Training Week 26
My next race is the Wisconsin Half Marathon on May 1.
Day 176 | April 12, 2010: cross
I switched up my cross training by using the recumbent bike instead of the upright one. I think I actually got sweatier (because my back was against the seat?) and felt more tired in my legs.
Which type of bike do you prefer – upright or recumbent (or other)?
Bike Time: 45:00 | Distance: 7.34 (Set on “Ozark Trail”)
Day 177 | April 13, 2010: strength + cross
I’ve been feeling really blah about strength lately. I just haven’t felt like doing it! I think it is the whole gym scene. Maybe I should see if feel more in to it at home.
Rope Pushdowns: 3 x 15 @ 30 lb
Biangular Lat Row: 15 @ 45 lb, 2 x 15 @ 60 lb
Lateral Raise: 15 @ 25 lb, 15 @ 37.5 lb
Leg Curl: 15 @ 30 lb, 15 @40 lb, 20 @15 lb
Seated Leg Press: 2 x 15 @ 90 lb, 15 @ 110 lb
Hip Abduction: 3 x 15 @ 115 lb
Hip Adduction: 3 x 15 @ 70 lb
Shin Developer: 3 x 20 @ 10 lb
Steven had a sore foot on Tuesday, so we decided to do some low-impact cross training – aka our first bike ride of the season!
We packed up the car and headed over to Singing Hills Forest Preserve (which is very close to our home).
A local trail – the Millennium Trail – runs through the forest preserve, and will eventually come through our neighborhood! I can’t wait to just be able to hop on the trail. Right now, it comes to an abrupt end.
It was a chilly and bumpy ride. Most of the trail is crushed granite/limestone/who knows what and there were tons of horse hoof prints that had become huge bumps in the ground. I still enjoyed getting out on a real bike though.
Well, not that my bike is a fancy street bike or anything. This is just some random bike my dad found for me!
Speaking of my dad – hey, WHEN are you putting the bike rack on my car?! I am tired of shoving the bikes into the back of the Kimbot.
Bike Time: 35:34 | Distance: 4.75
Day 178 | April 14, 2010: 4 m run
Four words for four miles: hot, hilly, hard, and annoying.
Hot and hilly are self-explanatory. Hard is for the lunch I felt like I was going to throw up, and annoying for all the bugs in the air (one of the downfalls of running at dusk).
We ran on the Millennium trail again. I hope those huge bumps in the trail get smoothed out somehow!
Distance: 4.0 | Time: 40:28 | 1: 10:27 | 2: 10:09 | 3: 10:03 | 4: 9:44
Day 179 | April 15, 2010: rest
Day 180 | April 16, 2010: 5 m run
Steven and I ran 5 miles in the Grant Woods Forest Preserve. It was a really hard run for me. My legs felt like bricks in the beginning. My right calf was sore, the inside of my left knee hurt, I felt like I couldn’t breathe… blah blah blah, it was not my day! And to make it “worse,” we discovered most of this trail is hills.
Here’s the elevation map… I zoomed in so it would look really dramatic!
But, my legs warmed up at about three miles (finally) and we took a new part of the trail that took us threw a lovely area with tall skinny trees. It was beautiful.
Distance: 5.0 | Time: 52:14 | 1: 10:36 | 2: 10:30 | 3: 10:34 | 4: 10:20 | 5: 10:10
Day 181 | April 17, 2010: rest
Day 182 | April 18, 2010: 12 m run
For our last long run before the half marathon, we ran on the Des Plaines River Trail, starting at the Independence Grove Forest Preserve. We ran 3 miles south and back, then 3 miles north and back. It was my first time running on the Des Plaines River Trail and the changing scenery made the run fly by. A lot of the trail was wooded, but there were some open parts too. I can’t wait to go back and explore more.
We started running at 8:00 am, sort of to “practice” getting up early for the half marathon (which starts at 7:00). I felt great during the run (after my legs warmed up) but Steven had issues digesting his breakfast, then with being dehydrated. So now we know to wake up earlier to eat on race day, and to bring more water. Despite stopping to walk a bit about every 3 miles, we were still pretty close to goal pace (average 10:48, will go for 10:00-10:30 on race day). And it was about 40° when we started and in the high 40s when we ended. That would be great race day weather.
There was a half marathon running on the north side of the trail when we got there for the second half of our run. It was funny to see all the racers go by and not be racing with them for once! The people at the race water station offered us water, and I asked if it was okay if we took some even though we weren’t running. They were very nice and said yes. Okay, I was a little dehydrated too… ugh, it is because I don’t have a frickin’ hydration belt that fits me. I bought one too small because I was anxious to have one and they didn’t have my size. Lesson learned.
My during-run fuel
My post-run fuel (shared the pb with Steven)
Distance: 12.0 | Time: 2:09:46 | 1: 10:35 | 2: 10:15 | 3: 10:31 | 4: 12:00 | 5: 10:31 | 6: 10:25 | 7: 11:41 | 8: 10:32 | 9: 10:31 | 10: 11:15 | 11: 11:03 | 12: 10:21
Week Summary: 21.00 miles
I kind of had an off-week, exercise-wise. I definitely was not feeling strength or yoga, and my first two runs were awful (mostly from eating too much, I am sure). I hope this week is better – although with being in training at work Mon-Wed, things could get hectic. We’ll just have to see!
If you’ve been reading this, you know I have been whining about my heel for quite some time now. I have been icing it, rolling it, blah blah blah… nothing. On Monday this week, I remembered I had these heel pads that the doctor gave me last year. I put them in my work shoes on Monday, and did not wake up with heel-pain Tues-Fri… then did on Saturday and Sunday, days after I didn’t have the heel pads in. Hmm.
Themocracy
May 1st is so soon! You’ll be a star!
Keep using those heel pads!!
Jelly beans are great fuel!!!
My training sucked this week. I need to get back into the swing of things, stat!
Jeez, what a whiner! I just now ordered the hitch, should have in about 10 days so I can do it in May. Good enough? LOL
YAY!!! Thanks!!! You’re the best! :-* I saw someone’s car that had a bar under it with the hitch attached and Steven thought that was maybe what you will use?
Did mom tell you that I thought you guys could bring your bikes too and we could ride on the Des Plaines River Trail? (Although, I think Steven was a bit panicked when I said that… I think he wants to maximize garage time!)
What a week! The run sounds great! Someone suggested running with jelly beans (maybe it was you, I can’t remember), but I LOVE the idea! A little treat for the road!
I was surprised by how hard the recumbent bike was when I tried it once a while back! It looks easier because you are sitting in a chair, but it gave me quite a workout. Hopefully you will have a better week this week and be feeling back up to par for your race!
That’s a lot of good, hard activity this week! You are going to be more than ready for the race! What beautiful places you have found to run and bike 🙂
Good question! I’ve never used a recumbent bike so I’d have to say… the recumbent bike 😉 lol. I really need to start biking! Is it more difficult to see where you’re going on the recumbent one?
I love that for the 16th, you turned the mood around and talked about how beautiful it was 🙂
I was just in the gym, so luckily, I didn’t have to worry about that! I always wonder that when I see those guys outside too.
Do you use regular jelly beans or the sport kind?
It was great seeing you yesterday. That fruit pizza was amazing and is already halfway eaten! My 9 year old won’t eat from the place we got dinner from last night (too much meat and it makes him sad) and he said since he sat there while I talked forever (his words) he thought he deserved to just have that for dinner if he wanted to. I think I need that recipe! And thank you! You guys are so thoughtful!
I use the regular jelly beans. I have used the sport kind too, and did not notice much of a difference on me. However, it is probably different for everyone!
I will post the recipe tomorrow 🙂
I’m running a half on May 1st too! 😀 Does this mean we are half sisters? 😉 I wish my race started at 7am! It doesn’t start till 8am and to me that’s late. It’s light out by 6:30, let’s get moving people. Ha! 😀 Oh biking, if there were just a few more hours in a day so I could fit in everything I want to do/try!
Yay! We are half sisters!
I am like you… the earlier, the better! I love doing exercise first thing in the am (on a somewhat empty stomach!).
OK so running aside, could ya’ll have picked a prettier place to run? Those pics were wonderful! Great job on the running too LOL
What a great workout week! Rock on! 🙂
Yay for your half-marathon! Sounds like you got some good runs in this past week. And good thing you guys practiced the early morning run. I hadn’t really thought about practicing the run in the morning considering the race would be in the morning. I am going to try that for my saturday runs, since I usually run after work.
Well, reading all that made me tired. But then again, I ran for 4 minutes IN A ROW for the first time yesterday…
Yay! Good for you!
You got some great photos of the trail! I tend to get into the running groove and hate to jinx it by stopping to snap a photo.
Do you think you might be overtraining which is why this week felt so blah?
I think I am definitely overtraining. No more two-a-days for me. They aren’t doing anything for me, especially since my diet is crap!
Oh my gosh – I can’t believe your 1/2 is so soon! I’m SO jealous of the beautiful running/biking trails by you. We have….I think one beautiful trail here in Indy. Somewhere. LOL
Sorry about your heel. 🙁 Have you tried massaging it?
I have only done the ball massage on my foot (rolling it on a ball). Maybe I should try with my hands?
Matt Damon…
The half marathon is so soon! That’s exciting 😀 Your running paths look gorgeous!
I’m sick of strength training too lol. When I’m sore from cardio, the LAST thing I want to do is strength train. But hey, at least there’s results 😀
Heel pain is so perplexing. You don’t think it’s a symptom of PF, do you? I’ve had heel pain for a week or so now, so I bought one of those little balls with nubby fingers on it and roll it under my foot while I’m at the computer. It helps loosen up the fasciia a lot and reduces foot pain.
This warm weather really came out of nowhere. I too am having some adjustment problems, especially in terms of proper hydration. Blah.
It’s definitely PF. 🙁 What’s the little ball you are talking about? Maybe I should get one of those.