March 2016 Running Challenge

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  • AdrianChr92
    AdrianChr92 Posts: 567 Member
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    It's not premium feature. Anyone can do It but I see no reason to
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
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    @WhatMeRunning No HRM yet, that's something I want to get though, just not sure what one to get. I figured getting one would be a good idea to help me train more efficiently. Been going by feel, but I think I'm still pushing too hard.
  • 9voice9
    9voice9 Posts: 693 Member
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    01-Mar: 0.00 miles but 6.14 miles (walk)
    02-Mar: 0.00 miles but 5.73 miles (walk)
    03-Mar: 2.10 miles plus 2.50 miles (walk)
    04-Mar: 0.00 miles but 5.96 miles (walk)
    05-Mar: 3.16 miles
    06-Mar: <Life Day> but 6.87 miles
    07-Mar:
    08-Mar:
    09-Mar:
    10-Mar:
    11-Mar:
    12-Mar:
    13-Mar: <Life Day>
    14-Mar:
    15-Mar:
    16-Mar:
    17-Mar:
    18-Mar:
    19-Mar:
    20-Mar: <Life Day>
    21-Mar:
    22-Mar:
    23-Mar:
    24-Mar:
    25-Mar:
    26-Mar:
    27-Mar: <Life Day>
    28-Mar:
    29-Mar:
    30-Mar:
    31-Mar:

    Think I'm pretty much back to full-time running (well, still doing my run/walk, but trying to get slower/longer on the run parts). Figured today that if I'm gonna do 10Ks, I better do 'em regularly in my training/fitness runs. Would like to be faster than 11:41/mile, but it's just a number for today, so I can beat it tomorrow.

    exercise.png

    Upcoming Races:
    19-Mar: Cherry Blossom 10K, Macon, GA
    02-Apr: Run 2 End Alzheimer's 10.5K, Bonaire, GA
    16-Apr: Running for Ronald 10K or 15K, Macon, GA
    04-Jul: Peachtree Road Race 10K, Atlanta, GA
  • 9voice9
    9voice9 Posts: 693 Member
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    rcsmom2002 wrote: »
    Ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill at the YMCA today. Me, my husband, and my 13yo son all ran a treadmill 5k today for the Firefighters 5K virtual run. My husband is a firefighter so he really wanted that medal! Good motivation. :)
    WTG on all y'all!
  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
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    I'll do a proper entry tomorrow but I've had a productive couple days runwise. I feel like I earned a rest day.
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
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    I got 3rd in my age group today. Pumped. My first award in a race. I will come back later to see what everyone is up to.

    10844069_1599210620301350_15200848_n.jpg
  • _nikkiwolf_
    _nikkiwolf_ Posts: 1,380 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Race report - warning, too long! ;)
    I ran a short race today. In lovely sunny weather: the snow turned to rain two hours before the race, and one hour before start the rain died down too. It was a really short race, only 4.4km. That was even shorter than I had expected - the website said 4.57km, so that was a bit of a surprise. Still, now I am glad that it wasn't a real 5k - in that case, I would have tried to get a new PR, but this definitely was not a PR course!

    First of, it was much hillier than I had expected! Whatever Strava believes(*), the entire course was at least one third up- and one third downhill, with very little flat trail in between. Unfortunately, all of the downhill was in the forest, on quite muddy trails. That was only partly mitigated by wood chips on the ground in some places, and at one point even volunteers who shouted "attention, this curve is really slippery" when you drew near...

    Initially I had planned to finish with an average pace of 5:50 min/km or better. After I encountered the first muddy downhill, I changed my mind and decided to run the race just for fun, without a time goal (and without any falls and potential injuries). I ended up with a pace of 6:04 min/km instead, which should put me somewhere in the middle of the field (29/51 in the age group "women >1996" (they didn't make any further subdivisons)).
    At the beginning of the race, I was almost sure I would come in dead last - everyone took off so fast! There were about a hundred of people, and they all went out like crazy. A few of them slowed down once it started to get muddy, and I could overtake some more on the uphills. There was one short but somewhat steep bit where a lot of people were walking in the second round, so I decided that rather than being upset about not being able to run all out and determine my race pace, I should at least be proud about the fact that I had no trouble to keep running.

    What I found really nice was that the announcer shouted out encouragements with your name once you got to the last hundred meter stretch. Not that I knew the guy or anyone else there, but it still motivated me to sprint the last bit as fast as I could.

    There were no medals (and no beer, only water and sports drinks). Instead of the medal, everyone got a light you can clip to your shoe. Which, I have to admit, is a little more useful. And it does have the name of the race printed on the side, so I guess if I really wanted to, I could tie a ribbon onto it and lub it in the drawer with other race medals... Since I didn't add a ribbon yet, there's none of the classic after-race proud medal selfies for me! I did take a photo anyway, to show off the nice shirt I was wearing :)

    ximg.php?fid=14546855

    ximg.php?fid=61997697


    Since I didn't run the race all-out, and I was wearing my running clothes anyway, I decided to do a little detour on the way home and try out the first part of a new trail. It was really beautiful, with great views. I'll have to come back to that one later - when the melting snow isn't running downhill on the same trails as I'm slogging uphill... All in all, I did get a lot of mud on my shoes and pants today :tongue:

    --

    *[Sidenote on the elevation, since I just found out about this today and it might interest some of you:
    Strava only reports 11m elevation gain my run, which really puzzled me. The highest and lowest point of the course have 25m of elevation distance, and it was a loop you run twice. I've seen the run logs of two other people who ran the race, and they have elevations of 53m/57m... After a bit of reading I found out that Strava only keeps elevation data from watches with barometric altitude sensor, for other watches (like mine) it replaces your GPS's data with their own (which is apparently less detailed when you are outside the US).]
  • cookma423
    cookma423 Posts: 62 Member
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    I'll set a goal for 100 this march. That's about 25 a week, which is pushing my current weekly average slightly (I average a little over 20 per week).
  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
    edited March 2016
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    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    @Elise4270 - I was a little weird at first about the social aspect of sharing runs on Strava when most all of my runs start and end at home. Then I realized nobody is going to be stalking me for any reason. There is an option to put up a buffer zone though, it will not show the parts of your route within a certain distance of your house. That might be a premium feature though, I don't know about that.

    Ya, I thought about just not syncing it to Strava. But everyone that bought shirts has my address, and I have theirs. And so does Stan. So, I let it roll. I found out a week ago my youngest son is on meth, so I'm more concerned with his and his "friends" actions. I may check into the buffer feature/ premium account, and a hot shot (aka cattle prod). Most of us are so far away from one another anyhow. Someone would have to be off their nut to come to OK.
  • _nikkiwolf_
    _nikkiwolf_ Posts: 1,380 Member
    edited March 2016
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    @Stoshew71 Wow, third in your age group, congratulations!! I already saw your awesome time on Strava :-)


    ETA @Elise4270 The "privacy zone" is not a premium feature on Strava, everyone can use it. I've even set up two - one around my place, and one around my parents where I run when I visit them on holidays. Sure, people see where I run and will still get a rough idea where I live - but so does everyone who sees me running aroung or walking into my apartment building; and my running routes and times don't always follow the same pattern. As long as I don't acquire any creepy stalkers, I'm fine with sharing my run maps.
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
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    Congrats @Stoshew71!
  • AdrianChr92
    AdrianChr92 Posts: 567 Member
    edited March 2016
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    @_nikkiwolf_ Yea strava uses map elevation I think if you don't have a barometer. Which nevertheless sucks for low elevations. It works ok if you go on a mountain though. But I don't think elevation is something that I absolutely need to know for now.

    @Stoshew71 grats man.
  • kristinegift
    kristinegift Posts: 2,406 Member
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    @Stoshew71 That is such an amazing time. Blazing pace! Congrats on the AG award! You killed it today. (Also that finish line photo is all you, buddy! That's so cool!)

    @_nikkiwolf_ It sounds like a fun race, if a bit treacherous! And way to represent with the Challenge tshirt! :)
  • ddmom0811
    ddmom0811 Posts: 1,878 Member
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    Elise4270 wrote: »
    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    @Elise4270 - I was a little weird at first about the social aspect of sharing runs on Strava when most all of my runs start and end at home. Then I realized nobody is going to be stalking me for any reason. There is an option to put up a buffer zone though, it will not show the parts of your route within a certain distance of your house. That might be a premium feature though, I don't know about that.

    Ya, I thought about just not syncing it to Strava. But everyone that bought shirts has my address, and I have theirs. And so does Stan. So, I let it roll. I found out a week ago my youngest son is on meth, so I'm more concerned with his and his "friends" actions. I may check into the buffer feature/ premium account, and a hot shot (aka cattle prod). Most of us are so far away from one another anyhow. Someone would have to be off their nut to come to OK.

    Sorry about your son.

    After reading most of The Gift of Fear, I don't think we can be too careful. On the non-premium Strava, you can block around your house - I did that. I've used Endomondo a couple years, and on that your maps can be shared with just your friends or no one. I kept having random people wanting to be my friend on Endomondo, most overseas. Since I run alone at dark, I just don't like the idea of anyone seeing where I was, except my family. Even though these random people were overseas, I imagined that they might have some friend here that they would tell to come get me. Why they are going to want get a 54 year old woman, IDK! I also wanted to model safety for my daughter who uses the same app. I did buy her The Gift of Fear - I'm sure she will roll her eyes when it arrives. ;)

    @WhatMeRunning - thanks for the info. Sounds like it is useful.
  • _nikkiwolf_
    _nikkiwolf_ Posts: 1,380 Member
    edited March 2016
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    AdrianChr92 wrote: »
    @_nikkiwolf_ Yea strava uses map elevation I think if you don't have a barometer. Which nevertheless sucks for low elevations. It works ok if you go on a mountain though. But I don't think elevation is something that I absolutely need to know for now.
    @AdrianChr92 Apparently, it doesn't always work well for mountains either, see this blog post - Strava even say on their website that for mountain regions outside the USA, the elevation gain can be too large. Whereas for short climbs, it can happen that they don't pass the threshold for being counted after the smoothing (which, I suspect, happened to my first run today).
    Well, I know the race was hilly, I don't need Strava elevation to tell me that... I was just really surprised to see such a low number for the run, when I know how much I had to run uphill! And, I have to admit, slightly annoyed because I had resolution for 2016 to run more hills and complete the "climbing challenge" on Strava each month, and 57m would have helped me a little more towards than 11m ;)
  • ddmom0811
    ddmom0811 Posts: 1,878 Member
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    @Stoshew71 - AWESOME!
  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
    edited March 2016
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    ddmom0811 wrote: »
    Elise4270 wrote: »
    WhatMeRunning wrote: »
    @Elise4270 - I was a little weird at first about the social aspect of sharing runs on Strava when most all of my runs start and end at home. Then I realized nobody is going to be stalking me for any reason. There is an option to put up a buffer zone though, it will not show the parts of your route within a certain distance of your house. That might be a premium feature though, I don't know about that.

    Ya, I thought about just not syncing it to Strava. But everyone that bought shirts has my address, and I have theirs. And so does Stan. So, I let it roll. I found out a week ago my youngest son is on meth, so I'm more concerned with his and his "friends" actions. I may check into the buffer feature/ premium account, and a hot shot (aka cattle prod). Most of us are so far away from one another anyhow. Someone would have to be off their nut to come to OK.

    I was, except my family. Even though these random people were overseas, I imagined that they might have some friend here that they would tell to come get me. Why they are going to want get a 54 year old woman, IDK! I also wanted to model safety for my daughter who uses the same app. I did buy her The Gift of Fear - I'm sure she will roll her eyes when it arrives. ;)

    @WhatMeRunning - thanks for the info. Sounds like it is useful.

    I was just looking at it and cant find the feature. Do you remember where it is?

    Edit- found it. Thanks everyone! And @_nikkiwolf_
  • AdrianChr92
    AdrianChr92 Posts: 567 Member
    edited March 2016
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    @_nikkiwolf_ I guess if you really are a serious hiker/mountaineer/trail runner you already have a watch with barometers. I for one don't really care and those watches are outside my price range. I had a long run today and when I did the route for it in strava route maker it said 50 m but when I recorded the run it only recorded 14 m. Then I found out they use different databases when you make a route and when you record it.

    Also about premium strava. The only thing I like is the training zones they give me based on race pace. I did a trial race pace 5k and entered it in strava and now it gives me how much of the time I was in aerobic zone, tempo zone, anaerobic zone etc. I find that usefully. Live segments are cool if you are into that. They also offer training plans for various distances from coach McMillan and you get a "suffer score" if you have a heart rate monitor. It's 6$ per month or 60 per year. You can try it for a month and see how it goes but if you don't like it remember to cancel it or it will bill you next month too. Also it gives you a small orange shield next to your name. All in all premium is not necessary at all. All the important things are free

    I for one don't mind paying 6$ a month for an app I use quite a lot
  • _nikkiwolf_
    _nikkiwolf_ Posts: 1,380 Member
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    Elise4270 wrote: »
    I was just looking at it and cant find the feature. Do you remember where it is?
    In the "privacy" settings under your profile: https://www.strava.com/settings/privacy
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
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    @_nikkiwolf_ - Good call on running that race to finish!

    I have seen a few odd things with elevation on Strava, mostly in regards to GPS coordinates putting you on the ground as opposed to on the path/road you are running. It can look a bit silly when your elevation chart shows you did a 20% incline over about a quarter mile when in truth a bridge spanned over a river about 100 feet below.

    On the flipside of that I planned a route on some streamway park trails for my long run Saturday. I wanted some hills and I knew a stretch where there were some ideal hills. After that was new territory for me though. From the elevation chart my route was gentle uphill for the 6 miles out (save for those expected hills at mile 2) and then the exact reverse on the way back with 6 miles of gentle downhill. Well, at mile 4 through 5 was a series of the most ridiculous climbs and descents to/from the stream and neighborhoods on the adjoining ridges. They did not really seem to plan a route upwards other than to just go right straight up the bluffs.

    It was a bit bothersome only because that long run was not supposed to have those added challenges. But....I now know a nice hilly stretch on those trails with a valley bordered on both sides by the most challenging paved hills I've run in this area. Would make for great hill sprints!

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