Work your Weakness aka "Hey, Mike, STFU!" Challenge (Page 12)

Awesome!  Welcome Gretchen :)

I have been struggling with reducing my intake to match my expenditure, so I think I'm going to add this to my focus for the next two weeks too.  Do you have a particular strategy you're going to use?  I have been toying with the idea of a hard cut-off time for food in the evening, and I've decided I'm going to try that strategy--no food after 8 and trying to go to bed a little hungry. 

Not related to my weakness, but I successfully captured the Strava segment I wanted:

http://www.strava.com/activities/91465831#1916919380

After that I ran a 5k that a friend was putting on, so it turned into a race simulation brick.  I ran a 20:00 flat.  Mile 1 I was at 6:10, so on pace to PR, but I started feeling the wear from the bike after that.  

Today I had my long run (15.3) miles, and I was pretty much hating life for the last 3 miles.  I was whining like a 3 year old towards the end.  All the effort from yesterday probably set up for a hard run.  I hate marathons.  They're stupid.  Blah!  At least I got through it.

Ok I'll stop whining now.

It actually sounds like a big weekend to me.  Nice job Matt.

And a belated nice job to "oops-I-won-my-age-group" Dale too ;)  That's the kind of accountability performance we like to see.  Way to set the bar, bro.

Yes, YAY, what Dale said--that's serious improvement. 

How is your knee feeling these days?

My strategy is to count calories using a weblogger I've used for a while now. It tracks calories, macronutrients, micronutrients, fiber, and a ton of other stuff. It is called sparkpeople (hope mentioning other sites isn't taboo around here!). I can't do things like no eating after X time--it is too mental for me. As soon as I say something like that I'll be legetimately starving at X:01 and I'm too black and white in my mind set to bend the rules. When I set my mind to logging and paying attention to my intake, I do great. When I don't, I don't. I want to jump start the great before the eating holidays ramp up!

The bolded is key. I really try not to bring sweets home.  That doesn't leave me totally risk free...there are 4 ice-cream/fro-yo shops within a mile of my house. BUT at least I have to walk a bit or ride the townie for the splurge. With winter arriving, I'm not likely to make that trip on a whim.  

I did really well managing the sugar cravings this weekend but wound up getting sick after dinner at a friend's home. It may have been food-poisoning but I'm beginning to suspect a food allergy...to quinoa of all things.  Ironic really. 

Originally posted by ligersandtions

Originally posted by switch

Originally posted by dtoce

Originally posted by ligersandtions Pretty good weekend of working my run weakness. On Friday, I did my longest run since coming back (an admittedly short 35 minute run, but a victory for me!), and a couple short runs for Saturday and Sunday. Today, I did 2.2 rainy/drizzly miles and did some reflecting -- when I first started back, I was running 10 minutes at a time, doing what I could to keep my HR under 160 (so within Z2 for me) -- which translated to a nearly 11 min/mile pace. Today's run was at a 9:30 pace and my HR was under 150 the entire time. I know it's not fast and I'm not yet running big volume, but it's tangible progress and that makes me happy

that is simply OUTSTANDING! props to you-stay consistent and you will progress nicely in terms of volume and pace you should be happy

Yes, YAY, what Dale said--that's serious improvement. 

How is your knee feeling these days?

You know, it's feeling okay. It doesn't feel like it did pre-accident, but it's certainly manageable and has not gotten worse with the addition of running. I still notice it (honestly, I notice it more just walking around and trying to kneel down than I do during running), but it's not holding me back anymore.

Nicole, it's really great to see that you have found improvements - both physically and mentally - with your return to running. Injuries suck but you've been really smart, persistent and patient. 

I have been terrible lately sticking to this challenge and keeping up with the posts.  Things get hectic and before you know it, I've missed several pages of posts.  By the time I catch up on reading them all, my computer time is up and I haven't even posted any comments!

I don't know why, but I find it so much more difficult to squeeze in balance and stability training than I do regular workouts.  I have been doing yoga once a week which is  a big step in the right direction for me.

I swam this morning, and that's all I'm doing for my active recovery today.  I'm at a point where I'm still mentally recovering from my long run.  I'm sort of dreading my next few weeks of running.  I know they're going to be tough.  Physically I'm fine, and I think (read: hope) once I dive into the week I'll be back to normal.  

Having people to push you is the best!

What kind of stretching do you do pre race? How about after?

Happy Monday!  Welcome to the new folks...I promise this group will keep you accountable to tackling your weakness.

Congrats to you racers nailing PRs, 70 mile run weeks , etc.

Another BY session this morning...kinda chilly so it wasn't the best, but my core and hamstring flexibility is definitely changing.  Had a good 4 mile lunchtime run along the B-more waterfront...another brick in the run base wall.  Beautiful fall day.

And on a side note, my 11 YO daughter broke 3:00 in the 200 SCY free yesterday.  Very proud and I'm pretty sure I'd have trouble matching it, even off the blocks.  I still can kick her azz on the bike and run, though! 

Originally posted by kcarroll

Originally posted by ligersandtions

Originally posted by switch

Originally posted by dtoce

Originally posted by ligersandtions Pretty good weekend of working my run weakness. On Friday, I did my longest run since coming back (an admittedly short 35 minute run, but a victory for me!), and a couple short runs for Saturday and Sunday. Today, I did 2.2 rainy/drizzly miles and did some reflecting -- when I first started back, I was running 10 minutes at a time, doing what I could to keep my HR under 160 (so within Z2 for me) -- which translated to a nearly 11 min/mile pace. Today's run was at a 9:30 pace and my HR was under 150 the entire time. I know it's not fast and I'm not yet running big volume, but it's tangible progress and that makes me happy

that is simply OUTSTANDING! props to you-stay consistent and you will progress nicely in terms of volume and pace you should be happy

Yes, YAY, what Dale said--that's serious improvement. 

How is your knee feeling these days?

You know, it's feeling okay. It doesn't feel like it did pre-accident, but it's certainly manageable and has not gotten worse with the addition of running. I still notice it (honestly, I notice it more just walking around and trying to kneel down than I do during running), but it's not holding me back anymore.

Nicole, it's really great to see that you have found improvements - both physically and mentally - with your return to running. Injuries suck but you've been really smart, persistent and patient. 

X2, or 3 or whatever.  Welcome back to running.  It takes a while to figure out everything post-injury...pain tolerance, OK or bad pain, new body limits.  Glad to see you're in the right place with it.

Oh, c'mon man...it was downhill.  How hard could that be?

Seriously...well done.  I'm chasing a couple around here myself.  And nice 5K afterwards, too.

Awesome! Nice work, Mike!!!!

And sooooooo cool about your daughter!!!!!!!! Better hang on tight to that bike and run, soon enough she'll have you there as well.

Is swimming your prefered method of active recovery?

What about your run did you find to be mentally tough? The pace? The distance? 

Yeah I prefer swimming for active recovery.  I do a nice 10x200 mainset where I swim at an aerobic pace.  I've never been really good at biking easy, and the last thing I need is even more running.

I think what happened is I did an afternoon bike where I went basically all out for 11 minutes and then ran a 5k within an hour of that.  I did my long run the next morning, which didn't leave me a lot of time to recover.  I felt fine until mile 12, then I felt like it was mentally harder.  I was hitting a wall where I normally never would.  

The race I did the day before wasn't scheduled, and it probably wasn't a good idea to push that hard without some form of taper or rest, which I can't really do, because I need the volume.  I ran about as far and a hair faster in pace for my long run the week before, but it was definitely harder yesterday.

I'm trying to narrow down which weakness I would like to focus on. I've gotten in a really good habit of strength and injury prevention so I think it's time to move on. 

I actually think I am going to tackle the mental aspect of racing. I've invited my friends and family to my race this weekend (which I don't often do) so I am hoping that will put some pressure on to really give it my all. I don't want to look a fool, after all  

So, I think my official goal will be to eliminate self-doubt and kick as much azz as possible. 

You can do it.  You seem as driven as I am.  It's good.  The world needs more of that.

I like the thought of attacking the mental, I think I'm going to piggyback that idea with my own little spin.

I'm going to focus on my fear of long distance training, which may have played a factor in whatever happened with me yesterday.