The Running Thread - 2016

[Chasing Dopey]

Race Report! W&D weekend was fantastic, with lots of family coming with us to join in the running and the general merriment. My nephews did the one mile fun run, and my sister and brother-in-law did the Lumiere Challenge with DW and I. My parents were there for their birthdays (and help watch over the nephews), and my in-laws also joined us to see DW run. Great 10k course, naturally. (They wouldn't keep using it if it wasn't.) This was our first W&D, but the after party was a total bust for us, and I don't think we'll be doing this weekend again if it stays a morning race.

For the half... don't let anyone tell you you can't PR at Disney! I had wanted to break 2:00 at Dark Side, but knew the crowd could prevent that, and sure enough it did. No big loss. The first chance I had to really race was the Army Ten Miler this year, at which I got 1:26:15. Huge!! Checking on McMillan's calculator, it estimated a 1:55:03 half.

So... I knew I could have a chance to get a lot of pictures (starting in Corral E instead of the back), but if I was on pace to break 1:55, I was going to keep going. Well, at the 10 mile mark, I was about 1:26! So I turned on the jets... and then HILLS! Dear Lord, WTH!! I train in a hilly neighborhood, but those ramps were ridiculous. I think I now know what the wall feels like, because the climbs just killed me. However... 1:50:18!! That :18 is a heartbreaker, but it was still one heckuva race for me. (My first running goal is to get fast enough for Corral A, and I'm getting close.)

I don't like to brag about this kind of thing, as I developed a superstition about that when I was a kid, but had to share. Since I started running a little over a year and half ago I've had almost every little injury you can think of, sometimes sidelining me for weeks at a time. After different styles of rehab, and different methods of trying to keep injuries at bay, I have doubted whether this was something I could ever get better at, or even keep doing at all. But the last several months have been different. (So, if you ever get that doubt as well, keep searching, keep changing, keep trying!)

i hope the rest of this season goes well for everyone!

 

[opusone]

For the half... don't let anyone tell you you can't PR at Disney! I had wanted to break 2:00 at Dark Side, but knew the crowd could prevent that, and sure enough it did.

My first running goal is to get fast enough for Corral A, and I'm getting close.

These two things are actually closely related. If you can qualify for an early corral, then there is no reason you can't PR at Disney. Even though folks had big issues at the Dark Side half marathon earlier this year, I was able to achieve my post-40 PR because I was in an early corral. Based on the bottlenecks that occurred, it would have been impossible if I was further back in the corrals. Great to hear that the W&D half was PR-able from corral E. Hopefully, the new course for Dark Side 2017 will be less constrained and allow more corrals to go for PRs.

Congrats on your results!!

 

[Gryhndmom]

I have two questions:

1. Ladies (said in my best "Ladies Man" voice) do any of you wear the sport specific underwear? I know UA and Champion both make them. Just wondering if they are worth the price

I am not a commando gal and yes do wear undies with my running shorts and pants.(I did try commando once and the seams in my shorts were not friendly if you get my drift!)I have not tried UA but do like my champion as I think they do a better job of wicking than traditional undies. Bottom line try it and see if you like the undies during a run. Totally a personal preference.

 

[Slogger]

Good luck everyone with your training and/or running events this weekend!

 

[FFigawi]

In today's fun news, I made the official IMFL race video twice!! You can find me at roughly 7:42 and 8:50.

 

[dis_or_dat]

In today's fun news, I made the official IMFL race video twice!! You can find me at roughly 7:42 and 8:50.

Love it! Well deserved victory celebration crossing that finish line (impressed you finished so strong)!

 

[jele30]

ATTQOTD: The first year a local 5k run was organized there was issues with the route as the organizers didn't take in consideration the draw bridges. When I finished the race my husband told me that the leaders ended up getting stuck when a boat came through and they had to wait for the drawbridge to go back down. I ran it with my daughter this past summer and noticed they had changed the route so it doesn't go over the bridges anymore .

 

[DopeyBadger]

So @dis_or_dat directed me to a new race prediction calculator supported by a scientific article. I just finished my review and posted it in my journal if interested.

Runner's World Article
Calculator
Scientific Paper
My Review

As always, let me know if you agree or disagree. I love to keep learning.

 

[The Expert]

Hey everyone? You know what they have on treadmills here in Asia? The METRIC SYSTEM! Imagine my surprise when I went to plug in the handy dandy MPH pace @DopeyBadger looked up for my training run and finding that NOPE I gotta figure out KMs. ACK! Thank goodness for Google.

 

[croach]

Hey everyone? You know what they have on treadmills here in Asia? The METRIC SYSTEM! Imagine my surprise when I went to plug in the handy dandy MPH pace @DopeyBadger looked up for my training run and finding that NOPE I gotta figure out KMs. ACK! Thank goodness for Google.

My friend who helps me my with training schedule lives in Canada and sometimes puts my workout paces in km's. So I'm very familiar with that googling you speak of.

 

[Miranda]

My race on Sunday is definitely not going to be sub 2:45. Hoping for sub-3:00, but I am just going to enjoy the nice day that we are supposed to have and do my best. I haven't really been very good lately about training. I got into one of those ruts where you take a day off... then another day... then another... then suddenly woops, it's been 3 weeks since your last HM and the only run you did was a 5K race 2 weeks ago.

This is my last race of the year. After that I am going to start making an effort to get back into all of my training, not just the running but also the cross training that I was doing that fell by the wayside. I have wanted to pick it back up for a while, but I have been fearful of adding too much training back while still having races on the schedule, not wanting to screw those up. I think this fall I will pass on the Turkey Trotting on Thanksgiving and just try to build some of my base back for next spring. I love to race, but it makes it hard to train when you get behind in your training. Last year, I did fine racing and training because I never really fell off the wagon of cross training and almost all of my races fell on weeks in my Galloway plan where I was supposed to cut back to 4 miles. I was doing the long Galloway plans that had alternating weeks like 4 miles, 7 miles, 4 miles, 8.5 miles, 4 miles, etc.

I need to start considering how long of a training plan I want to do for next spring. I don't know why I do this to myself, but I am looking at doing HM on 5/7/2017 and 6/4/2017, assuming I can get into them. The first one, Wallis Sands, I probably will, it looks like it sold out in about 1-2 weeks last year. The second one, Covered Bridges, sold out in 8 minutes last year. I was very lucky to get in, but it was such a fantastic race, I want to do it again, hopefully in better weather next year. It POURED the entire race day this year!

The "why do I do this" being the early May HM. I swore while training for Tink 2015 that I was never doing another early spring (yes, May is early spring here) HM again because it is so hard to train in New England during the winter, although to be fair that was a really hard winter. And then I signed up for one this year on 5/15. And now 5/7 next year. To avoid the winter training doldrums, I did a shorter Higdon training plan this year, but as mentioned before, it didn't really work out so well for me. I think I need to just do a longer plan and hope for the best weather-wise.

I'll probably hit up DopeyBadger Training Services for next year's HM plan, but for the next ~2 months I just need to figure out how to get back into some semblance of regular running shape. I guess I will shoot for doing weekday runs of 2-3 miles and then a longer 5-6 mile one on the weekends.

 

[Miranda]

Actually maybe I will still Turkey Trot, since the one near our house is 5K and I just posted that I was going to try and do weekday runs of 2-3 miles.

 

[preciouspups]

Today's run was both good and bad. I'm sick and there is a forest fire nearby with smoke coming into the building. I was supposed to go five miles but after hitting every interval successfully for four miles I opted to go home and find food.

 

[CheapRunnerMike]

Hey everyone? You know what they have on treadmills here in Asia? The METRIC SYSTEM! Imagine my surprise when I went to plug in the handy dandy MPH pace @DopeyBadger looked up for my training run and finding that NOPE I gotta figure out KMs. ACK! Thank goodness for Google.

Welcome to "the rest of the world"

 

[CheapRunnerMike]

In today's fun news, I made the official IMFL race video twice!! You can find me at roughly 7:42 and 8:50.

Hard to miss you! Ironman videos are the best...they do an amazing job with them and they get you so pumped up. I'm ready to do another one now haha

 

[keahgirl8]

I have two questions:

1. Ladies (said in my best "Ladies Man" voice) do any of you wear the sport specific underwear? I know UA and Champion both make them. Just wondering if they are worth the price.

2. We are doing Star Wars Dark Side and are contemplating doing one park - Animal Kingdom - likely the day of the 10k. If we have a one day, one park ticket, can we leave for a few hours to nap and come back in on the same ticket?

Nope. I just wear what I normally wear. If yours aren't bothering you, I wouldn't worry about it.

QOTD: Todays question is a suggestion from a fellow poster on this thread. Thanks for the suggestion! Have you ever experienced a race mistake: course mismeasured, pace leader taking you off course, obstacle such as a train? Did the race director do anything to rectify the mistake?

ATTQOTD: I have run a 5k that has been .25 miles short while giving a PR effort. I was not happy as that short on a 5k is huge and nothing could really be done about it. The sad thing is, others races keep using the same route, so if I see a 5k that starts from that same area I avoid running it and wait for another one to come along. I've had marathons show up longer on my GPS, but that was mainly from not being able to run the tangents, so not big deal there.

I haven't personally, but I was doing a 10K a couple of years ago that also had a 5K. The 10K was fine, but the 5K was short. There was talk they'd do something, but since I didn't run that one, I never found out.

 

[roxymama]

Welcome to "the rest of the world"

Want to know how to feel REALLY fast. Accidentally set your garmin to kilometer laps instead of miles. You get updates a lot sooner and they look so speedy. Only way I'll ever see a lap say 5 min +

Edited to say that of course CheapRunnerMike already knows this

 

[rteetz]

In today's fun news, I made the official IMFL race video twice!! You can find me at roughly 7:42 and 8:50.

Awesome video, congrats again John!

 

[Keels]

Tomorrow's the first real test of my "alternative Dopey training program" - my first significant long run since Disneyland Half (eight miles). I'm back in Texas now, so I've had to swap the swim portion for extra running ... like today, I ran for 45 minutes (did not track distance, only time) and then I rode my bike on the trail for just a little over two hours (I wanted to get to 25 miles for my longest ride yet).

At this point, frankly, I'm feeling pretty confident despite being significantly behind on where I need to be mileage-wise at this point and still managing active recovery from two pretty serious injuries.

Next week is my first step-back week and then my next race is the Thanksgiving 10K that's my current 10K PR. I don't foresee much of a time improvement on that bad boy, but it will be nice to go into a race feeling good ... unlike my last race weekend.

 

[preciouspups]

In today's fun news, I made the official IMFL race video twice!! You can find me at roughly 7:42 and 8:50.

Great job! I'm super impressed by anyone who does this!

My massage therapist was supposed to do ironman Augusta and two days before she stepped on glass and had 9 stitches in her heal.