Runny knows - Feb 12 to 17

[Kimmyt]

31 is a perfectly fine time, there will be others in after you, unless it's a very competitive race. Most 5Ks will have folks doing their first race and those folks might be walking and running. Besides, if you finish last, there's no where to go but up next time eh?

I agree with oakleaf, emily. All my race times are 1-2 minutes faster than I was training at, even though the percieved effort felt the same. It's the adrenalin, I think. And anyway, the last thing you want to do is finish a race and still have some left in the tank.

[Jolt]

Emily, that time isn't that bad. When I did the local "Spring Into Spring" 5k a couple of years ago, my time was 34:18!!! I'm thinking I'll probably do it this year if I don't have anything else going on that day, and hopefully get a better time than that! I wasn't dead last, but I wasn't too far from it either.

[btchance]

Emily that time is faster than my 5ks - so believe me I would never consider you slow

anyways, I have been back running for 6 weeks now after taking some time off and have built my distance back up to a decent amount. So now I am upping the intensity for this training block (last week was recovery). So Monday I did a 4mile hill repeat run (flat in the middle, most hills at the end - eh). Yesterday I did 2.5miles with 4 x 30 sec fartleks included. It feels great being able to do this again. One more run to go this weekend!

[nonsmoker3]

Emily - don't ever apologize for your times! You are out there moving and that is what is important.

If you ever get a chance, read John Bingham's books. He is famous for running slow and will make you feel so much better. I read his books whenever I am feeling slow and sad.

Keep it up girl - you are doing great!

[teigyr]

Emily, I think your time is fine. Keep a log and you'll see improvements. I ran 5 miles today and felt like a sloth but when I went to write it in my log, I realized I was about 5 minutes faster than the last time I ran that route. You just never know And the last 5K I did, I was passing people right and left. I am NOT a fast runner.

I ran 5 miles today. It was mostly good. I'm trying out some new shoes because I had the beginnings of a really disturbing trend (knee pain, side of my leg pain going up to my hip/backside) and that had to be nipped in the bud. I've been stretching and really trying to make it Go Away. The new shoes helped SO much, I think the older ones didn't work well with my orthotics. I was initially much faster than usual but then started to feel fatigue because I think I'm working slightly different muscles now. It's ok though, that I can deal with.

I also had a physical today. I have slight heart abnormalities that they want to look at. Ordinarily they wouldn't care but my doctor works at a sports medicine place and knows I'm signed up for a half-marathon AND a marathon next fall. I have a stress test in March. Good times!!! I think it's nothing. Hopefully.

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks for all the encouragement! I appreciate it. Just to be clear -- my DH was not criticizing my time at all (he's very proud that I'm trying and improving!), but he just noted what the book he was reading said.

Thanks also for the recommendations for reading material -- I am enjoying learning about a sport I never really paid much attention to before because I thought (from being weak, sickly, and asthmatic as a kid) that I could never run.

The John Bingham books look great! I just went and checked them out on amazon. I think I'll check our county library first just in case.

Emily

[Wahine]

I ran 4 miles easy tonight at the track after work. Then I have a 10 km road race tomorrow. I'm kinda excited. Now before y'all get worked up, this is a training race with a very odd strategy. I have absolutely no plans on ranking well tomorrow.

Emily, you're doing great. There's nothing wrong with that time.

Teigyr - What shoes did you get?

[Grog]

Back home (at last)!

I was lodged at hotels in cold cities that can't seem to pick up the snow on the roads and sidewalks. I'm used to run in adversarial conditions but I didn't have the snowshoes I would have needed to tackle Toronto's sidewalks this week.

So the treadmill it was. I called it "mental toughness" week, which was also taper week so thankfully I didn't have to spend much time there.

Sunday is my half-marathon!

[teigyr]

Grog, I can't wait to hear about your race!

Wahine, you also. I kind of understand it but ugh...then again might be a relief just to get it over with.

My shoes are Brooks Glycerin. The only problem I have with them is that they don't come in other widths. I have to do mens shoes and usually I'm a EE. I tried a lot of them and the sales person seemed to think that those shoes combined with the orthotics would be the best. They weren't perfect but seemed better than the other offerings. They felt SO good compared to what I was using so we'll see! The store offers a 60 day return/exchange policy so I'll give them some time. I tried ASICS Gel Nimbus (2nd in contention) and a few New Balance ones. I kept going back to the Brooks though they look like Kermit the Frog had illicit relations with the guy from Tron. Or Michael Jackson, haven't figured it out yet. I wish I could use girl shoes, the colors are SO much prettier!

Does everyone alternate shoes? I've read about it and was talking to the salesperson about it. He advocated it but says he alternates the same make/model because his feeling is if he likes them, he'll use them every day. We also talked about the reason for alternating other makes/models just due to the fact it might be better for you.

[Wahine]

When I have a pair of shoes I like I usually buy 3 at a time and rotate through with the old pairs slowly introducing the new. Ideally I have 3 pairs going at one time and rotate on a 3 month basis. So pair A might be on the way out, pair B in mid wear and pair C new ones being broken in. Then in 3 months, A gets retired, B moves into A's place, C into B's and we intro D into the picture.... and so on. That way one pair will be used for a total of 9 months and I'm never running on really old shoes or new shoes all the time.

[Grog]

When I have a pair of shoes I like I usually buy 3 at a time and rotate through with the old pairs slowly introducing the new. Ideally I have 3 pairs going at one time and rotate on a 3 month basis. So pair A might be on the way out, pair B in mid wear and pair C new ones being broken in. Then in 3 months, A gets retired, B moves into A's place, C into B's and we intro D into the picture.... and so on. That way one pair will be used for a total of 9 months and I'm never running on really old shoes or new shoes all the time.

Sorry for the silly question, but if they are identical, how do you know which is which?

[limewave]

Grog--I usually date my shoes with permanent marker so I know which is which.

I just got back from a 10k snow shoe race. It was soooooo hard! Only 4 women participated and I got fourth place, but I'm happy. I averaged 15 minutes miles. For a normal 10k I average 9 min miles. I came home, made a huge mug of hot cocoa and watched Kona on TV and cried when everyone crossed the finish line. I'm such a softy.

[Wahine]

Same here. I will also buy the same shoe in different colour schemes if there are any, sometimes that works best if you're buying right when the stores are changing out the seasonal stuff, eg winter to spring.

I finished my 10 k this AM. Not great but OK. With my warm-up it worked out to about 7 miles. I'm up to 29 miles for the week and I'm not done yet.

[tattiefritter]

I've not had a chance to update for a while,so I'll cut to the chase, I've been ill all week and done sod all!

On the bright side I did a very hilly (tough and challenging course was the race blurb) 10K last Sunday. On the entry form it said add 10% to your flat 10K time to get an estimate of how you'll do, now my best 10K time is 51:25 so I was hoping for around the 57 mark, particularly since this is my first event of the year and I've actually been quite lazy , so I was ecstatic to finish in under 53 minutes. I was feeling quite frisky on the day so pushed myself quite a bit, OH then came down with the lurgy that afternoon and of course having pushed myself hard that afternoon I got it too, big style.

It's been beautiful weather here, gorgeous clear sunny days and I only managed to get out today. I got out for a nice 4.3 hilly off road miles (too nice to do tarmac near my house), I was struggling with my breathing a bit but think that was because the air was so cold. I also hit 5:32 minute mile on one of the steeper long descents which was the point I decided things were geting out of hand and I'd better slow down for the gate and stop looking at my Garmin! Hopefully I'm back on track.

Out for an easy MTB ride tomorrow then I'm going to the running club's Monday night training session for the first time - hill reps or interval training (gulp)

[emily_in_nc]

You ladies really inspire me! Congrats to all who raced or are racing this weekend!

I did a slow trail run today and had a blast. Instead of killing myself and making myself miserable like I usually do, today I had a strategy of starting to walk whenever my HR went above my target zone. I'd walk until it got back to a reasonable level, then run again. As a result, I ended up with 3.36 miles at only a 12:17 pace, but I didn't care one bit. I had a blast and felt great! Towards the end I started feeling the runners high and smiling broadly. Fun!

Unfortunately, our library doesn't have any John Bingham books, so I guess I'll be ordering a couple from amazon -- after reading the reviews, I just have to read him. Not that I need any more inspiration, but they sound simply wonderful!

Emily