The Running Thread - 2016

[CheapRunnerMike]

Now I will divulge that in tiny local races with out and backs, I do try to count the number of women age 35-39 ahead of me but that never works because all "in shape" runners look 21 (to me at least.)

Haha too true! I do the exact same with the 35-39 Men That's another plus for triathlon, you have your age marked on the back of your leg so you can always tell if it is worth the effort to try and catch the person in front of you!

 

[rteetz]

QOTD: How do you feel about out and back courses or even sections of a course where you have to make a U-turn?

They aren't preferable but sometimes they don't have a choice and have to put them in. I don't mind them as long as there aren't a lot of them.

 

[camaker]

QOTD: How do you feel about out and back courses or even sections of a course where you have to make a U-turn?.

Out and backs are not my favorites, but I don't mind them all that much, either. Same with U-turns. It does start playing with my mind a little bit when I start seeing runners coming back the other way. I think I must be just about to the turnaround and then it doesn't come, and doesn't come, and... That can be a bit demoralizing. In my opinion, worse than either out and back or U-turns are multiple lap courses! Hey, I just got back to where I started! And now I get to do it all again... Boo!

 

[Chaitali]

Out and backs are not my favorites, but I don't mind them all that much, either. Same with U-turns. It does start playing with my mind a little bit when I start seeing runners coming back the other way. I think I must be just about to the turnaround and then it doesn't come, and doesn't come, and... That can be a bit demoralizing. In my opinion, worse than either out and back or U-turns are multiple lap courses! Hey, I just got back to where I started! And now I get to do it all again... Boo!

Ugh, I'm not a fan of multiple lap courses. The New Year's Day 5k I did this year was the first time I experienced it. And it wasn't clear in advance so it was a surprise while running the course.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Don't care for them either. I was out of town this weekend and my long run called for 20+ miles...not knowing the territory quite well enough to come up with some nice elaborate route I just did a standard out and back, basically running along the coast of Lake Ontario. The out went great and I was hitting my paces and crushing the hills. I felt a bit of a tailwind and knew I would be dealing with a headwind on the way back...no problem though, right? WRONG. I turned around and immediately said "$*&#@"...the headwind was 20mph with gusts (and there were plenty of gusts) getting over 30mph. Of course it was cold and wet on top of the wind. This is the biggest reason I hate out and backs

If it helps you one way, it really should cost you something coming back.

J/K - but I try to make sure that my out and back runs have the wind in my face on the way out. I did a 20 miler last February in -5F weather with 20+ MPH winds and no hint of sunshine. I am not sure that I could have taken the wind chill in my face on the way back, but I was able to handle it on the way out because I knew it would be at my back going home. Made the run much easier. I finished that run covered in ice from my breath.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

Ive only ran one multiple 'loop' course and it was a fiasco as they didnt have a split mat so couldnt tell who went around twice vs those who didnt but were supposed to (it was a 5/10 mile race so half were only running one lap vs two)

 

[roxymama]

If it helps you one way, it really should cost you something coming back.

J/K - but I try to make sure that my out and back runs have the wind in my face on the way out. I did a 20 miler last February in -5F weather with 20+ MPH winds and no hint of sunshine. I am not sure that I could have taken the wind chill in my face on the way back, but I was able to handle it on the way out because I knew it would be at my back going home. Made the run much easier. I finished that run covered in ice from my breath.

Not a race, but my hubby and I joke about how windy it gets in Chicago. We will run a ton of blocks in one direction with wind at our back and then on the way back home we will get the wind full force at us and then we cut right down the short block and then go straight again and then turn right of left down short block and then wind again. Our Garmin maps look pretty silly. Like a zig zag. It's basically like AHHHH WIIIIIIND...aaaaah sweet relief....AHHHH WIND...rinse/repeat.

 

[michigandergirl]

Out and backs are not my favorites, but I don't mind them all that much, either. Same with U-turns. It does start playing with my mind a little bit when I start seeing runners coming back the other way. I think I must be just about to the turnaround and then it doesn't come, and doesn't come, and... That can be a bit demoralizing. In my opinion, worse than either out and back or U-turns are multiple lap courses! Hey, I just got back to where I started! And now I get to do it all again... Boo!

This is exactly how I feel about the U-turns - not a fan. I don't mind out & backs or loops though. The half I did this month (groundhog half) had us going around a loop 3 times through a scenic park and I kind of liked knowing what to expect - not sure I would want to do it 6 times around like the marathoners though...

 

[CheapRunnerMike]

If it helps you one way, it really should cost you something coming back.

J/K - but I try to make sure that my out and back runs have the wind in my face on the way out. I did a 20 miler last February in -5F weather with 20+ MPH winds and no hint of sunshine. I am not sure that I could have taken the wind chill in my face on the way back, but I was able to handle it on the way out because I knew it would be at my back going home. Made the run much easier. I finished that run covered in ice from my breath.

Ya totally agree...I always run into the wind on my way out when I'm at home and know the area as you want the wind at your (probably sweaty) back on the way home to keep from freezing too much. No choice this weekend though, to much snow going out the other way.

Also agree that out and back courses giveth and taketh away...completely fair of course, whether it is wind, hills, etc

 

[RunDisneyDad]

My preference would be no to out and backs, but for the most part I'm okay with them. I didn't mind the one at this year's Marathon because it came early in the race. Its the ones that happen late in the race that affect me the most.

 

[Miranda]

QOTD: I hate out and back. I think the only thing that would be worse would be a multiple loop course. I hate knowing exactly how far I have left to go. When I plan my routes at home for running, I will do anything in my power to create a route that doesn't retrace ground. I have about a 0.25 mile section that usually gets retraced at the beginning/end of my route just because where the road I return on exits back onto the one I left on, but that is it.

Loop or point-to-point > lollipop (partial out and back) > out and back > multiple loops

 

[IamTrike]

Good morning folks! For those that had a race this past weekend, how did it go? I wasn't able to check in much this weekend as we are in the process of organizing our home to put on the market as well as looking for a new house. In order to get things done, my running had to take a back seat over the weekend.

QOTD: How do you feel about out and back courses or even sections of a course where you have to make a U-turn?

ATTQOTD: I dislike making a U-turn during a race. I feel like it take away all my momentum and takes a lot of effort to get going again. I also dislike covering the same ground for a race. I like loops much better.

I don't like races with short out and backs on them. I'm like it better if the turn around area is a loop rather than just running around a cone.

 

[CheapRunnerMike]

Ugh, I'm not a fan of multiple lap courses. The New Year's Day 5k I did this year was the first time I experienced it. And it wasn't clear in advance so it was a surprise while running the course.

Ive only ran one multiple 'loop' course and it was a fiasco as they didnt have a split mat so couldnt tell who went around twice vs those who didnt but were supposed to (it was a 5/10 mile race so half were only running one lap vs two)

Loop or point-to-point > lollipop (partial out and back) > out and back > multiple loops

I generally don't like multi-loop courses either but I did a triathlon last fall in Niagara Falls and the run was a half-marathon 2-loop course that took you by the Falls...let's just say that didn't suck

 

[BuckeyeBama]

My first walk/run today in 3+ months. Made it through the run with no pain whatsoever - hurray. Now I have to find my running groove again and get back in running condition. According to my 620, my VO2 is down to 39 from 49 when I was injured. Yeah, I know that I am getting old, but 39 for me is horrible.

 

[CheapRunnerMike]

My first walk/run today in 3+ months. Made it through the run with no pain whatsoever - hurray. Now I have to find my running groove again and get back in running condition. According to my 620, my VO2 is down to 39 from 49 when I was injured. Yeah, I know that I am getting old, but 39 for me is horrible.

Glad you're back at it and don't let that Garmin VO2 bother you, it probably isn't accurate anyways Just getting back out the door is reason enough to celebrate, let alone pain-free!

 

[LSUlakes]

I don't like races with short out and backs on them. I'm like it better if the turn around area is a loop rather than just running around a cone.

Its the cone part that bothers me the most.

My first walk/run today in 3+ months. Made it through the run with no pain whatsoever - hurray. Now I have to find my running groove again and get back in running condition. According to my 620, my VO2 is down to 39 from 49 when I was injured. Yeah, I know that I am getting old, but 39 for me is horrible.

Glad you got to get back out there! Just don't push it to fast.

 

[Barca33Runner]

Was visiting family over the weekend and wasn't keeping track of the thread. I don't really have anything interesting to add about any of the QOTD; I think they've been covered pretty thoroughly. Took a while to catch up on everything in the past few days.

 

[FFigawi]

QOTD: How do you feel about out and back courses or even sections of a course where you have to make a U-turn?

I do most of my long runs in a parking lot, so u-turns don't bother me a bit. I am not a fan of multiple loop course, though. I much prefer point to point or one big loop. With the exception of the Stockholm marathon. Running past the bikini girls twice was nice.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

So that was my weekend..

Princess 5K was fun though I really miss um princesses at the 5K not the fab 5.. We finished just under an hour which was expected-

Gasparilla 15K went really well- finished with just over 14 min miles (2:11:34) which I was happy with as it included a pit stop and the fact my little toes were in agony.. 5K was slower than usual but since it wasn't on fresh legs I was happy (47:53)

Now the half- after hearing so much about how they sidewalk the slower runners due to permits and the 8K race I was determined to stay in front of that but after 12+ miles the day before wasn't expecting that to happen.. So yeah I *never* got sidewalked and put in my fastest finish in years (6 min faster than my last half 2 weeks ago AND 42 min faster than my Nov half) at 3:05:02. So very happy the 2 hr mark is back in view to conquer...

Now I'll need to figure out if I need to track down Meb and Shalane to autograph ALL my race bibs to insure a great race...

 

[opusone]

QOTD: How do you feel about out and back courses or even sections of a course where you have to make a U-turn?

In general, I agree with most folks here... I really do not like out-and-back races or sections of races; however, the one time I was quite thankful for multiple out-and-back sections was during the marathon part of Ironman Wisconsin. It was a two loop course with many out-and-backs on various "fingers" of the course.

Why did I like it this time when I normally hate multiple loops/out-and-backs?

• There were six of my friends also running the race, and the course layout made it such that many of us were able to see each other at some point, or even several times, during the marathon.
• We had other friends that came to watch us, so they could easily see us at multiple places throughout the run.
• It made the course compact, such that spectators were along most of the course, and at this point in the day, a little extra motivation and well wishes were very appreciated.