Random review of the week

Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up and wonder what have I done all week?  Then you start remembering and you realize you did quite a bit?  That's what happened to me yesterday morning, so here's my random review of the week....

Why whine when you run, when you can WINE?

Wednesday showed me once again why wine and running should always go hand-in-hand.  Run Away Shoes, a local purveyor of running shoes, puts on a once-a-month fun run called the Run 'N Wine.  This takes place at a semi shi-shi local wine shop/bar.  Although I tend to wonder every time I go what the happy hour patrons think of having a bunch of folks in workout clothes hanging out smelling up the joint, that thought became more persistent this week as the weather pushed into the 90s - and we still went running in it.  So, not only were we just mildly smelly and sweaty, we were really pushing the envelope.  Luckily, because of the warm weather, it made sense to sit outside to enjoy our free wine after the run, so the nice breeze that swept through the area no doubt cleared out any odiferous offensiveness.  Despite the temps, I enjoyed running with a couple friends at a nice, slow pace.  Now if only I could get to the other running store's Pub Run to give that a try....

Change in Training Plan

Having run two weeks now on a Wednesday after my Tuesday speed workout, I have come to the conclusion that I should stop that.  So, with next week being a down week mileage-wise, I am going to be switching to my Plan B training schedule, which will mean running Tuesdays and Thursdays mid-week, instead of Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  It will also mean switching my long run to Saturdays instead of Sundays, and adding Sunday as a short, trail/recovery run.  This more closely mirrors my schedule from last summer and gives me that day after speed work to recover.  I am going to miss running with my friends at the Wednesday Morning Group Run, but I figure I can always join them for coffee after.  I think this is one of those cases, where I really need to think of what's better for me.

Time to Row Further Downstream

My rowing workout on Thursday was fantastic - really felt good - and made me think I should start considering upping the time I spend on the rower.  So, starting this next three week cycle, I am going to stop rowing for distance and go for time.  Since it takes me about 31 minutes to do 6K, I am going to do 35 minutes for this cycle, and then either next month or the next three week cycle, I will up my time by five minutes.  I'll do this until I get sick of rowing, which I am guessing will be somewhere around 45 minutes - although ideally I would shoot for an hour.

Karate, Dinner, and a Treehouse?

Thursday is also the kids' karate class day.  There is nothing like going to a karate class and listening to the instructors drill the kids on how they are NOT supposed to use karate on their siblings or friends, and then go outside after class and have them immediately start pretending to karate chop one another.  Something is not getting through.  Of course, I guess LG feels a bit bad about this, because he had no sooner gotten into class this week than he raised his hand and confessed to the instructors that he had kicked his sister in the eye a couple of days ago.  Now, that had actually been an accident...a case of wrong place at the wrong time, but it was nice that he felt some guilt about it.  After karate, we got invited to friends' house for a super, yummy Egyptian vegetarian feast (the kids had noodles with pesto sauce).  It was so tasty, I may have made a pig of myself by having three helpings.  Despite their green noodles, the kids barely ate as they were too enthralled with the treehouse being built in the backyard that was almost complete and certainly playable.  It actually made me feel a twinge of backyard envy that they have something so cool.  I mean, I wanted to play on it.  Given the size of our trees, we have a ways to go before we could do something similar.  I don't know....what do you think?

First Hill Hike Workout

My hill workout on Friday consisted of a two-mile running warmup, followed by "power hiking" at a 10 percent grade for 40 minutes.  Unfortunately, that only got me two miles, so clearly more work needs to be done here.  Hubby has this little power hike shoehorned into my schedule every three weeks.  Additionally, he wants me to substitute one or two long runs for this, as he thinks I need to work up to being able to do this for two hours.  Ugh.  I guess he thinks getting up the side of the Jungfrau will be tough.  Who'da thunk?

We Braved Brave on Opening Day

Yesterday, the kids and I also went to see the movie Brave. I can't remember the last time I went to a movie on opening day...in fact, I am hard pressed to remember the last time I went to see a movie.  While the movie was okay, it seemed a little too adult for my young crew, and while funny in spots, it lacked the constant humor of Cars or some of the other princess movies I have seen recently.  The kids swear up and down they LOVED it, though, so I guess that's good.  I don't know if it is just an opening day thing or what, but the movie theater handed out Brave coloring books and crayons to the kids.  It made me feel marginally better about spending our life savings to pay for the film and popcorn.  We may not be able to eat for a while, but at least they'll be able to color.  One little annoying development in my movie watching world is LG.  This is a kid who since his eyes could first track to a screen has been mesmerized by what he saw.  If nothing else, I could always count on him to sit in a screen-induced stupor when a movie was playing.  Well, no more.  The whole movie was spent with him leaning over to me, saying, "Mom, why did she do ....?," "Mom, why is the bear there?" or - my favorite - "Mom, look there's snow."  Since when did he become such a movie talker?  Clearly, we have a little etiquette to work on.

Happy running!

Kids admiring person in chicken suit at
random weekend festival we found.

Should I modify my training plan already? Help or thoughts needed!

Help! I am already having doubts about my new training plan, and I don't know what to do.

For the longest time, my training week looked something like this:

SUN	MON	TUES	WEDS	THURS	FRI	SAT
Long Run	Yoga 30-Minute Elliptical	Yoga 6K Row	6-Mile Run	6K Row	6-Mile Run	REST

This really worked for me.  When I started this new training cycle, I added an element that I have never formally done before, namely speed work.  Oh sure, I had thrown in some intervals once in a while on my own before, but nothing scheduled and nothing remotely resembling what speed work really looks like (at least to my mind).  So, here's my new training plan, and this is what a typical two weeks are supposed to look like:

Sunday still has the long miles, indicated by the little number in the corner.  Monday's elliptical got sidelined to fit in rowing.  TT indicates Track Time, and I think the rest is pretty much the same.

The reason I am all of the sudden plagued by doubts is that I am SORE.  I just started Track Time this week, I followed that up with my typical Wednesday morning group run, and I am still a little sore from that - and it's Friday! Hubby expressed doubts about the Wednesday run originally when he saw this new schedule, but he said to just see how it went. Ideally, though, he thought I should do track Tuesday, rowing Wednesday, and my other mid-week run on Thursday.

So, what were my reasons for sticking with the Wednesday run?  Well, mostly because it is my one group run a week, and I really enjoy doing it.  Secondly, I have gotten used to - and I think it is important - to do a couple of hour-long runs during the week.  I guess I was worried that if I do Track Time, it won't equate to that hour I have gotten used to.

Ugh.  Honestly, thinking about all this makes my head hurt, so I am going to lay out some random thoughts in bullet point....Anyone who has ANY advice for me, I would so greatly appreciate it!  Here goes:

• I love the Wednesday runs and hate to give them up, but I can if I have to
• Better to do the speedwork on Tuesday and cross-train Wednesday?
• Is it really potentially damaging to continue trying to run Wednesday?
• Should I ignore the soreness I feel in my left glute and hamstring and just assume that is normal? Continue the wait-and-see policy?
• If I drop the Wednesday run, I could show up to TT early and get in a mile or two of warm-ups to get the mileage/time I am used to.  Is that beneficial, or stupid? 
• Since speed work is so new, should I drop the idea of getting in that hour?  Is that really that important anyway?
• Continue the Wednesday runs, but really make sure I do short and slow recovery run?
• Adding track time without modifying one or both of the other two runs during the week would result in more mileage than I am used to, and that seems sketchy to me.

Looking at these bullets, I think I am asking the same question basically in different ways over and over again.  Really, should I continue the Wednesday run or not?  If I were to completely rework the schedule, then it would probably mean Monday, Wednesday, and Friday would be rowing days (this would ADD a day of rowing, but not an extra day of exercise a week). Tuesdays would be Track Time, Thursdays would be tempo runs, Saturdays I might be able to make my long runs, and then Sunday would be for rest.  This would only be for the summer after all.  Once Track Time is done, I could go back to my previous schedule.

Again, please weigh in if you have any thoughts on this at all.....THANKS!

The heat wave that wasn't and my training plan revisited

This past Memorial Day weekend, I had my first good, post-race long run, and that made me happy.  This was shoehorned into the middle of a very busy, albeit nothing-special sort of weekend. Oh, we packed a lot in: a race, runs (of course), yardwork, house work, lots of games played, a cookout and visit with the GPs, and even a couple of short bike rides.  But we didn't have any big, huge thing we did for the holiday weekend.  The weather for two of the days could easily be classified as stinking hot, and that - combined with the threat of storms (that never really materialized) - seemed to put the kibosh on any fancy plans.  Anyway, it was good.

As to the long run...

I woke up bright and early Sunday morning with the hopes of at least partially beating the heat.  After all, it was supposed to reach 90 degrees and they had canceled Sunday's Madison Marathon prior because of the forecast.  I thought I was in for a load of hurt.  

I filled up my water bottles, got my Gatorade squared away in little baggies, grabbed my Clif Blocks and a cooling neck thingy that I got for free at the Kazoo expo and had yet to try, and headed out to High Cliff State Park to run a mix of road and trails - hoping once again to maximize the shade potential of the wooded park.

Well, I got to the parking area, got myself ready as best I could before leaving the car, stepped out, and ....  brrrr..... It was CHILLY!  What the ...?  So, in a slightly confused state, I began my thirteen-mile long run.  In the end, I don't know what happened with the weather.  It was never that bad.  Although warm towards the end, the bulk of the run was pleasant with a cooling breeze sweeping through the area.  The shade, of course, helped, but I was out in the open a fair amount, too, trying to add miles by taking advantage of the park's bridle trails, but it never got that bad.  In fact, I never even got the chance to try out that cooling neck thingy.  I guess that will have to wait until later in the summer.

The run itself was great.  It was the first long run I have had since Kalamazoo that actually felt good.  I was a little worried about my achilles, but that hung in there just fine.  In fact, I probably overstressed about it a little too much.  Overall, though, I felt refreshed and ready to run, and that was a good feeling.  So, I am curious what that means.  Does it take me three weeks to really recover from a race, or should I not draw any conclusions from that?  I'll be interested to see exactly how the the next race recovery goes.

I ran five miles on road in my Cortanas, then I switched to the New Balance 101s to run the last eight miles on trail.  I know I am supposed to be wearing mild support, and the NB shoes offer none.  I also know I am supposed to be getting used to lower heel stack height and the NB shoes offer some (14 mm, I think), but they just feel right to me.  The 101s are over a year old, but I love that I can feel the trails under my feet when I run in them.  I probably do need some new trail shoes, but I dread starting the whole shoe buying process again.  Ugh.

My average pace for the run turned out to be 10:50, which I think was just where I needed to be.  I walked the hills for the most part in deference to my achilles, but mostly I felt good.  Around mile 11, I noticed I was getting a little tired, but that's okay.  It was mile 11, after all.  If I can run 11 miles before feeling pooped, I consider that a good thing.  My plan was to eat 3 Cliff Blocks every three miles, and that worked out well.  I don't know if I need that many that often, but it gave me something to do/look forward to.  

A training plan revisited...

As promised, I ran my training plan by Hubby, and I got the seal of approval from him with a couple of tweaks here and there. I am really happy with how this plan looks, so we'll see how it goes.  Generally speaking, I am starting at this point with a long-run base of 13 miles.  I will now start building up two weeks, then step it back one week for the long runs...So:

Week 1 - 13 miles

Week 2 - 14 miles

Week 3 - 7 miles

Week 4 - 15 miles

Week 5 - 16 miles

Week 6 - 8 miles

And so on.  Based on this schedule, I will fit in two 20-mile training runs before the Jungfrau Marathon.  I like this for two reasons: one, it is more advanced than any other schedule I have done, but more importantly it allows me some wiggle room.  If for any reason, things don't go as planned (and that NEVER happens, right?), I can drop one 20 miler and buy myself two weeks of time.

During the week, the schedule will look like this for the most part:

Monday: 6K row

Tuesday: track workout (a class I signed up for)

Wednesday: 4-6 mile group run

Thursday: 6K row

Friday: 6-mile run

Saturday: REST

Sunday: long run

Now, every third week (when I drop the long run mileage in half), I also drop the mid-week workouts to about 70 percent, so hopefully I will get a bit of a break there.  Also, the Friday before my longest long run in any three-week cycle, I will be doing a 3-4 mile walk on the treadmill at incline instead of a run.  These will probably be done at 12-15 percent incline.  Finally, the Fridays before my shortest long run in any three-week cycle will be at an increased mileage - to match the long run.  So, for example, in Week 6 when I run only eight miles on Sunday, I will be running eight miles on Friday, too (instead of the scaled back 4.5).  This is to give me some longer tempo runs, which Hubby deems important.  Yeah, we'll see how that works out for me.  

Changes may come, of course.  Hubby was a little concerned about the track workout Tuesday evenings, followed by a group run Wednesday mornings, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about that a bit, too.  Speed work - after all - seems to be my achilles heel (pun totally intended).  But, I am hoping, that if I take the Wednesday run slowly and not really worry about keeping up with the group - and drop the mileage if I need to - then maybe I'll be able to pull it off.  We'll see. I am ready to ditch this plan for something else at the first sign it isn't working.

Anyway, I am very excited about the training plan, and I hope it goes well.  Don't ask me where the training plan is from, because it is sort of a mix of what our running club does for its summer training runs, what has worked for me in the past, as well as what has worked for Hubby.  

So, that's about it for now.  Beyond my own running, Hubby is about to enter an unknown world as he attempts to run his first 100-mile race event this weekend.  We have a lot of excitement in our household because of that, and I can't wait to see where this adventure leads.    

Some random pix for you to enjoy...

What my kids did over the weekend...

What my feet did over the weekend...gives new meaning to cooling your heels.

What my tummy did for lunch,....the best black bean, corn, sweet potato, kale burrito ever!

Happy Running!

By the way, had to edit this to tell you about a giveaway by Yo Momma, ..... well, not YO momma .... Yo Momma Runs actually.  Check it out for a chance to win a pair of Aspaeris Compression Shorts! I am shouting this out far and wide, because I really want to win.  :)

Finally, a training plan?

Source - This is how I know I am at least partially
crazy. I see pix like this and still think it's a
 good idea to sign up  for the event.

Well, I did it.... I finally came up with a training plan for the Jungfrau Marathon, which I'll be running at the end of the summer.  It was a bit hard coming up with something for a race of this nature, seeing as the first half will be on roads with a slight uphill grade and the second half will be on trails on a significant "upmountain" grade, but I did it.  I won't go into details yet, because I plan on running this by Distance Dude to get his take.

I can already see that he'll spot one element that is missing - the treadmill hill work, but I'll let him figure out where to shoehorn that into the schedule.  (I have an idea of where I would put it, but I want to see if he thinks that makes sense.)  In the meantime, I am pretty pleased with how I managed to fit in all the key elements I need, including allowing for a couple of mid-summer races,  all while having the kids off of school.  It ain't easy being a running mom....

My high-tech training plan in progress...

In fact, the only blips on the horizon that I can see have to do with how to fit in long runs on those few occasions we go out of town, but I guess I'll cross those bridges when I come to them.

The Week So Far

Workouts this week have started out well enough.  I am back to full distance/workout time, after two weeks of taking it relatively easy after the Half Marathon.  Both yoga classes have been great, and I've managed to ramp back up to six miles for my mid-week runs and 6K for my mid-week rows.  Tomorrow I am scheduled for another six-mile run, so we'll see how that goes... With the Little Guy's pre-school year coming to an end, I've had to get up early to fit in my workouts, and it is starting to take a toll.  Tomorrow's 5 a.m. wake-up call will not be easy.  At least living in the North, the sun rises before any sane person would be out of bed.  That makes the early reveille easier to take.

Totally Random - Food for Thought

Reading through a Facebook posting by Stern Magazine, I found this blog called Never Seconds that I think is brilliant.  It's so simple but really very intriguing to read through.  A primary school student in the UK is documenting her school lunch.  Simple, right?  I think I like it because it brings up all sorts of thoughts I have on the situation, especially now that E. has started grade school.  The cafeteria lunches leave something to be desired, and I am appalled by how "healthy food" looks a lot like the crap I "treat" my family to once in a while.  (Corn dogs? Really?) Anyway, E. has packed a lunch for all but one or two days all year.  Mostly, I think she is worried that on those rare occasions that they do offer a vegetarian option that they'll run out and she'd have to take the meat option.  To play it safe, she'd rather pack lunch in.  That's a far cry from LG who vacillates between announcing to anyone who will listen in restaurants, "Yuck, that's meat!" and bemoaning the fact that he can't try ham.  Why he's picked ham, I don't know.  Anyway, check it out if you are interested.