Mad Manatees 2015.4 CLOSED (or Poptart/pet pic ticket) (Page 30)

Gorgeous pictures!  Looks like a fantastic vacation.  Iceland is someplace I hope to get to one day.

The pictures are so magical and special, it must've been a trip of a lifetime!

Thanks for welcoming Zoe!  So far housetraining is going well. I mean, she still has a small bladder and gets little warning so it's not perfect but she's learning how to ask us and she is doing well when I am at work (I go home at lunch).  As far as chewing, she mostly plays with her own toys but she has noticed that Kevin touches the remote and the phone a lot so she wants to play with them (clearly they are fun toys!  Girls just want to have fun!).  She wanted to pull on the fringe on our area rugs and we put Bitter Apple on them and so far that has communicated that rug chewing is not appropriate behavior.  So far... 

Stacey - Sorry the race wasn't what you hoped for but remember to look forward, that's the direction you are going.  

Melanie - No more concussed Manatees!  I hope that you had a fun weekend despite the car attacking you and training interuptus.

Laura - I feel your flip turn dizziness.  :-(  I get motion sickness and have gotten sick on planes.  I would not be qualified to participate in Amazing Race.  I decided that swim enjoyment trumped the flip turn cool factor and I do open turns.  

Randee - Congrats on the half marathon relay!  I hope that DH is doing OK after the mail truck incident.

Monica - I'm glad that you survived the HIM and I hope that you are feeling better.  I'm sorry that it wasn't EPIC in a good way.

TJ - I hope that Moab was wonderful!

Jen - Glad that the spa met expectations!  (Randee, are you taking good notes?!)

Steve -  I hope that you are feeling better!

As much as I don't like running on a treadmill I may need to consider one.  I have a great route for running at night around the harbor near my house.  It is smoothly paved, well lit, and no intersections.  Alas, I got stopped tonight by a security guard and told that the port is no longer allowing public use of the property after dark.  I was in shock as I have been running here for years.  Ughh!!

That is a major letdown! 

Oof! Seems like something is certainly going on. No idea how to fix beyond more concentration. Not really helpful, right? Sounds like fixed bike trainers are fine, but would be wary if anyone ever suggests rollers. Seriously. Could have all those same treadmill issues show up on top of them being substantially harder to ride in the first place.

Wow that does suck.

Ok, I need guidance...

After Moab I had the usual post race let-down (not good added to the already ever present grief) and started looking at trail ultras .  I'm not jumping to 100M or even 50M. I actually found a 52k trail race in Goodyear, AZ (near phoenix) in January. That one caught my attention as we will be in Flagstaff (not close but do-able) for hockey games that weekend. Then I got to thinking (really! I stopped to think about it before hitting the register button!) and thought maybe I should be taking some time off rather than ramping up for a longer race. This one looks fun, though, and the elevation profile looks pretty easy compared to what I've been  doing. There is a 20 miler I could "settle" for but is that still too much?

So then I found some races here in NM in the April/May time frame. One is a 45k, one is a 50k. Those seem so far away but I suppose would give me time to take a few weeks off then slowly build.

Thoughts?

Hey Erin, want to go to a hockey game in January?  

What part of January?  If mid to late, I'd say you have time to build to the 20 miler (I'm assuming you are at HM distance now) , but the 52k would be a bit much. 

As far as if you need time off or not, I don't know!  Are you feeling burnt out?  What has your racing and training schedule been like? I tend to keep running and racing throughout the year cuz that's what keeps me going and interested.   If I've built up to a particularly -for me, long race, my next stuff will be shorter to allow for recuperation.   YMMV!

I hate that for you!  I know that one of the NC Bike Route 3 went through Camp Lejuene on NC 172.  That is now restricted access (since 9/11).  The NCDOT doesn't say that though and I went to ride that section in 2012 or 2013 only to find the entrance guarded.  :-(

lol jumped the gun on that and didn't even write anything before hitting submit.

You can do it. But you are going to have to bump up your training time, volume and consistency considerably or you are going to have a bad time. It's going to have to be a lot more than your marathon.

The 20 miler might be a good stepping stone and is very doable building from Moab.  I couldn't find an elevation gain number but from the profile it looks like about half the gain as Moab spread out over the longer distance.  52k (32 miles) is a pretty big jump for a two month build.

Just checked the forecast for my race this weekend and am looking at 24mph wind.  yuck yuck yuck.  I hate running in the wind.  I was already unsure of clothing because the race starts early evening and temps will drop from low 60's to upper 40's throughout the event.  Backwards from the usual morning race where temps rise and layers get tossed.  Might tie something extra around my waist for later to be on the safe side or maybe some arm warmers.

Looks like the wind will be a tailwind out and headwind for the fun part.  Sucks because the course will be crowded outbound with the HM runners and would have been pretty easy to find a big guy or two to draft behind.  I've heard the crowd really thins out when the marathons peels off from the half.

This also messes with my pace strategy.  I was going to go out +10 seconds over goal pace first third and pick it up through the next third and then take it from there.  Now, I think I have to take advantage of the tailwind early while not getting too crazy.  I've been really focusing on heart rate over the last few months which I think will help monitor my output each way. 

You and Steve both mentioned that I need to seriously increase my training. I was thinking the same thing which is why I wondered if I should do a later race. Right now is a good time of year for me because work hours ease up so I have more time (until 1/1). I keep thinking, though, about how your coach talks about if you don't take intentional time off you'll end up taking unintentional time off.  My mileage the last few weeks has been pretty low so maybe that's enough recovery?

If I do the 20M in January is that too long of a build to the 45k in April or the 50k in may?

Ick, I don't mind some wind but 24mph is nuts! I like your idea of using HR to help you gauge effort both out and back. Clothing may not be too bad as you'll be warmed up before the temps drop.

OH!!! And I was going to tell you, Salty, that DH and I went in to a new Sbux in Albuquerque yesterday and loved the design/decor. It felt rustic but environmentally friendly.  

I am glad you think about that! If you notice I don't take time off after every race. It's planned into the bigger picture. Also, if you notice, I always run. Just about every day. But It's not all part of a build per se. When I prep for a marathon I like to think about the kind of volume I would like to run for training and take some time to build to it, way before the actual marathon training starts. THEN with about 16 weeks I actually start the marathon specific plan with focused workouts. The excellent thing about this is that you aren't trying to establish routine, run long long runs, add quality workouts and bring up volume all at the same time.

Running the 20M in Jan doesn't mean that you have to build until April or May. 

Hmm which one was it? San Mateo and Montgomery? 

That one is actually across the street from my boss' office. I've only done the drive thru there.

This one was on Coors Bypass and 7 Bar Road (we were waiting for Costco to open)

I think a couple of weeks of reduced volume is enough to recharge your battery and if you feel like ramping it back up then go for it.  When I take some time off it is as much about getting caught up with the rest of my life as the physical/mental recovery from training.  Sometimes it is hard to take the break because I love the training so much.

I think that a couple of months of additional training after incrementally building for the 20 miler would be enough to tackle the next challenge.  If you have not run beyond a marathon before, the first one is more of a learning experience anyway.  Time expectations will not mean a whole lot and the goal is to enjoy it as much as one can (gets tough in the latter stages), not injury yourself, and learn from the experience and from others.  Most ultra folks love to chat and you can get great insight from them.  The drastically reduced pace of these events allows for conversation with fellow runners if you wish.

I was actually surprised at how little (comparatively) some of the people had trained at the ultras that I have done.  Most of the people had done a number of them and understood the two most important things very, very well: nutrition and pacing.

I've been looking at ultra plans and seeing that the weekday runs are very marathon-esque in their distance but the weekends are back to back long runs with Monday and Friday as rest days. I saw one plan that I liked with a long run, never over 25 miles, on Saturday with an hour our hour.five on Sunday.

Like you said, they talk a lot about pacing and nutrition.

You all know how I feel about expectations!

Pacing for an ultra is easy. Slow.As.Shyte. But the nutrition will be key. I didn't look at the specific races you are talking about but I imagine there will be some altitude. Remember how trying to take in nutrition with that beast is (cough cough pikes cough cough peak.) A half marathon is one thing but an ultra is likely impossible without the ability to take in some calories. 

It's even less about the miles and more about the time. Running that 46+ mile day on the PCT was such a different experience than a marathon. Like night and day.