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March 28, 2024

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Location:

Mesa,AZ,

Member Since:

Apr 04, 2007

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Marathon Finish

Running Accomplishments:

Prs:

1 mile:  6:31

5K:  23:37

Half Marathon: 2:04

My first post-high school 5K, in which I thought I was going to die

The first time I won my age division.  Yippee!

My first half marathon, in which I attack Sasha

The time I beat my high school PR for the 5K (as a 31 year-old mommy of 3!)

My first 5K barefooted

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

I'm just getting back into running after a long break to have my last child.  I would like to race some 10Ks, a half, and a marathon in the next 2 years.

Long-Term Running Goals:

Be the oldest woman to complete a marathon.  Yea!  But hopefully I will also complete some BEFORE I geezer up, like, before I'm 40 for sure.  I think it would be fun to dress up really strange for marathons, like impersonating celebrities and stuff.  Except I don't really like celebrities, as a rule, so maybe I'll have to stick to the age old question of ninja, or pirate.  I say ninja. *Hyah!*

Personal:

I am happily married to James W (Cool Runnings). We have 3 boys and 1 opinionated little girl.  I love reading and I'm also a news junkie.  I am a stinker.

Favorite Blogs:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
3.000.003.00

3 Really easy on treadmill.  5-6 mph.  I'm saving up energy for my tempo run tomorrow.  This is what I'm planning:  Wake up at  3 AM, go to a nice, well-lit straightaway that lasts forever.  Run 1 mile slow, 1 mile at 8-8:30 pace, 1 more slow.  8 minute mile is blazing fast to my body at this point, so feel free to feel very fast by comparison.  : )  Anything I can do to lift your morale . . . .  Anyway, come home and go back to bed for 2 1/2 more hours. 

3 AM may seem a little extreme, maybe I'll make it 4 AM.  To me there is no difference between 5 am and 3 am--it's just stinkin' early.   MUST AVOID HEAT.  Plus James usually runs from 5-6 and then leaves for work, so 3-4 or 4-5 are good time slots for me.  I like the idea of getting another full sleep cycle in, too.

 

I have somewhat to say concerning my eldest brother.  The rest of you may tune out. 

Heber, I had no idea you were so fast!  You have to remember that James' course was downhill!  You would've been right there with him, or very close.  Sounds like you are the superhero of our family right now.   It makes me proud that someone from our family of  *ahem* diminuative stature could keep up with Sir Galloping Blondeness (on a good day, anyway : )).  At any rate, if your intention is to run for years to come, and to continue in trying to be as fast as you can be, and you desire to be helpful to and be helped by other runners, what have you against joining this blog? 

Not writing interesting stuff it not a good reason to not blog.  Tons of people on this blog just write the distance and the time and how they felt.  Sometimes I write more, but it is absolutely not required!  No pressure.   Ha ha ha.

BTW thanks for all the biomechanical stuff you write about, I always try to implement it in my running. 

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 17:48:39

At this point I would just work on getting comfortable with running 3 miles a day at an easy pace, and once you are used to that, go to 4 miles a day. No need for tempo runs as of yet. You should get as much growth as possible out of easy running in larger and larger volume before you start pushing the pace, and you normally do not max it out until you run 8-10 miles a day.

From Wildbull on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 17:49:04

WOW!! 3 A.M. I would step into a pot hole and fall a sleep after I crashed onto the cold hard asphalt! I need to have my beauty sleep! Otherwise The ugly in me tends to over come me for the rest of the day! Mr. Grinch! Be careful. Even in a well lit area, that early in the morning not many people are out and about. Many female runners carry pepper spray. And cell phone. Do you have a dog?

From Lybi on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 20:31:01

Sasha, I feel like I need to figure out what my goal pace feels like so I don't do the same thing I did last time in the race. Just 2 tempo runs--1 a week then my race on July 4th. Approve? Is the concern that I will get injured, or just that I might not optimize my training for 1 day?

Bull, thanks for the concern. Very protective. I promise I will pick up some pepper spray tonight. No dog, unfortunately.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 21:24:35

I think you'll get more out of your training by patiently jogging and using the race to find out your fitness. Also, running at 3 AM will not give you a good indicator of your fitness. One time I happened to be awake at 4:00 AM and decided to do a run. In the middle of it I decided to do a couple of quarters at what felt like an aggressive 5 K pace. I was certain I was hitting at least 1:15 - it was 1:19, and it felt hard.

When racing, at this point I would recommend forgetting your splits and running by feel. I think in the last race you would have run about 40 seconds faster had you not seen the 8:00 mile split in the first mile, or had you not allowed it to make you think you were going out too fast.

From Brent on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 22:56:42

Lybi, I didn't know you and James would be at the Provo ten miler. I would have talked my wife into going. Hum, I remember, sleep is my friend, good luck with 3 a.m. I know what you mean, I was in Phoneix for two weeks during the summer and had to run at 1 a.m. and it was still 95 degrees. Good luck. take something with you to drink. I have talked to Sasha at several races and met Army runner at a 1/2 marathon.

B of BS Rools out

From James the hubby on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 23:44:45

OK, got the pepper spray - why don't you go ahead and run at 5 am, and I will run in the evening tomorrow? I think the 5 am time will probably be closer to the time when you need your body to be awake for the upcoming 5K anyways. Maybe what you should shoot for is a 2 mile tempo at 5k pace next week, after a good 20-mile week this week, just to give you an indicator of what you feel like you can do in the actual 5K - maybe around 8:30/mile or so, which would put you on track for a 26:20 5K. I understand the desire to test your fitness and be prepared, but I don't think you have to worry about lowering your time - the lower temperatures will help with that, plus the added fitness you have gained through consistent training. Love ya! PS, I will probably be cheering you on in the July 4 5K, although I might run it as well - we will have to see.

From Heber on Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 13:08:48

Sorry I don't blog here Lybi. I put my milage and stuff on coolrunning.com and it has some pretty cool features (graphs, shoe tracker, list of routes) which I like. This is a better place for a literary person like you though. Your blogs are so fun to read.

Thanks for the complements about my speed.

I'm going to disagree with Sasha's comments about pace. He and I have different training philosophies. He's a high mileage guy and I'm a high intensity guy. My experience suggests that high intensity is more important. When I trained for the marathon I did was many training plans called for: I ran slow on long runs. These plans claim you can go faster in the actual race. I did the recommended training paces for my goal pace and I certainly did enough distance but I found I couldn't keep up the goal pace. In fact I tried a goal pace run before the marathon and couldn't even keep up the goal pace for 17 miles. I was used to running 18 to 20 every Saturday but that goal pace workout caused really bad pain in my legs that lasted for days. It wasn't any lack of mileage. It was a lack of training at my goal pace.

You can see why this makes sense. Your body responds to the stimulus you give it. Your body's sytems operate differently at different speeds. So if you want to race a x min/mile you must train at x min/mile. In fact my overall marathon pace ended up about the same pace as my 22 mile run a few weeks earlier, despite trying really hard to do better. My legs just weren't up to it.

A friend of mine did all his training for his second marathon at goal pace and just made his long run longer and longer until he was up to 22 miles at goal pace. He had no trouble achieving his goal and he said the race was so much more enjoyable than his first marathon where he trained slow.

Now I do all intervals all the time. Long runs are just 3 very long intervals at marathon goal pace with 3 or 4 minute breaks in between. My tempo runs are 3x2mile repeats at 10k goal pace with 3 minute breaks, etc. I never run slow except to warm up.

Heber

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 15:49:57

Heber:

It is very possible that your goal pace was too fast for your level of fitness, while your friend's goal pace was too slow. Training properly does not mean you will reach your goal - it only means you will maximize your potential within your current constraints - natural talent, time to train, time to rest, availability of nutrition, etc. Failure to reach a particular goal, as well as success in reaching a particular goal do not say much without knowing what the goal was, as well as some other important parameters.

A common mistake of a marathoner is to overestimate his goal pace. This frequently leads to a very unpleasant experience. Marathons tend to be overzealous cops, they will give you a $200 speeding ticket for being 10 seconds per mile over the limit in the first half, while the same mistake in a 5 K does not even get you pulled over. On the other hand, somebody underestimating his goal and starting out a lot slower may not even hit the wall. E.g. my most pleasant marathon last year was Moab. It was also my slowest. I was running it as a training run. I believe I was no more than 5 minutes slower that what I could have done on that course going all out, but that made a whole lot of difference in the experience.

Running long and slow done to an extreme can be detrimental, and where it hurts the most is in the overextending the length of the long run for your level of fitness. E.g somebody who runs no more than 6 miles a day should not be doing 20 mile long runs at any pace.

High intensity is a very important aspect of training, but it is safe to do, and most productive when you are fit for it. You get fit for it by building a base. In my experience, the base has to be at least 40 miles a week before high intensity becomes meaningful. A fast and shorter long run is indeed more productive for building marathon endurance, though, than long slow run. But you have to be fit to do it!

From Lybi on Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 17:46:46

You guys are both so awesome! Thanks for the concern with my training. I'm sure you are both on the same page when you get right down to it. Too bad we can't get you guys together to settle this over a friendly arm wrestle, though! Joke joke. I am always very happy to see comments from either of you two on my blog.

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