The Running Thread - 2016

[Slogger]

Hey @LSUlakes , hard to keep up with all of the bad news affecting our country these days.
I can jump in with a random question for today if that's okay.

When I used to use RunKeeper to track my workouts and runs, it would ask me at the end to rate them.
Great (or excellent) Good, or Bad were the choices. I don't use RK anymore but still think about a mental rating after each run.
QOTTD: If you had to rate your runs as Great, Good, or Bad.....how do you differentiate between them?

ATTQOTD: Last Friday I was clearly having a B-A-D run. No energy, difficulty breathing, hot and humid outside, mentally checked out, etc. It was blah.
A Bad run happens when I can't maintain pace or distance or physically unable to continue due to injury or sickness or mental lapse!
A Good run for me happens when I achieve distance and pace at predetermined goals or within an acceptable variance.
A Great run happens when everything just clicks mentally and physically and the running becomes effortless. It's like being "in the zone".

 

[Miranda]

By that scale, all my runs are either Bad or Good. I don't think I've ever had a Great.

 

[LSUlakes]

Hey @LSUlakes , hard to keep up with all of the bad news affecting our country these days.
I can jump in with a random question for today if that's okay.

When I used to use RunKeeper to track my workouts and runs, it would ask me at the end to rate them.
Great (or excellent) Good, or Bad were the choices. I don't use RK anymore but still think about a mental rating after each run.
QOTTD: If you had to rate your runs as Great, Good, or Bad.....how do you differentiate between them?

ATTQOTD: Last Friday I was clearly having a B-A-D run. No energy, difficulty breathing, hot and humid outside, mentally checked out, etc. It was blah.
A Bad run happens when I can't maintain pace or distance or physically unable to continue due to injury or sickness or mental lapse!
A Good run for me happens when I achieve distance and pace at predetermined goals or within an acceptable variance.
A Great run happens when everything just clicks mentally and physically and the running becomes effortless. It's like being "in the zone".

ATTQOTD:
Bad - Was unable to keep pace anywhere near what my goal was.
Good - Accomplished the goal of that run
Great - Completed a workout according to plan and still feel like I have more in the tank.

 

[RunDisneyDad]

ATTQOTD: I think I use a very unscientific method for rating my runs

Bad - I feel Grumpy/Frustrated during or after the run
Good - I feel happy and feel like I accomplished something.
Great - I get the euphoric runner's high feeling.

On a side note, there's a full service gas station about 1/4 mile from my house. When I take that route and I have a good/great run, I'll purposely step on the two black cables that rings the bell (I only do this when they are closed). When I have a bad run, I won't step on the bell.

 

[PrincessV]

ATTQOTD:
Bad = I finished feeling worse than I started/wished I would've skipped it altogether.
Good = Fine - nothing stellar, but nothing awful - I did what I wanted to do.
Great = I finished feeling great, hit a tough goal, saw something cool, or just generally finished in a really awesome mood.

I don't reserve "Great" for only the cream of the crop: outside of infernal summer, I'd guess the majority of runs are Great for me! In summer, the bar is lowered to if I don't feel like I'm about to die, it's "Good."

 

[Barca33Runner]

ATTQOTD:

Bad-I ended my run earlier than planned. Really bad if it was because of pain rather than just "not feeling it".
Good-Finished my planned run with no pain.
Great-I intentionally ran further/longer than my planned run with no pain. This happens very rarely.
Awesome-Finishing a WDW Marathon Weekend race.

I've never really thought about this much. I usually feel better after I've run, so unless I have to cut a run short they're all pretty good.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

QOTTD: If you had to rate your runs as Great, Good, or Bad.....how do you differentiate between them?

Good - Any run that leaves me feeling better for having run it. This makes up 95%+ of my runs.
Bad - Any run that leaves me feeling worse for having run it, whether that be due to injury, illness or poor conditions. Rare
Great - These are the runs that pulled me into the sport for life. Every step feels like a dream. I find myself running faster and further without a hint of effort. I don't use drugs, but I understand folks that get pulled into that kind of life after one of these runs. That feeling is addictive.

 

[DVCFan1994]

QOTD: Not to long ago we discussed what to do for warming up and cooling down before races and hard workouts. Below is a bit from the book "The Little Red Book of Running" by, Scott Douglas. I thought I would share the information with everyone and ask if you agree or disagree with what it says. Would you consider changing your routine based on this info?

ATTQOTD: I thought the .5 mile to mile I was doing before a 5k to half was enough, followed by some stretching, but after having read this I believe I should follow this a little more. The cool down part is something that often got skipped post race, and usually after a workout as well. For some runners, an additional 2.5 to 6 miles is a lot more miles than normal, but I think trying to adopt some of what is mentioned above would be a good practice. I tried it out before my race on Wednesday with a warm-up of 1.75 miles and a 1 mile cool down afterwards and my legs felt ready to run again on Thursday if I had a planned to run. So, for me I will continue to include this in my race day plan, as I see benefits from doing so.

I agree with others who are not speedy runners. I don't feel like I need to do much warming up because I am not particularly fast. I always walk .5 mile to my start point, and then I slowly increase my running pace for about a half mile. I do have a 15 minute pre-exercise PT routine I do though before any activity. Prior to my injury I was just getting to the point in my training where I was going to be adding distance. I may have changed my warm-up strategy a bit then.

View attachment 182016

This happens to me all the time. Whenever I am driving and see someone running I want to pull over and join them.

Every. Single. Day.

Hey @LSUlakes , hard to keep up with all of the bad news affecting our country these days.
I can jump in with a random question for today if that's okay.

When I used to use RunKeeper to track my workouts and runs, it would ask me at the end to rate them.
Great (or excellent) Good, or Bad were the choices. I don't use RK anymore but still think about a mental rating after each run.
QOTTD: If you had to rate your runs as Great, Good, or Bad.....how do you differentiate between them?

ATTQOTD: Last Friday I was clearly having a B-A-D run. No energy, difficulty breathing, hot and humid outside, mentally checked out, etc. It was blah.
A Bad run happens when I can't maintain pace or distance or physically unable to continue due to injury or sickness or mental lapse!
A Good run for me happens when I achieve distance and pace at predetermined goals or within an acceptable variance.
A Great run happens when everything just clicks mentally and physically and the running becomes effortless. It's like being "in the zone".

Bad: Felt worse after or got injured.
Good: Accomplished my goal for the day without too much trouble.
Great: Agree with above, I felt in the zone. Everything felt great, the workout felt effortless in a sense, and I felt like I could keep going when I was done.

 

[jhorstma]

ATTQOTD:
My usual training run route is a 6 mile loop with rolling hills - generally done at a 10 minute pace with 15 seconds of walking every half mile.

Great: Legs feel strong, can Fartlek some, fast pacing means the miles are ahead of the minutes and the run clocks in at under an hour (I look forward to the day that I experience a runner's high, but that hasn't happened yet);
Good: Finished on pace with a bit of a kick at the end - winded, tired, and happy about another 6 miles/900 calories in the log (apparently lugging 200 pounds around the loop burns a few more calories/mile than my 125 pound wife burns over the same distance);
Bad: Uh oh - tummy troubles - usually "rear" up at the farthest point from home/nearest portapotty. Never "ends" well...

 

[rteetz]

QOTTD: If you had to rate your runs as Great, Good, or Bad.....how do you differentiate between them?

Great- I feel great, my time was good
Good- I don't feel bad, my time was okay
Bad- I don't feel good at all, I don't even care about time

 

[baxter24]

ATTQOTD: Great - really happy with my time, felt good all of the way through
Good - met expectations, got it done, body felt okay though most of the run
Bad - felt like garbage all throughout the run or hurt

 

[FFigawi]

Good: did what I was supposed to do and didn't hate it
Bad: struggled to do what I was supposed to do
Great: did what I was supposed to do and enjoyed it; also, reached a new training milestone of some sort

 

[dmross]

ATTQOTD

Similar to some of you:

Bad: painful, feels like work, cannot physically meet goal for that run
Good: hit the paces, able to maintain some discomfort for goal distance
Great: legs feel light, hit paces easily even when a tad uncomfortable, have some left after it's done,

Also for good and great: the world seems like it's brighter and more intense, maybe a thunderstorm coming, maybe a rainbow, maybe the wind picks up... nature sort of reveals itself reminding me I'm outside for a while. Happens on bad runs, too, but I don't enjoy that if I'm hurting.

 

[Kathymford]

As for warming up, this is something I need to do. I have talked about needing a warm-up routine when I started running again after my injury. What's the first thing I DIDN'T do for my first run back? You guessed it. Zero warm up. Well, I did do a 5 minute walk. But I do agree that I am pretty slow and don't run very far in my training to begin with, so I'm not sure it really matters. Actually, now that I think about it. When I first started running, I always did a 5 minute warm-up walk and somewhere along the line I stopped. I think when I started to extend my distances. I didn't want that warm-up time to mess with my pace showing on my RunKeeper. Silly reason, really.

ATTQOTD: My definitions of runs are slightly different. More along the lines of what my thought bubble is after I finish

Bad: "Well, at least I didn't skip it." Also, any kind of equipment or clothing malfunction/missing items will cause this
Good: "Hey, maybe I am getting better."
Great: "I am super fast now!!" I think this has happened once. Probably an equipment malfunction, but I'll take it.

So I have had two runs so far since taking time off for my adductor injury. My leg didn't hurt during the run, but I definitely felt it and was aware of it. Does this sound normal? Or am I just being hyper-aware of it right now? I can definitely feel how much conditioning I lost taking 3 weeks off though. Plus, that leg seemed to get tired very quickly.

Time to start building the strength back up! Dumbo is only a few weeks away. They released half medal and I love it! So it's definite motivation!

 

[Waiting2goback]

Good morning folks. First I would like to congratulate all the racers this weekend. Yall did a great job! The weight loss pictures are amazing, and the transformations yall have gone through shows great work ethic and determination. Congrats to you as well!

It was a long weekend for me. Friday I purchased two pairs of shoes. A pair of Saucony Zealots as trainers and Adidas Adios 3 for racing shoes/speed work. Ran twice with the trainers so far and I like them. I ran 4 miles Friday, 13.1 miles Saturday followed by pressure washing the house. Late Saturday a friend from out of town asked me to join him for a run Sunday morning, so I got another 6.1 followed by mowing the lawn. Then the news hit about Baton Rouge and I was glued to the TV. By the end of Sunday I was so drained from everything I actually went to sleep before 10PM. It was nice to get more than 6.5 hours of sleep finally.

Working on todays QOTD and will post soon. Thanks to everyone for thinking of Baton Rouge. Prayers are needed for not only our community, but out nation as well.

You do yardwork in your running shoes? Does everyone else do stuff in their running shoes? I do NOTHING besides running, until they are retired because of mileage. I treat my running shoes like a temple. They have their own spot in my room. As soon as I walk in the house they are off. They cost so much I want to treat them well to last as long as I can.

As for warming up, this is something I need to do. I have talked about needing a warm-up routine when I started running again after my injury. What's the first thing I DIDN'T do for my first run back? You guessed it. Zero warm up. Well, I did do a 5 minute walk. But I do agree that I am pretty slow and don't run very far in my training to begin with, so I'm not sure it really matters. Actually, now that I think about it. When I first started running, I always did a 5 minute warm-up walk and somewhere along the line I stopped. I think when I started to extend my distances. I didn't want that warm-up time to mess with my pace showing on my RunKeeper. Silly reason, really.

ATTQOTD: My definitions of runs are slightly different. More along the lines of what my thought bubble is after I finish

Bad: "Well, at least I didn't skip it." Also, any kind of equipment or clothing malfunction/missing items will cause this
Good: "Hey, maybe I am getting better."
Great: "I am super fast now!!" I think this has happened once. Probably an equipment malfunction, but I'll take it.

So I have had two runs so far since taking time off for my adductor injury. My leg didn't hurt during the run, but I definitely felt it and was aware of it. Does this sound normal? Or am I just being hyper-aware of it right now? I can definitely feel how much conditioning I lost taking 3 weeks off though. Plus, that leg seemed to get tired very quickly.

Time to start building the strength back up! Dumbo is only a few weeks away. They released half medal and I love it! So it's definite motivation!

No, you are normal. I pay attention to my ankle on every step. I am very careful to not twist it by stepping on something, etc... I analyze every step to make sure I am not making it worse. It's OK to be aware until you have rebuilt the strength.

I agree, that medal is cool. I wouldn't mind adding that to the collection for sure.

 

[Waiting2goback]

 

[keahgirl8]

You do yardwork in your running shoes? Does everyone else do stuff in their running shoes? I do NOTHING besides running, until they are retired because of mileage. I treat my running shoes like a temple. They have their own spot in my room. As soon as I walk in the house they are off. They cost so much I want to treat them well to last as long as I can.

I wear the same type of shoe for running as I do for every day, but not the same pair.

 

[Slogger]

Does everyone else do stuff in their running shoes? I do NOTHING besides running, until they are retired because of mileage. I treat my running shoes like a temple. They have their own spot in my room. As soon as I walk in the house they are off. They cost so much I want to treat them well to last as long as I can.

I'm with you. My running shoes get special treatment, they are put in a glass display case after each use....picture the gold idol thingy in the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark and you get the idea! Ok, maybe that's a small exaggeration.

I only wear my running shoes for running.
Once they have outlived their purpose they get retired to a place of honor or get relegated to weekend yard work duty.

 

[FFigawi]

You do yardwork in your running shoes? Does everyone else do stuff in their running shoes? I do NOTHING besides running, until they are retired because of mileage. I treat my running shoes like a temple. They have their own spot in my room. As soon as I walk in the house they are off. They cost so much I want to treat them well to last as long as I can.

I wear my running shoes only for running. I tend to wear flip flops most of the rest of the time.

 

[LSUlakes]

Todays QOTD is inspired by @Waiting2goback based on the post below. What do you do with your running shoes once they are no longer useful for running?

You do yardwork in your running shoes? Does everyone else do stuff in their running shoes? I do NOTHING besides running, until they are retired because of mileage. I treat my running shoes like a temple. They have their own spot in my room. As soon as I walk in the house they are off. They cost so much I want to treat them well to last as long as I can.

I do yard work in retired running shoes. I don't even drive to where I am going to run in my running shoes. I put them on right before I take off and as soon as I am done I take them off. Once a pair is retired they turn into shoes for walking around places, like Disney trips or tailgating. After that, they become yard shoes. The problem is I go through a lot of shoes, so I end up with a lot of "yard" shoes. When they are retired as a yard shoe they go to the trash.