marathon training

How I conquer a hard run on tired legs: Experience

Lindsey Hein — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 11:08:08 +0000

Good news- I think my hamstring is a little better, more importantly, it’s not any worse! The past two weeks have consisted of running 3-4 days/week, biking 2-3 day/weeks and swimming 1 day/week. Melody came over and gave me my first real sports massage and it was awesome. I truly think it helped and we are both thinking of trying to keep it up once a month.

I have been following my own special “plan as you go” kind of training plan for Boston. It’s kind of fun to not be so calculated and just work on getting back to into the kind of shape I want to be in. I wanted so badly to get into PR shape after my prophylactic mastectomy and got myself into pretty darn good shape by January, but things just didn’t pan out how I wanted them to after the reconstructive surgery. I was already working on borrowed time after that one and there wasn’t much room for error. There’s a reason most good marathon training plans are at least 16 weeks. If they are only 12-16 weeks, there is likely a nice solid build phase before you really focus and I didn’t have time for all that. I needed 4-6 weeks of base building before serious training and it didn’t happen.

This past Saturday, my “all over the place” training had me running 20 miles. A decision I made after running 17 last weekend. I knew good and well that my legs weren’t going to be recovered from the hilly 17 miles last weekend. I ran them stronger & harder than I had anticipated and felt pretty good. I treated my body very nicely all week and then on Thursday, I ran for an hour on hills with a little pick up in the middle. I really have no idea how fast I ran for the pick up because I wasn’t wearing a watch but it was around 2-3ish miles hard. It felt fast though and it was up and down some good hills. I have done pretty much no speed work since I came back from surgery 2, except for that one baby tempo run I did too soon. (most of the reason, I’m behind now!) So these quick miles on hills definitely tired my legs more than they usually would.

Needless to say, I knew it would be a slothfest on Saturday, but man I didn’t realize how much. My legs were dead from start to finish. Every mile was hard. At the beginning Glenn kept telling me they’d wake up, and while normally I would agree and I’d be preaching the same thing to anyone I’d run with- I knew that it wasn’t about waking them up. They were just done. Fried. I’m going to go ahead and say that a normal human would have decided to try again another day or most likely wait till the following weekend once they were 5 miles in. I’m stubborn and I was going to crawl my 20 miles if I had to.

We ran out to Griffy again from my parents house in Bloomington. The route we run from the eastside of town to Griffy is a nice rolling route, and then you get to run down Griffy hill, up Hinkle to Bethel and turn around- running back down Hinkle and up Griffy. These are some serious hills that I’ve ran many times and while they are always hard they’ve never felt like this. You are going to breath hard running up the hills no matter what, but your body doesn’t always feel like lead.

Normally Glenn would slow his pace and hang with me on an uphill but on Saturday, he wanted to get some work in up the hills and if he stayed with me, he could have just walked up them. I was determined not to walk, so I chugged along and at every peak I smiled and laughed because it had become comical that I was running on these legs and the thought that I had 12 miles to go made me laugh even more. It was a joke. I wish there was a video of the uphill shuffle crawl I was doing. I really didn’t feel like myself but that’s ok.

A lot of things can be what gets you through a run like that, but for me on Saturday, it was all about experience. It was honing in on all the times I’ve been there in marathons, all the times I’ve pushed my limits and knowing that it ends and you’ll be just fine. You just keep going. I kept telling Glenn- I know your legs have felt like this before, but I want to give you my legs for just 1 minute so you can understand what I’m dealing with here.

Our average pace for the run was about a minute slower than I’d normally run a hilly 20 miles. I didn’t ask our pace one time the entire run, but Glenn was keeping an eye on it. I think the only time he got really annoyed was when I pulled a 9:15 mile at mile 18. And then you know what he did? I heard his watch beep to mark the mile and he told me we were at mile 18 and when I was certain we were at 19. I almost collapsed thinking we had 2 miles to go and not 1. You know when you get your head and your heart set on how much farther you have? I hope there weren’t any kids running around in their yards (we were in Hyde Park) because there were words that aren’t very pretty or kid friendly that came flying out of my mouth. It wasn’t pretty.

Beyond that nice little story- running with your significant other is a whole other post. (many people have wrote about it- one day I will.) We’ve put in a decent amount of miles together over the past 8 years and if you know us in real like, you know that we have very different personalities which can make for an interesting – sometimes fun and sometimes frustrating 20 miles….

Really, I’m being dramatic. Because that’s what I do. But runs like this make you stronger, always. I knew going into this 20, that it wasn’t supposed to be a fast run, and I really just wanted to appreciate being outdoors on a beautiful day with no responsibilities for the time. While I did enjoy that part of it- it was hard to truly enjoy the actual run with the 300 lb invisible weights tied to each leg.

Next weekend I’m cutting down to 12-15 miles and then I’ll hit 20 again the following week. This will be a shorter taper than my norm, but what’s really been normal this past year really?

Post run treats

Day after a painful long run… the bike is calling your name.

Sloth On.

What do you do to get through a run where your legs are toast?

Do you find humor in a run that is tougher than anticipated?

Do you enjoy running with your significant other?

Hey by the way- I got some sweet new shades. You dig?

Some Speed

OutForARunAdmin — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:08:00 +0000

I hadn’t done an actual speed workout since August. After the Indy Women’s Half, which was not a good race for me, I was only left with 4 weeks before I had to hang things up for a couple of months, so I just had fun with unstructured care free running. Which I believe is important to do no matter who you are, surgery or no surgery!

I’ve done some moderately hard tempo runs and some fast finish miles here and there but yesterday I decided to do mile repeats. I’ve been focusing on building distance and not speed. But I really wanted that “how I feel after I kill a speed workout feeling”. So naturally, I did the mile repeats. They always hurt and I’m always left with the feeling of, I just worked hard for that and I’m glad I did- now let me conquer the rest of this day.

If I was in the peak of my training, I would likely do 5 repeats and I honestly considered doing 5, but instead finished with a strong 4. As I was finished up the 4th, I let the thought enter my head again to perhaps do 5, but decided I was happy with the effort I put out and there was no need to prove that I could in fact do a 5th. Sometimes it is important to get the extra in and push through it, but sometimes it’s equally as important to end feeling strong knowing that you can keep pace and crush the last repeat.

I have done a good job listening to my body for the MOST part in this post surgery journey, minus 2-3 runs….. (remember this one… ouch… I do) when most of my body was ready but a few areas were not). Today, I knew 4 was enough, and I was perfectly content with it.

The workout went down like this:

15 minute warm up

4 X 1 Mile @ 6:25, 6:22, 6:22, 6:15 with quarter mile jogs between sets.

15 minute cool down

Building a high mileage base has helped with my confidence for a workout like this. If you think about running around 7-10 miles most days of the week, then 4 mile repeats, while the pace might be hard and taxing does not seem like that many miles. I can mentally wrap my head around less than 26 minutes of hard running.

I do believe I’ll be focusing more on the high miles rather than the speedy speedy stuff through the rest of my Boston training though. It’s what makes me happy right now and is much less stressful than the pressure of speed work.

I know I’ve said it a lot recently, and I’ll probably say it many more times; I really don’t know if there is a PR in April, but workouts like this and my 20 on Saturday are giving me confidence that it could be within reach. The 4 week recovery after next week won’t be nearly as intense as the 6 weeks I had back in October, not to mention this surgery won’t take as much out of my physically.

Regardless of all that talk, I’m starting to enjoy my running in a different way. Although I have been a mom for a year and a half now, my alone running time has become more and more valuable and helpful for my sanity as of late. I haven’t been seeing it as a task I need to get done as much as I used to, I’ve been seeing it more as a freedom.

I’ve always enjoyed what running brings me, but the freedom right now has been something I’ve needed more than ever recently. I love that I have chosen to stay home with Marshall and I by no means have it rough at all. (My sister does this with two kids and her husband is overseas for months at a time… I know I have it made) But man no matter how you slice it being in charge of another human being all day everyday can just wear you down sometimes and running has proven to be my saving grace time and time again. I honestly don’t know how people do it if they don’t workout. I would be crazier than I already am without it.

That being said, I’ll just say I feel like the luckiest lady alive that I get to be Marshall’s mom.

Children’s Museuming…. what we do in between naps once a weekish to get out of the house! Pretty sweet to live so close to such an awesome place.

My dad was in Indy this week taking my mom to the airport & asked us to go to the RV show at the fairgrounds. Sure, why not? And these boys sure are cute with their popcorn. Also, I’m pretty sure Marshall mattered the word PEE while we were there.

What’s your favorite speed work?

Do you prefer speed or distance? Both?

50 Mile Week & Surgery Date Set!

OutForARunAdmin — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 00:29:00 +0000

I’m not gonna lie, when I ran 60 miles two weeks ago, it burned me out a bit and made my legs insanely tired. I had a bug though and was loving it at the time.

I followed up the next week with 45 miles. Including my longest run yet since my surgery. (18.2 Mi). That run felt pretty darn good at the time (hard, but good) and I ran it pretty quick for where I’m at right now. I paid for it in the evening. Not too terribly, but my body let me know I probably ran too hard.

Two reasons my mileage went down quite a bit from the 60 to 45 mile week- legs were dead and I was juggling travel stuff with the holidays.

This weeks rundown:

Monday- 7 easy treadmill miles (average pace 8:20)

Tuesday- 4 easy with Glenn, Marshall & Cadence. Sadly, I think we underdressed Marshall & he wasn’t happy. I felt terrible. (average pace 7:50)

Wednesday- 10 miles easy, 6 with the Rusted Bear crew, 4 on my own, fast finish for last 2 miles (average pace 7:54)

Thursday- Rest Day- when Glenn got home from work- I bolted out the door and went to foot finese for a massage. Marsh & I didn’t leave the house all day & I had to get out of the house, but didn’t want to deal with the gym at 5:30pm on January 2nd! Figured the next best thing was a massage…

Friday- 7 easy treadmill miles (average pace 8:06)

Saturday- 15 miles, 10 with Ashley, 5 on my own. Easy paced, with the big fun hill in Crown Hill. It was gated off to traffic and there wasn’t much traction, we had fun bouncing around making it to the top. Running down was the best though. We were sad neither of us had our phone to take a picture because it was so pretty at the top of the hill. (average pace 8:00)

Sunday- 7 easy, glorious snow filled miles with Cadence (average pace 8:17)

Total: 50 Miles

After my 7 with Cadence on Sunday.

Fun in the snow before our power went out!

Overall I felt pretty good all week. No speed, but I honestly don’t think my body is ready for too much speed. When I over exert my chest is achy and I’ve had cold sweats at night a few times from it.

My reconstruction surgery is set for Friday, January 24th. YAYAYAYAY!!!! Less than three weeks away. I had in my head that I wanted to do a 20 miler before the surgery, just to really solidify my base. I can’t say if that will happen or not just yet. If it does happen, it will probably need to be this coming weekend, as I’m going to Florida to visit my sister the following weekend I don’t think it will happen then. I could, but it’s doubtful. Although, while I do enjoy cold weather running, I’m not gonna be mad about running half naked in Florida.

Regardless if I do the 20 or not pre surgery, I’m happy with where I’ve set myself up for coming back post surgery. The recovery from this one will be 4 weeks and my plastic surgeon has told me she might release me a bit early. I’ll still have to be careful those first few weeks back though.

I have to be honest- even though this surgery is small potatoes compared to the mastectomy, I’m a little anxious about it. I don’t know if anyone ever gets used to getting put under anesthesia. Either way, I’m still new at it, so I’m still nervous.

I am however, hella excited to get these expanders out. They are rock solid. Seriously, the more the doctor filled them, the harder the got. I’m walking around with a 2 big rocks in my sports bra. Brace yourself if you go in for a hug, it ain’t soft. And if you don’t go if for one, I probably will, because I’m a natural born hugger. Even to strangers.

I’ll leave you with this gorgeous picture Glenn took of Cadence today on the monon. Gorgeous.

Did you have any fun snow runs?

Did anyone venture out in the negative 15 Indianapolis temps? I’m sure it’s much colder for some of you, but we’re not used to that here!

How cute is my dog?

Chicago Marathon Training Update – Weeks 9,10, & 11

GlennHein — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 10:44:00 +0000

I’m kind of behind training logs so here goes. I’ve been running a lot lately. I got some new shoes. 32 days to go.

Week 9

70 Miles
9 Runs
3 Quality Workouts including 1 race

After a couple of weeks of playing it safe with my hamstring I felt like I was ready to take it up a bit in week 9.

Monday – Wave Tempo. I love this workout. It is a newer workout for me. I had heard of them before but had never used them myself. You start off thinking it is going to be no big deal then those AT pace miles start to hit and you start to work. A great workout. Workout was 10 mile totals with 7 wave alternating between 6:22 & 5:52.

Tuesday – Easy 11

Wednesday – Easy 12

Thursday – Carmel Road Racing Group 5K. I was happy with how this race went. I was able to take 10 seconds off my time. You can read about it here. Total miles for the day was 10. I would say the highight was hanging with everybody after the race. The people you meet through running are great!

The Crew.

Friday – Easy 10

Saturday – 16 miles descending pace fast finish. Great workout with Sean and Collin. Sean about killed me. He was on…I was not. It was a great run. If you want to excel at the marathon you need to learn to get comfortable with running hard while fatigued. We covered the last 6 in 6:24, 6:08, 6:06, 5:46, 6:00, and 5:50.
Sunday – Rest Day

Week 10

79 Miles
9 Runs
2 Quality Workouts
1 Pair of New Shoes

Can you tell that I am excited about my new shoes? I ordered these shoes during Week 9 but had some drama with the delivery so they would not arrive until the middle of week 10. The Mizuno Wave Sayonara was worth the wait. I am a big fan. It was definetly the running highlight of the week.

Monday – 13 Easy

Tuesday – 10 Easy

Wednesday – Morning speed work with the group. The workout was 6×1 mile repeats with 60-90 second jog in between. The combined temp and dew point of 147 which made for a great workout. Happy with the workout given the conditions. Normally I’d like to run 5:30 – 5:35…but adjustments need to be made sometimes.

Workout splits below

1 – 5:35 2 – 5:37 3 – 5:42 4 – 5:42 5 – 5:45 6 – 5:50

Easy run in the afternoon for 4. Total miles around 12

Thursday – 8 Easy. First run in the Sayonaras. Toe box felt kind of big.

Friday – 8 Easy – 2nd run in Sayonaras. Don’t notice the toe box as much…if at all.

Saturday – Block Progression Run. It was hot out. Started later in the day so I could see some of Lindsey’s race. The dew point temp was about 144 @ the start and 148/149 at the end. Fun. Fun. I keep telling myself it makes me stronger….if I keep saying it maybe I will believe it.

The basic run was 4 blocks of 5 at even paces with each block getting faster. I worked on sipping gel today as the effort called for it. I am happy with how I felt. As you can see the elements started to bite at me towards the end. I would have liked it to be in the 6:20 range but I kind of blew up the last two. Train hard. Recover harder.

Average Block – 6:49
Average Block – 6:40
Average Block – 6:31
Average Block – 6:28

Overall happy with where I am and how I felt despite the slower paces at the end…sometimes you have to adjust to the weather.

Sunday – 9 Easy around the hills of Bloomington. Sold on the shoe by now.

My new running shoe. I will race Chicago in them.

Week 11 – Chicago Half Marathon Race Week

I already blogged about the race so I won’t really bring it up again too much. I didn’t really taper this week for the race outside of taking two rest days. I needed one of those any way.

8 Runs

57 Miles

2 Quality runs (both races)

Monday – Raced The Ripple Effect in Broad Ripple in place of a workout. I was happy with the run and effort. Took 4th Overall and 1st in my AG. Ran even splits the last three miles. Total milage 11.

Tuesday – Rest

Wednesday – 16 miles easy. No Speed work for me but I ran to meet the group and did Katy’s workout with her. Also ran later.

Thursday – 8 Easy

Friday – 9 Easy with Sean…probably a little faster then we should have ran. About 6:40.

Saturday – Travel day to Chicago. Rest.

Sunday – The Chicago Half Marathon. A spectacular bonk and poorly ran race.

Really, the weekend home was not all bad. I got to spend some quality time with my family…which was awesome. My parents gave Lindsey and I our anniversery present and I scored some sweet beer. Overall, a pretty good weekend.

BeerHaul. DogFish. Firestone Walker. Revolution. Firestone Walker. Half Acre

Blanket made from our t-shirts- races, jobs Marshall stuff, etc.

Two weeks to go of hard training and then it is taper time. I am feeling good about where I am at. Here’s to hoping for good weather and fast feet.

Questions: How is your training going? What races are you getting ready for? We love to hear about others chasing goals!

Ripple Effect Race Report

OutForARunAdmin — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 23:44:00 +0000

Historically the Ripple Effect has been held in Broad Ripple on Sunday Evening of Labor Day Weekend which means, at least for us, it is usually a no go. This year, however, the race directors decided to change it to a Monday 8:30AM start and so having learned this fact on the Wednesday before I decided to go ahead and sign up.

It worked out nicely as Monday’s workout, at least in terms of total time. The workout was going to be very similar to racing this 4 mile event and with the quick turn around from Saturday, which was a 20 Mile Block Progression run to Monday’s workout I thought a race environment would be more motivation to make sure I got up and did what I needed to do.

We were in Bloomington all weekend, checking out Lindsey’s parents new house and celebrating her birthday. We ended up getting home later than planned on Sunday night, so I ended up sleeping in a little too much Monday. Quick coffee, bathroom, race shoes, and I was out the door. I was going to use the 2 mile run up The Monon as a warm up. I ran into Gabe and Dan, who were also running, and finished out the warm up with about 5 minutes to grab my bib and head to the start. It was a low key event so the time crunch was not an issue.

For those who are familiar with Broad Ripple or the old Drumstick Dash course, The Ripple Effect started us on Compton right by the High School. No timing mat, just a spray painted line and a start sign. It was a chipped race…but just at the end so if you wanted an exact time you needed to be on the line. I lined up in front with about 15 other guys and one or two girls…I of course did a check “eye test” and I liked my chances for a good race. I knew a “W” was out of the question as I recognized John Poray (sub 5 racer) but thought I could go Top 5 if I raced well.

They yelled start and we were off. John and a young kid immediately take off running about 4:30 or so and I follow behind in about 5:10 with 6 other guys. By the time we hit Guilford (.25 miles in) we settled into a more reasonable pace of about 5:20 or so…fast but the first mile of these local races seems to be quick.

By the time we dump out onto College, it is me and two other guys with two in front of us and then the leaders…so I was in 7^thplace…which was fine with me. Before we knew it, we reeled in one of the guys off the front and hit the first mile in 5:23. We then continued north on College toward the river and Park Tudor. I knew when we got the river it would be a good chance to see what the group had, as you have to climb up a bit of a bridge and for a short Indy based race it is enough to jump the heart rate and create some burning. Sure enough as we climbed the bridge over the river, we dropped one of the group so now it was me and one other guy with three people in front of us.

We continued north on College toward 75^thand hit mile 2 in 5:41. As we headed back east on 75^th toward the Monon, we were going slightly uphill again. It is nothing really but it is enough that your pace and breathing notices. Another chance to see if the guy to my right had it going today. I surge toward The Monon and turn south on Westfield and as I turn I give a slight look back and created a bit of gap…now I just need to hold it. I am alone in 4^th.

I could see the guy in 3^rdup the road by about 20 seconds or so and I was focused on him. Catch him, reel him in, bring him back. He looked to be laboring…but so did I am sure…so I thought I could reel him back the last 1.5 miles. I hit mile 3 in 5:41 again but the gap didn’t seem to be closing. Maybe it was a little but nothing that was noticeable. It didn’t look like it was going to happen today. I needed to hold on to 4^th.

Remember that river we went over heading North? Well, we had to run over it again heading south this time. The incline on Westfield is not as noticeable as College but again it is enough to labor you. I get over it …by this point I am cramping and want to be done. I was tried from the week.

I make the slight left hand dogleg to continue on Westfield. I don’t sense anyone behind. I keep pushing. There’s the finishing chute.

I hear Lindsey before I see her. She was screaming (shocker) because apparently the guy I dropped was kicking strong. I finally see Lindsey and head toward the finishing chute. Boom. It’s over. Mile 4 5:44.

Stats:

Mile 1 – 5:23

Mile 2 – 5:41

Mile 3 – 5:41

Mile 4 – 5:44

Overall – 22:37

Place: 4^th

AG 30-34: 1st

Overall, I am happy with how the race went. I ran well and it was a great workout for the day. A lot better then suffering through K Repeats alone and who knows how they would have went considering the week I had just put in. I am also very please to see consistent pacing, at least on the last 3 miles, those two 5k’s I ran earlier this year I felt like I struggled to keep a good pace toward the end so I happy to see consistency once I came back to reality from the first mile.

Family after the race

Einsteins post race. Give Marshall an apple and you rock his world.

I finished out the day with 5 miles later to make it 11 for the day and then proceeded to drink too much Monday Night at the Mumford & Sons concert. I may or may not have thrown up out of a car window on the drive home…this has yet to be confirmed J. You would think a 30 year old would know better. Nope.

Mumford Tailgating

Mumford Concert

Anyway a good race and a great Labor Day weekend.

Questions: Do any Holiday races? Do you like Holiday races? I’m racing the Chicago Half this weekend, anyone else?

Chicago Marathon – Training Cycle #4 – Weeks 7 & 8

GlennHein — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 10:13:00 +0000

Chicago Marathon – Cycle #4 Weeks 7 & 8

113 Miles
14 Workouts
4 Quality Workouts
1 Race

This cycle started coming off of the Eagle Creek Trail Half so I was a little tired coming into it. I ended up moving the workout I was supposed to do on Monday by a couple of days to allow for a little more recovery from the race.

As it turns out I ended up doing the workout on my birthday. Happy Birthday to me. It was a great birthday present! Welcome to 30! It was a nine mile run with 6 @ descending tempo going from 6:14 down to 5:52. Woof. Doing this run at midday was a great idea to by the way. Also I had signed up to run a 5K on Thursday so doing the workout Wednesday was going to make for a tough run @ the 5K but I wasn’t too worried about as I was running the 5K as another workout and I had not raced one in a long time.

Speaking of that 5K. You can read about it here! It sucked….I will however be running on next cycle. The way the workouts fall next week will line up nicely for a good 5K race. I am hoping to take a run at 17:00 flat.

So I have now raced twice in one week and had a long tempo run…so by the time Sunday rolled around I really wasn’t feeling it and that was a good thing since I had my first 20 mile run of training since I pushed my 20 two weeks ago when my hamstring flared up. The plan is still getting in all four 20s…just means moving a couple of things around. Sunday’s workout was 20 miles with the last six at a descending tempo pace. It was not fun. I left early Sunday and went up straight up the Monon with my Hammer flask. This allowed me to get water on the trail and not have to carry a bottle…which I liked. Man oh man…those last six were fun! 6:40, 6:30, 6:22, 6:22, 6:19, 6:14. Woof.

Overall a good week.

Week 8. More of the same. It is week 2 of the cycle so it only had two workouts and easy runs the ret of the week. That is always a nice little bonus. Wednesday’s workout was a 9 mile run with 7 @ tempo. Up until this week, I had been doing about 6 mile tempos so it was time to move things up this week. The goal is to get up to 9/10 @ tempo by the end of training. Since this was the first week doing 7, I backed the pace off slightly to make sure that I got through the workout. It felt pretty good. Managed to do about 6:11-6:15 for the 7.

Couple of easy runs Thursday and Friday. 10 miles and 8 miles.

Saturday’s run was 17 steady with Collin, Mike, and Josh on the Monon. 6:40 pace. Good working effort. We decided to pick it up the last two miles. 6:22 and 5:49. Good run. No fuel. Felt good. Week done. Rode the bike trainer Sunday and watched Breaking Bad…currently on episode 5 of Season 3. No running for sure. I picked up a new CycleOps Fluid trainer and I could definitely feel the difference from my old crappy unit. This will serve me well here in the next couple of years. Just need a powermeter now.

After the hamstring a couple of weeks ago I am extra cautious about the leg. After Saturday’s run…I can tell for sure that I need a day off from running. The milage is lower this cycle and that is fine. The workouts are getting done and the important thing is getting to the start line feeling healthy and strong.

Week 8 was good. It’s funny. I keep thinking about that 5K I ran last week. I struggled…I mean really struggled to run that 17:40 (5:40 pace) and today at mile 17 of the run today we bust out a 5:49 like no big deal. I mean it hurt but nothing crazy. Running is a funny thing like that…sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesn’t go well….either way just stay after it. Be consistent and it will pay off.

The next two weeks is more of the same…just more intense. Things are really starting to ramp up. 8 weeks to go. Get fit. Get strong. Do Work. Get Fast. It will pay off….oh and I’m getting that 17:00 @ that 5K.

When 20 miles turned into 16.

OutForARunAdmin — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 17:00:00 +0000

My mind has been in a million different directions about pulling the trigger on a marathon in September. I’m not totally properly trained to PR for it, but thought if I hit this 20 miler I had today how I wanted, that it would be possible. Not your typical 12-18 week training session for a marathon, but coming of my July 70.3, the endurance is fine, just needed to get the run time in. I know it’s a bit of a rush, but timing wise it’s really the only weekend I have free this fall to do a marathon.

The 20 miles were going great. I felt strong, confident and was not worried about keeping pace. My plan was to w/u 1 mile, then run 3 X 5 miles at MP or slightly faster, with a 1 mile recovery mile between sets and 2 miles c/d.

I did go out the first set a little fast, but I felt like a million bucks. I felt like a runner who is much tougher than I actually see myself. Then I got to mile 13. That is way to early to bonk on a 20 miler. But it happened. I know it looks like I went out way to hard on my first set and maybe I did a bit, but I really believe on the right day, I would have been able to own the last set of 5 at that pace or faster. I my head, on my second set, I was honestly trying to conserve a bit so that I could dominate the last set. whomp, whomp.

Here are my splits:

Mile 1- 7:47 (warm up)

Mile 2- 6:57
Mile 3- 7:02
Mile 4- 7:03
Mile 5- 7:02
Mile 6- 6:59

Mile 7- 7:36 (Recovery Mile)

Mile 8- 7:00
Mile 9- 7:03
Mile 10- 7:05
Mile 11- 7:07
Mile 12- 7:18

Mile 13- 7:48 (recovery mile)

Here, I decided, I’d take an extra recovery mile and regroup. The nice things about hitting 86th street heading south on the monon is you are shaded and there starts to be a very slight downhill. You wouldn’t necessarily know it but your pace will prove it to you every time. Unless you have the run I had today…. So I thought I could maybe hold it together, but this is what happened next:

Mile 14-7:37
Mile 15- 7:58
Mile 16- 8:33

…..

When I hit 16, I stopped for a minute to regroup evaluate what was going on. I NEVER stop to do that. I just slow down if I need to. I hate stopping. But right then, I needed to and I made the decision to call it day. I felt incredibly dehydrated. I’ve had an annoying cold since Wednesday. It felt at it’s worst yesterday and I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. But, when I took gel and had some water around mile 13 I felt heavy in the head and a little dizzy. The cold was like “hey remember me, I’m still invading your body haha, try running 7 more miles, I dare you.” So I tried.

Back at mile 13 when I started feeling iffy, I really thought I could muster up around a 7:15 pace for five more miles. I thought perhaps I’d break the set of five into a couple smaller sets to wrap my mind and body around it. But it just wasn’t happening.

I asked a nice lady walking her dog if I could use her phone to call Glenn and he and Marshall came and got me. Glenn never gives me a pity party. Like ever. So, that’s fine, but I felt like crying and just wanted to curl up and sulk because I felt so terrible. I just wanted to be a baby ok. Well the only baby in the car was in the back seat and he was crying and Glenn was just like “get over it.” Tough love at it’s finest.

I don’t know what the conclusion of this run will be. I’m tapering now for the Indy Women’s half in two weeks and the marathon I was thinking about running is two weeks after that. There really won’t be time to get a solid 20 before. Yes, I could get to 20 the day I run that half- but I plan on running that race so hard that the thought of running cool down miles would make me throw up.

The race I’ve really trained to PR at is the half. I can’t help but think it weather is good I could pull off a nice little PR in the marathon two weeks after that. The conditions just straight up sucked at Shamrock in March. I’ve sad it a million times, but I’ve never in my life ran in a headwind like that and without it, at this marathon, I think I’d have a fair shot at 3:10. What sucks is I was using this 20 miler as my real gauge to see what my body would tell me.

So there’s that. I think I’ll reevaluate again after the half in two weeks.

What I know is- I really hate quitting. I’m really not a big fan of the phrase “listen to your body” because if we did that all the time, we’d quit a lot more. We wouldn’t push nearly as hard as we are capable. I’m not being a grouch by saying that- there are certainly times when you need to. Today was truly a day that I needed to listen to my body. I seriously would have shuffled in at 9 minute miles, feeling dizzy and terrible and what would be the point of that. I honestly can’t remember a time that I’ve ever just quit a long run early. I’ve slowed down and finished in a pace slower than I wanted, but I’ve never just stopped in the long run. I did that today- I walked of shamed it from 75th to Broad Ripple Ave. where Glenn and Marshall came and got me. That’s ok, but yeah I’m a little bummed.

Stay tuned about that marathon, I like making last minute decisions sometimes.

Have you ever quit a workout? Why?

To you- when does the phrase “Listen to your body” really mean you need to stop?

Chicago Race Prep – Cycle #2: Week 3 & 4

GlennHein — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 10:23:00 +0000

Week 3

63 Miles

6 Workouts

3 Quality Sessions

Week 4

72 Miles

7 Workouts

2 Quality Sessions

Total for Cycle #2 of 7

135 miles

13 Workouts

5 Quality Sessions

Overall I am happy with where I am at in training thus far. The end of week 4 was kind of hectic but I was able to get things in.

To begin week 3 I tried a new workout , at least for me, the K (1,000 M or .62 miles) repeat. I am very familiar with the mile repeat but running a K repeat was kind of new to me. It was done at a pace faster then the mile…probably something similar to an 800 repeat. I ended up with seven of them for the session. It was a heck of a workout and definitely something I would do again in training.

The rest of week 3 was pretty standard except for the long run on the weekend. Lindsey had her 70.3 race Saturday and I was in charge of Marshall on Sunday, which was the slotted date for the week’s long run. I ended up switching Saturday and Sunday as doing the long run on Saturday while in Muncie for the race as that was going to a lot easier then trying to figure out 16 with Marshall. I could bang out 8 miles on the treadmill with him napping the next day no problem…but 16 would be tough.

I ended up doing the 16 when Lindsey was on the bike portion of the race. It was nice actually as I was able to run on closed roads and got to see her multiple times out on the bike course. I definitely got some funny looks from some bikers as I was running down the highway shirtless banging out 6:40s…they were like what the heck is this guy doing?!?!?! Finished up the run and was able to hop on one of Greg’s bikes and see Lindsey multiple times while she was finishing her race.

Week 4 brought some craziness for the end of the week.

Monday ran, Tuesday ran, Wednesday ran. Nothing to report. I did nail my progression tempo run on Wednesday.

Thursday. Pearl Jam was playing Wrigley Field on Friday and I didn’t have tickets. I put in for tickets through the 10Club but didn’t score any…which was not surprising considering Pearl Jam fans are crazy and this show was one of the highest demand tickets EVER!!! As it got closer to the show, I was really trying to find a ticket…I couldn’t just help myself. I had the opportunity to purchase tickets through the Cubs Season Tickets Holders Pre-Sale but for whatever reason I decided to pass…I’m not sure what I was thinking. So I was left scrambling for a ticket week of. Long story short through the power of twitter I randomly found a girl in Northwest Indiana selling her ticket for face value (unheard for this show…people were getting $400-$500 per ticket) at about 11PM Thursday night. Looks like I’m going to the show tomorrow! Hello. I’ll figure out my runs later. Pearl Jam wins.

Get up Friday, do my run, fake it at work for a couple of hours and then head up to Chicago. Pick up my ticket. Get to Wrigley. Meet up with some friends. Showtime! If you don’t know Pearl Jam they are known for fan loyalty and for putting on legendary and lengthy shows so combine that with playing at Wrigley Field it was going to be a great night.

About six songs in…they make an announcement that they are playing one more song and then taking a break as some severe weather is getting ready to hit the area. Annoying. Whatever. No big deal. Band and staff thought it would be about 30-45 minutes later. 3 hours later! Still not playing as more weather came through. The band ends up coming back on stage at about 11:50 and plays until 2:00 AM when they were told they finally have to stop! It was great. Hard to beat this band.

Back to my running though…so I was scheduled to do 18 miles on Saturday and I just didn’t see that happening. I got up in Chicago and decided to do 11 miles along the Lakefront. That was terrible. It was probably the 3-4 hours of sleep but whatever. Over it. I needed to get back to Indy. I had Beerfest to attend with some friends.

I got back to Indy around 2:30, take a shower, and head out the door again for some Beerfest action. Well Beerfest is Beerfest. Great time but come 9:00 PM I am ready exhausted.

Sunday called for that 18 I switched out on Saturday. I didn’t have it in to run 18 on the road so I decided to head over to Eagle Creek West and run trails for 2 hours. It was a nice change of pace and it was great prep for my trail half race coming up in two weeks. I’d like to try and win so we will see what happens.

Overall, the end of week 4 was pretty nutty but I was able to get the miles in with some flexibility. I think that is key to marathon training success. You have to be persistence and diligent in your training but you also have to be flexible when things come up….like Pearl Jam concerts. Don’t be so obsessive that you keep yourself from doing things you really want to do once in a while.

Also thanks to Lindsey for my Christmas in July weekend!

How is everyone’s training going? Any Fall races? Anbody racing the Eagle Creek Half that I need to worry about? Did you go to the Pearl Jam concert?

Chicago Marathon – Week 2

GlennHein — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 01:39:00 +0000

Week 2 Done.
7 runs
69 miles
2 Quality Sessions: Speed & Steady State Long Run

Cycle #1 Done.
14 runs
125 miles
5 Quality Sessions

Well I’ve made it further into this Quality phase then I did with the Carmel Marathon in the spring….so that is a plus. Also, that month off turned into three…but I’m back and getting ready to run a sub 2:45. No complaining here.

The week was fairly uneventful. Only two quality workouts this week, compared to the three last week. With using a two week cycle for this marathon I essentially get 5 quality workouts in 14 days with 3 coming the first week and 2 coming the second week. I have studied and thought about using a two week cycle for a year or two now so I am excited to finally put it into action. So far so good.

The Speed workout was good. It was Wednesday with the group. Sean came out and ran the repeats with me. Read about it here.

The other quality run was a 16 mile steady state run with Collin, and Mike for the first 5, on Saturday up and down the Monon. The Fam went up to CP for the 4th so I was up in the air about being back in town for the workout but we decided to head home Friday night at Marshall’s bed time so I was able to run with Collin on Saturday. I’m glad that I did. Collin is a heck of a runner, he recently ran a 2:51 marathon @ Cleveland this May so he provides a great training partner.

I like to do a lot of my workouts alone but sometimes it is good to have someone there. I needed that on Saturday. I wasn’t really feeling it but the run ended up being pretty good. No fuel. Even paces. Light rain. Solid run. Ran 6:27 per mile…which was a little quick on the pace but the splits were even so I am not going to complain. It was a good workout but I am for sure looking forward to an “easier” long run this coming weekend after two tough sessions in this cycle.

I ended up not taking any rest days last week. Depending on how I am feeling I usually take a rest day every 7-10 days. I felt good last week so I didn’t take any days off. Over the last couple of weeks…the rest day has been coming closer to 10 then 7. That should work out to about one rest day per cycle. I think I can handle that…and if I need another rest day I have no problem taking it. Rest is just as important as training. Speaking of rest days….I am now ready for a rest day.

Today kicked off Cycle #2, Week 3 and it was a tough workout. It was the 10th day in a row and I am ready to rest tomorrow. Ready.

This coming cycle is more of the same. Lots of running. Doing work and getting fast. Lindsey has her 70.3 this weekend…so I’ll be on coach/sherpa/psychologist/husband duty this week and weekend. She’ll do great! She is ready! I just need to figure out the long run. My long run is supposed to be on Sunday but I’ll have Bub all day so I might flip the weekend and do the long run on the Muncie course while Lindsey is riding…it will be a lot easier then trying to coordinate 16-18 miles on Sunday with Marsh. We’ll see.

Late Edit: Pearl Jam announced a tour today!!!! Who’s going? I am thinking about Baltimore right now…or maybe one of the Philly shows. Or Charlottesville. I’m not sure. Nothing is super close. The Pitt show is closest but bad timing with the race. Either way I am going to a show. Not sure if Lindsey will want to go or not…anybody interested? Only if you are not a creep though.

Question: How often do you take rest days? Are they scheduled or taken when needed? What do you think about the PJ tour dates

Group Speed Sessions and today’s repeats

GlennHein — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 18:15:00 +0000

Lindsey had the idea a couple of months back to organize and offer group speed sessions as part of Coaching services and I have got to say that I love it. Not just from a coaching perspective but personally I love it. All speeds and runners are welcome. Its free and you get a great workout. If you are in Indy…think about joining us. We will be out there every Wednesday getting it.

There is something good about doing a workout as a group. All out there getting it done. Supporting each other. Hanging out afterwards. Its an environment that breeds success if you ask me. I mean don’t get me wrong I still do a vast majority of my workouts alone. I like them alone but once a week its nice to have the group to push and support. It is a different mental game doing them alone and I believe there is great value in that as come race day its just you and the clock. But there is also great benefit in being to feed off the group, push yourself with group. Group suffering is also good. I guess, as just with everything else, there is a balancing act between group and solo work.

We have been doing them now for 4 weeks and I have made two them. We try and alternate who attends since apparently Marshall is unable to watch himself and it is frowned upon if we leave him alone…whatever responsibility.

Today was my turn to attend. The workout called for 3 x 1 mile repeats with 2:00-3:00 recovery and the option for a 4th for whoever wanted to flex their muscle :).

I ran up from the house to meet the group. Its about a two mile run up the Monon to our meeting place by Einstein’s. It was pretty foggy outside this morning…which is pretty strange for July in Indiana but the weather has been kind of weird lately so who knows. We had another great group out this morning ready to do work at 5:30. I love it! Its an early start but with jobs, the heat, and everything else it is just easier to get the session done early then have it hanging over your head all day.

Amy, Jake, Gabe, Meghan, Jeff, Blake, and Sean were all ready to go when I got there. We warmed up about a mile and half and then it was time to work.

Sean is getting ready for his first marathon, the Monumental Marathon downtown, and is a heck of a runner…I mean he took 3rd in state for Cross Country, has a 1:14:xx Half PR and ran for a year or two at IU before retiring so I was glad to have him out there to do some work with me.

The Workout:
Mile 1 – 5:28
Mile 2 – 5:33
Mile 3 – 5:33
Mile 4 – 5:26

That last mile hurt. The goal was to run them in about 5:30 – 5:34 so I was happy with the splits. The weather helped today…last time we did this workout it was obscenely hot and humid for even 5:45.

Everyone in the group was working hard up and down the Monon. Amy tweeted earlier that she took 20 secs per mile off her previous splits from the last time we did the workout. I’m telling you work works. She will kill her PR here in the fall! It will be exciting to see!!

Once everyone was done with their workout we did another group cool down about another mile and half….well it was kind of a group cool down. Jake had a false alarm with his keys. He thought they had went missing so we were up and down the trail looking for them but they never turned up. Turns out they did a little hide and seek in his compression shorts and were found once Jake changed. HAHA. I’m glad they turned up because if it was me that would have drove me crazy. Ask Lindsey, I can’t stand losing or not being able to find something. I have to look until I find it. I have to.

Finished the run off with another two miles back to house. It feels good to have about 11 miles with some speed done before 7:30.

With it being 4th of July this week, I ended up taking today and Friday off…so that is nice. Just hanging with Marsh and Lindsey today and then I think we are going to head up to CP for the 4th to see my family and best friend, who just had a baby.

Also Lindsey is allegedly running the Firecracker 6 tomorrow downtown. She’s already nervous. Weather should be good. We’ll see how she can hammer. 6 miles is hard. Its long enough to be into endurance but short enough to really push. Its a tough distance. Next up for me after some easy runs tomorrow and Friday is 16 steady state miles @ 6:35. I’ll be doing this alone.

Oh and I think we might go check out the new Earth Fare in Carmel later. We like to keep it hippie and organic.

Have a great 4th! Happy birthday America! Come run with us next week!

Questions: Do you like running with a group? What about tough sessions alone? Racing any 4th of July events?