Category Archives: Training

01.28.15
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I received this in the mail yesterday…

huma gel variety pack

Flavors (from L to R): apples & cinnamon, mango, cafe mocha, raspberry, blueberry, lemonade, strawberry, chocolate.

New Huma gels! If you recall, I previously tried out their blueberry and strawberry flavors before deciding to use solely the strawberry during the Country Music Half. Now they have a bunch more flavors to try, including some caffeinated ones.

An article I read the other day (coincidentally, since I had already ordered the gels), showed some research that intaking more gels per hour can increase performance during marathons and that gels with caffeine also help. I’m not running a full marathon and I’m not about to start downing the amount done in the study (60g of carbs), but I figure it can’t hurt to see what happens when I attempt to increase my fuel intake.

For the Country Music Half, I kept it pretty simple. I took in one gel about every hour (just before the water stops at miles 4.6 and 9.2), which was about 22g of carbs per hour. I want to try adding in one more gel to my plan, so roughly every 30-45 minutes.

Luckily, I have two long runs coming up that can help me experiment with this before Tom King.

In my upcoming 12 miler this weekend, I plan to try out some of the new flavors and attempt one of the new caffeinated gels (I’m fairly sensitive to caffeine since I rarely ingest it). How this goes will determine how I decide to fuel the Cedars Frostbite Half next weekend, which I’m not racing but am using as kind of a dress rehearsal for Tom King. Cedars has three water stations (miles 3, 7, and 10), so that will correspond nicely to taking in three gels and making sure my stomach can tolerate that.

My 11 miler last weekend was done without any gels at all (though I probably topped off my glycogen with Oreos and milk before I headed out), and I managed to average just 11 seconds off of goal pace. It’s actually better* to do most training runs without fueling so that your body can learn how to use fat as a backup fueling source when you’re all out of glycogen. This is why I pick one or two long runs where I test flavors and strategy and ignore the rest of them.

I’m excited to try new flavors and determine what I’ll be carrying during my goal halves this year!

*Or so I’ve read. I’m not an expert.

12.31.14
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2014: Year Two in Review!

2014 in review

Stats

Number of runs: 209
Total distance ran: 801.4 miles
– on pavement: 647.7 miles
– on treadmill: 129.7 miles
– on trails: 12.3 miles
– on track: 8.8 miles
– on beach: 3.0 miles
Total time ran: 160:43
Total elevation gained: 19,760 ft

January

Total mileage: 53.6 miles
Best week: 15.0 miles
Best mile: 11:21
Best 5 km: 38:42
I started out the year running my first half marathon, the Walt Disney World Half Marathon! I was ill prepared, but I had a lot of fun. After that, I began training for the Country Music Half Marathon in April.

February

Total mileage: 77.8 miles
Best week: 20.5 miles
Best mile: 9:55
Best 5 km: 32:41
Training for the Country Music Half continued, and I continued to get stronger. I ran the Hot Chocolate 15k in the middle of the month in 1:46:48, which estimated I was on track to run the half marathon in a little over 2:30:00.

March

Total mileage: 101.7 miles
Best week: 28.1 miles
Best mile: 9:01
Best 5 km: 31:25
My first 100+ mile month! To put this in perspective, I had only run about 600 miles total (counting both this year and last!) so one sixth of my entire running mileage was done in this month. I ran the Fangtastic 5k mid-month to a new 5k PR of 31:25 and continued training for the Country Music Half.

April

Total mileage: 84.2 miles
Best week: 24.1 miles
Best mile: 10:01
Best 5 km: 32:05
Shoes Purchased: Skechers GoRun3
I started out the month with my first five mile race, where I performed better than my expectations. Half marathon training continued until the end of the month when I ran the Country Music Half Marathon and achieved a 40 minute PR with a time of 2:27:43!

May

Total mileage: 39.2 miles
Best week: 12.2 miles
Best mile: 10:39
Best 5 km: 34:08
Shoes Purchased: Saucony Kinvara 5
May started off relaxing, but soon geared up to train for a sub-30 5k! Unfortunately, my right knee started hurting early in the month, so my training was derailed to take care of it.

June

Total mileage: 46.5 miles
Best week: 13.9 miles
Best mile: 9:39
Best 5 km: 31:44 (treadmill)
This month started off with the Barrel Fest 5 Miler, but I was still having knee issues, so I was happy just to finish! Due to my ongoing injury and events like Bonnaroo, it turned out to be a lower mileage month. I decided to postpone my sub-30 5k training until later in the year.

July

Total mileage: 62.6 miles
Best week: 16.6 miles
Best mile: 9:29
Best 5 km: 31:29 (treadmill)
My knee was feeling better, so my mileage started to go back up this month. The Music City July 4th 5k kicked off July, but it was hot and I was dehydrated, so I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. After some ups and downs in training, I decided to start low heart rate training at the end of the month to start gearing up for next year’s half marathons.

August

Total mileage: 54.8 miles
Best week: 18.9 miles
Best mile: 8:53
Best 5 km: 29:15
After the fantastic sub-30 PR I got at the Smyrna Parks 5k at the beginning of the month, I focused on low heart rate training. No speed work. No tempo runs. Nothing with a heart rate about 148. It didn’t last long, as it drove me crazy to run that slow. It also seemed to really mess with my speed and endurance, which I struggled with at the end of the month.

September

Total mileage: 68.3 miles
Best week: 21.2 miles
Best mile: 9:22
Best 5 km: 32:56
The month started with a disappointing race at the Franklin Classic 10k. For most of this month, I was doing the 21 Day Fix program, so I tried to keep my runs a little slower. However, once I got to the beach in Florida for vacation, my feet took off, and I posted some of my speediest times for the entire month. I also got to run barefoot on the beach for the first time!

October

Total mileage: 69.3 miles
Best week: 22.5 miles
Best mile: 9:07
Best 5 km: 30:05
October started with a tweaked ankle. I rested it a week, but soon started on a 33-day running streak to celebrate my birthday. I had two races this month: Go Commando 5k and Halloween Hunt 5 Miler. While no PRs were achieved, both races were a lot of fun!

November

Total mileage: 80.9 miles
Best week: 22.0 miles
Best mile: 8:46
Best 5 km: 29:33
My running streak continued through the first half of November. In the middle of the month, I had a fantastic race at the Hammer Down 10k, where I got a PR of 1:01:49! After that, I began half marathon training for my goal race next March. I hit a bit of a snag at the end of the month, when a sharp pain started in my left foot on a routine 5 miler.

December

Total mileage: 59.7 miles
Best week: 22.2 miles
Best mile: 9:06 (treadmill)
Best 5 km: 31:02 (treadmill)
Due to my foot pain, I skipped out on the 5k I was signed up for at the beginning of the month (my first DNS). After the doctor confirmed there was nothing seriously wrong with my foot, I continued training for my spring half marathons.

11.13.14
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It begins again…

With my birthday running steak coming to a close, it means, yes, it’s half marathon training time again!

I’ve created the following training plan based mostly on Runkeeper’s sub-2:15 plan. However, I thought the long runs ramped up rather quickly (double digits on week 3 and 12 miles by week 6), so I stretched those out just a little bit. I also made the cutback weeks a little more cutback. Then I just kind of rearranged some stuff to make more sense for me. For example, I’m running a 5k race in week 3 and a 15k race in week 13.

My goal race is the Tom King Classic on March 7th. I’m also running the Cedars Frostbite a month before as a supported long training run (aka, I don’t plan on even attempting to PR, so who wants to run with me?).

half marathon training plan

Any run without a pace designation should be ran easy. This includes long runs. All other runs should include an easy-paced warm up and cool down of a mile or so each. All speed and tempo runs will have 2 minutes walking or jogging recovery between intervals. I will probably include strides at the end of a lot of the easy run as it gets closer to the date of the half.

Here are my pace times to aim for 2:15! (No pressure!)
Intervals: 9:30-9:45 min/mi
Tempo: 9:45-10:00 min/mi
Goal pace: 10:00-10:20 min/mi
Steady: 10:45-11:15 min/mi
Easy: 12:00-13:00 min/mi

I plan to do strength training on non-running days. Yoga will follow the long run.

I also have a fall-back training plan I can switch to if this one proves too much for me. It involves running every other day (3-4 times per week) instead of 4-5 times per week, and includes a cutback week every other week, so the overall mileage over the course of the plan is about 80 miles less.

I’m most dreading the mid-week 7-9 mile runs I’m going to have to do on the treadmill because it will still be too dark outside to run after work. Luckily, it looks like there will be Preds games on most of those nights, so I will have something to watch.

After this plan ends, another immediately begins. I haven’t fully worked out the details yet (I want to see how this training goes), but it will include another training race (Oak Barrel Half) and then a goal half at the end of April (Kentucky Derby miniMarathon). Yes, that’s four half marathons (plus a 15k!) in three months! After that, I plan on taking a long distance break and enjoying my summer before maybe attempting another in the fall. 2015 will be the year of the half!

11.07.14
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For those who get bored easily on the treadmill…

treadmill

Since it gets dark before I get off work now (and I’m terrible about getting up to run in the mornings), I found myself on the treadmill twice this week. I am mentally incapable of running at one pace on the treadmill, even if I have music or TV to distract me, so I tend to play around with the speed a lot. Here’s the workouts I did this week:

Workout #1: Treadmill Progression Run
Start at an easy pace for you. For me, this was 5.0 (12:00 min/mi). At a predetermined time or distance, increase the speed by 0.1. I increased by 0.1 every 0.2 miles for the first mile, and every 0.25 for the next two miles. I planned to do 3.3 miles total, so for the final 0.3 miles, I increased the speed every 0.1 miles. This gave me a final speed of 6.8 (8:49 min/mi) and an overall average pace of about 10:30.

Workout #2: Easy Speed Work
For the second treadmill day, I wanted to do some speed work, but didn’t want to completely exhaust my legs since I’m still streaking. I got the idea to use my Couch to 10k app to time intervals, but, instead of jogging, I ran fast. I combined the first two weeks’ intervals to come up with this plan:
Warm up at an easy pace for 3-5 minutes, then alternate sprinting (I used speeds between 7.0 and 8.0, starting slower and increasing speed as the intervals went on and my legs warmed up) for one minute with walking (I walked at 3.5) for 1.5 minutes. Repeat six times. Then alternate sprinting for 1.5 minutes with walking for 2 minutes. Repeat six times. Cool down.

Other treadmill workouts I’ve posted:
Ways to Beat the Treadmill Blahs
5/6/7/5 Workout

10.13.14
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It’s Streaking Time!

In honor of my *gulp* 33rd birthday (err, the 4th anniversary of my 29th birthday), I’ve decided to do a 33-day running streak that culminates on the big day. It’s an ideal time since I’m not really training for anything in particular. This will also complete my last annual goal (hey, it’s not a calendar month but it still counts).

This is all, of course, contingent on how my ankle feels while I’m doing this. I rested it for a week before testing it out on a run, and it’s definitely still aggravated. If this streak starts angering it, I plan on immediately stopping. It’s not an important goal by any means.

So, here are the rules:

  • The US Running Streak Association says you need to run a mile for the streak to count. I’m going to aim for 3.3 miles on most days, but obviously, I will probably only do a mile or so on days when I feel like I need a break and around races. Ideally, I’d like to stay around 20 miles per week, as this should give me a nice base for half marathon training which starts immediately after the streak ends.
  • Almost all of the runs should be easy runs. I don’t want to get injured.
  • The streak starts on October 15th and ends on November 16th.

I think the most challenging part of the streak are the days where I’m going to have to get up early and run before work because I have too much going on in the evening (now that it’s HOCKEY SEASON, yay!). I am not good at getting up any earlier than I have to, although I did manage to do it for the 21 Day Fix. I just suspect that it will be harder when I actually have to leave my house.

I also know that I’m going to be tempted to run faster than I should, so if anyone out there is slower than me and wants a running buddy, pick me! I need someone to keep me slow! I also foresee a lot of treadmill running because (a) I can make sure I’m not going too fast and (b) it’s getting too dark to run in the evenings.

I have three races planned during the streak period: the Go Commando 5k on October 18th, the Halloween Hunt on October 25th, and the Hammer Down 10k on November 15th. The streak was supposed to end with the Rockin’ Marathon Relay, but they cancelled it due to lack of participation. (Probably because they didn’t advertise it ANYWHERE. RIP, team Running for Birthday Cake.) So I replaced that with the Hammer Down for my racing birthday celebration; hopefully I won’t come in dead last like last year’s birthday race!

I’ll be using the hashtag #streakfor33 on Instagram and possibly other social networks, so if anyone wants to help celebrate my birth by running (haha, yeah right), feel free to use it!

Here’s to streaking!