Mad Manatee Mentors 2013: CLOSED (exc/ Pop Tart bribes) (Page 106)

Right. I understand that we need to work on one thing at a time. I'm working on 10k pace right now because I'm doing Olympic distances this summer. Do you still think a proper tempo run should be 10 miles for a 10k? I guess I was thinking I could do two miles warm up, two miles at 10k pace, two miles cool down. My "long" runs are between 8-11 miles. It seems to me that my running fitness could handle that six mile "tempo" run. Do you disagree?

Originally posted by Asalzwed Oh, I've added another race to my calendar for this Friday. It's the briefcase 5K relay  Very serious business. We are currently in the depths of a controversial race day strategy discussion. Will we be dressed as Ninja Turtles? Will in be SNL characters? Or, the golden girls. Only time will tell.

Given those 3, there is only one correct answer. Beatrice Arthur! Rue McLanahan! Estell Getty! Betty White! What a winning combination.

But wait, is someone else going to race as the Wiggles? Oh, oh, oooo, Old school, maybe Lost in Space characters. Or Star Trek Characters (nm, that is so overdone). The A-Team, maybe.

I vote Bond Girls, if my vote matters.

No...I don't disagree. I think if you do a little shorter version, as you defined above and take the WU and CD seriously, it's alright.

Do you know what your threshold pace is? (85% V02 max) Why I am asking is because you don't want to do that tempo too fast. For me, a 10K pace would be on the fast end for a tempo run.

 Also, Felicia, how many MPW are you @ typically? 

That's a must for me, and part of why I plan to fly into CHI for Nationals. 

Beautiful sights while running are the best. I plan many-o routes just to see things. But it's the unplanned surprises that I really love.

Speaking of unplanned surprises, I got bit by a poodle this morning. That is indeed a first.

I haven't fell off the face of the earth nor have I found my way to the antipodes.     I'm working 40 hrs a week as a life guard and  and tutoring in our math/science learning center for another 20.      Basically working 60 hrs a week and that all in five days.   I have weekends free but for about the first time in my life I'm using it for what it was originally intended for which is to rest and to play.    I still am getting an occasional workout in  but most are only about 30 minutes in duration.  I do get a long bike ride  in on Saturday or Sunday.   A perk of being a lifeguard is that I can get a swim in at work when I'm on my break.

Sarah is working too so our play days are on Saturday.    We swim for fun, sail, or just cruise the country side.   There are events to attend this summer like the Helen Keller festival in Tuscumbia,   the W.C. Handy festival in Florence, and so on.

The summer is shaping up nicely.

I was told that in order to more closely mimick road running while on a trainer - set the incline to 1.5 or so. 

Not sure if that's true or not... maybe some of our running pro's could chime in.  

I know it has been said a thousand times, so I'll give you my advice through a little story.  

As most of you know, I just started running in July 2011.  I started running to lose weight, and I couldn't run 1 mile on a treadmill. I grew up pretty athletic, so my endurance came back very quickly.  It was like my body was saying "It's about time, now lets run!"  

I did my first ever 10K in November of that year, and I ran it in 47:47!  That time will forever be engraved in my mind, because it was so much faster than any of my training runs.  A 7:41 pace, when only 3 months earlier I couldn't run 1 mile.  I was so pumped I immediately set my sights on a sub 7:00 min mile for a 10K.  It's only 41 seconds per mile right?  How hard could that be?  

Oh stupid, stupid Skrat.  

So 2 days later, I decided when I was training, I was going to run faster during my training runs.  1 day after that, I decided I was going to run more days per week.  I started running fast and often.  I bumped up my mileage and my frequency very rapidly, and I felt great.  I was going to be the next age group running sensation!  I also registered for a 1/2 marathon on New Years eve that year.  

I was so good about training.  So motivated.  I kept running fast and often.  

Then about 3 weeks before my 1/2 marathon, my Achilles Tendon started getting sore.  I told myself to HTFU!  Get out there and run.  However, it got sore enough that I was limping around on it during the day.  I got a boot and immobilized it for a few days.  I decided that I had built up enough to go do my 1/2 marathon, so I didn't run for 2 weeks before my first 1/2 marathon.  

New Years Eve rolls around, and I'm so excited to go crush my first 1/2 marathon.  I start running, and I'm feeling great.  The legs were fresh.  I lined up with the 8:00 min mile group, and the gun went off.  "Geez, these people are running slow" I thought to myself. So I picked up my pace and started flying by all the "slowpokes."  I was picking them off 1 at a time.  I found my calling. The next running sensation had arrived!  Mile after mile, I felt great.  Then I hit mile 8.  

Whapp!  It was like I got hit in the tendon with a baseball bat.  All of a sudden, I couldn't hardly run.  But I was determined that I would not walk any portion of this 1/2 marathon, so I kept running.  My pace went from about 7:40 per mile to about 12:00 min per mile, but I KEPT RUNNING, because that was one of my goals.  

I finished, in a time of 2:04:00.  I was very disappointed, because my goal was under 2 hours.  I did not have the sense of accomplishment I thought I would, and worst of all, my Achilles Tendon hurt like hell.  

The next day I had a red swollen knot on my Achilles Tendon.  It was located about 4 inches above my ankle, and people who saw it were really worried.  They had never seen anything like that.  It hurt like hell just to walk.  Running was out of the question.  

I had to take 3 months off of running, and when I resumed, I was back to running less than 1 mile.  For months I was paranoid about my Achilles Tendon anytime it felt even a little sore.  

Should you jump from 2.5 miles to 13 miles in only 12 weeks?  Fachmie! NO!!  Or should I say No Faching way?!  

Take it easy, build to a 10K first.  Your 1/2 marathon will be waiting for you when you are ready to go kick it's azz without injuring yourself.