Harder’n Hell Half Marathon

Weathering the Weather

It’s been chilly here in Duluth the past few days. Like, down in the mid-50s during the day chilly, which is tropical in May, but frigid when it was 90 degrees just a few days prior. It’s all relative.

Tuesday, it rained all day, and I had to do something horrible. I ran on the treadmill. It sucked. It was a good opportunity to do some consistent speedwork though, so I switched up my days and did 8×400 on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. I was sweating in the basement and watching Star Trek: First Contact in order to try to keep myself from looking at the treadmill clock every half a second. It didn’t work. I did run pretty fast though, 8×400 at 10:54 pace. Probably a little too fast, but I don’t care.

Wednesday I ran outside on the road, but I wore a (lightweight) long-sleeved shirt. That was depressing. I was a little bit too warm by the end, but it was drizzly and there was a mean wind, so it was probably for the best. I ran way, way too fast. I treated myself to some music during the run (90s gangsta rap) and I got really into it. I ended up with around a 14 minute pace, which is TOO FAST for an easy run, especially after a tough workout the day before.

It’s easy to run fast when the temperature’s cooler. My Monday and Wednesday runs were both significantly faster than normal. On Monday I ran the hilly Bagley course at a 15:23 pace, one of my fastest paces on that course, and it didn’t feel that difficult. I even hiked up the big hill. Wednesday’s run was over 2 minutes faster than I normally run the same route on an easy day. They say fall PRs are made in summer heat, and I am a believer!

I am lucky today is a rest day so I can slow my roll; I need to take the easy days easy, even when I’m feeling great. I also need to be careful that the sharp drop in temperature doesn’t result in a cough or cold, as it can for me. I need some solid runs on the trails over the weekend and a great overall training week. It should be back in the 70s by Friday, so I think it’s likely!

(Whoops, this published early. I corrected it.)

Harder ‘N Hell Half Training: Week 3

Back in action!

Monday: 3.6 mi, trails (Bagley)
Tuesday: 3.7 mi, road
Wednesday: 5.6 mi (1.3 mi road, 4.3 mi includes 4x hill repeats at Chester Bowl)
Thursday: rest
Friday: rest
Saturday: 7.1 mi (6.4 mi + 0.7 mi warm-up and cool-down, paved trail [Lakewalk], mock race)
Sunday: 4.2 mi, trail (SHT)
Total: 24.4 mi

I bounced back after last week’s early cutback, bringing my mileage up to the low end of where I’d like it to be. I had not planned on doing 2 rest days this week, but Thursday I had some GI issues that carried on to Friday morning, so I decided to be safe rather than sorry. I was having enough trouble staying hydrated without being under the weather, since it was hot again at the end of the week and over the weekend. As I’ve mentioned previously, I don’t have air conditioning, and my house holds in heat. At night it’ll be 20 degrees warmer inside than it is outside. It really sucks. It also results in waking up behind the 8-ball regarding hydration.

I did two hard days over the weekend because I knew it would probably be my last chance to get in some real heat training. Saturday’s run was supposed to be at a 10K race pace, but instead it turned into a lesson in suffering and perseverance. I’ll write a bit more about it later in the week, but if that’s my true 10K pace, I am in big, big, big trouble for this half marathon.

Sunday I did two mostly-downhill miles on the Superior Hiking Trail, starting at 24th Ave W and continuing toward the city, past the Twin Ponds. This translated into two mostly-uphill miles on the way back. I felt really awful during the run and slowed way, way down. The good news is the race is only one way! The easy way! I only have a couple more sections of the trail to recon. I think for some of my upcoming long runs, I may need to coerce someone into picking me up at the end of a point to point run, rather than do all these out-and-backs.

25% of the training for this race is in the books. My confidence isn’t exactly soaring from the first three weeks of training, but I am certain I can complete this race. We’ll see how the next 9 weeks progress.

Harder ‘N Hell Half Training: Week 2

The week that wasn’t.

Monday: 4.3 mi, trails (Bagley)
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 4.1 mi, paved trail (Lakewalk), 2.3 mi at tempo
Thursday: rest
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 5.5 mi, road
Total: 14.1 mi (Strava’s rounding is weird)

I have no regrets about taking off three days in a row. It was absolutely the right decision and allowed me to rest up and shake off whatever was bothering me physically. Of course, it’s Monday and I’ve undone all the great sleep I got over the weekend.

I did yoga all three rest days, plus on Sunday. I have found that my body is a lot more receptive to yoga if I do it after a run. My muscles and connective tissues are looser and ready to stretch and contort moreso than they are when I haven’t run. This is obvious, but I didn’t think everything would be SO tight if I hadn’t run, so I need to work on my flexibility more.

I ran on the road on Sunday, to ease back into things (if you can call 5.5 miles “easing,” which I don’t really, but some people like to say “Oh I just did a quick 6 mile recovery run with a stroller and I barely looked at my watch and somehow I was averaging a sub 7 pace, teehee! Just a slow slog!”) as I’ve been logging a lot of trail miles lately, which is probably wearing me out a little more than the mostly-road running I did training for my 5 mile race. My hips are a little sore but other than that, I feel energized today, even though I’ve only had 1/3 the normal dose of coffee. I think that’s a good sign. I am ready to start a great training week this week, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the next 10 weeks go smoothly.

Harder ‘N Hell Half Training: Week 1

Yay! Back to training again.

Monday: 3.8 mi, trails (Bagley)
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 4.4 mi, road + trails, 4 x Chester Bowl Ski Hill
Thursday: rest
Friday: 4.8 mi, trails (Hartley)
Saturday: 6 mi, trails (SHT)
Sunday: 4.8 mi, trails/hiking (SHT)
Total: 23.8 mi

This was a little low for mileage for the week, but I chose to take Tuesday off to spend time with family and it was a great decision. For week 2, I’ll be back to 6 runs a week and the mileage will be back up.

Running almost entirely on trails is a different challenge for me. I like it, but it’s more tiring and time-consuming. This isn’t a surprise, of course, but I was dragging on my hike yesterday, and even dragging on my run the day before. Of course, it’s hot and sunny, which is sapping my energy, but it’s also sapping my confidence a little, only one week in.

Yesterday I took a hike with my friend, who is also running the race with me. We started at the Spirit Mountain trailhead and power-hiked through to Skyline Drive/Getchell road. I thought it would be a slightly longer, run, but ended up just under 5 miles. It was fine with me, because my energy was sapped. I really needed a snack or something. I thought I’d eaten enough, but since we didn’t start til after 3, I think I needed something more substantial than a bagel slathered in cream cheese and a couple of granola bars. That works ok for a noon run, but not for a 3:30 pm run. I was glad to do a run that wasn’t an out and back! And I got to introduce David to the steps from hell, so that was fun. He made it up well before me but it wasn’t a picnic for him either. I still think my strategy of being dead last at the beginning of the race is genius. Then I can take as much time as I want on the stupid stairs.

Saturday I started at the Skyline Drive/Getchell road trailhead and did three miles toward the city and then looped back. I took a couple of terrible pictures. I didn’t know they were terrible at the time, but the lens was sweaty or something. The beginning of this part of the trail is pretty technical, and I was a little concerned about slipping and falling. There’s a lot of loose gravel/dirt in some very tricky spots. I sometimes wonder if I am too much of a wimp to be a trail runner.

The Bagley and Hartley runs were nothing to write home about. Standard runs I’ve done a zillion times. I covered the hill workout here.

Lessons learned this week: I need to get stronger in order to have a decent race in October. I did a crappy job of strength training this week, only doing a couple yoga workouts. I slept all right, but could sleep better. My nutrition still sucks. So the only one of my training goals I met was running hills. Whoops. It’s week 1 of 12, I think I’ve got plenty of room for improvement.

Bunny Hills

The heat broke yesterday, and I’m not sure it even got above 80. There was a beautiful breeze blowing in my window in the morning, and I didn’t wake up sweaty and gross from another hot July night. The timing was perfect because I tried out my new amped-up version of a hill workout after work.

I ran up the Chester Bowl ski hill 4 times today. It’s a tough climb, although as ski hills go it is not that frightening.

I warmed up with a nice uphill run because that’s how one gets to Chester Bowl, and then started at the base of the hill. The first pass, I went out rather aggressively, and I was breathing pretty heavily halfway up when I slowed to a hike. I took it easy on the way down, and on the second pass, began at a very slow run, then slowed to a walk again about halfway up. I made the third pass a “sustainable” effort, meaning closer to what I would actually do in a race, and hiked the whole way up, still huffing and puffing. On the way down, my quads were a little shaky. I mixed up running and walking on the fourth pass, running about a quarter of the way, hiking, running, hiking, and running to finish. Then snapping the photo and heading back down, again on uneasy legs.

I realize this workout is like, the opposite of what is metabolically efficient, as I am giving an anaerobic effort on the climbs. I don’t need a heart rate monitor to tell me my heart’s about to explode. I don’t even really know if this workout is a good idea, although I think it is, for whatever that’s worth. I think it’s going to make my legs stronger on uphills AND downhills. I definitely need to mix in some more practice power hiking, since that’s what I’m actually going to do in the race, and I need to practice getting my arms involved more. I’m barely pumping them at all. The handheld is throwing me off, so I think I need to bring both for my next hill workout (in 2 weeks), as bringing none is not an option. I plan on doing 5 more repeats of this workout between now and the race date, and doing intervals or tempo runs on the alternating weeks. The more hills I can do, one after another, the better I think it will be come race day. I don’t have a way to quantify any improvements, but I hope I’ll be able to feel a difference in effort between this week and week 11, when I do the final set of hill repeats.

After the hills, I ran down to the 9th St. bridge using the Chester Creek trail and then cruised home. I actually felt pretty good, and my legs felt strong. I wanted to do a yoga video when I got home, but Chromecast wasn’t cooperating, so I just did a little freestyle yoga that lasted maybe 5 minutes. It doesn’t count. Today is another rest day, and I am getting a massage. This week will practically count as another recovery week. Two rest days (so far), a break in the heat wave, and some pampering!

Training Troubles

Last week was sort of a funky week, since I didn’t have any specific training plan. My goal was just to keep the mileage relatively low. I did ok on that front, with 5 days of running and 21.7 miles.

I’ve started training for the Harder’n Hell Half as of Monday. Meaning I did one 3.8 mile trail run.

Three things are derailing my training slightly. Two are very correctable things: vacation and hydration. I am having a staycation, I guess, as my family is visiting from the Twin Cities and from Grand Forks. I skipped a couple of runs as a result, but that was time well spent. I’m probably eating too much, since there’s snacks all around, but everyone is leaving today so the snacks will subside.

It’s also very hot here. I mean, I know there are hotter places on earth than Duluth, MN. However, those places are expected to be hot. This place isn’t. It was pretty darn hot for the Voyageur 50 this past weekend (a future race for me, DEFINITELY), reaching 87 degrees, I think. It was much hotter for the Western States 100 and for many other ultras, but again, this is northern Minnesota, not Squaw Valley. I have slowed down, slathered with sunscreen, and even doused my hat (and clothes on occasion) before even starting a run on occasions when I’ve been running in the middle of the day. I’ve been running in the early afternoon a lot, to coincide with my nephews’s naptime, and also to try to get a little heat training in. I won’t be running anymore races in the heat, but it’s still beneficial to my overall training.

The heat during training isn’t a problem. I am hydrated beforehand, and I have been bringing water on all my runs, even if they’re under an hour. I know the running martyrs over on Runner’s World Online will boast about how they run 50 mile recovery runs without “taking” a single drop of water and they feel just fine but you know you can totally do what’s right for you *cough*slowloser*cough, but I would rather bring a small handheld water bottle just in case, than end up overheated or dry mouthed. It’s staying hydrated overnight that is a problem. I have been waking up dehydrated since it is so hot in my house overnight. We do not have air conditioning, and have poor air flow in the house. Monday night I went to bed at midnight and it was 69 F outside and 87 F inside. Bleccch. I don’t go running until I’m hydrated again, but I need to be more careful. I almost had a charlie horse at work yesterday, unprovoked. Bad sign. The absolute worst of the heat is behind us, so this problem will sort itself out even if I can’t.

My third problem is a funny twinge in my shoulder, which has caused me to take a few days’ rest from strength training. Not a big deal, as I still got in 4 or 5 days last week. It feels ok again, so I was perhaps overdoing the yoga and benefited from a little rest.

Today’s a new day to get back on track with hydration, routine, and nutrition, and I’m ready to tackle some serious hills this afternoon, one of my major adaptations to my training plan. No more dinky little gradual hill repeats; these are going to be tough and I’m going to be a beast on the course this fall because of it.

Harder’n Hell Half Marathon

The Harder’n Hell Half Marathon is the next race on my calendar. It’s October 17th, and I have properly calculated the start of the 12-week training cycle this time around. Training starts Monday.

This race is TECHNICAL. Here’s the course profile for the 50K, from the course website:
wild-duluth-50k-profile

The final 13.1 miles of the 50k are the same as the half marathon, I believe. I don’t know why they wouldn’t be. I actually think the course profile might be a little different now, but I am not sure. Anyway, it is technical.

I need to get serious about training for this race. A friend of mine who is a non-runner but in excellent shape (he is a caddy) is going to run this with me. I mean, probably not alongside me, he’ll probably beat me even though I have been training longer. That’s fine. This race is capped at 150 entrants and it is very possible I’ll be in 150th place. I am comfortable with that. I have some non-mileage-related training plans I need to implement this time around in order to be prepared.

1. Run hills A LOT.
I will be doing hills for speed work every other week. And not wimpy hills either, but real hills like I might encounter on the course. I will also run hilly routes (not hard to find) for almost all my other training runs.

2. Eat a little better and lose a couple pounds.
I am not planning to make MAJOR dietary changes, but I do need to make better choices for breakfasts and lunches. My husband makes dinner, so I eat what he makes without complaint or judgement. The breakfast and lunch changes are especially important once school begins again. I need to plan ahead. And save money, too. I don’t believe in a “racing weight” for a back of the pack runner like me, but I do think a 5-10 lb weight loss between now and the starting gun would be beneficial.

3. Get serious about strength training.
There were a lot of weeks during my Park Point 5 Miler training where I did, maybe, one strength workout a week. That’s got to stop. I am going to need serious core strength to get me through this race. I’ll be doing lots of yoga and other body weight exercises.

4. Sleep
I am terrible at getting enough sleep during the week. I go to bed too late, and then I’ll read or do a crossword. That has to stop. Even an extra hour of sleep during the week will go a long way. This is going to be extremely important once I’m back in school, as I’ll be balancing schoolwork, work, and training.

I think these four points will be as beneficial, if not more, than the mileage I’m putting in for this race. I am really excited to try my first trail race and my first half marathon, even if it ends up being a 6 hour sufferfest. But… I hope it isn’t 6 hours.