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Pumpkin

Pumpkin

I'm a college mental health counselor, runner, cyclist, wife, and mom to two strong-willed children. I started running in 2011 after the birth of my last child after years of love-hate relationships with fitness. My favorite distance is the half marathon, but I love the challenge of tackling the marathon. My biggest challenge is the mental aspect of racing, but my greatest strength is I'm stubborn and never give up! I'm a free spirit, an open book, and try to be authentic both in real life as well as in my internet life. Running has given me a place to face my fears, chase goals, and stay humble. Side note: I love cats and coffee and tacos.

Pumpkin’s Twin Cities Marathon Race Report: Scraping up the Pieces of a Busted Training Cycle

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on October 19, 2017 2 Comments

Earlier this summer I began excitedly training for Twin Cities Marathon. After a spring filled with running disappointment, I was eager to get back to work and get myself stronger than ever for TCM. I wanted to train differently than I have in the past and follow more of a balanced, listen-to-my-body kind of approach. After many previous training cycles that resulted in injury, I was determined to cross that starting line healthy and strong.

This marathon in particular holds a special place in my heart, but has been a huge thorn in my side too. TCM was my very first marathon back in 2012 and it still stood out in my mind as a magical running day. I have been dying to get back there, but have had to back out of training several times due to injury. I was not about to let injury stop me again, so this training cycle was all about balance and regaining the confidence I had lost during the spring.

A little background …

If you followed my training logs over the summer, you probably remember that training was not going as smoothly as I had hoped. I nursed some aches and pains, spent a significant amount of time rolling around on a foam roller, and taking a lot of anti-inflammatories. I also found I was having a hard time acclimating to the heat and humidity. The endurance problems that haunted me all spring were not improving despite consistent running, and my asthma was a big factor in many of those runs as well. I felt like a walking (literally) excuse for “Why Pumpkin is Failing as a Runner.” It can feel awfully demoralizing when you try to do everything “right” but still come up short.

I survived my short runs for the most part, but subbed in some pool running when I felt my ankle pains flare up. I was pretty consistent with strength and core work in the beginning too. I kept waiting for training to “click,” because the first few runs above 10 miles were incredibly difficult. Lots of stops and walk breaks were starting to darken my attitude towards training. I kept pushing and kept failing. I had to cut long runs short and even had my husband come and pick me up when I was having breathing problems and excessive sweating during an attempt at 15 miles.

By mid-August, I had had enough. I had made a last-ditch effort at cleaning up my nutrition in hopes that would help me feel better. The changes did have a positive impact on overall pain. My inflammation disappeared and I actually haven’t even needed to touch a foam roller since the end of July. My shorter runs were feeling a little better, but still the long runs were total fails. My last run above 10 miles was a 13 mile treadmill run the second week of August.

In my heart I knew I didn’t have anything left to give to this training effort. I became resentful towards training and the marathon and just running in general. I decided I wanted to salvage what was left of my summer and spend weekend mornings doing long bike rides with my cycling friends rather than suffering alone on some terrible long run attempt. I kept up some shorter runs on the weekdays but long runs were off the table.

But ohhhhh that marathon. What about that $165 marathon that is seemingly jinxed for me? Though I was willing to admit I couldn’t continue training, I was very unwilling to let go of that race. I felt good physically, as in, no structural problems in my legs, ankles, feet. Asthma and overall endurance were still mysteriously broken, but I kept coming back to the thought of just showing up on race day and seeing what happens. Good idea? Not even a little bit. We all know the dangers of jumping into a marathon undertrained. Was I willing to listen to common sense? Not really. Twin Cities Marathon was a monkey on my back and I was convinced that even my worst day at TCM was still better than staying home and not trying at all.

And that is how I found myself at the starting line of Twin Cities Marathon on October 1.

Race weekend

Race weekend began Saturday afternoon, on a solo road trip to the Twin Cities. I drove straight to the race expo for packet pickup and grabbing freebies from vendors. Upon walking into the expo, all doubt about this plan disappeared completely. I breathed in the energy of that room and for the first time actually felt excited and happy about the race.

I had absolutely no baseline for what I was capable of, so my only race strategy was:

  1. Show up
  2. Run as long as I can,
  3. Walk when I couldn’t run, and
  4. Beat the guy who sweeps people off the road when they’re about to close the course.
Free race photos uploaded to my Facebook account. Two thumbs up!

I lovingly called this plan #beatthesweeper. The cutoff for TCM is 6 hours from the time the last person crosses the starting line. Being in the last corral, I positioned myself near the front of that corral to buy myself a few extra minutes. A 6 hour marathon, for those who would never even need to do that kind of math, is a 13:44 pace. I felt semi-confident that if I could run for awhile and then do a run/walk strategy then I should be able to finish in under 6 hours. But really, I just didn’t know what my body was going to feel like. And this is the problem with a busted training: no memory of what it feels like to be on your feet for that long. I accepted that there was a chance I would have to just DNF if I couldn’t make things work out or if I felt any sort of twinge of injury. Again, for me the victory was in crossing the starting line.

I played the weather stalking game as we all do before a marathon. The reports consistently predicted rain, but by Saturday night it looked like rain wouldn’t start until afternoon. Sunday morning I awoke at 4 a.m. to the sound of… what was that? RAIN??? Sure enough, I looked out the window and siggggghhhhh rain. Lots of rain. The radar? Totally green. I realized I had no control over this and started getting ready. I stuck with my plan to wear shorts and a tank top despite the rain, which seemed perfect for the forecast of 58 degrees. I ate some peanut butter toast and packed several more items to eat when it got closer to race time, which wasn’t until 8 a.m.

Logistics required me to leave the house by 5:15 a.m., as I planned to park near the finish line in St. Paul and take the Light Rail into downtown Minneapolis where the race started. Despite my nervousness about screwing up the public transportation plan, that all went off without a hitch. I arrived in Minneapolis by 7 a.m., which gave me an hour to pee, find bag check, pee again, and get to my corral. It was around this time that I realized I forgot to grab my pack of gum. I ALWAYS chew gum on the run and this was maybe the most distressing thing that happened to me all morning — even more distressing than the rain that kept starting and stopping.

Having no shame and no problem advocating for my needs, I looked for the first person I saw who seemed to be chewing gum. I found my savior in the porta-potty line. A very kind woman generously shared her last piece of gum with me and the panic was over. The rain had stopped by the time I got to the corral and I gave myself a little pep talk. I kept repeating in my head, “Go have fun. Have ridiculous amounts of fun. #Beatthesweeper.” As I finally got across the start around 8:15, I did so with a giant grin across my face.

And so I just started running easy. I wasn’t going to get caught up in the excitement of the first few miles and go out faster than I could handle. I knew my energy stores were going to be limited anyway, so my plan was just to run as easy as I could for as long as I could. My fueling strategy for this race was, well, not very well planned. I bought some Clif Shot Bloks at the expo the previous day with the loose plan to eat a couple every 4 miles or so and then alternate Powerade and water at the aid stations. Past marathons have been a complex matrix of calories and miles and intensely calculated, but this race was more like “Um, what random glucose carrying agent will fit in my Spibelt on Sunday?”

I got passed by Santa Claus at mile 1 and by Spiderman at mile 2, which, you know, is a little embarrassing. Nevertheless, I stayed the course and just soaked up the energy around me. Twin Cities Marathon is touted as the “most beautiful urban marathon,” and it’s completely accurate. The course is spectacular, with lake views, historic neighborhoods, trees in all of their Fall glory, and incredible course support. I ran with no attention paid to my Garmin and no awareness of where the pace groups were located. I was surprised at how good I was feeling and how long I felt that way. I was running in a rhythm I hadn’t been able to harness for months, which was a pleasant surprise! The rain was holding off, but the trade off was higher humidity. I worried about my asthma flaring up, but wasn’t noticing any difficulties.

I was having a great time but was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Around mile 9 I looked to my right and was shocked to see the 5:00 pace group. I had been so focused on NOT paying attention to where I was at that I honestly figured I was somewhere back by the 5:30 group. Naïve mile 9 Pumpkin had that momentary lapse in sanity and thought “MAYBE I CAN PR TODAY!!!” My marathon PR is 5:15 — at this point I was more than ahead of pace for that!

We can all guess what happens from here. I hung close to the 5:00 group but by mile 13 I had faded significantly. At this point I had still been running with very few walk breaks, mostly just through the water stations. I knew my body had little left to offer, and I could feel my glutes were completely fatigued. My legs weren’t hurting, but they really just had no energy in them. I started walking a lot more, started pulling over to the side to stretch, and accepted that there was about to be a lot of walking in my future. And what else did my future have in store? A lot of rain.

Miles 15-26.2 were basically a power walk through a steady rain and I was completely okay with this! I knew I had bought myself a lot of time by running much longer and faster than I thought I would, and doing some quick math calculations in my head, I was certain that even if I walked the entire final 11 miles, I would cross the finish line well before the 6 hour mark.

Did I have several moments over those next 11 miles where I considered dropping out? Absolutely. The rain didn’t relent and because I have Raynaud’s, my fingers and toes were completely numb. For some reason though, all of this struck me as hilarious. I laughed to myself at the ridiculousness of my current situation and felt like I was surrounded by kindred spirits who also seemed to be riding the struggle bus. I threw in some jogging here and there, but honestly seemed to be holding a faster pace by power walking than those who were jog/walking. Jalking? Woggling? My walk splits were around 14:50/mile, which, after 15 miles of undertrained running and the final miles of the marathon being mostly uphill, I was pleased with my speedwalking pace.

I sang along to the music on my iPod, I chatted up the people around me, and I thanked the volunteers who were cheerfully manning the aid stations in the rain. I cheered THEM on for impressive cup holding and water pouring. They all seemed sort of shocked that I was in such good spirits, since most people around me at this point looked like murder or death was about to happen. The crowd support was beginning to thin those final miles, which was completely understandable given the rain and the wind that had just picked up. I got pelted in the face by beautiful fall leaves and laughed to myself at the realization that I was literally being smacked in the face by autumnal glory. Some hardcore marathon spectator yelled out to me that I was having too much fun, and I think I yelled back about how it was, “So F’ing terrible that it’s awesome!”

And finally, finally, the finish line was in view. I managed to push myself to some sort of pathetic jog the final 200 yards or so and crossed the finish line with a smile and the TCM monkey off my back. I finished in 5:47:47, which is exactly 30 minutes, 10 seconds slower than my first Twin Cities Marathon. In terms of time, this marathon was obviously a PW (personal worst), but this race was without a doubt the most fun I’ve ever had in a race.

Perspective

It’s been about two weeks since the race. Looking back, I stand by the fact that it wasn’t a smart decision to do the race, because of the significant injury risk. There remains a shred of shame that I couldn’t fulfill my training, but I also know that I had nothing left to give in that training cycle. Where I stand with running right now is…. I’m not sure. I think it’s time to step back from training and just let myself run for fun and without a strict schedule or expectations about performance. Part of me wants to run another marathon next fall but a bigger part of me doesn’t want to train for something for a long while.

I ran this morning. It was dark, and it was crisp outside. It was a run completely free of agenda or expectations and I ran faster than I have in a long while. I’m excited for what the future holds for me and my relationship with running. I think we’re casual and I think I’m loving it.

Categories: Race Reports
Tags: Pumpkin race reports

Shoe Review: New Balance Vongo v2 with Pumpkin

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on September 19, 2017 5 Comments

This review is in partnership with Running Warehouse, which provided products for testing. Salty Running receives a commission on sales made via our Running Warehouse affiliate link, used throughout this post.

New Balance Vongo V2!

The Vongo is a relatively new shoe in the New Balance lineup; it is a cushioned shoe that provides light stability. It has a 4 mm drop and retails for $134.95.

When I was told I’d be receiving the New Balance Fresh Foam Vongo v2 for review, I’ll be completely honest, I didn’t even believe it was a real shoe. I believe my statement was, “Vongo? That sounds like a made-up word.” I have a long, well-documented history of struggling to find the right shoe and had come to a place of sheer cynicism. By this point I believed there was no right shoe for me, so I went into this process fully expecting to dislike this shoe with a fake-o name.

So how did it come to be that the New Balance Vongo was chosen for my finicky feet? I said that I wanted a shoe that provided some stability, was cushioned but not too soft, and had a lower drop. I also requested it not be too heavy or bulky. Not too much to ask, right?

Read more >>

Categories: Shoes and Gear, Sponsored
Tags: running shoes - shopping for, shoe reviews

Pumpkin’s Twin Cities Marathon Training Log: 7.31-8.30.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on August 14, 2017 3 Comments

Life has been busy lately, and my training logs have been suffering as a result! Actually, suffering is a great word to describe this entire training cycle. Right now I’m just trying to stay in the moment and take things day by day, because most days lately if you ask me whether I will be able to make it to October 1st ready to run a marathon, my honest answer would be “probably not.” My long runs have been incredibly difficult and I have yet to do a long run that leaves me feeling optimistic about running a marathon in 6 weeks.

Wow! This is so inspirational! Some of my shorter runs have been okay, and feel somewhat better than I had been feeling, so that’s positive. And I keep running despite every whisper in the back of my head that tells me to just bag this training and call it quits. Who knows, maybe I’ll go out for my long run this coming weekend and knock it out of the park? Crazier things have happened, and there’s still enough time left to get my body ready to finish the marathon.

Goals for the next week: keep running. get strength training back on point. keep running.

Week of 7.31-8.6

Monday 7.31: Ran to the park, went on a hike with friends, and ran home. 1.1 mile @ 10:26, 2.8 miles of hiking (1 hour), 1.1 mile @ 10:27. My short runs felt surprisingly good, considering the day prior I had a terrible long run.

Tuesday 8.1: I forgot that I had a really great feeling run this day. It was 80 degrees, humid, windy, and sunny and I completely expected this run to suuuuuck. Instead it was my best run in forever. 5 miles @ 10:35.

Wednesday 8.2: Another great run. 57 degrees felt incredible that morning! 4 miles @ 10:40

Thursday 8.3: Weekly Thursday night bike ride. 26.3 miles, 15.3 mph avg, HR 138 avg.

Friday 8.4: Got a late start, so only had time for 3 miles @ 11:21. A crisp, beautiful morning. Went for a walk at lunchtime- 2.1 miles.

Saturday 8.5: Was feeling incredibly optimistic about this long run, given how great I had been feeling this past week. Goal was 15 miles, but the 94% humidity messed with my asthma big time. At mile 5 I couldn’t catch my breath and had to call my husband to drive my inhaler to me. I never could get my breathing back on track, and despite it being a pretty cool morning, I was sweating buckets. I called husband for a second rescue at mile 10 when my breathing turned into hyperventilating. I drank a lot of water on this run and was still down 4 lbs when I weighed myself when I got home. Just awful. 10.2 miles @ 12:04 (not including a million times I just straight up paused my watch to sit on a curb and try to breathe).

Sunday 8.6: Went for an early morning trail run with my friend Kate, and it was just what I needed after the previous day’s debacle. 3.7 miles @ 11:57

Total for the week: 28.1 miles of running, 26.3 miles of cycling

 

Week of 8.7-8.13

Monday 8.7: Rest day because I realized it had been 13 days since my last full day off.

Tuesday 8.8: Planned on running after work, but I was exhausted this day. Unplanned rest day.

Wednesday 8.9: 5 miles @ 10:45. Storms were rolling in, and I apparently ran past a funnel cloud at the end of my run.

Thursday 8.10: Thursday bike riding. 29.1 miles, 15.3 mph avg, 135 avg HR

Friday 8.11: 6 miles @ 10:51. Pretty warm after work, but at least it wasn’t humid.

Saturday 8.12: A great early morning bike ride with friends. It had been over a month since I’d had a long weekend ride, and it felt great. 43.7 miles, 15.4 mph avg

Sunday 8.13: The weather was such a tease this day and there was a threat of thunderstorms all day long. Decided to gut this out on the treadmill, and I’m pretty sure this was the longest run I’ve ever done on a treadmill. #Soblessed to have Netflix. The run itself could have been worse, but still not feeling super confident about my long run situation. 13 miles @ 11:44

Total for the week: 24 miles of running, 72.8 miles of cycling

Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

My Relationship With Running: Current Status? It’s Complicated

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on August 3, 2017 6 Comments

running relationshipThe past year of running has presented a number of mental and physical roadblocks for me. I’ve dealt with injuries, thyroid problems, shoe drama, and a general decline in my running performance. My current marathon training cycle is following that trend as well, and the mental fatigue that comes along with gutting through run after run is wearing me down. During a recent Really. Bad. Run. I realized that my current relationship with running bears a striking resemblance to the ups and downs of an actual romantic relationship — and man, is it complicated. Read more >>

Categories: Running + Life
Tags: love, slumps

Pumpkin’s Twin Cities Marathon training log: 7.17-7.30.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on August 1, 2017 2 Comments

Last night I had my recurring dream that I was in college again and found out at the end of the semester that I was registered for a class that I totally forgot to attend. I have this dream on a semi-regular basis and it’s usually when I feel like I’m dropping the ball in some area of life. I just decided there must be some deep seated guilt about being behind on posting a training log!

I’ve been avoiding posting a log because running has not been going smoothly for me over the past two weeks (again/still) and I feel like I have so much to say about it all that it feels a bit overwhelming to write a 2 week log. I will give you the condensed version and save my turmoil for a post of its own!

The positives? I traveled to Cleveland and got to spend a weekend hanging with other Saltines! So fun to hang with Coriander, Cinnamon, Salty, Mango, Bergamot, and Ginger. I also ran a last minute 5k in Minneapolis the night before I flew to the Cleve.

The negatives? My running miles were lowwwww for two reasons: foot pain and lethargy/bad attitude (due to foot pain and poor running performance lately). I skipped a long run entirely while I was in Cleveland (foot pain and the awful Cleveland humidity), and I BOMBED my long run last week. Like, big time bomb/only finished half- epic collapse.

The neutrals? I did bump up my pool running a bit. I did find a way to stay active in some manner most days.

The hopefuls? It seems my foot/ankle pain is getting quite a bit better. I suspect Sunday’s long run bomb was hormonal in nature. I decided a week ago to make some big time changes to get my nutrition back on point. I’m feeling physically better and my overall soreness is already improved with my improved eating.

Here’s the last two weeks if you’re still invested in reading about the train wreck! Ha!

7.17-7.23

Monday 7.17: Did a water aerobics type class with friends. It was pretty lame and I don’t think our HR even climbed into the fat burn zone. We laughed a lot though! 1 hour.

Tuesday 7.18: 40 minutes upper and lower body strength + core

Wednesday 7.19: Made the 3.5 hour drive to Minneapolis and ran the Torchlight 5k that evening! I ran it not to race it, but did try to push myself faster than an easy paced run. The race was at 7:30p, it was sunny, hot, and humid. Almost melted just during my warm up! The race itself was fun, but the course distance was off by A LOT (and was later confirmed by the race coordinator). It ended up being a 3.3 mile 5k. OOF. You never realize how long .2 miles can be until you reach 3.1 of a 5k and you’re still not done! Anywho, I ran the first mile, but had to take a lot of walk breaks (short ones, but breaks nonetheless). My pace was 10:37, which I was satisfied with given the walk breaks and the heat and just my poor running performance as of late. Total for the day 4.4 miles.

Thursday 7.20: I arrived in Cleveland and got punched in the face with the Cleveland humidity. I broke a sweat walking slowly! Did a run/walk/chat with Cinnamon that evening. 4 miles, 12:40 pace.

Friday 7.21: Travel fatigue, humidity fatigue, just wanting to hang with my Salty Running pals= zero running this day. I did take an epic nap in the afternoon though, because vacation.

Saturday 7.22: Run/walk with Ginger! 4 miles, 11:36

Sunday 7.23: Body just feeling so run down. Foot pain extra painful. Had to get ready to travel home. I just straight up skipped my long run, with the hope my body would appreciate the rest.

Total miles: 12.4 (OOF)

1 hour pool class

40 min core+strength

 

Week of 7.24-7.30

Monday 7.24: Pool run 40 min, kick board 10 min

Tuesday 7.25: MY BIRTHDAY! Also a rest day. I skipped my run and went to Target instead to buy myself an Apple watch as a gift to myself! 🙂

Wednesday 7.26: 4 miles in the morning 11:58 pace (I used my Apple Watch for running instead of my Garmin… lots of trying to monkey around with it and figure out why it would auto pause every time I took a walk break….) Decided that I will continue to use my Garmin for running purposes from now on, and the Apple Watch for everything else. In the evening I went to the pool and did a pool run with the Apple Watch and it was pretty magical! I love that I can wear it in the pool and I can track my HR while pool running. This is definitely an added pool running motivator. 30 minutes total.

Thursday 7.27: I slept in, which was not a great idea because that meant I was going to try and get some running miles in before my weekly Thursday night bike ride. By the end of the bike ride, I was TOAST. It was hot/ humid and my body was like HELL NAW. 4 miles, 11:04 pace. 27.2 miles bike. 16.1 mph avg, HR avg 147.

Friday 7.28: I wanted to try and save my body for my weekend runs, so I opted to pool run instead. 40 minutes total.

Saturday 7.29: Bad run #1 of the weekend. Total sweat fest, total bonk fest. Only managed to squeeze out 4.5 really pathetic miles. 11:33 pace (not including the times I just flat out stopped and contemplated why I even do this).

Sunday 7.30: Bad run #2 of the week. Plan was 15 miles, but I called it a day at 8 miles. Did the first 4 with my friend Julie. We started at 6am, hoping to beat the heat. It was swampy from the start and I could tell even during the first mile that this might be a tough run. I hoped that after I warmed up it would get better, but it just never did. I had to stop so many times and I walked a ton and my body just felt wrong. My stomach was cramping and I felt lightheaded/ nauseous when I would stop to catch my breath. Nothing good was going to come of me gutting out the other 7 miles. And I honestly don’t think I could have gutted them out even if I tried.

Two weeks of failed long runs could definitely make me fearful about the rest of my training and worried about future long runs, but I am doing my best just to move forward and take each run as it comes. The weather looks like it’s going to cool and it looks like the humidity will follow suit. I am going to try for 14 this week and will stay optimistic!

Totals for the week:

Run- 20.4 miles

Pool running- 3x for a total of 2 hours.

Bike- 27.2

Strength+core- total fail.

How I looked for almost every run over the past two weeks
Pumpkin and Ginger!
With Salty and Ginger!
Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

Pumpkin’s Twin Cities Marathon Training Log: 7.3-7.16.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on July 16, 2017 1 Comment

Whoooops! Somehow last week got away from me and by the time I had time to write a training log, it made more sense just to do a double log this week!

So weeks 3 and 4 of training were full of ups and downs. Actually, very few ups and a lot of downs. My goal for this past week was to make it into the mid 30’s for mileage, but some aches and pains earlier in the week forced me to cut down mileage and do some cross-training. I visited my chiropractor last week after I had to stop a run due to pain, because I was CONVINCED I was on the verge of a major injury (several past bouts of tendinitis have been so traumatic that the moment I feel any type of twinge in my calf, I freak). Beyond my calf pains, I was having some foot pain, some ITB pain, as well as lower back pain. I felt like my body was falling to pieces and was starting to have some serious doubts about my body’s ability to keeps its shit together for 11 more weeks of training. My chiropractor told me I was perhaps being TOO focused on the little pains and to try and zoom out a bit and look at my weeks as a whole. Basically I just need to calm the hell down and just keep putting in the work. I was told that a lot of the weaknesses I’ve had in the past seem to be much stronger and he could tell that I’ve been doing more strength and core work. This made me feel great- it’s always good to hear that the little things are paying off.

I also had some runs that were just really mentally tough. I have written in past logs about my thyroid problems and I still think I’m struggling with it. As I look back on my run stats for the past 6 months, my paces have steadily declined and it’s pretty rare I can get through a run without a significant amount of walking. I just can’t seem to get my breathing and my body to match up, and on days my body feels strong, it wants to run faster than my lungs will allow, resulting in a lot of short walk breaks. And I’ve tried just slowing my run way down, and still I get gassed and need walk breaks.

The frustration came to a head a few days ago when I could barely survive a 3 mile run. I was at the point where I just wanted to quit marathon training and take up a hobby that makes me feel less awful about myself. I’m stubborn though, and am not ready to give up yet. The next day I switched things up and did a trail run at a park near my house and felt so much better about it all. Funny what some time with nature and a change of terrain will do for a person. I tried pool running for the first time over the weekend and though it’s pretty boring, it was a good workout and something I am going to try to do once a week in place of a short run. I think for right now I’m not going to rush my mileage. I’ve been holding steady in the mid 20’s, which isn’t where I thought I’d be, but I’m definitely doing a good amount of biking and other crosstraining on top of those miles. I really need to focus on staying uninjured and keeping variety in my plan. Health wise, I do feel that something is still amiss because even with the heat, my paces should not be this impacted (and I have done a few cool morning runs with little difference). It’s all kind of a moving target and I’ll just keep showing up and doing what I can do. Hopefully everything balances itself out soon.

7.3-7.9.17

Monday 7.3: 4 miles (treadmill) 10:24 pace. Jasyoga 5 min calf reset, Strength and core 40 minutes

Tuesday 7.4: I decided at the very last minute to sign up for a 4th of July 10k in town. I knew I wasn’t in race shape, but it was more for the accountability to getting my run done early. The forecast was for lots of heat and humidity, so if I didn’t get that run in as early as possible, it was going to be awful. The race was small, but fun. It was HOT. 6.2 miles, 11:03 pace. Jasyoga 5 minute hamstring reset and 5 minute foot reset

Wednesday 7.5: Husband was out of town, so I ended up on the treadmill and it did NOT go well. I started off in my Hokas and my right foot hurt. I switched shoes and it wasn’t much better. I decided to end my run early. 2.2 miles, 11:02 pace.

Thursday 7.6: My first day back at work after having my regular month of June off. My running schedule is going to be much tighter from here on out. I ran after work this day and it was hot and windy. And my foot still hurt, along with other body parts. Another short run. 2.5 miles, 11:43 pace

Friday 7.7: Total rest day because my body obviously needed it.

Saturday 7.8: My favorite biking event today: the Midsummer Bike Tour in Detroit Lakes. DL is about an hour from where I live and this tour is 44 miles through lakes country. Lots of gorgeous scenery and lots of rolling hills. A large group of us rode together and out to eat afterwards. The weather was absolutely perfect and my body felt great! 44.2 miles, 16.7 mph avg, 153 avg HR

Sunday 7.9: Was dreading this run as the previous week’s 11 mile went horribly. This one was also horrible, but this time the weather got more of the blame. It was possibly the most swampy run I’ve ever done- at least for that many miles. 12 miles, 11:39 pace, 158 avg HR. Lots of walking. Took an ice bath for the very first time and it felt great!

Totals for the week:

Running- 26.9 miles

Biking 44.2 miles

Strength and core- 45 min

Jasyoga- 15 min

 

7.10-7.16

Monday 7.10: My body was hurting after the previous day’s long run. Skipped running and went to the gym to lift a little instead. 30 min strength and core.

Tuesday 7.11: Was going to join my running group for some early morning ramp running, but as is typical lately, my body was really sore when I first got up in the morning. I tried a warm up and had to stop after a half mile. This was the day I decided I needed to check in with my chiropractor to see if I was on the verge of injury. Went to the gym in the evening and did a variety of things. I did some rowing, strength, core, and ran stairs outside. 55 minutes at the gym.

Wednesday 7.12: An unremarkable 5 mile run after work in the rain. 11:28 pace.

Thursday 7.13: This run just felt like total crap, and ended with me contemplating why I even do this. 3 miles, 11:34 pace.

Friday 7.14: I got off work early this day and though I was going to take a rest day, the weather was actually pretty nice and I decided to go run the trails near my house. I felt pretty good, physically and mentally after this run. 5 miles, 11:44 pace.

Saturday 7.15: Initially I had put 8 miles on the schedule for this day, but given my beat up body and spirit, I just knew it wouldn’t be a great idea to push this one. I decided this would be the day I’d force myself to try pool running, since I figured the lap pool would be quiet on a Summer Saturday afternoon. (it was. I was the only person there). It was incredibly clumsy and boring, but my body didn’t feel like it was going to break and I was able to get my HR up. I did 30 minutes of pool running and 10 minutes with a kick board. Did a quick 20 minute upper body strength session and core work.

Sunday 7.16: With good reason I was really dreading this long run. 13 miles seemed impossible after the past two weeks of rotten running. It was sunny and 63 with little wind at the start of my run, and 77 and sun at the end. Relatively speaking, even though it was still a really difficult run, it was somewhat less so than the previous week. My body felt strong- no nagging pains anywhere, which was GREAT. I had been rolling and icing the crap out of my body all week, so I was glad that paid off. Endurance wise, I still had a hard time, so it was still a lot of run/walk/run/walk the whole way. The goal was 13 miles, but I sort of winged my route and realized I’d be at 12 miles when I got back to my house. I was too hot and sweaty to care about getting that 13th mile, so I called it at 12. Ice bath afterwards and then the whole afternoon outside at the pool with my kids. As I type this on Sunday night, I am sunburned and probably still dehydrated after a hot run and an afternoon in the sun!  Anyway, 12 miles, 11:24 pace.

 

Totals:

Running- 25.4 miles

Strength, core, etc- 1 hour, 45 min.

Pool running/ kickboard- 40 minutes

Lots of undocumented foam rolling and stretching.

So hot. So humid.

Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

Pumpkin’s Twin Cities Marathon Training Log: 7.3.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on July 3, 2017 2 Comments

Happy Monday, everybody! If you are like some people, your holiday weekend was disrupted with a pesky Monday work day before the real holiday tomorrow. I was supposed to return to work today after my June off month, but daycare closing forced me to take a couple extra days off before returning to work. Darn! As I write this, I am happily tired from a day at the lake yesterday, spending time with family and working on evening out all of my running tan lines. Minnesota isn’t known for its beautiful Winters, but we do Summer VERY well.

Anyway, last week was a pretty solid week of training. It was only week 2 and I am purposely holding off on speed work for another week or two, due to my tendency towards injury. I am writing my own plan this time around and being really purposeful with how I approach my training. I am using a past training plan only as a very loose frame of reference as I plan my runs and mileage. I am aiming for something in the middle of what I’ve done with Hal Higdon’s training plans and Hanson’s Marathon Method in terms of mileage. I am not going to go much into the 50’s for weekly mileage, but I’m not going to stay in the 20’s and 30’s like I have when using Hal Higdon. Happy balance and probably hanging in the 40’s for much of this training. My first few weeks are a slow build: Week 1 was around 21, Week 2 was around 25, and this week I am aiming for 31-33.

My runs have NOT been feeling great. I don’t know if I’m still just dealing with my thyroid being out of whack still, or if it’s the humidity, or what. I’m going to continue to trust the process and put in work. I have continued to make sure I’m keeping biking, strength, and core as part of my training and at some point this will all have to pay off, right?

Monday 6.26: 3.5 miles @ 10:34, a 1 hour class at the Y called “XYZ training.” It is a circuit/boot-camp type class that was a butt kicker. My HR avg for the 60 min was about 140 and there were a lot of challenging drills. I got home afterward and my 6 year old daughter wanted to go for a run. I assumed we would run for a few minutes, but we ended up doing 2 miles. There was a significant amount of walking, but I’m counting it towards running miles because it was enough to keep my HR elevated. 🙂

Tuesday 6.27: Rest. My body was TIRED from the previous day. Also dealing with a bit of soreness near my ankle. Not sure if it’s due to adjusting to new shoes or increased mileage, so I’m being really careful with it.

Wednesday 6.27: Took my bike out of town with 3 of my friends for a longish ride on the Central Lakes Trail. It rained overnight and right before we started riding, so it was muggy and buggy and muddy. The humidity kept my HR high. 45 miles, 15.6 mph avg, 158 avg HR. Total ride time 2 hrs 52 min.

Thursday 6.28: So I guess the humidity is here to stay. 7 humid miles at 11:01 (but not counting a bathroom stop or multiple stops to collect myself. It was hard). In the evening I did my weekly ride with the bike shop (called WOW: women on wheels). 23 miles followed by a birthday celebration for one of my friends!

Friday 6.29: 3 miles @ 10:44, 30 min strength/ core at the Y.

Saturday 6.30: 11 miles @ 11:39. I don’t know what to say about this run other than it sucked really bad. It’s one that I am just glad it’s over with and I don’t want to think about it again. Ha! Afterward I did a Jasyoga video – a 5 minute post-long run quick reset.

Sunday 7.1: I truly did plan for a short run in the morning, but I slept too long and didn’t have enough time before we had to leave for the lake, as it is a 3 hour drive from us. Told myself I would run after we got home, but we were having so much fun that we didn’t even leave the lake till 9pm. Oh well, it was a great rest day!

Totals:

Running: 26.5

Biking: 68 miles

Core/Strength/Etc 1 hr 30 min

Jasyoga: 1x for 5 min.

Minnesota.
This is my post terrible long run mug shot.
Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

Pumpkin’s Utah Valley Half Marathon Race Report: The Race I Didn’t Race.

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on June 29, 2017 6 Comments

I was so happy back in January …

My training journey began waaaay back in January, when I had plans to run the Fargo Half Marathon. I started week one of training with an impromptu half marathon while I was at a conference in Austin, Texas. I was full of excitement for this training cycle and had pretty big goals to PR in May.

The journey proved to be a bumpy one.

Read more >>

Categories: Racing, Travel Running
Tags: Pumpkin race reports

Pumpkin’s Twin Cities Marathon Training Log 6.26.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on June 26, 2017 2 Comments

It’s officially official: I pulled the trigger and registered for Twin Cities Marathon! Surprisingly I survived week one of training without getting injured. I’m hoping this is the year I break the curse of Twin Cities Marathon training injury. Because of my irrational fear of injury, I am letting that fear keep me motivated to stay on top of strength and core work and listening to what my body needs. I am doing the unconventional this training cycle and am creating my training plan as I go. I will use past plans to guide my approach, but will largely plot my own journey as I go. I’m doing this because I tend to get TOO attached to following training plans and have been known to do a run even if my body isn’t up for it, just because my plan says I have to. I used Hanson’s Marathon Method for my last marathon, and while I really liked the singularity of focus and I felt good running 6 days a week, I don’t think I’m feeling up for that type of training this time around. Since it’s Summer, I love going for long rides on my road bike, and I want to be able to use cycling for cross training. Hanson’s did not have strength training built into the plan, and I often felt like I didn’t have time to add that on while running heavy Hanson’s mileage. My plan for this training cycle is all about balance.

How did week one go? GREAT! If I can manage to sustain this for the next 14 weeks, I think I’ll be in good shape for TCM on October 1.

Week of 6.19-6.25

Monday 6.19: 2 miles at 10:34 pace, 30 minutes of upper and lower body strength training, plus core.

Tuesday 6.20: 3 mile warm up before running ramps, 11:06 pace, 2.6 miles of running up and down ramps and stairs. 20 minutes of core work.

Wednesday 6.21: Fellow Saltine, Ginger was in town for a visit! Took her along on my group run with my running group for a bright and early sunrise run. 4 miles, 10:53 pace.

Thursday 6.22: Day off from running. Did my Thursday night group ride on a super windy night. It was a challenging 30 miles! 15.1 mph avg, 139 avg HR.

Friday 6.23: Somehow this run went really well. My pace does not reflect a few stops to adjust my laces on my new shoes (I’m trying Hoka Clifton 3 for the first time), but overall today was faster than I have been. 5 miles, 10:26 pace. Went to the gym after my run and did 30 minutes of lifting and core.

Saturday 6.24: I had planned to run this day, but it was cold and windy and drizzling for pretty much the whole day. Took this as a complete rest day.

Sunday 6.25: This run didn’t feel great. I think I’m still adjusting to running in Hokas and felt some soreness in my left lower leg, the site of past tendinitis problems. I let that get in my head and most of the run I worried about that becoming an injury. Lots of rolling and stretching and icing when I got home. 5 miles, 10:57 pace.

Total miles:

Running: 21.6

Cycling: 30

Strength/core: 3 sessions, 1 hr 20 min total.

My running group before a tough ramp workout!
One of the rare moments when I’m matchy matchy while I run
Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

Pumpkin’s Epic 2 Week Travel/Training Log 6.19.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on June 19, 2017 2 Comments

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind! We have a lot of catching up to do since my last training log!

  1. I joined a running group! A local group called FSR (faster.stronger.runners) is holding a Summer “training camp” and I happened to come across it on Facebook right after Fargo Marathon. For a small fee, I get to participate in various workouts throughout the whole Summer! Mondays are track workouts, Tuesdays are ramp/ core workout (ramp is running up and down a parking ramp), and Wednesdays are hill/ core workout. I am really excited to participate in this and have so far really enjoyed the couple of workouts I’ve been to. I missed last week due to travel (and I missed this morning due to leftover fatigue from travel), but am looking forward to getting back to it tomorrow!
  2. TRAVEL. SO MUCH TRAVEL. My husband, two kiddos, and I embarked on our ambitious multi-state road trip on Wednesday the 7th and returned on the wee hours of Saturday the 17th. We trekked through ND, MT, WY, UT, and ID. We stopped several places along the way, I ran the Utah Valley Half Marathon on the 10th, and then we settled in to our primary destination at a cabin in Cascade, ID, where we spent 5 days with 14 other members of my husband’s family. I was pretty nervous to see how this whole trip would unfold, given that the 9 year old and 6 year old aren’t always the best road trippers, but it went surprisingly well! There were times of yelling and tears, but much less than I imagined there would be! We had a blast spending time with family and visiting an old high school friend in Utah. We took some scenic routes instead of interstate for parts of our trip and I was glad we did. Mountains and rivers and trees bring me so much happiness! In all we covered about 3500 miles during our trip. Road trips are awesome.
  3. Utah Valley Half Marathon: Saving commentary for my upcoming race report!
  4. Training for Twin Cities Marathon officially begins TODAY. I think. The price increases after today so I need to pull the trigger and register for the race. I have a lot of trepidation about it because the last two times I’ve registered for TCM I have ended up with an injury that prevented me from running. I don’t know what it is about me and Summer injury, but it’s a pattern. Seriously! Since I started running in 2011, I have had significant injuries in the Summers of 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2016. You can see why I am a little hesitant to commit to marathon training. In fact, I have a little foot pain right now that I’m having checked this morning. It feels like probably nothing major and I’m thinking it’s related to all of the driving and craziness over the past two weeks. If my foot checks out okay this morning, I’ll go ahead and register this afternoon.

So those are the big updates! Here’s my running, etc over the past two weeks!

6.5-6.11

Monday 6.5: My first day of training with FSR! We meet EARLY in the morning- I got to the track at 5:15a to start warming up. We did a track workout, my first in two years. My Garmin was misbehaving and with it being day 1, there was some logisitics to figure out. My Garmin gave me credit for 2.2 miles which may or may not be accurate. Avg pace including warm up and recovery was 9:17.

Tuesday 6.6: Ramp/ core workout! Up and down the ramp a number of times, some running of stairs, followed by resistance bands and core work. Warm up 2.5 miles verrrrry slowly at 12:44 pace, followed by 2.7 miles of ramps (running up, walking/jogging down) at 11:28 pace. 25 min of core/bands

Wednesday 6.7: Was tempted to get up and go to the hill workout before we hit the road for our trip, but there was a lot to do this morning to get us on the road at a decent hour. Rest day: 12 hours of driving.

Thursday 6.8: After a crappy night of sleep in our hotel in Billings, MT, I woke up bright and early to go for an easy run. I planned ahead and knew that there was a park just over a mile from the hotel. I drove over because the road from the hotel wasn’t runner friendly. Absolutely beautiful morning. A short run just to get the muscles loosened up. 3 miles, 11:16 pace. We headed to Yellowstone and did about an hour of hiking around at the Mammoth Hot Springs, followed by a LOT of driving at a very slow pace.

Friday 6.9: We didn’t get to Jackson, WY till about 9pm the previous night. We were all tired and crabby and it was hard to drag myself out of the bed to run this morning. I did anyway because there was a good running path right by our hotel, and because it was my goal to run in as many scenic locations as possible during this trip. OMG the elevation difference was very noticeable. In Fargo/Moorhead we are at 900 feet of elevation, and Jackson, WY is 6300 feet. My body was tired and my lungs were not having it. The run was more walk than run. 2 miles, 12:27 pace. Then we hopped in the car and drove for a good part of the day till we reached our final destination just outside of SLC, UT.

Saturday 6.10: Utah Valley Half Marathon: 13.1 miles. After the race, I took a shower and we drove for most of the day to get to my brother in law’s house in Boise, ID.

Sunday 6.11: REST. We left Boise to head to a cabin in Cascade, ID. We did some hiking around in the evening and checked out the scenery. BEAUTIFUL.

Total miles: 25.5

Week of 6.12-6.18

Monday 6.12: Still tired. It was a cloudy/ cool day in Cascade and it felt like a good day to relax inside.

Tuesday 6.13: Did a short 2 mile along the trail behind the cabin, followed by a 3 mile run in town. My muscles were feeling pretty tight during the 2 mile, so I did some foam rolling in between my two runs. The 3 mile felt much better. 2 mile run/walk 12:14 pace, 3 mile run/walk, 10:47 pace.

Wednesday 6.14: 5 mile run/walk 11:28 pace. Finally the sun came out in Cascade. We spent much of the day on the beach. Great day!

Thursday 6.15: DRIVE ALLLLLLL DAY

Friday 6.16: DRIVE ALLLLLLLLL DAY

Saturday 6.17: Holy hell my body was so tired. We got home at 1:30am, I slept till 9, and attempted a run when I got up. Was gonna do 4 or 5 miles, but just couldn’t. 2 miles, 11:02 pace.

Total miles: 12

Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

Pumpkin’s Utah Valley Half Marathon Training Log 6.5.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on June 5, 2017 2 Comments

Wooo!! It’s here! Summer has arrived, I’m off work until July, and the Summer of Fun is underway!

Last week was all about balance and listening to my body. I paid attention to a couple of areas of soreness and tried to make sure I did some sort of strength, stretching, and a longer non-running activity in addition to the miles I ran. My only goal for myself in terms of running last week was to see if I had a longer run in me, as I have not done anything more than 9ish miles since my injury in March. With the half marathon approaching on June 10, I wanted just one easy long run to remind myself how that feels. Like I’ve said, I’m not racing Utah, just there to have fun and finish. I also purposely ran in late morning heat to hopefully give myself a little training boost. Utah is hot, but it starts at 6am for this reason. I told myself if I can run 10 miles in almost 80 degrees, then 13.1 in 60 something should feel pretty great. Overall last week my miles dropped, but that’s because I swapped out an easy medium run for a 62 mile bike ride… a fair trade I think!

Another bit of excitement in my world is I joined a local running group! Faster.Stronger.Runners (or FSR) has a Summer “running camp” that started today and goes through the end of August. For a VERY reasonable price, we will meet as a group 3-4 days per week. Mondays will be track, Tuesdays will be ramps (running up parking ramps!), Wednesdays will be hills, and Thursdays will be an optional group run. We’ll also do core work each day. We meet verrrrrry early 530-630a, and I imagine that since I’ll be needing more miles due to marathon training, I’ll probably arrive early to log some more warm up miles before the workouts. This morning was my first track workout and I’ll save the details of that for my next training log! Spoiler alert: damn that hurt!

We are leaving for our family road trip on Wednesday and will be returning Friday the 16th. I’m mentally preparing myself for some quality family time for 9 straight days. I am bracing myself for some whiny children in the car, but I really can’t blame them as we are driving a long way! We’ll start here in Moorhead, MN, drive west to Billings, MT, then to Jackson Hole, WY, seeing Yellowstone and Grand Teton Nat’l Parks along the way, then to Provo, UT to see a high school friend and to run the half marathon, then up to Boise, and then to our final destination at a rented cabin at a lake in Idaho where we’ll be hanging with my husband’s family for 5 days. As I type this, I am taking a break from vacation prep, because there are lots of little things to do between now and Wednesday morning! I plan on running when I can on vacation because the scenery is going to be incredible, but not gonna pressure myself to squeeze in tons of miles either.

When I return, I’ll have an epic 2 week training log, some tales from our Griswold Family trip, and a race report of the race I’m not racing! In the meantime, I’m going to be eating up lots of cellular data by posting lots of Instagram Stories. If you are interested in seeing some of my running views, some of the junk food I’m eating on the road, and perhaps a cute video or 90 of my kids, feel free to follow me on Instagram @ teresademers

 

5.29-6.4.17

Monday 5.29: 1 hour of hot yoga- felt amazing to get everything stretched out.

Tuesday 5.30: Off. Went to see the 20th anniversary tour of Rent. IT WAS INCREDIBLE.

Wednesday 5.31: Ran/walked after work. 80ish degrees and sun. Every muscle felt tight, so I took it really easy. 5 miles, 11:26 pace.

Thursday 6.1: Longest run since March. 10 miles run/walk. Stopped at a couple of locations for water/pee breaks, which are not accounted for on my overall run stats. 10 miles, 11:05 pace. It was about 80 degrees and sunny for the run. Oof. Summer.

Friday 6.2: Part of me reeeeallly wanted to log some miles this day, but was feeling pretty tired from the previous day. I bought new shoes though and was dying to take them out for a spin! I broke up with my Asics, was told that I would be fine running in a neutral shoe (after years of running in stability shoes), and settled on a pair of Nike Pegasus. They are so much lighter than anything I’ve ever run in! I couldn’t help myself and decided to take them out for a tiny run. Also it was 93 degrees, humid, and windy… 2 miles, 10:41 pace.

Saturday 6.3: Was going to go for a run before meeting my friend Kate for a Body Pump date… but I didn’t. After my little 2 mile the previous day, I felt some tiny twinges in the tendon in my left tibia… this is the area of my body that looooooves to be injured. I had a moment of panic and babied it like my leg was about to fall off. Saturday morning it  felt much better, but I’m a little paranoid and skipped running. Body Pump was great, but I knew I’d be sore the next day!

Sunday 6.4: Earlier in the week I had set aside this morning to do a medium run, but then it was discussed to do a 40 mile group bike ride, which turned to 50ish, and in the end it ended up being over 60. My legs were definitely feeling Body Pump from Saturday. I haven’t gotten a ton of miles on the bike yet this season, and not only was this the longest ride of the year so far, it ended up being my longest ride ever by a couple of miles! A great morning with friends in the wind, sun, and heat! 62.2 miles, 3 hours 48 min, 16.4 mph avg, HR avg 137 BPM.

Totals:

Running: 17 miles

Biking: 62.2 miles

Strength: 1 hour of Body Pump

Stretching: 1 hour of hot yoga

Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

Pumpkin’s Utah Valley Half Marathon Training Log 5.29.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on May 30, 2017 Leave a comment

Happy whatever day it is today! My sense of time is all screwed up after a long holiday weekend. Rumor has it today is Tuesday, but it’s also like my Thursday because Wednesday is my last day of work until July 1. Being an 11 month employee has its perks!

Last week was a pretty great week for running AND funning (see what I did there?). My miles are back where I want them to be and injury wise I’m still feeling strong. I just switched thyroid medications at the end of last week, so hopefully I’ll be feeling better within the next few weeks. I have continued to keep things humble with run/walking, but I had a couple of runs last week where my run intervals were much faster than they have been and my walk intervals were shorter! I am feeling optimistic that I’ll be back to running my blazing fast completely average pace soon.

I did some strength training, biking, and a tiny bit of core. I was just going to say I even did a hot yoga class, but I forget that yesterday won’t show up until next week’s training log… so stay tuned.

My plan for this week is to try and do a long run in the middle of the week just as a confidence booster before the half marathon that is less than two weeks away. Since my injury in Mid-March, the longest runs I’ve done are a couple of 7ish milers and an almost 10 miler. Like I’ve said before, I’m only running this half for fun and not for time. I’ll be running it on little sleep after traveling in a car with my kids and hubby for 3 days. Just getting to the starting line will be an accomplishment!

5.22-5.29

Monday 5.22: It was chilly, it was windy, it was drizzly. I almost treadmilled it, but it’s not like 55 degrees is arctic weather and running in the wind is good resistance training. I have also been making it a point to do more running along the river, because it really is the only elevation change we have here in Fargo/Moorhead. I even finished up my run with a few hill sprints. Run/walk 5 miles, 11:42 pace

Tuesday 5.23: A busy day but I squeezed in some strength training by going to the Y at 9pm. 45 minutes of upper body, lower body, and core.

Wednesday 5.24: This was actually a pretty solid run-walk. Considering many of my runs before I started run-walking a few weeks ago were around 11:00 pace, I was surprised to see that I did this run/walk at 11:07. I hadn’t been paying attention to pace, but clearly my run intervals are faster than I thought they would be. 5.3 miles, 11:07 pace.

Thursday 5.25: A very windy night, but great to get out for the weekly WOW ride (women on wheels). It’s one of the rides hosted by a local bike shop, and I do my best not to miss the Thursday rides because it’s a chance to spend time with a bunch of good friends. And also eat tacos afterwards. 25.5 miles, 15.2 mph avg, HR 135 bpm avg.

Friday 5.26: Made my 3 day weekend into a 4 day weekend because we were heading out of town this day! I got to sleep in a bit, and went to run the trails near my house. A humid morning and got my first mosquito bite of the season. 5 miles, 11:45 pace. Drove to Minneapolis, went to see Everclear in concert, didn’t get back to our hotel until 2am. What am I? 22 years old? A super fun day and always happy to spend time in the Twin Cities.

Saturday 5.27: Remember how I just said we didn’t get to our hotel till like 2am? I was determined to run this morning no matter what,

I love you, Minneapolis.

because our hotel was right by some fantastic running trails along the Mississippi River. Fun fact: Mpls/St Paul was just named the Fittest City in the U.S. – If you ever have a chance to visit, you will not lack amazing places to run. 4.5 miles, 11:26 pace. Lots of stops to take pictures. Farmers Market for coffee and croissant after my run. It was perfect.

Sunday 5.28: Back to Fargo running. It was warm, the forecast was hinting at storms, and the wind was over 20 mph. Because I couldn’t decide on a route, I ran the 1 mile loop around the YMCA 5 times, so I didn’t have to run into wind for extended periods of time. There is also some elevation change in the loop because the Y is near the river, so it’s just slightly more of a challenge than running the pancake flat roads. This run was closer to an actual run than a run walk. I ran the first mile without a walk, and ran walked the other 4 miles. Run intervals were faster than usual and walk breaks much shorter. Overall pace looked more like a running pace. A boost of optimism. 5.3 miles, 10:36 pace.

Total miles:

Running- 25.1

Biking- 25.5

Strength- 1 45 min session

 

Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

Pumpkin’s Utah Valley Half Marathon Training Log (and a tiny race recap) 5.23.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on May 23, 2017 7 Comments

 

Her very first medal! She was SO proud of herself!!!

Hello! Welp… I’m not going to lie to you, last week was a bit of a bust. I was incredibly exhausted last week and the weather was cool and gloomy and windy and rainy. Generally I’d log some miles on my bike on non-running days, but the weather was not really conducive for a bike ride. BUT! It was Fargo Marathon week last week and that always infuses a lot of excitement into the running community. I was feeling a little bummed that I wasn’t running the half marathon this year, but was happy to be out there to participate in the 10k (notice how I didn’t say RACE). There were over 10,000 runners between the 5k, 10k, half, and full marathons, and more who participated in the youth runs and other events. My daughter ran her first 1 mile race and it was SO adorable and so fun to share that with her. The look on her face when she got her medal was pure joy, and it reminded me that I need to be grateful that I’m able to run, even though I’m not where I’d like to be right now.

Thyroid update! I got the results back from my thyroid labs and the numbers were BAD. I’ll spare the medical jargon, but suffice to say this is probably the explanation behind how terribly running has been for me. My HR and my difficulty with breathing and overall just feeling like I have zero endurance are all likely a result of my thyroid being out of whack. My new medication sent my generally sluggish thyroid into HYPERthyroid and it’s been all crazy up in my body. Whoops. Abandoning that medication asap and returning to the old mediation and hope to get things regulated. Fingers crossed it doesn’t take too long to get things back to normal because Fall marathon training is quickly approaching!

As for that tiny race recap? Truly my only plan for that 10k was to participate by run/walking it, as I have been doing with all of my runs over the past few weeks. The weather on race morning was absolute PERFECTION. It was 44 degrees, overcast, and not windy. It made me feel sort of resentful that this is the year I only have to run a short race. Last year when I ran the full marathon it was 60 degrees at the start and 80 degrees at the end, with full sunshine. Spring marathons, right? Anyway, as always the crowd support was phenomenal and it was fun to just be out there, enjoying myself and being a part of the experience. I ended up doing a little more running than I thought I’d be able to run, and didn’t stop for a walk break until mile 2.5. Most of my runs as of late have been running 3-5 min, with a 2 min walk. I just did my thing and had fun and I purposely did not look at my Garmin for the entire race. If I looked, it would cause all sorts of shame spiraling. It was great practice at staying in the moment and listening to my body. The race was about mental training more than anything else, really. Oh, last week I mentioned that I was going to ditch the music…. I caved. But I left my phone behind and went low-tech with my trusty old iPod Shuffle that has not likely been used since last year’s Fargo Marathon. I kept the volume down low and had it paused for quite a bit of the race. What can I say, I just like having a soundtrack to my life experiences! My finishing time was 1:10:27, which translates to 11:21 pace. I didn’t even look at my Garmin stats until an hour after the race, because it felt so freeing to care so little about a race time. In the end, I was actually pleased that my pace was 11:21, because I did quite a bit of walking and expected it to be much slower.

Post 10k obligatory medal selfie.

Below are the few runs I actually DID do last week:

5.15-5.21.17

Monday 5.15: I was feeling sluggish and unmotivated and really sick of my neighborhood routes, so I decided to go run the trails at a park that is just a mile from my house. It’s a fantastic little park and I never run there because I guess I just focus on road running. I figured my run/walk strategy actually works really well with trail running. It was SO FUN and just great to spend time with the trees and the trail and the river. I really need to do more trail running. 5 miles, 11:42 pace

Tuesday 5.16: Off

Wednesday 5.17: run/ walk on the treadmill. 4 miles, 11:46 pace.

Thursday 5.18: Went for an hour walk after work and ran the 1 mile youth race with Bea.

Friday 5.19: What is wrong with me? No running. Went for a 45 minute walk, though.

Saturday 5.20: Fargo Marathon 10k. 11:21 pace.

Sunday 5.21: Not much. Did a couple of 5 minute Jasyoga reset videos. Got my period and suddenly the fatigue and week of being a sloth made sense.

Total miles: 15.2

Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

Pumpkin’s Utah Valley Half Marathon Training Log: 5.15.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on May 15, 2017 2 Comments

It’s here! Fargo Marathon week! This is a pretty exciting time of the year around here, as there are events being held every day this week, with the 3 main races (10k, Half, and Full marathon) taking place on Saturday morning. I had decided a few weeks ago that I wasn’t going to run the half marathon after all because injury jacked up my training, and I’ve been going back and forth trying to decide if I want to run the 10k. I have run the half or full every year since I started running in 2011, so it would be really strange not to run something on Saturday. Online registration closed last night and at the last minute I pulled the trigger and signed up to run the 10k. I’ll be running it as a really expensive training run, with no expectations to PR. I’m going to look at it as an opportunity to try out some things without the pressure of hitting a certain pace. I’m also toying around with the idea of not running with music…. we’ll see!

Anyway, the past week saw a dip in running miles and a small increase in biking miles. I’m still run/walking my runs, but a couple of them ended up at a faster overall pace than the previous week… so… accidental progress? I did a body pump class and I did a little bit of hill work during one of my runs, so even though my overall miles were down, I feel like I had some good balance in there!

5.8-5.14.17

Monday 5.8: 3 miles run/walk at 11:51, 50 minutes of Body Pump (my first pump class in foreverrrr)

Tuesday 5.9: Off

Wednesday 5.10: 3.2 miles run/walk, plus some hills along the river (take “hills” with a grain of salt. This IS Fargo). 11:10 pace.

Thursday 5.11: A sunny, almost windless evening meant I had a pretty spectacular bike ride. I went out by myself because I didn’t have the energy to socialize on a group run- plus it’s a super efficient workout when I don’t have anybody to draft from. 22 miles, 17.4 mph avg, HR avg 170.

Friday 5.12: This was a sort of terrible run, but it’s all my fault. I didn’t sleep well and finally gave up on sleep around 3a. I decided that since I was awake, I would try and do a longer run. Initially I thought I would try for 10 miles… but ended up with 7.1 at the end. I was not well rested and my headphones died and I probably should have just stayed in bed. haha! Run/walk, 12:29 pace. Also went for a 1.5 mile walk during my lunch hour.

Saturday 5.13: A quick Saturday morning ride with friends! Sunny and perfect. 30.5 miles, 16.3 mph avg, 150 avg HR.

Sunday 5.14: I took the morning to be lazy and pushed my run to afternoon. It was sunny and 81 degrees, but I just kept telling myself how good it is for me to train in the heat. Last Summer I was injured and missed out on all hot weather running! 4 miles run/walk at 11:20 pace.

 

Totals-

Running: 17.3

Biking: 52.5

Body pump: 50 min

Core: ummm… needs improvement.

I don’t have any running pics from the week, but I do have a super lame flex photo from after my Body Pump class.

 

Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

Pumpkin’s Utah Valley Half Marathon Training Log: 5.8.17

Pumpkin Posted by Pumpkin on May 8, 2017 3 Comments

Happy Monday! I’m just drinking my coffee and examining my tan lines and sunburns from an incredible weekend, much of which was spent outdoors. It was the first perfect weather weekend of the year: mid 70’s, sunshine, and it’s not quite mosquito season just yet. This whole week is supposed to be lovely, which is making it really hard to want to go to work.

Anyway, last week was solid. As I mentioned last week, I’m trying to figure out if my thyroid is ruining my running and until I feel better, I’m just sticking to run/walk intervals. It takes a bit longer to log the miles, and, like I said, a little ego bruising when I share my “run” stats on Strava, but I’m building mileage and that’s all I care about right now. I threw in a couple of long bike rides this week and a strength training session as well. Goal for this coming week is to do two days of strength and more consistent with core. I was GREAT with core work while I was injured, but of course now that I’m feeling better, I’ve been letting it slide again. Back at it this week!!

5.1-5.7.17

Monday 5.1: 5 miles run/walk. 12:34 pace.

Tuesday 5.2: 45 minutes strength training. Mostly lower body, some upper body, core, and like 6 minutes on the stepmill

Wednesday 5.3: 5 miles run/walk. 12:38 pace.

Thursday 5.4: A solo ride on my road bike after work. 18 miles, 15.3 mph avg, HR 149 avg.

Friday 5.5: Joined my friend Michele for her long run. We planned for run/walk, which was good because it was 82 degrees on Friday evening. We did 3 min run, 2 min walk. 9.2 miles, 12:56 pace.

Saturday 5.6: 5 miles run/walk 11:39 pace. Went hiking with my daughter later in the afternoon at a local state park. Hiked probably 2.5 miles.

Sunday 5.7: 30 miles on the bike with Michele. A WINDY morning, so we averaged 11-13 mph on our way out, but the tailwind was great on the way back. It took us 75 min to go the first 15 miles, and only 45 to do the same on the way back.

 

Total miles:

Running- 24.2 miles

Biking- 48 miles

Hiking- 2.5 miles

Strength- 45 min, plus some miscellaneous undocumented core work. 🙂

I was happy to log some miles on my bike this week!
I managed to create about 37 different tan lines over the past week.
Categories: Training Logs
Tags: Pumpkin training logs

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