Pine Belt Pacers Forum

Wed. - walk 10 minutes, jog 20 minutes on treadmill.

Thurs. - am ran 10 miles with Amber and Margie, on the trail. I hope to make it to Charles and Audrey's this evening for what will likely be a MUD run with all of the rain yesterday. Should be fun unless I "spazz-out" and fall down.

Thurs - evening ran with Jim, Audrey, and Charles on the soft surface hilly run. It was fun, but I did fizzle out early. We ran 43 minutes and then I had to walk, then we all decided that the walking felt pretty good. I guess this week, the Thur. "2 a day" workouts got me, or the heat, or both.

Friday - Yoga @ The Yoga Room Hattiesburg am. pm - biked for 30 minutes in Golden Meadow, LA

Sat. - Yoga - www.yogatoday.com (free yoga class) - early afternoon, and then an awesome, but extremely tough workout. Chad, Micheala (Micheala will be running at Nicholls State this fall), Scott (Micheala's Dad) and I went to Houma to run a hill workout. In South LA, the only hills are bridges. In Houma there is a long, high bridge, with a walking path going across. The only bad part is the entire workout is concrete, even the warm up and cool down because the streets are concrete too. We ran 8 hills. Then on the last one we doubled the distance so that it was basically like 2 more hills. (so like a total of 10 hills) I am very slow compared with all of them so I would run up first, and Micheala and Scott would give me about 10 seconds and they would start up the hill, then Chad would wait about another 10 seconds and he would start. Then we would jog down together. I was running around 48-50 seconds, but definitely slowed down a few seconds for number 8 (around 53), and 9. Not sure, but I think Chad was around 30-32 seconds??? (Yes it's sickening!) Oh, I forgot to mention, we ran around 5:30pm. On the ride home, I could feel the effects of the concrete already. I took some acetaminophen for my legs. It was a great workout, but the concrete is NOT forgiving.

Sunday - wanted to get my legs stretched out a little this morning, so I walked for 10 minutes and then jogged easy for 20 minutes. I will do yoga, later today and hopefully will add in some crunches, push-ups, back work.

Ginny---you are just going to bet stronger and stronger. Just be very careful that you don't get yourself injured. You are on the borderline of training hard enough to have a real breakthrough and too hard so that you get injured. Be careful.

Regarding your hill workout---that's a great one. I used to have my XC team do almost exactly the same thing, except it was a bit longer. Since there are no hills in the Katy, TX area, I would have them do an overpass which was just short of 400 meters from start to the top. We used heart rate training because we had to do the workout in the afternoon when the temp was very high and I did not want to kill them. I would have them power up and then slow jog down. We would then do pulse checks until their heart rate was below a certain point and then I'd have them go again.

Becky - thanks for the input. I am just now reading your post. I had to leave South LA at 4:00 am on Monday to go to jury duty. I forgot to call in about jury duty until Sunday night around 8:30 pm and learned that I had to be in Hattiesburg at 8:00 am. I was in the jury pool for the Coast jail guards trial. Thankfully, after being there on Monday from 7:50 am - until after 6:00 pm, they let me be excused.

I have been a little nervous about some of my workouts lately and getting injured, but I am trying to be careful(most of the time), but sometimes I do dumb things like run the 2 mile predicted time run tonight and then run 12 Wed. morning with Amber. Normally, we run long on Thurs. but needed to change this week. I also "kind of" wanted to change to Wed. to give me 2 easy days before my 2 mile race in Houma on Sat. evening at 6:00pm

You mentioned the heart rate monitoring, we did check our heart rate several times, but I am not sure I got to recover enough for all of them because I had to start up the hill first, and didn't want to slow their progress. The bridge was so narrow that we really needed to be doing the workout together for it to work.

Yes, I am hoping for continued improvement, especially this fall when the weather cools a little. I guess I will either improve, burn-out, or get injured. I am hoping for the first option. Thanks again for the feedback.

Monday - walk on treadmill 30
Tues - 1 mile w/u, 2 mile predicted time run, Oops - I realized on the way home that I forgot to do my cool down - BAD

Ok, so sometimes I think, or want to do more than I should. I even mentioned to Vicki last night that I would pay for running the 2 miles hard last night and then trying to run long this morning. In the back of my mind, I knew I shouldn't try to do it, but I thought to myself I will be ok.

Well this morning was BRUTAL, do you hear me, BRUTAL. I was supposed to run 12 with Amber at Canebrake. Amber was scheduled for 16 miles. Kelly met us to run one loop around, (near 5 miles.) It was unbelievably hot and humid. Even Amber was hurting bad, and she had not tried to do the 2 workouts back to back. She was smart and ran easy on Tues. but she was struggling too.

It was by far the worst run of the summer for both of us, so far. I hope it IS the worst of the summer. I ended up running probably around 9 miles, (I guess), the others were walking/running miles. After walking for a while, we started back running and felt better for a few minutes, but then I ended up walking again. A few minutes after Amber left to continue jogging on around the loop to finish her 16, I found myself walking again and was reminded of my hot run at Disney last Jan. I tried one more time to start back running, but I did not last long. Finally, I gave in all together and walked back to the car. By the time I drove home, I felt like I had run 16 or more. I got into an ice bath which helped a lot. I also refueled and I feel much better now.

It is a GREAT reminder, that I am not superwoman , and I better go back to my smart training before I get injured by doing stupid things. Normally, I have been so careful not to train hard 2 days in a row, but several times this summer I have done that, and so far have managed to be ok, but after today's experience I am back on track, hopefully. Today's run was a great reminder, RUN SMART!

Ok, so sometimes I think, or want to do more than I should. I even mentioned to Vicki last night that I would pay for running the 2 miles hard last night and then trying to run long this morning. In the back of my mind, I knew I shouldn't try to do it, but I thought to myself I will be ok.

Well this morning was BRUTAL, do you hear me, BRUTAL. I was supposed to run 12 with Amber at Canebrake. Amber was scheduled for 16 miles. Kelly met us to run one loop around, (near 5 miles.) It was unbelievably hot and humid. Even Amber was hurting bad, and she had not tried to do the 2 workouts back to back. She was smart and ran easy on Tues. but she was struggling too.

It was by far the worst run of the summer for both of us, so far. I hope it IS the worst of the summer. I ended up running probably around 9 miles, (I guess), the others were walking/running miles. After walking for a while, we started back running and felt better for a few minutes, but then I ended up walking again. A few minutes after Amber left to continue jogging on around the loop to finish her 16, I found myself walking again and was reminded of my hot run at Disney last Jan. I tried one more time to start back running, but I did not last long. Finally, I gave in all together and walked back to the car. By the time I drove home, I felt like I had run 16 or more. I got into an ice bath which helped a lot. I also refueled and I feel much better now.

It is a GREAT reminder, that I am not superwoman , and I better go back to my smart training before I get injured by doing stupid things. Normally, I have been so careful not to train hard 2 days in a row, but several times this summer I have done that, and so far have managed to be ok, but after today's experience I am back on track, hopefully. Today's run was a great reminder, RUN SMART!

Just consider this a good lesson learned and you probably haven't done any real damage. I think your problems are an accumulation of the impact that the heat is having on all of us. It was brutal last night and it was brutal this morning. My suggestion would be that you plan some rest days within the next 5-7 days so that you can recover.

Also, I bet that if this morning you had been monitoring your heart rate you would have found it to be way higher than usual. Start taking it in the morning before you get out of bed. That way, when you have higher than normal resting rate you can expect that your runs will be difficult and you can be more mentaqlly prepared for how you will feel.

When you can't go, you just can't go. Don't beat up on yourself. You can't change what you did, but you can learn from it.

Today was a tough running day and I don't have the excuse of running last night (did some biking but it was in the a.m.). It had to be the hottest day I recall running in for close to a year - I don't think anything yet this season has felt so oppressively hot. I did get in my planned mileage but immediately headed for a leg soak (even in hot weather, I like the hot bath) and shortly afterward had an almost two hour nap (reminding myself how lucky I am to have time to do so during this between-the-semesters time period). It was only with some great effort, assisted by ravenous appetite, that I got myself moving around again this afternoon.

I don't check my resting pulse that often (should but usually forget to) but when I am overtired or overworked I find that my workout HR won't go up to what is for me a normal level. I also find this happens sometimes as I weary during a long workout, especially of the interval type. I recall reading somewhere that this (inability to get HR up to your 'usual' workout level during intervals) means that you've gotten what you can get out of a given session and it is time to cool down and quit.
sheryl c.

Unfortunately, I did not think about checking my heart rate, but it definitely was time to call it a day. I talked with Margie today, who is on a layover in Portland. She had to go to the Columbia store to buy extra clothes to do her 2 hour trail run this morning. Isn't that disgusting, I am jealous.

Ginny, I think you have come so far. I remember you saying last year how you kind of took summers off because you couldn't run in the heat. If you can run in this heat, you can run in anything. I was going to run 6 today and bailed this evening at 3 and half. I ran those hard, but then, I was done. I think the heat is getting to everyone. I need to put the longer miles on my legs for this half, so I am going to have to suck it up. I think you are wise to listen to your body and take it easy for the next couple of days. Take care,

Back on track and training smart. Today, as I said, I took it very easy. I walked for 10 minutes and then jogged, at a SLOW pace for 20 minutes. I jogged on the treadmill today for 2 reasons, the first is obvious, "IT"S TOO HOT TO GO OUTSIDE" and the second was so that I would be sure to jog slow today. Just to be sure that I got in some good recover, I set the treadmill to 10:30 pace for most of my run, toward the end of the 20 minutes I did change it to 10:20 pace, but normally my slow jogs are around 9:30-9:45.

I am feeling really good today. I am excited about the 2 mile race Sat. evening in Houma, even though it will be at 6:00 pm and the high on Sat. is 100 degrees, ouch. H2O, H2O, H20

Thurs. - I forgot to mention that I did weights and some core work.

Friday - Walked 30 minutes on the treadmill. 3 X 1 minute pick-ups toward the end of my walk, just to get my legs moving quickly.

Sat. - free online yoga class, www.yogatoday.com am
2 mile race in Houma, LA -Brass Gator 2 mile @ 6:00 PM, brutal, sunny and hot, 98 degrees when we got out of the car, with the heat index, no telling. First mile into the sun. Today I ran 15:10, on Tues. at the predicted time run, I ran 15:30. I thought the Houma course may be a little short, but we checked it by car and it seemed to be right on. Chad ran 10:44. He was pleased with his time considering the heat.

Sun.- I ran 6 miles easy. Scott and Michaela let me borrow their heart rate monitor and I enjoyed having that to keep me straight, so that I did not run too fast on this recover run. It felt very slow, but it was actually around 9:30-9:50 pace. If I had not had the heart rate monitor, I would have run a lot faster because I felt ok, and I was bored, and it felt really, really slow. I will have their monitor for about 10 days, but I can already see the benefit in using one on this first trial.

I am pleased with the way my running ended this week. Of course, for the Sat. run I hydrated VERY well and felt pretty good for the conditions.

Ginny, good job at Houma!! You are doing great. You are training a lot, and you see the results. You will do super in Orlando by January.
Just don't let your heart go too fast!

Talking about heart rates... I don't know how fast or slow mine goes. However, until last year I could feel it pumping really really hard in every single occasion I have to run uphill (I thought It would just pump out of my chest one day!) ..... But the good news now is that I saved a bunch a money on my car insurance! No, seriously, better than that!.... I can now run the hills with not problem at all. I may run slower, but I can handle the hills much better than before.

Nestor, Are those hills so easy a cave man can do it?