February 2017 Running Challenge
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The discussion around hydration is certainly interesting. I generally run without taking water, and drink once my run is over. However, as the run distances increase and we start heading back towards summer, that may change. It also helps that I mostly run in the early hours of the morning, when it's much cooler anyway. The only thing I'm noticing so far is the need to pop a gel for my longer runs (anything over HM distance to me) which I do whenever I feel a hunger pang; but I've yet to feel thirsty.
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Today was another long slow run, and a new distance PR for me. It just meant I had to get up even earlier (2:30AM) to get it done and still be at work on time...well, it is the weekend soon (and a long one at that), so plenty of time to catch up on sleep!
03 - 2.24 miles
04 - 9.30
06 - 11.67
07 - 7.25
08 - 12.43
09 - 7.61
10 - 16.13
11 - 5.60
13 - 13.46
14 - 6.83
15 - 13.40
16 - 6.64
17 - 17.01
Total: 129.57 / 1254 -
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Kawaiidesu808 wrote: »@MobyCarp, @orphia, @juliet3455, @7lenny7, @Stoshew71 Thank you so much for all your helpful advice! I didn't expect to get so much help from people who are such successful and amazing long distance runners! I really admire what you do! Most runners that I talk to just tell me that it is either something that you like or you don't or that I just need to push through the pain to find the joy. But your advice really gives me hope and motivation that I will find a run style that I might actually enjoy! I am going to start looking for some fun run trails to try out this weekend! Thank you again!
What may also help is to find another person who is in the same boat as you and do it together. Both of you can go find a fun trail with beautiful scenery and just enjoy a slow run (or walk/run/walk). Don't worry how far or how fast you go. Just have a nice conversation as you do it. You can do it around the neighborhood, or you can drive somewhere nice that you always wanted to see and visit. I find that is the fun part of running. All the different things you can see and experience. Meeting all new kinds of people. "Runners" come in all shapes and sizes and ability levels. A "runner" is not just some skinny person that runs a mile in 6 minutes or better. Some well known dedicated runners in my neck of the woods run them in 14 or 15 minutes. But they all have fun doing it. There are beer crawls and pub runs centered around running and group runs that meet for coffee afterwards and so on. If you live in an active running community, there should be things like this that will attract new comers. But you may have to do a little investigation. One thing that you will find about the running community that attracted me so much is that most real runners are very friendly and helpful. It's part of the spirit of running. Real runners are not snobs. Example is 2 of the best runners in my town (Josh Whitehead and Brandon York). Brandon actually qualified for the marathon Olympic trials in LA last year and came in around 40'ish. He's that good. He won the UAH 8K that I also ran and I just happened to bump into him as we were both checking out the results that got posted on the wall. I congratulated him and he looked at me and congratulated me back and said some nice things about my training that he noticed on strava. I was like wow, I never met the guy in person before and that was really nice.
Josh is another great guy. He's constantly breaking state records here in Alabama for his age group. The first time I met Josh face to face was up at Lynchburg, TN for the Jack Daniels Distillery Oak Barrel HM 2 years ago. Again, we were both checking the results that were posted and ended up having a nice conversation. He eventually showed up to our Thursday morning Panera Pounder group runs a couple of times and had some great conversations with everyone on both the run and coffee afterwards. When I see him around town or at races now, we always greet each other since we go by a first name basis now. Wow, a mere mortal like me gets to be on a first name basis with someone like Josh.
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Date Miles today - Miles for February
2/1 5 miles - 5
2/2 10miles - 15
2/3 5 miles - 20
2/4 18 miles - 38
2/5 REST DAY
2/6 10 miles - 48
2/7 10 miles - 58
2/7 5 miles - 63 << Daily Double and leg workout in the gym
2/8 5 miles - 68
2/9 7.5 miles - 75.5
2/10 REST DAY
2/11 14 miles - 89.5
2/12 REST DAY
2/13 7 miles - 96.5
2/14 7.5 miles - 104
2/15 4 miles - 108
2/16 7.5 miles - 115.5
2/17 REST DAY
Upcoming races:
UAH 8K - 3/6 <<< 34:33 3 in AG
Oak Barrel HM - 4/2 <<<< 1:38:00 3 in AG
Bridge Street HM - 4/10 <<< 1:36:33 3 in AG
PEO-AVN Team Day 5K - 5/4 <<< 19:10 (2.9 mi) 1 in AG 5 OA
Cotton Row Run 10K - 5/30 << 44:57 PR
Firecracker Chase 10.2 miler 6/25 << 1:20:22 1 in AG & 15 OA
Huntsville Half Marathon - 11/12 << 1:35:55 2 in AG & 25 OA
Rocket City Marathon - 12/10 << 2:44:41
Elkmont Hound Dog Half (unofficial) - 1/21 << 1:46:48 2 OA
Elkmont Hound Dog Half (rescheduled) - 2/18
Kentucky Derby Marathon - 4/29
So I was going to get up and run a couple of miles as a shakeout before my race tomorrow morning. But with a little tightness last night as a result of my easy 7.5 yesterday and not feeling 100% this morning, I decided against it. I will take it easy today and see how well I will do tomorrow morning at my Hound Dog Half. This is the race that got postponed last month due to weather. It's also a race made famous by the dog that escaped from her home and ended up running the thing and placed 7th.
I have had a few weeks of hard training as I was building my mileage back up for marathon training, combined with some leg strength training that my body just needed a week and a half cutback. Tomorrow's race is not a PR course for me so I am not expecting a PR. It's got at least a couple of really good hills and the entire back half is on a converted railroad bed to trail on a very slight incline. Most of my training is road racing at this point. But it is a fun break in my training since I am not signed up for too many races this season (just the big one in Kentucky in a couple of months). I will give tomorrow's race a good effort but I don't expect anything big.
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Have the kids Sunday. Might have to walk, hike only...0
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I have 30.85 miles for the week so far. It's looking like I may have a chance for a long run on Saturday. Do I want to go for 40? Hmm...4
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8.2 miles last night. I had some pain in my lower calf for the first few miles then it went away, only to come back stronger in the last half mile. Hmmm....
Rest day today. If I can remember, I'll do core work tonight.
I had a good post about the hydration/electrolyte topic but I accidentally closed the browser and now it's gone! Perhaps I'll have time to compose something later tonight, though I doubt I'll write it as well.
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BeeerRunner wrote: »@RespectTheKitty Good luck on adding mileage. I like the sport beans. I've been using them a while and often alternate between caffeinated and decaf.
I do find its easier to put them in baggies. You can also adjust the quantity. Sometimes I'll just eat 7 to 10 at a time instead of a whole pack. I recently switched to gels heading into my race just because I have a hard time chewing and running. But if you aren't trying to go super fast, I like them and they taste a lot better than gels. I sometimes use them on 10 mile runs, but I definitely use them on 12+ mile runs. I take them around the 45 minute mark.
I'm a fan of those too - tasty. Being cheap, I usually just take a few ~25cent packets of fruit snacks lately - just will need to make sure I don't forget the electrolyte tablets when summer comes.2 -
_nikkiwolf_ wrote: »In winter I'm generally fine running without water. On the other hand, last summer I drank 1.5-2l water during the 20mi runs for my marathon training, along with 250g of honey/lemon juice/salt mix. Those runs were all in ~25°C(~80°F) weather, took me around 4 hours (disadvantage of being so slow
) and I'm not sure I would have finished them if I hadn't taken anything to drink&eat with me. I think the important part is figuring out when you actually need nutrition, rather than just swallowing gels every 30min because some magazine said that's what you need.
I'm not buying gels anymore in any case. They are horribly expensive (for little packages of sugar and artificial flavours), and I don't like how much garbage they produce. Especially when people just throw them away. I get really mad when I run a beautiful trail in the forest or mountains and come across empty gel packages on the ground. WTH people?! One day I want to catch one of those idiots that does that - all those times I picked up somebody else's sticky gross gel trash and had to carry it in my pocket for an hour until I came to the next trashcan, I had plenty of times to think about things to yell at them
10+ miles and I definitely do need food/drink. The packaging is a pain for those gels - I had a squeeze bottle for them back when I tried them out cycling (instead of fussing with getting the sticky mess into a baggy). I prefer the gummy/gel type chewables. If you don't mind taking separate electrolyte tablets (or adding to water)(when it gets hotter out), then fruit snacks, jelly beans are a cheap alternative.1 -
2/01: 3.75 miles & Pilates
2/02: 1.32 miles & 60 min of Pilates
2/03: 3.16 miles
2/04: rest
2/05: rest
2/06: 3.4 miles on treadmill
2/07: Pilates
2/08: 4.08 miles on treadmill
2/09: 1.37 miles on treadmill(speed work) & Pilates
2/10: rest day
2/11: rest day
2/12: rest day
2/13: 4.29 miles on treadmill
2/14: walking & 60 min of Pilates
2/15: 4.61 miles, walking, & abs
2/16: 1.39 miles & Pilates
2/17: 3.05 miles
2/18:
2/19:
2/20:
2/21:
2/22:
2/23:
2/24:
2/25:
2/26:
2/27:
2/28:
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February Running Challenge:
2/1 10 miles
2/2 2.2 miles
2/3 Rest day
2/4 10 mile pace run
2/5 20 mile run
2/6 5 mile very slow run
2/7 2 mile run with Spotty
2/8 8 mile run: 1 w/u with Spotty, 6 pace, 1 c/d
2/9 4 mile run
2/10 2 mile walk with Spotty and Runner’s yoga
2/11 4 mile pace run
2/12 15 mile run
2/13 4.15 mile run
2/14: XT Day: 30 minutes stationary bike and 15 minutes stairmill
2/15: 6 mile pace run
2/16: 4 easy miles
2/17: Rest Day
Goal: 94.3 of 135
Upcoming Races:
Cowtown Marathon (Full) Feb 26 (Registered)
XTERRA ATX Trail Run (21K) Apr 23 (Tentative)
XTERRA Rock Dallas Trail Run (HM at night) May 27 (Tentative)
XTERRA Jurassic Trail Run (HM at night) Jul 8 (Tentative)
La Sportiva Vail Half Marathon: Jul 22 (Tentative)
The countdown to the Cowtown Marathon is now in the single digits!! 9 days!! Getting excited and nervous. I've been working on planning my pre race meals. It looks like I need to get at least 400g of carbs the day before and I can't get it to work without going over on my calories. (1570 is my maintenance calorie limit.) However, I figure the carbs are more important because I don't want to bonk. Looking forward to pancakes and FroYo!! Yum!
In regards to water, I just find I'm more comfortable with it. Plus, it's hot here most of the year. I'm not trying to set a world record or anything and it's pretty easy to grab my bottle from my hydration belt to take a quick sip. Also, I notice my heart rate goes down a bit when I get a drink. I've only ran a few times below or just above freezing and I was easily able to go 8 miles or so without water, but to do that when it's in the 70s to 100s, especially if the sun is out? I’d be completely miserable. When it's in the 70s or higher, I take water on 5 to 9 mile runs. For 10 miles and up, I'm most comfortable with water, Gatorade and at least a gel. The hotter it is, the more I need. If it's cool, I may have only had a few sips.
I do plan to listen to the podcast that @7lenny7 posted and read the links that @_nikkiwolf_ posted. I'm definitely interested in the topic.
Happy Friday!!3 -
Not as far along as I wanted to be, but I think I can still hit my goal of 40.
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2/1/17 - 6 miles
2/3/17 - 12 miles
2/4/17 - 7 miles
2/5/17 - 7 miles
2/7/17 - 7.5 miles
2/8/17 - 6 miles
2/10/17 - 12 miles
2/11/17 - 4.5 miles
2/12/17 - 7.5 miles
2/14/17 - 7 miles
2/15/17 - 7.2 miles
2/17/17 - 14 miles
Last week was supposed to be 13, but I had it in my head that it should be 12, so that was what I ran. This week, I decided to skip 13, and just catch up with 14. Did the thing on the treadmill with flat for 1/4 mile, uphill for the next 1/4, flat for 1/4 and downhill for the last 1/4. The last 2 miles were a little slower on the uphills, but I managed to average what my treadmill calls 10:50/mile. (I believe the 'mill is faster than the stated pace, but that should only work in my favor.)0 -
@ereck44 I talked to a friend who is PT and he said because of the bone spur PT won't help, PT is always my first option. He said if it was of something just "rubbing" that would be the way to go, but the piece of bone isn't going away without surgery. 1
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2/1 6.3r 4.4w
2/2 5.2r 5.3w
2/3 0.0r 7.25w
2/4 7.0r 0.5w
2/5 4.2r 0.0w
2/6 5.1r 4.6w
2/7 5.05r 4.4w
2/8 10.0r 0.5w
2/9 0.0r 7.3w
2/10 5.2r 6.1w
2/11 7.5r 0.5w
2/12 4.65r 0.0w
2/13 7.1r 4.0w
2/14 6.3r 5.0w
2/15 5.2r 3.2w
2/16 7.6r 5.6w
2/17 0.0r 8.7w
Total so far = 86.4r + 67.35w = 153.75 miles
Nice rest day, eh? 2 -
Still stuffy from this cold but got 5 miles in this afternoon. Wednesday was brutal as I went through a whole box of tissues at work. Thursday my nose was on fire. Today has been better. I felt pretty good running and just took a few 30 sec breaks to blow my nose and drink water. It was a warm run too around 65F.
So the plan is 3 miles tomorrow and 5 again Sunday to try and catch up miles missed. Doesn't help February is short 2-3 days! I at least want to hit 40 miles so I'm going in the right direction. Still sticking with my plan to run 3-5 miles at a time until I can get my mileage up. No longer runs.
Have a great weekend y'all
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Date :::: Miles :::: Feb MTD (goal = 70)
02/01/17 :::: 2.6 :::: 2.6
02/02/17 :::: 3.1 :::: 5.7
02/03/17 :::: 2.6 :::: 8.3
02/04/17 :::: 6.8 :::: 15.1
02/05/17 :::: 4.0 :::: 19.1
02/06/17 :::: 3.7 :::: 22.8
02/07/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 22.8
02/08/17 :::: 3.3 :::: 26.1
02/09/17 :::: 2.6 :::: 28.7
02/10/17 :::: 3.1 :::: 31.8
02/11/17 :::: 7.6 :::: 39.4
02/12/17 :::: 2.5 :::: 41.9
02/13/17 :::: 2.6 :::: 44.5
02/14/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 44.5
02/15/17 :::: 3.5 :::: 48.0
02/16/17 :::: 3.0 :::: 51.0
02/17/17 :::: 3.3 :::: 54.3
Morning treadmill run. It was snowing again/still this morning. News we have now reached 100 inches of snow this year. But - tomorrow is supposed to be 50 degrees! What on earth? Sounds like a big mess in the making with all the melting. But I plan to enjoy it as much as I can. Long run in the morning and hopefully some hiking or other outdoor enterprise - snowshoeing before it's gone?2 -
01 Feb – 10.1 km
02 Feb – 7.5 km + Body Balance
04 Feb – 10.7 km including parkrun
05 Feb – 13.3 km hilly run
06 Feb – 2.6 km + 1150m swimming
07 Feb – 9 km + Pilates
08 Feb - swimming
09 Feb – 10 km
10 Feb – 8.3 km + Body Balance
12 Feb – 21.2 km HM PB 2:06:23
13 Feb – 2.6 km to the pool and back + 1100m swimming
14 Feb – 11.1 km + Pilates
15 Feb – 2.5km + 1200m swimming
16 Feb – 12 km
17 Feb – 8.9 km + Body Balance
18 Feb – 7.7 km including parkrun
Goal: 100 miles / 160 km
Total: 137.7 km
Upcoming:
25 Feb - 16.4 km Farm to Pub
9 April- Run for the Kids Melbourne 14.6 km
I'm doing Run for the Kids with 5 parkrun friends from home. Road Trip!!
We're driving down together the day before, and staying in a hotel together, and then doing the run and driving home. Fun!!!3 -
February 1- 15km
February 2- 11km
February 3- 11.1km
February 4- 22km
February 5- 10km
February 6- 15.1km
February 7- 5.1km
February 8- 14km
February 9- 11km
February 10- 10km
February 11- Rest
February 12- 18km
February 13- 6km
February 14- Rest
February 15- 11km
February 16- Birthday from hell
February 17- 11.1km
172.4km/200km3 -
2/1 - 4.3
2/2 - rest
2/3 - 3.1
2/4 - 5.0
2/5 - 4.6
2/6 - 3.1
2/7 - 3.1
2/8 - 6.0
2/9 - rest
2/10 - 5.0
2/11 - 5.0
2/12 - 4.0
2/13 - 3.5
2/14 - 5.5
2/15 - 5.0
2/16 - 3.1
2/17 - rest
Feb total: 60.3/100mi.1
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