July (2016) Running Challenge

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  • Somebody_Loved
    Somebody_Loved Posts: 498 Member
    Question: What do you do to cross-train with your running? I'm looking for ideas to add to my book of tips as I like variety and would love to pick your running brains. :smiley:

    I'm interested to see the answers on this, too. I just signed up for barre classes (mix of pilates, yoga, body weight exercises) in hopes to strengthen/increase flexibility to minimize running-related injuries. I have a 6 week trial so I'll check back in with how it goes!
  • Somebody_Loved
    Somebody_Loved Posts: 498 Member

    @Somebody_Loved I suppose if you really like training plans, you could just follow one and then keep repeating the last 4-week-block over and over again to stay at that level. Or just follow a few general rules of thumb like "don't increase your milage my more than 10percent per week" and "long run shouldn't be more than 25-33% of your weekly milage".

    Thanks so much, that's great feedback. I like the idea of repeating the last 4 weeks for a while until I'm comfortable that I can maintain my current level on my own.
  • greenolivetree
    greenolivetree Posts: 1,282 Member
    Question: What do you do to cross-train with your running? I'm looking for ideas to add to my book of tips as I like variety and would love to pick your running brains. :smiley:

    Here's a couple of my favorite workouts besides running. I try to do 3 days a week of pilates/strength.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Womx4TM6p3A&list=PLsWzrKMQxjZqg5IaQVszqoPsBDU3IPbAT&index=2
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4JmGtoe9UM&index=4&list=PLsWzrKMQxjZpUYMr9_TsRPONMnC2Mnr4o

    I tried biking but my knee started hurting (probably just because my bike is kid-sized).
  • TattooedDolphinGirl78
    TattooedDolphinGirl78 Posts: 5,214 Member
    edited July 2016
    Question: What do you do to cross-train with your running? I'm looking for ideas to add to my book of tips as I like variety and would love to pick your running brains. :smiley:

    Here's a couple of my favorite workouts besides running. I try to do 3 days a week of pilates/strength.

    I tried biking but my knee started hurting (probably just because my bike is kid-sized).

    Thanks, this helps as I was thinking along the same lines but since I'm new to running, I figured I'd ask the veterans for what works for them. :smile:
  • TattooedDolphinGirl78
    TattooedDolphinGirl78 Posts: 5,214 Member
    edited July 2016
    Question: What do you do to cross-train with your running? I'm looking for ideas to add to my book of tips as I like variety and would love to pick your running brains. :smiley:

    A follow-up question: Do you run every day, or skip a day and cross-train the days you don't run?

    I ask, but there's so much literature out there that says that running every day isn't good or yes, do run everyday.
    Personally, I run 5 times a week and try to do something different on weekends. It's the "something different" that tends to mess me up. Lately it's been yoga, but I feel I need more strength training as the yoga moves I do are more therapeutic/restorative.
  • karllundy
    karllundy Posts: 1,490 Member
    7/1 - Baseball tournament...no chance to run.
    7/2 - More baseball!
    7/3 - Family day. Not starting the month so well.
    7/4 - 3.82 miles on a beautiful, cool morning.
    7/5 - Bodypump class, followed by 1.5 miles on indoor track.
    7/6 - 4.01 miles through the soupy air...HOLY HUMIDITY!
    7/7 - Bodypump class, then 1.5 miles on indoor track.
    exercise.png
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    legs are feeling 90% after resting since the HM, and icing and stretching. If all goes well, I'll try an easy 3-5 miler on Saturday, and if that goes well, use next week to get back into running 4-5 days a week so I'm ready to go balls to the walls on the 18th with the beginning of my next training cycle.
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    edited July 2016

    @kristinegift hopefully their will be a nice breeze off the ocean on Saturday. Have you been to Belmar? Big party town, my friends and I used to rent a house there on the beach.


    @stoshew71 make sure you turn in your FF card, the card they handed you at the race is only good for 30 days (it is probably for $20, it says in the fine print) I think they are $25 for 1st $20 1st in AG, $15 2nd in AG and $10 3rd in AG. After you turn it in for the gift card those are good for I think 90 days.


    Listen to me Linda, they didn't give me a FF card. LOL They said they actually ran out but go down to FF and they can look it up. So I get $20 off and I have 30 days to claim the card, but 90 days to use it. That helps. I will go tonight and claim it, have a look around and see if anything I want. I was thinking of getting some nice compression running shorts. All the running clearance warehouses I looked up online either didn't have my size for what I wanted or didn't seem worth the money. If FF has some special combined with the $20 off, then bingo. I really don't need shoes right now. LOL Just trying to think of what else to get.

    As far as beaches, you are talking my old neck of the woods. We used to go to Bar-A in Belmar all the time after work on Fridays in the summer. Then sometimes D'Jais afterwards. The main marketing guy at D'Jais graduated with me in HS. So I knew him pretty well.

    Sleeze Side, I mean Seaside Heights was the big party town. AKA where they filmed MTV's Jersey Shore. One of our buddies had a house in Ortley and we would always crashed there if we couldn't make it out of SSH. It was just a short walk down the road from all the bars.

    I met Jenn in SSH. You also have Point Pleasant which is between the 2 and is a lot more family friendly. Manasquan was also a happening place. My brother had a house with a bunch of his Rutgers friends in Manasquan one summer.

  • greenolivetree
    greenolivetree Posts: 1,282 Member
    edited July 2016
    Question: What do you do to cross-train with your running? I'm looking for ideas to add to my book of tips as I like variety and would love to pick your running brains. :smiley:

    A follow-up question: Do you run every day, or skip a day and cross-train the days you don't run?

    I ask, but there's so much literature out there that says that running every day isn't good or yes, do run everyday.
    Personally, I run 5 times a week and try to do something different on weekends. It's the "something different" that tends to mess me up. Lately it's been yoga, but I feel I need more strength training as the yoga moves I do are more therapeutic/restorative.

    I started running July 2014 and the first 18 months I only ran 2-3 days a week. Only this year have I gotten more consistent and I started doing 3-4 days a week and lately more like 4-5 days a week. I've felt surprisingly fine adding in more days/more miles but I still consider my mileage low at about 20 per week in a good week. I actually had more aches and pains when I ran LESS but I've added more stretching and strength to specifically target areas I had problems with. So it's hard to say what results I would've gotten if I'd run more the first 18 months or done more stretching. Trial and error I think for each person to find what works for them????

    ETA: I have several complete rest days each months, so I have to do some of my cross-training on days that I also run.
  • karllundy
    karllundy Posts: 1,490 Member
    @ROBOTFOOD - Your glacial is my everyday / base. Glad you got good news.
    @kimlight2 - Woo hoo! Congrats on first-ever 10k distance!
    @skippygirlsmom - Your conversation with Skip was hilarious! The video...so much my 10 year old son. You can't tell that kid anything. But, I am not so into threatening pow pows on the butt...more like, no sports on TV or baseball practice for you.
    @MNLittleFinn - Way to go on the HM! Watch out, I have found them to be addictive. I would do one monthly if I could find them near by and justify the funds.
    @TattooedDolphinGirl78 - For cross training, I go to spin classes, ride a stationary bike, lift weights and / or go to pump class. Except that I am coming back from a mild injury, I generally run 5 days a week, taking a day off after the long run especially. @Somebody_Loved - that sounds like a good choice, hope you love it!

  • tinyc82
    tinyc82 Posts: 21 Member
    OK can't fix ticker on mobile.
    4th July: 3.6km
    5th July: 3.8km
    7th July: 4km (c25k wk 8 day 1 yay!!)
    Total: 11.4km
    Total left: 33.6km
  • ceciliaslater
    ceciliaslater Posts: 457 Member
    @TattooedDolphinGirl78 - I used to run every single day, 5 miles a day (this was a few years ago). I never got injured doing that...and I was ONLY running. Then again, I was younger then. I stopped running for a while after getting bitten by a dog (couldn't figure out a safe route to run, didn't have a treadmill, gave up).

    When I got back into running, I started out doing XT 5 days a week and only doing one long run on the weekends. Maybe not the best plan, but I was in good shape already and it got me through two Half Marathons without any issues. XT included weight training on Monday, Step aerobics and core Tuesday and Thursday, combo Cardio/weights class on Wednesday, and Insanity on Friday. My runs started out around 5 miles and progressed up to about 14 miles.

    Once I started training for my marathon, I switched to running 4 days a week (Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sun). I kept the weight training on Monday and step/core on Tuesday but dumped the other three cross training days. Once I started having bad issues with my leg and ankle (os trigonum syndrome that brought on a fibular stress fracture), I swapped the step class out for spin, since it's lower impact and I was less likely to get injured--plus, my ortho surgeon allowed me to do spin classes with a stress fracture so that I could keep my fitness up and complete my marathon.

    Now that I'm coming back from my surgery, I'm trying to come up with a solid plan. I LOVE step classes, and they're pretty good XT because they involve a lot of lateral movement and such that you don't get from running. But, it's also very high impact, so maybe not the best choice.

    Spin is definitely a solid option, but can be very boring without a good instructor.

    The basic goal of XT is just to make sure that you work all of your muscle groups so that you don't end up with overdeveloped running muscles and underdeveloped everything else. Imbalances like that are a big cause of injury. Regardless of what I choose to do otherwise, I will definitely be including at least 2 days per week of full body weight training for that reason.
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    Question for people doing hill repeats...I have a hard time keeping track of reps, even when it's only like 5-7, How do you all keep track of the number of repeats you've done?
  • AdrianChr92
    AdrianChr92 Posts: 567 Member
    @MNLittleFinn If my watch didn't tell me I'd lose track too. I suppose you could get one of those counter clickers or just use some chalk and mark it somewhere. Or a pen and write on your skin :)

    Date.....Distance..Avg hr/Pace/km
    July 1 - 7.7 km - 148/6:09
    July 2 - 5.8 km - 147/6:56
    July 3 - 11.6km - 151/6:22
    July 4 - rest
    July 5 - 7.0 km - 149/6:34
    July 6 - 6.5 km - 147/6:32
    July 7 - 4.4 km - 139/7:00


    exercise.png

    03/04: Bucharest 10k and Family run 48:28
    16/04: Color Run Bucharest
    17/04: Forest Run 5k 22:05
    04/06: Happy Run 5k 21:57
    22/07: Bucharest After9Cross 9.5k
    28/08: Fox Trail Half Marathon (10k)
    18/09: Baneasa Trail Run (10k)
    09/10: Bucharest International Marathon (Half)
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    edited July 2016

    @Somebody_Loved I suppose if you really like training plans, you could just follow one and then keep repeating the last 4-week-block over and over again to stay at that level. Or just follow a few general rules of thumb like "don't increase your milage my more than 10percent per week" and "long run shouldn't be more than 25-33% of your weekly milage".

    Thanks so much, that's great feedback. I like the idea of repeating the last 4 weeks for a while until I'm comfortable that I can maintain my current level on my own.

    You may want to check out this blog:

    http://therunningstan.blogspot.com/2016/02/my-gripes-on-training-plans.htm

    Question for people doing hill repeats...I have a hard time keeping track of reps, even when it's only like 5-7, How do you all keep track of the number of repeats you've done?

    I do mine with my running group. I keep asking the guy in front of me, "how many was that again?"

    A follow-up question: Do you run every day, or skip a day and cross-train the days you don't run?

    I ask, but there's so much literature out there that says that running every day isn't good or yes, do run everyday.
    Personally, I run 5 times a week and try to do something different on weekends. It's the "something different" that tends to mess me up. Lately it's been yoga, but I feel I need more strength training as the yoga moves I do are more therapeutic/restorative.

    I built up slowly (key words) to running 6 days a week and at most 3 of those days twice a day. I always take Sunday off as a complete rest day.

    I went from running 3 days a week (~12 miles a week) on the treadmill in October 2013 to where I am today (9x a week over 6 days for ~60-70 mpw).

    When I first started with 3x a week on the TM, I would do elliptical or bike in the gym on the other days. But I scratched the elliptical and bike in the gym when I started increasing my mileage and began running outside. At first I just added an extra 3 mile run outside on the greenway in addition to the M-W-F treadmill. Then that 3 miles turned into 6 miles on the greenway. Then the 3 miles on the TM turned into 4 miles and then 4.5 miles, then I decided to do it all outside. I think I ran on a treadmill like 6x since then. The last time I ran on a treadmill was once 2 winters ago when we got a big ice storm.

    It's OK to run everyday as long as you build it up slowly and you do give yourself a rest every now and then. The more you run, the more you have to focus on pacing. If you go out doing a tempo run everyday, you will get injured real fast.
  • skippygirlsmom
    skippygirlsmom Posts: 4,433 Member
    Stoshew71 wrote: »

    @kristinegift hopefully their will be a nice breeze off the ocean on Saturday. Have you been to Belmar? Big party town, my friends and I used to rent a house there on the beach.


    @stoshew71 make sure you turn in your FF card, the card they handed you at the race is only good for 30 days (it is probably for $20, it says in the fine print) I think they are $25 for 1st $20 1st in AG, $15 2nd in AG and $10 3rd in AG. After you turn it in for the gift card those are good for I think 90 days.


    Listen to me Linda, they didn't give me a FF card. LOL They said they actually ran out but go down to FF and they can look it up. So I get $20 off and I have 30 days to claim the card, but 90 days to use it. That helps. I will go tonight and claim it, have a look around and see if anything I want. I was thinking of getting some nice compression running shorts. All the running clearance warehouses I looked up online either didn't have my size for what I wanted or didn't seem worth the money. If FF has some special combined with the $20 off, then bingo. I really don't need shoes right now. LOL Just trying to think of what else to get.

    As far as beaches, you are talking my old neck of the woods. We used to go to Bar-A in Belmar all the time after work on Fridays in the summer. Then sometimes D'Jais afterwards. The main marketing guy at D'Jais graduated with me in HS. So I knew him pretty well.

    Sleeze Side, I mean Seaside Heights was the big party town. AKA where they filmed MTV's Jersey Shore. One of our buddies had a house in Ortley and we would always crashed there if we couldn't make it out of SSH. It was just a short walk down the road from all the bars.

    I met Jenn in SSH. You also have Point Pleasant which is between the 2 and is a lot more family friendly. Manasquan was also a happening place. My brother had a house with a bunch of his Rutgers friends in Manasquan one summer.

    @stoshew71 last weekend they were having buy one get 50% off on clothing, I didn't stroll over to the men's side of the store so I don't know what they had. Skip brought those wild red/white/blue shorts she wore in the Mile and some other pair of shorts. I screwed up by one day and missed out using our Cotton Row bib money. You needed to use it by the 30th and we were there on the 1st. Dick's was having a sale too while we were there.

    I think I've pretty much drunk/drank/got drunk from one end of the Jersey Shore to the other. :smiley: Way too many nights at the Headliner in Neptune ha ha!!! You know you are some place too much when the owner invites you to his wedding... and bachelor party!

    Seaside tried to fix his reputation, it was definitely a family town when I was a kid, but then doing things like Jersey Shore didn't help it's image at all. Skip and I would go to Ortley or Island Beach State Park.

    Ah I miss home. We are going back in September for a wedding. I can't wait, wish it was in the summer because Skip will be back to school so we can only go a couple of days.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    Question for people doing hill repeats...I have a hard time keeping track of reps, even when it's only like 5-7, How do you all keep track of the number of repeats you've done?

    I use the interval function on my Garmin. I usually do mine based on time.
  • ROBOTFOOD
    ROBOTFOOD Posts: 5,527 Member
    Question for people doing hill repeats...I have a hard time keeping track of reps, even when it's only like 5-7, How do you all keep track of the number of repeats you've done?

    I just know from what distance I've ran. And if I do forget, I'll start over. Extra punishment. Happened only once.

    You could set mileage alarms on you're watch. Or interval alarms.
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    Thanks all for the advice. I'll probably figure out how long it takes me to run up/down this one hill near me and program it into the interval timer on my Garmin