September (2016) Running Challenge

@Ohhim Thanks! And how high will it drift in your half, if it starts at 168? I have been struggling with how I can interpret drift in a race compared to drift in training, which is why I'm bugging you

@Elise4270 Keep hanging in there, Heres hoping the time goes by fast for you!

Oh and I have 27 so far!

@MobyCarp

I battle Achilles Tendonitis from time to time, although it's never kept me from running. You are right however, the more you stretch it out throughout the day, the less it hurts. What I have done when it flairs is to ice it immediately after a run. My trainer has also had me do eccentric calf raises 2-3 times a day. I noticed that if I ran when it was a little tender, if I tended to run slower to start it would loosen up a bit and after 2-3 miles it would be fine. Again I think my issues were probably not as severe as your trainers since I was able to work through mine with just a little modification to training and not stopping altogether.

@RunRachelleRun

Cardiac drift varies from person to person, and is something you almost need to track individually over time, different temperatures, different paces, ect. I have run half marathons in the 40's where I had only a few bmp drift between miles 2-12, and others where I'd gain 1-2 bmp per mile over the course of a race as the temperatures drifted upwards. Studies have shown that staying well hydrated will decrease the chances of cardiac drift as well. This is fairly good article http://www.exercisemed.org/research-blog/cardiovascular-drift-anothe.html

My event is 2 weeks from this Saturday. Is it too late to break in a new pair of running shoes? I plan 2 more long runs and a couple of shorter runs before my taper week. The shoes I use now are plain old Nikes, which I bought in a running store. I purchased them in January 2014, and have run 4 half marathons in them. However this last long run, I really started feeling tightness in my calf muscles, and may need extra support.

@ereck44

Rule of thumb is do a few shorter and at least 1 long run in new shoes, if they feel good from those runs you're good. Like @MNLittleFinn states, if you are using a brand and style you've used for a while, you are probably OK right out of the box. I have no issues opening a new box of my Adidas shoes and doing a 15-20 mile long run in them right off the bat, but I've got a good history in them and have used that style for about 7-8 pair now. I doubt I'd try that with a new brand or style.

@kristinegift that picture looks like an ad for running, or the picture on a motivational poster. Pretty awesome

September goal.....run/jog/prance

9/1 3.12
9/2 4-ish (technology malfunction...)
9/3 strength/core training
9/4 3.18
9/5 rest
9/6 3.25 + strength/core
9/7 5.7
9/8 strength/core training
9/9 rest
9/10 3.25
9/11 3.16 + strength/core
9/12 snorkel 2 hours
9/13 rest
9/14 moved a friend's woodworking shop: saw, planer, and lathe....up 15 stairs.....
9/15 6.25 then a 4.2 mile trail hike thru Kilauea Iki with 2000' elevation change (yep, I'm counting it!)
9/16 more ennui
9/17 4.10
9/18 core/strength training
9/19 3.13
9/20 rest
9/21 7.40


Total 47.09

Upcoming races:
Las Vegas RocknRoll Half 11/13/16

Ticker is my goal for 2016 and accumulation to date:

MNLittleFinn wrote: »

@kristinegift that picture looks like an ad for running, or the picture on a motivational poster. Pretty awesome

Absolutely! My first thought also was that that picture could be right out of a running shoe commercial! Lol, I wish I looked that much like a runner when I run. They just put the pictures from my half marathon online, and I swear I gave it a last push and sprinted across the finish line, but in the photo it looks like I'm somewhere between slow jogging and falling asleep

lporter229 wrote: »

So I am curious, for those of you that typically do tempo runs, do you try to do them on flat terrain? If not, do you adjust your pace for the hills? I tried to avoid any hills that were too long or steep, but I did see my HR climbing into zone 4 on some of the hills. Of course, it was falling into zone 2 on the down hills, so it evens out, but I never feel like I can compensate for pace on the downhills if I slow myself down on the uphills. My running mechanics just don't allow for it.

@lporter229 Guess that depends on your definition of "flat"
Like @kristinegift , I also don't have anything totally flat where I live. I just had a the data of this year's runs, I think have only two choices to keep a run under 40m or 50m of elevation.
There is my little "forest loop" which is nearly perfectly flat (+/-17m), but it's rather short (4.5km), has one traffic light, and as the name suggests, 2.5km of the loop are in a little forest, so time and weather-dependend the first third of it can be really muddy, and after sunset it gets pitch-dark, so even with a flashlight I have to move slowly and carefully.
Or I can run around in the village centre, that's also pretty flat (maybe +/-25m for 6km), but comes with traffic lights and roundabouts to cross. So that is also not ideal for tempo runs (and pretty annoying, I only ever do that if I need to pass by the post office or the supermarket).
All other routes I can do involve at least ~50m elevation change. For tempo runs, I try to limit it to that amount of climbing (rather than seeking out any extra hills for fun ) . I get the climbing out of the way first, which usually ends up with a too slow pace. I know I won't be able to compensate 1:1 for that on the downhill in the end; so I just go a bit faster on the flat part in the middle of the run, until I've caught up to the planned pace. Then I can finish with the descent, and either enjoy the fact that I can keep the pace with less effort, or keep the effort up and end up with a slightly faster average pace in the end.