HangWithMerida
And away we go!
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
Following along and super jealous of your low humidity, decent weather runs! You’re doing great with your plan!
Taking it Run Day at a Time (comments welcome)
- Thread starter LosAngelesRunner
- Start date
NYC_MW
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2021
welcome to NYC at the end of the week! the outer loop is nice but a little hilly, and i like recommending the reservoir loop to people (pretty and flat)
LosAngelesRunner
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2022
So it's been a big week for me - I landed in NYC for work and did my 10 miler today here (more on that below) but.... last week I got engaged! I proposed to my boyfriend in Griffith Park (where we both love to run) and it's been a big week of celebrations and phone calls/FaceTimes with family and friends. Altogether a dream of a week.
But now onto the running of it all!
Monday Tuesday - 5 miles, 11:27 pace
We were up late Sunday night celebrating with family and friends after the proposal, so I decided to shift my Monday run to Tuesday. This was a pretty straightforward easy pace run that I did on a treadmill at the gym while watching Stranger Things. I feel like everyone has already finished this season but I've somehow managed to avoid all the spoilers still!
Wednesday - 1 mile WU, 4 x .75 mile @ HM Tempo w/ 3 min RI, 1 mile CD
Like last week's interval training, I was weirdly looking forward to this one -- particularly to get a better sense of the HM pace I'll need to keep during my race next month. I will say... I was quite winded after each .75 mile interval. I finished the workout but mentally couldn't imagine keeping that pace for a full 13.1. I think part of it was that I ran the day before without a day off, and the other part was I ran on a treadmill at the end of the day rather than the morning when I normally do my runs -- so it just felt like an off day. I'll give myself a break and hope it gets better over the next month... which I think it will given my overly ambitious long run.
Friday - 8 miles, 10:42 pace
This one was a breeze compared to Wednesday's exhausting effort. The distance doesn't feel like the issue anymore compared to a month or so ago when the miles started creeping back up. It was my first run outside this week, too, and I was glad to be back rather than on a treadmill for a length like this. For me (and I know I've mentioned this before) I mentally hit a wall on the treadmill that I don't hit when running outside and feeling myself move across a space. I guess it's good to know what works for me, though.
Sunday - 10 miles, 9:55 pace (in Central Park!) - 9.25 miles @ LR pace, .75 mile fast finish @ M Tempo
I woke up early in NYC (about 6am) to get this run started - the below is the photo from my hotel room right as I was leaving. I decided to do Central Park's Outer Loop and just let myself slow down if I hit any major hills or felt myself get exhausted because of the humidity. I also wanted to change things up and go back to a walk/run technique that I used for MW2022 and loved. This time around, I didn't stick to straight intervals but walked for ~45sec every 4:30-6:00 mins of running. It allowed me to take a breather and walk if I hit a particularly unexpected hill and helped manage my heartrate. I really felt like I was trying to slow down to hit a target pace of 10:28/mile but at the end my watch announced the 9:55 pace so I definitely pushed too much.
I forgot my Gu pack at home, too, and just took in my Gatorade Endurance Formula during the run but never felt like I was close to hitting a wall though my muscles definitely felt tight by the end. This was the first run I've done during this training cycle where I think my sub-2hr HM is within reach. Even with the humidity, I could sense that on a race day I could've pushed more and hit my goal pace even with a few 45s-1m walk breaks tossed in.
So that's all for this week! A BIG week in my books!
But now onto the running of it all!
We were up late Sunday night celebrating with family and friends after the proposal, so I decided to shift my Monday run to Tuesday. This was a pretty straightforward easy pace run that I did on a treadmill at the gym while watching Stranger Things. I feel like everyone has already finished this season but I've somehow managed to avoid all the spoilers still!
Wednesday - 1 mile WU, 4 x .75 mile @ HM Tempo w/ 3 min RI, 1 mile CD
Like last week's interval training, I was weirdly looking forward to this one -- particularly to get a better sense of the HM pace I'll need to keep during my race next month. I will say... I was quite winded after each .75 mile interval. I finished the workout but mentally couldn't imagine keeping that pace for a full 13.1. I think part of it was that I ran the day before without a day off, and the other part was I ran on a treadmill at the end of the day rather than the morning when I normally do my runs -- so it just felt like an off day. I'll give myself a break and hope it gets better over the next month... which I think it will given my overly ambitious long run.
Friday - 8 miles, 10:42 pace
This one was a breeze compared to Wednesday's exhausting effort. The distance doesn't feel like the issue anymore compared to a month or so ago when the miles started creeping back up. It was my first run outside this week, too, and I was glad to be back rather than on a treadmill for a length like this. For me (and I know I've mentioned this before) I mentally hit a wall on the treadmill that I don't hit when running outside and feeling myself move across a space. I guess it's good to know what works for me, though.
Sunday - 10 miles, 9:55 pace (in Central Park!) - 9.25 miles @ LR pace, .75 mile fast finish @ M Tempo
I woke up early in NYC (about 6am) to get this run started - the below is the photo from my hotel room right as I was leaving. I decided to do Central Park's Outer Loop and just let myself slow down if I hit any major hills or felt myself get exhausted because of the humidity. I also wanted to change things up and go back to a walk/run technique that I used for MW2022 and loved. This time around, I didn't stick to straight intervals but walked for ~45sec every 4:30-6:00 mins of running. It allowed me to take a breather and walk if I hit a particularly unexpected hill and helped manage my heartrate. I really felt like I was trying to slow down to hit a target pace of 10:28/mile but at the end my watch announced the 9:55 pace so I definitely pushed too much.
I forgot my Gu pack at home, too, and just took in my Gatorade Endurance Formula during the run but never felt like I was close to hitting a wall though my muscles definitely felt tight by the end. This was the first run I've done during this training cycle where I think my sub-2hr HM is within reach. Even with the humidity, I could sense that on a race day I could've pushed more and hit my goal pace even with a few 45s-1m walk breaks tossed in.
So that's all for this week! A BIG week in my books!
DopeyBadger
Imagathoner
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2015
Congrats!!!
GollyGadget
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2017
Congratulations! You both look so happy!
striker1064
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2018
Congrats!
lookingforsunshine
it never hurts to keep looking for sunshine
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2021
Congrats!!!
HangWithMerida
And away we go!
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
Congratulations! You both looks so happy!!
I hear you on the treadmill mental wall. A mile just feels longer on a treadmill. Good job getting your runs in.
I hear you on the treadmill mental wall. A mile just feels longer on a treadmill. Good job getting your runs in.
LosAngelesRunner
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2022
Hi all! So it's been two weeks since I've posted - apologies! It's been a wild few weeks at work and traveling so finally playing catch up. I won't summarize all my runs in this post, but some of the highlights (and lowlights). Training for my half marathon at the end of the month is going really well. I feel ready to tackle my longest run of this session this weekend, and hopefully crush my goal at the end of the month.
My 11 mile long run with fast finish went really well the other weekend. I've settled back into some :45secs of walk recovery during my long runs but I've found it helps me maintain my pace better than not doing it. I ended up finishing with a 10:15/mile pace overall so that's a win in my books.
I was also in Hawaii for a few days to surprise my mom for her birthday (!) and found that weather really affects me significantly. The below photo is from one of my morning runs, but during some of the afternoon runs I was reallyyyyy lagging and felt overwhelmed by the heat and humidity. I just hope the race in a few weeks has nice cool weather as it has in past years.
Speaking of that, I also spent the past weekend in Santa Rosa where my Half is taking place. My best friend from growing up lives there so I stayed with her all weekend and was able to do some trial runs with the weather in the area. And man I have to say.... it was PERFECT this weekend. Nice and cool and OVERCAST in the morning (turning into a warm afternoon - but I'll be done early). My 9 miler this weekend was a mile warmup + cooldown, with four 1.5 mile race pace intervals. I was nervous about this going into it but felt like I could handle the pace, especially with a few breaks tossed in.
I hope to be even more regular moving forward, but didn't want to leave anyone (or myself) hanging!
My 11 mile long run with fast finish went really well the other weekend. I've settled back into some :45secs of walk recovery during my long runs but I've found it helps me maintain my pace better than not doing it. I ended up finishing with a 10:15/mile pace overall so that's a win in my books.
I was also in Hawaii for a few days to surprise my mom for her birthday (!) and found that weather really affects me significantly. The below photo is from one of my morning runs, but during some of the afternoon runs I was reallyyyyy lagging and felt overwhelmed by the heat and humidity. I just hope the race in a few weeks has nice cool weather as it has in past years.
Speaking of that, I also spent the past weekend in Santa Rosa where my Half is taking place. My best friend from growing up lives there so I stayed with her all weekend and was able to do some trial runs with the weather in the area. And man I have to say.... it was PERFECT this weekend. Nice and cool and OVERCAST in the morning (turning into a warm afternoon - but I'll be done early). My 9 miler this weekend was a mile warmup + cooldown, with four 1.5 mile race pace intervals. I was nervous about this going into it but felt like I could handle the pace, especially with a few breaks tossed in.
I hope to be even more regular moving forward, but didn't want to leave anyone (or myself) hanging!
LosAngelesRunner
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2022
So another month went by, and apologies for the gap in posts. I had so much work travel pop up and I'm actually writing this post from South Korea right now about to travel back to Los Angeles. All of August flew by and I have to admit with all of the last-minute work travel I only hit about 75% of my last month of HM training, even skipping my final long run (eeek sorry @DopeyBadger).
That fact led me into my race day feeling quite pessimistic about hitting the 2hr benchmark I was training for, but I had a glimmer of hope that I'd get that sub-2:08 time to qualify me for the front corrals at MW2023.
On race day, I woke up early feeling as ready to go as I possibly could. I decided to run with the 2hr pace group to help lock-in a rhythm, and we had an awesome pacer who was a joy to run with. The only downside (but maybe upside too) was that the 2hr pace group was massive and I ended up in a group jockeying to stay at the front of it which I'm sure was a waste of energy on my part.
That being said, I highly recommend the Santa Rosa HM for anyone looking for a Northern California race. It was extremely well organized, the weather was almost exactly what I predicted based on my convos about historical race temps with @DopeyBadger, and the course is beautiful despite it being very close to an out and back type course. You run on Santa Rosa's beautiful creek-side trail (which did lead to some bottlenecks up top) before turning around and coming back. My only complaint was the inconsistent fueling stations which didn't match the descriptions online.
And that takes me to my running! I really felt strong starting off. I fueled up appropriately that morning and the pace group was feeling right on the money. Around mile 9 I started getting in my head and felt like I needed a walk break. I did MW2022 on run/walk intervals and while I didn't train with run/walk intervals this time around, I was really feeling the need to take 45 sec breaks to reset, shake out my legs and arms, and take in some water. So I ended up slowly falling behind the 2hr pace group at mile 9.25 or so, but they were in sight until mile 11 when I ended up taking another 45sec walk break - and I continued with 5 mins on 45 secs off until the end. Once it was clear to me I wouldn't hit the 2hr mark, I ended up just making sure to hit the middle of my "new" 2:00-2:08 target -- and I finished strong with a time of 2:04:21 and a pace of 9:30 min/mile.
While it wasn't the sub-2hr HM I was hoping for, this feels like a MAJOR win to me especially coming off a train slow to race fast program (none of my long runs were anywhere close to this pace and they were almost a full minute slower!) as well as a lackluster final three weeks of training.
Right after the race, I got a major breakfast refuel, took a quick shower, and headed straight to the airport to head to Seoul for work where I've been for the past week -- and only now do I have a minute to take a break and write this recap!
I learned a lot from this training process and have a LOT to owe to @DopeyBadger (don't we all somehow!?). I was skeptical of the train slow to race fast mentality upfront, but it really paid off on race day. Even though I was slower than the target, it was still much faster than any long run I've done in the past few years. And with the context that this race was just the kickoff to a larger Dopey plan for MW2023, I am happy with the results and driven harder to have a more disciplined fall/winter to destroy Dopey in January.
That fact led me into my race day feeling quite pessimistic about hitting the 2hr benchmark I was training for, but I had a glimmer of hope that I'd get that sub-2:08 time to qualify me for the front corrals at MW2023.
On race day, I woke up early feeling as ready to go as I possibly could. I decided to run with the 2hr pace group to help lock-in a rhythm, and we had an awesome pacer who was a joy to run with. The only downside (but maybe upside too) was that the 2hr pace group was massive and I ended up in a group jockeying to stay at the front of it which I'm sure was a waste of energy on my part.
That being said, I highly recommend the Santa Rosa HM for anyone looking for a Northern California race. It was extremely well organized, the weather was almost exactly what I predicted based on my convos about historical race temps with @DopeyBadger, and the course is beautiful despite it being very close to an out and back type course. You run on Santa Rosa's beautiful creek-side trail (which did lead to some bottlenecks up top) before turning around and coming back. My only complaint was the inconsistent fueling stations which didn't match the descriptions online.
And that takes me to my running! I really felt strong starting off. I fueled up appropriately that morning and the pace group was feeling right on the money. Around mile 9 I started getting in my head and felt like I needed a walk break. I did MW2022 on run/walk intervals and while I didn't train with run/walk intervals this time around, I was really feeling the need to take 45 sec breaks to reset, shake out my legs and arms, and take in some water. So I ended up slowly falling behind the 2hr pace group at mile 9.25 or so, but they were in sight until mile 11 when I ended up taking another 45sec walk break - and I continued with 5 mins on 45 secs off until the end. Once it was clear to me I wouldn't hit the 2hr mark, I ended up just making sure to hit the middle of my "new" 2:00-2:08 target -- and I finished strong with a time of 2:04:21 and a pace of 9:30 min/mile.
While it wasn't the sub-2hr HM I was hoping for, this feels like a MAJOR win to me especially coming off a train slow to race fast program (none of my long runs were anywhere close to this pace and they were almost a full minute slower!) as well as a lackluster final three weeks of training.
Right after the race, I got a major breakfast refuel, took a quick shower, and headed straight to the airport to head to Seoul for work where I've been for the past week -- and only now do I have a minute to take a break and write this recap!
I learned a lot from this training process and have a LOT to owe to @DopeyBadger (don't we all somehow!?). I was skeptical of the train slow to race fast mentality upfront, but it really paid off on race day. Even though I was slower than the target, it was still much faster than any long run I've done in the past few years. And with the context that this race was just the kickoff to a larger Dopey plan for MW2023, I am happy with the results and driven harder to have a more disciplined fall/winter to destroy Dopey in January.
striker1064
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2018
Congrats on your race!
GollyGadget
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2017
Great job getting earning a POT!
The Expert
Has been to every Disney park in the world
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2009
What a great race! You should be super proud. And I'm jealous of your travels to S Korea -- love it there and can't wait to get back!
DopeyBadger
Imagathoner
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2015
Congrats on the PR!
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