[mountainmilers] August Progress Report
- From: Terri Rashid <terri@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "mountainmilers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <mountainmilers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2013 12:38:23 +0000
August was another great month of running; I've had a lot of these this year.
:) I am sad to have left the gorgeous, wildflower-laden, mountain trails of
Montana, but I know that as the weather cools off here, I will enjoy the
Arizona beauty as well. This time of year it is extremely green because of the
summer monsoons and this past week, when we've had rain to cool things down, I
have been starting to enjoy my runs here more although the humidity is much
higher than I am used to! (Often 94% when I am starting in the morning.)
In terms of mileage, August was my top month so far - I logged 227.6 miles!
(June was my second highest at 205.3 miles.) My annual mileage total is now at
1252 - more than 250 miles over my "dream" goal for the year. I've never put
in this much mileage in one stretch, but it seems to be going well so I am
thrilled!
Re August goals:
1. Add in more traditional running workouts: Yes, I've done this. I've
had some long runs at a good steady training pace, and I've been doing some
more focused tempo workouts.
2. Find some places where I can log long, slow run/hikes: Yes. I didn't
make it up to Flagstaff, but I've got a local route on Mingus Mountain that has
a bunch of elevation, so forces me to hike on the uphill. I would normally
include some running around Granite Mountain, but the trails around there are
still closed because of the Doce Fire there this summer. They should reopen
(some of) them after the summer monsoon season has passed and the risk of
landslides and flash flooding is reduced.
3. Keep my running consistent: Yes. I didn't know if I would resume my
running streak after breaking it (accidentally) in July, but I decided to do
so. I've run every day in August. In general I think I am more consistent
with my running when I run every day.
My goals for August were pretty general as I wasn't sure where I was at in
terms of my running after all of the slow run/hikes I did over the summer. I
am pleased to discover that my conditioning in Montana seems to translate quite
well back into regular running. In particular, I've been able to put in higher
mileage now, even though the mileage is more "running" as less "hiking", than I
have been able to sustain in the past. After a travel week coming back from
Montana where I had only 29 miles, I picked my mileage back up and had logged
weeks with 48, 55, 52 and 59. In previous years, I've tended to get injured
once I get above 40 miles per week - if I try to sustain that. But this summer
I had a 5 week stretch of 40+ mpw; the main difference was that I got up to
that mileage with some portion of it being slow run/hikes. I think that
allowed me to better adapt to the time on feet. I tapered a bit for the
Missoula Marathon (36 mpw), and then had several lower mileage weeks after that
(28, 39, and the aforementioned 29 in my travel home week) but I think that
allowed me to recover and handle this current mileage load.
Over the first half of the year I battled with PF in my left foot. I am
pleased to report that over the last month I haven't had any significant PF
pain. There was some residual pain at the beginning of the month, and every
now and then I can feel a hint of the soreness, but I almost have to be
thinking about it ahead of time for it to register. I just searched my running
logs and I the one time I mentioned my PF in August was to say that it was
doing a lot better. Yea! No other injuries at this time either. Sure I get
the occasional sore tendon, or my sciatic nerve area might flare up a bit from
time to time, but nothing that is sustained. At this mileage I am incredibly
pleased by that! I am also noticing my training paces getting a little bit
faster, even with the increase in mileage.
I did my first ultra-distance training run of 28.3 miles. (About a decade ago
I did a 50K on Tiger Mtn with Cheri and some other ultra friends, but that was
more of a spur of the moment decision as opposed to planned training. :)) I
got up at around 3am, and was out the door with a headlamp by 4:15am in order
to get in ~6 miles before stopping back into the house to get Rick and continue
on with him for another 22 miles. Even including a couple of restroom breaks
in the house I managed to average 12:39 pace, which is right in line with my
"normal" long run pace. (I cheated a bit - the first 6 miles were 1 mile laps
that swung back by the house, so I didn't carry a pack for those. My splits on
those "unladen" laps made up for my two bathroom stops in that time.)
I've also started doing Crossfit workouts at a gym that's just a couple of
minutes off the route that I take to bring Tieran to school. I like the
trainer there; he knows his stuff, but is smart about trying to ramp me into
Crossfit a bit more slowly so I can still do my running and also not get
sore/injured joints like I did after trying Crossfit once in the bay area.
I've been going twice a week for just over 3 weeks and I've learned a bunch
about how to do certain exercises correctly, and why. It's been both
interesting and useful. And some days, HARD. ;) This week I am not doing a
Crossfit workout because I had travel to Montana over the Labor Day weekend
(and got in two more trails runs - yea!), and I have the really long run
planned on Saturday. But I hope to make my regular two workouts next week.
Looking forward from now I have a very busy event schedule in September and
early October. This coming weekend will be my last long run before St. George
- probably 24 to 26 miles. While that is 4 weeks prior to the marathon, I need
to do it then because I have The Rut 12K trail race in Montana on Sep 14th.
That's the first *real* trail race in Big Sky, MT that has been organized and
promoted nationally and I want to be a part of the inaugural run!
For the weekends after that I have: Flagstaff Half Marathon (trail, with
elevation), Groom Creek 10K, and then the St. George Marathon on Oct 5th. (And
then more planned in October, including a single crossing of the Grand Canyon,
but I'll cover those next month!)
September goals:
1. Stay healthy and injury free!
2. Do each of my weekend events sensibly, leaving enough fuel in the tank
to continue training and be ready for what the next weekend brings. I have 3
race events leading up to St. George and I can't afford to run any of those so
hard that I get overly sore or injured. So I want to put in good efforts to
challenge myself a bit, but not go all out on any of them.
3. Try to keep the mileage up, modulo a bit of a cutback before St.
George. I haven't decided exactly how much mileage I am going to try to hold,
but I probably will not do a full taper since I have the longer-term goal of
doing my first 50 mile ultra in January.
4. Continue with the Crossfit workouts. I think it's useful - both in
terms of increasing my running speed as well as in general Life fitness and
protection from injury, so I would like to make it part of my regular routine.
Some weeks I am planning to go 2 times, some weeks only once because of travel
and running events.
5. Run every day. I like running streaks - they seem to work well for
me. But I am putting this goal last because I think it's not critical.
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