Running out of February week of 2-23 to 3-1

[solobiker]

Got home from my trip/vacation in Florida last night. I was able to get in 2 3 mile runs while I was there. Gosh, how do you ladies handle running in all that humidity?? I can only imagine how bad it is in the summer. Those of you that deal with,I give you my highest respect. When I run here in CO the humidity is in the single digits to low teens. Give me my altitued over the humidity any day. Overall the runs were great. I was able to wear shorts vs tights which was awesome. Hey Oak...I did go for a short run on one of the beaches. Very nice and beautiful My goal is to do 4-5 miles later this week. I will have to see how my calf feels. Congrats to everyone on there great runs.

[Jolt]

Well, it was nice out today so I decided to go and run on some local trails this morning. However, I got there and found most of the trail to be a sheet of ice. Ugh. Needless to say, I didn't get a good run in there. Then this afternoon I went to visit a friend in Lynn (on the North Shore) and was still in my running gear since I hadn't had time to change, and realized I could stop for a run on the beach before going home. So I got in a little over 20 minutes of running on Revere Beach, actually my first beach run. It was nice. Not quite as good as a trail run, but pretty darn good!

[Aggie_Ama]

Went for my 50 minute run tonight, which was awful! We are in a February heat wave and it was 84 today. The only win was the sprinklers were on and that cooled me down. My HR is coming down for average, so that is a good sign! Still can't figure out my foot issue, maybe I need to tie my shoe tight tomorrow. DH is getting concerned I might injure it but I think it isn't that serious, I am jsut whining a bit.

crankin- Congrats, hopefully. Glad the run cleared your head.

Solo- The humidity is awful but I get altitude sickness so I wouldn't trade my humidity for that. I guess if I lived there I would adjust.

Jolt- You don't have the power to float over ice?

[Jolt]

Jolt- You don't have the power to float over ice?

Unfortunately not! Such a bummer...

[OakLeaf]

Ha Solo, last week was really dry here! It only takes a couple of weeks to adjust. But you can't imagine the summer. I'm from Ohio and I had no idea of humidity until the one summer we spent here. It p*sses me off to have to run the AC when it's 75 degrees out, but you have to or everything in the house will turn to mold, literally overnight.

Crankin, glad you're starting to feel better and that you've got a choice of prospects.

Aggie, yeah, until I bit the bullet and started running the very hard country roads in Ohio, I'd do laps around a 1 mile fitness trail. I still go there to do intervals since it's flat, but any more than 5 laps and it starts to approach treadmill boring. So I feel your pain! Also, I am totally not an expert, but I've read more than one place that three quality runs a week are enough if it's not your only cardio, and it seems to be working for me to run and ride on alternate days. I'm just pretty much maintaining on the bike while I build running mileage right now. Then over the summer I'll maintain the running while I build strength on the bike - that's the plan anyhow.

Way to go eclectic!!! Definitely for me, adding mileage has been all about form and learning to run more slowly. That's exactly what I said to DH about the half-mary when I ran 7 for the first time just four weeks ago. "I can do that twice!"

Intervals for me tomorrow, but I haven't decided which workout. And then some consolidation for a week or two before I add any more miles.

[Aggie_Ama]

Tonight I went to a slightly longer trail it is a bit of a drive but if I am running 50 minutes I need it to be a longer time before I pass the car again.

I am definitely scaling back the running to 2-3 days a week after the half marathon. Unless I just suddenly become the runner I was in 2005 but I don't see it happening! Friday I think I may ride my bike home from work though. It is supposed to be a southern wind which means a nice tailwind for the 28 miles home.

[Veronica]

2.85 miles for me yesterday. It was my first run with the new Garmin we got. It was kind of cool to see just how hilly my run is and what my pace is at different points on the run.

Veronica

[Aggie_Ama]

V- There are some things I only like to know in the pain of my legs- like elevation. Does the Garmin tell you distance though? Now that I am training for the half marathon I really wish I had something to tell me "Yes that was a 10 miler". I won't be getting anything in the next month but something to keep in the back of my mind if I do talk myself into that full marathon.

[Veronica]

We got a Forerunner 305 and it does give distance and you can set it up so will show other things while you are running. I really wanted something that would show me my distance and pace.

Thom it uses it on his bike as his HRM and computer. So it's fairly versatile. It's a little bulky on the wrist, but definitely better than carrying my hand held GPS and I like that I can change my route and still get mileage.

Veronica

[Urlea]

Woohoo!! Another active week for everyone. Keep it up!

Despite having a good deal of difficulty pulling myself out of bed at 4:45 to join everyone for my thursday morning group run at 5:30, I made it!

Perhaps being so tired was an asset today, because as I exited the underground parking at my apartment I realized that it was snowing and windy. Kind of blizzardy. At that point it was affirmed that my last minute decision to grab an extra jacket & mittens on my way out the door was a good idea because I would definitely need them.

I knew the day would come that I would have to run in crappy winter weather eventually and now I have. Other then not being able to feel my right cheek even with the face warmer on top of it, it really wasn't that bad. I'm guessing the 20mph or so winds put the windchill at about -15 so that accounts for the frozen cheek.

When I returned to the shop those runners that had finished before me still had the same expression I did, which was, "well, that was tough. I'm glad I don't have to do that again today."

Anyway, I'm proud of myself for still going and finishing my 5 miles.

Eclectic Congrats on the 7miles!!! I agree that a lot of going longer distances is mental. It does get easier, I still remember needing to be a little distracted from how long I was actually running the first time I covered that distance.

Solo I'm with you on the humidity. Its really hard to run in! But I'm sure it's primarily a matter of what each of us has acclimated to.

Aggie I know the Garmin 305 tells you distance right on the watch. My hubby has one & loves it. I'm eyeing the 405 just because it's so much smaller and would actually fit on my wrist, but until then I'm using http://www.mapmyrun.com . Sometimes I will pre-map a route just so I can know for sure before I leave how far I am going. Other times I check when I get home. Use the satellite or hybrid view though, it helps.

[OakLeaf]

Wow Urlea, early, dark AND cold. You're way too ambitious for me!

Distance was the reason I started sniffing around pedometers at the shops. Some of those foot-pod based ones are supposed to be pretty accurate. DH took the hint and got me a Garmin 301 for my birthday a couple of years ago, and now I'm a total data geek. I especially like to see the downloads from interval workouts like today, the pace and HR curves for each interval and recovery.

I did a ladder interval workout today - 30 seconds to 2:30, up and down the ladder twice. It felt good but now I'm really thrashed!

[Veronica]

We thought about the 405, even looked at one at a local bike shop. It is smaller and fit me better. BUT.... It had LOTS of negative reviews on Amazon. Stuff about how you couldn't turn the dial when you got sweaty. But maybe you don't sweat. It is kinda cold where you're running.

Veronica

[Crankin]

Aggie, I got the el cheapo Garmin 100 (or 105). It's a bit clunky to wear on the wrist, but the velcro adjusts quite nicely to my small wrist. It shows pace, distance, av.speed, elevation. You can also set it for laps There's also some program on it called "training assistant." Not sure what that does, except you program it to compete against.
It only cost about $100.
My husband has the 405, that he uses cycling and hiking. He uses the GPS on it so we don't get lost, basically, and it has a HRM. But I don't need anything that fancy.

[OakLeaf]

Crankin, does your husband have the issues Veronica mentioned? I've looked at the 405 but it just looks like a very unwieldy user interface (and an awfully small display for this old lady's eyes). The GPS receiver is so much more sensitive on the newer models that I'd like to upgrade from my 301, but I'm afraid the 305 won't fit on my wrist.

There's also the new Garmin 50 that has no GPS, footpod only. I don't know much about that, but I think the user interface is similar to the 405.

[OakLeaf]

You know what's wrong with all those foam roller instructional videos?

They are completely devoid of grimaces, sharp intakes of breath and outright shrieks of pain.