SEPTEMBER 2023 Monthly Running Challenge

eleanorhawkins

Wow, trying to catch up after being away since Thursday. Speed reading, liking and hugging.
@polskagirl01 I hope you haven't suffered too much after accompanying the club girl.
Funny, I spent this weekend volunteering at the race that was my first trail race. Having spent my entire race budget already I couldn't sign up to run it, so decided to escape up there for the weekend and pay it back a bit by helping out. I hardly stopped all weekend, less than 6 hours of sleep 3 nights in a row, and after spending 4 hours receiving runners at the finish line in southern Spanish sunshine I'm sunburned, plus my hands hurt from clapping so kuch and I'm hoarse from yelling my head off 🤣
The story there is that as a slow, back of the pack runner, I know there's nothing worse than reaching a finish line after hours of a tough race, no matter how fast or slow you ran it, only to find that there's nobody there and they're often handing out all the trophies and stuff. In fact, the first year I ran this particular race I even had to grab my own finisher medal from a box under a table because everyone except the guy checking off bibs had gone to the bar! So as soon as they announced they were starting the award ceremony I decided that wouldn't happen on my shift. I managed to catch a couple more volunteers and we started a finish line party, yelling runners home as soon as they came into view, dancing (I have never danced in my life, I'm claiming sunstroke and praying nobody was filming hahaha). It was exciting to put medals on some of the local trail running 'elites', too!
All in all, I'm exhausted but it was a really great weekend, even more so as I shared it with a friend who is fighting cancer. I highly recommend helping out at races for anyone who cannot run them for whatever reason, it is really special.
Then this morning I came home and forced myself to go out and do my hill repeats, which was horrible as it was later than it should have been and there is no shade on that damn hill. Spotify was amusing though (songs it provided listed on my wall)

quilteryoyo

@kgirlhart Great running and dodging the storms yesterday.

Nice running @tarun_yadavA . I'm sure the new route helps to keep the boredom down, if you get bored.
It was great that a friend joined you for part of it. Will that be a regular thing?

Great running everyone. Glad it is a little cooler in TX.

@eleanorhawkins I love that you did that for all of the not so fast runners! I'm sure they really appreciated it! Great job on the Hill Repeats this morning!

martaindale

@eleanorhawkins I agree that volunteering at races is fun and rewarding in a different way. The back of the pack runners probably really enjoyed having you there! I'm pretty solidly middle of the pack and until recently I hadn't thought about how different the experience can be for back of the pack runners. I started following some runners that are slow and use their platform to encourage other slow runners. They talked about aid stations being shut down or out of water, how quiet it is because all the spectators wandered off, and no one being at the finish line. There are some groups that organize cheering sections for the later hours of a race and stay until the last runner crosses. I think it's awesome to support other runners doing a hard thing. If anything, the back of the pack runners have it harder because they have been out there longer.

eleanorhawkins

martaindale wrote: »

@eleanorhawkins I agree that volunteering at races is fun and rewarding in a different way. The back of the pack runners probably really enjoyed having you there! I'm pretty solidly middle of the pack and until recently I hadn't thought about how different the experience can be for back of the pack runners. I started following some runners that are slow and use their platform to encourage other slow runners. They talked about aid stations being shut down or out of water, how quiet it is because all the spectators wandered off, and no one being at the finish line. There are some groups that organize cheering sections for the later hours of a race and stay until the last runner crosses. I think it's awesome to support other runners doing a hard thing. If anything, the back of the pack runners have it harder because they have been out there longer.

Yes, exactly. I always make sure I have enough fuel and as much water as I can possibly carry because it isn't uncommon for aid stations to be empty or even to have been taken down before the last runners reach them.
The first guy to finish the 25km yesterday did it in 2 and a half hours. The last runner came in at 5 hours 59 minutes 25 seconds, and the cutoff was 6 hours. 6 hours (8am-2pm) in the mountains in southern Spain at this time of year is still gruesome. The 3 of us and the guy with the mic that interviews people at the finish line and stuff (that the Spanish call the 'speaker', dunno what it is in English or other places even have them?), who had just reappeared, rushed out to meet him when we saw him coming and ran in behind him, and the guy that won was just leaving but stopped and yelled "hey, they didn't even do that for ME, man"...

polskagirl01

@eleanorhawkins your weekend sounds fun! Great work!

kgirlhart

September Goal: 130 Miles

9/1: 3.30 miles
9/2: 1.51 miles
9/3: 11.12 miles
9/4: 2.01 miles
9/5: 7.02 miles
9/6: 7.05 miles
9/7: 6.26 miles
9/8: 3.15 miles
9/9: 2.12 miles
9/10: 11.02 miles
9/11: 1.26 miles

55.82/130 miles completed for September

There were thunderstorms this morning when I got up. I considered running at lunch time, but I did an hour of yoga and by 7 the storms were over and there was just a light rain, so I had just enough time to run 1.25 miles to get my streak. It is kind of stormy now and supposed to rain all night. I guess we'll see what the morning brings. Hopefully I will be able to get a decent run.

How awesome @eleanorhawkins ! Sounds like a lot if fun and I bet it made the day for a lot of runners!

Congratulations on your first 10K @__Tams__ !

tarun_yadavA

Morning all.
Got in a 5K (08"38). Gone into the office today.
@__Tams__ well done! 🙌
You on Strava?

@martaindale @eleanorhawkins never really thought about it like that... I remember a couple of people cheering me on that last lap. And a volunteer who must've run about 500m with me on that last lap (cos mine was 11 laps - brief hey and bits of banter on previous 10). Could tell I was struggling and on verge of tears. Really helped!
Power to you!

@Laurz9191 speaking of... last few days! How we feeling?

Laurz9191

@tarun_yadavA Verge of tears? Now you’re scaring me . I’m as ready as I’ll ever be for the marathon- tears or no!

My goal is to run smart like @martaindale - not go out too fast and hold myself back at the beginning, but ideally also to get done in under 4:30. This will depend a bit on how well I can handle going up and down a really big multiple km long hill twice. Worse case scenario, I will realise the pace is not sustainable and it will take me longer than 4:30- but hey, I’ll still have done it . And no one cares about my finishing time other than me anyways, so that also wouldn’t be a big deal . Also, I’m going to run the hill part by feel/effort, not by pace, so hopefully it will all work out just like I am envisioning it to .

@__Tams__ Great job on your first 10k!

I really held myself back today and didn’t run longer than the plan. In total my run was 6.3km. Tomorrow is a recovery run and then I have one last speed work session on Thursday . So far 74.2/160km for September.

Scott6255

@__Tams__ fantastic achievement on your 10K.
@Laurz9191 excited for your upcoming marathon. Sounds like you have a smart race strategy. Go get 'em!

Got in 7 miles this morning. Wasn't really going for any kind of speed record today, but got tired of Garmin telling me I had a High Anaerobic Shortage (not enough speed workouts). So after a slow warm-up mile I just picked up the pace a bit, negative split every mile, and ended up with a 10K PR 😁
My VO2Max has been stuck at 58 for several months, and all of a sudden today it jumped to 59. I guess I pleased the Garmin overlords 😏

Teresa502

September 1 – 5.17 miles
September 2 – 8.03 miles (5 road/3 trail)
September 4 – 9.01 miles (trail)
September 5 – 5.01 miles
September 7 – 5.24 miles
September 8 – 7.02 miles
September 9 – 5.01 miles (trail)
September 11 – 5.29 miles
September 12 – 3.27 miles
Total 53.05 miles/ Goal 85 miles

I did a short 3 mile run after my strength workout this morning.

Sounds like you had a fun, if not exhausting, time volunteering and cheering at the race @eleanorhawkins. Now that you’ve mastered the clapping and have some dance moves under your belt, I see pom poms in your future! I'm the Treasurer and on the Board of our local track club. We offer timing services for race organizers and I sometime volunteer to help at the finish line. Cheering in all the runners is definitely the best part.

Congrats on your first 10k @__Tams__ and nice PR @Scott6255!

I’m surprised that your marathon plan calls for a speed session days before the race @Laurz9191. Some plans cut them out over 2 weeks prior to the race due to the possibility of getting injured is greater pushing through speed work. You are doing great sticking to your taper!

quilteryoyo

Congratulations on the 10K @___Tams___ !

Great workout @kgirlhart !

Nice running @tarun_yadavA ! Sorry you had to go into the office today.

Sounds like you have a great plan in place @Laurz9191 !

Congrats on the negative splits and 10K PR @Scott6255 !

Great workout this morning @Teresa502 .

quilteryoyo

September 1: Walk 2.50 miles - treadmill wun
September 2: Walk 2.00 miles - treadmill - weed eat for almost 2 hours
September 3: Walk 2.00 miles - treadmill
September 4: Walk 2.14 miles - Ran 1.86 miles - driveway laps and to mom's -D1W1 HM training
September 5: Walk 1.14 miles - Ran 1.76 miles - driveway laps - D2W1 HM Plan - mowed mom's lawn
September 6: Walk 1.10 miles - Ran 2.25 miles - treadmill - D3W1 HM Plan
September 7: Walk 2.00 miles - treadmill D4W1 HM Plan
September 8: Walk 0.04 miles - Run 2.10 miles - Driveway laps - D5W1Cross training + other stuff
September 9: Walk 1.00 miles - Run 5.00 miles - treadmill - D6W1 Long Run - 6 miles
September 10: Walk 1.00 miles - driveway laps D7W1 - Rest day
September 11: Walk 1.00 miles - Run 2.25 miles - Fast Finish - W2D1 - also 1h17m of league tennis
September 12: Walk 0.74 miles - Run 1.51 miles - Foundation Run W2D2

33.75/80 mile goal

I didn't have time to post yesterday. I did a fast finish run on the driveway late morning. The last 5 min of fast running was okay for me, at 11:47 min/mile pace, but the others were very slow. Oh well, it's all about the HR - or at least it was yesterday. In the evening, I had a tennis league match. My partner and I won 6-1, 6-3.

Today didn't start out the best. When I tried to comment on some post, my keyboard was unresponsive...well, it was responsive, but nothing showed up on the screen. But, I took it with me today and was able to get it fixed - guy just took the keyboard off and reset it and all is well. No charge at that.

I was running a bit short on time, so modified today's plan by using the warm up and cool down walks as my Zone 1 runs. For those on Strava, I just counted it all together, but broke it into walks and runs for my "official" records. The 20 min of running wasn't fast, but was better than yesterday. Pace was 13:46 min/mile. Yesterday it was 14:15 min/mile pace.

This afternoon, I had a meeting with the TNCare, Medicaid, people for my cousin. It took longer than expected, partly because the lady was late. But, she was very nice and sees no reason for him to not be approved again, but she said you never know what the TNCare nurses who review the info will say. So, here is to fingers crossed and prayers that it all goes smoothly and I won't have to worry about money for the assisted living in a few weeks.

martaindale

Sept total: 38.3/100 miles

9/2: 8 miles
9/4: 4.3 miles
9/5: 3 miles
9/6: 3.9 miles
9/8: 3 miles
9/9: 13.1 miles
9/12: 3 miles

First post-race run. Nice and easy. My legs feel fine fatigue wise. I've had some tightness and a little pain in my left calf since race day. There have been some little twinges off and on for a month or two but now it's sticking around. It's higher and deeper than the Achilles. Maybe soleus? Gonna get back on the eccentric calf raises anyway and maybe skip a run tomorrow in favor of a walk to give it another day of rest. No point in pushing right now. I'll be starting training soon so I'd like to get this healed up.

kgirlhart

September Goal: 130 Miles

9/1: 3.30 miles
9/2: 1.51 miles
9/3: 11.12 miles
9/4: 2.01 miles
9/5: 7.02 miles
9/6: 7.05 miles
9/7: 6.26 miles
9/8: 3.15 miles
9/9: 2.12 miles
9/10: 11.02 miles
9/11: 1.26 miles
9/12: 6.50 miles

62.32/130 miles completed for September

We had thunderstorms last night, and there was rain in the forecast for this morning, but it wasn't raining when I got up. I ran 6.5 miles. It was humid, but it was about 70°F and there was a breeze so it wasn't unpleasant.

polskagirl01

@Laurz9191 good plan for your marathon. You've got this!

@quilteryoyo congrats on your tennis doubles win!

I *might* be recovered from Saturday's activities. Meaning I'm back to my (still bad but familiar) baseline, and my head is only slightly swimming. The HRV apps agree I'm back to baseline, after a few days of being off balance.

I'm usually able to tolerate a little more activity first thing in the morning, so I headed out today to re-pot some African violets that were overcrowding their pot in my windowsill, and to pick the slugs from my Squash Army. I now refill the beer traps every few days, and pick off whatever I find in the morning before they go to hide for the day. I also dump coffee grounds and eggshells around, but they don't seem to be as effective as the beer. Anyway, the whole system seems to be working pretty well. There are also now SO many little baby squash on the vines. The bigger 2 squash seem to be doing well, too. One looks like a regular pumpkin, but all of the rest are definitely shaped like butternut squash.

Also unrelated to running is one of our guinea pigs had surgery yesterday. I know that sounds ridiculous, but this little guy had a growing "bump" that was just going to get bigger until it made him sick and killed him, and he was otherwise happy and healthy. Total costs were less than the equivalent of US$100, so we decided to give it a try. Guinea pigs are pretty sensitive, and I'm not planning to do any further interventions, so we're hoping he recovers well. He's standing up and eating now (and pooping!), so that's a good sign.

Mack is basically my son's best friend 😄 and he's also the one who tricked us and started out being called Meg. That's why we have 4 piggies instead of just 2. I guess it worked out well because they're social animals and this way we could have 2 males in one cage (staring each other down all day) and 2 females in the other (cuddling each other all day). But for now Mack is by himself so Tim doesn't sense his weakness and harass him.

Laurz9191

@martaindale I hope your leg feels better soon!

@polskagirl01 I am glad you are back at your baseline after helping your friend in the race! That was a really nice show of support. Also great job squashing the squash enemies.

Last night we had a huge thunderstorm come through, which meant TONs of slugs to try not to step on this morning. I don’t like having to look so intently at the ground when I’m running, but there are a fair amount of fallen leaves on the ground which are “slug colour” and I have to be able to tell when I need to make an evasive manoeuvre.

Today was a recovery run - a nice and slow 4.5km. 78.7/160km for September.

tarun_yadavA

Morning all
Got in a 10K (09"49). Incredibly sore today. 7weeks in a row... will do 1 more tomorrow to make it a round 50day streak, then take a day off and rest.
@Laurz9191 okay, maybe I was being a touch melodramatic there...
But I was going for a sub-4. Missed it by all of 2 minutes. Realised midway through the penultimate lap that I was out of gas and it wasn't going to happen so the smiles and banter and heyyyy broooo wassupppp with the volunteers at certain points vanished by then and I was struggling and just annoyed more than anything I guess. They helped.

Mari33a

01/09 3.27 miles
04/09 1.01 mile
05/09 3.51 miles
06/09 3.51 miles
07/09 3.25 miles
08/09 3.12 miles

Total 17.67/50miles

Way behinds on eveyones posts again but things should settle down again for me from now on. I did manage to fit a few more runs in.

quilteryoyo

@martaindale Nice recovery run. Walking tomorrow is probably a good idea. I hope it is a minor strain and rest is all it needs.

Nice run @kgirlhart ! Glad it wasn't unpleasant.

@polskagirl01 . Thanks. Glad you have recovered from the race cheering. Sounds, and looks, like that squash army is doing great and your methods to control the slugs is working. I don't blame you for having the surgery on the guinea pig. I'm sure your son would have been really upset if you hadn't.

Great running and slug dodging @Laurz9191 !

Nice running @tarun_yadavA . Be careful to not injure yourself just trying to reach a 50 day streak. Maybe take it easy tomorrow since you are feeling it so much today.

Teresa502

September 1 – 5.17 miles
September 2 – 8.03 miles (5 road/3 trail)
September 4 – 9.01 miles (trail)
September 5 – 5.01 miles
September 7 – 5.24 miles
September 8 – 7.02 miles
September 9 – 5.01 miles (trail)
September 11 – 5.29 miles
September 12 – 3.27 miles
September 13 – 5.24 miles
Total 58.29 miles/ Goal 85 miles

Ran with my fast friend this morning. Temp was a nice 65F but it was very humid.

Congratulations on winning your tennis league match @quilteryoyo!

Glad you are taking time to heal that calf now @martaindale. Remember Kevin’s rule – if it feels ok, give it another day of rest.

Beautiful squash @polskagirl01! Glad you saved them from the slugs! I hope Mack continues to recover from his surgery.

Extra points @Laurz9191 for slug dodging!

martaindale

No run today but I did a hike on the treadmill (ifit in Switzerland). My calf is less achy today and I won't have time to run tomorrow, so hoping that all is well by Friday. I'll plan for a short run to test it out and make a decision about Saturday. I counted and I have 17 weeks until my A race. Time to put a plan together.

quilteryoyo

Thanks @Teresa502 . Great running.

That sounds like a great hike @martaindale ! I hope your calf is better by Friday!

September 1: Walk 2.50 miles - treadmill wun
September 2: Walk 2.00 miles - treadmill - weed eat for almost 2 hours
September 3: Walk 2.00 miles - treadmill
September 4: Walk 2.14 miles - Ran 1.86 miles - driveway laps and to mom's -D1W1 HM training
September 5: Walk 1.14 miles - Ran 1.76 miles - driveway laps - D2W1 HM Plan - mowed mom's lawn
September 6: Walk 1.10 miles - Ran 2.25 miles - treadmill - D3W1 HM Plan
September 7: Walk 2.00 miles - treadmill D4W1 HM Plan
September 8: Walk 0.04 miles - Run 2.10 miles - Driveway laps - D5W1Cross training + other stuff
September 9: Walk 1.00 miles - Run 5.00 miles - treadmill - D6W1 Long Run - 6 miles
September 10: Walk 1.00 miles - driveway laps D7W1 - Rest day
September 11: Walk 1.00 miles - Run 2.25 miles - Fast Finish - W2D1 - also 1h17m of league tennis
September 12: Walk 0.74 miles - Run 1.51 miles - Foundation Run W2D2
September 13: Walk 1.00 miles - Run 2.25 miles - Speed Play Run W2D3

37.00/80 mile goal

I did my Speed Play Run on the treadmill this morning. That makes it easier to control my speed and makes me keep a constant pace. I ran 5 min at 4.2 mph, 5 min at 4.5 mph, then 3 x (2/2 min at 6.0/3.8 mph), 7:50 min at 4.2 mph. The middle 6.0 mph two min was tough - huffing and puffing a lot worse than the others. Otherwise, not too bad. I ran a total of 2.25 miles at an avg pace of 13:16 min/mile. Avg Hr was 130 with a max of 149 bpm. I also walked a total of 1 mile for warm up and cool down.

Scott6255

@martaindale I feel for you with the achy, twinges in your calf. Mine has been quietly talking to me for a couple months. I panic every time, thinking here we go again. But it hasn't really progressed any, so like you I am concentrating on calf raises and stretching. Glad you are feeling better, and hope it continues to not give you any more problems.

I did an easy 7 TM miles today to recover a little from yesterday.

kgirlhart

September Goal: 130 Miles

9/1: 3.30 miles
9/2: 1.51 miles
9/3: 11.12 miles
9/4: 2.01 miles
9/5: 7.02 miles
9/6: 7.05 miles
9/7: 6.26 miles
9/8: 3.15 miles
9/9: 2.12 miles
9/10: 11.02 miles
9/11: 1.26 miles
9/12: 6.50 miles
9/13: 7.02 miles

69.34/130 miles completed for September

It was really nice this morning. 68°F and the skies were partly cloudy, but I could still see quite a few stars. I ran 7 miles. I saw a skunk and lots of cats. There was a big dog at the park, but he was with someone. The forecast has thunderstorms in the morning. I guess we shall see.

tarun_yadavA

Morning all.
Got in 6 1/2Miles this morning (09"22).
50 runs in a row! ... felt a bit easier today surprisingly!? Definitely having a rest day tomorrow or Saturday (both?!).
(Tomorrow and Saturday are my two 'going out' nights for the month - 40th birthday in a bar, and a friend is having a guys' only housewarming at his new place while it's not fully furnished yet and his wife is away! (wise move lol)

@Laurz9191 - if I'm not on here before Sunday... best of luck! You got this! 💪

@__Tams__ most of us here are on Strava too. (Looks like you're sticking around lol)
Check it out!
I'm https://www.strava.com/athletes/53345216
)

Laurz9191

Hi everyone! I did my little mini speed session this morning. @Teresa502 I wasn’t really worried about getting hurt because there wasn’t any sprinting involved, just “faster” running for 20 minutes. I did stretches and leg swings after to make sure nothing tightens up too much. I think I’ve done all that I could now in this post-vacation period to make sure I can have a good racing experience on Sunday. We’ll see how it goes.

@tarun_yadavA Great job with your 50 day streak! I hope you have some nice rest days and enjoy the celebration .

@AlphaHowls sorry to hear about the poison ivy!!! I hope the itch goes away soon!!!

Today’s run 7.1km, brings my September total to 85.8/160km.

polskagirl01

Poison ivy, slugs, lightning... sounds dangerous out there! Be safe everyone!

Teresa502

Monthly question: What kind of watch/tracking device does everyone have? Are you happy with its performance?

I have a Garmin 245 Music. I like the long battery life and the simplicity of using it. I basically just use it to track runs, walks and hikes. It has a "weights" feature on it but it wants me to either load a workout or to enter the number of reps, etc. and that's just too complicated. Same with yoga. I bought the music version thinking I would use it but alas I haven't taken the time to figure it out. About the only time I run with music is when I run at home and I think the watch needs wi-fi to play the music and that's not an option where I live.

Scott6255

@Teresa502 I have the Garmin 255s Music. I too thought I would use the music feature, but you have to have a Spotify Premium account for it to play your Playlists, and the other services it supports you also have to have the premium version. I think you can download your own songs that you own, but I get bored with the same old songs over and over. But no, I don't think you need WiFi. The appeal is you don't need to take your phone with you on runs if you have the music on the watch.

Zaxa2021

September goal: 100 miles

9/1: 4 miles (41:44)
9/2: 4 miles (40:48)
9/3: 4 miles (41:30)
9/4: 3 miles (28:55)
9/6: 4 miles (41:14)
9/7: 4 miles (40:18)
9/9: 5 miles (54:38)
9/10: 3 miles (31:55)
9/11: 4 miles (41:13)
9/13: 4 miles (39:19)

Total: 39/100 miles completed

I'm a little behind where I would like to be, as far as miles completed so far this month, but I'm close. I'm happy with the progress I'm making with the speed, last night was a PR on my 4 mile run. Overall, I feel good about the progress I am making.