Race Smart: Run the Tangents

• 0 • 13.1 Training, Running

runningthetangents

It’s my taper week!  Only a few easy miles of running left before my fourth half marathon.  I like to spend the week before any big race finding non-running ways to prepare for the big day.  I drink more green smoothies, stop drinking alcohol, and reduce my caffeine intake.  I try to go to bed earlier.

I also strategize EVERY possible non-running way I can improve my race experience.

Here’s one I just discovered – running the tangents!  Greg evidently has been doing this for years, and he’s the one who explained it to me.

Tangents: Race courses are measured using the most direct route possible, measuring the shortest way to navigate the course.  Most of us, however, don’t run the shortest path.  We choose a spot on the road, and wind along in our same position related to the sides of the road.

You can run a shorter course if you pay attention to how the road is curving and run the tangents.  This means you’ll be crossing from one side of the street to the other as the road curves, so it’s not a great strategy if it’s a packed course.  (Not only would it be rude and potentially dangerous to continuously cross in front of people, you’d also lose time trying to wind your way safely around other competitors.)  But if the course thins out, it might be the easiest way to take a few minutes off your race time.

13.25

When I don’t run the tangents, it’s a longer course: When I ran my first half marathon, completely oblivious to the tangents, my Garmin calculated that I ran 13.25 miles, with an average pace of 11:03.  If I’d run just 13.1 miles at that pace, I would have brought my time down from 2:26:23 to 2:24:45.  That’s the difference between under 2:25 or not!  Two minutes makes a difference if you’re reaching for a time goal, or if, like me, you’re so relieved to have the race over.  Think about running two more minutes next time you cross the finish line and perhaps you’ll appreciate the power of the tangent!

Running tangents is easier for Greg who takes off with the front of the pack.  His past few half marathons he’s finished in the top 100 of competitors, while I didn’t even finish in the top 1,000.  It’s a little more packed with runners where I am!  But I’m going slower so it’s not as dangerous to get around people once it thins out 😉

Happy racing!

Why I probably won’t sign up for a half marathon next fall

• 5 • 13.1 Training, My Running

My last few weeks of half marathon training before I taper have been a challenge!  Will’s school teachers caught a nasty cold virus that led to respiratory problems, and they were short-staffed enough to close for two days last week… so I unexpectedly missed a long run that I’d scheduled for Friday morning.  I moved it to Saturday, but didn’t get out of bed in time, so decided I’d go Sunday.  Sunday rolled around and there were thunderstorms when I was supposed to be running 10 miles outside, so I ran 2 miles on the treadmill and folded laundry and cleaned the house while the babysitter was there instead.  I needed to get caught up, because Greg was gone on business and wouldn’t be back until late Tuesday night!  On top of having him gone, Will’s school had reopened but Will and Andrew had colds and couldn’t go.  No running Monday morning, either.

I could have done better at shifting my schedule to accommodate these changes than I did.  But it’s hard to spend all my free time running, and watch the house deteriorate around me, and my resiliency fade because I’m running when I could be sleeping.

It was exhilarating, exciting, and challenging when I made these types of sacrifices to train for my first half marathon.  It’s draining and unsustainable making these sacrifices month after month to train for my fourth half marathon.

I’m not ANYWHERE close to giving up running, but I think there’s a strong chance that I’ll train for a 10k next fall, instead.  Or perhaps run just the Chilly Half Marathon in November, which would give me a little extra time in the fall while the boys are in school to prepare.

I post these thoughts not to complain, but because it’s worth examining whether running half marathons is something that works well and adds value to my life right now.  I’m not sure it is.  I think fitting an hour long run in instead of a two hour run makes a huge difference to the amount of time required.  It’s the difference between making it back in time to join the boys for breakfast on a weekend, or squeezing the run in while they’re at school and still having time to grocery shop.  It’s not inconsequential.

I talked to another mother runner about this recently, and she actually trained for a MARATHON after her first child was born.  She was nursing at the time, so she would run 10-12 miles, come back, nurse her daughter, and then run 5 more miles on the treadmill.  It was an amazing accomplishment, and she’s an incredible woman!  But she said that afterwards, it was a relief to be off a training schedule.

When you’re training for something, you’re supposed to run speed workouts on a specific day, you schedule your long run for when you can do it, which might not be when you WANT to do it.

She said it was a huge relief after the race to once again be able to decide what she’d do after putting her running shoes on.  What do I feel like doing today?  Speed workouts?  A few miles easy to clear my head?  The freedom to just keep going and turn a 5 mile run into an 8 mile run because you FEEL like it sounds amazing.

I’ve never run 8 miles because I felt like it.  I’ve always run those miles because I was training for an event and the schedule told me to.

Maybe I just wouldn’t do it… but I’d love to think I would, and it’d be for me, not for the race, and it’d be beautiful.

In the meantime, I’m squeezing in whatever mileage I can, and taking full advantage of the beautiful fall weather to get the boys outside, doing some exercising of their own!  Long walks, biking in the driveway, and hiking through the local trails.  Doesn’t get better than that!

Think about your race schedule.  Is it motivating you, or taking over your life?  If you’re also having trouble training for distance events, a 5k or a 10k might be a good solution for you, too.  After all, people run 50 miles per week training for 5ks if they’re going for speed!  But you can manage a 5k running only 10 miles a week.  It allows you to do as much or as little as brings you joy, starting with a base that’s enough miles to keep you healthy, and going above that when you have the time or it brings you pleasure.

Because anything above 10 – 15 miles a week isn’t really necessary for good health… so make sure you’re enjoying it!

IMG_5913.JPG

IMG_5815.JPG

IMG_5832.JPG

IMG_5780.JPG

IMG_5777.JPG

Half Marathon Training Update

• 7 • 13.1 Training

My training for my fourth half marathon has become more like a formula than a set schedule.  Circumstances (child-care) made it hard to do the exact runs scheduled in the Run Less, Run Faster plan I originally selected.  I followed them strictly for the first month, and then started to use the principals from the training schedule as a basis for this formula:

1 interval workout a week, preferably with a mile warm up and a mile cool down and 3 miles of interval work.

1 medium intensity run a week, 3-5 miles

1 long run of 10 – 12 miles a week

1 spin class a week for cross training

1 extra run of low mileage and intensity if I can squeeze it in

My goal is to have at least 20 miles of running and one spin class a week whenever possible.

I’m having trouble predicting my target race pace.  Some of my long runs go really well, and some go poorly.  It’s been hard to figure out whether it’s the heat, or the time of day, or the intensity of my training on previous days… but I’m not running consistently well.

At times it feels as though I’ve made no improvement from where I was when I started in June, and at times it feels like I’m a whole new runner (like when I did my mile test and came in at 7:45!).

I do know this – I’m training more for this half marathon than I have my previous ones.  All I can do is keep at it, the best I can, and trust that it will pay off.  If it doesn’t, think about where I would be if I hadn’t trained this hard?

I’d love to train for a half marathon using a normal training plan someday… you know, one where you’re running more like 30 – 35 miles a week and doing 15 mile long runs and actually TRAINING FOR A HALF MARATHON.

I’m training to survive a half marathon, better than I’ve previously survived them.  As far as I’ve come, I’m still very much a beginner, and I’m running mileage that would put me in a better position to race a 10k than a half marathon.

But I’m signed up for two half marathons, and I’m running them.  I’ll just think hard in the future about whether or not training 20 miles a week to scrape by during an endurance distance is really any fun at all.

Perhaps if I can only manage that many miles, I should reduce my target race distance accordingly.  It’d take off a lot of the race anxiety!

In the meantime, I’m getting a lot of cardio each week, and the physical and emotional benefits of training for a half marathon are worth it, even if those last three miles will be tough because my long runs have typically been 10 miles.

Without the race, I wouldn’t be doing those long runs at all.  So it’s worth it, for my health, my energy, my spirit… regardless of what I manage to bring forth on race day.

Right?

I ran the fastest mile of my life! What it Means:

• 6 • 13.1 Training, Running

 

I’ve been favoring 400 meter repeats for my track and interval workouts, because they don’t scare me as much as longer intervals.  I know that in about two minutes, I get to stop.  I can do anything for two minutes, right?!  I find 800s much more difficult, 1200s practically undoable, and have a huge mental block when it comes to 1600s.

To motivate myself and break though my fear, I decided to make it really fun.  I had never, in two years of running, run a timed mile.  I knew that my curiosity to see how fast I could run four laps around the track without stopping would outweigh my fear about pushing myself for longer intervals.

Could I run a mile in under 8:30, my 400 meter interval pace?  Under 8?

I was thrilled, shocked and pleased to discover that I can run a mile in 7:45!

miletime

I ran a mile and a half to the track, rested [fought with my playlist] for a few minutes, and then ran my mile.  The first two laps were great – they were hard, I could see my time was good, I didn’t need to stop, my optimism was through the roof.  The third lap was all right, but nearing the end of the third lap I was thinking about making it my best 1200 meter repeat ever rather than continuing.  Only the thought that I might make it a mile in under 8 kept me going, and towards the very end, I saw that it was 7:52 average pace and SPRINTED to try to get it down to 7:45 (which sounds so, so much faster).

After a decent amount of recovery time, during which I stood around watching myself sweat (if you’ve never done this, it’s neat), I ran two more 800 meter repeats and then jogged home in time to shower and pick the boys up from their 2 hour camp session.

What this means: I found a race prediction calculator at Runner’s World that calculates “equivalent finish times” based on how fast you’ve run a set distance.

racepredictions

 

AHHH!!!! It predicts that it’s possible for me to run a sub two hour half marathon!

This is exciting… BUT… that’s predicting a finish time for someone who has TRAINED for that distance, and adequate half marathon training usually involves more mileage than I’ve been doing.

I’ve been using the Run Less, Run Faster training plan to help me plan my runs, but here’s the problem.  That’s a reduced mileage plan because you’re supposed to have high intensity for all your runs AND do cross training two times a week.

I’ve been doing modified versions of the interval and track workouts, keeping the heart of the recommendation intact but usually doing a 3-4 mile tempo run when the book calls for 6-7 miles.

I’ve also been going to one spin class a week… but I haven’t been rowing.

So while my mile time might predict that race result, it’s working on the assumption that I’m adequately preparing to run a half marathon, when I’d probably do better racing a 10k.

I’m still going to be adequately prepared to run the half marathon – don’t get me wrong.  I’m getting in my 10 mile runs, planning a 12 mile run for this weekend, and will absolutely finish my half marathon running AND smiling.

But I don’t think I’ll be RACING it to the ability predicted for someone who can run a mile in 7:45 and then MAINTAIN that level of athleticism for 13.1 miles.

Don’t get me wrong – I am very excited about what that chart says.  It’s a dream of mine to run a half marathon in under two hours, and I’m going to keep working towards it.

That chart predicts better race times at every level than I’ve run… and since I haven’t run a 5k without the jogging stroller in about 9 months, it makes me eager to race again and see how much progress I’ve made.

I can tell you one thing for sure.  I couldn’t have run a mile in 7 minutes and 45 seconds at this time last year.

Those track repeats are making me faster.  🙂

Modifying a Training Run That Isn’t Going Well

• 3 • 13.1 Training, Running

About a month ago, I had a really bad run.

Maybe it was the lack of coffee.  The fact that I’d gone to bed at eleven, and woken up at 5:15.  Eating gel for breakfast when I usually have toast.  Maybe going from 10 – 15 miles of jogging a week to 20 miles of intensity focused training was catching up with me.  Could be the heat.  It was hot.  Humid.  Hadn’t slept great because of it.  But my shins kind of hurt.  I woke up with my legs feeling tired, not refreshed and ready to go.

Whatever it was, this tempo run was NOT going well.  I knew I was in trouble when my warm up mile was a solid minute per mile slower than it normally is.  (I can tell a lot by how quick my warm up mile is – if I’m holding back, it’s a good sign.  If I can barely muster up a jog, it’s going to be a tough morning.)

1 mile in to my 5 scheduled miles of Mid-Tempo paced running, I stopped the watch, took a drink of water, and tried to figure out what on earth I was going to do.

I knew I wouldn’t make it those 5 miles.  It wasn’t lack of motivation, it was physical, my legs were too tired, my feet and shins and thighs complaining far too soon.

My Options:

A) Turn it into mile repeats stopping every mile to recover and hope I could meet my target pace and mileage, albeit with breaks

B) Add 10 – 20 seconds per mile to my target pace or run as fast as I could manage with the target base as my ceiling for how fast I would go

C) Cut my run short

D) Some combination of the above

 

What I Decided:

I decided to try B) by slowing down but making it a more challenging pace than a long run would be.  I figured that turning it into mile repeats was redundant since I had done intervals two days before – this was supposed to be a moderately difficult, sustained effort.  To keep with the purpose of the tempo run, it made the most logical sense to focus on my effort instead of time and try to complete the run without recovery periods by modifying the pace.  Since you’re supposed to modify your pace to accommodate heat and humidity anyway, this was actually a logical step.

What Happened:

I slowed it down, I made it one more mile, I stopped three miles away from home and admitted defeat to myself and walk jogged all the way back home for a total of six miles which was not a good feeling.

While I was walking home, I realized that I was lucky to have made it through four workouts without feeling this way yet.  I’d had four good training runs, run a very successful 19.5 mile week last week, and been hitting my targets and recovering well.

Maybe this was a fluke, or maybe I just need a little more rest because I’m ramping up so quickly.  I still got some miles in, I didn’t  feel injured, just fatigued, and I still had 14 weeks between now and my next half marathon.  I have time, I’m not demoralized, I made a good effort to modify my training plan intelligently when it became clear the run wasn’t going well, and I’m going to keep training.

Where I go from here:

I was concerned after that run that maybe I’ve ramped up into this half marathon training plan too quickly.  I’d been running fewer miles than this per week, and they’d all been easy miles rather than half intervals and tempo runs plus a long run with a pace goal.

I think the fact that I hit my targets four workouts in a row shows that it’s not too far a stretch, but I don’t want to risk injury, so I’m going to reduce my long run this week from 9 miles down to 4 so that I still get out there and run, but it’s not such a high mileage week.

It makes sense for me to cut out some of the long run miles, because long runs are the one aspect of this half marathon training plan that I’ve been doing on and off for a year.  I have much less experience doing intervals and tempo runs, so I’d like to make sure I’m rested and ready for those two workouts.  I won’t skimp on my long runs over the course of training, but that’s an area I’m more confident and prepared in.

Moral of the Story:

Some runs stink.  Ask ANY runner – sometimes runs don’t go well.  Often it’s just a fluke and you don’t need to do anything, but if you’ve recently ramped up your training or changed some part of your routine, take it into consideration as you plan your next few runs.

Remember while you’re on a run that isn’t going well that you don’t have to choose between all or nothing, you can modify your plan to still get a few miles in, or you can head back to give your legs some rest so you’ll have a fresh start for your next run.

Realizing that run doesn’t define you or your training is smart – but so is paying attention to what more than one bad run in a row might be telling you.

Hoping my next run goes great!  If not… I’ll figure it out from there.