You must be swift as the coursing river (as long as it's the Lazy River) - comments welcome

[avondale]

This was also my first run with the Coros armband

Maybe I missed this...what is this?

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Maybe I missed this...what is this?

It's a new-ish form of HR monitor. Consensus seems to be that it's almost as accurate as a chest strap and much better than a wrist-based monitor. And for me it seems significantly more accurate than a chest strap, because when I tried a chest strap, my data was a mess

 

[azrivest]

@WillRunForPizza has her own bib boards!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

View attachment 927816

@WillRunForPizza has her own bib boards!

I need to be able to give this both a and a ! Perfection, lol!

 

[nancipants]

I need to be able to give this both a and a ! Perfection, lol!

I saw them and said “WillRunForPizza needs these!”

 

[WillRunForPizza]

January 6 - 12, 2025
Half marathon training week 6 | 42 days until Princess Half Marathon
In which fueling is hard



Monday
Yoga

Today was meditation, which was good in that it was not at all strenuous but less good in that I struggle with meditation. I get fidgety .

Tuesday
Easy/strides: 6.2 miles (9:41), avg. HR 152, max 176
Upper body strength/core

I really, really did not want to run. I was freezing walking my dog and I just wanted to stay under the covers with some hot chocolate. But I finally forced myself to go upstairs after lunch and do my strength training to warm up some, and then I felt a little better.

The run still wasn't great. My legs felt heavy and my HR was higher than I was expecting. That could just be from running in the afternoon, though - I don't do it often enough to have a good sense of the impact. Or from running right after strength.

Wednesday
Workout: 9 10 mile progression + 1 mile CD
11 miles, avg. HR 156, max 188
Lower body strength





Surprisingly after Monday's doldrums, this run actually felt great. I wasn't even mad that I did bad running math and started my M pace mile a mile late, which meant I had to run an extra mile . My M and HM miles were pretty close. The 10K mile was about 15 seconds fast even with several sharp turns, but I didn't feel like I was going all-out or anything, which made me happy. Especially remembering 3 1/2 weeks ago when I was struggling massively to run 3 miles at M pace at the end of a run .

I decided I could use my race shoes (Asics Metaspeed Edge Paris), so I spent most of the first half of the run trying to slow down so I didn't get too fast too fast again. I also gave up and wore capris, which were actually quite comfortable. Normally I greatly prefer flowy shorts, but maybe I have been too firm on that. I also wore long sleeves and gloves and was pretty happy with my choices. (Have I mentioned that I really dislike the cold?)

In my journey towards higher-carb fueling, I had about 80g of carbs during this run (3 UCAN gels + 1 serving of Skratch). The mocha UCAN is still quite bitter but really does give me a boost, so I guess I will keep using it. Still not at legit high-carb fueling levels, but getting closer with no ill effects so far. The goal for workouts of <90 min (which is what this would have been if I hadn't accidentally added an extra mile) is 60g/hr, and this was more like 50.



Thursday
Easy: 5 miles (10:06), avg. HR 144, max 163
Core

I think I overlearned the lessons from Tuesday's run, because I definitely overdressed . I was still a bit achy, especially in the first mile. Otherwise it was pretty easy, except when I had to speed up to pass someone smoking along the trail .

I think maybe my supershoes make my calves sore? They were quite sore after the marathon, but I attributed that to, you know, the marathon. But my calves were also sore after running 11 miles on Wednesday, so it might have been a shoe thing. Maybe I should practice with them more so that my legs get used to them? Or is that just going to get me injured?

Friday
Easy/strides: 6.2 miles (9:39), avg. HR 148, max 178

It was a bit breezy but relatively comfortable by the time I got out. I had taken a massage gun to my calves and they felt a lot better.

I did my core workout on Thursday so I could go to the meetup in the afternoon! Even though I was not running this weekend, it was great to see so many people there! I hope everyone got what they were looking for out of the weekend.

Saturday
Easy/pickup: 10 miles, avg. HR 150, max 170
Total body strength



Finally, I could wear shorts and a t-shirt again. I am tired of 40s. (Unfortunately they were back Sunday. And next week. Yes I know I am a wimp.)

Since I did a progression run for my workout, it seemed silly to do another one for this run. I still picked it up a little in the second half but just stayed at kind of a steady pace instead of continuing to get faster.

I also worked on higher fueling again. I think I had about 80g of carbs on this run, so... *maths furiously*...50g per hour? So that was a gel every 20 minutes and is still well under the target (which is 75-90g/hour).

Sunday
Long: 20 min easy + 8 x 1 mile/90s RI + 18 min easy
13.1 miles, avg. HR 165, max 187




What an adventure

It was chilly when I went out - my sympathies to everyone who was running the marathon! (Unless you're the kind of weirdo who likes that, I guess .) I wore long sleeves (my 2023 marathon shirt, in solidarity!), capris, crew socks, and gloves and was freezing for the first mile. Then by mile 3 I was hot . I pushed my sleeves up and rolled my socks down but kept the gloves on until about halfway through.

I did take one glove off briefly during the second recovery interval so I could add another podcast to my playlist. Of course, as soon as I took my eyes off the ground, I tripped over an uneven bit of sidewalk and went flying . Luckily the only damage seemed to be a tiny scrape on my hand. I don't even think anyone even saw me, so it basically doesn't count .

So my thinking for this workout was to start around M pace and work my way down. The first rep was a bit faster and a bit harder than I thought it should be, but the first rep is always kind of rough. It did still feel hard after that, but not significantly harder for the most part, even though I did get faster. (Except for reps 4 and 5 which were up and down my one hill. Those did feel significantly harder.)

After the hills, my legs were pretty tired (probably Saturday's 10-miler and strength also contributed). I wasn't sure I would be able to keep getting faster, but I did. I even finished faster than I thought I would. Then I was feeling quite done but recovered after a few minutes and ended the run with a speedy-ish cool down .

I am still working on fueling more, so I had 6 gels and most of a serving of Skratch on this run (plus half a liter of plain water for the GUs), so 140g of carbs or about 75g per hour. It was...an experience. First, that's a LOT of gels. I was kind of sick of them by the end. They also made my stomach feel weirdly full. I say weirdly because it was a different feeling being full of liquid than being full of food, which I am more accustomed to. I actually kind of felt like they might come back up at a couple points, which was also weird because I didn't feel nauseous at all, just like I might throw up. I didn't though! So anyway, more practice needed, and possibly higher-carb gels so that I don't have to take quite so many of them. I have a few coming in from The Feed next week, and hopefully that will help.

Totals
Running: 7h 50m, 51.6 miles
Strength/mobility: 1h 33m
Total: 9h 23m



A pretty good week overall, but more importantly, congrats to everyone who ran at MW this weekend! I hope you all had fantastic races despite the logistical snafus on rD's part . Sorry I didn't make it to the marathon today, but I've been loving all the updates from the MW thread!

Coming up


I'm gonna have to run up and down the hill like 10 times during that long run, aren't I...

 

[avondale]

I was freezing walking my dog and I just wanted to stay under the covers with some hot chocolate.

Did you even LOOK at the weather in the DC area for Mon/Tue while you were "freezing"? LOL We got about 9 inches of snow in Silver Spring. My university had two days off because of the snow, and a lot of the public schools had 3 - 4 days off. It's almost a week later and the stupid stuff is still around because it's been so cold all week! Take the 40s F and enjoy them!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Did you even LOOK at the weather in the DC area for Mon/Tue while you were "freezing"? LOL We got about 9 inches of snow in Silver Spring. My university had two days off because of the snow, and a lot of the public schools had 3 - 4 days off. It's almost a week later and the stupid stuff is still around because it's been so cold all week! Take the 40s F and enjoy them!

Yes. It looked terrible. But 40 is still too cold