The Running Thread - 2018

[Keels]

I'm actually pretty jealous of this. Handing out beer during a race is definitely on my bucket list.

They put a memo through my mail slot that the course would be going past my house and the street would be closed from 7-9 a.m. and I literally shrieked with excitement when I read it!!

 

[KevM]

ATTQOTD: I haven’t had any major issues in a race yet. When it comes to something like running slower than I was aiming for, I manly mentally shrug, acknowledge today isn’t my day and finish as best as I can.

 

[Sailormoon2]

Y’ALL MY FRONT YARD IS A MILE MARKER FOR A LOCAL 5 AND 10K AND I’VE NEVER BEEN SO EXCITED TO WAKE UP EARLY ON A SATURDAY IN MY LIFE!!!!

This is so cool! Very envious!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I'm actually pretty jealous of this. Handing out beer during a race is definitely on my bucket list.

My advise is to have lots of cups ready and poured. More than you think you need.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

ATTQOTD: I never really tracked my miles until I got my FitBit. Of course, it says I ran 12.89 miles the day of the Dark Side Half, so I don't trust it either. That said, I view it as a useful tool to help me stay active and drink enough fluid throughout the day every day. When I need to replace it, I may look at other alternatives, but I'll use it until it's completely done for.

Running shirts: Most of my running shirts are now runDisney, but for longer runs or weather impacted races I make certain to use either the Nike cold weather shirt or the warm weather shirt. Generally speaking, if I'm going to buy a running shirt, I go with Nike out of personal preference. Nike gear fits me right.

Adversity in a race: I love this question. If you haven't experienced adversity in a race, you will. That's essentially guaranteed. When it comes, I want to quickly identify the problem and address it. If I start too fast, I feel significant pain early on. That reminds me to slow down and run my race. Grabbing some fuel or a race snack can also solve some problems.

 

[roxymama]

So - interesting topic came up after our big group ride tonight. We're registering as a bike club for a local triathlon in July, and this year they're offering Athena/Clydesdale category registration, and the criterias are AGGRESSIVE ... 180 for men, 140 for women. Almost all of the gals (with two exceptions) would be well within the criteria - and over half of the guys would meet it as well.

We talked over this for at least an hour and came to no definitive conclusion ... would YOU register for a weight-related category when signing up for a race?

In this case, signing up for Athena/Clydesdale also is discounted by $15 compared to general age group registration. They don't differentiate on your body marking when you're participating in these categories, but if nobody enters, it's almost a guaranteed podium finish. I know the theory is that larger bodies expend more energy and thus should be compared to like-sized bodies.

I'd go with the earliest start time between the two categories. Whatever category that is. Because I hate waiting.

Right now I would be 140 Athena but not a 165. But maybe learning to bike would increase my calf muscle mass enough to get there!

 

[LSUlakes]

They put a memo through my mail slot that the course would be going past my house and the street would be closed from 7-9 a.m. and I literally shrieked with excitement when I read it!!

Is this in NOLA? You will need lots of cups and a keg lol.

 

[sylkai]

ATTQOTD: I never really tracked my miles until I got my FitBit. Of course, it says I ran 12.89 miles the day of the Dark Side Half, so I don't trust it either. That said, I view it as a useful tool to help me stay active and drink enough fluid throughout the day every day. When I need to replace it, I may look at other alternatives, but I'll use it until it's completely done for.

Fitbit estimates your distance based on your walking stride length, not your running stride length. Mine is probably 0.2m different, so Fitbit routinely underestimates how far I've run. It was somewhat more accurate when I was using the phone's GPS to track my run but I don't bother with that anymore between the Garmin that I have and the Zombies Run app I have going on my phone, which gives me some redundancy.

 

[Keels]

Is this in NOLA? You will need lots of cups and a keg lol.

Nah, it’s here in Fort Worth.

The house I’m about to close on in NOLA is in the Irish Channel ... I don’t know that anyone would want to risk running those rocky streets. It sure would be fun to hang out booze during the RnR Half/Full though.

 

[flav]

ATTQOTD:
Your answers were so pertinent to something I lived last weekend that I ended up making a checklist from them:

• Presume that something will not go as expected
• Stay positive and adjust to the circumstances
• Practice before to minimize the risk
• Forgive myself
• Be thankful to be there (to train, register, start, run, be alive)
• Channel Elsa and Let It Go
• Do an honest assessment of the current situation and accept it/fix it
• Do not look back now and release the outcome
• Shrug (manly if applicable)
• Shift to second, third or lower priority goal
• Refocus on new feasible attainable goal
• Set smaller intermediate goals
• Be conscious that it is my choice to run/finish
• Smile

I do not have new answers to add but I will repeat the above before any race!

.......
Applying it to last weekend, I had an amazing 5k, two hours of recovery/preparation and started running the 10k comfortably following the proper pacer. Then, in the 5th km, I glanced at my phone and thought “oh, I did not set it to the pace screen” and I fell.

Quick assessment: Light cramp in my calf while falling, then, absolutely nothing hurts. So I stand right back up, and start running, thankful that I haven’t put tomorrow’s half-M in jeopardy!

It was not the time to let my objective go since I had a good buffer. However I just couldn’t get back into the proper rhythm. I thought I might need fuel so I took a non caffeinated gel (I wanted some sleep for the next morning half).

At km 6 or 7, I felt tingling in my fingers and had a light side cramp so I was probably dehydrated (despite following closely my hydra/nutrition plan). So, really, that was probably what went wrong, not the fall.

Looking at pictures on courses and post-races, I look the happiest on the 10k! I was really trying to smile knowing that it would help... I was boiling inside! It took me a while to start being happy about it... It took completing the Challenge by running the Half the next morning.

Things in the list that I applied: Practice, assess, be thankful, smile, refuel, go to secondary goals.

Things in the list that I could improve: Forgive, shrug, set smaller goal (ex walk 30 sec and sprint the next 5 min), drink even more (but I am not sure there were still stations) and start singing Let It Go out loud (seriously).

And now, time to turn that page, thanks to you!

 

[FredtheDuck]

ATTQOTD: my last half marathon was not the most pleasant. All I could tell myself is that I worked really hard to get there and I owed it to myself to see it through as best I could. I PR’d, but it definitely was not my favorite run.

 

[Waiting2goback]

I don’t know if the “running is cheaper than therapy” part is true on a board of RD runners! I’m glad things worked out. Onto the next chapter!

I meant therapy in that I have learned I do some of my best thinking on the road. I work out my issues and generally, once I am home, I am able to let them go. There is nothing cheap about it.

QOTD: If something goes wrong during a race (fall, injury creeping back, watch not coming on, bunny not on track, GI issue, out of breath...) what are your in race recovery strategies? Your pace adjustment strategies? Your positive thoughts to snap out of it?
Todays question is a suggestion by a fellow poster. Thanks for the suggestion!

ATTQOTD: My rule of thumb is, something is going to go wrong. It may be something small or something big, but I just try to stay positive and adjust according to the circumstance.

I go into a race with a, "I'm going to finish this race no matter what" kind of attitude. So when something goes wrong I adjust my expectations on time and just do my best. If you do your best and cross the finish, you can always be proud of yourself.

Preach! Seriously, I HATE those stupid cut-out/extra-strappy tops. For one big thing, I don't want to put that much effort into applying sunscreen! All I want is a plain ol' tank.


Hooray! I'm so glad for you. I've BT/DT and it was truly the worst time of my life, bar none, so I get it. I wish you abundant peace and happiness as you move forward into the next chapter!


ATTQOTD: Like @OldSlowGoofyGuy , I always go into a race with tiers of goals, and I always give myself the option of simply not finishing - I find that makes it easy to handle things that may come up. When my IT Band started acting up during a race once, I changed my goal from "meet xyz time" to "have some fun over the last few miles and just finish without doing more damage." Another race I went in knowing the only thing I wanted from it was a certain time - when it became clear halfway through that the oppressive heat wouldn't allow that time to happen, I bailed and enjoyed a long, shaded walk to my car through a pretty section of the city.

Thank you. You were one of those first people on that TOT thread supporting my running and I'll never forget it. Thank you!

 

[jennamfeo]

ATTQOTD:
Your answers were so pertinent to something I lived last weekend that I ended up making a checklist from them:

• Presume that something will not go as expected
• Stay positive and adjust to the circumstances
• Practice before to minimize the risk
• Forgive myself
• Be thankful to be there (to train, register, start, run, be alive)
• Channel Elsa and Let It Go
• Do an honest assessment of the current situation and accept it/fix it
• Do not look back now and release the outcome
• Shrug (manly if applicable)
• Shift to second, third or lower priority goal
• Refocus on new feasible attainable goal
• Set smaller intermediate goals
• Be conscious that it is my choice to run/finish
• Smile

I do not have new answers to add but I will repeat the above before any race!

.......
Applying it to last weekend, I had an amazing 5k, two hours of recovery/preparation and started running the 10k comfortably following the proper pacer. Then, in the 5th km, I glanced at my phone and thought “oh, I did not set it to the pace screen” and I fell.

Quick assessment: Light cramp in my calf while falling, then, absolutely nothing hurts. So I stand right back up, and start running, thankful that I haven’t put tomorrow’s half-M in jeopardy!

It was not the time to let my objective go since I had a good buffer. However I just couldn’t get back into the proper rhythm. I thought I might need fuel so I took a non caffeinated gel (I wanted some sleep for the next morning half).

At km 6 or 7, I felt tingling in my fingers and had a light side cramp so I was probably dehydrated (despite following closely my hydra/nutrition plan). So, really, that was probably what went wrong, not the fall.

Looking at pictures on courses and post-races, I look the happiest on the 10k! I was really trying to smile knowing that it would help... I was boiling inside! It took me a while to start being happy about it... It took completing the Challenge by running the Half the next morning.

Things in the list that I applied: Practice, assess, be thankful, smile, refuel, go to secondary goals.

Things in the list that I could improve: Forgive, shrug, set smaller goal (ex walk 30 sec and sprint the next 5 min), drink even more (but I am not sure there were still stations) and start singing Let It Go out loud (seriously).

And now, time to turn that page, thanks to you!

Smiling during a race seriously does wonders.

 

[FFigawi]

Smiling during a race seriously does wonders.

So does beer!

 

[jennamfeo]

So does beer!

Amen.

 

[SarahDisney]

May Monthly Totals:
Miles - 53.82 miles
Time - 10:51:13
Avg Pace (approx) - 12:06 min/mi
PRs - 1 (4 mile @ 39:35 ... or something like that)

 

[Keels]

So does beer!

Or even in the middle of a long ride ...

 

[sylkai]

Or even in the middle of a long ride ...

View attachment 326221

I'm told reliably by beer drinkers that both Miller Lite and Budweiser are equivalent to electrolyte drinks, right?

 

[McNs]

May running summary - a mixed month for me - successful half where I finished 2 mins ahead of goal and only 45 seconds off my PB I set back in 2005, so really happy with that race and how it went. I than had my customary post race lack of interest in running, then had a bit of a chesty cold so did even less running. I finished quite strong and am back in a good running space. Temps here are really cooling down, so enjoying not needing to hydrate on longer runs!

Distance 144km - 89mi
Pace 5:01/km - 8:05/mi
Avg HR 155bpm

2018km in 2018 running goal update - 898km completed, 63km ahead of where I need to be, so on track.

 

[JulieODC]

May has been a tough month of highs and lows for me.

I PRed my half in May 6! But then received a Lyme disease diagnosis a week later. I’ve been on meds for 2 weeks, and am seeing improvements - but it’s been slow, with symptoms flaring. I finally had to stop running the last week.

And I deferred my 10 mile race this Sunday.

I felt like my fitness was awesome after this last training cycles, and now it’s gone. So looking forward to when I can get back out there.

My total the month is 45.1 miles.