The Running Thread - 2016

[ZellyB]

Congrats on all the racers this weekend. Sounds like it was a great racing weekend for everybody!!

ATTQOTD: I pretty much always have on my Garmin.

 

[RunDisneyDad]

ATTQOTD: I never intentionally go without my watch, but about once a week I forget to charge my watch and it will die. Fortunately I can determine mileage based on previous experience so not having the watch from a mileage perspective isn't bad. As far as pace goes, I generally don't mind not having it as its nice to not feel like I should be constantly checking my pace.

PS - Great work everyone on your weekend races!

 

[ZellyB]

Thanks everyone....several mentioned shoes. I had gone and bought new running shoes a few weeks ago. So...yes I'm in good running shoes. But I appreciate the feedback!

The more time goes on, the more I'm suspecting just inflammation from new exercise and that's it's just my knee being like, "whoa, whoa. What are we doing here? Running 3x per week?! I don't think so."

But I'm like, "yep. It's happenin', Knee. Get used to it."

We'll learn to live with each other and my newfound running interest.

I will say this last run was the first time I felt like I might not can do this. I'm second guessing trying for the princess half. Wondering if I should allow myself more time and aim for a half later in the year? I'm concerned if I get sick and have to skip some runs, or if it's icy, and I can't run....not sure I could still run a half by Feb.

Problem with waiting is...princess half is my SOLE motivation. Star Wars doesn't motivate me. Avengers doesn't motivate me. Anything non-Disney is not a motivation either....at this point. (I'm hoping after I runDisney, I'll get hooked and will run more locally).

I'm rambling. I've never cared about running/walking/physical exercise of any kind, honestly.
Part of me says I need to allow myself more time before attempting something so big. Part of me says...if I wait too long, my motivation will die a terrible horrible death. Thought about running the 10k Princess instead of the half...but running through the castle is a HUGE (main) part of my motivation.

running at WDW would be such a huge expense...id hate to spend so much $ on 10k, when my heart really wants that half.

Aaaaaand, I'm still rambling. No need to respond unless you want to...just need to "think" this out loud, I guess.

You honestly have plenty of time to be ready for a half by February. And, the ups and downs of training along with the aches and pains are completely normal. And, we all sometimes miss occasional runs due to weather or illness. As long as you have a solid training plan and stick to it, the random missed run won't derail you. It's very normal during a bad run to start second guessing yourself, but I almost always find that after a bad run, I tend to have a good one that helps me know that I CAN do it. Keep up what you are doing. Celebrate the good runs and don't beat yourself up over the bad ones. You can do this!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Nice job on the 20. The weight loss of water during a run in warm temps is crazy. I have the same thing happen to me and its hard to fathom how that all works out. Hope you recovered over the weekend. Ole Miss almost had yalls number again. I think Bama will take the SEC easily this year. LSU is a hot pile of garbage and will probably drop another game or two before November. The only good thing about that is our game on 11/5 would probably be a night game that way.

I drank all day long yesterday and decided to take today off and drink, drink, drink to get back to normal. I have mile repeats as my speed work lined up for tomorrow, so I want to be back to full strength for that.

The SEC is always going to go down to the end of the season, so I take nothing for granted. Too many great teams and a key injury can swing seasons for teams. Still, Roll Tide!!!

 

[gjramsey]

ATTQOTD: I have run sans watch a couple of times when my older watch (Garmin 305) was acting buggy. Several times it didn't charge correctly, and I even ran a race where it died about 10 seconds after the race started.

I have been going without my HRM recently. The band has caused some issues with my chest and leaving some marks. Not truly chaffing, but certainly not pleasant feeling during the run.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

ATTQOTD - When I started running, there were no running devices. Even Polar had not released its earliest HRM devices. When those devices were first released, I certainly couldn't afford them. So, yes, I ran "naked" for a long time. What I did - I drove along and marked mileage along my route with a can of spray paint and wore a regular watch (G-Shock, with a stop watch feature). Most trails were similarly marked - spray paint mile markers. Old school, but it worked just fine. Herat rate training wasn't something that anyone that I knew had even considered. I didn't start considering my heart rate until about 15 years ago.

 

[whaler8]

QOTD: Do you ever run "naked"? By naked I mean without a tracking device for time and/or mileage.... not nude.

Yes, I will run without my GPS watch if it is a shorter maintenance run and on a route I have run before so I know the distance before hand. This typically happens when I am fitting in a quick run and I'm not concerned with time/pace.

 

[Ariel484]

QOTD: Do you ever run "naked"? By naked I mean without a tracking device for time and/or mileage.... not nude.

No. I should at some point (I'm way too focused on my pace lately), but I don't. I do most of my runs without music (but when I do use music, it's Disney Park area loops )

 

[roxymama]

ATTQOTD: I have run sans music but not sans data. I have run now plenty of blind runs in training with my watch covered, but the data was still there for afterwards. Blind runs can be so helpful and so very strange at the same time when you are used to being a pace or distance checker.
I've tried to run races blind a few times now. My WDW Disney 5k was totally "blind" since I was having so much fun I forgot to check until after I'd crossed. And then I tried a couple races as blind as I could this year, but I was a sneaky-peaker off an on. One day I'll do another totally blind even if it means handing my watch to my husband. I just love me some data afterwards.

 

[FFigawi]

I'm rambling. I've never cared about running/walking/physical exercise of any kind, honestly.
Part of me says I need to allow myself more time before attempting something so big. Part of me says...if I wait too long, my motivation will die a terrible horrible death. Thought about running the 10k Princess instead of the half...but running through the castle is a HUGE (main) part of my motivation.

running at WDW would be such a huge expense...id hate to spend so much $ on 10k, when my heart really wants that half.

Don't think of it as a lot of money for a 10k. Try looking at it as a reward for being motivated enough to care about running/walking/physical exercise and improving your health and fitness as part of the process. Even with all of the bling, the real reward from running is what it does for you. The actual race is merely icing on the cake.

 

[jhorstma]

...

Problem with waiting is...princess half is my SOLE motivation. Star Wars doesn't motivate me. Avengers doesn't motivate me. Anything non-Disney is not a motivation either....at this point. (I'm hoping after I runDisney, I'll get hooked and will run more locally).

I'm rambling. I've never cared about running/walking/physical exercise of any kind, honestly.
Part of me says I need to allow myself more time before attempting something so big. Part of me says...if I wait too long, my motivation will die a terrible horrible death. Thought about running the 10k Princess instead of the half...but running through the castle is a HUGE (main) part of my motivation.

running at WDW would be such a huge expense...id hate to spend so much $ on 10k, when my heart really wants that half.

Aaaaaand, I'm still rambling. No need to respond unless you want to...just need to "think" this out loud, I guess.

Disney is all about capturing that one special moment and holding onto it forever. I went from couch to marathon in 6 months, and now my daughter (my motivation) will forever be next to me in front of Cinderella's Castle accomplishing a huge feat in a magical place. You can do this too with the Princess Half, and will forever have your special memories. So just do it.

 

[DopeyBadger]

QOTD: Do you ever run "naked"? By naked I mean without a tracking device for time and/or mileage.... not nude.

Not completely. I occasionally do a run where I wear my watch and start it, but never look at it. I call these "blind" runs. I do them about once every 2-3 weeks. I continue to wear the watch because I want to assess my data/progress after the run, but I only count the beeps during the run to know the distance. However, since I run the same route everyday I know exactly how far I've run without the need for the watch. I'm a big believer in running by "effort" and conducting "blind" runs, which isn't quite "naked", plays a big role in that. By teaching yourself to run blind, you can rely on your sense of effort to guide your pacing. Some races that may mean you're faster than hoped. Some races that may mean you're slower than hoped. It also serves as a useful tool once you hone in on your ability to do the blind runs at the goal pace. Because once you know the honest effort of a pace, blind runs allow you to make honest predictions about upcoming race times under similar weather conditions.

 

[Miranda]

For me, having my watch at all times is not so much that I'm a slave to my pace or anything on the watch. It's two things...well, three.

1) I know there are other apps to do this, but I use the Live Tracking in my Garmin so my husband knows where I am.

2) I do run/walk intervals, so without my watch to do those, I am lost. Ok not technically lost, as I ran for almost a year with just RunKeeper on my phone alerting me to the intervals before I got the watch. But now that I have the watch, nothing is set up to do intervals on the phone, and I really don't want the audio ones anyway, I just like to have my vibration on my wrist.

3) If you go on a run and the map doesn't get uploaded to Strava, did it really happen???

 

[roxymama]

I should add to my ATTQOTD: I've run plenty of times downtown Chicago with a "drunk" garmin. The underground layers of streets and tall buildings like to mess with pace data. So although my watch is "working" I'm not sure the 3:15 pace is real or the extra mileage it gifts me is real Usual my final time matches, it's all the in between data that gets weird.
So I'd say all Chicago downtown races should be prepared for as if you had no data help.

 

[JulieODC]

I haven't run without my phone -- which I use to track distance, pace, and to listen to podcasts. I definitely like knowing the distance, and now that I'm used to pace info, I think I'd have a hard time giving it up!

 

[PrincessV]

^^ just dont become dependent on the gel's.... good training methods and diet, will always be a better bet. I just say this because I used to be reliant on them, stepped up my training game and absolutely have no need/want for them anymore. mostly because I dont want to pump myself full of the sugar/caffeine thats in them usually. not to mention most taste horrible and leave a film in your mouth which I find repugnant.

also I want to mention if its hot outside (like florida) and your running the extra sugar/caffine can ramp up your heart rate, causing you to sweat more, sweating out the electrolytes in your blood, causing your blood to thicken which causes your heart to work harder to pump the blood, causing you to overheat, then heatstroke sets in, then you end up face down in hollywood studios.

ever used salt tabs instead? they usually have the electrolytes you sweat out like Na/K/Ca/Mg. The other replacement thats better than the gels/gu's IMO is Beta-Alanine. It's a hydrogen buffer to get the lactic acid from your muscles so you wont fatigue.

just my $0.02
(sorry for the rant just very anti-gel/gu products)

I debated whether or not to reply to this because I don't want to seem like I'm "picking a fight" - I'm not, I swear! I just want to caution that for some, taking in glucose is medically necessary. Like, run a PR vs. side trip to the ER kind of necessary. I know because I'm one of them. I just don't want any newbies (or veterans, for that matter!) reading along to feel like they're "not doing it right" if their bodies need to take in glucose along the way. We're all "an experiment of one", right?!

QOTD: Do you ever run "naked"? By naked I mean without a tracking device for time and/or mileage.... not nude.

I guess I did way back when there were no devices, but not since I first had access to GPS. Even if I don't care about pace, it's nice to know how far away I am from home, since I have NO natural ability in that area, lol!

 

[cavepig]

Never naked anymore - I run with mapmyrun running all the time now to keep track of mileage, sometimes I borrow my Mom's Garmin too (which is nice then I know mapmyrun is keeping accurate distance since they are almost exact matches). But, like today & Saturday I ran with it just telling me the distance, no pace. I don't like to be hung up on pace all the time, sure I can look at it after but to me once the run is done I've already moved on. No music either for safety. For a race I just use my simple Timex watch to track mile splits & overall time.

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

I have another question for you guys, I am thinking of running the Marine Corps half in Jacksonville but I am suppose to be doing a training run of 15 miles that day. Is it ok to run it and then do 2 miles when I get home? Or should I skip the 2 miles?

ATTQOTD: I never run without my Garmin or my phone!

 

[michigandergirl]

ATTQOTD: I don't usually run naked, but recently while on vacation I ran through the campground loops a couple of times. I had forgotten to bring my watch and my phone was dead, so I just ran for what felt like a 5K. I really like having my data though, so now I will be sure to pack my Garmin while on vacation.

 

[FFigawi]

I have another question for you guys, I am thinking of running the Marine Corps half in Jacksonville but I am suppose to be doing a training run of 15 miles that day. Is it ok to run it and then do 2 miles when I get home? Or should I skip the 2 miles?

You can skip the two miles, especially if you're going to race the half and treat it as more than simply a supported training run.