The Running Thread - 2016

[Miranda]

ATTQOTD: My longest race is the half marathon. My first one was Tinker Bell 2015 (3:15:41) and my fastest one was Harborside 2015 in Newburyport, MA (2:45:08).

 

[RunDisneyDad]

ATTQOTD: Mine is 21 minutes. Those came 14 years apart.

Interestingly with me, the gap between my fastest and slowest marathon came a month apart….this past December (San Antonio – Fastest) and January (Disney – slowest) with a gap of 28 minutes.

 

[croach]

Had an interesting weekend...set out bright and early Saturday morning with the intentions of doing a 100 mile ride. Nearly 50 miles in (a a loooong way from home) my rear tire blew out. Not just a flat, but a shredded tire and a loud pop, followed by a lot of fishtailing as I brought the bike to a safe stop at the side of the road.

I tried my best to get it patched using a $5 bill, but it only lasted another 10 miles before blowing again. I was a sad triathlete as I called my wife for a rescue ride.

I didn't get too down though...I just treated it as an opportunity to brush up on my flat-changing skills and realized that after nearly 60 miles of riding my legs felt amazing. The time out there flew by and I have next weekend to give it another go. I rebounded on Sunday by hitting the trails to get my 15 mile long run in...first time running with a Camelbak and it made a world of difference out there. I had an awesome run and enjoyed every minute of it. I was a happy triathlete again!

I saw your post on Strava about this. Glad you were able to get stopped safely. Next time use $100 - maybe it will get you further.

 

[cburnett11]

QOTD: What is the difference between your first marathon (or longest race) and your fastest? If you have only done one, then what is your goal?

I've run 1 marathon... the WDW in January, 2016. I was hoping to run it under 4 hours, but finished in 4:15:57. The heat/humidity weren't ideal for me and I probably didn't train as hard as I needed to in order to reach my goal. I'm running Chicago in October and training way differently than I did for WDW. I hope to break 4 hours this time, but also realize that there are a lot of variables involved in a marathon.

 

[GreatLakes]

DH and I decided we needed a change of scenery. So we drove to a park about 30 minutes from home to do our weekend run this morning.

Looked at the trail map and chose a 1.5 mile loop. The sign at the trail head said "steep hills on trail." Oh, well...how bad can it be?

Ummmm...they weren't joking! There were multiple steep inclines! After the second one, we figured out why there were benches at the top of each!

But the flatter areas were smooth trails with good footing. We also missed a turn and did 2.5 miles on the first loop. Oops!

We had a great time, though! It was fun and we didn't use our run/walk intervals...just ran when it was flat and walked the steeper hills.

Moral of the story...a change of scenery is good!

I just started running trails and I think they are helping my road racing tremendously. I have also noticed that when I drive somewhere unfamiliar to do a run I find a little more pace than when I just run my normal routes around the house. I am not sure why though I know it is all mental. I guess I just get into my normal grove and don't push as much on the familiar routes.

Question for everyone! Now that my I'm in my 11th week of training, I have run through my ipod music, exhausted my Pandora channels, and starting to suffer from a mild case of boredom! What say ye wise experts about specific books on tape or podcasts that are worth listening to during a run?

Most of my runs are about 60-90 minutes right now. Thank you for any suggestions.

I'll go against the grain and ask if you have tried running without any headphones? I became a much better (and IMO safer) runner when I ditched the headphones and run with just my own thoughts and natural sounds around me.

QOTD: What is the difference between your first marathon (or longest race) and your fastest? If you have only done one, then what is your goal?

28:33. I made every first timer mistake I could for my first full marathon. I concentrated too much on my long runs instead of total miles, didn't fuel properly the night before or morning of, and went out way too fast. My full marathon PR is still my second marathon (I've only done three fulls) and it is Disney. I don't race Disney any differently than I race other races though. I don't stop for pictures or anything like that. I enjoy the scenery and entertainment but still push 100%.

 

[baxter24]

QOTD: What is the difference between your first marathon (or longest race) and your fastest? If you have only done one, then what is your goal?

My longest race is a half marathon. My best time was 2:11:08 this past March. My goal for the full in January is to finish but I think I can finish in 5 hours. 5 hours is just a guess seeings how marathon training doesn't officially start for me until next month.

 

[rteetz]

Connecting with Walt

Michael is fantastic!

I love every podcast the Dis puts out so
Dis Pop
Disunplugged WDW edition
Disunplugged DL edition
Connecting with Walt
Disunplugged Universal edition

I also listen to
Disney Dish with Jim Hill
Mickey Miles and More

 

[rteetz]

QOTD: What is the difference between your first marathon (or longest race) and your fastest? If you have only done one, then what is your goal?

Well I've only run one half so that would be my first and fastest right now. My goal is to get my half to as close to or under 2:00 which I think is do-able since my only half was at Disney and included a lot of character stops.

 

[camaker]

Last week there was a discussion here about the benefits of slowing down your training paces, especially for the "easy" and "long" runs. I had previously held the belief that I basically had a single running speed - I couldn't run much faster and I definitely didn't want to run much slower. But I have been finding it harder to get to the end of my long runs without feeling completely exhausted, so I thought I would try the advice of slowing it down ... and it worked! My recent long run felt so much better than previous ones, and I managed to complete my longest run to date and still felt good at the end. Yay! Thank you for the tips!

So, while this is great, I am now also wondering how to transition from this slower pace on long runs to my "race pace". Do I keep training at a slow pace and then on race day just start running faster (I'm assuming my tempo runs will help)? Or do I slowly start increasing my "slow pace" in my training runs until I am doing my long training runs at my goal race pace? I am currently prepping for my first 10k at the end of summer ... and I think I will be running that distance within the next 2-3 weeks and will still have 2-3 weeks before my first race, so I can try to use that extra time to work on increasing my pace a bit ... but once I start my half marathon training plan I don't think I will have much time left at the end of the plan to work on increasing my pace, so I assume that has to happen during the training at some point?

I'm sure some more experienced folks will chime in on this one, as well, but here's my two cents. You don't need to do training runs at race pace, especially long runs, to be able to do it on race day. The adrenaline and accumulated training will kick in at the race and you will be fine. Every one of my races has gone this way, even back to when I was "trying to PR" training runs before slowing things down for my current training plan. If you try to increase your pace on the long "should be easy" runs as you get closer to race day, you are just going to burn your legs out and go into the race with tired legs and be at a pacing disadvantage. Stick to your plan, trust the pacing prescribed, and be ready to go out and do it on race day.

 

[PrincessV]

Gone for 2 weeks and 30+ page to catch up?! Um, it may not happen, lol! Can I just jump in here and carry on?

Some random updates from my world...

In 9 days at WDW, I managed 3 very short runs. Between the heat and time on my feet, I'm pretty happy with that.

THE HEAT. It has officially reached "Infernal" at this point in west-central FL. And the cumulative effect of being in it so much at WDW made my long run when I got home extra rough. Time to do more running indoors and/or in the pool.

I'm tossing around the idea of upgrading to Dopey, but I'm not sure if that's even possible, let alone financially sane. Currently registered for the 10K and Goofy... anyone know if it's even possible to upgrade both of those registrations into one Dopey? Would that incur 2x the $45 fee? Ugh, I feel sick even thinking about the extra expense.

 

[roxymama]

ATTQOTD: Well since my longest run, 10k, I have only ran once and will run the next one this Sunday...I'll use 5k for my answer. My first one was 42 minutes and my fastest was 28:34 and these were just over 6 months apart last year. So almost 14 min difference
My answer will be revised shortly once I get past this next 10k and then 15k next eeeeeeeeeee!

Edited: I forgot to add my goal. I'd like to eventually get a 1:02:00 10k which is a 10min mile. I don't think that will happen this weekend (HOT! HUMID!) but I'd like it to happen eventually. My 15k goal is to finish it. My half marathon goal is to run one eventually next year.

 

[michigandergirl]

ATTQOTD: First marathon was Disney this past January with a time of 5:45. My 20 mile split was 4:00, so you could say I hit a wall for sure. My next marathon is in October and I hope to have a better fueling plan in place and cooler weather. My goal is to knock off a huge chunk of time, but as someone else mentioned, there are so many variables, so we shall see!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Question for everyone! Now that my I'm in my 11th week of training, I have run through my ipod music, exhausted my Pandora channels, and starting to suffer from a mild case of boredom! What say ye wise experts about specific books on tape or podcasts that are worth listening to during a run?

Most of my runs are about 60-90 minutes right now. Thank you for any suggestions.

I love audible! Any memoir narrated by the author (preferably a comedian) will get me through any run. Podcasts I love are: most of the NPR ones (Fresh Air, On Point- especially Friday News Roundup, NPR Politics, Planet Money, Diane Rehm, Invisibilia, Pop Culture Happy Hour) The West Wing Weekly, I'm currently watching the Americans on Amazon Prime so I like to listen to Slate TV's The Americans as I go through the episodes, any Dis Podcast- but especially DisUplugged original and Connecting with Walt, Anna Farris is Unqualified, Ken Rudin's Political Junkie, 538 Elections, You Must Remember This, and sometimes *** with Marc Maron. . . . I really like podcasts!

QOTD: What is the difference between your first marathon (or longest race) and your fastest? If you have only done one, then what is your goal?
.

My first half was done in 2:12 I believe and my fastest was my third half marathon that I did in 1:58. I have only gotten slower since then But I still have goals for upcoming races! Mainly just to be consistent with my training and enjoy the process! I think 2018 will be my first marathon.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I have a question going along with the slow running that has been introduced to me through this thread. I really like the concept, and the info that has been presented makes a lot of sense to me. My question is in regards to injury prevention. When I read Jeff Galloway's book the info he presents in regards to run/walk methods and injury prevention seems right: You are giving your body constant little breaks, so overuse injury is cut down. Those that are familiar, which method do you think works best just in terms of injury prevention? Anyone know of any studies that have been done? TIA!

 

[gjramsey]

ATTQOTD: Difference between first and fastest is around 9 minutes. First was a 3:57:30 (goal was sub-4), and fastest was 1 year later and same race (Bryan-College Station Marathon), 3:48:59. Goal was to be under 3:40 but that was another race that started out around 70 with very high humidity.

 

[huggybuff]

QOTD: What is the difference between your first marathon (or longest race) and your fastest? If you have only done one, then what is your goal?

I have completed one half marathon so far, Tink in Jan 2014. I was undertrained, shocker!, and only ran the first 7 miles, walking the rest. I think my time was 3:36 something. My goal is to finish the WDW Half in January under 3:15 and having run the whole thing.

 

[CheapRunnerMike]

I saw your post on Strava about this. Glad you were able to get stopped safely. Next time use $100 - maybe it will get you further.

Well played, sir. In all seriousness, a Gu wrapper would have likely worked better.

Addendum to the QOTD...my slowest marathon was not my first marathon. I ran a 7:06 at Disney with my wife this year, making my difference 4:08.

 

[Slogger]

I like to laugh and am not easily offended. If that applies to you, I suggest the Mike O'Meara Show podcast. Mike does voices, they cover events of the day and follow along with the lives of the guys on the show. I've been listening to Mike off and on for over 20 years.

Love Mike O'Meara. Used to listen to Don & Mike for many, many years. I will look for the podcast!

 

[LSUlakes]

I'm sure some more experienced folks will chime in on this one, as well, but here's my two cents. You don't need to do training runs at race pace, especially long runs, to be able to do it on race day. The adrenaline and accumulated training will kick in at the race and you will be fine. Every one of my races has gone this way, even back to when I was "trying to PR" training runs before slowing things down for my current training plan. If you try to increase your pace on the long "should be easy" runs as you get closer to race day, you are just going to burn your legs out and go into the race with tired legs and be at a pacing disadvantage. Stick to your plan, trust the pacing prescribed, and be ready to go out and do it on race day.

I would like to add to this a bit. It is true that ones long runs should be slower than your general aerobic runs. The rule that is thrown around a lot is something like 60 to 90 seconds slower than goal pace for long runs. Another idea for the long run to prepare you for race day is every 3rd or 4th week during training is to run the last few miles at race pace. The idea behind the long run is to simulate the time you spend on your feet, and by running the last few miles at race pace you can get a feel for what it will be like to run those last few miles on tired legs at pace. Try to avoid the race pace miles during your longest of long runs, i.e. 20 milers (For marathon training).

 

[Slogger]

I've got an audible subscription that I love. But one day last month I tried listening to Game of Thrones (yes I'm late to the party) and when that evil Queen had Lady the wolf killed I stopped in the middle of the road in shock choking back tears. So I've gone back to lighter fare when running. Favorite podcasts:

Radiolab!!!!
Connecting with Walt
Freakonomics
Some of the older Tested episodes
Mickey Miles
Disney Dish with Jim Hill

I'd also recommend doing a few runs with nothing. It sort of resets your brain in the same way going without soft drinks for a while makes them taste really really amazing when you finally have one.

I'm also going to check out some of those listed above that I haven't tried yet.

Thanks for the suggestions and not giving away spoilers for Game of Thrones. We are even later to the party and just started watching last week. That episode just about ended our watching too but we took a few days off and tried again.

Love the other suggestions, thanks for sharing!