September 15-21 Review

Scripture challenge of the week: Philippians 1:21

Yesterday (Monday the 22nd) I ran 25 miles.  That was the total mileage I ran for the whole prior week (15th-21st).  I planned on running twice that, but I'm not complaining.  I think the extra rest helped my body recover.  It wasn't intentional, though, it was just a matter of time and priorities...but such is the nature of ultra marathon training.

As far as my "virtual run across Kansas," this week didn't quite take me to Oakley, KS.  In order to make it across Kansas in my 9 week goal, I know I have to average close to 50 miles per week, so I'll really have to make it up after this past week.  That is okay, though, because I plan on getting up to 80 a couple times before it is over.  Following is a break down of the daily mileage from last week:


Monday, 15th (10 miles)
Prairie Spirit Trail, Carlyle.  Great run.  Not too hot, but humid.

Tuesday, 16th (6 miles)
Prairie Spirit Trail, Carlyle.  Great run.  Stiff at first, but warmed up and picked up the pace.  Lot's of energy

Wednesday, 17th (0 miles)

Thursday, 18th (3 miles)
Prairie Spirit Trail, Carlyle.  Great run.  Evening run.  Felt very good.  Kept a steady 8:30 - 8:40 minute/mile pace.

Friday, 19th (6 miles)
Prairie Spirit Trail, Carlyle.  Not such a great run.  Energy was very low as I had not eaten much that day.  I tried eating PB&J right before running, thinking the sugar might enter the blood stream quickly enough...but it was too late.  I pushed through, but it was sort of a tough 6 miles.

Saturday, 20th (0 miles)

Sunday, 21st (0 miles)

Setember 8-14 Review

Weekly "challenge from scripture"

(Sorry for the poor quality of video)

 

 My first week of the "Virtual run across Kansas" went well.  I put in about 43 miles, which is not far from the average I need to keep up for 9 weeks, plus I will be increasing that mileage (hopefully) week by week.  Each day, I add my mileage to the route I created on DailyMile,  go to Google Maps and get a street view (if possible) of the area I would be at that time, and then update my Prairie Steps Facebook page.  This has already been a blast.  I am learning how small the towns are in Western Kansas, but the skies and landscape are beautiful in my opinion.  Unless it is extremely windy or there is a lot of traffic on I-40, I think this adventure would be a lot of fun if it I were really running that route.

Here is a review of last week:  

Saturday, Sept. 13		Kincaid 5K	3.1 mi.	00:24:48. It started out pretty cold, but we warmed up quickly. I'm not used to running fast, so my lungs were burning, but my legs and heart felt great.
Friday, Sept. 12		southwind trail (6.5)	6.5 mi.	Great, easy effort run. 10 min./mile pace. 60 degrees or less and misty.
Thursday, Sept. 11		southwind trail (6.5)	7.25 mi.	I added a little extra to this route. It was a nice, cool morning with a slight mist. My legs and lungs felt really good. I ran without a watch/phone, but basically I ran about 10 minute miles for 4 miles, 9-9.5 minute miles for 2 miles, jogged a mile, and walked a quarter mile.
Wednesday, Sept. 10		Southwind Trail	8 mi.	Not going to say I felt "great," but it was a nice, easy run this morning. I was surprised that the hill work and little bit of speed work yesterday didn't leave me with much stiffness or sore muscles. I guess I could increase intensity a bit, but I've got a lot of time ahead of me, Lord willing.
Tuesday, Sept. 9		Misc.	5 mi.	Hard to tell the exact mileage. I decided to do some hill work and a bit of speed work on slightly tired legs. Legs felt fine through it all. I also ran in the heat of the day, and it seemed to speed my heart rate up a bit, but I managed to have a pretty good workout.
Monday, Sept. 8		Southwind Trail (13.5)	13.53 mi.	Pretty steady (slow) pace. Nice weather, but sweat a lot. Ran out of fluids early and was very thirsty.



September 1-7 Review

Weekly challenge from scripture:

(Monday, September 1, 2014)

Currently, the virtual "run across Kansas" is going well.  This is really going to be a fun challenge.  I'll blog about it here from time to time, but if you want to follow my progress, you can go to my new Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/prairiesteps.  I'll be posting all my updates more regularly there.  For this post, however, I want to post last week's miles (as posted on DailyMile):

Sunday, Sept. 7		Iola Road Route 1 (5mi)	5.26 miles.Night run. Cool temp. Felt strong. Under 10-minute miles.
Friday, Sept. 5		PST Carlyle (6mi)	6.24 miles Decided to play a game:14min mile, then 13, 12 and so on, finishing with a 9. Had lots if energy, finished strong.
Thursday, Sept. 4		PST Carlyle (6mi)	6.24 miles First time in a while I felt good the whole run. You would think I would have ran faster, but I guess I was afraid things were going to get worse. Anyway, at the end, I was still able to run faster without any soreness, stomach problems, or breathing issues; so I picked it up a little and even did a few sprints.
Wednesday, Sept. 3		Southwind (4mi)	4 miles. Well, didn't go as planned! I made black-eyed pea soup and ate it with tomatoes and tortillas right before I went running. My stomach didn't take to well to running on a full stomach this time (sometimes I can manage...it's good training for ultras, really). A combination of that and the high heat and humidity...and poor sleep last night...made for a rough run. I won't even say how slow I went :)
Tuesday, Sept. 2		Southwind (4mi)	4 miles. Didn't put my legs to the test like I wanted to (planned on doing 10-15), but my legs felt fine. Third mile was under 9 minutes, the others were considerably slower.
Monday, Sept. 1		Home to South Wind (16mi)	16.43 miles. Weather was very nice after storms this morning. Took it pretty slow and steady, hoping to have my legs fresh enough tomorrow for another 15

Personal 9-Week Challenge Before Our Youth Rally

On November 7th, we will be hosting our fourth annual youth rally at Iola Baptist Temple.  Along with this rally, we are excited to host a 5k walk/run as well.  Starting this Monday (September 8), I plan on launching a fitness challenge to anyone who wants to participate.  It is a challenge to get healthy in 9 weeks (63 days).  Obviously, you need to make it a long-term, lifestyle change to experience lasting results, but 9 weeks is a very good starting point and a sufficient amount of time to train for a 5k from scratch (if I'm not mistaken, "Couch to 5K" has a 9-week program).

I am also trying to get a simple website up with some tips and research information that I have gathered that may help.  The website, although it won't be ready till sometime next week, is www.exercisethyself.weebly.com. I hope to have it set up as a place where everyone can share their training progress and get advice.  Suggested workouts from the website will also be posted on our Facebook page each week.

Finally, I am going to lead by example with something I hope will be motivating.  Entering into a high-mileage (for me) portion of my training for some upcoming ultra marathons I plan to run, I decided to give myself some personal challenges and post frequent updates on this blog.  Here are a few of my goals for the next 9 weeks:

1.  Lose 20 lbs.  I've been holding on to a bunch of extra weight I need to get rid of.  Through the increased mileage, and better diet, I will try to lose an average of 1 pound every 3 days.  That is a pretty realistic goal!

2.  Run Across Kansas (sort of).  I looked it up, and if I averaged 7-8 miles per day, I could theoretically run across Kansas in 9 weeks.  I won't really be running across Kansas!  I'll just log each run, and give weekly reports on this blog showing exactly where I would be at that point if I were running across the state (hope that is not too disappointing.  It would be neat to actually run across Kansas, but not this time!)

3. Run a 50 miler before the youth rally.  I want a rematch with the Prairie Spirit Trail 100 next March, so in training for that, I plan on entering the PST Fall Classic 50 on October 24. 

10 Mile/10 Day Challenge (Day 4)

 

End of first mile.  You can hardly tell by
the picture, but it was very foggy.

 I started this morning into the fog.  I was a little concerned about the forecast of freezing rain, but it never came, to which I was very thankful as I had nothing to protect from the elements.  I was also concerned about the nagging pain (I guess I'd rather use the word "discomfort") in my knee.  I don't have any experience with knee injuries, so I'm not quite sure what I'm getting in to.  Everything I have read recommends reducing mileage immediately when you feel pain in your knee...but that philosophy just doesn't work for ultra marathoners.

Once my knee warmed up, the discomfort wasn't so noticeable.  I wouldn't say it is worse than yesterday, but definitely not better either.  I got a good pace going (playing the little games I often play), and soon added another concern!  I left my pack in the truck (I don't usually take it on anything less than 13 miles or so), and I was feeling like I might have to use the restroom before my run was over.  Not a problem...

I thought that I had written about the use of Mullein, but I can't find it.  Perhaps I deleted it as "inappropriate," but this is important stuff and is worthy of mention.  I took a risk over a year ago, in an emergency, and when I got home I researched the plant to make sure it wasn't  poisonous.  It turns out that they are a very common plant to be used for TP, but sometimes cause rashes due to either the oils in it or the tiny hairs (I usually wipe the leaves off very good with my hand and have even used a bit of water from a water bottle if I have one).  My skin is actually very sensitive, but I have not had a problem with Mullein...and trust me, I have since used them many, many times!  Another benefit is that they are around all year round and never really freeze (you may have to brush a little frost off... but then they are ready for use) 

 I never really felt that cold this morning.  It was about 30 degrees, and I knew I was sweating good, but didn't realize the sweat was freezing till I looked at the draw string of my hooded sweatshirt.  It had formed a "sweatcicle." I sent a picture to my wife and she thought it was pretty gross... I'm really not sure that it was all sweat.  Freezing moisture was collecting on all the plant and trees.  But how does one know?  I sure wasn't going to test it for saltiness. 

Anyway, it wasn't a bad run.  My time was on target (I set a slow, 12-minute/mile pace for each run during this challenge).  I know I could go faster, but I'm comfortable alternating slow jogs and faster runs with short walk breaks.  As long as I stay within 12 minutes per mile, I'm not too concerned.  The last mile, however, the discomfort in my knee got a little closer to what I would call pain.  As an precaution, I decided to ice it.  Here is another good reason to keep a zip-lock freezer bag in your pack (more about packing here)

Looking forward to the rest of this challenge.  I just hope the knee doesn't become too problematic.  If it does start getting worse, I will try hiking a day and then try to go back to running the next day.  Stay tuned for day 5.

10 Mile/10 Day Challenge (Day 2 and 3)

Day 2

Yesterday was about 10 to 15 degrees warmer than Monday, which put the temperature at about 5-10 degrees.  I could feel the difference.  I was considerably warmer, of course I had prepared for it and layered the best I know how.  I wrote a little bit about layering about a year ago in "Acclimating to the Cold", but thought I should write a better post about layering and have attempted to do so in a recent post: Layering for Winter Weather. 

My biggest problem yesterday was in my first layer.  I kind of didn't have one.  I went straight to thermal undershirt with a thick, cotton sweatshirt over that.  I was missing some sort of sweat-wicking shirt underneath to keep me dry.  Instead, my thermal undershirt was soaked with sweat and froze, leaving me with some mild frostbite on my stomach.  This was very miserable during the last couple miles of my run (P.S. we all know we are not supposed to take hot showers when we are frostbitten, right?  Yeah...follow that advice!  I found out I was not an exception).  But I finished (kind of sluggishly) and completed my challenge for the day--10 more miles dedicated to ten teens I am praying for.

Day 3

Today went pretty well.  It was actually close to 30 degrees...above!  Can somebody say "Heat wave?"  I could feel the difference, and I was very comfortable during the run as far as temperature goes.  However, I was experiencing some discomfort in my left knee.  I don't usually struggle with knee problems, and this seems way too early in the challenge to be experiencing stress from overexerting.  We'll keep an eye on it and see what happens in the coming days.  Despite the discomfort in my knee, I finished strong and actually finished a few minutes faster then Monday and Tuesday.  But more importantly, I was able to think about, and briefly pray for 10 more teens on my mind.

Thanks for Reading, and praise the Lord today for His goodness!

10 Mile/10 Day Challenge (day 1)



Right before sundown, headed out for a run two
nights before 10/10 challenge.

As I mentioned in my last post, my training got off track during the holidays.  Then, I attempted to get back on track, and quite honestly still didn't get in all the miles I was supposed to (I hesitate to post a link here to my training plan, because I'm not sure I want anyone to see how much I was supposed to have run compared to what I actually did.  But you can see the 18 week plan here). 

So, I got determined last week and said, "That's it! I'm not going to mess up next week.  I'm still going to do the 10 miles/10 day challenge I had planned on doing."  Unfortunately, after looking at the calendar, I realized I was supposed to be on week 7 and was jumping the gun a little.  Actually, though, I think it makes better since to move week 7 to after week 9 anyway.  So the challenge was on.



My footprints after a 10-mile out and back run two
nights before Day 1 of the challenge.

And as part of the challenge, I decided to take on the Mile-a-teen challenge as well, where I pray for a  different teen (in some cases, non-teens, too) per every mile.  Besides some of the wonderful spiritual benefits of praying for the teens and dedicating a mile to them, this will also provide some accountability and get me through these 10 days.

Then Friday comes, and with it comes snow.  It was very cold, but I decided to run Friday night anyway.  Then I would rest two days before the challenge.  As you can see from the picture, nobody but the coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, and myself had been on this.  Come Monday morning, the trail was still in the same condition.

Oh yeah!  Then Monday morning I wake up and it is -5 degrees outside--the coldest day of the year!  What fun.  I didn't even bother taking a water bottle since my Gatorade turned into a slushy Friday night...when it was 15 degrees warmer.  Instead, I ate snow along the way which is probably not advised, but it kept my mouth moist (I had hydrated pretty good before the run). 

I dressed warm, but couldn't keep the moisture from my sweat and my breath from freezing.  By the time I was done, I looked like this (my clothes were stiff, my nose hair frozen, icicles on my brows and eyelashes).  Yeah! I had a great time...

 

 

Day 1 completed!  Stay tuned for Day 2.

18 Week 100-mile Ultra Training Plan

Here is my 18 week plan.  I decided not to tackle the 60 mile long run goal or the two 100-mile weeks goal.  After some consideration, I think that would be overkill.  I'm just not ready for it! Anyway, I kept the 10 miles in 10 consecutive days goal and the back to back marathons goal (I rounded it down to 25 milers though).  I have a high week of 85 miles which I feel is sufficient considering my back to back Monday/Tuesday runs.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	(Total)
1	20	5	x	15	x	x	x	40
2	20	10	x	15	x	x	x	45
3	20	15	x	15	x	x	x	50
4	10	x	10	10	x	x	x	30
5	25	15	x	10	x	x	x	50
6	25	20	x	10	x	x	x	55
7	25	25	x	10	x	x	x	60
8	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	70
9	10	10	10	x	5	5	x	40
10	30	10	x	20	5	5	x	70
11	40	15	x	10	5	5	x	75
12	25	25	x	x	5	5	x	60
13	55	x	x	20	5	5	x	85
14	30	10	x	10	5	5	x	60
15	20	10	x	x	5	5	X	40
16	10	x	10	5	5	x	X	30
17	5	5	5	5	x	x	X	20
18	5	x	3	2	x	100		110

     

There!  Now it is posted.  I just need a copy on the fridge so my family knows the plan and can hold me accountable.  After all, they will be my crew.