The Running Thread - 2018

[ZellyB]

Congratulations on your retirement @OldSlowGoofyGuy !!

 

[PCFriar80]

July Status:
Still on the rehab plan for achilles tendonitis and was able to more than double my miles in July from what I ran in June. Slow and steady, with a mix of biking and elliptical. Also, got cleared to begin playing golf again after multiple elbow surgeries and physical therapy. That should be interesting!

Running miles: 40.6
Biking miles: 26
Elliptical: 13 days/11 hours
Lawn Mowing: 4 occurrences
Blood Donation: 1 Double Red donation on 7/10

August plan:
Increase miles to 50 and monitor achilles tightness/pain.
Continue with mix of cross-training.
Register for Star Wars 1/2 marathon.
Turn 60! Watch out racing group [Men 60 - 64]! There will be a new sheriff in town! I know, don't embarrass myself!

 

[PCFriar80]

Lots of things in 1 post:
ATTQOTD: Short answer, no mater what distance I'm training for: 9 miles. Long answer: Saturday has always been long run day for me. So what ever I do on Saturday is a long run. On my latest marathon plan (which I'm repeating), I did some 13 milers during the week, but since they weren't on Saturday, I did not consider them a long run. So my long run may not even be my longest run of the week.

July Totals: 121.57 at 9:32 average pace. My average pace is dropping now that I'm back on a plan.

Today is day one of retirement!
Thought #1: The outpouring of praise and thanks was amazing. If I'd have know those guys thought that highly of me, I might not have call it quits. Even when you think people don't notice, they notice.
Thought #2: My job included a non-stop bombardment of emails, PMs, calls, and texts. Today, the silence is amazing.
Thought #3: I won't go into all the details, but due to comments I made and hazing by my teammates, I ate 10 bananas in one hour on my last day in the office.

Time to add naps to your "to do" list!

 

[jennamfeo]

ATTQOTD: 7 miles is the shortest run I can do without having to really plan it into my day, so anything over that would be a long run to me. I'm interested and scared to see how my mileage changes when I start training for Dopey this fall.

July Miles:
Total - 82.9 mi
Time Spent - 15:07:47
Average Pace - 10:57

I hit a wall during training and skipped quite a few runs this month. I still have 7 weeks on this training plan and until my Half in September. I am feeling better now, I just needed that break. I am super over running in this humidity. I don't know how to Floridians do it all the time. Gimme me back my dry heat please.

@OldSlowGoofyGuy Congrats on your retirement!

 

[KaitlynJ]

ATTQOTD: If I'm not training for anything in particular, I'd consider anything 5 miles or longer a "long run." In the thick of half marathon training, it's more like anything 7-8 miles or longer.

Right now, I'm recovering from a tibial stress reaction and not able to run yet. Once I start, I'll only be able to run/walk about 10-15 minutes at a time. At this point, I'd consider 3 miles or more a "long run." That will gradually increase, though.

 

[TheHamm]

July Miles
Total: 51.1
Average Pace: 12:19
Garmin Watch Acquired:1
lessons: T+D matters. I cannot pay attention to directions while running; I found myself lost in my own neighborhood trying to add 0.5 miles to my previously established route.

 

[kleph]

Either I havent noticed it before or is it we have a few new posters who also happen to be Bama fans? It's going to be a lonnnnngggg football season for me.

nah. we're all fans of college football here. there are other places online to find strident and obnoxious fandom.

 

[sourire]

Congratulations on your retirement @OldSlowGoofyGuy!

Hope those of us with injuries, upcoming or recently completed surgeries, kidney stones, and other illnesses heal as swiftly and as painlessly as possible!

Overall, good news here with the monthly totals:
May miles: 0 (Accessory navicular bone with posterior tibial tendonitis discovered after tripping off my patio while weeding the garden and thinking I had a simple ankle sprain! Had to go in a boot for a month...only swimming allowed. Took swim lessons with a tri coach which were well worth it.)
June miles: 6 (Cleared to start some biking and jogging in very small amounts. Started a somewhat rigorous regimen of PT. And swam in a lake twice!)
July miles: 31 (Slowly getting back to where I was with the help of my awesome PT team and @DopeyBadger's sound recommendations! Hooray!! And still biking and swimming.)

To keep the positive energy of this post flowing, and b/c I know you guys will share my excitement: we are taking a trip to CA in a few weeks for some hiking, beach time, visiting family, etc, and DH (happily and without hesitation!) agreed to a Disneyland day! (Maybe my love of the Mouse is finally rubbing off on him?) Can't wait to ride GOTG! Woo!!

 

[gjramsey]

ATTQOTD: I guess I consider my longest run of the week to be a long run.

July totals:

Total miles - 126.49 mi
Total Time - 18:16:17
Average Pace - 8:40
Avg HR - 148

Not a bad month. Working on base mileage after taking most of June off. It has been so hot/humid/miserable, I am surprised my Avg HR was under 150.
August will be more base building with some more speed work thrown in for "fun".

 

[DopeyBadger]

QOTD: At what distance do you call a run a long run? This answer will vary based on the race you are training for, so let us know what distance you are training for in you answer. There is no right or wrong answer here, just curious how everyone looks at the weekend long runs.

I feel like I have two definitions.

1) A run at which I run long run pace and for at least 90 minutes in duration. Long run pace being defined as roughly Marathon Tempo + 9%.
2) Any run at or longer than 120 minutes in duration.

I do long aerobic steady state paced runs (my long runs) and then I also do runs that I feel are long (runs that exceed 120 minutes). But they don't necessarily have to be the same thing. Sometimes my runs over 120 minutes incorporate a variety of different paces in order to specifically target certain physiological aspects I'm aiming to improve. And occasionally my mid-week runs will be longer than my weekend runs.

July Training Summary
Running duration = 34:06 hours
Running mileage = 250.9 miles
Average Pace = 8:09 min/mile (Marathon Pace + 81 seconds)
Average HR = 135 bpm (67% HRR, or about 12% lower than Marathon Pace)

July was a solid month as the build towards Chicago continues. I saw my highest T+D ever at 177 (95F with a dew point of 82 (65% humidity)). I feel closer to pre-injury levels from December 2017 than I have all year. Maybe, just maybe in better shape than then which would truly be exciting. But with this really hot/humid summer for WI, it's been really hard to see the realized gains yet. I've got 10 weeks till Chicago and just under 3 weeks until my fitness test HM. Hopefully the weather cooperates for both and I'll have a good barometer come mid-August what a realistic goal may end up in October. Just trying to stay healthy and feeling good.

 

[FFigawi]

QOTD: At what distance do you call a run a long run? This answer will vary based on the race you are training for, so let us know what distance you are training for in you answer. There is no right or wrong answer here, just curious how everyone looks at the weekend long runs.

I classify it as anything over 13 miles since most of my training is usually for a full, a half IM, or a full IM.

 

[Kerry1957]

Random offer...Based on some discussion on these boards I ordered an ID from roadid.com. It arrived today (the shoe version) and I am very happy with it. Included was a $10 off code (the shoe ID is $20 + $2.99 shipping) to give to someone in need of an ID. I don't know of anyone, so the first person that responds here will get it. Just add it to this discussion because if people PM me others will not know if they are first or not. I will PM you back with the code.

Perhaps after you order you can pass on your coupon code to another dis boarder.

 

[Kerry1957]

At this point in my training a long run is over 8 miles. Over 8 I have to:

• Plan a route (out and back or loops)
• remember to eat before I run
• stash a water bottle
• bring along a GU gel or 2

6 or less I just enjoy a run; 6-8 is an awkward middle distance.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

ATTQOTD: For me, my longest run of the week is my long run. Some weeks my long run is 4-5 miles, other weeks it's 10 miles. But whatever I'm training for, whatever distance I'm running, my long run is the longest run of the week.

Ditto

 

[Sleepless Knight]

ATTQOTD: In the past I probably went with any run over 1 hour as a long run when training using the Galloway plan. I'm currently on a @DopeyBadger plan for the San Francisco Giant Race Half Marathon in September. It hasn't had any long runs as of yet, but I also think that he's using it as a way to really prepare me for Dopey in January.

 

[LdyStormy76]

July: 119.15 miles
YTD: 529.76 miles

Pulling out a new pair of shoes from my collection to start wearing in rotation during August; want to get a few miles on them before Disneyland Paris. Anyone else like those first few days with new shoes?

 

[camaker]

July Training Summary
Running duration = 18:20 hours
Running mileage = 108.1 miles
Average Pace = 10:55 min/mile
Average HR = 156 bpm
Cycling mileage = 63.8 miles

July has been a frustrating month for running. I'm happy to get back over the 100 mile/month threshold, but I don't feel like I'm making the gains I need to be midway through Chicago training. Runs have felt like slogs and I've had to bail on pacing goals and insert walk breaks in order to get through some of the longer runs. Part of it is that my plan called for a step up in pacing this month, which has been a challenge. In retrospect, I think it would have been better to bite the bullet and go with the faster pacing from the start so I'd have the earlier, lower mileage weeks to acclimate to the pace rather than jumping in in the middle like this. Ultimately, though, I think a lot of the struggles have had to do with weather and work. The heat and humidity here have been unrelenting and on top of that, work has been extremely stressful with multiple projects peaking at once. I've been getting less sleep as a result. Throw trying to lose a few pounds mid-training cycle into the mix and it's a perfect storm of how not to have a good training cycle, I think.

One other factor that I'll throw in, too, is that I loved how I felt running 5 days/week last year. I felt like I was in the best shape of my life. But after this year's shin injury, the PT strongly advised me to keep running to 4 days/week. In an attempt to regain at least some of the losses, I've picked up cycling this month. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the best way to use it to accentuate my running fitness so I'm still in the mode of seeing what I can do. I'm sure going from no cycling in the last 15 years to 21+ miles in a single ride last Sunday is not the optimal way to progress. And don't get me started on the joys of clipless pedals. Great for riding. Even better for falling over afterwards. Anyone have suggestions on how to incorporate cycling into a running plan?

Hopefully August will be a bit better as work eases off a bit and I get better acclimated to the faster pacing. Until then, thanks for letting me vent!

 

[BikeFan]

ATTQOTD: Echoing a few others, anything 10 miles or more is a long run, at least to me. When you hit double-digits, that's a long run. I like the simplicity of that rule.

July mileage:
234 miles
32:14:46

Finally got some fall races picked out and registered:

Sept.
30 - Bikefan - Prince William Half Marathon (1:40:00 / N/A)

Oct.
20 - Bikefan - Baltimore Marathon - (4:00 / N/A)
28 - Bikefan - Marine Corps Marathon - (4:00 / N/A)

Nov.
3- Bikefan - Disney Wine and Dine 10K - (N/G / N/A)
4 - Bikefan - Disney Wine and Dine Half - (N/G / N/A)
10 - Bikefan - Richmond Marathon - (sub-3:25 (BQ)/ N/A)

Dec.
15 - Bikefan - Surfin Santa 5 Miler - (N/G / N/A)

 

[KaitlynJ]

Random offer...Based on some discussion on these boards I ordered an ID from roadid.com. It arrived today (the shoe version) and I am very happy with it. Included was a $10 off code (the shoe ID is $20 + $2.99 shipping) to give to someone in need of an ID. I don't know of anyone, so the first person that responds here will get it. Just add it to this discussion because if people PM me others will not know if they are first or not. I will PM you back with the code.

Perhaps after you order you can pass on your coupon code to another dis boarder.

@Kerry1957 - I would love the code if no one has claimed it yet! I'm dying to get one of the ones that slides on to my Apple Watch but haven't pulled the trigger yet. And I would love to pay it forward here if I get a code after ordering mine.

 

[Miranda]

I'm bummed they don't make ones that slide onto the Garmin bands anymore.