October 2021 Monthly Running Challenge

mshawski wrote: »

I get some major GI distress. It’s so annoying. It means I up mileage so slowly. Lol. (TMI for a newbie maybe, but oh well.) As annoying as it is it’s helpful I guess? 😂🤔. Open to any and all sage advice as to how to avoid this though. It’s my #1 complaint about running, besides the devil that is “hills”.

@mshawski As others have already said there is no such thing as TMI in this group.
As to the Devil that is "hills' - You probably noticed that in the pictures I had attached it was all rolling hills along the River Valley. In fact my house is in the bottom of the valley ( my community is a smudge in the bottom of the 3rd picture - 30km away ) so most activities ( walking, hiking or running ) include climbing a hill or seven to get clear of the Valley and up into the Boreal Forest-Northern Prairies. In fact we have an un-official fall event where the goal is to complete the climb out of the valley on all Seven major hill routes in one day - sort of a Mini Backyard Ultra marathon .
So people from my little community tend to do fairly well at events that include hills, especially if they have a "Heartbreak Hill" in the second half.

Happy start to the work week. I tend to be AFK most of the weekend since I sit in front of this laptop Monday to Friday. So, here's the recap from the weekend.

Saturday - My wife and I went to Lake Crabtree County Park. This was our first time there so we weren't real sure what the trails would be like. There was an event going on at one end of the park, so we started the other way to take the trail around the lake. It was a bit of a bust. Part of the trail was a narrow strip with boulders on one side and the guardrail for the road on the other. We trudged past it anyway to get to the other side. There was some fun trails through the woods on the other side, but they ended abruptly. So, we turned around and went back from whence we came. I decided to run ahead and explore. The plan was always to run a couple miles together and then separate as I'm a bit faster. So, I go toward the event and found another set of trail heads that were fantastic. Rolling hills through the wood, well marked, lots of options. There is probably 20+ miles of trails through that section. I went in a ways and came back out and met up with my bride on the trail and we ran it in together.

4.6 miles @ 13:06 average pace

Sunday - I mapped out a route for my long run that would give me about 10 miles. I wanted to do a combination of roads, Cary Greenways and the ATT. Started out a little warmer than I would have liked, but figured I could make it work. Got a little turned around on one of the Greenway sections and had to double back, adding on a mile or so. Since it was really getting hot and I was feeling it from the increase in mileage over the last couple of weeks, I decided to use my planned bail out route that would chop off a couple miles. I ended up walking some hills to conserve energy, got to the ATT and cruised along there pretty well since it's flat, but the heat was getting to me. After getting off the trail for the road piece back to home, I decided to cut it at 9 miles and walk the rest of the way in, which was probably about a half a mile.

9 miles @ 9:58 average pace

This was a pretty humbling experience. Five years ago, this is the type of run that I would have just added on that extra mileage and not thought twice about it. I've had to really temper my expectations of what I'm capable of today and just commit to slowly building from here. Cognitively, I know it takes time, but emotionally, I want it to happen faster. But trying to build fitness faster is a recipe for injury or just making the experience suck. So, I'm practicing gratitude today. I can run pretty much pain free and I have a lot of choices and time. I do have time.


33.3 miles for the week
19.4 miles out of 125 for the month

Happy Monday!

For the first time in 81 weeks, my gym was open this morning! (Its reopening had been severely delayed due to an outdated HVAC system that was inadequate for the city's COVID protocols). It opens a little later than I would normally work out (6:30 am), which necessitated doing my 4 mile recovery run at the track first (in the rain, no less), then lifting weights. But oh, it felt good to be doing something more than body weight work for the first time since March 14, 2020... (Though, I still have not been on the treadmill. I've run 2,330 miles since the last time I set foot on a treadmill.)

10/1- 7.6 miles
10/2- 4.05 miles
10/3- 14 miles
10/4- 4 miles at Recovery HR (36:13, 9:03/mile)

October To-Date: 29.65 miles
October Target: 185 miles
Percentage Complete: 16.03%
On-Pace?: 5.77 miles ahead of pace

October 1 – 5.14
October 2 – 22.24
October 3 – 5.14

Just the normal early morning route with a friend this morning.

@skippygirlsmom – Wahoo! We’re part of the Guinness World Record!

@Tramboman – I had a college biology class and the final exam was done walking around outside with the professor pointing to a tree and we had to write down what kind it was on our test paper. I still know several varieties due to that class but not as many as you. Impressive!

99F @shanaber! I don’t know how anyone could run in those temps! Does it cool off any at night?

Hope your shin heals soon @Scott6255.

Beautiful pictures of your “walk” @juliet3455!

@quilteryoyo – I’m tired just reading about your wood chopping and mowing! I think your dad would be so proud that you would run the Pioneer 5 Miler in his honor.

I’m so sorry you missed your race @ereck44 but glad you are feeling better and congratulations to your horse, its trainer, rider, groom and owners!

I have a hard time facing the computer outside of work also @CarsonSurfs. With your dedication and desire, you will be back to your prior running stamina before you know it!

Yay for gym re-opening @johnisrunning! My work facility has several gyms onsite. They closed last year; briefly re-opened this year; and now they are closed again. I usually shower at one of them after my before-work-run. Now I have to drive about 15 minutes out of the way to shower at a friend’s house who is very kind to let me crash her bathroom. I don’t have time to go back home and then drive back to town though because it’s 45 minutes each way. Last year, I joined a Planet Fitness closer to work just for the shower facilities but even though advertised as being “clean” I have a different opinion and just didn’t feel good about going there. Hoping our work gyms will re-open soon.

Good morning. I got a 1 mile walk and a 3.65 mile run in.

Total October mileage
Walking: 2/10
Running: 6.5/40
Total miles on sneakers (for my own replacement purposes): 15

It was a lovely rainy run, but the data from it is unreliable at best. I decided not to put my watch in water mode because I wanted to be able to skip songs on my playlist as needed (I am one of those people that never lets one song finish, and can listen to a song no stop one day and not want to hear it the next). Twice during the first mile walk it broke out segments, which I didn't even know was a thing but google tells me you do that by double tapping the screen. I assumed it was the rain, so I moved it so the face of my watch was on the underside of my wrist. Then 0.5 miles into my run, I came across a boom mower mowing the sides of the trail (this beast of a machine was way too big for that trail LOL). I can only assume the operator thought since it was raining there would be no one on the trail because he did not check to see if anyone was behind him. I spent a few minutes jogging in place before kind of running through the thorn bushes on the side of the trail to get around him. I got around him and happily ran the next 1.5 miles. Then coming back I ran into him again, and apparently startled him... and he knocked down a small tree across the trail. Enter me running in place for several minutes again while he removed the tree from the trail. During this time I checked my watch to see how badly it was messing up my pace and... apparently my watch had been paused since I had stopped for a minute to pass him the first time. LOL. I'm not sure it it was the rain, if it sensed I stopped, or if I bent my hand to move a bush out of my way and hit the dial weird since I had flipped it to the underside of my wrist. I stopped my watch at the end of my normal 3 miles I've run enough consistently to just be able to manually enter the information based off a previous run, deleted that info from MFP, then started a new workout for the added 0.5 miles I was adding to start upping my mileage so the watch recorded that.

LOL. So much for keeping good data on all my runs as I up my mileage.

Is there a lifetime achievement award for "ran in place after scaring a boom mower operator into knocking down a tree?" Do I get a badge of some sorts? 😂🧐

I haven't checked in for a few days. I've been running. Did 5 this morning.

25/ 48.2 for 10/1-10/10

I hired a running coach to start on 10/25. She said she'd give me 2 weeks off after a marathon so I'll do some walking and yoga. Maybe hop on the bike & easy hikes those 2 weeks. Then back at it.

I officially signed up for a 50k in March so that's what the coach will help me with between now and then.