October 2017 Running Challenge

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  • kristinegift
    kristinegift Posts: 2,406 Member
    10/1 through 10/8: Nothing, injured, 0 miles
    10/9: 45 mins stationary bike, 15 mins rowing machine
    10/10: 10 miles on the bike and 1.4 miles walking

    The calf continues to improve, but not as fast as it did the first week. The second week has been sort of a plateau. But I can go upstairs almost totally normally (on my toes rather than flat footed) and I can do toe raises without pain/discomfort. I just can't do any of the single leg tests without discomfort (but there has been zero pain which is good news!). Hopefully some more active release at the doc tomorrow will help improve things and I can get cleared to run in another week or two.

    Meanwhile, the lack of endorphins means I am cranky and that I threw my can opener across the room today (twice) because it has ceased to function, so for the sake of humanity: PLEASE LET ME RUN AGAIN SOON! I am a grumpy monster without it! >:)

    October Goal: Heal my calf tear and run any miles at all!

    Upcoming Races:
    10/08/17: Steamtown Marathon - DNS, injured
    10/22/17: Perfect 10 Miler
    11/05/17: Princeton HM (Pacer)
    12/03/17: Schuykill River Loop 8.3 miler (if healed)
    2018: A marathon, somewhere, sometime!

  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    Those of you running quite high mileages, if you aren't preparing for a particular race, do you still follow some kind of training plan, or how do you decide how far / how fast to run each day?

    Depends on how close to a training cycle I am. If it's just after, I'm just slowly building, like 30-40mpw. If I'm getting close to a race, depending on the race, I'll add back in speed work or trail or hill repeats to prep. Thrn, once training starts, I'll end up cutting back a little so training starts easier than build up.
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    @JessicaMcB ROFL.... That's hilarious
  • wishiwasarunner
    wishiwasarunner Posts: 202 Member
    W8D1 complete! 28 minutes of running. I dropped my pace back down to a 15-minute mile (I had been trying to push to 14) and it was still tough but felt better than my last few runs. I loosened up the laces (haven't relaced them yet) and I think that helped because the numbness didn't set in until much later.

    Did anyone else start out like me - super slow, can barely hang on - and improve? Jumping into this challenge (trying not to compare) but it just seems like everyone is much further in their running careers than me. My sister is a runner, but she's always naturally been faster than me. So I guess I'm just hoping to hear from some other slow pokes.

    8.4/40 miles


    I am sure you have already gotten many replies, but yes, I definitely started out slow and without endurance. I would have done the c25k but my neighborhood has a lot of hills (most not that steep) and there was no way I could "run" up the hills, so I did a similar self guided plan, where I ran at the flat ends of the cul de sacs and then slowly added a mailbox at a time to what I could run before starting to walk again. When I could finally finish my entire 2.5 mile neighborhood, including one fairly steep hill, I was really happy - even though I figured I looked like a grandma in slow motion "running" up that hill. But I signed up for a 5K one month, a 7k the next and then a 10 k the month after that. The next month the only race available was a 10 mile race and I thought going from 6.2 to 10 miles would be way too big of a jump, but by that time it really wasn't hard to do that. Half marathon a few months later and then a marathon the next year. My per mile racing time for my Marathon was probably 3 minutes per mile faster than my first 5K, lol. Just keep going.


  • jvcinv
    jvcinv Posts: 504 Member
    10/1: 13.3
    10/2: Rest
    10/3: 4.2
    10/4: 4.4
    10/5: 6
    10/6: 1.8
    10/7: 2.7
    10/8: 11
    10/9: rest
    10/10: 6

    Total 49.4
    Goal 120 miles

    Upcoming races:
    11/25 Schaumburg HM
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
    Those of you running quite high mileages, if you aren't preparing for a particular race, do you still follow some kind of training plan, or how do you decide how far / how fast to run each day?

    I just keep repeating a half marathon training plan. When I first downloaded it there were three levels. I did the level 2 plan twice and now I’m doing level 3. I don’t think I would push myself as hard if I didn’t follow a specific plan.
  • allyphoe
    allyphoe Posts: 618 Member
    Did anyone else start out like me - super slow, can barely hang on - and improve? Jumping into this challenge (trying not to compare) but it just seems like everyone is much further in their running careers than me.

    I finished C25K in July, so am not that much ahead of you. I am also slow; my easy pace is about 13 or 13:30 per mile. My "fast" pace and my maximum distance have increased enormously, though.

  • katharmonic
    katharmonic Posts: 5,720 Member
    Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
    10/01/17 :::: 13.1 :::: 13.1
    10/02/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 13.1
    10/03/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 13.1
    10/04/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 13.1
    10/05/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 13.1
    10/06/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 13.1
    10/07/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 13.1
    10/08/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 13.1
    10/09/17 :::: 0.0 :::: 13.1
    10/10/17 :::: 1.7 :::: 14.8

    Well, I ran a little bit. Just 20 minutes at a slow pace. My legs felt awesome and ready to go. My ribs said, eh, maybe not quite ready. Breathing is way easier than it was, but the bouncing motion seems to irritate. I was starting to hold my back and shoulders really tightly so as not to aggravate my ribs, so I decided that was a sign I should just stop. I'll have to ease back into this I guess.

    @ariceroni congratulations on your awesome marathon finish! So happy for you. Quite an impressive blister.
  • vandinem
    vandinem Posts: 550 Member
    Date      Miles      MTD
    -------   -----    -------
    Oct   1     4.5        4.5 
    Oct   2     3.6T       8.1
    Oct   7     5.0       13.1
    Oct  10     3.6T      16.7
    
  • emmclean
    emmclean Posts: 297 Member
    10/1: 5.16km
    10/2: 5.17km
    10/3: 4.03km
    10/4: Rest
    10/5: 4.52km
    10/6: 1.54km
    10/7: 5.10km
    10/8: 4.27km
    10/9: Rest
    10/10: 4.09km

    Tried a before work run, which has never worked for me in the past but I really enjoyed it this morning, could be ideal for me in future!

    October goal - 33.88/60 kms
  • wishiwasarunner
    wishiwasarunner Posts: 202 Member
    @garygse - Great race report - smashing that goal time! And some impressive Running challenge thread culling to get that list!

    @ariceroni - Thank goodness the guy behind you looks to be in pain - otherwise, it might be hard to believe you just finished a marathon! All smiles and no sweat after such an amazing performance. That is awesome!
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    Run outside all winter

    HA! I plan to run as long as I can take it. I think last year I got to single digits air temp, not counting wind.

    If there isn't a - in front of the temp, keep running outside... or even if it is single digits.... below 0f....

    It gets that low and lower here...
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    Those of you running quite high mileages, if you aren't preparing for a particular race, do you still follow some kind of training plan, or how do you decide how far / how fast to run each day?

    I have a generic training plan outline...

    Run 1 long run at conversational pace per week. This will help you build distance
    Run 1 "fast" run (tempo, intervals, fartleks, whatever) per week
    Take 1-2 rest days per week
    Do conversational runs a middle distance for rest of the days.

    It is essentially a distilling of all the plans I have read about over the years.

    Mostly though, the reality of life is that I run based on how much time I have not how far I want to go.

  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    Another run on my treadmill this evening. Pouring down rain outside... the Cubs/Nationals playoff game got postponed, phooey! So no game to listen to during my run. So I cued up Rock My Run again and huffed it for 6.5 miles. At that point my knees started to ache a bit, so I decided to end it. I think my legs just need to get used to the new surface (at least I hope). Don't want to push it too hard the first week, no?

    Hoping to get the spare TV set up in the back room with the treadmill soon so I can watch stuff while I run instead of staring at the wall.

    October total so far = 40.6 miles

    My wife likes to watch scenic tours on YouTube while she runs. So she gets to see lands and places we probably will never get too. For part of a winter, I watch LOTR while on the treadmill. Mostly though, I avoid it. :)
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,951 Member
    October goal: 70 miles

    10/1: 7.7 miles
    10/3: 3 miles (intervals)
    10/4: 3.1 miles
    10/5: 2.3 miles
    10/7: 3.1 miles (race)
    10/8: 5.7 miles
    10/10: 3.3 miles (intervals)

    28.2/70 miles

    A cold front came in last night so it was much cooler today. I did my intervals and it went pretty good. The first half mile was kind of tough running into 13 mph north winds, but once I turned it was a lot better.
    Honestly I don't know how you northerners do it. It was 66°F and I thought it was really chilly. I can't imagine running in below freezing temps. I'm a wimp in cold weather.

    Upcoming Races:
    10/7/17: Old Rip 5K ✔ PR: 30:46; 1st in AG
    10/14/17: Aim at Melanoma 5K (virtual)


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