Pine Belt Pacers Forum

Thurs. - 8 miles with Amber @ Bent Creek, plus a little walking at the end.
Fri - walk 30 min.
Sat. - Chad and I went to exercise on the Natchez Trace Trail in Ridgeland. I was not aware of this paved trail, still not sure how far it goes, etc. but it was very nice on the part that we were on. If anyone has additional details, I would be very interested to know how far the paved running trail goes, etc. I jogged for 30 minutes and walked for 20 min.
Sun - am jogged 6 miles - pm went to the MS 50 trail practice run. I ran 10.5 miles with some walking breaks, 2:00 hours. It was a beautiful day, thankful for my health and desire to run each day.

Ended the week with approximately 7 miles walking and 38.5 miles running. No yoga class this week, bummer.

Monday - weight workout and some ab work/back extensions, 30 minute walk with Chad.
Tues. - Tues night track - ended with 5.5 miles - 8 X 400 with 1 mile w/u and 1 mile c/d 1:46, 1:47,1:47, 1:45, 1:43, 1:44, 1:43, 1:40. This is my second week of working on quicker (shorter) type of speed work. Although I was all over the place as far as times, I am pleased that the times were faster at the end. With this being only the 2nd week of speed for 5k's/10ks, I am very pleased with the times for the 400's.

Wed. - walk 30 minutes
Thurs. - 5 mile tempo run - tough run. plan was to run 8:00 pace or a little slower for 5 miles. I ended up running 3 @ 8:13 and then bailed on that plan and tried to run marathon race pace for the last 2 which I managed to do, but it was a struggle. 2 @ 8:50 pace.
Fri - jog 3 miles on the treadmill
Sat. - walk 35 minutes in Pensacola with my sister, between rain storms
Sun - Pensacola half marathon 1:49:59 13.1 miles today.

Ended with 1 yoga class, 1 weight session, walking 6 miles and running 27 miles.

Monday - 5 miles with Amber at Canebrake
Tues. - lift arm weights, ab work, and push-ups - walk 35 minutes
Wed. - 5.25 miles total - 2 miles warm-up, 10 X 50 seconds, 2 miles c/d

Thurs. - 9.5 miles with Amber on a hilly course. 8:42 pace (stopping the Garmin during water breaks). Feeling it this evening. Normally, I do not run back to back hard workouts, but sometimes I get a little risky (or stupid). I wanted to get the speed in, and I wanted to get the long run in, and I might want to race this weekend, so that put me running the back to back workouts. Too much! Ouch!

I have switched my speed work to focus on shorter races and will start running some 5ks and 10ks. My plan is to keep my mileage up and basically "train through" the first several races. This will mean that I may not have my best performances, but I will be working toward getting in 5k shape. In addition to the 5k/10k training I will be keeping my mileage up so that I can run another marathon this spring if I decide to do that. This will be more for fun, and with little expectations (something I haven't done in a while). Dual training is not the best way to go about it, but this spring I want to race when I want to race, and not focus so much on prs. Yeah!

Maybe plan B? After Wed. and Thurs's run I started feeling some mild pain in my left hip so I will not run for a few days, and then reevaluate at that time. Again, I get reminders about my age. In the past, I could easily "get away" with the back to back workouts, but now I have to learn, and remember that I can't do everything I want to do, and stay healthy. I have been so injury free in the past that it is hard for me to adjust.

Fri - walk 33 min on the trail
Sat. - walk 45 min on a soft surface with Chad
Sun - rode the bike for 33 min.

Monday - walk 32 min
Tues. - walk 30 min @ Thames
Wed. - walk 36 min Today was my final day of my week of walking. Trying to let my nagging hip issue to heal, QUICKLY, who has time for a walking week when the 5k season is starting.

Thurs - first day of jogging to test the hip issue. Jogged 3 miles @ 9:12 pace. Felt ok, felt the hip for a minute or 2 and then it was all good, but the hip issue has been more feeling it when I am not running, not so much when I am running.

Friday - walk 32 minutes
Sat. - Run for Love 5k - first 5k since Oct 4th - definitely not in "5k shape" It takes me several to get in the groove. I really didn't know what to expect, other than, not too much at this point. Not sure what my time was, but it was over 24:00. Probably between 24:02 and 24:10. The only thing I can compare it to is my first 5k last spring, which was the Elmwood Classic - 2-17-08. For that race I ran 23:28. So it looks like I have my work cut out for me. Lots of 200s ahead for me, if the hip doesn't give me too much trouble.

Sat. - evening - lifted weights, ab work, back ext. lunges, and push-ups
Sun - am home yoga, pm walk 34 min.

Ended the week with approximately 13 miles walking, 8 miles jogging, 2 yoga classes @ Spiers Fitness and Yoga, 1 home yoga session, and 2 days of weights. My hip feels good. I can still feel a little something with certain movements (not while running), so I will try to be extra cautious the next few weeks, but will be adding the mileage and intensity back and see how it goes.

Monday - 5 miles @ 8:13 pace on the treadmill. walked 4 minutes to 45 minutes.

Tues. - trying to work on my speed to improve my 5k time. I have a long way to go to get to where I would like to be this spring for a 5k. Tues. night @ Thames, I did 12 X 200 with a 200 recovery jog between each 200. I averaged 49 seconds for the 200s. Looking back at last years log, at this time, I was running the 200s around 43, but last year I started running the 200s in early Feb. I ended with close to 5 miles, not sure, didn't wear the Garmin and didn't keep up with the laps.

Wed. - walk 33 minutes
Thurs. - yoga @ Kelly Spiers am. I have started trying to get accustomed to the heat so today I started my run @ 2:00pm. 5 miles total - hill repeats - total of 8 repeats - 1 hill is shorter and steeper and I averaged around 56, the other is a little longer and I averaged around 1:19.
Friday - jogged 5 miles easy, 10:37 pace - wanted to make sure to keep this run at a slow pace so I monitored my heart rate, trying not go get over 140. Although I know I need to have slow days, running this slow is NOT fun for me, especially doing it solo. It turns out to be very monotonous.

Ok - I have to join Audrey in saying "I'm sick and I need help." Maybe the pacers can sponsor a race with the proceeds going to therapy sessions for crazy runners. Didn't I just say I wanted to focus on the 5K, yes I did. What did I do today, go out and run 15 miles. Now really, how beneficial is a 15 miler to improving a 5k time, not much. Most of my issue is ADD. I get bored easily so I have to mix up my workouts, track, tempo, hills, long runs. Also, I always want to keep my mileage up so the long run is an easier way for me to do that.

It seems when I am trying to focus on the 5k, I can't give up my distance runs, and when I am concentrating on half marathons and marathons, I can't give up the speed work. Now, I will say that all of these workouts, I believe, helped me to achieve my pr goals last year, but now I think to get further improvements, I will need to be more focused, yikes!

The 15 was a lsd run. I haven't done a 15 mile lsd run in a LONG time, usually I am pushing the pace as much as possible. I averaged 10:30 pace and had some walking breaks. (left the Garmin running during the walking breaks).

Any therapists in the group? I need help!

Sunday - lifted weights, ab work, back extensions, lunges, squats, some home yoga. PM- walked 30 min. with Chad in Gulf Shores.

Ended the week with 35 miles running, around 4 miles walking, 2 yoga classes and lifted weights 2 times.

Monday - a very humid and foggy run in Gulf Shores. 5 miles at approximately 8:23 pace. VERY TOUGH tempo run.

I feel your pain!! I am actually a little clueless as to what I want to do right now after the MS 50!! I decided to do a 4 mile recovery run yesterday, was going to avg. maybe 9:00 a mile. I wore the garmin, so no excuses, I just got carried away!! My second mile was 8:13 and I had to reign myself in and remind myself, "recovery", "recovery". I ended up avg. around 8:27. Tonight, I will go to Thames and see if I can get some kind of plan/future race together so I don't kill myself with my own stupidity. I think I need to have a goal, with a "written" training program to achieve that goal. If not, I always feel like I need to give 100 percent effort on every run. It doesn't make running very fun to kill myself every time I run. When my piriformis thingy was acting up, it actually forced me to do the long and slow runs, because I could not go faster comfortably. I almost looked forward to the long runs, because I could finish without feeling so awful. Anyway, Yes, we need a 12 step program for runners that are "sick and need help".

You need these components to a successful training plan: speed, distance, strength (hills), recovery and rest. Not on the same day and not necessarily in that order. If you run fast all the time, YOU WILL BE INJURED. You do need a goal and you need a plan THAT YOU WILL FOLLOW

If you won't listen to me, listen to Terry or better yet, listen to both of us and if we are in disagreement, I defer to Terry.

You had a good race on Saturday, but you need to recover from the effort. In theory, you need a day of "recovery" for each mile that you race. I know some might consider that to be too conservative, but with your injury history, I think it is appropriate. This does not mean that you can't train, it just means that you need to do so in a logical manner and in moderation.

As I don't have any plan or running goal for the near future, I have concentrated my work in the last two components.... recovery and rest... recovery and rest...recovery and rest ! oooh, I love them!!
Well.. to be honest, I am still keeping an 8-10m long sloooooow run during the weekends.

Audrey, take it easy! don't kill yourself in the trails.

I know Becky, so I am looking for a race to train for, and a plan that I will adhere to. I can stick with finding a good half, but that may entail giving up all the tempting 5K's. It is a 5K smorgasbord right now!! Or maybe I can limit my 5K's and pick and choose some that fit into a training plan, and use those as my tempo runs. It would be cool to find another trail run. I really enjoy those the most, even though I might not get the best times. What to do, what to do? It feels good to be just injury free right now and be in a position where I am healthy enough to choose something. (Just got to maintain myself, not get crazy, be smart)!! So, Becky, Terry, Ginny, everyone, how far out do you look for a race and then start training realistically? I see 8 week programs, 12 week programs, 16 week programs, etc. I guess it just depends on the level of fitness of someone, and that person's style and personality. I think my biggest weakness is endurance, getting those longer miles on me without injury. Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. I might even follow that advice!!