Wednesday, August 3, 2016

#BeMonumental {Week 4}

No matter how many miles you run, hours you log on your feet, times you train for a race, there are always lessons to be learned. 

And as I finished my fourth week of training for the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, I found that this fact was undeniably true.

Lesson  No. 1: I am running too fast. Seems like a ridiculous thing to say, right? But according to Coach Christine, who wrote the plans for the Train Like A Mother Club, I am. 

The story: On Monday, I met one of the run clubbers for 5 early miles. This gal, who is such a bright spirit in the community, is known for being fast and kicking people's butts. I was hoping that running with her would help me knock out one of the week's quality workouts – 5 miles with 3 at race pace. Race pace being 9-9:09. When the first mile buzzed at 9 flat, I was all, like, "Shit, yeah!" I figured we'd do two more like that and then back down. Except we didn't, not really at least. Every mile was at race pace or faster with the fifth being the slowest at 9:08. I bragged about this on a closed Facebook group, and I was quickly schooled that my easy miles should be 2 minutes slower than race pace. TWO MINUTES SLOWER. 

I can't tell you the last time I ran an 11:09 mile. Maybe during the Indy Mini when I was sick as a dog. But, after that lesson, I'm working on slowing down during easy runs.

Lesson No. 2: Turn off your Garmin before tossing it in your dash console. I did not and somehow started the GPS, logging more than 18 hours of go time and effectively killing my battery. I discovered this at 5:15 a.m. just as I set off to run 6 miles with the goal of making it a negative split run. It's really hard to go for faster splits on top of faster splits when you don't know what pace you are running. OK, OK. You can go by feel but I don't have the ability to dial into my body like that without at least three cups of coffee.

Lesson No. 3: Humidity is a motherf@&!er. When I set out for my long run Sunday, I basked in the knowledge that it was a good 10 degrees cooler than it had been the week before. I felt like it was all I could do to hold back and run smartly as I made my way to meet a running buddy. By mile 9, though, I felt like doody and could not get enough water. I would take advantage (probably too much) of traffic lights just to gulp from my Nathan Hydration Vest. I didn't understand why I felt that way. When I got home, I checked my weather app and learned that it was cooler but the humidity was at 95 percent. Yeah.  

It seems as if a lot of the weather running charts demonstrate how temperature affects pace but rarely does it make a distinction for humidity. However, a post on RunandBecome.com reports that: 

"... when the humidity rises to 65% it is very hard for the body to lose heat, and at 75% it is almost impossible. For evaporation to be successful, the environment has to be dry. The ability of an environment with high humidity to accept water is very poor, therefore not much sweat can evaporate. With the sweat dripping off, the body loses only a small amount of heat."

The inability to cool down causes your heart rate to increase, which makes it feel as if you are running harder than you are. And that's why I felt like behind for 3 miles. But what's done is done, and week 4 is DONE. 

 photo c094cf4c-46cf-4dc7-8553-2c8445be86dc_zpsurvlxxmn.jpg

monday, july 25
distance | 5 miles
time | 45:12
pace | 9:02
notes | Goal: 3 miles at race pace

tuesday, july 26
distance | 3 miles
time | 29:04
pace | 9:38
notes |

thursday, july 28
distance | 6 miles
time | ~59 minutes
pace | 9:50
notes | Goal: Negative split

saturday, july 30
distance | 4.1 miles
time | 38:24
pace | 9:20
notes | 

sunday, july 31
distance | 12 miles
time | 1:57:21
pace | 9:42
notes | Humid as f#@$

1 comment:

  1. I've started periodically checking my heart rate during easy runs and am FLOORED at how slow I need to go to keep it aerobic (180 minus age) (especially when it's hot/humid). I feel like a total slacker faffing along at 11-11:30 miles.

    On the other hand, I feel great during the run and feel like I could go FOREVAH. So that's something.

    Embrace the slow!

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