Jenny (jsnowash)'s Spring Guinea Pig Group - CLOSED (Page 14)

Bill - are you a Michigander?

Used to be.   I live in S. Fla.  I grew up in a suburb of Detroit and went to MSU.  We go up to northern Michigan every spring to open up our rental place - and to run Bayshore.

Bill

One of our assistants in our company who sits right outside my office is running the Bayshore half.  I am planning on trying to run it in the future.  I'm running the Dexter - Ann Arbor HM in a couple weeks so Bayshore definitely wouldn't work well for me this year.  I won't hold your MSU Alumni status against you if you don't hold my UM Alumni status against me.

It's all good!

One of my best virtual running friends is a Physics Professor at UM.  (He and I ran the Bayshore 10K last year.)  He usually can rib me pretty good during football season (though not lately!) and I usually get him back pretty good during basketball season.

Bill

Another UM alum here.  A lot of my family went to either UM and MSU, but despite some 'lost souls' in my family who went to MSU...GO BLUE!

As for training, I didn't do anything major yesterday.  Did some lifting, abs, back and other related exercises, but that's about it.  I was hoping to get some time on my indoor bike last night, but I was really tired, so I punted.

Got up early this am for a date with my indoor bike.  20 mins warm-up, then 5x5 min intervals at max pace/time trial pace at high resistance, with 5 min relaxed spinning in between intervals at lower resistance.  Very good workout.  

Not sure if there is more value in shorter intervals or longer intervals (btw, any thoughts on this?), but going full out for 5 mins really pushed me...especially in my last two intervals.

Hope everyone has a great Happy Mother's Day weekend.  

Hey g-pigs,

Glad to see everyone's doing well.  I've had a crazy week - work was busy, summer sports were starting up, and spring sports were ending.. Suffice to say, I kind of gave up on training (not being able to get out at lunch time to do something meant it didn't really happen, as the evenings were crazy).  I had 7 aside soccer on Sunday afternoon, softball Monday night (we lost and it was a horrible game all around), agreed to sub for another team's softball double-header on Thursday (we won and both games were a blast - I've already offered to sub for that team again any time they need me), my last indoor soccer game on Thursday (after softball - it was a busy evening), and my first Friday night 7 aside soccer game on Friday. 

Because of all the insanity, I'm going to backtrack a week in training and repeat (well, do) last week's schedule and go forward from there.

Plan for today is a bike ride, then I'm taking my mother hiking and for a dinner at the local creperie for mother's day.

On a more personal note, our first ever foster dog went to his forever home today.  He'd been staying with us since the end of January, so we had gotten very used to having him around. It was sad (I admit, I cried when the car taking him to his new family drove away), but he's going to a great family who will give him a fabulous life.  The rescue that we foster for has already started sending us profiles of other dogs that need foster homes, so if we decide to take another one in, we will have another one soon. Our permanent dogs don't really seem to be concerned about his absence, which is good as it means we aren't putting them in emotionally damaging situations by fostering.

Hope everyone has a great Mother's day!

Hey gang!  Hope everyone had great weekend.

Whew!  Soccer AND Lacrosse season are both officially over.  I'm not sure it changes my M-F schedule, but it really opens up my weekends. 

Got good swim in on Friday, nothing on Sat., except Avengers movie and real good steady pace ride Sunday evening.  Easy tempo run tonight and some SimpleFit in the man cave.

Hey, fellow Jenny trainees,

I hope you all enjoyed a great weekend.  I ran in the Montana Women's Run with 8,700+ other women.  I had a good race for me in that I achieved my goal of beating my sister and my prior times.  I ran 27 of 213 in my AG and finished with an average 9:15 mile which is faster than my prior best time by nearly 15 seconds a mile. 

Bill, I am curious if you employ the same race strategy as you talked about for your marathons - first 10 relaxed, 2nd 10 medium and last 10 hard - to all of your race distances.  I tried to do this over the course of this 5 mile race - miles 1 and 2, steady pace, miles 3 and 4, medium pace and mile 5, kick.  I never really had a strategy for a running race before other than not running too fast right out of the gate. 

I took Mother's Day off from training, ate yummy pancakes the kids made and spent the sunny afternoon watching horse races at our local fairgrounds.  Great day, all in all. 

Now back to training ....

No.  5K's never feel easy!  Nor do 10K's for that matter!

The 10 miles easy, 10 miles moderate and the last 10K hard that I mention relate to effort levels, not necessarily different paces!

I tend run an even pace the whole way, regardless the distance - maybe kicking it in at the end if I have anything left.  I usually don't!  I can be sort of a metronome with my lap paces during a race.  A few seconds one way of the other.  Even a marathon sometimes because a pace that feels easy the first ten miles won't feel easy after 20 miles!

I know that others run their races easier, then picking it up as they go along.  Different strokes for different folks!

Bill

I've begun mapping out my mile by mile pace for my run races.  I start quite a bit slower than my goal pace and pick it up each mile, maybe running a few in the middle at the same pace and then trying to light the afterburners in the last two miles.  Starting slow seems to be the best way to avoid going out way too fast - this was a consistent problem in most every race I've run except for the last one.

Don't be angry but I think I ran 30 miles last week.  On Saturday I ran a 10K about 0:10 per mile slower than my PR and on Sunday I ran 12 miles at 0:15 per slower than my HM PR (Avg HR for the run was still zone 2!!!).  I know not advisable - I was feeling strong and just went with the feeling.  I also added in what I'll call a recovery rides/spin during the week and towed my 2 year old for about 10 miles on my mountain bike on Sat.  Still hit my main cyclingworkouts and all three of my swims.  3rd highest tri-sports volume week ever for me!  The other two highest were in January.  My left shin was a bit sore last evening but think being on my feet all day had as much to do with it as my run at 5:00am.  Walking fine today and no real pain.

So - I'm fine with the 3 bikes and 3 swims.  5 runs is probably good.  I want to ease back into the speedwork along with the thought not sure how much it will help with a HM 3 weeks away.  Your thoughts?

Hey g-pigs,

Day 1 of resuming training was a resounding success - I ran 30 minutes at lunch today.  Run was slow, as it was hot and sunny (I really don't do well in heat and much prefer the cold - what a good Canadian I am!), but I managed to get it done. Tonight I have a softball game.  Hope it goes better than last week!

Mitch - I'd love to know your secret for getting rid of shin splints! I had them a few years ago and wound up having to take 6 months off running and soccer before they healed..

I think managing them is the appropriate term.  I think I caught it early and I think it was caused by trying to transition to a minimalist shoe.  From now on sticking with the shoes that have worked for 4 years.  Also - icing, stretching, some strength exercise and ibuprofen.  Honestly my goal is to get to June 17th in one piece and able to race my a$$ off in my sprint tri and then dial it back for a couple weeks hoping the aggravation in my connective tissue abates.  I've had this discomfort before and sometimes I think my body acclimates over time.  I've been very lucky with "managing" soft tissue issues related to my running - knock on wood!

Another runner here that does not do well in the Heat.  My best races have been in the upper 30's and low 40's.

Yay!  I'm officially a real Biker now. 

Took my first Bike Crash this morning.  In the middle of a Threshold Speed Interval, I took a turn too fast, hit some water, and before I knew it the bike went out from under me and I ended up in the middle of the road.  (No traffic whatsoever.)  Road Rash all up and down my right side and some on the left side too.  The worst seems to be the knuckles on my right hand which took most of the impact.  Swelled up some but OK I think.  Now, just so the bleeding stops so I don't drip on the keyboard.

I'm guessing that 22.5 mph is a bit too much speed to take into a corner.  Needless to say the Interval workout didn't quite go as planned. 

The good news the Bike came through it fine, though lots of blood on the yellow.  Gotta clean that up!

Bill

@Bill - Ouch!  Hope you're ok!  Glad to hear there was no traffic around...

I swam 3000 in the pool this morning.  Felt pretty good.  Probably could have gone farther, but had to get going to work.  Form was decent, getting better, but it's still a work in progress.  Given the number of folks in the pool and multiple near collisions, I totally lost count of how many laps I swam.  I reverted to looking at the clock and assuming I'm swimming 1:50-1:55 per 100, and then divided.  It's not perfect, but it does the job.  

Probably will try to do an internal session on my indoor bike tonight...first race of the year coming up in 2 months, so it's starting to become 'crunch time'.  

Hope everyone is having a good day.

@ Bill - hope you're okay!! that sounds like a mighty crash!!

To GPs - sorry I've been missing in action! Went on a little vacation to new york for 4 days and just got back last night.

Good news!! - I think I'm ready to start running again. My knee feels much better and I had no pain while I was walking around for hours. 

So to Jenny: I'm thinking of incorporating Barry P's running plan into my training (slow and steady) starting this week. 

I'm getting my bike refitted on Thursday because I think my bike fit was contributing to the tendinitis so I can focus on mostly swimming this week and some light biking and then incorporating slightly more biking near the end of the week. How does that sound? 

Jenny's workout for me this morning was a Threshold bike workout (4x8' at 90-95% FTP with 4' RIs) and a 3 mile easy run.  Shin was still a bit sore from the weekends efforts but better than it was last week.  Goal is to keep treating it and paying close attention to it to ensure it keeps improving instead of worsening.

On observation I have is that as the first few weeks have eclipsed I can see that Jenny is getting a better idea of how much I can handle and how to push me.  She's giving me the structure I need while making sure the workouts are planned to allow for intensity and recovery.  I think its a learning process for us both - I have never been coached before so it's been a little different for me in having to express where I am from a training perspective and what I think I want to get done in the next weeks. 

Thanks Jenny for all of your help!

Planned tempo run was going great til the blister ?on my heel that had been growing since mile 3 suddenly popped.   OMG!   Fortunately, I'm a 'seasoned' barefoot runner-so that's what I did for the last 1.5 mile.

Started feeling finda throat-scratchy, nasal drippy last night, so will put off my AM swim and do a swim/bike brick this evening.  Ponds are getting warmer, so OWS on tap for the weekend.

Holy buckets, Batman - You guys are tough!!  First, Bill takes a spill and lives to joke about road rash (which I know stings like a bugger).  Next, Mitch chimes in about shin splints AND minimalist shoes - OMG, those shoes look like running in slippers.  Finally, Jeff tells about running barefoot, with a blister for a mile and a half - I have this picture of an African running through the brush ....  You fellas are mighty warriors, I tell ya! 

My workout was vanilla milk toast in comparison - I did an hour spin class followed by a half hour on the treadmill -  Yawn.  Worst I contended with was sweat in my eye.

I have been waiting to officially register for my first sprint tri in July.  I rationalized the wait as, "Oh, I need to see what the boys' baseball schedule looks like."  But, I think the wait is a fear of committing.  Once I register, I have to do it.  So - I am officially picking my race and registering tonight.

Except Mitch only wears the minimalist shoes to look cool running errands around town....no more running in the shoes.  I can't afford the down time from getting injured due to changing shoes.