Beals

Here are two articles from RW re: in which scenarios run/walk is beneficial. It seems to be geared more toward distance running, and is situation specific rather than habitual. https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20862651/why-you-should-take-walk-breaks/ https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20818428/walk-breaks-for-faster-running/ As for Loubie's question about whether 10/3 is the ideal split, it seems like you've already determined the answer is no (or, at least, it isn't satisfying you). I suggest either taking Sylvaa's advice and speeding up during the 10 min running portion, so that the 3 minute break is put to better recovery use, OR playing around with the ratio (try 10 min run, 2 min walk? 1 min walk?). I suspect this is something trial and error will be able to answer for you! Good luck and have fun!

I've done 3 of this weeks workout so far! I did my interval & hill training (why choose one when you can combine and do speed work up hills!?!?) on the elliptical though.... which genuinely feels like cheating. I also did some arm strength stuff at the gym. I would mention what I did, but I don't know the names of the exercises (other than push ups and curls, I dunno the others!!) It's a little embarassing how ignorant I am re: strength training. Anyhow, I think i'll do my long run tomorrow!

hubris befalls all the greats

Hello scouting friends! I participated in my first challenge last month, so I'm back for round 2. The focus of last month was building a base, and this month I'm pushing endurance. My end goal is to run in my city marathon on May 7th. Here is my training plan: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pF85O4oxcCQdn5yC-GpKGy32w-JjTM58t51G2GwZJNo/edit?usp=sharing As you can see, it's pretty lax. I was a lot more structured my last marathon training season, but I can't be arsed to stick with tempo runs, structured speed training, etc. I just made day 2 either hills or speed and I'll do whatever I feel like. Is that optimal? No. Will I actually do it this way? Yes. I'm also not fussy about the order in which I complete the workouts- I generally leave my long run for last, but the order of all the other days depends on whether it's an outdoor run and what the weather is doing, so I can switch the order as needed. Anyhow, goals: Physical: 1) Complete minimum 4 days of training each week. The goal is all 6. 2) Do stabilization physio exercises 6 days per week. 3) Intensive foam rolling once per week. Professional: 1) Finish all 3 CFPs (abstract submissions for 3 conferences I'd like to present at later in the year) by January 27th deadline. Personal: 1) Do something artistic once per week. I'm trying to get back in to painting, and my sister just got me pastels for my birthday. I think the creative juices will be good for me. 2) Buy new running shoes!!!

Hi Sam, I cannot comment on the diet stuff because that's outside my area, but it sounds like 1) you know what you're doing, and 2) you're off to a good start. Good luck. Your 3 x running and 3 x ST weekly plan sounds solid, achievable, and very beneficial re: your goals. Good luck! I look forward to reading about your progress! Re: the long hikes- are you planning to start those post tax day, or just log more running miles? I love hiking but it's not something I get to do often.

Hi All! I'm in Toronto, and will be until at least summer 2017

Big moves are always stressful! Hopefully focusing on running for the love of it will bring up those shiny endorphins and make you associate happy thoughts with your new home. Good luck!!

That is the greatest reactionary sentence I have ever read, and you better believe I am going to say this 10 times per day now when faced with inconvenience/having to change plans. I love it. I don't know much about the highland games, but since it's all natural movements I imagine it's great cross training for your running. I know I've seen your running plan before, but I can't remember- you've run a few marathons before, right?? I think you said your focus is on running, and the lifting/highland stuff is supplemental? I'm really excited to see you progress through this challenge! Have fun!

Good luck! Building a strong foundation is always smart... don't want to... 'choke on your aspirations' .... (<--- finally saw Rogue One, can you tell?). You even lotioned on day -5: you're already surpassing your goal!!

Good luck!

Hey, Canuck by osmosis- I'll take it! And I've applied to Berkeley, Northwestern, and NYU. Any overlap!? I have a strong feeling I'm going to end up in Canada, but Northwestern is my #1, so we shall see what happens! ---------------- And a wrap up for my challenge: I finally tried snow shoeing! I was definitely not as challenging as I had hopped (really only a little more taxing than walking) but nonetheless it was wonderful to clomp through the forest and take in 'the nature'. --------------- Final Grades: Running Goals: - I did well: cross training, completed my 15km long run, did decently with my physio exercises, and did a good job stretching. I should have done more of my stabilization exercises, but that's the only area I really fell down on. I'll give myself 9/10. Food Goals: - I ate 'enough'! Did not buy protein, but did make sure I got over 100g of protein/day and always consumed at least 20g of protein after a workout, so I don't really care. Thus: 7.5/10. Personal: - Finished all my school aps!!! 10/10, so glad to be done!!! Now to embrace the crushing anxiety induced by fear that i won't be accepted anywhere!!!! Goals to improve on these goals for next challenge: actually make them quantifiable lol. Thanks for the support everyone!!

Yeah, that's my dilemma! I'm expecting a solid month in late January and throughout February where the temperature is around -15c/4*F (or worse, they're calling for a bad winter) so I would like to be able to run outside (and people do!! I see it!!). I just want to be safe about it. Frostnip, I've never heard that! Such a cutesy name for what I'm sure is actually quite terrible.

hahaha i can see I've asked the wrong audience. I'm more worried about frostbite than aesthetics (I'm on the lake so wind is an issue), but thanks for trying?? I can honestly handle the cold better than I can the dark! I lived in Prague for you year and was basically depressed from Nov-March because I didn't see the sun for more than a couple hours per month. Could not do permanently!! But pros and cons to each, eh?

Hi, I don't know you and I'm sorry to jump in if I'm not welcome, but I can see you're in a lot of pain so I just want to help ease it a bit if I can... no obligation to respond, you can read and ignore, or message me privately if you'd like. I really like what Owlet has said. Dealing with something like what you and your mom are going through tends to put things in perspective a bit. It makes sense why you're worried about hurting her for not telling her sooner, and you're a lovely person for worrying about it, but she'll probably (hopefully?) just be grateful that you're telling her now. You both have a lot of serious issues on your plate- opening up about this will (hopefully) be small potatoes in comparison (to her- obviously this is a huge deal for you). I can see that you're trying not to be selfish and are keeping your mom at the forefront of your mind when making this decision, and like I said, that's lovely of you. But, please remember that you are important too, and you deserve to take your own well being in to account. Please be kind to yourself and think of your own future happiness too when deciding what to do here. NB: I didn't come out to my mom until I was 23 and she directly asked me about it (I suppose I could only say "sexuality is a sliding spectrum" so many times before she clued in, hmmm?). I can't say when I would have come out of my own volition, so perhaps my words should be taken with a grain of salt. Love and positivity from your fellow queer NFer.

Your assumption is correct. Good catch! Are you a fellow Canuck, or was that 'eh' facetious? I'm applying to 2 Canadian programs, and 3 American. The American schools I've applied to seem to release first wave acceptances in late Feb/through March (depending on the program), but I'm gunna have to wait months longer for the Canadian programs. The anticipation is already killing me! Fingers crossed for your LSAT results! I suppose you're applying for Sep 2017 entry? In the States, or....? And thank you for the kudos, but I'm not sure the praise was deserved- I haven't been serious enough about my training for it to impact my aps! Plus, all my scholarship aps were due before I even started training, and those took the most work. I was sick of applying by the time I finished all three scholarship aps, and I hadn't even started my school ones at that point! Training update: Ran 15.5 km today. I was so. slow. My goodness. But I did it, which is at least 75% of the battle!! (60%? 50%? Give me something here!)

Haha, I am 100% willing to take the softie label because I know I could have much worse weather/climate, but I still bemoan my current one. I have no idea where you live, or if you're familiar with Canadian geography, but I'm from Toronto, which is about as south as you can get in this country, so I'm used to literally every other Canadian scoffing when us Torontonians complain about the weather. Your chirps are in good company And thank you for the welcome! I'm enjoying my time here so far. Hello, and thank you for the tips! I have the same reflective safety vest, but have yet to invest in a blinking light too. It's on the list. I have been INSANELY lucky with the weather so far this winter. We're hovering around freezing, no more than 5 below so far, so the cold hasn't been an issue yet. That won't last, obviously. I love the bread bag tip- I've not heard that before. Question: how do you combat wind on your exposed skin? I've read that glide or vaseline is good to slather over nose and cheeks, so I'll try that next time I run and it's actually cold. Do you find that's the best bet?

Hello! I'm applying to PhD programs- bit of a mixed bag because I'm following the research fit, but they're a blend of sociology and legal studies. Only 1 application left to submit! I (creepily) creeped through your last challenge, and see you were prepping for the LSAT. Have you written already? Personal: So I ran a beautiful little 5k on Christmas and also played some squash (which is very fun and not to my strengths- I missed about 90% of my backhands. Embarrassing.). I was 85% DEAD on boxing day. That body-combat class I took on Christmas Eve consisted of about 45 min of punching which is apparently a GREAT workout because HOLY HELL did my upper body hurt (the squash the day before may have contributed as well. I was too busy weeping to parse out the causes of the pain). And I was again lazy today, so I only ran 5k. Thankfully the weather has cooperated the last few days so I've been able to do all my runs outside. I should do my long run tomorrow (15k, which was supposed to be today!!), and I'm hoping to finally try snow shoeing on Thursday!! I'm being forgiving of myself because of the holiday season, but I need to get back in to Serious Business mode and start doing full workouts.

Hello fellow challenger! How are you doing with your challenge in the last few days of 2016?

That is a damn cool medal!!! so... shiny... (precioussss) Congrats!!

Didn't work out yesterday. Did CT today as gym will be closed tomorrow, so I'll have to run then (which isn't a bad thing!! But I'm trying to alternate running and CT days). Today: 15 minutes rowing, a 1 hr cardio class at the gym, 15 minutes rowing, capped off with my physio exercises (<----- go me!!!). The gym class was actually really fun. It was a 'body combat' so we mimicked fighting moves (punches, kicks, etc). It was really high intensity too (or, well, I made it high intensity)- I figure the equivalent of an 8k run? Worked different muscle groups, which was great.

I'll figure it out at some point in the upcoming years I like the trail you're targeting too because of the sleeping huts they have (or whatever they're called), plus the trail markers, plus the seminars!! It seems very beginner friendly. I've been looking at hikes like the AT and honestly, I'd need a few other hikes under my belt before attempting that one. I haven't found one in central Canada/Eastern US that seems good for my level, but the Wales Coastal Trail and the Camino de Santiago seem like good starter options. Curse my location!! I'm super intrigued by what you're doing though. Keep us posted on the mile stones you hit on the way!

you'll be thankful for those 303 miles when you cross the finish line without dying! 14 weeks is plenty of time- you're being very smart with your training timeline! Good luck!

Wow, that thru hike looks amazing! I'm dying to do one but swinging that many weeks of no income is tough. Good luck with it!!!

I genuinely wasn't sure until I saw distances in the 30s-40s and figured they HAD to be km! I'm Canadian so i do all my measuring in km, but still say 'mileage'... kilometerage just sounds strange. Personal: Monday- 3 km run to warm up. 40 minutes on the rowing machine, doing intervals. 2 km cooldown run. Tuesday and Wednesday off (laaaazy). Ran 6 km today doing the lazy woman's speed training- half-assed solitary fartleks. Also- 3/5 applications submitted!!!

Thanks for sharing! I checked out your battle log too.... and I'm mainly stuck at 'wow.' So, what is your physical priority? Obviously you do a lot of strength training and a ton of running (those LR distances though ). Do you focus on running, strength, or some combo? I can't imagine that level of strength training w running, even though you've (somewhat) scaled down the weekly mileage to match. January I'm going hard w strength training so i'll probably look at your battle log for inspiration. As for my training.... Friday: not the greatest run. I cannot get on board mentally with this treadmill thing. Every run drags and my stride length is messed up, and it all feels so much harder than it should (which maybe isn't the right word, because I usually love hard runs, but i just dont like treadmill running). I ran 40 minutes, only about 10 of which were on a 5% incline. It felt shitty. Saturday: 3k run at speed 6 for warm up, 30 min intervals on the rowing machine, 2k warmup at speed 6 for cool down. Felt good. Total of 60 min cardio. Sunday: 12.5 k outdoor run (LR for the week). So good! A bit slower than it should be (6:18 min/km), but there was still a fair bit of snow on the ground which makes it slower and a dang blistering wind. Anyhow, I'm trying not to focus on times at this stage in my training and just get in the mileage. Why can't I enjoy treadmill running like this!??! Monday: my knee hurts, so I'll either rest today or cross train. I've only been doing 2/3 of my physio exercises, and not the exercise that's best for my knee. Ooooops. That said, I've been really diligent with the other 2 exercises!!! As for personal goals.... 2/5 applications submitted. Working on another today.