December 2022 Monthly Running Challenge

Tramboman

@Scott6255 and @quilteryoyo Race well this weekend. You've put in the work -- clear the doubts from your minds and trust your training.

Laurz9191

@Scott6255 and @quilteryoyo I wish you both the best of runs!

@Fit2btied2016 Great job! That is really an accomplishment to reach that goal of running your first 5k! Great job!!! And I agree with the others, cool breakdown of your run.

I was planning on running today, but took today off because my youngest had a fever. I did get to take him on a nice long walk outside though, so that he could nap. Fingers crossed that he gets better soon and that the other kids don’t get sick!!!

quilteryoyo

Thanks @polskagirl01 .

Thanks @tarun_yadavA . Nice run for you when you aren't feeling the best. Are you sure going out tonight is the best idea in the world? - Ash

Thanks @Scott6255 . I totally understand. I do hope your race goes well. You are so much better than I even dream to be. I look forward to hearing how it goes. You did great with your shakeout run. Joining a pace group is probably a great idea. They actually have them for my 10 miler too. I think I am going to position myself between 13 and 14 min/mile. If I can stay in that area, I'll meet my goal of 2.5 hours or under.

Thanks @SummerSkier ! You are doing great - already over half way to your month's goal!

Thanks @Tramboman and @Laurz9191 .

I hope your son feels better soon and that no one else in your household takes it @Laurz9191 .

I did my "shake out" run this morning too - went out about 8:15 am for a 2.5 mile run/walk just to see how it felt. Ooops. Forgot about FL being so humid in the mornings (88% today). The temperature was in the upper 60's, but that humidity. I was a sweaty mess with a 13:20 min/mile average pace. The start was hard and I was second guessing being able to do this, but, fortunately, it started feeling better before I finished.

I picked up my bib this morning. They had said to come early because there was limited parking. Well, I did, and took Tippy, thinking it would be a quick in and out and I could leave her in the car with the AC running. Well, when I had to park in the grass about a quarter mile from pick-up, I knew that wasn't going to work. I did ask, and was able to just take Tippy with me. The only issue is that I didn't have any water for her, as I hadn't planned on it taking so long. She did get hot and thirsty, but did okay. Actual pickup was quick, but the line was long. I had said earlier that this race is going to be a learning experience for me. Lesson 1 - bib pickup will take longer than you think, so plan accordingly.

I met a 73 yo lady walking back to the car who is going to do the Galloway method, 30/30, walk/run tomorrow. Sounded like she may be with a group doing that. We hope to see each other in the morning. She was a sweet lady.

I'm going to take Tippy for another fast mile walk around 5pm. She seems to like it and it tires her out. Then, it will be early to bed and early to rise. Will check back in tomorrow - or later today if I can figure out if there is a tracking system or not. I'll try to keep track of you on Sunday @Scott6255 .

eleanorhawkins

@Fit2btied2016 yay, well done! The karate kid thing rang a bell, we're finally getting a bit of rain here and my runs are all 'jacket off, jacket on, jacket off, jacket on'.

@Scott6255 and @quilteryoyo hope your races go great, we'll all be looking forward to hearing about them!

@tarun_yadavA if you intend to do more longer distances then yes, you'll certainly need to try out some fuelling options. Otherwise you're very likely to hit some horrible walls! I remember once after about 10 miles I ran past a car park and got in a state because I had no coins for the machine, and I couldn't find my car. My car was at home, in the garage. I have never driven there. It's also worth experimenting a bit to find stuff you can eat before longer runs. I have the same problem with ripe bananas, but do well on not quite ripe ones. Toast and marmite also work well for me. You can actually train your stomach to tolerate food better before and during runs (there's a lot of info on that in trail and ultra lit)... I am actually capable of swallowing a big bowl of porridge and heading straight out the door now, lol!

I'm having a crazy month doing 2 jobs and coping with teen drama and training. Managing to keep up with the damn strength training but having to bully myself into it. Also, the plan this month has long intervals on it. Yesterday was 20 min warm up, 2x8 min at 5k race pace with 3 min recovery then 2 x 6 min at 5k race pace with 2 min recovery, THEN 30 min easy. In the rain. My legs were really not amused when they found out they had strength training today. They'll be even less amused tomorrow about the tempo run.

martaindale

tarun_yadavA wrote: »

@martaindale - I had a gel for the first time last week on my 20 Miler with my Sonic The Hedgehog running buddy. I didn't know what to expect so didn't really 'overthink it' -if that makes sense. I took the gel around the 15M region, and found it provided a boost. Not immediately - but remember doing 18M and thinking, 'yeah I got this!'. I tend to run on an empty stomach.

Yeah, we have very different fueling strategies! I get hypoglycemic fairly easily, so I fuel early and often. These days, I generally fuel anything 8 miles or up. That distance has me running about 1 hr, 15 mins or so. If I push it beyond that, things start getting dicey. In general I take a gel about every 3.5-4 miles depending on the distance. I also have to eat something before I run. I kinda wish I could do the empty stomach thing because I have to wait and let my food settle and it makes my morning wake-ups even earlier just so I can eat. The only time I do a run on an empty stomach is the occasional 3 miler that falls on mornings where I have to be at work at 8am. I can get up at the same time as my family, get out the door for 3 miles, and still have time to get ready for work. But, I can tell I didn't eat. By the end, I need something asap. I am just not meant to be a fasted runner.

martaindale

@scott6255 Thanks for the link! I'll check in on you while I'm cooking breakfast. Good luck!!

Teresa502

Good luck @Scott6255 and @quilteryoyo! I hope you both have the race that you have planned and worked so hard for!

kgirlhart

Apparently I never hit "post reply" yesterday, so this was sitting out there today.

December Goal: 100 Miles

12/1: 5.26 miles
12/4: 11.01 miles
12/5: 5.15 miles
12/6: 5.26 miles
12/8: 5.51 miles

32.19/100 miles completed for December

I took a couple of vacation days, so I slept in a little this morning and ran at about 8:00. It was humid and foggy, but it was still nice to run when it wasn't dark. I ran 5.5 miles. I saw a young woman at the park walking the dog that followed me home the other day. I was glad to see her walking with him. I asked her his name and she said it was Mole (like the sauce).

How exciting @quilteryoyo! I can't ever upload photos on my phone using the app, but if I open myfitnesspal on the internet browser on my phone instead of the app I can do it.

quilteryoyo

Thanks @eleanorhawkins . You're doing great with your exercises considering the month you're having. Hope your legs aren't too mad at you.

Thanks @Teresa502 !

quilteryoyo

That seems to have worked @kgirlhart . Below the spoiler is Flat Vicky and the contrail from yesterday's launch.

Flat Vicky


Launch contrail

tarun_yadavA

Good morning all
Managed a run. Really struggled.

@eleanorhawkins 😱 that story!
@martaindale you're right. I feel I'm just "winging it", but sort of in a "if it ain't broke..." Kind of place.
@quilteryoyo - best of luck! I'm sure the humidity won't be an issue 🤞

martaindale

kgirlhart wrote: »

I can't ever upload photos on my phone using the app, but if I open myfitnesspal on the internet browser on my phone instead of the app I can do it.

That’s weird. I only upload pictures using the app on my phone.

@eleanorhawkins It’s like your brain was telling you it was time to go home! Funny now but probably kinda of scary at the time.

eleanorhawkins

@tarun_yadavA and @martaindale lol yeah, it was really confusing at the time but amusing with hindsight. Let's just say the memory is a good reminder of why I must fuel on long runs, I had always thought when people talked about 'hitting the wall' they just meant they ran out of energy! Apparently hallucinations are a thing during ultras, too, that should make for some good stories one day...

martaindale

Dec total: 58.5/150 miles

12/1: 3 miles
12/2: 8 miles
12/3: 7 miles
12/4: 7 miles
12/5: 9 miles
12/6: 6 miles
12/8: 6.5 miles
12/10: 12 miles

It's a hot one today. It felt good to do a proper long run. I paid a little in the last few miles as the temps rose due to some overzealous early miles. Overall, managed an 11:24 pace using the 1 mi run, 0.5 mi walk, just a little over minute slower than my target marathon pace if I were running continuously. Mentally, that was a boost. I have been feeling nervous because even though I only missed a week of running, my training has been derailed and is just now getting back to where it was supposed to be. I have never gone into a race underprepared, and that's how I was feeling. Today really helped me feel like maybe I'm better prepared than I thought.

polskagirl01

SummerSkier wrote: »

@polskagirl01 good to see you dropping in! Did you ever use your HRM experiment?

I just got a Polar H10 and put it on (and put the empty box in with the Christmas presents so my husband can wrap it for me 🤣🤣🤣). I'll let y'all know how it goes. I was also looking at the Frontier X2 monitor, which seems like it would definitely do what I was looking for... but the price was off-putting. I hope the Polar is enough to give me some good data.

I've been wearing the Suunto watch and using the 24-hr HR + sleep tracking, and the "resources" % still eerily matches how I'm feeling. It's literally showing that I'm drained by basic activities and am not recovering well enough to keep up. I'm fascinated and somewhat horrified at the same time.

SummerSkier

So I stalked @quilteryoyo 's race today (Scott I will stalk you tomorrow... And she did AMAZING 🎉✅🎉. I cannot wait to get her blow by blow report.... 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

SummerSkier

@polskagirl01 that is so horrific. I am sorry that your body is still fighting so hard to recover and wish we could find you a magic pill to get you back to your crazy climbing self.

quilteryoyo

Thanks everyone. I was able to finish the race faster than I expected. It was cool, 64F, and 100% humidity at the start, but quickly cleared up and got hot. I'll try to get a race report written and posted Monday. In the meantime, Garmin says I ran 10.11 miles in 2h 14m 28s for an average pace of 13:18 min/mile. I was happy with that.

quilteryoyo

@tarun_yadavA Thanks. I hope you are feeling better tomorrow. You had a great run considering your condition.

@martaindale Glad you had a good run today that gave you some confidence for the Dopey. That's a great pace .

Aww. Thanks @SummerSkier ! I didn't know I was stalk-able. LOL

@polskagirl01 I hope the HR monitor does what you want it to do. Also sorry that you are still dealing with such low energy. I hope you get better soon.

Good luck with your race tomorrow @Scott6255 !

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kgirlhart

December Goal: 100 Miles

12/1: 5.26 miles
12/4: 11.01 miles
12/5: 5.15 miles
12/6: 5.26 miles
12/8: 5.51 miles
12/10:1.01 miles (warm-up)
12/10: 3.25 miles (Wags and Wiskers 5K) - 1st place overall female

36.45/100 miles completed for December

There was a 5K today at the park near my house. I had not planned to run it. My sisters and I were planning to get together with my Mom today to put up her Christmas decorations and I wasn't sure what time. Then it was forcasted to be raining all morning, so even after we decided that we would get together at 3, I didn't sign up. But when I got up this morning it was not raining so I decided to go ahead and run it. So I signed up and headed over to the park. I got my bib and ran a one mile warm up. They changed the route from the last few years and I really liked the new route better. There was a pretty good hill early on. It's funny because I often run that road, but I am usually running down that hill and not up. There was a woman pretty close behind me and I wasn't sure if she was in my age group or not so I just focused on staying ahead of her and tried to stay far enough ahead that she wouldn't be able to catch me. She told me later that she was just trying to stay with me, so I think it helped us both run a better race. My total time was 28:17. And while it wasn't a PR, it was enough to be 1st overall female. It was a small race, but I was still pretty pleased. I was 1st of 19 women and 10th of 34 overall. The race is a fundraiser for our local Humane Society, so in addition to a medal, I got ball for my dog and a kit to make an ornament of your pet's pawprint.

It started raining after I got home and rained all day. I did go over to my Mom's to decorate for Christmas. I'm not sure if I will run tomorrow or not, but if I do I will probably not run a long run.

Congratulations on finishing faster than you hoped @quilteryoyo! I knew you could do it!

Congratulations to you too @Fit2btied2016! Looks like it was lots of fun!

tarun_yadavA

@quilteryoyo - Congratulations!! 🥳

Well done again! @Fit2btied2016

@kgirlhart - well done on the 5k run

So this is London this morning... Icy, snow flakes, very foggy. I still feel rough. So sitting this one out. Gonna wear joggers and a sweatshirt and watch Christmas movies on Sunday

Scott6255

Awesome race @quilteryoyo! You went into beast mode!

Way to go on your race too @Fit2btied2016! Very nice that you ticked off all of your goals!

@kgirlhart - super impressive 1st place female finish er! We sure have some strong women here!

Weather is looking good this morning. Wish I could have slept last night 😒
Will try to get a report out by the end of the day or tomorrow. Thanks for the support ❣️

martaindale

@Fit2btied2016 Woohoo! Great racing and congrats for hitting all your goals. That race looks like a lot of fun. I could see why you would want to make it an annual thing. As for what’s happening to you, sounds like you got the running bug!

@quilteryoyo Awesome work! I can’t wait to read your race report.

@kgirlhart Way to go first place female finisher! And a race for a good cause.

Teresa502

Yesterday I decided to head to the trails for a change of scenery so I went to a local park and ran 8 miles on the trails there. The park doesn’t open until 8:30 and I usually prefer starting before then but I had the day open yesterday so it worked out well. Stuck to the outer trails where less people go. I only met one runner, saw lots of squirrels and a few deer. I saw a couple of walkers as I was nearing the nature center/parking lot. The park recently got two baby bobcats and they are so cute. I had to go by their enclosure and check them out when I finished.

@quilteryoyo – Congratulations on your race! Great pictures. Hope you get to enjoy some family time today.

@Fit2btied2016 – Congratulations on your 5k and exceeding your goals! Love the pictures – you look very happy!

That’s an awesome 5K run @kgirlhart! Congratulations on being 1st Female!! Love seeing your smiling face and how fun that your dog got a prize too!

Hope today’s rest is just what you need to get better @tarun_yadavA.

I just checked and @Scott6255 is “waiting to start” his marathon.

martaindale

@Teresa502 One thing I am looking forward to the most about finishing this marathon training cycle is getting back to the trails. The mileage is too much for me to throw the technical difficulty of trails into the mix, not to mention the risk of injury. But I really miss the trails. I have a camping trip booked the weekend after my race and I plan on getting some short hikes in. I really love being out on a trail!

Teresa502

martaindale wrote: »

@Teresa502 One thing I am looking forward to the most about finishing this marathon training cycle is getting back to the trails. The mileage is too much for me to throw the technical difficulty of trails into the mix, not to mention the risk of injury. But I really miss the trails. I have a camping trip booked the weekend after my race and I plan on getting some short hikes in. I really love being out on a trail!

No, you do not want to throw roots and rocks into your training cycle! I haven't been able to hike much lately because its that time of year with so much holiday stuff going on and work has been crazy also. I definitely felt the trails calling yesterday!

polskagirl01

Anyone remember what time @Scott6255 needs for his BQ? Following the tracker!

quilteryoyo

I was just about to ask the same thing @polskagirl01 . Do you know how old he is? I'm following him too. Looks like he's doing great! Afraid he may be a little behind BQ pace though. If he's between 60-64 he needs 8:46 min/mile pace.

We're cheering for you Scott. You can do it!

polskagirl01

I found this list, but don't know his age either. Currently pretty close if 60 or older, but has 10 miles to go. Hopefully he didn't go out too fast.