January Running: starting the New Year on the right (and left) foot

[katluvr]

I'm a wimp! It's in the 40's but also cloudy, dreary and windy--I just didn't want to go outside. Did 3 miles on the TM housed in the garage. Why is it so much harder on a TM? I can't hold the pace I know I can on the road. Is it because it is constant? I probably vary my pace much more. I just don't know. My TM is pretty new so I think it's pretty close on being correct (speed wise that is). So it ended up being more of an interval workout. But it's done!

K

[tulip]

Today was my first day of the Couch-To-5k program. 20 minutes alternating walking and running...the hardest thing was getting out the door.

[emily_in_nc]

I'm a wimp! It's in the 40's but also cloudy, dreary and windy--I just didn't want to go outside. Did 3 miles on the TM housed in the garage. Why is it so much harder on a TM? I can't hold the pace I know I can on the road. Is it because it is constant? I probably vary my pace much more. I just don't know. My TM is pretty new so I think it's pretty close on being correct (speed wise that is). So it ended up being more of an interval workout. But it's done!

K

I find the treadmill easier than running on the road. Interesting how we're different!

[OakLeaf]

Treadmill, ewwwwwwwww.

I'm feeling pretty good about the 8 x 600 meters at 5K pace I did today, especially since I got out earlier than normal because of my schedule. I headed out with a minimum of mental flouncing and whining and pretty much nailed all the intervals.

Now, about this 5 mile tempo run I've got on the schedule for Saturday ... ... that's the one I'm *really* dreading.

[yellow]

kat, my experience with the dreadmill is the same as you--it's painful and seems so much more difficult than running outside. And it makes my already cranky back hurt. I ran on the dreadmill on Monday and hated every moment; it makes me feel like I am completely out of shape (rather than mildly out of shape, which is closer to reality). To be fair, I hate running on pavement almost as much, but not quite. I ran on a trail on old snow yesterday and trail in ~ 4" of fresh snow today. Both days were much better than Monday, even though today's run was the hardest outdoor run in recent memory (probably because I was the first person on most of the trail ).

I'm already fantasizing about running on dirt again, though. I might need to take a trip to the dry desert to do some of that in February.

[Helene2013]

I love my treadmill. I am not allowed to run much due to knee injuries (overused) and this is why my PT said to get myself a bike as it is easier on my joints. Running outside may be too risky for holes, slipping, etc (especially being winter).

I can be on treadmill for an hour and loving every minute of it. But I am well equiped too. I have virtual running videos that are amazing and challenging. I have a huge sound system with the best music to run (at least for my taste), etc.

I do not run full throttle but more like fast babysteps to avoid the heavy pounding. I can't allow myself to injure my knees again. This seems to work well so far. The pounding is also absord by the rubber/pounce of the TM floor. I'm not afraid of twisting an ankle, etc. So my confidence is running is much stable and enjoyable then outside. I have no pain vs running outside.

I do intervalls of running, hiking (I can do 10% grade) and walking. All good to me. Especially with being inside, no need to worry about the crappy weather we've had in the past month (cold, deep cold, freezing rain, over snow, then freezing rain again). I put on shorts and t-shirt and ready to train and hop into shower as soon as done. No waste of precious time.

[skhill]

It's the boredom that gets to me on the dreadmill. The right music helps, but sooner or later I'm just mentally done, usually well before I'm physically done. It's also always too warm for my tastes there at the gym. So I tend to do a lot of short but fast runs on the treadmill, trying to get some benefit before I'm too fed up.

I haven't run since last Saturday. It was warm enough this morning outside, but there's enough lingering ice on sidewalks that I decided to head to the gym for the treadmill. But when I started the car, the check engine light came on and I drove to the mechanic instead. Tomorrow, I swear I'll run somehow...

[emily_in_nc]

Call me crazy, but like Helene I enjoy the treadmill -- did it for years at the work gym. I think for me it's because I can use my music, which makes the minutes fly by and gets me out of my head. I go into a zone and just run without thinking about the fact that I'm hurting, bored, or too hot/cold. I don't do well on hills and have a hard time running in either hot or cold weather, so the treadmill, being in a climate controlled place, and with a pace and incline I can control, works for me. I am always nervous about cars when I run outside with earbuds/music, but not so on the treadmill. I do like running outdoors when the temperature and environment (i.e. few or no cars, or non-hilly trails) is right, but seems like those times are few and far between.

We're staying in a condo complex this month that has a gym, and I've been doing walk/runs on the treadmill every couple of days. The weather hasn't been good for cycling (rainy and foggy), so it's good to get some cardio in, even though it's only 30 minutes. I hadn't run in over a year so am starting back slowly. Looks like tomorrow's going to be a great day for cycling, so I'll be on the road instead!

[yellow]

Apparently the dreadmill originated in prisons. Now I understand!

[OakLeaf]

Hahahahaha! Now if we were grinding fresh flour that would make it worthwhile. Straight from the treadmill to delicious baking!

So, I got my tempo run in. It was really hot and humid, my schedule didn't let me run earlier (and I'm not sure it would've helped anyway, earlier in the day it was 75° and 90% humidity, instead of the 80° and 70% I ran in).

I was pretty intimidated by it, but DH gave me the BEST pep talk before I headed out. He goes, "It's just feet vs pavement. And feet always win. You know how you know that? Look at any marble or stone staircase that's been used for years. Feet win."

One mile warmup, five miles at goal race pace (so, the last mile was 10 sec/mile slow, it's what I had in me), five minutes of dry heaves and seeing spots, 6 x 100m strides, and I am DONE for today and really looking forward to a nice SHORT and easy 10 miles on Monday. It's supposed to be cooler then, too.

[Catrin]

I've a question that came to me this morning, and while I will be asking my coach, I am very curious to hear what you ladies think.

I like deadlifting. Let me rephrase that, I LOVE to deadlift - it really doesn't matter which style, I just love to it. I am also working, again, to build running-related conditioning for trail running this year. This morning I was torn between deadlifts and running...and I came down on the side of deadlifts. I've been having a few issues with a hammie that troubles me when I run, so I decided that I probably shouldn't do both activities on the same day especially since I normally mix up regular style and RDL. I don't go THAT heavy, currently I am about 10 pounds over my body weight, I hope to get higher at some point but the number isn't my goal.

Anyone have an observation on mixing the two activities? I just figure that since both impact the posterior chain that I shouldn't run more than a brief sprint or a couple hundred meters - not the 30 minutes I had in mind (run/walk mix). I will likely do that tomorrow. Just wondering if I am over-analyzing things - but am trying to avoid over-use injuries from taking on a new activity (trail running).

Oakleaf, you rock woman, that sounds great! You also are in much warmer climes than I thought, good for you!

[skhill]

I ran! Outside, even! Last week was a total of 2 miles, so it's been a while. 3.75 miles, with a stiff headwind for the first half and tailwind for the second half. I'm committing myself to run at least 3 miles a day every day this week, trying to get back in a routine. Looks like a lot of it will be treadmill miles, given the weather forecast. So ready for spring...

Maybe I should sign up for our terribly hilly late March half marathon, to force me to get on a solid running schedule. But it's really miserably hilly, with a scary downhill. So I don't know.

[katluvr]

Perfect running weather this AM. Cool, probably about 60 but mostly sunny. I had 7 miles scheduled and I did them, a bit slow but no walking. I accomplished what I set out to do and felt pretty good. So that makes it a good run!

K

[TrekDianna]

I've been running a 5k with two co-workers every work day since the beginning of the month. We take weekends off from running. We're pretty relaxed and run during lunch.

[OakLeaf]

Catrin, the dry heaves and spots weren't actually in my training plan and coach wasn't much happier about them than I was. Our weather has been just as variable as yours, in a higher temperature range. Tuesday morning it was 32° and we were covering sensitive plants. Saturday was that. Sunday it never got above 62°, which was great, too bad it was my day off running! Today was humid but only in the low 70s. So that's why I wasn't acclimated to that heat on Saturday. Haven't been able to acclimate to anything. Welcome to the new world ...

I had fun today with my new toy though. I'd kind of written off the running dynamics on my new Garmin 620 as something that was mostly fun to look at, and possibly over time I'll be able to see improvement in the values, but not something I'd use in realtime. I was still feeling kind of depleted from Saturday, and as I said, my plan for today called for not only slow but also backing off the mileage a bit, so it was a good day to work on form. First off I just worked on keeping my cadence up even though I was running slow, and I've been improving there. But then after I stopped for water I decided to put the running dynamics screen up and tried to keep my vertical oscillation under 8 cm, and here's what happened:



I'm actually pretty surprised that I was able to put the realtime feedback into practice so readily. Yay.