To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[DopeyBadger]

123 Days to Go (Back to Groovin')



Date - Day - Scheduled Workout (Intervals within desired pace, Strength +/- 5 sec, everything else +/- 10 sec)

2/8/17 - W - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
2/9/17 - R - 2 miles @ 9:01 min/mile + 6 miles @ 7:25 min/mile (4/6)
2/10/17 - F - 6 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
2/11/17 - Sat - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile + MBW
2/12/17 - Sun - 11 miles @ 8:04 min/mile (10/11)
2/13/17 - M - OFF
2/14/17 - T - 6 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile

Total (training) mileage = 45 miles
Number of SOS intervals within pace = 14/16 (88%)

Wednesday was a nice and cold run with a WC of 4. It was a solid run with nothing remarkable. HR is still elevated at 137.

Thursday was the first M Tempo run. Daniels plan starts off with a very aggressive 10 miles of M Tempo (something Hansons builds to in 15 weeks). So I felt to better prepare myself for the rigors of the plan I would do a few weeks of M Tempo building up to the Daniels 10 miler. It was a WC of 9. The plan called for 2 miles of WU, 6 miles of M Tempo, and then a cold stop with no cool down. I'm not entirely sure I like the no cool down and was willing to see what would happen. The 2 mile WU was right on target. The 6 mile M Tempo started off very well with a 7:37. Interestingly, my actual M Tempo from Dopey was a 7:36 min/mile pace (7:40 for 26.2 officially). So it was interesting to see that I immediately locked on to marathon pace without much GPS help. Since the first interval is +30 sec, that meant the 7:37 was within pace. The next mile was 7:36 (lol still locked on). Then, 7:23, 7:32, 7:36 (lol), and 7:25. Overall it felt like M Tempo, but was a bit off desired pace. It was a solid M Tempo workout with 4/6 within the pace window, but the HR wasn't where it has been historically. Normally the M Tempo is around 152, and this run was 156. So not off by a ton, but a touch high.

Friday G had her 3 year Doctor's appointment. Since it ended earlier than expected I got home a tad earlier and was able to run in the weekday sun! Wahoo, haven't seen that in a while. It was a nice 35 out. I decided to go with pants because my general temp rule is 30 and above shorts (but this 35 felt a tad colder because of the lingering snow). The run was again solid and nothing remarkable.

Saturday was G's 3rd birthday! The WC was 33 and the decision again was "shorts or pants". Today I went with pants again. I much prefer the freedom of leg movement that shorts give me vs pants, but because the pace was easy it was probably safer. The run was solid again. HR still running high at 141. We had fun at Daniel Tiger Live and hanging out with my mom all afternoon. To be honest though, I can only handle so much Daniel Tiger. Saturday evening brought back the Medicine Ball Workout (MBW). It's been quite some time since I've done it and my core/arms really misses it. So I felt it appropriate to bring it back into the rotation.

Sunday was another long run day. The wind chill was 29F with a sustained wind of 18 mph. Again on the cusp of shorts vs pants. This time I decided to go with the shorts, even though it was 1F under my threshold for shorts. It was another solid run with 10/11 intervals within pace (only the first was outside even with +30 window). The HR was closer to being within range at 145 (historical is 137-142). Afterwards we took G bowling for her birthday party. G had a lot of fun, but during it I felt a twinge in my back. The twinge didn't really bother me for the remainder of the day. We had fun at my SIL house were we had G's party. They did a great job decorating the house with Daniel Tiger and built her a trolley to "drive" around the house. It was a fun birthday party.

Monday was an off day. I woke up Monday morning with a pain in my rear. A pain I've felt before that feels like a strained rear muscle. It was noticeable throughout the day, but felt fine after moving for some duration. It just bothered me when I sat for too long. Thankfully by the end of the day the pain diminished.

Tuesday was another easy day. Thankfully the pain did not return Tuesday morning or during the easy run. I'm happy I might have dodged a bullet and it seems the off day came at a good time. It was a WC of 31. I decided to go with shorts. The run was good and finally felt "normal" again. Easy, no labored breathing, just easy movements. HR still not quite right at 135, but I'm still giving it time.

Happy with the progress thus far. I'd prefer the HR was coming down, but again I'm not going to get overly concerned about it. Stick with the effort and it'll continue to guide me. But since the legs are starting to feel normal and fresh again, I'm getting more excited to see what the Daniels plan is going to feel like. Only two weeks from today until the first "5" day!!!

 

[ZellyB]

Nice solid week of training. Wind chill of 29 and no freaking way am I in shorts. Brrrr. Nice progress for sure.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Nice solid week of training. Wind chill of 29 and no freaking way am I in shorts. Brrrr. Nice progress for sure.

Thanks! I did a tank top with arm warmers on Saturday (WC of 33). Steph got them for free from SmartWool as a sample. I thought they worked reasonably well given the temperature. Guess I'm just over-anxious to get rid of the pants and into shorts weather. Looks like 40-50s in the next week for some pure running temps.

 

[DopeyBadger]

A review of the last three marathons: Wisconsin Marathon 2016, Lakefront Marathon 2016, and Disney Marathon 2017

So as I'm about to enter my 5k/10k Daniels training and the plan is set, I'm starting to look ahead at the summer/fall training leading up to Lakefront 2017. As I've said on multiple occasions this will be my first attempt at breaking 3 hours in the marathon. So as I prepare for the next 9 months in my running career, I decided to look back at the last three marathons to see if the data could give me any indications about what I need to do differently.

I first evaluated each of the marathons by duration at each mile marker.



The times in yellow were official race times, and the rest of the times listed were from my Garmin. As a reminder, all three of these races were done completely blind (at least until mile 24). While the courses are not the same, the duration through certain mile markers is incredibly consistent. Particularly looking at miles 9 and 10 which are separated by only 9 and 13 seconds respectively. That's insanely consistent. It's around mile 9/10 at which the Disney marathon (current PR) separates itself from the other two races. This jives quite well with how the races felt, as the Disney marathon felt the "easiest" of the three (even though it ended up being the fastest). Something to keep in mind with the Wisconsin Marathon was the crazy head-wind at mile 19 and beyond. So it would appear I was gaining ground on the Lakefront Marathon time and would have ended up finishing faster than Lakefront in theory if not for the wind. It's hard to say completely because maybe I went out too fast in WI and would have crashed regardless of wind. The most interesting thing to note is while 9/10 are separated by a mere 9-13 seconds, the final finishing times were separated by ~7 minutes. That's a ~3.5% difference in time from 10-26.2 in the three races (although taking just Lakefront vs Disney is a ~1.5% difference).

Second, I evaluated the pace at each individual mile:



While the duration was nearly the same through mile 9-10, the pace at each individual mile was done at a different strategy. This individual variation on a mile by mile basis is probably due to the intricacies of the course and environmental conditions. This still tells me that my problem area lies in the last 6-8 miles (not surprisingly). Because I'm losing my pace around those mile markers, and then it starts a slow descent. Duration wise (mile 18-20) is around 2:15 and 2:30 of consistent running, which just so happens to be my current max cap on duration. I have to wonder whether increasing this cap slightly to 2:45 or 3:00 (which is still within Hansons guidelines but outside Daniels recommendation) is a wise choice. I'll definitely need to do more research on the best approach here. Maybe some sort of think tank between Hansons, Pfitz, and Daniels methods. Maybe it's increasing the duration of the long run, or maybe it's including a few fast finishes during the long run, or some other variant.

Lastly, I evaluated each by pace through mile (or up to that point):



Kind of tells the same story that my finishing pace peaks around 18-19 miles and then fades from there. In WI, it faded by 19 seconds per mile (8:17 minutes). In Lakefront, by 7 seconds per mile (3:03 minutes). In Disney, by 8 seconds per mile (3:30 minutes). Also, the time I lost for GPS inaccuracy or tangents is roughly the same across all three races (4-5 seconds). Which means my goal time needs to be about 1:45-2:11 within goal pace to account of the tangents. So, a 3 hour marathon needs to be instead of a 6:52 min/mile, more like a 6:47-6:48 min/mile to account for the inaccuracies.

That's what I see when looking at the data. What do you see?

 

[FFigawi]

I think you're right. My coach always has me train and run for 5-10 seconds faster than the pace the math dictates to compensate for not running the tangents and any increased distance from weaving around. I know too many people who have tried to run exactly 9:07 to hit 4 hours only to miss it because they ran more than 26.2. The other thing I see is your pace varying too much around the mean. You might be better off increasing your pace at the start by 3-5 seconds and having less of an increase in the middle miles to see if this helps delay and reduce the drop you see in the last 6-7 miles. A smoother line with less variance up and down should make for a better result even if it interferes with your Pac Man desires.

 

[canglim52]

A review of the last three marathons: Wisconsin Marathon 2016, Lakefront Marathon 2016, and Disney Marathon 2017

So as I'm about to enter my 5k/10k Daniels training and the plan is set, I'm starting to look ahead at the summer/fall training leading up to Lakefront 2017. As I've said on multiple occasions this will be my first attempt at breaking 3 hours in the marathon. So as I prepare for the next 9 months in my running career, I decided to look back at the last three marathons to see if the data could give me any indications about what I need to do differently.

I first evaluated each of the marathons by duration at each mile marker.

View attachment 220345

The times in yellow were official race times, and the rest of the times listed were from my Garmin. As a reminder, all three of these races were done completely blind (at least until mile 24). While the courses are not the same, the duration through certain mile markers is incredibly consistent. Particularly looking at miles 9 and 10 which are separated by only 9 and 13 seconds respectively. That's insanely consistent. It's around mile 9/10 at which the Disney marathon (current PR) separates itself from the other two races. This jives quite well with how the races felt, as the Disney marathon felt the "easiest" of the three (even though it ended up being the fastest). Something to keep in mind with the Wisconsin Marathon was the crazy head-wind at mile 19 and beyond. So it would appear I was gaining ground on the Lakefront Marathon time and would have ended up finishing faster than Lakefront in theory if not for the wind. It's hard to say completely because maybe I went out too fast in WI and would have crashed regardless of wind. The most interesting thing to note is while 9/10 are separated by a mere 9-13 seconds, the final finishing times were separated by ~7 minutes. That's a ~3.5% difference in time from 10-26.2 in the three races (although taking just Lakefront vs Disney is a ~1.5% difference).

Second, I evaluated the pace at each individual mile:

View attachment 220346

While the duration was nearly the same through mile 9-10, the pace at each individual mile was done at a different strategy. This individual variation on a mile by mile basis is probably due to the intricacies of the course and environmental conditions. This still tells me that my problem area lies in the last 6-8 miles (not surprisingly). Because I'm losing my pace around those mile markers, and then it starts a slow descent. Duration wise (mile 18-20) is around 2:15 and 2:30 of consistent running, which just so happens to be my current max cap on duration. I have to wonder whether increasing this cap slightly to 2:45 or 3:00 (which is still within Hansons guidelines but outside Daniels recommendation) is a wise choice. I'll definitely need to do more research on the best approach here. Maybe some sort of think tank between Hansons, Pfitz, and Daniels methods. Maybe it's increasing the duration of the long run, or maybe it's including a few fast finishes during the long run, or some other variant.

Lastly, I evaluated each by pace through mile (or up to that point):

View attachment 220348

Kind of tells the same story that my finishing pace peaks around 18-19 miles and then fades from there. In WI, it faded by 19 seconds per mile (8:17 minutes). In Lakefront, by 7 seconds per mile (3:03 minutes). In Disney, by 8 seconds per mile (3:30 minutes). Also, the time I lost for GPS inaccuracy or tangents is roughly the same across all three races (4-5 seconds). Which means my goal time needs to be about 1:45-2:11 within goal pace to account of the tangents. So, a 3 hour marathon needs to be instead of a 6:52 min/mile, more like a 6:47-6:48 min/mile to account for the inaccuracies.

That's what I see when looking at the data. What do you see?

I obviously agree with all your analysis, and I personally didn't see anything else in numbers. It would be cool to see how your HR and cadence responded at mile 18-26.2. I would also say wind, injury, and the difficulties of Dopey may also be contributing to your fade. Great job again!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I think you're right. My coach always has me train and run for 5-10 seconds faster than the pace the math dictates to compensate for not running the tangents and any increased distance from weaving around. I know too many people who have tried to run exactly 9:07 to hit 4 hours only to miss it because they ran more than 26.2.

Agreed!

The other thing I see is your pace varying too much around the mean. You might be better off increasing your pace at the start by 3-5 seconds and having less of an increase in the middle miles to see if this helps delay and reduce the drop you see in the last 6-7 miles. A smoother line with less variance up and down should make for a better result even if it interferes with your Pac Man desires.

Agreed as well. Physiologically an even split (or little variance) is the best marathon pacing strategy. I haven't been terribly good at that with my blind effort based running technique. I think I need to find a happy medium between the two techniques. I believe this is what you're referring to:



This middle miles (8-18) have been dropping quite a bit in the middle. This sag is likely contributing to the fade at the end. I need to work on being more consistent from start to end.

I obviously agree with all your analysis, and I personally didn't see anything else in numbers. It would be cool to see how your HR and cadence responded at mile 18-26.2. I would also say wind, injury, and the difficulties of Dopey may also be contributing to your fade. Great job again!!

Thanks! I'll try and see if I can find something with HR and cadence.

 

[FFigawi]

That's exactly what I meant. I just didn't feel like graphing it.

 

[roxymama]

Looks Good! I consulted a math expert.

 

[DopeyBadger]

DVC rent has come through! I'm at OKW with my mom from 1/2 (Tuesday) to 1/8 (Monday). Woot woot!

 

[LSUlakes]

A review of the last three marathons: Wisconsin Marathon 2016, Lakefront Marathon 2016, and Disney Marathon 2017

So as I'm about to enter my 5k/10k Daniels training and the plan is set, I'm starting to look ahead at the summer/fall training leading up to Lakefront 2017. As I've said on multiple occasions this will be my first attempt at breaking 3 hours in the marathon. So as I prepare for the next 9 months in my running career, I decided to look back at the last three marathons to see if the data could give me any indications about what I need to do differently.

I first evaluated each of the marathons by duration at each mile marker.

View attachment 220345

The times in yellow were official race times, and the rest of the times listed were from my Garmin. As a reminder, all three of these races were done completely blind (at least until mile 24). While the courses are not the same, the duration through certain mile markers is incredibly consistent. Particularly looking at miles 9 and 10 which are separated by only 9 and 13 seconds respectively. That's insanely consistent. It's around mile 9/10 at which the Disney marathon (current PR) separates itself from the other two races. This jives quite well with how the races felt, as the Disney marathon felt the "easiest" of the three (even though it ended up being the fastest). Something to keep in mind with the Wisconsin Marathon was the crazy head-wind at mile 19 and beyond. So it would appear I was gaining ground on the Lakefront Marathon time and would have ended up finishing faster than Lakefront in theory if not for the wind. It's hard to say completely because maybe I went out too fast in WI and would have crashed regardless of wind. The most interesting thing to note is while 9/10 are separated by a mere 9-13 seconds, the final finishing times were separated by ~7 minutes. That's a ~3.5% difference in time from 10-26.2 in the three races (although taking just Lakefront vs Disney is a ~1.5% difference).

Second, I evaluated the pace at each individual mile:

View attachment 220346

While the duration was nearly the same through mile 9-10, the pace at each individual mile was done at a different strategy. This individual variation on a mile by mile basis is probably due to the intricacies of the course and environmental conditions. This still tells me that my problem area lies in the last 6-8 miles (not surprisingly). Because I'm losing my pace around those mile markers, and then it starts a slow descent. Duration wise (mile 18-20) is around 2:15 and 2:30 of consistent running, which just so happens to be my current max cap on duration. I have to wonder whether increasing this cap slightly to 2:45 or 3:00 (which is still within Hansons guidelines but outside Daniels recommendation) is a wise choice. I'll definitely need to do more research on the best approach here. Maybe some sort of think tank between Hansons, Pfitz, and Daniels methods. Maybe it's increasing the duration of the long run, or maybe it's including a few fast finishes during the long run, or some other variant.

Lastly, I evaluated each by pace through mile (or up to that point):

View attachment 220348

Kind of tells the same story that my finishing pace peaks around 18-19 miles and then fades from there. In WI, it faded by 19 seconds per mile (8:17 minutes). In Lakefront, by 7 seconds per mile (3:03 minutes). In Disney, by 8 seconds per mile (3:30 minutes). Also, the time I lost for GPS inaccuracy or tangents is roughly the same across all three races (4-5 seconds). Which means my goal time needs to be about 1:45-2:11 within goal pace to account of the tangents. So, a 3 hour marathon needs to be instead of a 6:52 min/mile, more like a 6:47-6:48 min/mile to account for the inaccuracies.

That's what I see when looking at the data. What do you see?

Although GPS is not perfect there is not a single marathon course that measure exactly 26 mile 385 yards or even +/- 10 yards. The courses are measured long on purpose anywhere from .05 to .10 miles long. I'm told that this is done to ensure that if someone was to measure the course after it's certified for any reason that the course would not come up short. A course coming up short of the 26.2 miles would have a lot of bad publicity and basically all results would be void. So if you ran a marathon that measured 26.4 miles on your GPS, its likely .05 to .1 is actually course, the remainder is GPS and running tangents. Not that it changes much, in preparing for a goal time. If you want a 2:59:59 finish time, train for 2-3 minutes faster if using your GPS watch.

Edit to add: For races with mile markers at each mile, I know of several folks who will turn the auto lap off and press the lap button manually at each mile marker for a more accurate pace.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Although GPS is not perfect there is not a single marathon course that measure exactly 26 mile 385 yards or even +/- 10 yards. The courses are measured long on purpose anywhere from .05 to .10 miles long. I'm told that this is done to ensure that if someone was to measure the course after it's certified for any reason that the course would not come up short. A course coming up short of the 26.2 miles would have a lot of bad publicity and basically all results would be void. So if you ran a marathon that measured 26.4 miles on your GPS, its likely .05 to .1 is actually course, the remainder is GPS and running tangents. Not that it changes much, in preparing for a goal time. If you want a 2:59:59 finish time, train for 2-3 minutes faster if using your GPS watch.

Edit to add: For races with mile markers at each mile, I know of several folks who will turn the auto lap off and press the lap button manually at each mile marker for a more accurate pace.

Completely agree. It's the little things that'll nickel and dime ya!

 

[ZellyB]

Looks Good! I consulted a math expert.

@roxymama wins the gif of the day award! I freaking love this one!!!

 

[roxymama]

@roxymama wins the gif of the day award! I freaking love this one!!!

Since Garmins are so unreliable in Chicago races, I'm thinking about just carrying this guy to help me keep pace. I just got to be careful around the water stops...I'd imagined he'd get distracted by all the garbage.

 

[DopeyBadger]

117 Days to Go (Confusion)



Date - Day - Scheduled Workout (Intervals within desired pace, Strength +/- 5 sec, everything else +/- 10 sec)

2/15/17 - W - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
2/16/17 - R - 2 miles @ 9:01 min/mile + 7 miles @ 7:25 min/mile (7/7!)
2/17/17 - F - 6 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
2/18/17 - Sat - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
2/19/17 - Sun - 7 miles @ 8:04 min/mile (6/7) + MBW
2/20/17 - M - OFF

Total (training) mileage = 36 miles
Number of SOS intervals within pace = 13/14 (93%)

Confused???

I know I am....

It's Monday, and yet there's a DopeyBadger weekly update...

Well the change makes sense. The Daniels 10k training starts on Tuesday 2/28/17. It makes more sense to have the weekly updates follow the "weekly" schedule of the training (that way it shows both speed days of the week in the same weekly update). So I decided to jump the gun and do the reset of weekly updates now.

Wednesday was an easy 7 miles. Nothing really notable about the day (seems like that happens during a non-specific training period). HR was reasonable at 133, but not yet where history had it.

Thursday was the second M Tempo day during the build-up to Daniels 10k. I went for 7 miles. Wind chill was 29F. The first two warm-up miles were solid, although the HR data was a bit odd with a sudden decrease and then rise back up. Not much of an explanation for that. The miles all nicely clicked off with the goal of a 7:25 (7:42, 7:34, 7:27, 7:35, 7:25, 7:25, and 7:31). A solid hit of 7/7 intervals within pace. Again I feel as if it's been a while since that has happened. The effort seemed in line with M Tempo, but the HR data disagreed. Historical M Tempo is 152 and this was 157. In addition, last week's 6 miles of M Tempo was 156. Likely within margin of error though. None the less it bothered me to see the M Tempo effort not realigning with the HR data. It seemed as if I wasn't making the improvements I felt I should have at this point (now almost four weeks of running and two weeks actual workouts). Time will tell.

Friday I woke up more sore than normal for a M Tempo day. Was I more sore because my effort wasn't in line anymore? Was it diet related? Sleep related? Funny enough like the Running thread QOTD today I went through a laundry list of ideas to nail the soreness down. I'm thinking I'm just not "there" yet and I'm going to give it some time. The soreness isn't a pain, but just a low level hum of fatigue. So on Friday I just tried to go slow and easy, but slower and easier than normal. It felt fine. Not overly difficult (well because it was easy). HR was still unusually high at 138 (that's long run level!). The weather was nice at 55F! The weather man said we normally get one 60 degree day in February once every 12 years. We will have 6 straight 60 degree days. That's pretty nuts.



Saturday we decided to go see Lego Batman with G. She really liked the Lego movie (another seen it a Bazillion times) and she loves super heroes, so we thought she'd like this one too. Not so much. She was a bit squirrely during the movie. The jokes kind of went over her head (3 years old). It was fun, but maybe Trolls would have been a better choice. She was funny with the popcorn though. Umm... you've had enough... the rest is for me.... The run was good. It was 59F out. I again tried to go super slow. The HR was better at 135. I tried to incorporate some strides (short bursts of speed at no more than 10 seconds with slow gradual build up and slow down) into the end of the run. I decided that the Daniels 10k starts off pretty quick on the speed section so I would need to start incorporating the strides to get use to going fast again. I was happy with the overall results. While the Garmin is no where near accurate for 10 sec short bursts they were relatively consistent at 7:08 min/mile, 6:03 min/mile, 5:24 min/mile, and a 6:00 min/mile (remember this is only 10 seconds and not accurate). I was happy with the effort, but it did cause a brief soreness in my right hip.

Thankfully, by Sunday the soreness was gone. With the additional fatigue of M Tempo day (Thursday) I was interested to see how the long run day would fare. The weather was again beautiful at about 45. I wore shorts and a tank top with some new arm sleeves from SmartWool that Steph got as a sample. The clothing was a perfect choice. Everything felt great. The paces were solid with all but one within the desired range (and if anything they were a touch too fast). The HR was still a bit high at 147 (compared to 138-142 normally).

So the HR still seems to be giving me grief now a few weeks in. Here's an updated chart (Green is current):



I was confused as to why I had yet to see any progress on the HR. It could be because I'm not yet actually training (just building). Maybe because I'm at 40ish miles instead of 50-60 miles of training? Could be 2 SOS days instead of 3 SOS days? Temperature, humidity, sickness, etc.? Too early the training to see effects yet?





So I decided to plug the numbers into the formula to see where my race predictor calculator said my current fitness is based on my current HR:

5k - 20:23
10k - 42:49
HM - 1:33
M - 3:22

Well it seems my calculator may be a bit smarter than me. I'd have to agree with those numbers as they were pretty darn on the nose to my recent race results (or without crowding guesses). So maybe there isn't a problem after all. Yea so I'm not where I was in Mid-December, but it seems I am where I was during Dopey. I also looked back at early November (around the same time post October marathon to now). The lines aren't exact, but they're close. So I'd say the data allowed me to take a deep breath and say, don't worry, just keep plugging away. The real proof in the pudding will be when the actual training starts.



Edited to add: MBW, Hot2Trot update, and Sunday Funday! Went too fast with hitting post and forgot some things!

I forgot to mention that I hadn't seen my local 10ks website (Hot2Trot) update to 2017 yet. I feel like sign-up started in November for the 2016 edition, so being in Feb and not yet seeing any changes had me wondering. Is there going to be a Hot2Trot 2017? So, I contacted them via Facebook to see if they had any news. They said they were unsure if they'd have a 2017 edition but would be making a decision within the next two weeks. Hard to get my redemption if the race never happens... So I've got a tentative plan of an unofficial 5k, unofficial 10k, and Hot2Trot but I've got to wait and see if it's happening or not.

Also, Steph worked on Sunday so it was a Sunday Funday for G and I. We decided to walk to the park. She kept saying, "Dad, it's so far...", and "We've been walking forever." LOL, it's only 0.4 miles, but to a three year old I guess that's forever. She kept asking to be carried (or wanted to go back and get the stroller), but I held firm and we made it in 20 minutes. We had fun on the swings and with her Ariel bubble wand.



Then after an hour at the park we made the trip home. We played "fetch" with a stick and both played the role of "dog". When we finally made it home, we also did some chalk drawings on the driveway. G was made at me because all the princesses were in PINK! THEY CAN"T ALL BE PINK, DAD! Why g? Because only Aurora is pink!!! Where's Belle, or Cinderella, or Rapunzel, or Jasmine, or etc. etc. etc. It's not a very good drawing dad... OOOooff didn't realize I'd start something with that drawing, LOL! So at her direction I changed the color of the other two dresses (Belle and Cinderella).



Also drew a cat!



And of course a motion W (for Wisconsin).

 

[roxymama]

I thought Monday was the day you watched the Bachelor? Make sure not to get too fatigued doing an update and watching Nick find love!

But seriously...would you like to join my Sore Persons Not-Anonymous Club? I'm hoping within the next few weeks we are down to zero members.

 

[ZellyB]

A Monday training update from DopeyBadger? My mind, it is blown!

Glad that your soreness what short-lived.

And all of us seem to be enjoying this early strange spring weather. Climate weirdness people!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I thought Monday was the day you watched the Bachelor? Make sure not to get too fatigued doing an update and watching Nick find love!

But seriously...would you like to join my Sore Persons Not-Anonymous Club? I'm hoping within the next few weeks we are down to zero members.

LOL, yea the Bachelor.... I limit myself after Dance Moms (love it) and Vanderpump Rules (tolerate it) and Real Housewives of everywhere (I can live with it).

This is what I got for "Sore Person Anonymous" for an image search:



So yea I guess what she said...

A Monday training update from DopeyBadger? My mind, it is blown!

Glad that your soreness what short-lived.

And all of us seem to be enjoying this early strange spring weather. Climate weirdness people!

Hooray for both short lived soreness and weather weirdness. I'll *take 60s in Feb *(as long as it doesn't mean 90s in June).

PS - I added a section to the update because I forgot a few things: Hot2Trot, MBW, and Sunday Funday.

 

[BikeFan]

Your analysis is impressive - definitely some next level stuff! I'm almost the total opposite - I train very much by 'feel'. Depending on the specific workout, I'll assign a perceived exertion level and try to peg my pace to that level for however long I can hold it. I'll have no clue about my splits until I actually get home and upload my run. I should probably be analytical about it, but I lack that kind of focus. I'm jealous!

Agreed as well. Physiologically an even split (or little variance) is the best marathon pacing strategy. I haven't been terribly good at that with my blind effort based running technique. I think I need to find a happy medium between the two techniques.

Yeah, the data does point to some degree of fade. I've struggled with that as well, but in the marathon, I've actually done pretty well with pacing, posting negative splits in two of my last three PRs. When I'm working on my mental race-plan, I have to be honest with myself and KNOW that I tend to start too fast. Thus, I make a concerted effort to check my pace at the mile markers and back off a little if need be. If by Mile 20 I'm still feeling strong (and I never am by that point), I give myself permission to accelerate. Of course, by then I'm just trying to hold pace, so I never actually accelerate all that much. It helps that my target marathon has had a pace group for my target pace that last few years, but you still have to be careful of those. In 2015, I was aiming for 3:14:59 and went with the 3:15 group. The pacer went out super-fast (7:15 first mile!) but I was feeling great and I hung in there, despite a voice in the back of my head telling me this was a bad idea. That voice was of course correct, and by the Mile 15 mark, the 3:15 group, still on pace for ~3:12, started dropping runners like flies. I hung on until Mile 18, and then slowly faded back. My final 10K was right around 50:00, for a positive split of ~5:00 and a 3:17 finish. Still a PR, but not what I think I could've done with better pacing. I've probably seen the same date supporting even splits, and I'm a believer. When I've faded in a marathon, it's like falling off a cliff!

DVC rent has come through! I'm at OKW with my mom from 1/2 (Tuesday) to 1/8 (Monday). Woot woot!

We'll be resort neighbors! I'm in an OKW studio with my son from Tuesday to Thursday, and then a grand villa when the rest of the extended family shows up beginning Thursday to Monday!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Your analysis is impressive - definitely some next level stuff!

Thanks!

I'm almost the total opposite - I train very much by 'feel'. Depending on the specific workout, I'll assign a perceived exertion level and try to peg my pace to that level for however long I can hold it.

I'm a little bit of a hybrid. I setup the plan in advance based on data and current fitness. Most of my runs are by feel with a few check-ins during the run with the same perceived effort model. Then a few times a month I do a "blind run" as an assessment of internal pacing and an honest evaluation of where I'm at physically by doing what you do with no GPS feedback until finished. I also assign these "blind runs" in every training plan I write to help others get an instinctive feel for pace.

Yeah, the data does point to some degree of fade. I've struggled with that as well, but in the marathon, I've actually done pretty well with pacing, posting negative splits in two of my last three PRs.

Only got 1/10 marathons with a negative split, so I've got some work to do. But, I'm happy with Disney being a +1:20 as that's pretty close to even. Still some work to do though.

When I'm working on my mental race-plan, I have to be honest with myself and KNOW that I tend to start too fast. Thus, I make a concerted effort to check my pace at the mile markers and back off a little if need be. If by Mile 20 I'm still feeling strong (and I never am by that point), I give myself permission to accelerate. Of course, by then I'm just trying to hold pace, so I never actually accelerate all that much.

See that's the interesting thing. You train by perceived effort but you do check-ins while racing. I train by some effort and some time, but when I race I am completely effort. Interesting how each of us approach the race slightly different than training. I'm thinking I'm at the point mentally where I can finally remove the "completely blind" racing model I've been using.

It helps that my target marathon has had a pace group for my target pace that last few years, but you still have to be careful of those. In 2015, I was aiming for 3:14:59 and went with the 3:15 group. The pacer went out super-fast (7:15 first mile!) but I was feeling great and I hung in there, despite a voice in the back of my head telling me this was a bad idea. That voice was of course correct, and by the Mile 15 mark, the 3:15 group, still on pace for ~3:12, started dropping runners like flies. I hung on until Mile 18, and then slowly faded back. My final 10K was right around 50:00, for a positive split of ~5:00 and a 3:17 finish. Still a PR, but not what I think I could've done with better pacing.

Yea, I'm hesitant to trust a pace group for this very reason. They're human too. Am I really willing to risk several months of training or miles upon miles on someone I barely know?

I've probably seen the same date supporting even splits, and I'm a believer. When I've faded in a marathon, it's like falling off a cliff!

Agreed!

We'll be resort neighbors! I'm in an OKW studio with my son from Tuesday to Thursday, and then a grand villa when the rest of the extended family shows up beginning Thursday to Monday!

Cool! Maybe we'll be on the same bus to either the expo or 5k? Early DIS meet up!