Training Update, injury addition

Hey, so now that I’m running again, I thought I’d do an update on how I’ve been training over the last couple months.  I know for some runners, it’s running or nothing, but I would have lost my mind if I wouldn’t have had other activities to fall back on.  

Marathon Training Update (and what’s with all that cross training??)

I haven’t blogged in a while, or given you an update on where my training is, so I thought it was about time!  Life has been busy as usual, and as always my blogging takes a back seat to both my running and my family.  But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?

I’m currently about 18 weeks out from my next marathon (Windermere in Spokane, WA).  If you follow me on either Facebook or Instagram, you might remember that I signed up for a distance education course on Marathon Training.  (If you don’t follow me on Facebook or Instagram, then you SHOULD! 😉 )

I’m not 100% sure where this is going to take me as I currently have a full time job, a family, and am actually pretty busy.  I love running though, and am really passionate about helping people, and would love to learn more and be able to help people reach their running goal.  Because of this, I’ve decided that I would make myself my first guinea pig (aka client). 

I’ve been doing A TON of reading lately, well actually this isn’t really a new thing; I’ve always loved reading books about running, and training, and have just been digging into some new books lately.  I’ve specifically been reading a lot about Heart Rate training, and have also reading Brad Hudson’s Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to be your Own Best Coach.  For this cycle I’m taking Hudson’s Marathon 2 plan, and adapting it to fit with my schedule, my Running Partner’s schedule, and with my body and my needs. 

Here are the primary goals that I’m attempting to balance right now. 

1. Run, lots, mostly easy.  I’ve been running really consistently since my second daughter was born, and my body is fairly happy with moderate mileage right now.  I know that lots of people think that the 40 mpw ish that I call moderate is A LOT, and others think that it’s peanuts… it’s so relative!  My body is used to this base, and I am extremely grateful to be in this place.
2. Strength Train as much as I can, focusing on core, hips, glutes, etc.  I am of the firm belief that this is a huge reason why my body is happy with my current running volume.  The stronger it is the better able it is to withstand the running volume.  Right now, I’m working hard on incorporating 2 strength sessions a week.  It’s not always easy, I’m busy, and like most runners, running trumps all other workouts, but it’s important, so I’m making it a priority.  One big change I’ve made this cycle is to actually schedule these sessions into my training plan.
3. Crosstrain.  I’ve never really cross trained much before.  Sure, I will bike or do other activities when I can’t run, or for a few months when I’ve lost my mind and signed up for a multisport race (haha!), but I’ve never made it a priority.  Why?  Because I’m a runner, so, well, I like to run.  Much like the strength training, I’m scheduling this in.  I have a bike trainer at home now, and bought the speed and cadence sensor for my bike (why?  Graphs, that’s why.)  This cycle, I’m attempting to have at least 2 non-running workouts per week (usually running or swimming, or the occasional x-country ski).
4. Recover.  This is so important, and hard to do unless it is scheduled!  I’m taking a recovery week at a minimum of every 3 weeks, and sometimes more often, I’m also trying to build total rest days into my schedule.  Some weeks, I do not have a full rest day, just easy days, some weeks I have one day with absolutely nothing scheduled.  Everyone has different needs for recovery, and so far this is working well for me.  The other important building blocks of recovery are nutrition and sleep.  I’m trying to fuel my runs properly and to eat soon after them.  I’m also working hard at prioritizing sleep.  This is sometimes a challenge as my alarm is set for somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00 Monday through Friday.  I do my best to get my butt into bed early so that I have the energy to get through the day!

I heard a coach compare writing an athlete’s schedule out to being much like a game of Tetris… remember Tetris?  It clicked for me at that point why I liked writing out running schedules so much!  I love me some Tetris…

I have another new tool in my arsenal.  It’s a new Training Schedule website.  It’s a bit different from the other ones out there, such as Strava or Dailymile (which I still love and post to – so feel free to go follow me there also!)  This new tool is NOT social at all (crazy I know!), but is a site that only I have access to, and can plan my future workouts, and have my garmin upload my current/past workouts to.  The site is http://www.TrainingPeaks.com  It’s often used by coaches to design their client’s workouts, and you can search/hire coaches through the site, or use it simply for your own use.  I bought a premium membership for myself because I liked the format so much, and have not regretted it for a second. It’s easy to use, and I love that I can plan out my training cycle, and watch as the workouts are completed.

So this post ended up being more an update on my philosophy than my training… oooops!  As for my training, it’s going well.  Below is a snapshot from TrainingPeaks of what I’ve been up to.  I’m learning a lot, and trying to adapt that to myself, I’m not sure exactly where that will take me, but I’m excited to find out.  Hopefully it’ll have me running more and faster in the coming year!

Anyone want to pay me to workout?? Anyone?

I had a great day yesterday.  I wish every day could be like that.  In the morning we headed to the gym, the girls went in the daycare, and I met Lori for a workout.  I started by running 2 miles for a warm-up, and then we did our weights workout.  I haven’t had a good strength training session in a while, so it was great!  We did a lot of our normal routine including:

• Chest press
• Deadlifts with a row
• Kettlebell cleans
• Side shuffles w/ a resistance band
• Some TRX Abs – One new move from Lauren Fleshman’s blog, and pikes
• Side planks
• rolling and stretching… I always like rolling at the gym because they have the black uber hard foam rollers, soooo much pain, but oh so good!

My daughter has her daycamp on Thursday afternoons, so I loaded up my road bike and running gear.  I dropped her off at daycamp, and then had 2 glorious hours to myself.  I drove out to the highway, and got on my bike heading west towards the mountains.  I love cycling in the foothills, it’s hilly but so beautiful.  The ride was nice, the wind was in my face on the way out, and therefore at my back on the way back.  I managed a nice negative split over my 20km ride.  After the ride, I swapped my bike shoes for my running shoes, had a quick honey stinger waffle,  and set out for my 5k run.  I was in a bit of a hurry because I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time to spare before having to pick up my daughter.  I just ran along an adjacent rural highway, staying on the left side facing traffic to be safe.  It would have been nicer to run in the city on the pathways, but I wanted it to be a true brick, running right after getting off my bike.  I was surprised to feel so good.  I started off downhill, which helped, but I was running at a good clip, and my legs felt super bouncy.  I finished my 5k in just over 27 minutes, which is a good time for me, after a day of working out, and a couple of other hard workouts this week (Tempo on Tuesday, and medium long run on Wednesday).  

I thought after my day of working out that this must be like a(n easy) day in the life of Kara Goucher, or some other pro runner.  Workout in the morning, lunch, more running and working out in the afternoon… except I think they also get a nap and a massage in there somewhere.  Oh the life, it would be amazing for it to be your JOB to run… So if anyone is looking for a mediocre, middle of the pack runner, who struggles with injury, I’m your girl 🙂

Terry doesn’t just run…

Today was my older daughters first day of daycamp. It’s a once a week 2 hr program that she goes to alone, without a parent. The plan is for my Mother-in-law to come and watch my younger daughter for the afternoon so that her nap schedule doesn’t get messed up driving to and from daycamp. The important thing to take away here is that every Thursday afternoon I am going to have 2 hours to myself!! Today I decided to use that time to ride my bike. I’m still trying to be a bit cautious with my running so didn’t want to run 3 days in a row.

The bike ride was brilliant. I only ended up having 45 mins or so to ride after dropping her off and doing a quick errand. I parked on highway 22x near 37th street. This is the view of what I rode towards on the way out.

I decided to ride 20 minutes and then turn back. It was a great ride out (which I realized when I turned around was because the wind was at my back). I turned back, and had to work harder, pushing uphill and into the wind. It was a beautiful sunny day though and the fields are a brilliant green from all our moisture.

I think that today’s ride has convinced me that this needs to be a weekly occurrence. I would still like to run on Thursdays, but I will either run on the treadmill in the morning, do a brick during my 2 hour window or push the girls in the stroller later.

I have a duathlon later this fall, so this is the perfect opportunity to get out on my bike. There has also been some talk about triathlons among my mom friends that has lit a spark. I’ve done one sprint, and hope that there is an Oly, HIM or even IM in my future!

I was also reminded today how amazing Alberta is. I love it here, it’s such a beautiful backdrop for so many activities.

Coming Back!!

Well yesterday was my first official day back to running after my cyst removal surgery 2 weeks ago.  In short, it.was.awesome!!  My original plan was to stick to easy 5-6km runs this week, but then Lori told me that her and Danielle were planning to go out to Jumpingpound on Wed night, and I just couldn’t resist.  I thought, what’s the worst, if I don’t feel good, I can bail and walk back to the car, the trail follows the highway the whole time, so it’s super easy to bail out early.  I ended up feeling great, and it was a beautiful night for a trail run.  Here is my dailymile link for anyone who’s interested.  Lori set the pace, and since she’s been rocking her runs lately and running faster than ever, we ran it quite a bit faster than the last time we were out.

I wanted to do something today, but also wanted to take it a bit easy since it’s my first week back and I don’t want any setbacks.  I decided to run 3 miles on the treadmill and then get on my roadbike that I have setup on the trainer.  The bike is a lot less impact, so I’m going to try to use it to get back into things.  I also have a duathlon in September so need to get in better bike shape.

 

After the bike, I was a sweaty mess!  I think the run on the treadmill got my heart going, and the bike got me sweating, it was great!