On the road again...
2nd week of marathon training for me. An easy 3 miles this morning.
I write. I read. I run. One time, I ran a lot on my 50th birthday.
Paul
Good luck on the marathon training Paul!
I think I'm running with Shashi again this Tuesday at 8:00 (Shashi, if you see this let me know for sure), and then we're going to try for some speed work at the Ashbrook track on Thursday at 7:00 (Ashley, don't forget those rules of etiquette you found... I for one need them).
Saturday is one of the biggest Charlotte Grand Prix races of the year: the double points Run for Your Life 4-miler. Anybody else running it?
Richard Hefner Past Race Results (Athlinks)
Good luck Paul.
I ran 5 easy tonight.
This will be an easy week for me. Recovery time. Too much speed, hills, and asphalt the last few weeks. I'm thinking seriously of trying to find nothing but greenways, and dirt paths for a majority of my training runs going forward. I'll try to hit another "over 20" week, just easy pace and no hills.
I ran about 3.5 today on the treadmill (approximate because the darn thing at the Y reset the milage to zero at 30 minutes while I was not looking). With kids home in the summer its been hard getting out for a run. I
Richard, I'll make our Tuesday run at 8:00.
under a rock
I'll bring the article on Thursday! I might not actually do any speed work though. I did 7 miles yesterday and ended up with very sore left hip after. I need to cut back on my miles and look for some different shoes. It's clear there is a hitch in my gait somewhere. I may end up seeing if I need orthotics, it's like I have two different legs. I have a feeling I'll have to change my HM plans.
I am planning on doing the 4 miler this weekend, assuming my hip feels well enough!
I'll bring the article on Thursday! I might not actually do any speed work though. I did 7 miles yesterday and ended up with very sore left hip after. I need to cut back on my miles and look for some different shoes. It's clear there is a hitch in my gait somewhere. I may end up seeing if I need orthotics, it's like I have two different legs. I have a feeling I'll have to change my HM plans. I am planning on doing the 4 miler this weekend, assuming my hip feels well enough!
This may or may not be helpful, but is your pain on the outside of the hip and possibly also the outside of the left knee? At the end of 08, I found myself with quite a bit of pain in the lower outside right knee and it eventually showed up in my right butt cheek. I was pretty freaked out because here I had just started running only 8 months earlier and I had heard so much about IT bands and how if you develop issues they can last forever. Well, someone on another thread suggested using a knee sleeve to keep the knee in place while I ran, and that plus stretching did the trick.
Don't know if it will apply in your case, but it worked wonders for me. I also bought a foam roller and use it a number of times each week. It hurts, but it works out the muscles on the side of my thighs.
Hey Ashley... I appreciate you joining us even if you're not up to doing the speed work. Sorry to hear about your pain. Just looking at your log, I wonder if maybe you're getting enough short runs? Maybe the 6- and 7-mile runs are a bit much at this stage and you should be doing maybe 4 or 5 days a week of short runs like 3 miles or so then gradually work one of those up by an extra mile every week or two. That's a slower process for sure, but I think it would be easier on your body, and time flies when you're having fun ya know, so it really doesn't seem that long over time.
Another thing I've heard a lot of experienced runners say is don't work on speed until you build up a good base of miles. Just run your miles at a nice comfortable pace, then when you're up to 30 miles or so per week start adding in a day of speed work. That's basically what I did and it worked fine (although I know we're all different). I'm just now starting to try some speed training but just the gradual extra miles made me a lot faster without doing any speed work at all. And of course you've heard people say how as you add in speed work you're more likely to get hurt.
Anyhoo, that's my 2 cents worth, and I probably know less than everybody else here but I do hope you get it straightened out... would hate to lose you back to the horses!
Ashley, I have to agree with Richard, I think you are trying to make the most of the time you get out running by running a longer distance than your body is used to right now.
Dial it back down to 3-4 miles, and try to run atleast 4 times a week, Try not to take two days off in a row. The Saturday long run can be 6-7 miles, but a whole lot slower than you are running right now. I rarely run under 10 min/mile on my easy and long runs. The purpose of the long run is not speed, but time spent at an aerobic effort. If you are going much beyond your aerobic threshhold, you are defeating the purpose of the long run which is to build your aerobic system, and time spent at anaerobic paces negatively impacts this development. The long run ideally should be at your 5 K pace + 2 min/mile. For your 26 min 5K which comes out to about 8:25 min/miles run your long run and easy runs at 10:20- 10:30 pace. You can push the pace on one of your runs maybe to 9:00 min/miles for a couple of miles at most , and no need for any faster stuff at this time.
Once you run at his level for a couple of months, add in another day of easy running, and then start adding distance to each of the runs (add to only 1 of the runs in the week) When you are comfortable running atleast 25-30 MPW, then think of track workouts.
Thanks for the input guys. You have some great advice. Of course it's all stuff I've heard and read but it helps to have other people remind you!
I already decided last night to scrap the speed work for the next few months or more and to find a different HM later in the fall. I'm still only going to run 3 days a week. I just can't do more. I could add one more really easy day but I know I can't handle 5 days. I like to have more recovery time between runs and I cross train on those days.
As far as slowing down I find the 9:30 range very comfortable for me, I don't feel over taxed or winded when I do a run at that pace. If I slow down much more than a 10:00 min pace I just don't feel good and I don't enjoy myself. The only time I like going slower than that is when I have the stroller. I do start out at a 10:00+ pace then allow my body to find a comfortable pace and keep it. I truly only look at my watch at the first mile to make sure I'm not going too fast and then again when I'm done. I'm not trying for speed on my longer runs, I just do what feels right.
I was following a training program and that's why I did some speed work the other day because it had it scheduled. I wish my husband had been the voice of reason then and told me no. He tells me afterwards that he thought it was too soon. I'll admit I am competitive and overly motivated at times and need to have the hand of reason smacked upside my head from time to time. I don't want to let this hip get the best of me so I'm going to do what it takes to keep it from turning into a real injury.
So no more speed work, cut mileage, new shoes, and I'm going to make an appt with a specialist to make sure my legs/hips aren't too out of whack. Who knows what having a baby did to my body, so have a Dr check it me out will be a good thing.
I know what you mean by comfortable pace, run at whatever pace comes naturally, don't force slowing it down or speeding up.
However as you increase your mileage, you will find that you are running slower naturally. At about 35-40 MPW, the 10min/mile pace will start to feel like tempo workouts until you get used to the mileage.
I have read that more than a day off between workouts mean you basically lost the stimulus of your last workout. The basic principle behind mileage is that you are running on slightly fatigued legs and the next workout builds on that. You should not recover completely from your previous run. Even a very easy 2 miler is preferable than not running at all. The slower/shorter runs are fun, not actual workouts, yet are helping your training.
Speed workouts are primarily for leg turnover. I bet that you can run a 7 min/mile right now, so we all have plenty of speed at our level, its the endurance to hold that for a longer distance that needs work. A once a week 20 min tempo run gets you the most bang for the training mile. A tempo run for me is anything over my every day easy pace.
This is where we differ. I don't feel that running less takes away from your running fitness. I've read in different sources that if you need to take a day off between each run then go with it. Everyone is different. I know in the past when I've run too much I feel slower and just don't want to run. I prefer to cross train. There are some things in running that can't be argued with but there are a lot of ideas, theories, practices that work for some and not others. Back when I ran before I never ran more than four days a week and actually ran longer races faster than shorter races. I'm the queen of watching everybody fly past me in the beginning and picking them off one by one as I go along.
I know that right now I can't compare what I did 7 years ago with what I do today but, I never lost speed as my mileage went up. I actually used to train under 9:00 miles on long runs (15 miles) and felt fine. I don't expect myself to do that now but I do know I like a bit more speed than others. If I take my speed away I won't want to run. So if running marathons means I lose too much speed then I won't enjoy marathons and will stick with shorter distances.
I think where I went wrong here is going along with a written training program instead of just doing what I felt was right for me. I know I like to increase in half miles or less. This program has me moving up a mile at a time, I just don't like that.
Also my previous shoes were too stiff. I was getting the feeling last week that they weren't working and Monday proved it. I just got back from The Charlotte Running Co. They video taped me running on the treadmill. It was interesting to see my foot placement. My left and right feet do travel a bit differently. I tend to land really hard on my left heal every few strides and my left leg overpronates more but it's not severe.
Ashley, glad that you found one possible explanation for your hip pain. Hope the shoes will fix that. You are correct in that there are many theories about what works for running, and you have to find out what really works for you.
I also agree that if you are not running but are getting in some other form of cross training, you might be getting the same aerobic benefit with less injury risk. I think that one needs to work out atleast 4-5 times a week to keep improving. If one or 2 of those are bike rides/swim/soccer etc, that's fine by me. I know a 60 year old 5 time iron man (started running in his 50s like our own Richard here) who rarely runs more than 3 times a week (about 25 MPW), but can run a 3:30 Marathon, so obviously the bike and swim are helping him with the run.