Running 4x a week till the Easter Bunny Comes Challenge (Page 5)

Wanted to pop in and say Hi to all of you!  Great job to the remaining three.  I'm still log stalking all of you and want to know how your races go.  Keep up the good work!

I thought I found my mojo but it only lasted 48 hours.  Oh well, 48 hours is better than nothing.

Ran outside on Tuesday (#1) -- really nice run just before sundown.  I'm actually enjoying the runs where it's just hovering above freezing -- natural air conditioning!   Not sure what's going to happen when it finally cracks 50F...

I'm away on quick business trip but I didn't want to put too much pressure on the weekend -- so I brought the running gear and completed #2 in the hotel fitness center.

Scott.

And #4 is in the books!   Including a nice long one (8 miler) yesterday.

Anyone else?
Scott.

Hi guys. I actually got only 3 runs in last week. I'd planned on doing a 4th on Saturday, but woke up with wicked ankle pain on Saturday. It almost felt like something was sprained. 

Yesterday though, it slowly went away, and today feels pretty normal. I've only one training run scheduled this week before the big event on Saturday. 

I'm going through my taper according to plan.. 4 workouts for this week and I might add a swim. 

Thanks for checking in everyone and well done! Only 2 weeks till the Easter bunny comes :=)

Thanks.

I didn't do anything.. that kinda freaked me out. It feels normal today though. And I just looked at my training log and realized that I did actually get my 4 in last week. :=)

Kate -- I wish my training logs worked like that.      Best of luck on the HIM!    

Brenda -- yes, only 4 weeks away from the first tri of the year.  And truth be told, it's only my second overall -- so pretty excited about it.   My main concern now is that I haven't done any biking since October -- at some point either the weather will improve enough, or I will man up enough to haul the bike out of the garage....  Luckily the bike portion is only ~11 miles or so.  

Thanks to the solid improvement in running (inspired by this challenge!), I did succumb and sign up for a HM in late May.  Big step up from the 10K I did last fall but I'm feeling confident about it -- if I can do 8 miles already, bumping it up to 13 should be doable.  I'm just not going to be so silly as to swim & bike ahead of time.  

ETA:  Brenda, I missed out on the tidbit about your upcoming marathon -- good luck to you too!

Scott.

Scott, you are very similar to me.  I've only done one tri and have my second in a few weeks.

Best of luck to Brenda in her mary and Kate in her HIM this weekend!!!!!!!!!!  Please post asap because I want to hear how you both did.  I'll be cheering for both you over the weekend and will bring out my pink pom poms and shake them periodically during your races.  I hope you both know that both Karl and I will be cheering for both of you.

Thanks Pam!!

Sending you the best of wishes Brenda!

I got my last run in last night. I hope my legs (and feet) can carry me Sat. to the finishers shoot. That's all I ask. 

Big hugs to everyone that has made this journey the last few months! 

#4 in the books this evening -- a 90 min / 9 mile  treadmill run.    

Plus, I also managed to get a swim in this week, so now I'm sore on arms AND legs.  

Scott.

I must face facts -- I'm not going to hit my 4x running this week.  Partially because I think my legs need a break after last week -- and partially because I'm only a couple of weeks away from my first tri of the season, and I need to dedicate a bit of time to swim and bike which have atrophied over the winter.  (Finally warm enough to bike here -- first ride in 5 months -- trust me, I need some time in the saddle!)

However -- I did want to share something -- below is a chart of my weekly run distance since I started my tri training nearly a year ago.   Notice the huge improvement starting around Christmas!

• Prior to this challenge, my max distance in a week was about 21 km -- last week I cleared 32 km.    (I used to think the concept of 20 miles a week was insane)
• Prior to this challenge, my max run (no walks) was 60 minutes -- on Sunday I did 90 minutes.  
• I didn't meet the challenge every week, but I hit 9 out of 13, which is 9 more than I'd ever done before.  This challenge got me up off the couch more times than I can count.
• And largely thanks to this challenge, I got confident enough in my running to sign up for a HM in May, and feeling much more confident in my upcoming Oly in June.

So -- thanks Kate, Brenda, Pam and everyone else for the accountability!  

Scott.

(Run Volume.jpg)

Beautiful share Scott!!! Way to go with your training. Fantastic!!!

I've certainly appreciated everyone who joined the journey. I am not sure If i will make the 4 runs this week either. I missed one last night and will prolly go biking tonight. 

Ok, the Easter Bunny is coming in a few short hours but I don't want to say bye to you people.   I love you and don't want to lose you!  So I'll still log stalk all of you ad I hope to hear from all of you.

This has been fun!  I was hitting the challenge in late Nov, Dec, and I think in Jan.  After my early Feb mary, the wheels fell off and I'm not sure if it was mental or PF that sidelined my butt.  But I'm tired of that bull and will start correcting.  I did my 2nd-ever tri today and now, while I'm not shelving swimming or biking, I WILL begin to focus back on the run because, quite frankly, I need to go back to my first love.  I need happy right now - not attempts at other sports.  So I'm gonna get serious about beating the PF, run more, and run happy (Brenda, I love that expression).  I'll also try to get my swim happy back and see if I'll ever learn to bike happy.

Hope you all have a wonderful, beautiful Easter.  Keep training and I'll still have my eye on all of you.

Thanks all for the encouragement!  

I have to add a side note -- a rather unexpected benefit... the 4x run challenge has managed to improve my bike too!   I got myself back on the bike 3x this week, first time since October:

• Wednesday -- bit of a gong show -- could only do 1 lap around the block (6 km) before my legs were cooked.   
• Saturday  -- got it up to 2 laps (12 km), then again my legs were cooked.   (lesson learned -- don't skip 5 months of bike training) 
• Sunday -- my legs were finally feeling OK, and I really really noticed the impact of vastly improved cardio (plus reduced weight) which I attribute to the 4x run training.   I could go faster up the nasty hills, I recovered much more quickly, and generally saw less of a fall-off in effort / speed during the workout.    Overall -- I covered the distance for my upcoming sprint tri, and kept my pace reliably above 25 km/hr which has long been my nemesis.   Essentially I'm at (or slightly better than) where I was in October -- not bad for the first week back.

Still a lot of work to be done, but wow do I ever feel prepared for the first race!  

Scott.