Official inaugural Tower of Terror 10 miler thread. September 29, 2012

[jimandami]

Had a really good 10-mile run this morning! It was much cooler (69-73) with lower humidity, which made a world of difference! Averaged 8:25/mile and felt nice and relaxed the whole time! Getting excited about the race!!

 

[AnotherPrincess]

I did my long run today but only 6.75 of the 7 miles the plan calls for. The heat is oppressive. The shoes felt better today too. I guess I'll keep them.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

Been really struggling lately, just running out of steam and getting slower and slower. Bonked on my seven miles last week, largely due to waiting until too late in the day and the heat was a little worse than usual. Good news is that yesterday I completed my 8 miles, v-e-r-y---s-l-o-w-l-y, but complete.

An elderly lady asked us to take a picture of her with her little dog at about mile 4.5, and I was so happy to comply! That little break did me so much good that I may think about doing that any time I start to get that "how will I ever finish this run" feeling. Don't want to be lazy, but I felt so much better after that approximately one-minute break.

 

[John VN]

Been really struggling lately, just running out of steam and getting slower and slower. Bonked on my seven miles last week, largely due to waiting until too late in the day and the heat was a little worse than usual. Good news is that yesterday I completed my 8 miles, v-e-r-y---s-l-o-w-l-y, but complete.

An elderly lady asked us to take a picture of her with her little dog at about mile 4.5, and I was so happy to comply! That little break did me so much good that I may think about doing that any time I start to get that "how will I ever finish this run" feeling. Don't want to be lazy, but I felt so much better after that approximately one-minute break.

DON'T WORRY!!!!

All miles completed are good miles especially when weather is not ideal. Heat and humidity can be a killer, really.

I use a heart monitor at all times. Today I got out for a 70 mile bicycle ride and right off the bat I knew it would not be a stellar day. My pulse was higher than normal and my legs felt heavier than normal. The decision I made was to get in the miles and accept the fact that I wouldn't be able to ride as hard as I had planned.

I do the same when walking/jogging/running. Within a short distance of starting I am pretty sure how my body is going to perform.

Don't stress over bad days because the good ones will far out-number the bad ones.

Remember, this endeavour should be about having fun and getting healthy. It's meant to lower your blood pressure not raise it.

 

[annmarieda]

And now just need the husband to come home to watch the kiddo and the dog and I are off on a long run. The thermometer says it's a balmy 60 degrees!
I've been soooooo good with icing my foot...I might be imagining it, but I think it's feeling better.

Balmy is a good word... or.. like running through bath water. Ugg.. I think the humidity is killing me

I'm trying to figure a way to crawl through the computer and internetz to get to WA. It is over 100° today.

While I don't do well with humidity, 100 degrees would be even worse

 

[JordanM407]

Thanks, I'm really bummed. This is the first distance race my kids were going to run with me, I was really looking forward to having a finish line picture of the 3 of us!

I just talked to Disney and they said no deferments either. It's a shame, I know someone could use my spot and now it will go to waste. I guess they factor in a percentage of people not running when they set their limits though.

I would love to do this race if you would be willing to sell your bib.

 

[PrincessV]

Where did everyone go? It's been quiet here for a few days.

I'm here!

I had a long run today in the cool misty rain. It probably was one of my longest and it wasn't easy at times. I managed to finish it (7.76 miles) and got a preview of the 10K race for next week.

Way to go!

Had a really good 10-mile run this morning! It was much cooler (69-73) with lower humidity, which made a world of difference! Averaged 8:25/mile and felt nice and relaxed the whole time! Getting excited about the race!!

Oh my - that sounds like a heavenly run!

I did my long run today but only 6.75 of the 7 miles the plan calls for. The heat is oppressive. The shoes felt better today too. I guess I'll keep them.

I definitely should have cut my run short, too - I swear it feels hotter every day! Good call on making the healthy choice.

Been really struggling lately, just running out of steam and getting slower and slower. Bonked on my seven miles last week, largely due to waiting until too late in the day and the heat was a little worse than usual. Good news is that yesterday I completed my 8 miles, v-e-r-y---s-l-o-w-l-y, but complete.

You're not alone - I should have gone much slower and shorter this week. Nice work!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morning! Just under 10 weeks to go

I did a short little blog post to summarize my long run this week:

I just had "one of those runs"...

Mile 1: remember that I forgot to take preemptive action against my monthly visitor, due any minute; retrace steps back home to remedy.

Mile 2: What's that twinge in my right knee? No worries - a faster cadence makes it go away.

Miles 3-6: This is great! I love running! Look at the pretty trees, listen to the pretty birds! Good morning, world!

Mile 6: left ankle feels "funny" and I'm having tunnel vision. Why are my fingers swollen to the size of bratwurst?

Mile 6.5: Ooooowwwww! Pain shooting back and forth between left ankle and left knee.

Mile 7-8: start taking longer walk intervals, hoping pain will subside; it doesn't.

Mile 8: give in to the pain and hobble the rest of the way home.

Home: discover that I'd been so focused on knee pain, I'd completely missed the chafing situation under my new running skort's legs; take ice bath, pop an Aleve, slather on some hydrocortisone, lay on the couch wondering why I ever thought running would be a fun thing to do.

My stupid knee hurt all day Sat. and kept me up most of Sat. night - I never before knew how much knees bend and turn while sleeping. Yesterday, I took the rolling pin to my outer thigh and calf and lo and behold - the knee pain all but vanished! I've been rolling and icing regularly since and I'm happy to report it's MUCH better today. I'll skip today's scheduled run and do a treadmill walk instead and see if I can run tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

 

[Cripey]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Morning! Just under 10 weeks to go

I did a short little blog post to summarize my long run this week:

I just had "one of those runs"...

Oh...I HATE having those runs. They are the worst...and you usually know it immediately, when you're still close to home and could easily just say "Ohhhh, maybe I'll try this again tomorrow..." I had a 9 miler last year like that training for Tinker Bell...I wasn't even a quarter mile into it and I knew it was going to be bad...those are the character builders. At that point I make a deal with myself that distance is all that matters for that outing...don't even look at the time, just get the miles in....unless of course it's an injury. I'm glad your knee is OK!

These days, I feel like I'm getting slower every day. We've had a lot of rain and flooding here the last few weeks, so that's kept me on the treadmill during the week...I don't mind at the time until I realize on my long weekend run that the indoor training is NOT helping me acclimate to the humidity...well as much as anyone can really acclimate to running in pea soup.

 

[Disneychix]

Dh and I too got hit with a 'bad' run yesterday. 6 miles planned for us- started strong (although we knew we left the gate too late in the morning and it was already getting HOT) until 1/2 way we turned around on the bike path and hit the wall. We did the first 3 miles in 34 mins and the last 3 miles in 40ish! At mile 4 we ran out of water and I was miserable.
But, we did it and it's in the books-6 miles under our belts and we're still breathing today!

I started getting some shin pain and decided I'm in need of new running shoes. Payday is friday so I know where my money is going this week! Gotta stay healthy!!

 

[poohbear8]

I just had "one of those runs"...

Mile 1: remember that I forgot to take preemptive action against my monthly visitor, due any minute; retrace steps back home to remedy.

Mile 2: What's that twinge in my right knee? No worries - a faster cadence makes it go away.

Miles 3-6: This is great! I love running! Look at the pretty trees, listen to the pretty birds! Good morning, world!

Mile 6: left ankle feels "funny" and I'm having tunnel vision. Why are my fingers swollen to the size of bratwurst?

Mile 6.5: Ooooowwwww! Pain shooting back and forth between left ankle and left knee.

Mile 7-8: start taking longer walk intervals, hoping pain will subside; it doesn't.

Mile 8: give in to the pain and hobble the rest of the way home.

Home: discover that I'd been so focused on knee pain, I'd completely missed the chafing situation under my new running skort's legs; take ice bath, pop an Aleve, slather on some hydrocortisone, lay on the couch wondering why I ever thought running would be a fun thing to do.

My stupid knee hurt all day Sat. and kept me up most of Sat. night - I never before knew how much knees bend and turn while sleeping. Yesterday, I took the rolling pin to my outer thigh and calf and lo and behold - the knee pain all but vanished! I've been rolling and icing regularly since and I'm happy to report it's MUCH better today. I'll skip today's scheduled run and do a treadmill walk instead and see if I can run tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Thank you for this! I am still new to this whole running "thing" and am struggling mentally now. I'm not overly excited about running, but keep at it. (I suspect some of it is the fear/pressure of a good time for the 10k this weekend, but I'm not sure) Your post is how I felt at times on my last run. It seemed like every pain or new feeling I was aware of and I struggled to get through it. I know now I am not alone.

 

[AnotherPrincess]

I can say that I'm feeling the same way. I'm getting paranoid about injury the closer our race gets. I'm having some mild calf pain so I'm skipping one of my short runs this week to give it time to feel better. I just know that any injury at this stage may be race ending as we are running out of time to recover and rebuild. I can't wait to get out there again because I spent some time this weekend studying my results and splits from the past 6 weeks. I think I finally know what intervals I have to run to not get swept. Every 3:2 mile I've run has been under 16 minutes. So now all I have to do is make them feel easy enough to be able to keep them up for 10 miles.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

I ran 5.25 today, plus kettlebell strength training. The plan is a long run Wednesday, so next week I can cut back.

 

[PrincessV]

Oh...I HATE having those runs. They are the worst...and you usually know it immediately, when you're still close to home and could easily just say "Ohhhh, maybe I'll try this again tomorrow..."

Exactly!

These days, I feel like I'm getting slower every day. We've had a lot of rain and flooding here the last few weeks, so that's kept me on the treadmill during the week...

You'll appreciate this: my short run last week was after several days of almost nonstop rain. I turned a corner and saw no cars parked at the country club and thought, "Yay, I can run the golf course path!" never stopping to ponder why no one was golfing... Yep, the course was totally flooded, path included. I tried sidestepping the first puddle I encountered and wound up mid-calf deep in mud. From there, I figured it couldn't get worse, so I kept going - 2.5 miles of my own personal mud run, lol! It was sorta fun, but hard on my quads.

Dh and I too got hit with a 'bad' run yesterday. 6 miles planned for us- started strong (although we knew we left the gate too late in the morning and it was already getting HOT) until 1/2 way we turned around on the bike path and hit the wall. We did the first 3 miles in 34 mins and the last 3 miles in 40ish! At mile 4 we ran out of water and I was miserable.
But, we did it and it's in the books-6 miles under our belts and we're still breathing today!

I'm thinking summer's our ultimate test of endurance - if we can keep training through this kind of yuck, what can't we do?!

Thank you for this! I am still new to this whole running "thing" and am struggling mentally now. I'm not overly excited about running, but keep at it. (I suspect some of it is the fear/pressure of a good time for the 10k this weekend, but I'm not sure) Your post is how I felt at times on my last run. It seemed like every pain or new feeling I was aware of and I struggled to get through it. I know now I am not alone.

Not alone at all! And for every dicey run, I can think of two other runs that were amazingly good, so don't give up!

I can say that I'm feeling the same way. I'm getting paranoid about injury the closer our race gets.

Yep, I hear ya. And I'm notorious for running/dancing/whatever-ing through pain to meet a goal, which is rarely a good idea.

I ran 5.25 today, plus kettlebell strength training.

WTG - that's a tough workout!

 

[Cripey]

Exactly!

You'll appreciate this: my short run last week was after several days of almost nonstop rain. I turned a corner and saw no cars parked at the country club and thought, "Yay, I can run the golf course path!" never stopping to ponder why no one was golfing... Yep, the course was totally flooded, path included. I tried sidestepping the first puddle I encountered and wound up mid-calf deep in mud. From there, I figured it couldn't get worse, so I kept going - 2.5 miles of my own personal mud run, lol! It was sorta fun, but hard on my quads.

oh no! I would have immediately turned around to go home thinking "well, I'll just have to get this run in tomorrow...in the new shoes I'm going to buy today." I'll use ANYTHING to justify a new pair of shoes...I'm kind of a shoe-junkie...with NO desire to be rehabilitated!!!

 

[MinnieDiva]

I'll use ANYTHING to justify a new pair of shoes...I'm kind of a shoe-junkie...with NO desire to be rehabilitated!!!

New shoes, cute running outfits... I couldn't stand it any more and ordered a 2nd new running outfit from Title 9's sale. I can't WAIT to try it out!!

I have a run in store today. This time of year is tough for me...not weather wise, but finding time to go. I have to wait until DD is at swim practice in the afternoon to get out there. She's still a bit too young to leave home alone for a long run..But today is going to be a 7-miler, I hope...!!!

 

[mrl_ohio]

Will this run have the runner tracking chips in use? I would like to subscribe to text messages to track some runners throughout the run.
Thanks,
Mark

 

[MinnieDiva]

What a craptastic run today! I was so looking forward to it, but my 7-mile plan shrank to a 5.5 mile gimp. Back hurt, heel hurt. Ugh! Now I work the next 3 days and won't get to run until Saturday am. .

 

[jeanigor]

Will this run have the runner tracking chips in use? I would like to subscribe to text messages to track some runners throughout the run.
Thanks,
Mark

I imagine it will. Every distance race with a corral/chip start that I've done with runDisney has.

 

[Disneychix]

What a craptastic run today! I was so looking forward to it, but my 7-mile plan shrank to a 5.5 mile gimp. Back hurt, heel hurt. Ugh! Now I work the next 3 days and won't get to run until Saturday am. .

Sorry to hear this! Hope the few days 'off' will help your body. Look at it as a rest time.

I went and got my new sneakers yesterday. I tried so hard to branch out and try on some new styles. I was soo close to the mizzuzi (sp?) but just couldn't do it and ended up with my beloved Saucony brand. Been wearing them since track in 9th grade (gosh that's almost 20yrs now!) and my feet just them!

 

[poohbear8]

Who wants to tell me about compression socks? What brands do you like/love, which ones do you skip and why? Socks vs sleeves? I want to get a pair, but the cost is holding me back.

Also, does anyone carry pepper spray when they run? How do you carry it and what type? My DH bought me some for my birthday, but it's a full canister which I would carry. I'm not too excited about carrying it for on long runs.

Life got in the way of my short run yesterday, so I hope to get it in today. I have the 10k race on Saturday and my nerves are starting to kick in. It will my 2nd race and first race in the "real" world. I didn't see anyone else doing a run/walk ratio on the trail last weekend which is kinda worrying me. I'm sure "someone" will be running/walking, but just don't know. I'm doing the race for time, since when I signed up for the TOT, I hadn't done the Royal 5k and put my time down as 16 mins, which I know I can beat. I just feel the pressure to do it and when I ran the trail last weekend, mentally it was harder than my local long runs.