The Running Thread - 2016

[rteetz]

QOTD: Have you had any mishaps with your GPS that has frustrated you on a run/race?

Being still relatively new to the whole gps thing, and having an Apple Watch which is what I use during the WDW it just stopped recording my time and quit out of the app. Luckily my phone was still tracking so I had something. During my half it worked fine.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

QOTD: Have you had any mishaps with your GPS that has frustrated you on a run/race?

I have 2. Before I got my Garmin watch, I used solely Runkeeper on my phone to track my runs. On a short training run last summer, there was a glitch with the GPS, and it gave me a big spurt of distance that messed up the recorded pace. During one of the updates, it told me the pace, and I was surprised but excited at first to hear what it was. At the time I was a bit skeptical that it was right, since I didn't feel like I was faster than normal, but I took its word for it. But then afterwards I looked at the map and noticed the glitch. I don't know what my actual pace was, but it was slower than what was recorded.

My second was a mistake on my part and while not a big deal, made me mad at the time. During a quarter marathon race last June, I stopped for a bathroom break and paused my Runkeeper. When I was done, instead of resuming it, I accidentally hit stop. So I had to restart it and ended up with 2 separate entries for that race instead of having it all in one. Again, not a big deal, but a bit annoying.

 

[Barca33Runner]

ATTQOTD:

My biggest problem with technology is not using the quick release (or whatever it's called) on the treadmill. I realize it's there for safety, but I knocked it out with my arm swing so many times when I first started running that I completely gave up on using it. I know it's not GPS related, but it's somewhat the same issue.

 

[DopeyBadger]

QOTD: Have you had any mishaps with your GPS that has frustrated you on a run/race?

Prior to getting my Garmin 620 in Dec 2014, I use to use Runtastic. In May 2014, I had done serious training in advance of my half marathon and was hoping to break 1:50. I felt very confident based on my training paces that I would be able to break 1:50 because many runs towards 10 miles where at pace without issue. I decided for the first time to run with a pacer. During the first mile, I was like wow this is tougher than normal. Came to the first split for runtastic and had it at 7:53 (WAY TOO FAST!). It was suppose to be 8:24. I went to the pacer and was like whoa we went out way too fast. He showed me his Garmin (mile split at 8:24). I tried to keep up with him and the splits kept hitting super early. It was then I realized that my Runtastic app was off by about 30-35 sec per mile (Each mile on Runtastic was about 90-95% the distance of an actual mile). All of those training paces I had been doing were WAY off and were 30-35 seconds slower than I actually thought I was doing. It was really disheartening.

 

[Baloo in MI]

QOTD: Do you have a shoe rotation or just one pair at a time?
ATTQOTD: I usually have two training pairs that I rotate. Currently I'm down to one training pair and a lighter shoe for races and some speed work.

I generally just run with one pair. When it is time to transition to a new pair I rotate the old and new for a few weeks. The only other rotation I do is with my street shoes and my trail shoes depending on what type of race I am preparing for.

 

[opusone]

QOTD: Have you had any mishaps with your GPS that has frustrated you on a run/race?

The Chicago Hot Chocolate 15k route spends about 3/4 of the first mile somewhat underground, so knowing this ahead of time this last year, I decided to pace the first mile off of a pace group since I knew my Garmin 225 wouldn't work there. The pace group in my corral was at a pace a little faster than my plan (I was using this as a fast training run, not a race), so I let them slowly pull ahead of me to get close to my desired pace for the first mile. So, then I was hoping to use my watch to pace the remainder of the race. However, after the first mile, you are then in the middle of downtown Chicago with all the tall buildings, and my watch just couldn't get a good lock, but I didn't really know this, so it was telling me I was way too slow, then way too fast. By about mile 3.5, you finally leave the taller buildings, but my watch just never seemed to recover even in the open, so my run was just a mess as far as pacing. It was frustrating. I usually can go by feel better, but the pace I was trying to keep was different than any of my normal training run paces. Anyway, when I downloaded the run to Garmin Connect and saw the map, I realized that my watch had a bad lock pretty much the whole time. Still love my Garmin 225 - this is the only time it has let me down.

 

[Baloo in MI]

I suppose I am old school in this way, but no gps of any kind. I run on feel and maintain mileage based on established routes or I measure them out; and a phone app. Cost factor has also been a hinderance for me. At some point I will break down and get something. Technology is just often not my friend!

 

[roxymama]

Weirdly enough I just ran with my garmin 220 and my Nike+ app on only because my regular music was being wonky and I was using spotify through my Nike app. My garmin kept hitting the mileage correctly (I was running a local race route and then adding mileage at the end) but my Nike app kept being behind.
I'm thinking my watch found the satellite faster.

I'll echo @oposune with the Chicago races that go on lower walker or down state at or Michigan ave. I always get better signal on the lakefront path races. My hot chocolate run had no music for lack of signal. I really need to download a permanent playlist!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

QOTD: Have you had any mishaps with your GPS that has frustrated you on a run/race?

Garmin 610 - 10 mile run last summer. This was an out and back trail run, and I was really reliant on the GPS for accurate distance calculations. Well, when I hit the turnaround point I must have pressed something together because my GPS froze up. I had to stop and reboot the watch. Lost about 5 minutes as I walked slowly doing so, but much worse it messed up my run. I never got back in the groove of that run, and it was very hot/humid. By the time I got back to my car I was ready to throw it in the river.

 

[hotblooded]

I got a Garmin 305 in June 2011, and used it regularly for about 6 months. It was handy for tracking mileage and pace in my training runs, but I preferred to race by effort. I stopped using it because I got sick of waiting forever for it to find a signal. Now I map out a route ahead of time or just run.

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Just started reading this thread, great idea!

For now, this is what I have scheduled:

3/20/16: Excalibur 10-Miler (no time goal)
4/17/16: Star Wars Dark Side Half (best time ever, non-temporally speaking)
5/7/16: Tinker Bell 10K (no time goal)
5/8/16: Tinker Bell Half (no time goal)

I'm also hoping to get into Space Coast Half in November and am considering the Madison (WI) Mini (=half marathon) in August, want to visit my family in summer when the weather is more civilized.

 

[Slogger]

QOTD: Have you had any mishaps with your GPS that has frustrated you on a run/race?


ATTQOTD>too many mishaps. Use RunKeeper on my iPhone but also have a Garmin and Timex GPS watches.
Ran a half marathon in the rain in November and tried to keep phone dry in my pocket. Took it out to check pace and must have hit pause because 4 miles later it was stuck on pause.........arrrgh!!!

At a marathon last year I used my Garmin and waited for the obligatory acquire signal phase......but lost it right before I hit start line. Had to pull out of my wave to get signal again.

Another time I was running on a very windy day and I turned into the wind my gps got confused and gave me a pace worthy of elite status!

My iPhone has been shutting down when the temps are in the teens and 20s, leaving me without gps or music (or backup light).

Bigger issue is my iPhone battery does not last long enough when I use Runkeeper during a marathon. Guess I need to run faster!

 

[SplashRider]

ATTQOTD: My biggest issue with my Garmin 110 is that I takes SO LONG to find satellites. I have to remember to start it as soon as I get out of my car at my running group or I end up having to start a minute or two after everyone else or give up on finding satellites and not use it for that run. I'm considering upgrading to a better Garmin just so it doesn't take so long, though the heart rate monitor would also be an added benefit.

No running for me this weekend. Still trying to heal the hamstring tendon issue, though now I'm wondering if it's actually the IT band. I'm going to a running clinic tomorrow to see if they can give me some answers.

In the meantime, I went on a 10-mile bike ride today because I felt like I really needed to get outside and move. Still using the Wal-Mart mountain bike I got for Christmas when I was 12. The ride today convinced me that I need to seriously consider buying a road bike!

 

[LSUlakes]

ATTQOTD: My biggest issue with my Garmin 110 is that I takes SO LONG to find satellites. I have to remember to start it as soon as I get out of my car at my running group or I end up having to start a minute or two after everyone else or give up on finding satellites and not use it for that run. I'm considering upgrading to a better Garmin just so it doesn't take so long, though the heart rate monitor would also be an added benefit.

No running for me this weekend. Still trying to heal the hamstring tendon issue, though now I'm wondering if it's actually the IT band. I'm going to a running clinic tomorrow to see if they can give me some answers.

In the meantime, I went on a 10-mile bike ride today because I felt like I really needed to get outside and move. Still using the Wal-Mart mountain bike I got for Christmas when I was 12. The ride today convinced me that I need to seriously consider buying a road bike!

Hope you are able to find out what the issue is soon and it's only minor. I have a road bike but rarely use it during the shorter days. The main reason I bought it was to keep training if I have a running injury.

 

[DOOM1001]

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. This weekend we had our first race on the list. How did the race go @DOOM1001? When you get a chance let me know your finish time to update the list and make it official.

So today I went out for a run and stopped at Mike the Tigers habitat for DD to check out the tiger. Well in the process she accidentally hit save on the watch and I had to start another session when we got going again. Darn technology... Hate seeing one run split into two.
QOTD: Have you had any mishaps with your GPS that has frustrated you on a run/race?

ATTQOTD: see above.

Great race overall,near perfect running weather with a great running atmosphere from both runners,spectators and residents.Not a huge race but a good size for the location.As far as my race I finished at 2:10 and change getting a PR by 22 seconds.The most positive thing about that was that that time included a 7-8 minute potty break at mile 9,so my time would probably have been closer to 2:02 or so.Even more positive that potty break included what was probably the nicest bathroom on the course as I came upon what looked like a nice looking neighborhood clubhouse and even though I knew I wanted to keep going as I knew I was on pace to PR I chose to finish the race comfortably and afterwards I felt so much better I ran better than I would have otherwise,so it helped overall.The most insane thing that happened was that I experienced my first ever case of bloody nips (on only one) just a couple of days after that subject was brought up on the boards talking about bodyglide and I said I had never had that happen before,LOL!!!The after party was also pretty good,right after the race we got the usual muffins,fruits,bagels,coke cans,more Cliff bloks(that we also got on the course).Then after we got these items you walked over to a tent where they gave you a card with like 10 different local restaurant logos that you would then take to each individual restaurant tent to get a food sample from each restaurant,some things were better than others,the good,rice and beans with Cuban bread,2 glasses of beer,a mimosa,chips and salsa and some sort of crab soup.The not so good,cold pizza,cold plain garlic rolls and some sort of grits with a bacon jelly.The race also gave out beach towels and paper ponchos with the race logo to keep warm after the race.I would never run the full in this race as I would never want to run the same loop twice but I'll definitely be back for the half.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

For those struggling with watches trying to connect to GPS - my solution. I start the sync process while driving to the trail. I live out in the middle of nowhere, and the trail is almost completely tree covered, so connecting is not easy - but it connects much faster for some reason if I am driving. It is only a 2 mile drive to the trail - I am always connected before I arrive. If I wait until I arrive to connect (because I forgot) it takes 5 minutes or more (frustrating, especially on really cold days).

 

[Disneyland_emily]

QOTD: Have you had any mishaps with your GPS that has frustrated you on a run/race?

My 'fav' was when runkeeper turned my 4 mile run to a 28 mile and so I averaged a 2 min mile for the whole time..

 

[NurseRunner]

QOTD: Answer: When I first started racing, I was all excited at the prospect of purchasing my first Garmin GPS watch. No one told me it had a default auto-pause on it, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so it had difficulty finding a lock at times, constantly auto paused my runs until I figured out how to disable it.

 

[gjramsey]

ATTQOTD: Turned on my watch about 5 minutes before the start of a race.....low battery. Crud! Watch died about 10 seconds after the start of the race! Ran the race on feel after that, and luckily, I was using it as a slowish tempo run, and not really racing for time.

Also had a case where I stopped the watch at a water break during a long run, and forgot to turn it back on for about 1.5 miles. oops.

 

[ZellyB]

Had a good weekend run. 6 miler on a beautiful day here. We had a great warm-up over the weekend, so was out at 6:30 AM in 50 degree weather at the end of January. So awesome!!

Also finally got my first weight workout done this morning!! Planning for weights on M-W here on.

QOTD: Do you have a shoe rotation or just one pair at a time?

ATTQOTD:
I run in Saucony Kinvaras and usually have 2 or 3 in rotation. Right now, I'm down to just 2 and one of those has quite a few miles on it, so will probably be buying a new pair shortly

QOTD: Have you had any mishaps with your GPS that has frustrated you on a run/race?

ATTQOTD: A couple of things with my Garmin 210. One, it does this strange glitch once in a while if I hit the back light switch, it will freeze up and will just do this constant beep. There's no way to get it to stop other than stick it in a drawer somewhere and let the battery run down.

The only other mishap is that it times out on me when waiting in a start corral if I don't watch it. It's slow to acquire signal, so I always start it up early while waiting, but if I get distracted, it shuts off and then I'm rushing trying to get it started back up again before I get to the start line. I just got a new 220 in the mail yesterday though and a couple of the reasons I got it was for the option to extend the auto shutoff and also that it's much quicker to pick up signal. At least I hope so!

Great race overall,near perfect running weather with a great running atmosphere from both runners,spectators and residents.Not a huge race but a good size for the location.As far as my race I finished at 2:10 and change getting a PR by 22 seconds.The most positive thing about that was that that time included a 7-8 minute potty break at mile 9,so my time would probably have been closer to 2:02 or so.Even more positive that potty break included what was probably the nicest bathroom on the course as I came upon what looked like a nice looking neighborhood clubhouse and even though I knew I wanted to keep going as I knew I was on pace to PR I chose to finish the race comfortably and afterwards I felt so much better I ran better than I would have otherwise,so it helped overall.The most insane thing that happened was that I experienced my first ever case of bloody nips (on only one) just a couple of days after that subject was brought up on the boards talking about bodyglide and I said I had never had that happen before,LOL!!!The after party was also pretty good,right after the race we got the usual muffins,fruits,bagels,coke cans,more Cliff bloks(that we also got on the course).Then after we got these items you walked over to a tent where they gave you a card with like 10 different local restaurant logos that you would then take to each individual restaurant tent to get a food sample from each restaurant,some things were better than others,the good,rice and beans with Cuban bread,2 glasses of beer,a mimosa,chips and salsa and some sort of crab soup.The not so good,cold pizza,cold plain garlic rolls and some sort of grits with a bacon jelly.The race also gave out beach towels and paper ponchos with the race logo to keep warm after the race.I would never run the full in this race as I would never want to run the same loop twice but I'll definitely be back for the half.

Sounds like a great race! Congrats on the PR. Sounds like a great after party!!!