February 2020 Monthly Running Challenge
Replies
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2/1 – 8.51
2/3 – 5.13 miles
13.64 miles to date/90 miles goal
Nice and dry 37F on this mornings run. Rain will be moving in tonight and the next couple of days are supposed to be wet ones.
@marisap2010 – Do you think you felt so good after your 20-mile run because you slowed your pace for your friend? Maybe you were just in the zone!
@MegaMooseEsq – Good to see you – goals are good!
@mbaker566 – you take such good care of your pups and those that other people have abandoned that I can’t imagine anyone ever accusing you of being cruel!
Welcome to all the newcomers!
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@mbaker566 I know a kid that has a support dog, and he puts little booties on him for lab classes. He says the dog doesn't like it and it makes his mood kind of frumpy. But it is for short time and he's okay with it. I bet the dog would be okay with it for a bit especially with the distraction of being outside. I wonder if liquid Band-Aid would be sufficient in place of shoes.
Good luck, I know pets can be a little bit difficult.2 -
i would like to know where january went.
2 runs so far.
the first run was solo. 6.5miles after teaching. it wasn't horrible. i was tired but now is when the work starts. february is when the training plan gets real. it was a nice day. it wasn't busy. the path isn't always scenic but parts of it are. the legs were heavy. the breath came quick. but i pushed and finished. i think, i mostly need to worry about the mileage goals and not worry about pace.
the second, i waited till the temp hit about 50f. in February. in Wisconsin.
sunday speed demon and i headed out for 12. if felt like a lot in theory, but since the paths were clear other than puddles, i got to wear my cushiony shoes. the padding totally makes a difference. because it was so nice, there were a lot of people on the path. the path was also not long enough but it will be nice for my medium runs. i hadn't followed it all the way thru and found hills. not big hills, not baby hills. one might say rolling hills. Speed Demon enjoyed the run. there were lots of unruly dogs and she just passed by, minding her own business. after we got to the more scenic parts she really relaxed and wanted to go faster. We had to do some work on the sidewalk because we ran out of trail. usually, she looks intimidating. she is a tank rolling at you. but yesterday, more than one person said she looked so happy.
when we arrived home, she hopped out of the car and stepped on the snowdrift and started to limp. at first i thought some ice might have sliced her but after giving her some time she let me look at her foot in good light; worn pad. put antiobiotic cream on it. i also have petprofen if i need it. we've been building up mileage since thanksgiving. she has the option to run on grass or mud for a good portion of the runs.
i ordered some wax. she would not be a fan of boots but we will if we need to. i looked at paw stickers but people say those don't work in wet situations so not idea. the director of the canicross group was going to try to get feedback today from the group if there were other options. i wonder if there will be backlash about being cruel, blah blah blah.i guess, we'll be looking at more trail runs for long runs. which means more hills. Speed Demon will love that. I will not. i'm hoping for no more snow and above freezing weather. many of our trails turn into cross country skiing or snowmobile trails. but weekdays, we will still need to do paved/or sidewalk.
looking happy, no indication her paw is currently oozing blood
i'll be taking old girl out this week for shorter runs.
What part of Wisconsin are you in? My husband was born in Milwaukee, raised in New Berlin and his parents now live in Lake Mills. He went to both University of Wisconsin - Whitewater (first year) and University of Wisconsin - Madison (subsequent years). Last year we were in Lake Mills, Jefferson, and Fort Atkinson. We've swam in Devil's Lake and hiked in there in previous years, visited water parks in the Dells, also where we were married. Been to Milwaukee (the Pfitzer, breweries, many Brewers games with parking lot bags and grill outs beforehand), Madison...lots and lots of places in Wisconsin...it's a great state, I think...we have made lots of great memories up there. I have never been there in the winter, though. I only see Wisconsin in snow in pictures.
in SE Wisconsin by milwaukee. but travel up to door county a few times a year. poked around everywhere but NW wisconsin. hard as a day trip.@mbaker566 I know a kid that has a support dog, and he puts little booties on him for lab classes. He says the dog doesn't like it and it makes his mood kind of frumpy. But it is for short time and he's okay with it. I bet the dog would be okay with it for a bit especially with the distraction of being outside. I wonder if liquid Band-Aid would be sufficient in place of shoes.
Good luck, I know pets can be a little bit difficult.
the main issue is she is a recovering feral dog. it took me over a year to touch her foot without her running away. we'll try the wax and more unpaved trails. boots might be a necessity if we do more gravel paths. but we do have good cross country trails that are often wood chips or dirt.
people can get grumpy about dogs doing distance runs; that they just want to please us.
@mbaker566 – you take such good care of your pups and those that other people have abandoned that I can’t imagine anyone ever accusing you of being cruel!
speed demon however, is more than happy to sit/lay down until i tell her "let's go back to the car"
(which is also why i'm surprised that her paw was hurt and she didn't let me know something was wrong)
the car photo is after the run. clearly, she is being tortured.5 -
Surf City HM Race report - it is long so I put it in the spoiler so you don't have to read it all if you don't want to. Short version - It was cool, foggy/cloudy and lovely running. I had fun as planned and did better than I expected. Not a PR but better than I have run in the last couple of years.I went into this race realizing it may well be my last race at the HM distance since the issue with my knee. I want to keep running and if that means just running shorter distances so be it.
I was worried mostly about the weather, that it was going to be too hot and if I had to walk a lot of the race it would be miserable. We went to the Expo on Friday afternoon to avoid the crowds on Saturday and it was sunny and 81f. Perfect beach weather but not so much for running. Saturday was even warmer and I was really worried the forecasters had it all wrong for Sunday but they came through! It was cool, foggy and in the 40’s at the start and never warmed up beyond the mid 50’s during the race. Towards the end of the race I finally had to put my sunglasses on as the sun started to peak through the clouds.
I wore my Handful long tights that would be comfortable regardless of the temps and a long-sleeved shirt that would provide sun protection without being too warm. At the last minute I threw on a sweatshirt for the walk to the start and afterwards if I got cold. I had one of those foil blankets from a previous race to wrap around me while waiting in the corrals. Dropped my bag at gear check, hit the bathrooms before they got too busy and then ran some easy out and back around the lead up to the start area. About 20mins before the start I headed out to get in my corral. They were self-seeded but the announcer kept urging everyone to get in the right area, explaining that more than 20% of the 10,000 entrants were running their 1st HM. Unfortunately, the area was so packed in that you couldn’t move. I ended up chatting with a guy who had also run it many times, neither of us had seen the start quite this crowded. He has run marathons all over the world and is running Boston again this year, certainly should have been up near the front but couldn’t get there. We were in corral 10 of 11 so way in the back.Start area early before the raceOnce we were under way I did the usual dance around people walking. Along the way I wondered again why running clubs don’t educate their participants on the etiquette of racing (not walking 4 or 5 across, not stopping to walk without moving over and signaling, not looking before changing position, spitting or throwing down their half full water cups, etc.). I started running with the 2:50 pace group figuring it was a good pace to stay with but I couldn’t do it. I felt good and decided I wanted to run or walk as I felt like it not on their intervals. So, I passed them by and figured I would see them later in the race. For the most part this race is relatively flat. You are running on PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy 1) right along the ocean for most of it. Around mile 3 it turns and goes up and around a neighborhood and then back down to PCH. What follows here is pretty but also where it seems to just go forever. You run past the protected wetlands on one side with views of the the ocean on the other. It was cool and lovely and I was just smiling and enjoying it so much (thinking of what @ddmom0811 said she had read one time that smiling makes it feel easier).
Lined up and packed like sardines, waiting to run
Kobe Bryant Memorial mile 8 marker (also one at mile 24 on the full marathon) People were lined up waiting to take selfies. I passed on that.At one point I did have to stop to pee. Thinking back, I probably should have just kept going as the wait was so long, especially the line I was in. Only 3 guys in front of me but they just kept letting the lines next to them go first. I moved to another line (also with 3 people waiting) and still finished before them. I also stopped around mile 12 to pet a Vizsla puppy and chat just a minute with his owners. They were crossing the highway to go to the dog beach and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to love up on another Vizsla!
Bolsa Chica Wetlands
The view looking back at all the runners from where I had just come. On the left of the picture on the path along the ocean you can see some of the marathon runners
All in all, my time was better than it has been for the last couple of years, even losing about 10 mins at the porta pots, but definitely not a PR. I never did see the 2:50 pacers again. I was sure they were somewhere way ahead of me but I beat them by a bit over 5 minutes. I guess it helps when you go into the race pretty relaxed thinking you are just going to have fun and enjoy it. I didn't stick around for much of the post-race happenings (Biergarten and free beer, food trucks, etc.), there were just too many people and everything was packed. So I walked, very slowly, the mile + up to a Starbucks where my husband would pick me up.
A few other observations as I was running… There was a lady with metal frame sunglasses hanging from the back of her waist pack. They made the most annoying noise with every step. I am not sure how she could stand it. A man was running with music on his phone but no headphones. I don’t think it was music anyone else wanted to hear as there were many comments. A woman was run walking with a walker. She was obviously very fit so must have had an injury or something that she needed the walker. She was encouraging everyone and so nice. The walker scraped along on the street so loudly that I don’t know how she managed it but I found it very motivating to see her there pushing along. Finally, there was an older man, a veteran who ran the entire race carrying a full size American flag. He and I kept passing each other and I was pretty amazed at how he handled that flag given all the people. It never dropped down, was never in anyone’s way. Pretty amazing.
I also saw multiple runner’s down with the EMTs and ambulance on route (they were staged all along the course). Somewhere around mile 11 a runner had gone down, they blocked the course and were doing CPR. All I could think about was MobyCarp and it made me sad. I just hope everyone was ok.15 -
Surf City HM Race report - it is long so I put it in the spoiler so you don't have to read it all if you don't want to. Short version - It was cool, foggy/cloudy and lovely running. I had fun as planned and did better than I expected. Not a PR but better than I have run in the last couple of years.
Great job!0 -
@MegaMooseEsq - Good to see you back running!
@mbaker566 - I have gotten comments about running with Hobbes (making/forcing him run with me). Yes they want to please us but he can't wait to go. He will also let me know when he is tired or just done which is rare. He can definitely out run/outlast me! We have a dirt service road right along the river that we run on at times. They run equipment on it that gives it a weird lumpy surface and then they sometimes dump gravel on it. He clearly dislikes it and I am sure it hurts his paws. I try to keep both of us away from those areas and running where it is mostly dirt if we run there at all. Also he dislikes running on grass, given the choice between sidewalk, lawn or dirt he will most often choose dirt.
One more note about the race yesterday. I was looking at the results and I always look to see how fast the AG winner was for my AG. I have a previous coworker/friend who started running about the same time that I did. She is a couple of years younger than me and has BQ times. I didn't realize she was running yesterday until I saw the results and she won our AG! I was super excited for her.
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My goals for 2020 are to stay injury free and healthy. I am also possibly going to try again for my first half marathon.
February goal : 70 miles
Plan goal: 76 miles
After an exhausting weekend of running around, I got to do the more enjoyable kind of running. Had a herd of deer cross the path in front of me which made it more fun.
2/1 - 6 miles
2/3. - 3 miles
Monthly total - 9 miles
Races:
March 14:
St. Malachi 2 mile and 5 mile
May 16:
Cleveland Marathon Half and 5k
June 13 - 14:
Run and Ride Cedar Point 5k and Quarter Marathon
September 20:
Cleveland Hero's Run 5 miler
December 5:
Santa Hustle Cedar Point 5k7 -
polskagirl01 wrote: »12k run, slightly pushing the pace. Did the same route 8 minutes faster than last week, and got some mud on my shoes. But the "toes falling asleep" thing is back. Definitely the Asics. Bummer, I liked those shoes.
February goal 100 miles (stretch goal 200 km)
Upcoming races:
Feb. 8 - Lublin night 10k
Try a wide? I find I need a wide fit shoe or my little toe goes numb. And apparently most women are a "wide" fit.
I will change the way I lace these, use them for shorter runs only, and go back to the Brooks for everything else. I bought these over a year ago on clearance, and they were fine until about 7k.
@LoveyChar this might not be what you want to hear, but IMO marathons are not good for losing weight. I would take a "maintenance break" for the next 3 or 4 weeks - no extra workouts, try to maintain your weight or keep any gain within reason. Get to the race healthy and recover well, then get back to weight loss if needed.
In my case, I gain about 5 lbs per marathon. I usually lose it pretty quickly once I get back to normal activity level and normal eating (neither of which are happening towards the end of marathon training).
@shanaber Great race! I enjoyed your report!5 -
@shanaber
we have a large VA community and often have racers with the full flag. sometimes they run with a ruck sack or in chains too.
i see them struggle with the perpetual wind off the lake. i can only imagine with an ocean.
i've thought about doing a running vacation and doing that half. it looks so nice4 -
Sunday was such a pretty day that it felt downright unrealistic for February - 71 degrees and bright sunlight with a soft breeze! The fish were jumping at Patriot Lake and the hawks were out hunting mice.
So, this is embarrassing, my husband and I were at the park which was so crowded with people we could hardly run, and one of us said, gosh, is it just me or are we hearing a lot of different languages here today? Sometimes the park holds special events such as the Filipino festival so we wondered if it was something similar, but it didn’t seem to be any single ethnic group of people, just literally everyone we passed was speaking a different language. Then when we went out to eat we saw the halftime show and said, Oooh I get it, the only people at the park are the ones who don’t care about football! Which seems to be just us, one fisherman, and people who have recently come here from other countries.
So yeah, that’s how uninterested in sports we are. We forgot the Super Bowl. I feel like we were the smart ones because it was a glorious running day!
GPS was being wonky which made speedwork interesting. We did a fast mile and passed where it usually calls the mile and I said, “Is that thing gonna call the mile?” and it was showing .75. And it was consistently calling really really long. So I have no idea what our pace was. Looking at our data later it was skipping sections and saying we stopped when we didn’t and all over the place. We ended up giving up on formal distance and doing about 5k of fartlek.
My throat feels somewhat better but now my stomach is being screwy.8 -
polskagirl01 wrote: »polskagirl01 wrote: »12k run, slightly pushing the pace. Did the same route 8 minutes faster than last week, and got some mud on my shoes. But the "toes falling asleep" thing is back. Definitely the Asics. Bummer, I liked those shoes.
February goal 100 miles (stretch goal 200 km)
Upcoming races:
Feb. 8 - Lublin night 10k
Try a wide? I find I need a wide fit shoe or my little toe goes numb. And apparently most women are a "wide" fit.
I will change the way I lace these, use them for shorter runs only, and go back to the Brooks for everything else. I bought these over a year ago on clearance, and they were fine until about 7k.
@LoveyChar this might not be what you want to hear, but IMO marathons are not good for losing weight. I would take a "maintenance break" for the next 3 or 4 weeks - no extra workouts, try to maintain your weight or keep any gain within reason. Get to the race healthy and recover well, then get back to weight loss if needed.
In my case, I gain about 5 lbs per marathon. I usually lose it pretty quickly once I get back to normal activity level and normal eating (neither of which are happening towards the end of marathon training).
@shanaber Great race! I enjoyed your report!
Thank you! I can't lose any more weight because I'm in the lower end of average as it is now. But I wanted to run light. I don't want to gain before but I don't mind if I gain after. I'm thinking you've gained muscle weight, not fat! And thank you, I won't exercise more than what my training plan calls for.0 -
Great job and race report @shanaber ! I hope it isn't your last HM. Glad you enjoyed it.
Ran outside today, as it was 66°F with only a slight breeze. I wasn't fast, 11:43/mile, but it was a good run. I would like to get a tad faster for my long runs. I managed 4 miles run/walk and another mile of walking as my warm up and cool down. The last mile I played around with fartleks a little. I was getting bored. LOL Total traversed today was 5.01 miles.
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Well done @shanaber and here is hoping everyone made it to the end
I finally managed my first 10k for a few weeks, not a bad time at 1:01:11 though I am sure some of that was pent up energy from going slowly for so long. There is hope!
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Amazing weather this weekend, it was truly a great weekend to be a runner!
2/1: 6m
2/2: 4.25m
2/3: 2.258 -
@shanaber love the race report! Sounds like it was an amazing run. I do hope it's not your last but I love your attitude to it.
@polskagirl01 hope the new lacing works for you! But I get it, I had a pair that was OK till I hit about 4-5k. That's when I found out I have wide feet lol.
As for me, I was on call for work last night. Got home at 3am, and dozed for an hr before finally falling asleep and was up at 8am - first day of school for the kids after the summer holidays. My oldest is so excited!
Then I went out for 4k, and a strength session. I almost didn't do the strength session, but a good thing about habits, before you realise you have set up, even though you can't be bothered.
I've changed up my eating a little, I've started having breakfast again. I usually only eat about half of my exercise calories, but have decided to start eating them all in an effort to slowly increase calories as I get towards my final goal. Only been 2 days but I feel so much better and have more energy. Proof that too much of a deficit is not a good thing haha.
And finally I'm going to a concert tomorrow, Queen is in town!! So excited! Then in 2 weeks I've got elton John. Going to be a rocking month!
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Feb - goal 150k
Feb 1 - 7.2k
Feb 2 - 5k
Feb 3 - 7k
Feb 4 - 4k
Total: 23.2
Run streak - 46 days9 -
@shanaber I’m glad you had a good race!0
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@shanaber So glad you were able to race! You did so well! And great report.
No run today, rest day. I did a 3 mile slow run walk recovery yesterday.
Loving this brief spring like weather! However of course back to normal for race day on Sat. Just found out that the supposed 10K is actually 6.5 miles due to the course (have to do 4 loops to get the 6 plus miles) and I guess they have the finish a little further out. If I match my last 10k time I’ll be happy (which would technically be a pr).
@Avidkeo enjoy the concerts! I’m going to Elton in May!6
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