September 2022 Monthly Running Challenge

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  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,133 Member
    Love all the spoilers.. We should teach Tarun how to use them so we would be at 8 instead of 16 pages...
    <joking>

    121.6 miles tot for the month today out of 120 goal and 3 days to go. I think I am going to make it! Our weather turned this morning and I wished I was wearing lightweight gloves! My fingers get cold quickly but the rest of me was loving it even if I wasn't very energetic.

    I am sort of a picture taking fiend as those of you on my feed already know so I will only share this cool one from my walk Sun afternoon. This was a smallish butterfly maybe less than an inch and from a distance not very exciting. But up close I think it was laying eggs and the detail was wonderful.

    The new software for Apple workout is a bit intimidating. But I suppose eventually I will learn what it all means. I did try out a paced run the other day and thought it was pretty well done.

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  • polskagirl01
    polskagirl01 Posts: 2,024 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    I know I'm not yet quite recovered from covid but running went very, very well. No idea why but I was able to run with such a slow breathing as I've not done in a very, very long time. Maybe covid messed up my lungs in a positive way :D
    This might sound weird, but after I recovered from the initial covid infection, I felt like my lungs were stronger, too. I do feel a weird shortness of breath at times now, but have had fewer problems with exercise-induced asthma. Maybe it's just because my exercise is less strenuous now.

    Speaking of weird symptoms
    I found a group on Facebook for people suffering from Long Covid, and joined it. Seriously these people are posting about all of the weird things I've been experiencing. Like someone just mentioned cheek numbness, and I had been thinking it was just like something I never noticed before, like maybe it's normal that parts of my face feel like I've been to the dentist 😆

    Back to running. Today there were 8 of us from running club who met at the track (plus my 2 kids who don't count today because they acted like crazy people on the outdoor fitness rig instead of actually running). We did take one picture with the other running club that happened to be there (all women and dressed in lots of bright pink) before they headed off to run in the city. Everyone from my club who showed up was fast, and if it hadn't been for my kids being there, I might've asked to go with the ladies. But anyway I did my own track workout (alternating fast & slow laps, with a little more than 5x fast 400m), sometimes using the guys' easy pace to try to keep up when I was on my fast laps. Later another girl came who is more my pace, but it took me a while to catch up to her (yes, I could've just stopped and waited but it was getting dark and the lights there aren't great and I wasn't 100% sure it was her) so I ended up only walk/running a couple laps with her at the end. It was pretty good turnout for the wet weather today. I'm glad people are showing up.
  • polskagirl01
    polskagirl01 Posts: 2,024 Member
    SummerSkier wrote: »
    Love all the spoilers.. We should teach Tarun how to use them so we would be at 8 instead of 16 pages...
    <joking>
    Just let's not chase him away because we're running low on men and fast people in this group 😆
    Actually it's the end of the month and we're only at 16 pages... we'd better get with it and get to chatting already!
  • martaindale
    martaindale Posts: 2,313 Member
    @polskagirl01 Glad to see people are still showing up for your run club! The one I went to this weekend was me and 1 other person, my neighbor! We both drive 25 mins for it to just be the 2 of us. 😄

    Cool picture @SummerSkier
  • martaindale
    martaindale Posts: 2,313 Member
    Sept total: 109/123 miles

    9/1: 4 miles
    9/2: 5 miles
    9/4: 4.2 miles
    9/5: 5 miles
    9/6: 5.2 miles
    9/7: 3.2 miles
    9/8: 3 miles
    9/9: 5.2 miles
    9/12: 5 miles
    9/14: 4.8 miles
    9/15: 5 miles
    9/16: 3 miles
    9/17: 6.1 miles
    9/18: 3.8 miles
    9/19: 7.6 miles
    9/21: 6.5 miles
    9/22: 4.1 miles
    9/23: 8 miles
    9/24: 8 miles
    9/25: 2 miles
    9/26: 6.2 miles
    9/27: 4.1 miles

    It was BEAUTIFUL this morning! But I missed it because I had a Dr appointment and I had to be fasting for blood work. Boooo. I ran after I got back and ate breakfast. It was about 80F by then but only 37% humidity. OMG, low humidity is amazing! I was barely sweating when I got back and it actually felt pretty nice in the shade. I'll be able to run in the morning tomorrow and we should have another nice morning.
  • tarun_yadavA
    tarun_yadavA Posts: 1,373 Member
    @SummerSkier @polskagirl01 I see how it is. Picking on the new guy!!!

    🤣😂
  • tarun_yadavA
    tarun_yadavA Posts: 1,373 Member
    Morning all.
    Got a 9K in. And nope, still clueless 🤷
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  • polskagirl01
    polskagirl01 Posts: 2,024 Member
    ulpd8mq45om6.jpg
    Put your pictures, long stories or triggery stuff here, between the 2 sets of brackets, and then post, and it turns out like you see right here.
  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,133 Member
    Ohoh.. what have I done now? :o Perhaps opened up pandora's box showing folks there are actually buttons to use over the posts? :*

    That IS definitely the great thing about this particular group - I am always learning new things. Makes it fun.
  • eleanorhawkins
    eleanorhawkins Posts: 1,659 Member
    It is pretty quiet here atm, and we're lacking in heated hot dog debates lol. I think a lot of us (myself included!) are doing juggling acts and the forums have kind of moved down the list of priorities. And yes, I certainly learned pretty much everything about running from this group and picked up some very special tips, habits and sayings, too.
    Moan about clubs in spoiler:
    About running clubs/groups... they also seem to be suffering all over the place atm. I guess it's been a long, hot summer. My club, which was just 3 or 4 guys and myself for many months last year and ended up being just me and one coach who wasn't really a coach but had clearly been roped in to babysit me because I kept turning up, has now started informal meetings on Thursday evenings. But it is just a bunch of young, fast men, most of whom I don't know, who go run like the clappers for an hour and then go and drink beer until late at night. Yeah, that wasn't what I signed up for and as much as I long for people to run and talk running with, I would feel uncomfortable (and my husband probably wouldn't be at all happy, either). I KNOW there are other women in this area who run trails, I KNOW there are other women in this area who run slowly, but I'm apparently incapable of finding them. The few who came to club sessions last year never came back again. I'm starting to think I smell bad or something. I also noticed that a couple of those have signed up for the same race I'm doing next month. So they must be training. Stupid, but that hurt. Oh well.
    Either my watch was messing, or I actually managed a real easy run this morning. Pace was slow as *kitten*, but my HR never left the green, which is very unusual for me recently. I think the latest Garmin update did something dumb to my zones, which I had adjusted ages ago, so everything has looked like I was dying the entire time for a while now. I'm at 181km for the month, which is huge for me (no wonder I'm tired) with 32km to go on Friday. Words cannot express how much I'm looking forward to taper time!
  • tarun_yadavA
    tarun_yadavA Posts: 1,373 Member
    My earlier contribution was ice cream and portion sizes....

    New guy did his bit! Lol

    Somebody else's turn...
  • Teresa502
    Teresa502 Posts: 1,858 Member
    9/1 – 5.02 miles
    9/2 – 2.01 miles
    9/4 – 6.01 miles
    9/6 – 4.04 miles
    9/7 – 5.15 miles
    9/8 – 5.59 miles
    9/11 – 6.01 miles
    9/13 – 5.01 miles
    9/14 – 6.01 miles
    9/15 – 5.01 miles
    9/19 – 5.15 miles
    9/21 – 5.21 miles
    9/23 – 6.07 miles
    9/24 – 5.05 miles
    9/25 – 4.01 miles
    9/26 – 5.02 miles
    9/28 – 5.14 miles
    Total – 85.51 miles

    It was 39F when I ran this morning and I wore a long sleeve shirt! Uneventful run but there were a lot of random people out walking the streets.

    Looking forward to @tarun_yadavA’s foray into the world of spoilers tomorrow! (It’s the little things!)

    As far as running clubs in my area, they seem to be quite popular and well attended these days but like @eleanorhawkins noted, a lot of them seem to be “pub runs” that meet at local breweries. I prefer to run in the mornings so I’ve never joined any of them and don’t know how many of them attend the drinking sessions after the runs. I’m blessed to be part of a group of women who meet at 5 am but our numbers have dropped off after COVID. Pre-COVID, we had as many as 9-10 but a couple were school teachers who had to change their routines to get to school early for temperature checks and screenings. Then the whole working remotely took its toll. The max we have now is 6 people.
  • Scott6255
    Scott6255 Posts: 2,555 Member
    @tarun_yadavA glad to have you in the forum. Keep up the good work.
    @eleanorhawkins my Garmin has been acting up too. When in Atlanta, both of my runs were about 0.2 miles less than my brothers. Not sure how long it has been off, but I have checked it against Google Maps and the last two runs at home have also been right at 0.2 miles short. I'm thinking it is time to retire this 10 year old watch 😏

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  • martaindale
    martaindale Posts: 2,313 Member
    eleanorhawkins wrote: »
    I KNOW there are other women in this area who run trails, I KNOW there are other women in this area who run slowly, but I'm apparently incapable of finding them. The few who came to club sessions last year never came back again. I'm starting to think I smell bad or something. I also noticed that a couple of those have signed up for the same race I'm doing next month. So they must be training. Stupid, but that hurt. Oh well.

    I know you know this, but maybe you need to hear it from someone else. I doubt it’s anything to do with you why the other women didn’t stick around. If you felt like the groups were all fast guys and then you, the other women may have felt the same way. Or maybe it wasn’t what they thought it would be in some other way. Might I suggest being brave and saying hi to some of them at your race. See if they would be interested in meeting up for a run and then actually setting it up. Even just a couple of people can get a group going if y’all can get it to be consistent. I’m rooting for you to find a running group.
  • martaindale
    martaindale Posts: 2,313 Member
    @Teresa502 @eleanorhawkins I have had a hard time finding a group here too. Not for a lack of options though. The running community here is large and active, helped along by this area being the home of Ironman TX, which is the American championship course. The issue I have run (haha, running puns) into is that many of the groups are just too fast for me or they meet at times that are hard for me to pull off. My work schedule, and therefore my run schedule, can be pretty variable but I have figured out how to make it work largely by using my time wisely. Having to drive somewhere to meet a group adds in time I just don’t have. While I would be open to joining a group, I need it to be something I can plan on regularly and won’t feel like I’m bringing up the caboose at every meet-up. I am planning on meeting up with the Saturday morning group in the hill country on weekends I am there because it is at a time I can do and they basically meetup beforehand and chat afterwards, but people run whatever pace they want. I think I would be a better runner if I had the help of a run group, but for now it remains a largely solitary activity.
  • martaindale
    martaindale Posts: 2,313 Member
    @tarun_yadavA Waiting to be stunned! Thanks to @polskagirl01 for putting together the tutorial on spoilers. That was helpful. The interface isn’t always the most intuitive.
  • martaindale
    martaindale Posts: 2,313 Member
    Sept total: 114/123 miles

    9/1: 4 miles
    9/2: 5 miles
    9/4: 4.2 miles
    9/5: 5 miles
    9/6: 5.2 miles
    9/7: 3.2 miles
    9/8: 3 miles
    9/9: 5.2 miles
    9/12: 5 miles
    9/14: 4.8 miles
    9/15: 5 miles
    9/16: 3 miles
    9/17: 6.1 miles
    9/18: 3.8 miles
    9/19: 7.6 miles
    9/21: 6.5 miles
    9/22: 4.1 miles
    9/23: 8 miles
    9/24: 8 miles
    9/25: 2 miles
    9/26: 6.2 miles
    9/27: 4.1 miles
    9/28: 7 miles

    Fall is here and it is delightful! I got to wear a shirt and had a T+D of only 103!!

    This morning was a repeat of the marathon pace workout I bombed last week. With the aid of significantly better temps, I was able to complete the workout this week. However, I learned that I really have no idea what that pace feels like and it was dumb luck that I hit it at all last week. This week, exactly 1 mile was on pace. The first mile was only 5 secs fast, so pretty good. No idea what happened on the second mile, 17 secs slow. 3rd mile was on target. 4th was 12 secs fast and 5th was 7 secs fast. All of these miles felt the exact same to me. Except maybe the first, because I was dodging families walking kids to school and navigating intersection crossings. But after that, I thought I settled in to a steady pace but the numbers don’t lie. I was yo-yoing all over the place. I have varying distances of this workout every week throughout the plan, so I expect I will figure out the pace soon. It’s not a pace I run at frequently. About 30 sec/mile slower than HM race pace but at least 45 secs faster than the low end of my easy pace.
  • polskagirl01
    polskagirl01 Posts: 2,024 Member
    @eleanorhawkins have you checked race results or signup lists for races, for running clubs? Around here, they list the person's club. Might help you figure out if/where people around your speed are hanging out.

    Around here it does seem harder scheduling with women, and the men are too fast for me. But as you may have seen in my Strava photo yesterday, our small city has its own running club just for women, and they seem to be all ability levels and organize races. For now, I think I'm good where I am. But I realize it's a luxury to have choices.
  • eleanorhawkins
    eleanorhawkins Posts: 1,659 Member
    @martaindale thank you, yeah, I guess I do know it isn't me but insecurities, anxiety, yadda yadda...

    Well done on managing the marathon pace workout! Amazing what a difference temps/humidity levels make, isn't it. Seems like the worst of the heat is over here (at least early in the morning) and I'm loving it! I passed a guy running in a long-sleeved shirt and gloves this morning. Bit of an exaggeration, I'm still in sleeveless tops and shorts!
    I have no idea what my race pace should be for my upcoming challenge, at the moment I'm just clinging on for dear life lol. My not-actually-a-whole-marathon is complicated because basically, it's a flat, 9-mile warm-up followed by a mountain HM with something like 3,000 ft of elevation, a lot of that appears to be short, very steep, technical climbs. So yeah, trying to think about a pace is impossible, just have to try not to wear my legs out on the first half and then get through the second half quickly enough to avoid the cutoff time. I think after that (depending on whether my legs ever talk to me again) I might switch over to focus on some speed work for a few weeks cause Christmas 5ks and stuff. Then maybe, just maybe (note to self, do NOT sign up for it!) I'll give Sherry Marathon in Jerez de la Frontera a go depending on the date. Jerez is home to sherry and yes, they give the stuff out at aid stations. Shame I don't drink, though it sounds like a terrible idea. Fun though!
  • eleanorhawkins
    eleanorhawkins Posts: 1,659 Member
    polskagirl01 wrote: »
    @eleanorhawkins have you checked race results or signup lists for races, for running clubs? Around here, they list the person's club. Might help you figure out if/where people around your speed are hanging out.

    Around here it does seem harder scheduling with women, and the men are too fast for me. But as you may have seen in my Strava photo yesterday, our small city has its own running club just for women, and they seem to be all ability levels and organize races. For now, I think I'm good where I am. But I realize it's a luxury to have choices.

    Yeah, generally there are very few women running trails in Spain, and the majority of those who do sign up for races go for the shorter versions and are either super fast or are walkers who live there and want to join in. For example... at my next race, there are 300 runners signed up for the 35k and only 20 of us are women!
    I think, apart from pace, part of the problem may well be that they don't want to run on their own in the mountains. I've only ever seen one other woman running up on our mountain (on her own but with a big dog) and she's from a town on the other side of the mountain and has won pretty much every race in this region. That's why the trail club seemed such a good idea! Ah well.
  • tarun_yadavA
    tarun_yadavA Posts: 1,373 Member
    martaindale wrote: »
    @tarun_yadavA Waiting to be stunned! Thanks to @polskagirl01 for putting together the tutorial on spoilers. That was helpful. The interface isn’t always the most intuitive.

    @martaindale <<<Pressure!>>>
    🤣
  • tarun_yadavA
    tarun_yadavA Posts: 1,373 Member
    Beer run clubs... London has a few. Used to like those. Kinda gone off them a bit as I've got older.
    Very testosterone - "look how fast I can run" etc etc, then chug beers. Not the best for hydration. Doubly so as you get older. Made myself a bit sick one time & passed out after running 5M hard then drinking 4 pints of beer
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,162 Member
    September Goal: 100 Miles

    9/1: 6.02 miles
    9/2: 2.11 miles
    9/4: 10.02 miles
    9/6: 5.31 miles
    9/7: 5.33 miles
    9/8: 5.41 miles
    9/11: 11.02 miles
    9/12: 2.02 miles
    9/13: 5.51 miles
    9/14: 5.52 miles
    9/16: 5.51 miles
    9/17: 2.03 miles
    9/19: 5.51 miles
    9/20: 5.54 miles
    9/21: 6.02 miles
    9/23: 5.51 miles
    9/25: 10.26 miles
    9/27: 5.51 miles
    9/28: 5.51 miles

    109.67/100 miles completed for September

    I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but I did run. It was a beautiful morning. 57°F and the dew point was 41°. I ran 5.5 miles. It was perfect running weather. This morning the temperature was a little higher at 63°F, but the dew point was still around 41° and it felt really nice. I ran the same 5.5 miles today as I ran yesterday.


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