September 2021 Monthly Running Challenge

Sept totals: 20.5/70 miles

9/2: 3.1 miles
9/3: 4.1 miles
9/5: 3.1 miles
9/6: 3 miles
9/8: 4.1 miles
9/9: 3.1 miles

This morning when I went out, it was not quite as nice as yesterday morning but still pretty nice. I tried pushing the pace down just a little while keeping the perceived effort in the moderate range. I managed to negative split the run with an average pace around 20 sec/mile faster than I have been doing this summer and had my HR mostly in zone 4, maybe 20% zone 5 and even a little sliver in zone 3. So, with a slightly harder perceived effort my HR was lower overall than it has been at the easiest effort I could muster. The temps alone definitely affect me.
I also noticed that garmin stratifies my HR zones slightly differently than strava and garmin tends to trend towards more time in higher zones when comparing the same runs in strava. Hmm. I'm going to have to take some time to dive into that at some point because the target zones should be standardized. I haven't manually edited either of them. I will say that the strava zones fall more in line with my perceived effort. Garmin always looks like I am working way harder than I feel like I am.
Without a chest strap, I assume I have to take my HR data with a grain of salt because I cannot account for cadence lock (which I think happens sometimes) and times where maybe the watch isn't contacting as well as it should be. But, it still bugs me to see discrepancies between garmin and strava for the exact same data and it makes it harder for me to know how to interpret the information.

@Camaramandy648 Good to see you here! I have been following along on strava. Great job getting those runs done!

@julieannegannon Sounds like you may be on the road to recovery. Hope a little more rest will take care of any residual tenderness.

@Scott6255 I guess I never realized you didn't run on consecutive days. I know there are people in this group that do 2 runs in a day and I have never understood how people do that! On the very rare occasion that I have to run at night one day then again the following morning, it is a painful slog. I need a solid 20ish hours between runs.

Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
09/01/21 :::: 0.0 :::: 0.0
09/02/21 :::: 1.8 :::: 1.8
09/03/21 :::: 0.0 :::: 1.8
09/04/21 :::: 0.0 :::: 1.8
09/05/21 :::: 0.0 :::: 1.8
09/06/21 :::: 3.8 :::: 5.6
09/07/21 :::: 2.1 :::: 7.8
09/08/21 :::: 5.4 :::: 13.1
09/09/21 :::: 1.8 :::: 15.0

Inching along here with a short treadmill run before strength training today. This weekend is not going to be good either, I'm afraid.


@Camaramandy648 hey! It's been a while. Glad to hear you are doing well. I'm sure you've been putting in some serious miles.

@julieanngalinec I'm sorry about the pain! Glad you got an appointment to get it figured out and hopefully on the mend soon.

I worked from 7:30 - 2 today. I stopped my mom's to talk and do a couple of things for her. I was really tired when I got home at 3:15 but made myself go out for my run since I haven't ran since Monday. The weather was great for that time of day - 73°F, 41% humidity, and a 9 mph breeze. I was supposed to do a mixed interval run, but decided I wanted to run on the driveway and really didn't want to try to do such a structured run. So, instead, I ran one mile easy, second mile I ran fartleks on the relatively flat portion of the driveway, and then ran another mile easy. Splits were 13:30, 12:25, and 13:42 min/mile. Not horrible for me. Elevation gained was 919 feet.

Monthly totals under the spoiler.

@quilteryoyo Your driveway cracks me up! My husband and I hiked twice the distance in (for around here) fairly hilly terrain, and you got 3x the elevation change!

@kgirlhart I hope your mom continues to feel better!

Today was a run day but after a hard downhill run on Tuesday then lifting heavy weds my legs felt a little beat up so we hiked instead. Got out on the Tour de Wolf which is primarily used by mountain bikes - we had to leap off the trail out of the way several times - ground is baked hard as concrete right now! Many beautiful butterflies and wildflowers everywhere, plus Osage oranges all over the trails, which would give you quite a start if you accidentally stepped on one! We usually have blackberries at this time of year but it looked like they had been killed by the heat, the ones we saw were shriveled and dead.

About as far from the trailhead as it’s possible to get there’s an old graveyard from the plantation which used to be on the property. Vandals have broken the gravestones and taken them away but the bases are still there. I used to know who was buried there and when but can’t recall, I think the dates are 1850s or so. Nearby is a rusted out old car - in the middle of nowhere, with no road to get to it - apparently there was a road, decades ago, but there are no signs of one now! Anyway, the car has been there since the 1960s I think, but only this past year someone has spray painted it “Elvis, the King of Rock & Roll”, and put a welcome sign, a warning sign, and a Christmas wreath on it! Fancy!

9-1 7k easy
9-2 rest
9-3 4k slow
9-4 4k sloooooooow
9-5 4k easy
9-6 4k moderate
9-7 4k moderate
9-8 rest
9-9 rest
9-10 4k slow

September Total: 31k
September Goal: 150k

Mostly cloudy and mid 50s F today. A very nice morning for a run. Right leg is back to normal; left hip has its usual niggles, probably exacerbated by whatever stride change my body made to accommodate the right leg injury. No big thing.

@kgirlhart Happy your mom is OK.

When you pop in here claiming your December 2021 mileage, what accomplishments will you have made?

PUT THE FUN BACK IN THE RUN!
Return to a good running weight of 175 lbs (second attempt)

2021 Races:

6/26 Direction Up 5k, Solon, OH 31:48 chip; 31:59 Garmin; 53d overall; 2d male 65 and over
7/17 Run of the Ox 5k, Mantua, OH 32:19 Garmin; 44th overall; 3d place male 60 and over
9/18 Hattie Larlham ThriveK, Aurora, OH

@Camaramandy648 hey, good to see you back!
@julieannegannon sorry to hear about your pain. Glad you're getting it checked out though.
@RunsOnEspresso OOOHH!!! nice! Some of my favorite trail running shoes have been the On Cloudventures. They feel like I'm running in very comfortable slippers with awesome tread.
@quilteryoyo 919 feet of elevation gain for 3 miles!!! Yikes! That is an excellent driveway for training!
@kgirlhart that's always scary when you get the call that your mom has fallen. As you said, it could have been worse.
@rheddmobile we don't have the osage orange here in Minnesota, but once when I ran in Kansas I had one smack me right in the middle of my forehead. It didn't fall from the tree, it was just hanging there and I ran into it. I didn't see it because leaves were in hiding it on a low hanging branch. Rather than duck I just lowered my head and plowed through the branch and OUCH! More of a surprise than anything though.

1- walk
2-nada
3- nada
4- walk
5- walk
6- walk
7-walk
8-nada
9-nada

Still logging daily. Ate more ice cream... bought larger bras... this is sad ya'll haha! Kickboxing Saturday. I don't plan on trying to hard. The goal is to stay upright and not fall over *insert reoccurring dream of falling because legs won't move.

9/1 – 6.22
9/2 – 4.01
9/4 – 3.70
9/6 – 6.03
9/7 – 4.02
9/9 – 7.02
9/10 – 2.31

33.31 of 75 miles

It was in the 50s this morning so I took the Champ with me on my run, I knew I was only going to do a couple miles since my legs were tired. He’s such a sweet pup, for those that don’t know he was rehomed to us because he used to run away all the time from his family and come to my house so they gave him to us. I’ve worked really hard with him and you notice here he’s on my front walkway with no leash. I do for safety reasons keep him on a leash when we are out front but he has zero interest is running off (of course unless he sees a rabbit). I’m working on recall with him, he's there about 80% of the time.

@RunsOnEspresso very pretty shoes

@rheddmobile amazing the stuff you find out on a trail. My neighbor used to have a tree in their yard that was osage oranges, you’d sit on their picnic table and had to be careful because they would drop down on you. There is one on one of our greenways I see them on the ground from time to time. A lot of our trails are good for bikes, one especially that I’ve been running lately and I’m always hopping off the trail.

@7lenny7 I love that you run all the streets in the towns. Such a cool idea.

@WhatMeRunning LOL! thanks for the perspective!

I have been half trying to get a beau bois d'arc tree for ages; horse apple tree. They are great to throw when you need to throw something They splat nicely against a tree if your aim is good. LOL! Even better that they repeal insects. And did ya know they were used for bows by the natives? and for fence lines because the younger trees have thorns. *what I learned a summer course exploring state parks in Oklahoma.

Thanks for the well wishes for my mom.@rheddmobile, @tramboman. @quilteryoyo, @7lenny7,and @scott6255. Her face looks terribletoday, but she is feeling good and isn't terribly injured, just scraped and bruised. Itt was really scary when she called me especially after last year when my dad fell and broke his hip and passed away about 6 weeks later. He passed away on 9.16 20, so it is really on all of our minds right now.

I also had to Google Osage oranges to find that they are horse apples.  I didn't know they were used as insect repellent.

September 2 – 8.35
September 5 – 5.02
September 6 – 6.06
September 8 – 5.10
September 9 – 5.22

Back from vacation and I’ve read all the posts and liked, hugged, etc. I ran or went to the gym every day while in Aruba although no formal exercise on the two travel days. I wasn’t sure how running in the Caribbean would be or if there would be a place I felt safe to run alone, but it all worked out. The heat and humidity were tough but there was a nice bike and walking path that went from the hotel, along the shore and out to the airport and also went through a little park. I got started between 5:30 and 6:15 every morning and there were always people out using the path so I felt safe.