The Running Thread - 2016

[Anisum]

I PRed at my run yesterday. I ran it in 2:03 and change. Felt great the whole way. Much better than my half marathon where I bonked around Mile 9. Not sure what the difference was (maybe just the knowledge that I didn't have much left?) but I felt good at that point even though I maintained roughly the same pace as my half. My splits were much better overall though. During the half I went out fast and started slowing slightly before bonking where as this one I went out kind of slow (early traffic jam) and was able to keep a steady pace the entire way. I also slept better the night before (I wasn't sleeping in the car on the way to NY) and ate a little later dinner so maybe one of those things made the difference. Either way I'm quite happy with my time.

 

[Slogger]

Completed my Long Run/Half Marathon today. Needed to run 15 miles today at non race pace today and figured why not make it more fun and do a HM at the same time? What could go wrong?!!!

Got up at 3:30 am this morning to drive to Petersburg, VA for the Petersburg Halloween Half Marathon. About a 2 hr drive. Clear and cold with temps in the upper 30s. The packet pickup was at the old train station in downtown and they had some neat old steam engines on display out front. Petersburg has a lot of Civil War history with it's location on the Appomatox River and close proximity just south of Richmond.

Packet pickup was smooth and even had time to exchange my s'medium shirt for an XL. They were out of Large. Parking was about 100 yards away in vacant field, very convenient. Quick drop off of items to the car and I headed out on the dark and deserted streets at 6:20 am to do my 2 mile warmup. Easy run, and plenty of time to go back to car and get under a blanket to wait for the start.

Start was smooth and on time right after 7. I was a little worried because I had run 7 miles the day before and it had not gone well. But marathon day is coming in 3 weeks and I was determined to make the best of it. Eased into the run and came within 3 seconds of target pace for the first two miles. I tried to channel my inner Dory and kept saying "just keep running, just keep running." Seriously, what could go wrong?

Maintained pace and watched people slowly run past me...."Hey--don't judge me" I wanted to shout......this is a training run! More people passing, I'm just cruising along sticking to my plan. Then a large man in a Cookie Monster outfit huffed and puffed his way past me and I started having bad thoughts. Really bad thoughts. What if I do the rest of the run as a tempo run? That would only be 50 seconds faster per mile and give me confidence for the marathon. I had assured my wife and my coach that I would behave and not do that. But watching Cookie Monster get further and further ahead of me was too much. Made an executive decision to run the remaining 10.5 miles a tempo run and see how long I could hold pace. What could go wrong?

I quickly shifted gears and started running faster. Hello 9:30 pace.....watch out Cookie Monster I'm coming for Y-O-U!! I started passing people including CM and kept going. Miles 4-5-6 flew by. Felt strong, pace good, even ate a gel without slowing down which is hard for me because I can't breathe through my nose very well. (TMI?!!!). I thought as I passed people that I would see them again since I usually am the one to get passed the last few miles when I bonk and run out of gas. But I kept at it, targeting people ahead of me and then "running" them down. Very addicting! What could go wrong?

Mile 7-8-9-10 had quite a few up and down hills, tried to take it easy but didn't want to lose overall momentum. I kept going and started thinking today could be a PR day. Miles 10-11-12 were done in 9:16, 9:09, 9:15 and I knew I would make it. But my mind continues to spin and I thought how great it would be to go sub 2:05 so I kicked it up another notch. Mile 13 was done in 8:38....funny thing is it never felt hard......think I could have gone even faster if needed.

Finished in 2:04:05 which bested my PR by over 7 minutes. Even did a negative split of nearly 4 minutes. Thanks Cookie Monster. Couldn't have done it without you.

Cool shirt and the medal was designed by Twig Sparks from Ink Masters. Really neat. Plenty of pizza, cookies, and beer at the finish festival. All unlimited and free. Went back to the finish line and cheered on the runners as they completed their races. Not sure of the total number of finishers but heard it was around 200. A nice event, great weather, and cool swag. Overall a great day.

In case you were wondering about what could go wrong, well, for once, nothing really did. I might suffer a little with my marathon results in a few weeks but this event was a great confidence booster showing my endurance and overall fitness has steadily improved. Thanks to you guys, my coach, and family for helping me "just keep running."

Thanks for reading and here's a few pics of the event.

 

[Mickey's sweetheart]

Congratulations to everyone who raced this weekend! Sounds like more than a few folks had great races. Way to go!
@Slogger - Way to persevere! That was a character building race. @Keels - I'm sorry about your dog. I hope you can get some answers and help him. On the upside, yay for starting training!

 

[RunDisneyDad]

Plenty of pizza, cookies, and beer at the finish festival

I bet Cookie Monster was super happy about that!

Great work everyone on your races this past weekend!

 

[Dis5150]

@Keels that's so horrible about your dog! I would be a wreck too and would also be following him around. I hope they find out what caused it and can help.
Yay for training! So happy for you that you get to run again!

 

[CheapRunnerMike]

I was able to get out and race a 5K this past weekend...sort of a last-minute thing as a friend of mine decided he wanted to run and it was only $15 so I figured why not? I couldn't tell you the last time I ran a 5K race (outside of a tri) and was kind of excited to see what I could do, albeit without any actual 5K training

I went out hard right from the start and led the race from start to finish...was hoping to get under 19 minutes and made it real close, clocking in at 19:01. A couple of hills probably cost me those extra few seconds...seriously, who puts hills on a 5K course! Had fun though and was able to try out a WDW Marathon weekend costume, rocking the Darth Vader!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Wow @Keels that is super scary about your dog! My oldest dog is almost 13 years old and I have a fear of waking up to find him in distress
Good luck with your training this week!

 

[Slogger]

I ran the Grand Rapids marathon today and managed a 22 minute PR! Official time was 5:23:13. .......... and my 13 year old son ran the last .2 with us down to the finish, where we rang the PR bell. Someday we would like to get closer to that 5 hour mark, but proud of our effort today.

And now I can't stop stuffing my face with donuts & cider!

Donuts and cider=good!
Congrats on the PR!!
Knew you would do great.

 

[roxymama]

Completed my Long Run/Half Marathon today. Needed to run 15 miles today at non race pace today and figured why not make it more fun and do a HM at the same time? What could go wrong?!!!

Got up at 3:30 am this morning to drive to Petersburg, VA for the Petersburg Halloween Half Marathon. About a 2 hr drive. Clear and cold with temps in the upper 30s. The packet pickup was at the old train station in downtown and they had some neat old steam engines on display out front. Petersburg has a lot of Civil War history with it's location on the Appomatox River and close proximity just south or Richmond.

Packet pickup was smooth and even had time to exchange my s'medium shirt for an XL. They were out of Large. Parking was about 100 yards away in vacant field, very convenient. Quick drop off of items to the car and I headed out on the dark and deserted streets at 6:20 am to do my 2 mile warmup. Easy run, and plenty of time to go back to car and get under a blanket to wait for the start.

Start was smooth and on time right after 7. I was a little worried because I had run 7 miles the day before and it had not gone well. But marathon day is coming in 3 weeks and I was determined to make the best of it. Eased into the run and came within 3 seconds of target pace for the first two miles. I tried to channel my inner Dory and kept saying "just keep running, just keep running." Seriously, what could go wrong?

Maintained pace and watched people slowly run past me...."Hey--don't judge me" I wanted to shout......this is a training run! More people passing, I'm just cruising along sticking to my plan. Then a large man in a Cookie Monster outfit huffed and puffed his way past me and I started having bad thoughts. Really bad thoughts. What if I do the rest of the run as a tempo run? That would only be 50 seconds faster per mile and give me confidence for the marathon. I had assured my wife and my coach that I would behave and not do that. But watching Cookie Monster get further and further ahead of me was too much. Made an executive decision to run the remaining 10.5 miles a tempo run and see how long I could hold pace. What could go wrong?

I quickly shifted gears and started running faster. Hello 9:30 pace.....watch out Cookie Monster I'm coming for Y-O-U!! I started passing people including CM and kept going. Miles 4-5-6 flew by. Felt strong, pace good, even ate a gel without slowing down which is hard for me because I can't breathe through my nose very well. (TMI?!!!). I thought as I passed people that I would see them again since I usually am the one to get passed the last few miles when I bonk and run out of gas. But I kept at it, targeting people ahead of me and then "running" them down. Very addicting! What could go wrong?

Mile 7-8-9-10 had quite a few up and down hills, tried to take it easy but didn't want to lose overall momentum. I kept going and started thinking today could be a PR day. Miles 10-11-12 were done in 9:16, 9:09, 9:15 and I knew I would make it. But my mind continues to spin and I thought how great it would be to go sub 2:05 so I kicked it up another notch. Mile 13 was done in 8:38....funny thing is it never felt hard......think I could have gone even faster if needed.

Finished in 2:04:05 which bested my PR by over 7 minutes. Even did a negative split of nearly 4 minutes. Thanks Cookie Monster. Couldn't have done it without you.

Cool shirt and the medal was designed by Twig Sparks from Ink Masters. Really neat. Plenty of pizza, cookies, and beer at the finish festival. All unlimited and free. Went back to the finish line and cheered on the runners as they completed their races. Not sure of the total number of finishers but heard it was around 200. A nice event, great weather, and cool swag. Overall a great day.

In case you were wondering about what could go wrong, well, for once, nothing really did. I might suffer a little with my marathon results in a few weeks but this event was a great confidence booster showing my endurance and overall fitness has steadily improved. Thanks to you guys, my coach, and family for helping me "just keep running."

Thanks for reading and here's a few pics of the event.

This weekend there was a Halloween parade (my kiddo loved it) and multiple costume events going on and as I was running on the lakefront I got passed by Calvin and Hobbes. Full furry tiger suited hobbes. And they were doing intervals it seemed because about every couple minutes I would get passed by Calvin and Hobbes. Eventually Hobbes became shirtless person with only the furry legs on which was funny. I took a panoramic picture of the lake and sure enough they are in it, but it's way too big to post here due to file size (boo)
I feel like if I was in a race I would have NEEDED to pass them too

Sorry @Keels to hear about your dog...sending positive thoughts out into the universe to travel to you today. And a couple hugs.

 

[roxymama]

I was able to get out and race a 5K this past weekend...sort of a last-minute thing as a friend of mine decided he wanted to run and it was only $15 so I figured why not? I couldn't tell you the last time I ran a 5K race (outside of a tri) and was kind of excited to see what I could do, albeit without any actual 5K training

I went out hard right from the start and led the race from start to finish...was hoping to get under 19 minutes and made it real close, clocking in at 19:01. A couple of hills probably cost me those extra few seconds...seriously, who puts hills on a 5K course! Had fun though and was able to try out a WDW Marathon weekend costume, rocking the Darth Vader!

That's so sad you spent 15 whole dollar to run a race with a bunch of people and they made you run the whole thing by yourself!! I'd ask for my money back. (J/K, that is awesome! Also I dig your costume!)

 

[Slogger]

Race Report:

So today I ran the Grand Rapids Marathon. I totally recommend as it was a beautiful course and organized very well. I had three goals going into the race and sadly it was not a good day! I had a time goal of 3:45; this was my A goal and then B and C goals were to finish sub 4 hours and PR, respectively. I achieved none of the above...

I bonked, I think I now understand what real bonking is. I experienced cramping in my legs like nothing I had even imagined. The race started strong. I went out with a pace group that I thought would keep me in check and at mile seven I left them behind feeling really good. About mile 11 my legs just began to feel very heavy and I was struggling up hills that normally are not a huge issue for me. That pace group caught me at the half marathon point and I thought I could hang with them; by mile 16 they were pulling away, by mile 17/18 I saw them coming back from a out and back turn around. Shortly after that I was passed by the next pace group. Then I began cramping, then really cramping - I seriously struggled to move my legs at all. I came to a complete stop. I tried to stretch them out and walk, but running was out of the question. By mile 24 I was running again and managed to finish feeling not horrible. So my time was 4:25! That is 21 minutes off my PR. So it was a tough day.

@Baloo in MI .....sorry for the tough day but you finished and took away some positives. Your experience mirrors most of the marathons that I have done so I definitely understand about the cramping, leg problems, walking, and getting left behind by pace groups. It's happened to me every time and it sucks!
Hopefully future marathons will be better.

 

[Slogger]

Training starts in the morning - and I'm so excited! I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve ... which, I know sounds weird.

But it's been a pretty rough week. We made it out here to Florida, but my oldest dog basically died in my arms on Thursday morning and my husband had to give him CPR - and while he's still here, and is totally fine at the moment, the multiple vets we've seen have NO idea what's wrong with him and it's just very stressful. I'm not sleeping well, and I'm just following him around making sure he's fine - I'm sure he's annoyed by me stressing out over him too. It's just a crap situation all around.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Sorry about your dog @Keels. Hopefully the vets will discover the problem and be able to help him.
What is his name....we will send doggy prayers from our family including three dogs to yours.

 

[tigger536]

Atlanta 10-miler complete. PR'd at the 10 mile distance at 1:41:22, 1826th of 4197 overall and 4th in my (old person) age group. This is only the 3rd 10-miler I've ever done. I think they planned the course to cover as many hills as they could in Atlanta for this one. My phone health app says I climbed 27 floors .
Next big race: AVENGERS 5K + Challenge

Congratulations @virtuoso1989 @disneydaydreamer33 @JulieODC @surfde22 and others who ran this weekend. I only read back the last few posts, so I know I left some out. It's so hard to keep up on this thread with all the awesome people who post here!

Congratulations Disney at Heart! I ran this one too!! It was perfect running weather! Great job on your PR!!!


@Keels good luck today!!!

I hope your dog gets better. This is so hard.

 

[kirstie101]

@Keels so sorry about your dog! Hugs to you.

Congrats to all who raced this weekend!

DD9 ran 4 miles with me yesterday for the first time. She's done 5ks before but this was her longest run to date. She's running the Star Wars 10k with me in January so it was her first training run. We did 30:30 intervals which worked pretty well for her. Pace was slower than my usual which was to be expected but being as I was a bit hungover it definitely helped me get my miles in lol. I'm following the RC training plan from Galloway so I have 8 for my long run next weekend and she is starting tech week for her musical so I'm not sure how often i'll be able to get training runs in for her. Still trying to figure it out.

 

[michigandergirl]

Race Report:

So today I ran the Grand Rapids Marathon. I totally recommend as it was a beautiful course and organized very well. I had three goals going into the race and sadly it was not a good day! I had a time goal of 3:45; this was my A goal and then B and C goals were to finish sub 4 hours and PR, respectively. I achieved none of the above...

I bonked, I think I now understand what real bonking is. I experienced cramping in my legs like nothing I had even imagined. The race started strong. I went out with a pace group that I thought would keep me in check and at mile seven I left them behind feeling really good. About mile 11 my legs just began to feel very heavy and I was struggling up hills that normally are not a huge issue for me. That pace group caught me at the half marathon point and I thought I could hang with them; by mile 16 they were pulling away, by mile 17/18 I saw them coming back from a out and back turn around. Shortly after that I was passed by the next pace group. Then I began cramping, then really cramping - I seriously struggled to move my legs at all. I came to a complete stop. I tried to stretch them out and walk, but running was out of the question. By mile 24 I was running again and managed to finish feeling not horrible. So my time was 4:25! That is 21 minutes off my PR. So it was a tough day.

But the positives - it truly is a beautiful course; I learned a lot today (pickle juice really helped, I think I may electrolytes were off); the medal is really awesome and even though my time was no where near what I wanted or what I can do, I finished. I wanted to quit like I never have, ever. I stopped, I walked, but I got going again and finished with a time that was better than both of my other marathons in 2016. Oh yeah, now I have more motivation to get after it with Dopey coming up!

Congrats to everyone who ran this weekend, sounds like people really had some great races!

Sorry you had a rough one Baloo, but glad you could take away some positives. I wanted to try the pickle juice, but I had never tried it before, so I didn't dare. Oh man did it smell good though!

 

[Chaitali]

It looks like a lot of people had good races this weekend! And even the bad races had good lessons learned.

@Keels I'm sorry to hear about your dog

My 6 mile cutback run went well this weekend and no knee pain! I met up with a friend to explore a new trail that was supposed to be mostly paved with a section of natural surface trail. Well, it was essentially just a narrow dirt path in the woods, of course we got lost and somehow ended up on a completely different trail, and never found the paved section. But we enjoyed it So this was my first trail run and it was by accident. The dirt surface seemed to feel much better on my knee though we definitely had to slow down and watch our footing since there were a lot of roots, rocks and branches.

 

[Dis5150]

Just wanted to comment to those who recommended the Tobacco Trail to me for my DD26 - she ran it today and loved it! Said it was super shaded and flat! She did 5 miles today and is going back for a longer run tomorrow. So thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Tasmen]

I have a question about how people learn to pace. I've been training with walk/run intervals and I've noticed that when I hit a run interval, I'm clocking anywhere from 8:30-11:00 miles. I slow down to walk about a 15:00-16:00 mile. When I'm on the treadmill at the gym, I feel like I can go for a much longer run time when I'm forced to set a pace (12m mile). I'm less winded so I need less recovery time.

I got a garmin watch this last week and tried to actively stay around a 12:00 pace but failed. The slowest I could go without feeling like I was trudging through molasses was 11:00ish.

Suggestions?

 

[roxymama]

I have a question about how people learn to pace. I've been training with walk/run intervals and I've noticed that when I hit a run interval, I'm clocking anywhere from 8:30-11:00 miles. I slow down to walk about a 15:00-16:00 mile. When I'm on the treadmill at the gym, I feel like I can go for a much longer run time when I'm forced to set a pace (12m mile). I'm less winded so I need less recovery time.

I got a garmin watch this last week and tried to actively stay around a 12:00 pace but failed. The slowest I could go without feeling like I was trudging through molasses was 11:00ish.

Suggestions?

When you do your run interval, what does the effort feel like? Gradual shift up to fast and back down or does your effort start real fast and then peak and then come back to slower by the time you are almost done with it (hence why such a broad range of paces for your run portion)? Or is it just steady? I think that info may help people here figure it out for you.

 

[Tasmen]

When you do your run interval, what does the effort feel like? Gradual shift up to fast and back down or does your effort start real fast and then peak and then come back to slower by the time you are almost done with it (hence why such a broad range of paces for your run portion)? Or is it just steady? I think that info may help people here figure it out for you.

It starts pretty fast usually during the first interval and then tapers to be a bit more consistent for all the other ones. A comfortable running pace for me seems to be around 10:00 at least for the 1:30/3 or 2/2 intervals I've been doing. I've been experimenting trying to find the right interval.