Running like Gazelles week of August 30 - Sept 5

[indigoiis]

I thought I'd start a new thread for this week. :p

Friday I rode my long ride so didn't run. Yesterday was my day off. I was anxious to get back into the groove today.

Ran 6.2 miles this morning, 2 miles of which were trail. It was an awesome run. I do have a little pain on the inside of my left groin and I am wondering what I am doing form-wise to cause this. Other than that it was a fine run and it took me an hour and five minutes. I ran with one of the 3 oz bottles from a newly-purchased (and just as quickly hated) fuel belt in one hand and my cell in the other, and it worked out fine. I took two sips for every mile and finished the bottle by mile 6. I figure for my half if I take both bottles and do the same, I'll go through both (and also take advantage of water stops.) It was nice to be hydrated throughout the run.

I might ride later today, but will definitely be riding and running tomorrow.

[Kelly728]

I contemplated making a new thread 2 days ago, but never did for some reason. I ran yesterday, not today, so we'll just pretend that counts for now.

I ran 3 miles after not being able to run since last sunday. My hip has been acting up and I wanted to wait to see what my PT said before I attempted another run. He worked out a huge knot in my hip on thursday which made it very sore for 2 days. I was told to try a short run this weekend. My hip was tight during the run but no pain. The minute I stopped running, pain shot through my hip until I could walk it off for a few minutes. Weird and frustrating! I plan on trying again tomorrow, distance is tentative.

[skhill]

Well, I've finally done it-- I've promised to run a half marathon next spring with a friend of mine. And I've promised to quit smoking by then (just my experience, but it was easier to drop 80 lbs than quit smoking). It's hard enough to do a 10k while still smoking a pack a day; there's no way I'll make 13 miles with clogged up lungs! We're talking about either Louisville or Cincinnati; they're both right around Derby day. BTW, my friend is running her first marathon in just 3 weeks-- go Morgan!

Anyway, I did 5 miles this morning, with a hamstring that kept tightening up then loosening up. It ended up a really nice run, despite that, and somehow I averaged a slightly sub-10min mile. Go figure! How is it that sometimes you feel great and end up going slow and sometimes you don't feel great and end up fast?

[Veronica]

I have a writeup and some pictures on our website about my first real trail run today. The link below will take you there. :)

Veronica

[kacie tri-ing]

Up to 7 miles without pain! 4 weeks from the next HIM. My swimming and biking fitness have been ready for months, but the run will be an effort! I am super excited to have come this far out of injury though. I am continuing to be very very careful!

[Jolt]

30-minute run around the neighborhood/park today. 70-degree sunny weather--so nice! The whole week is supposed to be like that so I expect to get some very pleasant runs in. I threw a random sprint into today's run and it just confirms that I am a LOUSY sprinter--so slow!! Definitely better at distance although still not a speed demon. It's too bad I didn't figure that out while I was on swim team (and track)...I always tried to do the shorter events and was generally in last place!

[JH-NV]

3 miles, with some walking.....:(

[skhill]

Just looked back on log for August-- I ran 101 miles!! Woohoo!

Today-- 4 miles, dodging garbage trucks. And I finally got smart about this route, and ran the road with the steeper hills on the way out and the road with the gentle hills on the way home.

[limewave]

I just did hill-repeats with the baby jogger. I may be a little crazy.

[Urlea]

Ran 3.56 in the VFFs today. A mix of grass & cement paths. My body wasn't as keen on the idea of running as I was, but there were some enjoyable parts of the run. The healing 50k blisters gave me a little trouble & calves are still a little tight from training jiu-jitsu last week. But I'm back RUNNING!! :D

Skhill Nice mileage for August, that is awesome!!

Kacie I am excited to see you gaining more mileage again. :)

Limewave Hill repeats with a stroller?! I'm impressed!

[Susan Otcenas]

limewave - I second Urlea's comment. I'm impressed! I always marvel at women who get out there with their children. And I think you're setting a wonderful, helathy example for them!

Did my first ever 12 mile run this morning. 2hrs, 9 min, 53 sec. Just under 11min/mile, which I'm happy with. It's my goal to be between 10:30 & 10:45 per mile for the half marathon on October 18th, and I think I'm right on track.

Every time I lengthen my long runs, I plan out a new route. Today's route took me down a road I've driven, but never run, and I quickly saw it's fatal flaw. The multi-use path that runs along the side of the road would be fine (fantastic, actually) in daylight, but at 5am, some portions of the path are just too poorly lit for comfort. :( So, I won't be running that route again unless I can do it in daylight.

My right calf muscle has been very tight, and was the first thing to get sore during the run today. I need to be more diligent about stretching it out a few times a day. I'm wearing my compression socks right now, which always feel SO good after my long runs. Anyone have a favorite calf stretch they'd like to share??

[Jolt]

I had to work at the Y this afternoon, and decided to run there instead of biking or driving (it's about 2.5 miles away). It was fun to do something different and I got 5 miles in today which isn't bad at all (for me). I think some of the people on the street (this was downtown Worcester) thought I was a little crazy! The only tough part was that I was carrying a (light) backpack which I am not used to doing while running, and I felt like it threw off my form a little; toward the end I did start getting a feel for how to adjust for it.

[kacie tri-ing]

Way to go Urlea! Do you have any winter races planned or are you taking it easy now?

Here is an interesting ny times article about ib profen and ultra endurance runners:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-help-or-hurt-during-exercise/

[indigoiis]

I only did a measely cute little 1.5 miles today - my daughter is learning to drive so I let her drive halfway to her school (mind you, this is a 25 mile drive up some rural backroads and then over to 95 during rush hour and on - not an easy learning scenario!) and so then I ran from her school to my office. *just to get a run in.*

I am hiking this weekend though up in the Daks and I know that will be very challenging. And I rode 75 miles this week... so I am on track.

[indigoiis]

Oh and before I forget:


Well, I've finally done it-- I've promised to run a half marathon next spring with a friend of mine. And I've promised to quit smoking by then (just my experience, but it was easier to drop 80 lbs than quit smoking). It's hard enough to do a 10k while still smoking a pack a day; there's no way I'll make 13 miles with clogged up lungs!

Six years ago I was smoking a pack and a half a day. I used the following resources to quit:

www.quitsmokingonline.com (hokey but it works.)
www.cognitivequitting.com
www.whyquit.org (read Noni's story)
www.quitnet.org

You can do it.

Anj

[Deborajen]

I did three miles of speed intervals this morning. I haven't done the first-thing-in-the-a.m. running very much over the past year, and certainly not many speed intervals that time of day. It was like running in cement but by the end, woohoo! It really does wake you up! Since the sun hadn't quite come up I decided to run the park to avoid car traffic. That was nice - no trails, just some big grassy areas, and they're soo easy on the joints.

[roadie gal]

I thought I'd start a new thread for this week. :p

Friday I rode my long ride so didn't run. Yesterday was my day off. I was anxious to get back into the groove today.

Ran 6.2 miles this morning, 2 miles of which were trail. It was an awesome run. I do have a little pain on the inside of my left groin and I am wondering what I am doing form-wise to cause this. Other than that it was a fine run and it took me an hour and five minutes. I ran with one of the 3 oz bottles from a newly-purchased (and just as quickly hated) fuel belt in one hand and my cell in the other, and it worked out fine. I took two sips for every mile and finished the bottle by mile 6. I figure for my half if I take both bottles and do the same, I'll go through both (and also take advantage of water stops.) It was nice to be hydrated throughout the run.

I might ride later today, but will definitely be riding and running tomorrow.

6.2 miles on 3 oz of water??? OMG! I carry at least a 10oz sports drink plus a Camelbak fanny pack with 40-45oz of water for an hour run.

Today I went out for a 2 hour run. It's my last long run before the race in 3 weeks. I went out early, when it was still cool and not windy, to one of the flatter local trails. I'm so pleased. It went great! I was at my turnaround point at an hour and five minutes before I knew it. I started to feel a little beat up about 2 miles from the finish. But I made it back in 2hr and 7 minutes. I thought I was going to be back faster than I was out, but somehow I was 2 minutes slower. Either way, that should be about 13 miles. I'm jazzed!

[kacie tri-ing]

7 miles. it felt long and slow....I am SOOO happy tomorrow is my rest day! My poor body is begging for it!

[Urlea]

Ran 7.6miles tonight with Maggie. Felt really strong. Legs are recovering well from the 50k for us both. Wore the Vibram Five Fingers again, this is my longest run in them mostly on asphalt paths. No issues.

Kacie- I've technically moved into my "off-season", but I am planning to run a local 1/2 marathon & a muddy 5k trail race in October. I will run my best & have fun during those races, my training however wont be focused on PRing them. :)

[Kelly728]

3.1 miles today... Somehow I have started to run faster post injury and I actually set a 5k PR in training. Oops. :eek: Too bad at the end of that run, my hip was nagging again.

[kacie tri-ing]

7 miles yesterday, and my hip started to tighten some. I have a few days off of running, but plenty of swimming and cycling in between!

[Chile Pepper]

I have to admit I haven't posted here yet this week because I seriously do not run like a gazelle. Nevertheless, I have been plodding along three times a week as planned, getting really comfortable doing 3 k at 8 kph. At the end of that, I add a short (2 min) sprint at 6 kph (which is my goal). That's probably not the best way to increase my speed, but I don't want to dedicate entire runs to speed intervals, since I'm only running three times a week. Any thoughts?

[katluvr]

Chilipepper,
I may not hurt to do one run as speed work. And that just means the middle protion has some intervals...do nice warm up and cool down and just the middle portion. If that is what you are working for/goal to increase speed. Just a thought/suggestion.

[Chile Pepper]

thanks, Katluvr. Now that I think about it, that might work. We're in early spring here, so within a couple of weeks I'll be riding more consistently than I have all winter, which means I won't be as dependent on running for my cardio. I was just looking around on the Runner's World site, and they seem to recommend starting out with really short intervals. So maybe work in four or five 30 second intervals, and gradually take those up to a minute each? What is a standard length for intervals?

[Jolt]

7 miles run/walk combo on Mt. Wachusett this afternoon, using a hydration pack I just picked up on geartrade.com for very cheap. The reason it was so cheap is that it was returned because the original buyer said the bladder leaked. However, when I tested it at home it seemed OK as long as I made sure the cap was on tight so I figured I'd try it out today. Unfortunately, I found out that the thing does indeed leak!! I ended up with a wet butt from it. Time to pick up a replacement bladder that holds water. The run wasn't much of a run, probably more than half walking b/c of the steep sections, but it was still a good workout. Note to self: Wachusett is not a good place to go for building mileage!