With only five more days until I hop in a van with my son Daniel, his girlfriend Jess, and and three other friends for Ragnar DC, I plan to cut back a little bit on my training this week. We are running to have fun with no grandiose illusions of being competitive so I really don’t have to worry about tapering too much.
In the past, I’ve not trained for my Ragnar Relays any differently than training for any other races – I just make sure I’m prepared for the mileage. Some of my friends do two-a-day runs to get their bodies used to running multiple times during a thirty-something hour period, but I’ve never tried that; and I’ve never felt undertrained.
This summer, with Ragnar DC being in early September, I trained in the heat. Once a week I ran my hill repeats at noon with the sun blazing down on me, and once a week I ran a tempo run during the late morning or early afternoon. It was hot and humid, and made for very tough hour-long workouts, but it seems to have paid off. Yesterday morning’s weather was much cooler than the previous few days and I could feel such a difference in the ease of my pace.
I’m already stalking the weather forecast for Friday and Saturday. Two days ago it sounded fantastic, but it’s getting a little warmer with each day closer we get. I won’t give the forecast much credibility until later in the week. In the meantime, I’ll try to stay acclimated to the heat…
This past week’s workouts went down like this…
Fitness tools beyond the equipment in my gym that I used during the week included:
- Rodney Yee’s Complete Yoga For Beginners (affiliate link)
- Rodney Yee’s Intermediate Yoga (affiliate link)
- Rodney Yee’s Yoga Conditioning For Athletes (affiliate link)
- Teeter Hang Ups Inversion (affiliate link)
Cameras used for blog photography include:
- GoPro Hero 4 (affiliate link)
- Canon Power Shot Elph (affiliate link)
- iPhone 6S (affiliate link)
- Questions:
- If you’ve run an overnight relay, how did you train differently than for a regular race?
- Have you seen a break in the weather?
- Did you race this weekend?
Have a great week!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.
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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!
We have a slight break in the weather, it is slightly cooler but I would still consider it summer. It will be 90 today, which is hot. At least the early mornings are in the low 60s…. PERFECT running weather. I LOVE September.
Have a blast this weekend.
Karen – Fit in France recently posted…Weekly wrap : ALL the FITNESS
It is delightful here today – 74° now at 11 AM, with a high expected around 82° by mid-afternoon. If this could hang around until this weekend I’d be a happy girl! 🙂
Yeah Ragnar. I did it for the 1st time last year and did not train any differently for it.
I hope you have great weather. Have fun!!
My 1st tri is this upcoming weekend…eeek!!
I love your pictograpgh…..totally cool!!
Fall is coming….the mornings are darker and a little cooler for sure.
Oh wow, how exciting! Good luck! I hope you’ll come back from your blog break and recap your experience!
It is still quite warm isn’t it? I always feel like it’s a little cooler up there in Maryland. Have an amazing time this weekend so bummed I was not able to get in on your team. That would have been fun!
Deborah @ Confessions of a mother runner recently posted…Apple Zucchini Muffins – Seasonal Eats
I definitely think it will be a little cooler in the mountains of WV. Right now the forecast doesn’t look too terrible compared to what we’re used to. And yes, it would have been so fun to have you on our team. 🙂
I’m running DC this weekend too. I trained hard for my first one, double runs, lots of mileage, all that jazz. And then we got thrown a curve ball where two of our runners bailed at about 10PM the night before, so we all picked up extra mileage. & then I learned that you just figure it out. We’re not competitive either, so if I run slow, fine, if I run fast, also fine. I do this for fun! Got to remember that, and yeah, I looked at the forecast. Yuck.
Yep, for me, Ragnar is all about having a fun experience! The forecast is looking a little better… Hope you have cut his weekend! I’m on team “We Thought You Said Rum.”
Wow!! Great job nailing all of your goals–except you need those extra 12 minutes of sleeping, so get to it. 🙂 I think you’ll have a great race! Can’t wait to hear about it!
Sonia recently posted…NYC Marathon Training Week #12
HaHa! My sleep goal is always the one that eludes me.
I love your weekly recap graphic. I’d probably do Ragnar DC if the Chicago Marathon wasn’t so close. Like you, I never did two a days or training for Ragnars. The mileage always felt fine because I had been running and training for other things-it’s more the lack of sleep that is hard! Good luck and have fun this weekend
Thanks, Lauren! Good luck in Chicago! I’m going to be out there the following week for a fitness conference. I wish I were there earlier so I could cheer everyone on.
Ragnar is on my bucket list. I hope the weather will moderate for you but it sounds like you are ready for the heat if it doesn’t. I’ll be glad to help you stalk that weather 😉 Do you already know the times you are running? (I’m not sure how that works.) Good luck and have fun with your son and his girlfriend! Thanks for linking, Deb.
I think you’d love running a Ragnar Relay. If we’re able to stick to our paces, I’m scheduled to run at 5:03 PM on Friday, and then 4:10 AM and 3:05 PM on Saturday. Thanks for the well wishes!
Good luck with Ragnar. I hope you have good weather!
Thank you, Meranda!
Good luck this weekend!!!!! (I am jealous!) In answer to your questions…I have not done an overnight relay, but have done two overnight ultras…the fueling is weird LOL It was hard to know if we should eat a carb-heavy meal several hours prior to the start? Or just grab snacks along the way (from the aid station). I would think with a relay, you can just kind of wing it, right? The legs aren’t too crazy long (?). Our weather did break somewhat this past week or so (but I am in no hurry for summer to end). Yes, I did a race, but my performance was anything but a “race” experience (stay tuned…recap is in the works)
Kimberly Hatting recently posted…Wrapping up another week….
Thank you! Your overnight relays have sounded fun, too! Now, to answer your questions… With the way my digestive system acts sometimes, I can’t really wing it with my eating so I’m very careful about eating two hours before each run and I’m very careful about what I eat. About the mileage, for my last two Ragnars my mileage has been over 30 miles, but for this one my legs keep getting adjusted by Ragnar (I think because of road permits and having to reroute the course, etc.) and now I’m down from 28 miles to about 21.
I have not yet added a Ragnar to my list of races but I would think for peace of mind I would do a few of the two per day runs. I think it would help me be better prepared. But you’ve done Ragnars and they always seem to work for you!
No break in weather here, I’m still hopeful it will be soon!
Tricia Vaughn recently posted…Weekly Wrap 58 Yak-A-Du What ??
One of these days you should give a Ragnar Relay a try. They really are a lot of fun!