"What am I even doing with my life?" Comments Welcome!

It will definitely help. It'll make the workouts seem more appropriate and achievable again. You can see historical weather on weather underground.
 
I had a really good run yesterday and was faster with a lower than average heart rate.

I'm feeling better about progress. I think Saturday's run just really took it out of me with the humidity. Sorry for venting !
 
Week 10 of my training plan done! Longest run EVER done!

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This whole week was INSANELY busy. Our systems at work were down the week before, so every night consisted of (unpaid - salaried) overtime. It was pretty exhausting, but I still managed to get all my runs in! I call that a big win.

Monday, September 23rd:
This run felt REALLY good. I ran it with Catie again. It felt so good, that we went way too fast for an easy pace, even considering that we have been going faster than we should be for easy anyway. I just couldn't really slow down even when I would try on each interval. It was one of those days where everything just felt good.

Tuesday, September 24:
This run was a little harder, but still pretty good. The sun was blinding the entire run. No matter what direction I faced, looking up was an issue. I really tried not to look at the ground, but even with sunglasses, the sun was just killer. Also, this was Catie's birthday and she went to a Sox game, so no run partner today. BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATIE. Also, I got my magicbands and Haunted Mansion shirt in the mail for my October WDW trip this day! Good day overall.

Thursday, September 26th:
Unrelated to anything, this was my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom!!! Again, Catie ran this one with me. However, she only did 3 miles because she had to drive to Michigan after and it was getting too late. I was really nervous I wouldn't finish once she peeled off, primarily because I had no motivation/boredom once she left, but I got it done! The run felt fine, with some blinding sun thrown in again.

Friday, September 27th:
This was an off day, but it sets the stage for the next day's run. It stormed ALL DAY long. The forecast for the next day was also storms. I was really worried I wouldn't be able to fit in a run the next day due to the weather, but I stalked the weather all day and found an opening I thought I would be able to squeeze the run in.

Saturday, September 28th:
Eesh! 9 miles! 9 messy, messy miles. So, as I mentioned the day before it was storming literally the whole day and through the night, but the rain finally stopped and I was able to go run. I went to my usual path and began. I was happy it was 60 degrees, but it was also 100% humidity when I started, so it sprinkled a bit during the run. At the one mile curve, I looked ahead of me (down a hill) and saw that the entire path was completely flooded. I'm talking several feet high. In my mind, I was like "great, I'm going to have to do the same 1 mile stretch over and over?" But, I decided to turn left instead of right and found a new path that I didn't know existed and all was well. That is...until about 1.7 miles in. My watch just...stopped? The run deleted. I was annoyed, but just started a new one and carried on. FYI, adding 1.7 to your total mileage seems easy, but it's a lot harder to math and run than you think! I took some sports beans about 3 miles in and then took some more about 7 miles in. All was well. Run complete! I ended up running .11 miles further than I should have because I was worried that it wasn't ACTUALLY 1.7 when my watch messed up, so I wan't to account for the erroer. Also, I added the 1.7 in as a separate run in Runkeeper after the fact, but recorded it as 1.65 with a slightly slower pace than I think I actually ran. I would rather show less mileage at a slower pace than overestimate how much I ran and how fast I was. I can, however, confirm that the last 7.42 miles was at a 15:31 pace.

Upcoming:
I have 3 miles to run on on Monday, but it's supposed to randomly jump up to 87 degrees again. I might take it indoors. I just don't know if I have it in me to do a hot and humid run again after a 60 degree run. Climate change is real, folks.
 


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Last week, I ran each day I was supposed to, but the mileage just wasn't there.

Monday, September 30th:
It was so hot. It went up 30 degrees in the course of like...a day, so I cut this run pretty short.

Tuesday, October 1st:
Still really hot, so I pushed this run to Wednesday. Got the mileage in and I pace in. I pace was too fast at 13:44 (with walking the RI).

Thursday, October 3rd:
Apple/Runkeeper DRAMA. My watch kept freezing and acting up. I ran this with a friend so I pulled the data from her. Otherwise, nothing exciting here.

Saturday, October 5th:
Ugh. Started bad. About ~.35 miles in, my runkeeper app completely crashed. The run disappeared and all data lost. Restarted it to complete my warm up mile. Again, app issues. It kept lagging and freezing. Stopped and started again for the Marathon Tempo. Still some app issues with freezing, but otherwise fine. It was really hard. I definitely did the run intervals too fast, but I don't have the data because (again) app issues. Finally, for the last 2 mile HM temp pace, I just could not go on. I did about 1.5 miles. My run intervals were DEFINITELY too fast, but I couldn't see my pace while running because (again) app issues. This really hurt me. I would do my run, start walking, then have to extend my walk because I was so beat. To put it in perspective, I ran this 1.5 mile at a 13:31 pace. My HM pace is supposed to be 13:37. This means that I was faster than I was supposed to be WITH extended walk breaks. Not just one, but many. I didn't do my cool down. I felt terrible. I blame this entirely on pacing. I feel like if I had gone the actual paces, I would have been able to keep my walk breaks where they were supposed to be and complete the run. It definitely would have been hard, but I would have at least finished. Agh. You live and learn.

Monday, October 7th:
Easy run. Felt super super easy and really good. I could have went FOREVER.


Runkeeper:
@!##!!@%(&!!!!!
I am so mad. App crashing. Runs disappearing. Haptic notifications intermittently not working. Screen freezing. So many issues. I am hoping this is a temporary IOS13 issue with the update. I deleted the app/reinstalled, etc, so I am hoping it is on the mend. It froze/lagged slightly today, but was otherwise fine. If it continues to act up this week, I am going to have to abandon Runkeeper and move to the native Apple activity tracker. Has anyone had any issues with running an interval timer in the background on your Apple watch at the same time as the activity??? Apple doesn't let you set intervals. Sigh. Can't wait until I can get a Garmin, but it will have to be at least next year. I need to upgrade my phone first (probably this week).

In other news, 11 days until I am at WDW and 4 weeks until the Hot Chocolate 15k.
 
I'm not sure if it is in your budget, but even an older, refurbished Garmin Forerunner 10 or 15, would alleviate a lot of your stress. Runkeeper was nothing but trouble for me, but I do live in a very rural area.
 


I'm not sure if it is in your budget, but even an older, refurbished Garmin Forerunner 10 or 15, would alleviate a lot of your stress. Runkeeper was nothing but trouble for me, but I do live in a very rural area.
I do plan on getting a Garmin Forerunner 245, I'm just holding off a bit because it's not "necessary" yet and my phone is falling to pieces. I hate making multiple large purchases at once!

Thanks for the advice !
 
@DopeyBadger

should I worry about my cadence? Apple always says it's at like 128, which from my understanding is pretty bad.

You'll commonly see a value of 180 spm quoted, but I think context is important. Ideally, you run with a fast, quick step that is on the ground for a minimal amount of time. In the action of that step, the landing point is underneath your torso and not "reaching" ahead of your body with the step. This lessens the forces at an angle to the bones when the foot makes contact with the ground and keeps the forces more parallel with the leg bone downwards. Thus, minimizing impact forces that would commonly yield shin splints or fractures.

So in most cases, a higher number is better. But pace certainly matters and so does the fact that you use run/walk. Is the 128 spm an average, and thus includes your walking? Because I wouldn't expect your comfortable walking pace to have a high spm. Let's look at your HM pace which is 12:29 min/mile for 80 seconds and walking. Looking at my data, I'd say when I'm around a 12 min/mile I'm usually in the 150-160s. When I'm doing something in the 8 min/mile range, I'm in the 170s. Moving into the other extreme of the 5 min/miles and I'm in the 200s. So depending on how fast I'm running dictates my cadence and my stride length.

Cadence, Stride Length, Gait and Pace: The Great Debate
 
You know, the fact that I run walk and that it would affect the average cadence really should have been obvious to me. But, it wasn't! That makes a lot more sense now. Maybe the next time I do some sort of magic mile, I'll make sure to glance at my cadence.

Thank you!
 
Review it when it's done and not during. I wouldn't make adjustments to cadence in the moment, because it's more likely to lead to some bad form adjustments due to overreaching.
Right, that makes sense! Plus, I don't have any plans to run one until you tell me to. :)

Haha, my training plan would just be "run more, faster, longer."
 
I do plan on getting a Garmin Forerunner 245, I'm just holding off a bit because it's not "necessary" yet and my phone is falling to pieces. I hate making multiple large purchases at once!

Thanks for the advice !

I understand completely. I made do with a $65 Forerunner 15 for two years before purchasing my current 235, which I absolutely love! Unfortunately, Runkeeper was just too much aggravation for me.
 
Happy Chicago Marathon Weekend! I hope everyone who ran it had a great race!

No marathon for me, but it was my peak training week and I got all of my runs in!
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I left off after the 7th.

Tuesday, October 8th:
I was glad to have my friend Catie with me on this run to help pace me. She did an awesome job and it felt SO MUCH better going the actual I Pace of 12:02 than the usual "oops that was under 10:00" intervals that I had been doing. I felt really good throughout, but did forget to track the weather beforehand.

Thursday, October 11th:
This felt a bit harder than it should have been. Not really sure why, but still relatively good. Nothing to report. Though, it did make me nervous for the 9.5 I had scheduled on Saturday.

Saturday, October 13th:
I started this morning out by going to the race expo. I needed compression socks (primarily for travel) and wanted them to measure me. I also picked up some nuun because it was cheaper than I normally buy it. I then headed out for my 9.5 mile run. This is my longest run so far and the highest distance for this training cycle. It started out great, though very very windy. Everything felt really easy and good. No soreness. No fatigue. Just a good run. It honestly stayed this way all the way through mile 6. I was shocked how good everything felt. Mile 7 is where it did start to feel a little tough. Not really "hard" but the distance was starting to get to me. I still have done few runs over 6 miles, so I guess that is to be expected. Still, it was never so bad that I thought I couldn't or wouldn't finish. For nutrition, I used sports beans at mile 3.5 and mile 7.

Just a little over 5 days until I head to Disney! 3 weeks until Hot Chocolate!
 
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I missed my run yesterday. Unfortunately, I have a cold. While I would normally push through and run anyway since it isn’t serious, I leave for Disney on Saturday and I’m really trying to speed up my recovery. I seem to always get ill right before trips and would really like to feel okay on this one! Right now I still plan on doing tomorrow’s run, but tbd how I feel. I have the worst immune system!
 
@DopeyBadger - I’ve tried to be so good this training cycle with getting all my runs in. I think I’ve done pretty well overall. I hate that now it’s taking a bit of a turn this close to the race.
I ran on Monday, but missed Tuesday’s run. Today is supposed to be a “hard” run. I’m feeling a bit better than yesterday, but I was thinking of modifying todays run into a shorter easy run. Something like 3 to 3.5 miles so that I don’t push my immune system. I guess my question is how much will this set me back? If it’s going to ruin my progress too much, I can always chance it, but I’d like to stay healthy too. It’s a delicate balance.
 
@DopeyBadger - I’ve tried to be so good this training cycle with getting all my runs in. I think I’ve done pretty well overall. I hate that now it’s taking a bit of a turn this close to the race.
I ran on Monday, but missed Tuesday’s run. Today is supposed to be a “hard” run. I’m feeling a bit better than yesterday, but I was thinking of modifying todays run into a shorter easy run. Something like 3 to 3.5 miles so that I don’t push my immune system. I guess my question is how much will this set me back? If it’s going to ruin my progress too much, I can always chance it, but I’d like to stay healthy too. It’s a delicate balance.

So the HC 15k is on 11/3. Based on the schedule, this week is the start of the taper with about 18 days to go until race day. There are three hard workouts remaining: today, 10/24, and 10/29. With such a tight timeframe before the race occurs, these workouts aren't really about making gains anymore. Just about everything you're going to have on race day is there. So the purpose is to keep you fresh and sharp for the race. That doesn't mean you can slack off if healthy, but does mean that if you truly can't complete the workout as is, then back off. Healthy beats overtrained every time. So a minor blip like this might cost you a little, but not a lot. The training plan as a whole can't be erased by one altered workout. The hope though is that you can be healthy by 10/24 and put in a good effort so that your body can be re-reminded about what race effort feels like. But if you miss several runs during this taper period, it will start to add up and erode more and more of the gains you made in training.
 
Thanks. That all makes sense. I’m on the fence about what I’ll do. I’ll probably start the run and see how I feel. I have no intention of missing any of those other hard runs!
 
Back from Disney! I had a great time.

Howeverrrr, I would be lying if I said I got ANY of my runs in while there. Part of it was because I didn't start feeling well enough until day 3 of the trip. The other part is just because I was tired and my feet hurt from park days. Excuses.

Regardless, I did get in my long/hard run yesterday and it went REALLY well.

The run was scheduled as 1 mile Easy (16:15 pace), 2 miles M Tempo (14:11), 3 Miles HM Tempo (13:37), and 1 mile CD (16:15)

Actuals:
Mile 1 - 16:17
Mile 2 - 14:15
Mile 3 - 14: 02
Mile 4 - 13:32
Mile 5 - 13:23
Mile 6 - 13:30
Mile 7 - 16:06

I really tried to hit the pacing on this run instead of going too fast like I have been doing. I really wanted to make sure I didn't need to cut any of my run intervals short and get through the entirety of the run. I think it was pretty successful.

Hot Chocolate is SO close and I'm a bit nervous about maintaining speeds for 9.3 miles. I am going to have to come up with some sort of game plan for the race, but no idea where to start! I obviously want to start slower, but not too slow so that it messes with my overall pace?
 
Hot Chocolate is SO close and I'm a bit nervous about maintaining speeds for 9.3 miles. I am going to have to come up with some sort of game plan for the race, but no idea where to start! I obviously want to start slower, but not too slow so that it messes with my overall pace?

Depends on what the goal for the race is.
 

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