Running into November 11/1-11/7 t

Great running weather!

I did a half marathon with my mom saturday, and it was her first. We finished in around 2:10, though we stopped three times for a port-o-pottie. Mom planned on that, and it didn't bother me at all, because it was SO great to do the race with her. Great time and wonderful to run with my mom!!!

Recovery run Sunday of 3 miles.

My 50K is 5 weeks from this saturday (December 11th), and i am beginning to feel the nerves creeping in. Today was the first day that I really reigned in my nutrition for the next 6 weeks. I know what to do, I just have to do it:p:p

Congrats Kacie!!! And good luck training for the 50K, I am sure you will do great!!!:D

I guess technically it was on the 31st, but I already closed the tab I had that thread open in, so.... yesterday I ran somewhere approaching 18 miles (my GPS didn't want to stay on or connected so I just ran the same route as last week's 14 miles and added an approximate 5 mile loop, which accounting for how I added them together without overlap comes out to probably under 18 but more than 17). I decided to get as close as I could to skipping 16 and going straight to 18, but I let go of running at race pace for the last 3 miles. I did run them faster, but not at race pace.

It felt pretty good, though it was at my "endurance pace" so I guess we'll see how that translates when the time comes. I wouldn't say it's effortless but it's certainly not what it used to be.

I think my problem with the Bikila are that the toes don't flex as much as I want them to (or as much as the KSOs do). I feel like my toes are frozen in a specific position and can't curl downward because of the extra rubber pattern on the toes and forefoot. Maybe they'll get softer with more wear and my feet will adapt, but as it was they made my toes almost feel cramped by the end of the trip.

I left late again for varying reasons, it was still a bad idea, though I ran into a lot of trick or treaters at the end. ;)

Congrats Kacie! That's so cool to get to run with your mom. :)

You'll do fine in the 50K, it's got to be a breeze after an Ironman, right? ;)

Just an easy 3 miles this morning. But I noticed something awesome-- all the 6 or so bike commuters I saw had lights! Not all were wearing helmets, tho...

Nice 6 miler tonight. Got my last mile down to 8:15, which felt good.

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Originally Posted by skhill

Just an easy 3 miles this morning. But I noticed something awesome-- all the 6 or so bike commuters I saw had lights! Not all were wearing helmets, tho...

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That's cool about seeing the commuters but not cool about no helmets:cool:

I just had a 2 mile recovery run today so I ran 1.3 miles to the polls, voted, then ran home!

I am in Santa Clara (CA) this week for travel and today I headed out for a tempo run. I started running away from the hotel, and serendipitously ran into a multi-user path that runs for miles in either direction! Perfect. I ended up only making it 5-6 miles, I had to get to my conference.

It's WARM here. At home the high is in the 50s, here the high temp is in the 70s. I ended up running around 11:00 this morning, which was tooooooooo toasty after running in the late day through sunset on Sunday. I'll try to leave earlier tomorrow, but knowing my schedule, that might not work out. ;)

First run in my new vff bikila!

I've had them about a week, so I've worn them a bit-- walking the dog, to a class at the Y, etc. But I held off on running in them until after the HM. So today I did my first 5 miles in my "normal" shoes, then stopped by the house and switched over for one more mile. I felt kinda naked and conspicuous out there! It was fun, and felt good. And somehow, I ended up running that mile a whole lot faster than I thought!

Looking forward to running in these vff a lot more, at least until the frigid winter mornings arrive....

Just a little one again - it's still seeming that little things are taking a lot out of me, so I'm taking my time. :) Three and a quarter @8:50 on the fitness trail in town. It does feel good to run. :)

I need my next goal, though. Toying with aiming for a 1:50 half. Maybe one of the Disney events - I'd lean more toward the Princess half than the one they do the same weekend as the marathon. Anyone done that one? Anyone planning to run it this year?



PS - DH and I walked to our polling place, right at a 5 mile RT. It was nice to drag him out of the house :) and a nice day for a walk.

I signed up to do a 5 mile race in December, just as motivation to keep me moving over the winter. I'm not a runner--I've been running the 3.5 miles necessary for sprint triathlons and never any longer, so five miles seemed like a good stretch during a time of the year when I usually just want to hibernate.

I decided yesterday was day 1 of my training, so I mapped out a five mile course around where I work and went out intending to run the first 3.5 miles and run/walk the rest of it.

Turns out five miles isn't that much of a stretch. Ran the whole way at my usual pace. There. Training done.

Now can I go back to bed?

Sarah

Did 60 minutes in sunny CA yesterday. I saw a bunch of other runners out, even one guy in a pair of FiveFingers (the only pair I saw the entire time I traveled, actually).

Back home today, but left early enough that I couldn't get anything in. I'll try to squeeze my intervals in tonight.

So with work & trip out of town this past weekend to see friends my running/training plan has been neglected. Half marathon is in 2 weeks & I'm driving up to see my sister next weekend. So I know I can run 13.1 with no problem, but pretty sure it will NOT be a PR. Oh well.
Headed out for 7.6 this AM, pace a bit slow, but I ran.
Hoping to get a 12 miler in on one of my days off & try & push my pace to see how it goes.
Rainy & muggy warm today, cold front coming.
K

I got in a nice 3 mile run yesterday. It continues to be warmer then average so I was able to run in shorts and a t-shirt. My hamstrings still tighten up quite a bit while I run despite all the stretching I do. They get to be so tight that I can't staighten out my legs:( Oh well. I will still contiue on with my stretching. Hope to do a trail run this weekend:)

Hooray! Got in my intervals. I'm amazed at how quickly consistent running days affect my running. Muscle memory, I guess. My heart rate drops, my pace increases. I'll take it. ;)

Had a chiro visit today too, AHHHHHHH. The only things he adjusted other than my neck from strange bed and airplanes were things that I can fix myself with stretching, so I feel like I got caught. More yoga, more yoga, more yoga. He (again) complimented barefoot(ish) running's affect on my body.

I was looking at the FiveFingers Flow today for winter running, and..... they don't make them in a mens 39, the size that would match my well-loved KSOs. My bikila are a womens 40, and they just don't feel right - but that could be the bikila, not the sizing, too. I may have to live with wet feet for a while, hold out on Vibram releasing the flow in a 39, or try the womens 39 or mens/womens 40.

My HM is a month away and this is a step-back week in my training. I only had to run 4 miles yesterday and it was a nice break except that I hobbled back the last mile and a half. Run, then limped, run a bit, then limped some more. I did an 8 mile run last Sunday and ended up with a blister the size of Texas on the bottom of the toe next to my pinky toe. Must've been the socks! Now I'm dealing with a nasty blister that I'm praying heals up. i could hardly walk on it after my run. Any pointers to help it heal faster?

Ouch BikeChick, I HATE blisters.

I've had very good luck with the Band-Aid Advanced Healing blister pads. It seems a little counterintuitive (to me) that something that thick would help, but they really do, IME.

If your blister is bigger than that, you might try Tegaderm, which is great at eliminating friction, but I haven't always been able to make it stick on my feet.

Nice 6 miler yesterday and long run coming up tomorrow.

There were a LOT of crunchy leaves to step on, which i LOVE

I've been a bum...no run yesterday b/c the weather was crummy and I just didn't feel like going, and won't be running today b/c I have a low-grade fever--evidently coming down with a cold or something. Probably picked it up either at the clinic or at the nursing home I worked at on Wednesday. Started with a sore throat last night which got a little worse overnight, then today I feel tired, have a bit of a headache and just feel kind of icky because of the temp. Hopefully the worst of this crud passes quickly so I can get back out there! Kacie, I agree about the crunchy leaves--they're fun to run through. The slippery leaves on the trails, OTOH, are a little nerve racking especially when they are on top of acorns!

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Originally Posted by sfa

I signed up to do a 5 mile race in December, just as motivation to keep me moving over the winter. I'm not a runner--I've been running the 3.5 miles necessary for sprint triathlons and never any longer, so five miles seemed like a good stretch during a time of the year when I usually just want to hibernate.

I decided yesterday was day 1 of my training, so I mapped out a five mile course around where I work and went out intending to run the first 3.5 miles and run/walk the rest of it.

Turns out five miles isn't that much of a stretch. Ran the whole way at my usual pace. There. Training done.

Now can I go back to bed?

Sarah

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Are you doing the Celtic Solstice 5 miler? I got talked into doing it by 7Rider and another friend.


I haven't been posting on the running threads because I haven't felt like a runner since I got Achilles tendonitis last July (2009). It's been a long road back and I'm feeling great with my running, but still always worried about doing too much too soon. So, I'm registered for this 5 miler on December 18 and am working on getting my mileage up in a sane and careful way.

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Originally Posted by Bike Chick

My HM is a month away and this is a step-back week in my training. I only had to run 4 miles yesterday and it was a nice break except that I hobbled back the last mile and a half. Run, then limped, run a bit, then limped some more. I did an 8 mile run last Sunday and ended up with a blister the size of Texas on the bottom of the toe next to my pinky toe. Must've been the socks! Now I'm dealing with a nasty blister that I'm praying heals up. i could hardly walk on it after my run. Any pointers to help it heal faster?

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Blisters! :mad: Oak's (sound) advice should help. Hobbling might mess up your gait and start wearing on your joints and muscles differently, so be careful. ;) Usually a couple of light days, days cross-training (riding instead of running), or days off are enough to get rid of my blisters enough to run again, but I don't get huge ones so much anymore.

I also find that softening my skin can help (also preventative). When I start to see blisters appearing, I am sure to apply lotion regularly and wear socks to keep my feet moisturized.

Thanks Colby and Oak! Good advice. I'm trying the blister pads you suggested, Oak and it seems to help but I haven't run yet. I'm gonna give it another day. I'll let you know tomorrow. I couldn't even walk Thursday after my run and you are right about hobbling, Colby, my right leg was feeling the effects of that.

I'm volunteering at a 10 mile trail run this morning and it's 21 degrees out! Brrrrr! DH is doing the run but I didn't get signed up in time and decided I'd help them out. What was I thinking???

I ran 5.84 today and it took me longer than it should have. Granted I haven't run all week and it was a very hilly route, and I guess I am still recovering, but I get frustrated sometimes that my times these days are not what they were. I know, it takes time, and I should just be happy I'm out there doing it. Okay, I am happy that I am even out there doing it. I'll leave the watch at home tomorrow.

I got in a nice 4 mile run this morning. Such a beautiful day, sunny and temps in the low 40s. My legs felt pretty good. I was a little slower then normal...I am trying to pace myself so I can increase my distances. My hamstrings did not tighten up this time which was very nice. My goal is to get back up to running 6-8 miles at a time a few days a week. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Happy World Run Day!! (www.runday.com)
My fitness center hosted a 5k for the day. Since it's a Sunday and my fitness center is at the office, attendance was light - 6 runners, to be exact. I rode my bike to the run, and the run was all off road. That's a new challenge for me. I'm not used to rocks and sticks and water bars (and loose dogs, but that's a vent for another day! :eek:). Ride home was fairly slow :cool: and alas I made a significant dent in the bowl of remaining Halloween candy!!!
Somehow, I don't think Reese's and Kit Kats are high on the food list when training for a race, but boy! They were good. :D

Happy World Run Day to you, too. :)

Being that it was, I had to do a quick 5K jog after my aerobics class. Naturally I forgot my watch, so I tried the iMapMy app on my HTC Incredible. It did quite a good job on positioning - as good as my 310XT, far better than my old 301 used to - but it seemed to have a lot more pace spikes than I get with the Garmin.

Then I came home to read that Geb dropped out of the NYC marathon with tendinitis in his knee, and announced his retirement from competitive running. :( I realize that everyone has to retire at some point, but it's sad when someone doesn't go out the way they wanted to.

Ran the course for the trail race I am running in two weeks today. 8 miles in 1:26 - last year's time was 1:19 for race day so we'll see... since the goal is just to race it and finish it, I will *try* not to think too much about time.

20 miles today, in honour of IMFL I ran them relatively flat and faster than usual. ;) Time for some yoga - ankles, hips, glutes, hamstrings tired. I feel pretty good. I still am uncertain about the Bikila. Sometimes I really think they feel too much like shoes - your feet need to be the right shape for the harder rubber pattern in the sole of the shoe and my right foot just isn't. Even my left is rubbing in the arch, which is a problem I have in shoe-shoes, too. I guess I could go down a size, but the left one feels like the right size, just not quite the right fit. I miss my KSOs. I am debating another pair, a pair of Flows (but I'd have to buy the womens, not the mens because they don't make them in a 39), or carefully stitching mine up.

Is running too fast in training a problem? A had a training plan written up for me and today's run was supposed to be at a 9:30-10:00 pace but I couldn't settle into that pace and ended up averaging 9:25. Maybe we just don't know my target paces yet since we've only been working together a week +

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Originally Posted by MDHillSlug

Is running too fast in training a problem? A had a training plan written up for me and today's run was supposed to be at a 9:30-10:00 pace but I couldn't settle into that pace and ended up averaging 9:25. Maybe we just don't know my target paces yet since we've only been working together a week +

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Once you've got them down, generally you want to settle into them because they make for different intensities. Sometimes running slower has its benefits for different things. It's all good feedback to your training plan, though - they can either tell you to slow down, or you can ask more questions about why they want you to slow down. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MDHillSlug

Are you doing the Celtic Solstice 5 miler? I got talked into doing it by 7Rider and another friend.


I haven't been posting on the running threads because I haven't felt like a runner since I got Achilles tendonitis last July (2009). It's been a long road back and I'm feeling great with my running, but still always worried about doing too much too soon. So, I'm registered for this 5 miler on December 18 and am working on getting my mileage up in a sane and careful way.

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Yes, that's the one! It looks like a fun event.

I spoke too soon on the five miles being pretty easy--yesterday I went roller skating (dumb, yes, I haven't skated in years), fell dramatically (and comically) and bruised my coccyx. I always manage to injure myself doing the stupidest things, so now I'm sitting here on ice packs and hoping I heal really quickly. I tried running today but the jarring hurt too much. I have an overnight ride planned for this weekend (I hesitate to call it a tour--it's just 40 miles out one day and back the next) that I don't want to cancel, and I really don't want to lose the progress I've made with running.

Sarah

I have a lot of reading to do to catch up on everyone's running progress! I'll save that for tonight with some hot tea :)

Three easy miles for me last night. Yesterday marked the beginning of my training program for Chicago 2011 Marathon. I'm mostly going to be building base for the next few months, it doesn't look like there's really any speedwork until February.

Just 3 easy miles for me this morning, all in the VFFs. I'm enjoying this current phase of random (if daily) running, while I'm not training for anything in particular!

It may be the VFF's, it may be from spending hours raking leaves instead of riding my bike, but the past few days the ankle that *always* is stiff first thing in the morning, hasn't been.

I've been trying to decide which marathon to do next spring, Louisville or Cincinnati. They're both the same weekend this time. I'm leaning towards Louisville-- it's a few bucks cheaper, and there's friends in the area I could stay with. But the course includes crossing the Ohio River and going into Indiana, and I have this little bit of a bridge phobia....

Lime, how exciting! You will rock that course!

skhill, I've never done either, but everyone I know who's done the Flying Pig says it's super fun.

I finally managed to get a run in after too many days of not running! Just a half hour trail run, but it was a good one--ran the whole thing with no walking breaks and wasn't even breathing hard, despite the fact that I'm fighting a cold. Maybe what helped was that I wasn't trying to go fast at all. I felt like I could have gone quite a bit longer but figured I shouldn't push it. It sure was better than Sunday's attempted morning run which consisted of about five minutes of running, stopping for a few seconds and feeling like I might hurl and/or pass out (don't know what happened there but it was not pleasant--felt like the time in nursing school where I almost passed out watching a procedure), followed by 25 minutes of walking since it obviously wasn't a running day but I needed the fresh air.

So this isn't a running post...it's a post about what I decided to do today instead of running. I went to the local ice skating rink during public skating time as I wanted to do something different. Unfortunately it didn't go as well as I had hoped...partly because I haven't skated in a while, partly because my skates needed to be sharpened, and partly because, I've decided, figure skates are just dangerous if you're trying to get a workout. Not only was I most ungraceful (must have looked like a penguin or something at the beginning), I tripped over my toe picks three times, getting sent flying...the first time happened right where there was a puddle from the zamboni so I got wet to boot. Actually, I tripped a couple other times but was able to avoid falling. I think this just may be the year I switch to hockey skates...next time I go I will rent a pair to see how I do. Between the elevated heel (which completely throws off your center of gravity) and the toe picks, I just don't seem to do well on figure skates! It might be easier to relax and enjoy skating around the rink if I weren't scared to death of catching a toe pick and taking a header.

Jolt, hockey skates are a great idea. I haven't skated since college, and I wasn't much good then, but I definitely fell less and felt more stable in hockey skates. Good luck!

My dog's not convinced yet about this time-change thing, so he woke me up about an hour before I was planning on getting up. Put the extra time to good use, and went for my first long run since my half-- 9 miles, and I feel great.

I ran a whole 17 minutes without stopping today :) It felt GREAT!! Besides the fact that the wind chill was probably about 25. Which was why I couldn't take the walk breaks I've been scheduling in so far. Woohoo!!

My friend Jill & I did the Inaugural Silver Falls Trail Half Marathon on Saturday. I've never run that far on trail before! We ran it just for fun (not for time) and I brought along my camera to make sure we stopped and took pictures (thus forcing ourselves to remember the "just for fun" part. ;) )

Elevation gain and loss was significant. I'm guessing about 1500 feet based on the profile. We ran BEHIND 3 ginormous waterfalls along the way.

My favorite of these 3 photos is the one on the far right, shot from behind the falls, with the earth overhanging above. You really had to be there to appreciate the enormity of it!

Wow, that looks so beautiful!