Fall Running Thread

[rocknrollgirl]

In an effort to get some conversation going, I thought I would start a new thread.

I am in the beginning stages of an uphill climb ( literally) towards The North Face Endurance Challenge at Bear Mt New York in May, so I have been running and now I will start posting.

Right now we are doing 3 runs a week:

1 interval
1 long on our rail trail
1 trail run

I am feeling good so far. Not fast, but strong. probably from all of the yoga. I have the trail run up to an hour, and the longer rail trial run up to an hour.

We are planning on going the half at North Face in May. I wanted to do the full trail marathon, but my husband and training partner is totally not on board. So for now I am going to do the half, which is still a beast.

[emily_in_nc]

That sounds great RnR. I'd love to hear more about this endurance challenge. It sounds tough!

Of course you know I am on the injured reserve list at the moment, but I fully intend to get back to running just as soon as I am able and hope to be posting on this thread. I'll be reading anyway!

[rocknrollgirl]

That sounds great RnR. I'd love to hear more about this endurance challenge. It sounds tough!

Of course you know I am on the injured reserve list at the moment, but I fully intend to get back to running just as soon as I am able and hope to be posting on this thread. I'll be reading anyway!

Emily,
I must have missed the injury. What happened?

[emily_in_nc]

Emily,
I must have missed the injury. What happened?

Oh, I think I posted about in Thread Drift. I have a sore right Achilles tendon, or is it soleus, or both? Not sure, but it hurts walking down stairs and anything faster than a walk. It came on after I added speedwork to my running a week ago. It seems to be improving slowly, but no running for awhile. We're having a really rainy period here, so it happened at a good time, if it had to happen. I had hoped to do a local 5K next Saturday, but that is not going to happen now.

[rocknrollgirl]

Oh, I think I posted about in Thread Drift. I have a sore right Achilles tendon, or is it soleus, or both? Not sure, but it hurts walking down stairs and anything faster than a walk. It came on after I added speedwork to my running a week ago. It seems to be improving slowly, but no running for awhile. We're having a really rainy period here, so it happened at a good time, if it had to happen. I had hoped to do a local 5K next Saturday, but that is not going to happen now.

Oh, I am sorry. Had you been running consistently? I usually back off speedwork if I have had a period of inconsistency. I waited months after my surgery before adding any in.

I hope it heals quickly.

[emily_in_nc]

Oh, I am sorry. Had you been running consistently? I usually back off speedwork if I have had a period of inconsistency. I waited months after my surgery before adding any in.

I hope it heals quickly.

Thanks! It seems to be a bit better today in that descending stairs is less painful, so hopefully I am on the road to recovery.

I had been running pretty consistently. But I had recently broken my pinky toe in a vicious encounter with a chair leg, so I'd had to take three weeks off. And after starting back slowly, I'd gradually increased from 2x a week to 3x (just 3ish miles each time, though). In the interest of full disclosure, my Achilles was a tiny bit tender for a couple of weeks prior, but not enough to bother me running. I figured it was just all the stairs I have to do on a daily basis (we're in a 4th floor walkup, the yoga studio I go to 3x a week is also on the fourth floor, etc). I wanted to do a 5K event on the 24th, so my DH suggested adding some speedier intervals to last Saturday's run. I have never done speedwork in my life, and I thought it went rather well until the next morning when I woke up with the Achilles pain. I later read that a soleus strain can refer pain to the ankle and cause pain descending stairs, so it may be that rather than Achilles tendinitis.

In any event, I shouldn't have done the speedwork while I had any tenderness AND so soon after the broken toe. Lesson learned!

[rocknrollgirl]

Speedwork can be tricky. I have found that in my case ( not a life long runner. started as an adult). that it needs to be introduced very gently and with discretion. I actually do most of mine on a small hill on my road. The hill adds difficulty with me having to do too much else, and I read somewhere that the angle that your foot strikes the ground is lessened, so it can be easier on knees etc.

That being said, it is NOT something you want to do with a sore calf or Achilles.

We got a great run in today. 1:10 in the woods on hilly trails. It was 27 degrees and clear so perfect trail running weather. My legs were tired from yesterday's mt biking which was a hard session. I asked my hubs to hill all the technical trails yesterday to work on skills and he obliged. Painfully so

So two hard days back to back topped off with a lovely yoga session after running. Now I need to get some more calories in and grade some papers And vacum and put the laundry away

[emily_in_nc]

Speedwork can be tricky. I have found that in my case ( not a life long runner. started as an adult). that it needs to be introduced very gently and with discretion.

I am with you on only beginning running as an adult. I have begun and stopped running more times than I can count in the last, oh, six years, but I never seem to progress all that much before something else gets in the way and I stop, so I always seem to be starting over.

I thought I was pretty easy on my speed work, but apparently it was too tough for my achilles, since it was already just a bit tender. Lesson learned for sure. I have no idea when I'll be able to even do a slow jog again. Hopefully sometime in 2015 at least! ;-)

Glad you had such a great trail run. 27 degrees though, eeek!

[rocknrollgirl]

Glad you had such a great trail run. 27 degrees though, eeek!

See now here is where the perfect yogi parts ways....I do not do well in the heat. So I am just approaching my time of year. You will hear me gushing when it is 5 degrees outside. I am a winter girl through and through.

[roo4]

I ran 2 miles through the woods. Beautiful. It was bright and sunny for the first half of the run and then blustery and sleeting for the second part. Still beautiful.

[OakLeaf]

Emily, hope you feel better soon. Both my Achilles are a chronic trouble spot for me, and there are many things I do that help, but I've got to say, the single thing that made the biggest instant difference was switching to zero-drop shoes. I wasn't even really looking for zero-drop at the time, it's just that the only shoes actually shaped like feet are also zero-drop, and I'd had so many problems with pointy toed shoes that I switched to the foot shaped ones almost as soon as they became available, and it was a big surprise how quickly my Achilles responded. General rule, calf muscles can't function in balance if my feet are hitting the ground collapsed or crossed-up. But yeah, TMTS can be so tempting and so damaging ... heal up quick.

RnR, that race sounds like a literal bear! Have fun with your training - sounds like you're all set for the winter, between liking the cold, and having nearby trails! I'm always freezing, myself, between my Raynaud's and my asthma I really can't train below 25°F, but even more than stuff that could actually hurt me, it's just the motivation to pull freezing cold skimpy running clothes out of the drawer and strip off my usual three layers of wool and stiffen up like a board just getting ready to run when it's even in the low 50s outside, perfect weather once I get moving, but hard to get ready for when I've been shivering in the house with blue toes up until then. Bleh.


So, me ... sigh. I posted a little in Thread Drift also. The long version is, back in the summer when I decided I wasn't going to run a fall marathon, somehow my subconscious took that as permission to partay and not even really train for the HM I did plan to run. As soon as I was ready to start hitting it hard again in September, I caught a bad cold and sinus infection that took a big bite out of my fitness and training time. Then this Monday I came home with the beginnings of yet another cold, not a bad one this time, but enough to make me wary of racing considering it came right on top of the last one and my immune system obviously hadn't recovered yet.

As late as Thursday evening I was seriously considering just blowing off this morning's race, especially with cold in the forecast (a full 20° colder than anything I'd run in yet this year). But I started to feel well enough that I decided I'd paid my money, I may as well show up and just have a fun run with 19,000 of the best people in Ohio, but that I'd take it easy and not take any risks of illness or injury. So, I piled all my warm clothes together and got ready for a 4:15 a.m. reveille.

I took a gel about 20 minutes before the start, as I often do, but for some reason it just didn't sit right. Rather than run through the nausea, since I'd decided to take it easy and wasn't chasing any particular goal, I stopped twice with dry heaves. The same thing when I started to feel incipient cramps in my feet and lower legs, I backed off just enough to keep the cramps at bay. And even though I ran more than two minutes slower than my PR, those three decisions probably cost me an age group placing - third place was less than a minute off my time (and a good four or five minutes slower than third place in this AG has been for the past few years). Aaaaugh.

Really though I'm okay with it. I was true to my plan not to hurt myself, to cross the finish line in good shape to kick off training for one more go at Boston. I couldn't have known that I'd have had a shot at an award with the time I was planning to run. Just a darn it, oh well, kind of thing.

Happy fall, everyone!

[OakLeaf]

I've also got to give a shout-out to my new The North Face over-mitts. I went to REI yesterday just to get some chemical hand warmers for pre-race, and found these half price (not on REI's website though, must be sold out in their warehouse). Worn over just regular knit gloves, they were absolutely perfect for a half marathon in 30° weather, even with my Raynaud's. Light and flexible enough that I never felt claustrophobic or clumsy in them as I usually do in mittens; grippers on the palms so that I had no trouble taking fluids from the aid stations; and just the exact right combination of warmth and breathability. They weren't what I went into the store for at all, and if they'd been full price I very likely would've passed, but I'm so glad I found them, and I would TOTALLY recommend them at full price!


Also, is there a snot Olympics? Because if there is, I think I qualified ...

[emily_in_nc]

Glad you had such a great trail run. 27 degrees though, eeek!

See now here is where the perfect yogi parts ways....I do not do well in the heat. So I am just approaching my time of year. You will hear me gushing when it is 5 degrees outside. I am a winter girl through and through.

Yes, we are definitely yin and yang on that! Although I will say that I have been dying here running in the heat and humidity. But I am not a fan of winter. My favorite running temp is in the upper 50s to upper 60s. I am a warm-weather weenie for sure!

[emily_in_nc]

Emily, hope you feel better soon. Both my Achilles are a chronic trouble spot for me, and there are many things I do that help, but I've got to say, the single thing that made the biggest instant difference was switching to zero-drop shoes. I wasn't even really looking for zero-drop at the time, it's just that the only shoes actually shaped like feet are also zero-drop, and I'd had so many problems with pointy toed shoes that I switched to the foot shaped ones almost as soon as they became available, and it was a big surprise how quickly my Achilles responded. General rule, calf muscles can't function in balance if my feet are hitting the ground collapsed or crossed-up. But yeah, TMTS can be so tempting and so damaging ... heal up quick.

Thanks Oak! I absolutely love my Asics, and I've been running in traditional shoes for years without ever straining my Achilles. That said, I would not be averse to trying zero-drop shoes when the time comes for my next pair. I have heard that they take some getting used to, though, and can cause calf soreness at first so have to be eased into. Did you find this to be the case?

My Achilles is already feeling much better just a little over a week out, so I'm hoping it won't be one of those slow healers like I read about online.

Congrats on your HM. Sounds like you did very well given all the challenges you had leading up to it!

[OakLeaf]

I have heard that they take some getting used to, though, and can cause calf soreness at first so have to be eased into. Did you find this to be the case?

I didn't have any trouble, but I'd been wearing Lems (minimal shoes) for everything except running for at least a year before I got my first pair of Altras, so my ankles were already used to full flexion. I did start with shorter bouts for sure, but I just don't have the patience to run a quarter or a half a mile and then change shoes. It was more like two or three miles at a time, at first.

Glad you're starting to feel better.