September 2019 Monthly Running Challenge
Replies
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@7lenny7 I moved to TN in June, but not Memphis. It's the closest big city to me, though. And just like when I lived in Iowa, the closest big city is a couple hours away by car. So I visit often on weekends.1
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September 1 – 8.17 miles
September 2 – 4.2 miles
September 4 – 6 miles
September 5 – 8.5 miles
September 7 – 8 miles
September 9 – 4.72 miles (am) and 1 mile (pm bootcamp pre-test)
September 10 – 45 minutes weight conditioning
September 11 – 5.01 miles
September 12 – 5.11 miles
September 13 – 9 miles
September 16 – 5.07 miles
Total – 64.78 miles of 100 mile goal
The temperature cooled off to a nice 57F for my 5:00 am run today. What a blessing!
Way to go on your half @hamsterwheel6! Physically you could probably manage another half in two weeks but your legs will still be recovering so it may be a bit of a struggle.
@mbaker566 – Pooh Bear is a cutie!
@quilteryoyo – Good job getting back into your running routine!
@shanaber – Congratulations on your half! Loved your pictures from your run last week. Looking forward to a full race report!
@Scott6255 – what is this Garmin Cadence Lock you speak of?
@zeesparrow – Glad you got your foot checked out. I’m afraid most of us runners just ignore the niggles hoping for the best. Much smarter to do it your way!
@katharmonic – I love my Brooks Ghosts!
@7lenny7 – Great job organizing your full moon run. Sounded like a lot of fun.
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@quilteryoyo , @noblsheep , @Scott6255 , @zeesparrow , @7lenny7 , @shanaber, @Teresa502 , @katharmonic
Thank you everyone! Feels good to be able to say I have completed a half. ME!
@shanaber congrats on your HM, looking forward to your report!
@scott6255 I was afraid of that lol.
@7lenny7 yeah I have found lots of tidbits from race reports!
@teresa502 Probably right...there is a 10 miler at the end of the month that might be better bet...
@katharmonic I have Glycerins now, and do like them, but have been thinking about the Ghosts..I feel like I need more cushioning on the ball of my foot..I wonder if the Ghosts will work for that?
@zeesparrow Good you got it checked out!0 -
@teresa502 occasionally the HR monitor on most Garmin watches locks onto your cadence number instead of your actual heart rate. So an easy run for me should be about 115 bpm, but the Garmin bug showed my average HR at 172 (which was my average cadence for the run).
@hamsterwheel6 @katharmonic @teresa502 count me as a true Brooks Ghost fan! I have run in those for several years. Have tried other (Glycerins, Adrenaline, Launch), but always come back to Ghost.2 -
@teresa502 occasionally the HR monitor on most Garmin watches locks onto your cadence number instead of your actual heart rate. So an easy run for me should be about 115 bpm, but the Garmin bug showed my average HR at 172 (which was my average cadence for the run).
@hamsterwheel6 @katharmonic @teresa502 count me as a true Brooks Ghost fan! I have run in those for several years. Have tried other (Glycerins, Adrenaline, Launch), but always come back to Ghost.
I see. I only have the Forerunner 220 with basic functions. It doesn't have a HR monitor. It would be nice to have a more advanced version but I'm one of those people who don't replace things until they are completely useless! I'm just a casual runner so it serves my purpose well although my band is starting to show signs of breaking....0 -
@teresa502 occasionally the HR monitor on most Garmin watches locks onto your cadence number instead of your actual heart rate. So an easy run for me should be about 115 bpm, but the Garmin bug showed my average HR at 172 (which was my average cadence for the run).
@hamsterwheel6 @katharmonic @teresa502 count me as a true Brooks Ghost fan! I have run in those for several years. Have tried other (Glycerins, Adrenaline, Launch), but always come back to Ghost.
I see. I only have the Forerunner 220 with basic functions. It doesn't have a HR monitor. It would be nice to have a more advanced version but I'm one of those people who don't replace things until they are completely useless! I'm just a casual runner so it serves my purpose well although my band is starting to show signs of breaking....
@Teresa502 the Forerunner 220 does have the HR function *if* you pair it with a Garmin HR strap. That model sold with the HR strap as an option. My FR 305 came with a strap and I used that same strap on my FR 220 and my FR 230. The strap finally quit working and I bought a replacement for $25.
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Last week was a pretty good week, but not one that included much running, unfortunately. The pain in the ball of my right foot continued through the week so I canceled my two planned runs, although I did make it to two strength classes.
On Saturday I took a nice long walk with a good friend and one of her two adorable squirmy babies. The weather was absolutely lovely but the adorable squirmy baby didn’t seem to appreciate it as much as we did - she mostly wanted to be held, so I ended up pushing the stroller for a good bit of the walk. Those things are a lot harder to steer than I thought, and I have a newfound respect for people who jog with strollers.
Saturday evening I had one of those “oh crap” experiences where you feel fine one moment and then the next you are clearly sick. Bah. So two days in bed with a cold, but at least I’ve been focused enough that I can still work when I’m not sleeping. Oh well.
Last week was not the week I got back into yoga, but I did get a couple of good sessions in on Monday and Tuesday, so it’s something. I’m downgrading my monthly running goal to 50 miles, but I won’t be pushing anything. I was reminded this weekend that it’s okay to just enjoy wherever you are. Depression is living in the past, anxiety is living in the future. For now, I’m going to try just living in the now, because it turns out that *kitten* is pretty good right now. Not perfect, but life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful.
September Total: 19.94 miles
September Goals: Run 50 miles, lift minimum 2x/week, 15 minutes/day of moderate cardio, 15 minutes/day of mobility.
2019 Races! (bold registered)
January 26: Securian 10K, St. Paul, MN Chip time: 1:05:07
February 16: Half Fast 10K DNS - weather
March 23: Hot Dash 5K, Mpls, MN Chip time: 0:28:39 (*PR!)
May 19: Women Run the Cities 5K, Mpls, MN Chip time: 0:33:02
June 8: PHRC Pensieve 10K (virtual)
June 12: ESTRS French 5K, Plymouth, MN DNS - injury
June 29 Lift Bridge 5K, Bayport MN Chip time: 0:32:51
August 3: Beat the Blerch 10K, Carnation, WA
September 2: MDRA Victory Labor Day 5K, Mpls, MN Chip time: 0:33:04
September 8: Sioux Falls Half Marathon, Sioux Falls, SD Chip time: 2:47:13 (in memory of @MobyCarp)
October 5: TCM 10K, St. Paul, MN
October 6: TCM 10Mi, Minneapolis to St. Paul, MN
October 13: Loopet Loppet (5 mile pacer)
November 28: Turkey Trot St. Paul 10K, St. Paul, MN
December 14: Reindeer Run 10K, Mpls, MN12 -
@T1DCarnivoreRunner How’s the calf today? Is it definitely a tear?
Just caught up on the thread. I promise I read everything and like posts! Congrats to all the racers! @mbaker566 The new pup is adorable. What did they end up deciding about the dog that got into the fight?
Did 5 miles easy at Shelby Farms today. New shoes - Saucony Omni ISO - since my Brooks Adrenaline 18s which I hoarded are finally past it, and I can’t wear the 19s. I wish companies wouldn’t update best selling shoes. They can add new shoes to the line up, but leave my shoes alone! Anyway I think the Omnis may be going back, since they have an 8mm drop versus 12 for the Adrenalines and I can really feel it in my Achilles’ tendon. I was hoping it had been long enough that it would be okay, and I’m still going to give them another run before I make up my mind since they feel great otherwise - very stable as far as my knee is concerned - but I could feel the tendon pulling and I don’t with the Adrenalines. Anyway, today was a good day for an easy run since it was loathsomely hot, 100 with heat index 106 and zero breeze. We ended up run/walking because of the heat. When we got back to the parking lot, we heard a howl of despair from the car next to us: “Aw no MY WATER IS HOT!” Gym bro type had left his massive jug of water in his SUV in the sun and nearly burned himself taking a drink.
So, race report for Saturday!
The West Cancer Clinic West Fight On 5k is my husband’s and my runniversary race - two years ago, we were less than halfway through c25k, which we had paused due to his skin cancer surgery, when we decided to run this race in support of the clinic where his cancer was treated. So it is important to us for more than one reason. It turned out we couldn’t have picked a better first race - big enough to feel like an event, with loot and vendors and a party, and relaxed enough that there were plenty of participants of all levels. That first time we ran it, we had never run more than a third of a mile at a time, never even walked 5k at one time, and my husband was two weeks out from having a substantial amount of flesh removed from his neck and still covered in bandages. We ran most of the first mile due to race day energy and run / walked the rest, for a time of 44:17.
Year two, we had been running for a year by then, but I had spent the summer recovering from a ruptured Baker’s cyst and wasn’t as fast as I had been in the spring. Even so, we shaved 13 minutes off our previous time for a time of 31:27. That was good enough for 7th place in my AG - and since I was curious about my competition, I looked at the finishing video of the people who had beaten me, and found one was a man wearing a woman’s bib, one was a lady who had walked the memorial mile course while wearing a bib for the 5k, and there was one other that I can’t recall what the issue was, but when I pointed out the video, the walker was moved to the walker results, the man was moved to the male results, and I ended up 4th.
So I had high hopes of a podium finish going into this year. I knew that depending on who showed up, there were several local women in my AG who were simply faster than me on my best day, but I also knew that this race was scheduled for the day after the Cooper-Young 4 miler, which is one of the races in a high profile local series, so a lot of serious racers might not show up. And it does seem that the scheduling was unfortunate for the organizers, since the race was about half the size of previous years.
Last year’s race was marred by some of the most obnoxious walkers ever - a lot of the people who walked the 5k lined up in front, and the memorial mile walkers were scheduled so that they funneled into the finish line right as we made the turn for our finishing kick. Many of them were walking as teams, with several people abreast and arms linked, which made it difficult to run through them. (Battalions of team walkers are also a big problem at the St Jude Marathon weekend 5k) The lady who walked with the wrong bib was also walking a dog, despite dogs being not allowed! It was just a mess.
Anyway, this year the organizers seem to have listened to feedback and made efforts to organize the walkers and keep them out of the runners’ way. And it worked! It was beautiful! First, although both groups eventually ended up at the same finish, they had a separate start for mile walkers and 5k walk/runners, so there was no confusion about who was who, and they had a staggered start so the mile walkers mostly came into the finish during a lull in the 5k arrivals. Then they had pace signs for actual CORRALS for the 5k race! Whoopee! And the corral information was posted in the race booklet, as well as announced. It worked, although a lot of people at the front in the “8 minutes or faster” corral weren’t running 8 miles by any stretch of the imagination, none were actually walking. Although Memphians can be rude as heck about pushing to the starting line when there are no corrals, they are curiously shy when there are corrals, and it’s not uncommon for the first one to be almost empty until some slower people say, “Hey, if no one else is going up there, I might as well,” and move up. Which is what happened this time. My husband and I were expecting to run around 9:15 or so, but looking around we seeded ourselves near people of the same body type and likely ability, which put us at the back of the 8 minute corral. That turned out to be just about perfect, since I can count on one hand the number of people we passed or who passed us.
My husband and I met @T1DCarnivoreRunner and chatted before the race. It was really fun to put a face to one of the people on the forum!
The weather was unexpectedly pleasant. This course goes around Patriot Lake and there’s zero shade, and in summer the air coming off the water can be perfectly still. The forecast had zero cloud cover. But in fact at 8:30 am there was a light cover of thin high clouds, and a nice little breeze, temperature just about 80. As a result, we decided to push it more than we had planned, since our test runs had been done about ten degrees hotter. The first mile of the race is up a quarter mile of hill, then sharply downhill for another quarter mile. We have learned in the past not to challenge the first hill because it will wipe you for the rest of the race, and also that if you are familiar enough with the downhill to run it fast and easy, you can really make up some time there without tiring yourself. So we sauntered gently up, then bombed the downhill as hard as possible. I had warned my husband that I would only run downhill as hard as seemed safe for my Achilles’ tendon, and to go on if I started to lag behind, but as I turned out the ankle felt great and we stayed together. First mile pace 8:45, which when we tried that pace in practice was too fast to allow us to recover, but the cooler weather let us keep going. Second mile 9:06, and by that time we were feeling it. There’s another hill up past the water park, so we walked it, and caught our breath, third mile 9:40. Incidentally this year we went up the hill on a different path than last year, despite the course map being identical. In fact, all three years we have run it, the course has been slightly different, despite using the same map, and on NONE of the three has the course followed the official map.
We knew the course was a little long - last year gps said 3.36, this year we got 3:27. Pretty certain this is not a gps error since we’ve run it several times in practice plus everyone else’s times are super slow for this race - it’s just long. So anyway we saved our strength for the last tenth and trucked on in at 29:51 - yay under 30 minutes! Official pace 9:36, unofficial pace based on gps data 9:10.
That turned out to put me 3rd of 41 in my age group, and since both the Master and Grandmaster were from my age group, that meant I got a boxing glove trophy for 1st in AG! Yay! And my husband was 3rd in his AG and also got a trophy, which is the first time he’s ever won a trophy. The two ladies faster than me were two of the aforementioned local people who are consistently faster than me on my best day, including my new Nemesis, the very nice lady who beat me in the Winter Trail Series. I’ll catch her yet!
We went for a long trail walk to get in some miles before it got too hot, then came back for the party. Breakfast was good! Apparently someone listened when I complained about lack of diabetes friendly options last year since there was a giant vat of bacon, plus eggs, as well as hash brown casserole, yogurt, granola, biscuits, and fruit. Also coffee, beer and mimosas. The food was self-serve. My husband was tricked by a little girl into pouring her a mimosa, thinking it was OJ! Fortunately a volunteer was nearby and had already caught her doing it once before to somebody else. While I was serving myself, a goggle-eyed young lady next to me said, “You mean... there is nothing stopping me from taking ALL this bacon?” “Nothing but your arteries,” my husband said. So I had a whole bunch of bacon and eggs and coffee.
We had just enough time to finish our breakfast in time for the awards ceremony, and lots of people congratulated us on BOTH getting awards. Also, my husband went up to get his picture taken with the survivors. Then the party continued for the rest of the day, with bounce houses, face painting, live music, and vendors. The swag included a bunch of different colors of running sunglasses to replace some of the ones that were stolen out of my car!
I feel like there must have been some sort of explanation for the band, such as that some of the volunteers were a little tipsy and had volunteered to sing 70s and 80s rock standards with the professional backing band. I understand the justification for “Ride like the Wind,” at a bicycle race, but when they started on off-key Captain and Tennille we bugged out.
Three years of medals:13 -
rheddmobile wrote: »@T1DCarnivoreRunner How’s the calf today? Is it definitely a tear?
Just caught up on the thread. I promise I read everything and like posts! Congrats to all the racers! @mbaker566 The new pup is adorable. What did they end up deciding about the dog that got into the fight?
Did 5 miles easy at Shelby Farms today. New shoes - Saucony Omni ISO - since my Brooks Adrenaline 18s which I hoarded are finally past it, and I can’t wear the 19s. I wish companies wouldn’t update best selling shoes. They can add new shoes to the line up, but leave my shoes alone! Anyway I think the Omnis may be going back, since they have an 8mm drop versus 12 for the Adrenalines and I can really feel it in my Achilles’ tendon. I was hoping it had been long enough that it would be okay, and I’m still going to give them another run before I make up my mind since they feel great otherwise - very stable as far as my knee is concerned - but I could feel the tendon pulling and I don’t with the Adrenalines. Anyway, today was a good day for an easy run since it was loathsomely hot, 100 with heat index 106 and zero breeze. We ended up run/walking because of the heat. When we got back to the parking lot, we heard a howl of despair from the car next to us: “Aw no MY WATER IS HOT!” Gym bro type had left his massive jug of water in his SUV in the sun and nearly burned himself taking a drink.
So, race report for Saturday!
The West Cancer Clinic West Fight On 5k is my husband’s and my runniversary race - two years ago, we were less than halfway through c25k, which we had paused due to his skin cancer surgery, when we decided to run this race in support of the clinic where his cancer was treated. So it is important to us for more than one reason. It turned out we couldn’t have picked a better first race - big enough to feel like an event, with loot and vendors and a party, and relaxed enough that there were plenty of participants of all levels. That first time we ran it, we had never run more than a third of a mile at a time, never even walked 5k at one time, and my husband was two weeks out from having a substantial amount of flesh removed from his neck and still covered in bandages. We ran most of the first mile due to race day energy and run / walked the rest, for a time of 44:17.
Year two, we had been running for a year by then, but I had spent the summer recovering from a ruptured Baker’s cyst and wasn’t as fast as I had been in the spring. Even so, we shaved 13 minutes off our previous time for a time of 31:27. That was good enough for 7th place in my AG - and since I was curious about my competition, I looked at the finishing video of the people who had beaten me, and found one was a man wearing a woman’s bib, one was a lady who had walked the memorial mile course while wearing a bib for the 5k, and there was one other that I can’t recall what the issue was, but when I pointed out the video, the walker was moved to the walker results, the man was moved to the male results, and I ended up 4th.
So I had high hopes of a podium finish going into this year. I knew that depending on who showed up, there were several local women in my AG who were simply faster than me on my best day, but I also knew that this race was scheduled for the day after the Cooper-Young 4 miler, which is one of the races in a high profile local series, so a lot of serious racers might not show up. And it does seem that the scheduling was unfortunate for the organizers, since the race was about half the size of previous years.
Last year’s race was marred by some of the most obnoxious walkers ever - a lot of the people who walked the 5k lined up in front, and the memorial mile walkers were scheduled so that they funneled into the finish line right as we made the turn for our finishing kick. Many of them were walking as teams, with several people abreast and arms linked, which made it difficult to run through them. (Battalions of team walkers are also a big problem at the St Jude Marathon weekend 5k) The lady who walked with the wrong bib was also walking a dog, despite dogs being not allowed! It was just a mess.
Anyway, this year the organizers seem to have listened to feedback and made efforts to organize the walkers and keep them out of the runners’ way. And it worked! It was beautiful! First, although both groups eventually ended up at the same finish, they had a separate start for mile walkers and 5k walk/runners, so there was no confusion about who was who, and they had a staggered start so the mile walkers mostly came into the finish during a lull in the 5k arrivals. Then they had pace signs for actual CORRALS for the 5k race! Whoopee! And the corral information was posted in the race booklet, as well as announced. It worked, although a lot of people at the front in the “8 minutes or faster” corral weren’t running 8 miles by any stretch of the imagination, none were actually walking. Although Memphians can be rude as heck about pushing to the starting line when there are no corrals, they are curiously shy when there are corrals, and it’s not uncommon for the first one to be almost empty until some slower people say, “Hey, if no one else is going up there, I might as well,” and move up. Which is what happened this time. My husband and I were expecting to run around 9:15 or so, but looking around we seeded ourselves near people of the same body type and likely ability, which put us at the back of the 8 minute corral. That turned out to be just about perfect, since I can count on one hand the number of people we passed or who passed us.
My husband and I met @T1DCarnivoreRunner and chatted before the race. It was really fun to put a face to one of the people on the forum!
The weather was unexpectedly pleasant. This course goes around Patriot Lake and there’s zero shade, and in summer the air coming off the water can be perfectly still. The forecast had zero cloud cover. But in fact at 8:30 am there was a light cover of thin high clouds, and a nice little breeze, temperature just about 80. As a result, we decided to push it more than we had planned, since our test runs had been done about ten degrees hotter. The first mile of the race is up a quarter mile of hill, then sharply downhill for another quarter mile. We have learned in the past not to challenge the first hill because it will wipe you for the rest of the race, and also that if you are familiar enough with the downhill to run it fast and easy, you can really make up some time there without tiring yourself. So we sauntered gently up, then bombed the downhill as hard as possible. I had warned my husband that I would only run downhill as hard as seemed safe for my Achilles’ tendon, and to go on if I started to lag behind, but as I turned out the ankle felt great and we stayed together. First mile pace 8:45, which when we tried that pace in practice was too fast to allow us to recover, but the cooler weather let us keep going. Second mile 9:06, and by that time we were feeling it. There’s another hill up past the water park, so we walked it, and caught our breath, third mile 9:40. Incidentally this year we went up the hill on a different path than last year, despite the course map being identical. In fact, all three years we have run it, the course has been slightly different, despite using the same map, and on NONE of the three has the course followed the official map.
We knew the course was a little long - last year gps said 3.36, this year we got 3:27. Pretty certain this is not a gps error since we’ve run it several times in practice plus everyone else’s times are super slow for this race - it’s just long. So anyway we saved our strength for the last tenth and trucked on in at 29:51 - yay under 30 minutes! Official pace 9:36, unofficial pace based on gps data 9:10.
That turned out to put me 3rd of 41 in my age group, and since both the Master and Grandmaster were from my age group, that meant I got a boxing glove trophy for 1st in AG! Yay! And my husband was 3rd in his AG and also got a trophy, which is the first time he’s ever won a trophy. The two ladies faster than me were two of the aforementioned local people who are consistently faster than me on my best day, including my new Nemesis, the very nice lady who beat me in the Winter Trail Series. I’ll catch her yet!
We went for a long trail walk to get in some miles before it got too hot, then came back for the party. Breakfast was good! Apparently someone listened when I complained about lack of diabetes friendly options last year since there was a giant vat of bacon, plus eggs, as well as hash brown casserole, yogurt, granola, biscuits, and fruit. Also coffee, beer and mimosas. The food was self-serve. My husband was tricked by a little girl into pouring her a mimosa, thinking it was OJ! Fortunately a volunteer was nearby and had already caught her doing it once before to somebody else. While I was serving myself, a goggle-eyed young lady next to me said, “You mean... there is nothing stopping me from taking ALL this bacon?” “Nothing but your arteries,” my husband said. So I had a whole bunch of bacon and eggs and coffee.
We had just enough time to finish our breakfast in time for the awards ceremony, and lots of people congratulated us on BOTH getting awards. Also, my husband went up to get his picture taken with the survivors. Then the party continued for the rest of the day, with bounce houses, face painting, live music, and vendors. The swag included a bunch of different colors of running sunglasses to replace some of the ones that were stolen out of my car!
I feel like there must have been some sort of explanation for the band, such as that some of the volunteers were a little tipsy and had volunteered to sing 70s and 80s rock standards with the professional backing band. I understand the justification for “Ride like the Wind,” at a bicycle race, but when they started on off-key Captain and Tennille we bugged out.
Three years of medals:
IDK. It hurts a bit still, but I am going to try going out with it, taking things easy, and hoping it goes well.4 -
PastorVincent wrote: »martaindale wrote: »Went to Austin this weekend for a friend's birthday weekend and the first rock climbing competition of the bouldering season for my daughter. This was her first comp at the new age bracket so we weren't sure what to expect, but she did well and put in a good effort. Good way to start the season.
The air is so much drier here. And I woke up Sunday morning to a temp of 69F! I haven't run in temps like that in months!! So I got out quickly for my easy 3 miles. There is a nice crushed granite trail near my friends house, so I ran that. Got to take advantage of easy trail access when I can get it
That looks like fun! I will have to try that if I can stick to my anti-t-rex plan for at least a season. Right now I could not pull myself up by my arms so I would fall to my death from like 2 feet up.
It is fun! The anti t-rex plan is a step in the right direction.1 -
Way to go on your half @hamsterwheel6! Physically you could probably manage another half in two weeks but your legs will still be recovering so it may be a bit of a struggle.
@hamsterwheel6 Sorry, I missed that you asked this question...
I run 3 halfs in a row, back to back, on a regular basis and can follow that with a 20 mile run just a few days later. Some people need weeks to recover from a half. Everyone is different in this. So the answer is pretty personal.
Whatever you do, do not compare yourself to anyone but yourself. You need to figure out where you are, and what your body needs. Learning to listen to your body is key in endurance sports.
I suggest you take it easy and build slowly and discover your limits. Much better to build too slow than too fast.
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Great report @rheddmobile!2
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@rheddmobile Great race report and congratulations on the AG win and trophies for both of you!1
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So had to work a bit late today, which meant by the time I got out of the gym it was too late for my normal run, so I only did 8 miles. Much prefer 10-13 if I am going to bother with the whole get changed, run, shower get changed again thing but convinced my self 8 miles still beat 0 and went out.
Of course, life being what it is, I got back to the gym later than normal (since started late) and by the time I showered and left the gym all the doors to the parking garage (which is at my work, not the gym) were locked.
And being essentailly what D&D/RPG players would recognize as "Neutral Good" - I, umm, bypassed the locked doors so that I could get in my Jeep and drive home. I also contacted the powers that be and told them I would like "after-hours access" which they said I could have, but it is anyone's guess how long that will take.4 -
T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »@T1DCarnivoreRunner How’s the calf today? Is it definitely a tear?
Just caught up on the thread. I promise I read everything and like posts! Congrats to all the racers! @mbaker566 The new pup is adorable. What did they end up deciding about the dog that got into the fight?
Did 5 miles easy at Shelby Farms today. New shoes - Saucony Omni ISO - since my Brooks Adrenaline 18s which I hoarded are finally past it, and I can’t wear the 19s. I wish companies wouldn’t update best selling shoes. They can add new shoes to the line up, but leave my shoes alone! Anyway I think the Omnis may be going back, since they have an 8mm drop versus 12 for the Adrenalines and I can really feel it in my Achilles’ tendon. I was hoping it had been long enough that it would be okay, and I’m still going to give them another run before I make up my mind since they feel great otherwise - very stable as far as my knee is concerned - but I could feel the tendon pulling and I don’t with the Adrenalines. Anyway, today was a good day for an easy run since it was loathsomely hot, 100 with heat index 106 and zero breeze. We ended up run/walking because of the heat. When we got back to the parking lot, we heard a howl of despair from the car next to us: “Aw no MY WATER IS HOT!” Gym bro type had left his massive jug of water in his SUV in the sun and nearly burned himself taking a drink.
So, race report for Saturday!
The West Cancer Clinic West Fight On 5k is my husband’s and my runniversary race - two years ago, we were less than halfway through c25k, which we had paused due to his skin cancer surgery, when we decided to run this race in support of the clinic where his cancer was treated. So it is important to us for more than one reason. It turned out we couldn’t have picked a better first race - big enough to feel like an event, with loot and vendors and a party, and relaxed enough that there were plenty of participants of all levels. That first time we ran it, we had never run more than a third of a mile at a time, never even walked 5k at one time, and my husband was two weeks out from having a substantial amount of flesh removed from his neck and still covered in bandages. We ran most of the first mile due to race day energy and run / walked the rest, for a time of 44:17.
Year two, we had been running for a year by then, but I had spent the summer recovering from a ruptured Baker’s cyst and wasn’t as fast as I had been in the spring. Even so, we shaved 13 minutes off our previous time for a time of 31:27. That was good enough for 7th place in my AG - and since I was curious about my competition, I looked at the finishing video of the people who had beaten me, and found one was a man wearing a woman’s bib, one was a lady who had walked the memorial mile course while wearing a bib for the 5k, and there was one other that I can’t recall what the issue was, but when I pointed out the video, the walker was moved to the walker results, the man was moved to the male results, and I ended up 4th.
So I had high hopes of a podium finish going into this year. I knew that depending on who showed up, there were several local women in my AG who were simply faster than me on my best day, but I also knew that this race was scheduled for the day after the Cooper-Young 4 miler, which is one of the races in a high profile local series, so a lot of serious racers might not show up. And it does seem that the scheduling was unfortunate for the organizers, since the race was about half the size of previous years.
Last year’s race was marred by some of the most obnoxious walkers ever - a lot of the people who walked the 5k lined up in front, and the memorial mile walkers were scheduled so that they funneled into the finish line right as we made the turn for our finishing kick. Many of them were walking as teams, with several people abreast and arms linked, which made it difficult to run through them. (Battalions of team walkers are also a big problem at the St Jude Marathon weekend 5k) The lady who walked with the wrong bib was also walking a dog, despite dogs being not allowed! It was just a mess.
Anyway, this year the organizers seem to have listened to feedback and made efforts to organize the walkers and keep them out of the runners’ way. And it worked! It was beautiful! First, although both groups eventually ended up at the same finish, they had a separate start for mile walkers and 5k walk/runners, so there was no confusion about who was who, and they had a staggered start so the mile walkers mostly came into the finish during a lull in the 5k arrivals. Then they had pace signs for actual CORRALS for the 5k race! Whoopee! And the corral information was posted in the race booklet, as well as announced. It worked, although a lot of people at the front in the “8 minutes or faster” corral weren’t running 8 miles by any stretch of the imagination, none were actually walking. Although Memphians can be rude as heck about pushing to the starting line when there are no corrals, they are curiously shy when there are corrals, and it’s not uncommon for the first one to be almost empty until some slower people say, “Hey, if no one else is going up there, I might as well,” and move up. Which is what happened this time. My husband and I were expecting to run around 9:15 or so, but looking around we seeded ourselves near people of the same body type and likely ability, which put us at the back of the 8 minute corral. That turned out to be just about perfect, since I can count on one hand the number of people we passed or who passed us.
My husband and I met @T1DCarnivoreRunner and chatted before the race. It was really fun to put a face to one of the people on the forum!
The weather was unexpectedly pleasant. This course goes around Patriot Lake and there’s zero shade, and in summer the air coming off the water can be perfectly still. The forecast had zero cloud cover. But in fact at 8:30 am there was a light cover of thin high clouds, and a nice little breeze, temperature just about 80. As a result, we decided to push it more than we had planned, since our test runs had been done about ten degrees hotter. The first mile of the race is up a quarter mile of hill, then sharply downhill for another quarter mile. We have learned in the past not to challenge the first hill because it will wipe you for the rest of the race, and also that if you are familiar enough with the downhill to run it fast and easy, you can really make up some time there without tiring yourself. So we sauntered gently up, then bombed the downhill as hard as possible. I had warned my husband that I would only run downhill as hard as seemed safe for my Achilles’ tendon, and to go on if I started to lag behind, but as I turned out the ankle felt great and we stayed together. First mile pace 8:45, which when we tried that pace in practice was too fast to allow us to recover, but the cooler weather let us keep going. Second mile 9:06, and by that time we were feeling it. There’s another hill up past the water park, so we walked it, and caught our breath, third mile 9:40. Incidentally this year we went up the hill on a different path than last year, despite the course map being identical. In fact, all three years we have run it, the course has been slightly different, despite using the same map, and on NONE of the three has the course followed the official map.
We knew the course was a little long - last year gps said 3.36, this year we got 3:27. Pretty certain this is not a gps error since we’ve run it several times in practice plus everyone else’s times are super slow for this race - it’s just long. So anyway we saved our strength for the last tenth and trucked on in at 29:51 - yay under 30 minutes! Official pace 9:36, unofficial pace based on gps data 9:10.
That turned out to put me 3rd of 41 in my age group, and since both the Master and Grandmaster were from my age group, that meant I got a boxing glove trophy for 1st in AG! Yay! And my husband was 3rd in his AG and also got a trophy, which is the first time he’s ever won a trophy. The two ladies faster than me were two of the aforementioned local people who are consistently faster than me on my best day, including my new Nemesis, the very nice lady who beat me in the Winter Trail Series. I’ll catch her yet!
We went for a long trail walk to get in some miles before it got too hot, then came back for the party. Breakfast was good! Apparently someone listened when I complained about lack of diabetes friendly options last year since there was a giant vat of bacon, plus eggs, as well as hash brown casserole, yogurt, granola, biscuits, and fruit. Also coffee, beer and mimosas. The food was self-serve. My husband was tricked by a little girl into pouring her a mimosa, thinking it was OJ! Fortunately a volunteer was nearby and had already caught her doing it once before to somebody else. While I was serving myself, a goggle-eyed young lady next to me said, “You mean... there is nothing stopping me from taking ALL this bacon?” “Nothing but your arteries,” my husband said. So I had a whole bunch of bacon and eggs and coffee.
We had just enough time to finish our breakfast in time for the awards ceremony, and lots of people congratulated us on BOTH getting awards. Also, my husband went up to get his picture taken with the survivors. Then the party continued for the rest of the day, with bounce houses, face painting, live music, and vendors. The swag included a bunch of different colors of running sunglasses to replace some of the ones that were stolen out of my car!
I feel like there must have been some sort of explanation for the band, such as that some of the volunteers were a little tipsy and had volunteered to sing 70s and 80s rock standards with the professional backing band. I understand the justification for “Ride like the Wind,” at a bicycle race, but when they started on off-key Captain and Tennille we bugged out.
Three years of medals:
IDK. It hurts a bit still, but I am going to try going out with it, taking things easy, and hoping it goes well.
Things are getting better, it seems. Not 100%, but much better than yesterday. Yay!6 -
Got on the treadmill for my run today. My husband and I went to the gym because it was just too humid and gross and we wanted some A/C. Got it done.
9/1: 3 miles
9/2: 4 miles
9/4: 3 miles
9/7: 3.5 miles
9/8: 3 miles
9/9: 5 miles
9/11: 9 miles
9/13: 3 miles
9/15: 3 miles
9/16: 5 miles
Sept total: 41.5 miles
Sept goal: 84 miles
2019 Races:
Piney Woods Trailfest 5k - 2/2/2019 29.23
Rodeo Run 10k - 2/23/2019 1:03.12
Run Houston! Minute Maid Park 10k - 3/23/2019 1:01.28
Brazos Bend 50 10k - 4/6/2019 1:15:33
Run for Life 5k - 9/7/2019 27.10
10 for Texas 10 Miler - 10/2019 registered
Wine and Dine half marathon - 11/3/2019 registered
Run the Year 2019 - Team Five for Nineteen6 -
@rheddmobile nice race report. Congrats on your race and AG place - for you and your husband!
@martaindale some of my friends are starting to organize another rock climbing outing and I am excited to do more of that this winter - after I get done with half marathon training I should have more time and I'm ready for a bit of a break to do some other things.
Sounds like we have some Brooks Ghost fans here. @hamsterwheel6 I don't know about the ball of the foot cushioning. My understanding is the Glycerins have more cushioning overall but not sure how it might be distributed differently.
Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
09/01/19 :::: 11.5 :::: 11.5
09/02/19 :::: 5.5 :::: 17.0
09/03/19 :::: 3.0 :::: 20.0
09/04/19 :::: 6.7 :::: 26.7
09/05/19 :::: 0.0 :::: 26.7
09/06/19 :::: 4.7 :::: 31.5
09/07/19 :::: 13.1 :::: 44.6
09/08/19 :::: 5.2 :::: 49.8
09/09/19 :::: 5.7 :::: 55.5
09/10/19 :::: 5.6 :::: 61.1
09/11/19 :::: 2.7 :::: 63.8
09/12/19 :::: 4.1 :::: 67.9
09/13/19 :::: 6.0 :::: 73.9
09/14/19 :::: 0.0 :::: 73.9
09/15/19 :::: 12.3 :::: 86.2
09/16/19 :::: 6.5 :::: 92.7/ 150 mile goal
Well, I liked the shoes so much I took them for a second spin today. I needed to do a little warm-up before strength training anyway and it was nice outside so I ended up doing 2.5 more miles. My pace was faster than usual, so it was a bit more than I probably should have done for a warm-up run. Then I had an hour of circuit training class and then an hour of mace training after that, so now I'm totally beat.6 -
Great race report @rheddmobile! You and your husband have really progressed through the years! 😄💪4
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@rheddmobile congrats!
Joy is going to get a couple of weeks to heal. Then, the trainer is going to work with her for a week or two putting her in similar situations. If she responds to training, he'll keep working with her. If she doesn't, then I'll be with her when she crosses over.
Speed demon is cleared to run on Sunday too.13 -
September goal: try to keep up
9/1 3.30
9/2 2.00
9/3 rest
9/4 4.70
9/5 rest
9/6 3.12
9/7 Travel to> O'ahu CME conference<travel from
9/8 3.00
9/9 snorkel 3 hours
9/10 lazy
9/11 4.5
9/12 rest
9/13 2.80
9/14 3.30
9/15 rest
9/16 2.50
Total : 30.32
Upcoming races:
Revel Kulia Half Marathon 1/18/20
Ticker is my goal for 2019 and progress to date:
8 -
Well this is rare.
This morning I did my second fitness blender workout of the week. Not enough time for a run. When I got home from work the husband and kids were out, so I put my shoes on and went for a run! Was a hard run as my glutes etc are sore from yesterday, but was so nice to get out. The kids are definitely more independent now.11 -
0917-8k total 28.5k goal-110k
When I got out this morning, it was only 17C! (63F?) Garmin gave me a +2 performance rating, so the cooler weather was certainly helping. Also got back on my bike to commute to work for the first time since last autumn. My legs feel quite a bit stronger than this time last year - I could pedal up the same hill in a higher gear - but the nether regions need a bit of time to adjust.
Heading to Jeju Island in South Korea for annual company outing / team-building trip this weekend. Planning on climbing Hallasan (big dormant volcano, highest mountain in the country) and doing a trail while there if the weather holds.
@zeesparrow Had to look up stress reaction. Eek. It was probably wise for you to take a rest day today.
@MegaMooseEsq Hope you feel better soon.
@rheddmobile Congrats on the AG win! The weather, bling and pictures all look great! And big kudos to running in 106 heat index...
@PastorVincent I'd probably have bypassed them too if I knew how
@Avidkeo That's great to hear!7 -
Congrats @rheddmobile!1
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9-1 4k recovery
9-2 7k easy
9-3 6k easy
9-4 rest
9-5 7k moderate
9-6 rest
9-7 7k moderate
9-8 7k easy
9-9 rest
9-10 7k easy
9-11 7k moderate
9-12 rest
9-13 rest
9-14 7k threshold
9-15 7k moderate
9-16 rest
9-17 7k easy
September Total: 83k
September Goal: 135k
January Total: 131k
February Total: 159.5k
March Total: 183k
April Total: 126k
May Total: 128k
June Total: 161.5k
July Total: 151k
August Total: 133k
Monthly average: 146.6k
Next year when you pop in here claiming your December 2019 mileage, what accomplishments will you have made?
Run at least 4 5k races.
Get under 30:00 and a PR for 5k.
Average at least 135k per month, which would put me over 1,000 miles for the year.
Run the Year Team: Five for Nineteen
Cloudy and cool today. After my legs decided they were OK with an easy run instead of a slow run, actually did an easy run. Every time my pace started to get away from me, disciplined myself and cut it back to easy.
2019 Races:
4-13 Shine the Light 5K - 31:12 chip time; First Place male 65 and older
6-30 Strides for Starfish 5K - 31:34 chip time; 31/77 overall; second male 65 and older (no official category)
7-27 Solon Home Days 5K - 31:11 chip time; 95/141 overall; 4/6 age group (male)
8-31 Race for Freedom 5k - 31:39 chip time; 32:00 Garmin time; Third Place male 60 and older
9-14 Gift of Life 5k - off the schedule; insufficient recovery time
10-13 Haunted Hustle 5k9 -
Was supposed to run 4 miles this morning. For some reason had the worst insomnia last night and I have no idea when I finally fell asleep but I know it was in the wee hours of the morning. Then as soon as I did finally fall asleep, my husband kept stealing the blanket, waking me up each time. I wanted to smack the heck out of him (or at least give him a good kick) but I was simply...too tired to. I have come to realize that I do myself no favors if I run after a really poor night's sleep. My heart just feels over-strained so I'm taking an unplanned rest day. Does anyone else ever get that over taxed feeling in your heart if you run after not really sleeping the day before? I HATE not running but I did kind of skip my rest day this week...11
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First run after Superior was this morning. Coach had an easy 45min on the schedule. 3.6 miles, 789ft gain. slower than normal, but my calves still feel heavy 10 days after the race. to be expected. Felt good getting out there. I know I could have run 6 days ago, but coach is big on recovery and longevity in running, so I follow what he says, especially with the big race over the horizon. Training for August 2020 starts now.13
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PastorVincent wrote: »Way to go on your half @hamsterwheel6! Physically you could probably manage another half in two weeks but your legs will still be recovering so it may be a bit of a struggle.
@hamsterwheel6 Sorry, I missed that you asked this question...
I run 3 halfs in a row, back to back, on a regular basis and can follow that with a 20 mile run just a few days later. Some people need weeks to recover from a half. Everyone is different in this. So the answer is pretty personal.
Whatever you do, do not compare yourself to anyone but yourself. You need to figure out where you are, and what your body needs. Learning to listen to your body is key in endurance sports.
I suggest you take it easy and build slowly and discover your limits. Much better to build too slow than too fast.
Quite right. I could do it, but maybe should take it easy since this was my first. Did 5 miles today. Not great, but not bad. So yeah. Build slowly. But You know the runners high thing....that's what this I can do it thinking is.
I may still do the 10 miler though at the end of October. That might be better ha.1 -
@rheddmobile Congrats to both of you! Love the report.
PS. Mu husband did the 5 miler at the HM I just did - He hasn't run in years, but decided to do because of the cause and walked/ran it and came in 3rd for his age group. We won't mention that there were only 4 in his age group and the first was an elite so - he didn't count. Sshh.
I'm just thrilled he did it and finished. Made him feel pretty good too.11 -
7
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September goal: 45 mi running
9/10: 3.2, walk 1.9
9/11: walk 5.3
9/12: walk 4.1
9/13: 3.1, walk 2.4
9/14: walk 4.4
9/15: 3.2, walk 1.7
9/19: walk 5.1
7 x 400m intervals for today...5
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