July 2022 Monthly Running Challenge
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Shoe porn post as promised! First, the pictures:So... Brooks Cascadia 16s. I have wanted a pair of Brooks ever since I tried a pair of Glycerins when I had a gait analysis done almost 4 years ago. They were ever so slightly above my price range at that point, but the memory of those soft, squishy things remained. So I was excited about a new pair of soft and squishy shoes, as the Cascadias claim to be cushioned.
I thought the seed thing was pretty cool... not sure how compatible with our local dry, desert-like flora is, maybe I'll take them next time I head for the mountains. It does say on the envelope they're compatible with European plantlife.
The colour scheme was a coincidence, but they get bonus points for matching my go-to hot weather trail outfit!
Do y'all think I got them dusty enough for the husband to not notice they're new?
Well... they probably are, but I'm coming from Hoka Speedgoats which are really squishy, so I didn't get that instant "ahhh" moment as soon as I put them on. However, I did really like the feel of them around my toes, there seems to be a lot more space which might be good for my seriously trashed toenails.
I realise now that I should probably have waited for a short trail run for my first spin in them, but I don't have one of those scheduled until at least Sunday if not next week, and I've been thinking about them since they arrived on Monday LOL. So, the trial trail run was on the same 11k route I ran on Sunday. Little bit of road but mostly dirt, mostly good, non-technical footing but a couple of decent easy hills and a few, short, more technical hills at the end with loose, slippery dirt and sand underfoot.
First I have to say I was faster than Sunday, but that could have been the shoes, the trail gods smiling on me, the fact that I stuffed my face with (mostly healthy, nutritious) food yesterday or that I was doing a Paula Radcliffe (if you know, you know!).
The cushioning was (just) enough to not feel jarring on my knees on the short stretches of road, including one downhill stretch, but my initial impression was that I would end up feeling my knees in them on longer runs, especially if they include more road or stony ground. So probably won't be any good for my races in October (stony 21k and 35k).
What I did like, and again this may also be me starting to get some of my confidence back, was that I seemed to be faster and more sure-footed coming down hills. The Speedgoats are super-spongy and comfy for long runs and do protect my feet well, but the soles are so thick it's kinda like typing with boxing gloves on. In the Cascadias, I can feel the ground under my feet and that seemed to remove some of the fear of losing my footing.
There was one brief slip on my way up my 'Nemesis' hill, the one I'm still not brave enough to descend but am forcing myself to climb on a regular basis. The footing is nasty, very loose dirt, and it has one extremely steep part that I felt my left foot slip slightly on, but that was all.
Around the 4-mile mark, I started to feel the back of the right shoe rubbing against my ankle, and from mile 5 onwards I could feel a blister forming. Bummer! They're taller in the back than my other trail shoes but shorter than my road shoes, and obviously found the tender spot. Maybe (I hope!) it's just a case of breaking them in or learning to tape or lube or lace them up to stop that happening because overall I like them and would like to at least wear them on my shorter trail runs to change things up.
So, does anyone have any awesome lacing or other tips to avoid back of ankle blisters?4 -
eleanorhawkins wrote: »So, does anyone have any awesome lacing or other tips to avoid back of ankle blisters?
No but I like the looks of them and it makes sense that you feel more confident in them descending on the trails. KT tape sticks pretty good to skin so that would be my first try.3 -
Request still pending, anyone know him?AlphaHowls wrote: »Pending Requests to Join (Strava MFP group)
Zak Brockman
Stourbridge, England, United Kingdom
Anyone know him?
7/1 15.14 miles
7/2 16.24 miles
7/3 15.5 miles, 1525 days on the run, 707 days HM+ Streak
7/4 15.16 miles
7/5 15.31 miles, HEAT ADVISORY until Friday
7/6 15.26 miles, EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING until Friday
7/7 15.33 miles, Running Partner A ~1 hour, EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING until Friday
7/8 15.17 miles, 1530 days on the run, 712 days HM+ Streak, EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING
7/9 16.69 miles, 7 years MFP! (7/9/2015), Running Partners A & E
7/10 15.15 miles
7/11 15.28 miles
7/12 15.52 miles, Running Partner A ~mile 4 - 11
7/13 15.59 miles, 1535 days on the run, 717 days HM+ Streak
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@eleanorhawkins Love the new shoes! I think you got them dirty enough to pass a new shoe inspection. Hopefully the ankle rub will break in. I haven't had that issue with mine but I run in Brooks a lot so they all hit at about the same spot.
@swenson19d That story is crazy and very sad! Glad to see you back though. You too @polskagirl01!
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I got dressed to run yesterday, then didn't.
Today I got dressed AND ran, an easy interval jog around the block. Probably about 3-5 minutes running with 30 second walk intervals. Maybe comparable to something in early C25k. Starting over is fine with me if that's what I need to do 🙂
Got home to find that I missed the raspberries staring to ripen last week and had a lot of berries to pick. Got a full bowl of raspberries and sour cherries that I turned into cherry juice and raspberry sauce (that I put in the freezer to use when it's my turn to bake something for church). I also ate a bunch of them right off of the bushes, YUM!10 -
@polskagirl01 Oooooo, fresh raspberries and cherries right off the bushes sounds amazing!1
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martaindale wrote: »@polskagirl01 Oooooo, fresh raspberries and cherries right off the bushes sounds amazing!
This!0 -
@eleanorhawkins I almost always use the heel lock (also called runner's loop) when lacing my shoes. If you ever wondered what that extra holes is, that's what it is for 😁. Just search for runner's loop and you'll find lots of videos showing you how to do it. It's easy, but hard to explain just with words.3
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Got in 7 treadmill miles after work. It didn't suck.
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July total: 54.6/110 Miles
7/2: 10 miles
7/3: 4 miles
7/4: 5.2 miles
7/5: 5.1 miles
7/6: 6.1 miles
7/7: 3 miles
7/9: 8 miles
7/10: 3.1 miles
7/11: 5.1 miles
7/13: 5 miles
My watch and the treadmill still aren't lining up but the treadmill pace feels closer than what my watch says so I'm going with that. I'm hoping my watch will get better over time as it has more data points. I guess it's not a huge deal since this is not my main training method but I crave precision!3 -
Pretty shoes @eleanorhawkins! Sorry about the blisters. Maybe try some different socks to keep them from running?
@polskagirl01 Fresh raspberries sound yummy!
I got in my two runs today to catch me up for the week. First run was at 5:30 this morning in the rain. 5 min Z1, 30 min Z2, 5 min Z1 = 3.29 miles.
Second run was 5 min Z1, 35 min Z2, 15 min Z3 = 4.46 miles. I finished just before it started storming.
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July Goal: 110 Miles
7/1: 2.02 miles
7/3: 10.26 miles
7/5: 6.02 miles
7/6: 6.02 miles
7/7: 7.06 miles
7/10: 10.02 miles
7/12: 6.02 miles
7/13: 6.02 miles
53.44/110 miles completed for July
It has been a busy few days and I haven't had a chance to post. I did run 6 miles yesterday and 6 miles today. Well, Tuesday and Wednesday. It is after midnight, so I guess it is already Thursday. I won't get a chance to run today. I am at my daughter's. She is having a minor medical procedure so I am driving her to her appointment. I will have to get caught up reading, but I wanted to at least post my runs. They were both decent runs, but today's run was better.
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@eleanorhawkins I almost always use the heel lock (also called runner's loop) when lacing my shoes. If you ever wondered what that extra holes is, that's what it is for 😁. Just search for runner's loop and you'll find lots of videos showing you how to do it. It's easy, but hard to explain just with words.
@Scott6255 thanks! I had heard of that but had conveniently forgotten all about it again, will give it a go!1 -
I met a friend for 5 slow miles at 5 this morning. Temp was a nice 65F but humidity was 98%. 36.5/70 for the month.
@Scott6255 - Your "it didn't suck" comment made me laugh!
@polskagirl01 - I've been picking blackberries along my running route and enjoying them but raspberries sound so good!
@marisap2010 - Two runs in one day! You're my hero!
@martaindale - The pace and distance on my watch and my treadmill never match and it drives me crazy so on the rare occasions that I run on my treadmill I just don't use my watch.
Hope all goes well with your daughter's procedure @kgirlhart.3 -
Felt like a good run even though it was warmer than usual. Even the files came out, first I seen this year.
01/07 2.60 miles
02/07 2.60 miles
07/07 2.75 miles
12/07 2.75 miles
14/07 3.19 miles
Total 13.89/30 miles
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martaindale wrote: »My watch and the treadmill still aren't lining up but the treadmill pace feels closer than what my watch says so I'm going with that. I'm hoping my watch will get better over time as it has more data points. I guess it's not a huge deal since this is not my main training method but I crave precision!
Yeah, every treadmill is different, and you'll never get accurate pace on your GPS watch. On mine, if I set it on 6mph (10 min pace) it feels like I am running at about 7 min pace. You just have to treat treadmill workouts as easy days and don't worry about pace (unless you want to work on speed and set it to something that makes you FEEL like you are going at your actual road fast pace)
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Hi all, sorry for disappearing for a bit. Between the race, vacation, work, life, it was hard to find time to get back to the computer. I don't have my race report done yet, but I wanted to post other run updates and hopefully write & post my race report tonight or tomorrow.
7/01 - 5.6 mile trail run on my way to our boat. Just a slow run/hike to get more experience with my new hydration vest and get a few easy miles in before the big race. Raspberries are starting to ripen so I stopped often for those. Other highlights include running near a golf course and finding a dozen errant golf balls along the trail (collected those for a friend of mine), running near a correctional facility (prison), and beautiful overlooks of the Mississippi River. The trail actually went through correctional facility land had had signs up every 100 feet or so sternly reminding me to stay ON the trail. I was glad to be through that section. It was a nice 5.6 mile loop and I'll come back again.
7/02 - 31.2 miles - Race Report coming soon!
7/06 - 9.5 road miles. Slow and probably too soon after my race.
7/07 - 6.6 miles and 1300' of gain doing hill repeats. I went back to the local sledding hill on a very HOT, HUMID evening. After a 1 mile warm up I tried to run the hills at first but it just wasn't happening. I then resorted to power hiking up, letting my HR settle, then running back down. I did this 24 times. There were softball games going on at the bottom of the hill and as I walked up I was given some cheers by a of the players who had just finished their game. That made me chuckle. They said they had been watching me the whole time and wanted to know what I was training for so I stopped and talked to them a bit. Even though I hike the uphill, it felt good to do it.
7/08 - 4.7 mile walk. I walked to the sledding hill with pruners. There is the steep trail I like to go up, but there's another trail I wanted to take going down but it was too overgrown the day before. I went back with pruners and cleared it all out so the next time I could run loops when I run hill repeats.
7/09 - 8.6 trail miles. I intended to do this loop twice but the humidity really kicked my butt. I was dripping sweat within a mile and even though I had a liter of ice water with me, I felt miserable. I decided a combination of heat, humidity, lack of sleep, and heavy legs from the previous weeks miles left me with no energy so I bailed out and decided to do my 17 miles the next day. I did try my new Saucony Peregrine 11's today and they felt good. The other thing which worked well was the deer fly tape I tried for the first time. The place I often run trails is notorious for vicious, biting deer flies in the summer and I rarely run here in the summer as a result. I found out about deer fly tape and decide to give it a try. It's a 2" x 6" strip with mild adhesive on one side, and strong adhesive on the other. Just carefully place on the back of your hat and run. After a couple of miles, with no flies bothering me I took off the hat to find 7 flies already stuck. At the end of my 2 hour "run" I had 33 flies! Yet not once did I notice any of these flies bothering me.
7/10 - 8.6 trail miles. Yep....quit half way through my 17 miles today too. It sucked big time...worse than the day before. Even my shoes let me down today...the same shoes which worked so well the day before. This run I was sweating so much that it ran down my leg and drenched my socks. So much so that my feet were sliding all over the place in my shoes and making my toes smash up to the front on the downhills. It was so bad I was only able to run the flats. I was too tired to run up and it hurt my feet to run down. I tried tying my laces tighter but that didn't work at all and somehow made my insole slide around and bunch up. At that point I knew for sure I was done. At least the deer fly tape didn't let me down...I caught 40 of those little pests that day.
7/12 - 10 miles and 1600' of gain doing hill repeats. This run was fantastic. I felt I had energy even in the midday, 80F sun. The downhill trail I had cleared out the week before gave me a really nice loop which added some running "rest" after my uphill climb. In general I'd run about halfway up the hill until the grade became too steep and I'd power hike the rest. 30 loops! It felt so, so good!
7/13 - 9.5 road miles. I made the mistake of too much snacking right before the run and had to do walk/run intervals for the first 3 miles until my stomach settled. After that the run was fantastic with a good pace, considering my heavy legs from the hill repeats the day before.
Which all brings me to 90 out of 180 miles for July
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July total: 58.6/110 Miles
7/2: 10 miles
7/3: 4 miles
7/4: 5.2 miles
7/5: 5.1 miles
7/6: 6.1 miles
7/7: 3 miles
7/9: 8 miles
7/10: 3.1 miles
7/11: 5.1 miles
7/13: 5 miles
7/14: 4 miles
Another afternoon treadmill run. I am traveling for work right now so using the gym treadmill at my airbnb. I actually took the time to set up some music on my phone and it was really nice. After a couple years of running with nothing, it was a good change of pace and made the treadmill more enjoyable. My view was a quiet parking lot, so not much other entertainment. I tried watching netflix on my ipad the night before but the display sits low on this treadmill and looking slightly down for almost an hour left my neck a little sore the next day. I'll likely use this place for future trips so working all the kinks out for next time. Headed home after work today so I get to run on my own (much nicer) treadmill tonight.
@7lenny7 Singlehandedly decimating the deer fly population!
@Scott6255 Yeah, I just didn't use my watch last night. I think I'm just so used to turning it on that it never occurred to me to not use it. Start running, start watch. And, yes the paces feel faster to me on a treadmill. I did a mile in the middle of my run last night at a 10:00 pace and it felt like I was probably 9:30 for about half a mile before my legs adjusted. Then it felt closer to normal but still not as smooth as that pace feels outside.2 -
GM. Just updating with my tally. I haven't been eating within target
But at least I'm on track with my kms goal.
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Rest day from running today so I did a 30 minute strength workout before work this morning. Tomorrow evening I'm running the Crazy 8s race which is an 8K race that starts at 8:58 pm. It's a very popular race and this year is the USATF Men's 8K Road Championship. The winner gets the title and $5,000. In the past the Kenyans, Ethiopians and other foreign runners have ran and set the world record on this course but this year the race organizers have focused in a different direction. I haven't ran it in several years because I am not much of a night person but I signed up for it this year because it counts towards a series I'm doing with our local track club. The organizers have track and field events for little kids, a 3K run/walk at 7:58, and then the 8K at 8:58. There were about 1500 people who finished the race last year. There is no wave start, everyone lines up wherever they want, and the course is pretty crowded with only street lights so it's easy to step into a pot hole. My only goal is to finish without hurting myself!5
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HahahaGot in 7 treadmill miles after work. It didn't suck.
@martaindale My Garmin and treadmill never line up either. I think you have to use a foot pod if you want it to be closer. I, maybe naively, go with the distance on the treadmill and the calories from my Garmin.
Nice shoes @eleanorhawkins ! I think you got them dirty enough to pass as "not new."
Nice running @marisap2010 .
@kgirlhart Hope you daughter's procedure when well.
I'm trying to catch up on the thread. I'll continue later. Mostly haven't been commenting because of internet issues. I know you are probably tired of hearing about that, but not as tired as I am of having to deal with it.
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@Teresa502 good luck tonight on your Crazy 8 race. Be careful!
I got out for 11 miles this morning. Seems I only get outside on the weekends anymore. It was as hot and miserable as I expected. But got a double-digit run out of it, so that's a win. 3 -
I used my speedy race shoes today for the first time in a long while. Usually I use them for lunch time 2 per sprints but there just hasn't been any opportunity lately. Just also for those in RTW I have to log my miles manually because I am not on STRAVA and have started being lazy and only logging 1 time per week or so with the cum miles so don't think i have started running 40 mile runs recently. I will leave that to the ultra folks here. LOL.6
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July Goal: 110 Miles
7/1: 2.02 miles
7/3: 10.26 miles
7/5: 6.02 miles
7/6: 6.02 miles
7/7: 7.06 miles
7/10: 10.02 miles
7/12: 6.02 miles
7/13: 6.02 miles
7/15: 2.52 miles
55.96/110 miles completed for July
I didn't post yesterday, but I did get a short run in. There is a really nice park across the street from my daughter's apartment complex and I was able to run 2.5 miles before heading home yesterday. I also walked there on Thursday to keep my mile per day streak going.
Everything went well with her procedure except that they have diagnosed her with celiac. Which we were hoping they wouldn't, but expected they would. So if anyone has any gluten free recommendations I know she would be interested.
My family reunion is this weekend. Luckily we have it at the lake here that is only 6.5 miles from my house. I plan to do my "long run" tomorrow, but it may not be too long. Last night I didn't get to bed until after 1:00 am and I really need to get up early to beat the heat. I would just run out to the lake, but I will want to run pretty early and everyone who is staying out there would probably either be still sleeping or out somewhere fishing so I would rather just do my run and come home and shower before heading out there.
I hope y'all are all doing well. I need to go back and catch up on the thread. I just figured I would go ahead and post thus while I had a minute.
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Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
07/01/22 :::: 1.7 :::: 1.7
07/02/22 :::: 7.1 :::: 8.9
07/03/22 :::: 3.2 :::: 12.0
07/04/22 :::: 0.0:::: 12.0
07/05/22 :::: 3.1 :::: 15.1
07/06/22 :::: 1.8 :::: 16.9
07/07/22 :::: 2.0 :::: 18.9
07/08/22 :::: 0.0 :::: 18.9
07/09/22 :::: 4.0 :::: 22.9
07/10/22 :::: 2.0 :::: 24.9
07/11/22 :::: 1.8 :::: 26.7
07/12/22 :::: 0.0 :::: 26.7
07/13/22 :::: 0.0 :::: 26.7
07/14/22 :::: 0.0 :::: 26.7
07/15/22 :::: 0.0 :::: 26.7
07/16/22 :::: 8.0 :::: 34.7
Well, the miles are not really adding up this month and there are a lot of zeroes there. But finally I put together a longer run today. Actually, I just confirmed my longest since March. So yay?
In better news, some of the 0's are because I went hiking instead. I escaped to the Adirondacks for a few days for some much-needed time in the mountains to clear my head. I rented an adorable little chalet called the "46er chalet" with a view of Whiteface mountain (one of the 46 high peaks I climbed) that I found available and rented last minute on Tuesday morning and was there on Tuesday night. This time, no high peaks hiking. On Wednesday I did a smaller mountain called Bear Den that was not that technically hard (although plenty physically hard after not hiking since November) but had amazing views that made it so worth it. I could see several of the high peaks from the top. Thursday was a rainy and cloudy day and I had work to do so I thoroughly enjoyed a day of just relaxing in the cabin. But that night cleared up and I went out for a while and found they had a live band at the little town lake beach and watched the sunset from there while listening. Friday was my last day and I did a short "hike" which was really just a walk to a place called Cobble Lookout, but again, fantastic views. I had lunch at a place called Forty-Six. So even though I didn't do any of the 46 it was a bit of a themed trip and I relived a lot of the memories of that challenge. And wondered how on earth I managed to do that
A few pics. In at least one you can see my new bright orange trail shoes, which I am really liking. And I got several comments on with their high visibility!
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@katharmonic Very high visibility indeed! Pretty views!!
@Scott6255 I have been missing outside too. Lots of treadmill this week but it is nice being out of the heat.
@kgirlhart Sorry to hear about your daughter's diagnosis. That's a big change to make but there are so many gluten free products now that hopefully it will be less of an ordeal than it once was.3 -
July total: 68.6/110 Miles
7/2: 10 miles
7/3: 4 miles
7/4: 5.2 miles
7/5: 5.1 miles
7/6: 6.1 miles
7/7: 3 miles
7/9: 8 miles
7/10: 3.1 miles
7/11: 5.1 miles
7/13: 5 miles
7/14: 4 miles
7/16: 10 miles
Got up early to get a start on my long run before it got super hot today. It was a decent run. Hot for sure but I felt better during the run than last weekend. I have been pretty wiped out all day afterwards though.
I would say I'll get a good night's sleep but we are going to my kid's climbing team banquet tonight and waking up at 5:00 to go to the airport. It's going to be a long day tomorrow but Hawaii will be at the end of it, and I'm super excited about that!6
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