 mi @ EB (14:37)
Sat: PLANNED 5 mi @ LR (14:08)
Sun: Completed 5 mi @ LR (14:08)

So this was the first week of my @DopeyBadger training plan. The hardest part was going slow. I expected I could do it because I usually run slower when I run alone as opposed to with a group but actually doing so is easier said than done. I got better at it as the week progressed.

Monday Run: I went at 14:09. I had started slowing down my runs last week in preparation but I couldn't convince my body that 15:36 was a good pace to run at. I tried to focus on my form in the hopes it would slow me down.. and it helped... just not as much as I would have liked. I practiced taking shorter steps. Focused on my breathing (turns out I do that correctly :D) and tried to make sure my upper body was following the rules. I think that part of it went fairly well.

Wednesday Run: I did lunchtime yoga at work. It was a surprisingly fast routine today but nothing too taxing in the end. This is supposed to be a group run with my speedy Wednesday group but I couldn't meet them and work on finishing my grad school project (last week, last course) so I did it alone. I felt good and ended up running a 12:00. There were times that I wanted to go faster. Despite warming up (not recorded) I felt like I was giving 85-90% effort for the first mile but it went down to 70-80% by the time I was close to done. After all that excitement it was hard to get to 16:33. In fact I speed walked the first half mile to slow me down before figuring out how to run it. In the end I got 16:09.

Friday Run: This run was pretty good. I was aiming for a 14:37 but was low again at 14:21. So I'm getting closer to the paces listed in the plan. I was trying to estimate the effort for this one but I feel like I need more data. So I'll get that this week.

Sunday Run: This was supposed to be a Saturday run but my dad called and needed someone to go to his place and wait for his grocery delivery (which btw, never came so I should have been able to get my run in here), pick my aunt and uncle up from the airport, and then I had a family party. Between all this I didn't get home until after dark and it was raining. I will run in the dark or in the rain but both is too risky for me so I had to postpone this run. I woke up right away on Sunday morning and did it though. The goal was 14:08 and I hit right around that pace. It was somewhere between 14:07 and 14:08 (my watch and when I uploaded it to Garmin Connect had different values :confused3) I find I'm looking at my watch more as opposed to just running but I assume that will come in time.

Did I run in purple?: Yes! Monday I wore a headband with a lavender and baby blue galaxy pattern. I wore purple socks at least once this week, my garmin is purple, and my Brooks Glycerins have purple in them (see below). Next week my whole outfit should be purple because I have a race and races usually mean purple (for easy spotting).
brooks-glycerin-13-anthracite-ice-green-hollyhock-womens-running-shoes
 
Great week! I too have trouble with the sloooow paces but I totally understand the science behind it. Definitely something I want to try again in the future.

I LOVE THOSE SHOES!! So pretty!
 
Great week of training! Way to go!! :flower:

I think this has been discussed elsewhere, but can someone (@DopeyBadger ?) remind me how to reach those 13-14 paces while running? Do you include walk breaks? I'd be interested in trying this someday, but not sure how it works. Thanks!
 
Great week of training! Way to go!! :flower:

I think this has been discussed elsewhere, but can someone (@DopeyBadger ?) remind me how to reach those 13-14 paces while running? Do you include walk breaks? I'd be interested in trying this someday, but not sure how it works. Thanks!

I primarily schedule continuous running paces (that's what @Anisum is attempting to do). There are two possible options for slowing down:

1) Just put less effort into the run. Keep the stride short with foot placement underneath you. Don't put much power into each step. Try not to bounce too much and keep the steps overall as light as possible.

2) If you try and go as slow as I schedule and find that it is just impossible to do it comfortably. I'd switch to something I call "as slow as you can run" pace. Now how we treat your ASAYCR pace is completely dependent on where it falls within the scheduled pace spectrum. If you tell me that EA (the slowest easy) is too slow, but ASAYCR = EB (which is the faster easy), then I'm likely to tell you to just run EB every time. If you tell me ASAYCR = 5k scheduled pace, then we're going to need to incorporate walking breaks to keep the desired effect of the training. But how I do the walking breaks will again be completely dependent on what the purpose of each individual workout is. Here's an example I gave in the running thread. It's long so behind a spoiler.

First, my golden #1 most important rule of training: You have to enjoy the training because it can be as much as 99% of all of the running you do in preparation for a race. So whenever, I have to make a final decision on training, I will always think about that statement at the forefront. Because if you don't enjoy the training, then you won't stick with it.

The first thing I'd look at are my running shoes. Everyone is different when it comes to shoes. But I know when I first started on the slow run mindset, I had similar aches and pains trying to go slower. It didn't feel natural, and sometimes it felt like it hurt worse than just going a little faster. I ended up switching up my shoes to a more cushioned version (went from Saucony Ride to Saucony Triumph) and found a noticeable difference immediately. I've also tried to run fast in my Triumphs and I can't do it because it doesn't feel right. Every time I go out for a fast interval run, I do a warm-up and cool-down. For the fast runs, I use my Saucony Kinvara's which are my least cushioned shoe I use. Those warm-ups and cool-downs eat my legs up because of the Kinvaras. I do those same paces in Triumphs and no problem, but man is it hard to do them in the Kinvaras. So that's the first place I'd look when little aches and pains crop up from slow running.

Now for the sake of the thought process, let's say that changing the shoes doesn't help. The next question becomes -

19) If I told you to run as slow as you can, how fast would you be running? This would be at a pace where you're barely breathing differently than normal walking. It feels like you're barely trying.

You might recognize this question as one that I ask in my standard training plan list. The reason I ask this is because I want to get your unbiased opinion on how slow you think you can go. For 80-90% of the people I've worked with, the pace they tell me is the pace I schedule as the easy runs. Not because I altered the pace calculations, but because they usually fall in line together naturally. However, on occasion there are people whose answer is faster than the easy pace. For these people, I schedule the easy pace per the calculation and then wait and see. Some people adapt to the slower training pace in 2-3 weeks and others it might take as long as a year. But if things aren't working out with the slower pacing, and things don't feel right or it becomes not enjoyable then it's time to make a change.

So, we go back to question 19. How does that pace that you feel is the slowest you can run compare to the pace calculations given? For example,

screen-shot-2017-03-21-at-8-03-37-am-png.226700


This is a pace calculation. If the person came to me and said a 14:00 min/mile is too slow. The slowest I can comfortably run biomechanically is an 11:52 min/mile (HM Tempo). As a relative pace to their racing profile a HM Tempo run is 88-90% HR max or 84-90% VO2max. This is roughly an 84% effort. The goal for an easy run is about 65-78% HRmax or 59-74% VO2max which means if we did a sustained run at HM Tempo we wouldn't elicit the benefits of easy running. So to overcome this, I would say run the 11:52 min/mile which is the slowest pace you biomechanically feel comfortable at and add in walking breaks to ensure that the physiological stress you're putting on the body stays low. Running a HM Tempo is kept to about 30-60 minutes of continuous running, so an easy run at that pace has to be considerably broken up to maintain the "easy" designation. I am not well versed in run/walk, but this is how I would approach it.

The next question would be how fast do you walk? For the sake of this example, let's say this person walks a 17:00 min/mile (average human walk is about a 19 min/mile). The goal would be to find a run/walk ratio that keeps the run easy. Let's run through some different run/walk intervals and run the calculation -

screen-shot-2017-03-21-at-8-22-25-am-png.226701


A 4 min run and 30 sec walk (or 8:1 ratio) would be an average pace of 12:17 min/mile (there will be variability on a mile by mile basis purely from the standpoint of the intervals not ending at each mile marker). A 12:17 min/mile average pace is still too quick and more like a M Tempo run.

screen-shot-2017-03-21-at-8-24-56-am-png.226702


A 2 min run and 1 min walk (or 2:1 ratio) would be an average pace of 13:12 min/mile. A 13:12 min/mile average pace is still too quick and more like a long run

screen-shot-2017-03-21-at-8-30-30-am-png.226703


Although Galloway's recommendation I believe is even slower for a long run at 90-120 seconds slower than M Tempo, looks like his Magic Mile calculator says a 14:47 min/mile for someone with this race profile using a 15/30 run/walk ratio (or 1:2 ratio).

screen-shot-2017-03-21-at-8-31-20-am-png.226704


I'd probably settle on the 1:1 ratio like this one. It's 1 min run and 1 min walk, which comes out to an average pace of a 13:59 min/mile which is nicely in the easy category. Since this running pace is around this person's HM Tempo pace I'd venture to guess from a physiological standpoint this person could do 2 min run and 2 min walk or 4 min run and 4 min walk and still reap the benefits of the easy run.

At the end of the day, the true goal of the easy run is to increase the training load, induce active recovery, maintain a low to medium level of cumulative fatigue throughout the training cycle, and to induce the body into adapting and creating a better muscle structure (more and larger mitochondria and increased blood flow). So if we can hit this feeling of ending a run and it feeling super easy, then we're likely on track in gaining these benefits. With this coming the added benefit of always feeling comfortable biomechanically during the run without the feeling of causing new problems by going too slow.

Hope this helps!
 
Well done on your training!! I really need to work more on varying my paces for my runs and I'm starting to push toward that more. Seems like you are starting to get a feel for it.

Love the color combination in those shoes!
 

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