September (2016) Running Challenge

@ariceroni Glad to hear you are feeling pain-free, and fingers crossed your appointment brings good news.

@greenolivetree I personally just buy ridiculously bright, reflective clothing for the winter. All of my long-sleeved running tops are either fluorescent orange, pink or yellow. For me, that's fine because I wouldn't run anywhere without street lights and I stick to main roads for safety reasons, so there are always pavements (sidewalks for you american folks).

@Elise4270 Glad to see you're getting moving a lot more now. It must feel so good after so long

@juliet3455 That's awesome that you're in a magazine - You are practically a celebrity!

Just a slow parkrun for me today to warm up the legs before the half marathon tomorrow. I normally wouldn't run the day before a race, I never have before, but I missed my Thursday run due to being tackled to the floor by a child (the joys of special ed teaching) and my knee was a bit sore. It didn't hurt yesterday or this morning but I thought I had best run today to check I wasn't going to have any problems, but as expected, it's fine and actually the bruise that's come out is pretty small, so I guess my hands took the brunt of the landing (they look pretty battered to be honest). I will be sensible tomorrow though, it if hurts I will slow down. There are always other races.

September Running Challenge

1st-4th - Poorlysick
5th - 3.53 miles
6th - 4.06 miles
8th - 10.02 miles
10th - 3.1 miles
11th - 6.07 miles
13th - 3.01 miles
17th - 3.11 miles

MTD - 32.90/70 miles

Upcoming races:
18th Sept - Run Reigate Half Marathon
2nd Oct - Tonbridge Half Marathon
30th Oct - River Thames Half Marathon
17th Dec - Lee Valley VeloPark Half Marathon
9th April 2017 - Brighton Marathon

kristinegift wrote: »

9voice9 wrote: »

Just gonna leave this one here (warning, some bad language, but then again, we're runners and we LIVE on TMI and 4-letter words!): No, you're wearing too much neon

"17. At the first sign that your favorite running shoe might be discontinued you buy as many pairs as you can find."
I know a few people around here that do that... not to name names, but they know who they are!!

Not me. Unfortunately!
I didn't notice the Saucony Cortanas would be discontinued, until it was too late... Recently, I've also started to regret I didn't stash some Brooks PureFlow 3s. I just bought a pair of 5s, but they are weird. I liked the 3s much better, but I can't find them anymore. Why do shoe companies keep messing with perfectly fine shoes?


@lporter229 Congratulations, that's awesome!

@juliet3455 Wow, that sounds like a lot of bears! I'm glad I don't have to worry about wild animals here. I love the magazine picture - looks like you really enjoy those hill repeats

@ceciliaslater I have a spot on my toes where I tend to get blisters when I run too long time with wet socks. I recently found out that bike chamois cream on the spot is great for preventing them! The one I use is called "Udderly Smooth" - really stupid name, but it works.

@KatieJane83 That's a great time on the 10mi race, congrats!

@Elise4270 I'll keep my fingers crossed for your next doc visit, hope you can start running again soon!

@skippygirlsmom That's a really beautiful beach!

@greenolivetree Reflective clothing is nice, of course, but it only works when there is some light to reflect, i.e. the moment the car's headlight hit you. On curvy roads, that might be a little late. Since I do a lot of running on dark country side roads, I prefere blinking stuff. Of course, I still buy the reflective clothes in addition, but my main "visibility" are LED clip lights (I use this one and that - the second one is even brigher than the first one, but the first one is also really visible). I got the second one for my birthday end of April, so I didn't really have a chance to test it much; but the first one is really visible, especially in blinking mode (more attention-catching than steady). In strobe mode, the battery also lasts longer; so far I needed to replace it maybe once per year.
In the past, I also used some of those shoe lights. My problem with them is that they don't fit every shoe. They worked for the Saucony Guides I was using when I bought the lights; when I retired those and started running in Saucony Cortana and Brooks PureFlow, I found that they didn't fit the shape of the heel on the Brooks at all, and only fit okay-ish on the Cortanas. They would gradually come loose and fall off every few kms. Eventually, I lost them completely and switched to the LEDs to clip on my clothes.


... Dang it, I shouldn't have gone and looked for those links for the clip lights. As I did, I stumbled accross the Nathan Orion - a waist light sounds awesome, now I feel like I need to buy that right now! I find headlamps rather useless - lots of fog here from October to December, and headlamps just illuminate the fog in front of my face. The only thing that works for me in foggy nights is a flashlight held hip-high. A waist-light sounds perfect, why did I never see one of those before?

9/1: 4.3 miles
9/2: Rest day
9/3: 9.4 miles
9/4: 5.7 miles
9/5: 6 miles
9/6: 6 miles
9/7: 4 miles
9/8: 3.2 miles with the Thursday crew!
9/9: Rest day
9/10: 5.3 miles
9/11: 13.1 - Via HM
9/12: 3 miles with the Coffee Crew!
9/13: 7.9 miles
9/14: 4.3 miles run commute home
9/15: 7.3 miles run commute to work
........: 6.2 miles with the Thursday crew!
9/16: Rest day
9/17: 8.1 miles with the Saturday crew!

8 easy miles in cool, fall temps followed by hot coffee. What's a better way to start a Saturday? I can't think of one!

Felt so good today after yesterday's massage. No tightness in my calves or hamstrings, quads felt great, and everything felt easy. I could even tell that my shoulders were more relaxed. The miles just fly by when you aren't waiting for aches and pains to go away



Upcoming Races:
9/11 LVHN Via Half-Marathon DONE!
10/8: Coe College Homecoming 5k
10/16: Halloween Half-Marathon
11/20: Philadelphia Marathon

9/1- Rest
9/2- 4.13
9/3- 10.03
9/4- 3.02
9/5- Rest driving home from visiting family
9/6- 7.01
9/7- 7.01
9/8- 7.17
9/9- 4.06
9/10-12.01
9/11- Rest
9/12- 4.04
9/13- 7.06
9/14- 4.06
9/15- 8.88
9/16 REST
9/17

Total: 89.38/115

Today's notes: Today's run was the last long run of the cycle, and with my HM in 7 days, it felt good to do a FFLR that put my average pace near my Goal HM pace.

The first 9 miles I averaged 9:17 pace with the slowest split mile 1 @ 9:25 and the fast split mile 6 @ 9:11

For the final 2 miles, I kicked up the pace a little. Mile 10 was 9:08, slightly faster than goal pace, and mile 11 was 8:54, solidly in Steady State pace.

Total miles: 11
Total time: 1:41:39
Average pace: 9:14
Average HR: 164 (high, but I felt good during the run)

All in all, I am really ready for next week's easy running and, finally, my attempt at a 2:00:00 or less HM

@greenolivetree I use a headlamp and those clip on LED lights. I really liked the headlamp to shine on the road in front of me so I can see what I'm stepping in - it was especially helpful for dog walking too!

9/17 1.75 miles easy
Absolutely gorgeous day and great temps out there, but I kept it short because I'm doing a (surprise) half marathon tomorrow. Just as a "long run with bling" and not racing it, basically testing out the distance before my first official half on Oct 9. I plan to do my regular long run effort and time (I need 2 hours 15 min according to plan) and then I will walk if needed or easy run the rest of the distance. It is also a somewhat hillier course so I may walk the hills as needed. It's an awesome sounding local small race with great support and goodies, so I'm looking forward to it.

Except...the weather forecast is calling for starting in 97% humidity and chance of thunderstorms. The chances keep going down, so I'm hoping for improvement. Not sure how to prepare for the possibility of running this thing in the rain. At least it's not freezing rain?

Some people had expressed interest in my run commutes from August and from last week, so I wrote a blog post about it http://shesagift.wordpress.com

@kristinegift Love your blog name. Nicely written. Thanks for sharing!

@kristinegift Good blog post! I did not know that Shower Wipes were a thing.

@kristinegift Thanks for sharing. Just curious, do you think baby wipes may work instead of Shower Wipes? Also, I saw your commute path on Strava, it reminded me of my commute at one point: I lived in Plainsboro for 2 years and drove the opposite direction to Princeton to work. Back then, I didn't know people can run that distance

Hi! I haven't been on here for a couple months, though I have been running. I just completed my first HM over Labor Day, so my mileage is actually dropping off a bit as fall gets busy. I'm averaging 18-20 miles/week, now and enjoying them. I am, however, having some sock problems. I've been wearing the same shoes and socks (not literally, but same brand/size) for almost a year now, but the last few months the "tab" on the back of my sock has started turning into a debris catch. It collects rocks, small sticks, pieces of tree bark, and leaves. It used to be that I would stop every 3-5 miles to clear it out, but now it's every mile. This past week, it got so bad I developed a blister on the back of my ankle! Does anyone else have this problem? Anyone have suggests?
@RunRachelleRun It sounds like you've been trying some new socks recently. Have you found any that you particularly like or would recommend?