The Running Thread - 2018

[michigandergirl]

Pooping uncontrollably on the course.

This, definitely this!!

I also obsess about weather, but I don't really worry about it. I just like to know what I'm in for.

 

[SarahDisney]

ATTQOTD:
A few weeks before - what am I going to wear?
A few days before - is my outfit going to be clean for race day? (laundry is the worst ... I've been known to not wear race outfits for like 3 weeks before the race just in case)
The night before - Oh no, what if I oversleep?
Morning of - Why is my train just sitting in the station? Will I get to the race on time?

The only ones of these that could actually have an impact on my race are the time-related ones ... but I have yet to miss a race, so I'm not so sure what I'm worried about.
Oh, and if my outfit is not cute enough there's always a possibility of public humiliation and never wanting to run again, but that hasn't happened yet, so I think I can trust myself to come up with okay race outfits by now.

 

[kleph]

speaking of weather...

ENOUGH WITH THE RAIN, TEXAS!

 

[huskies90]

QOTD: What do you worry most about before a race? What could go wrong that would have the biggest impact on your race?

ATTQOTD: I really worry about the Disney races because there is so much invested in the travel, vacation and race itself. Months out I worry about injuries, but not necessarily running injuries. Last week I had a nasty full speed collision with a teammate in the outfield as we both went for a ball in the gap. I don’t know how I got up from that hit with no leg or head trauma but I easily could have been sidelined from running for months. Basketball season starts in December and I actually may hold off playing until I get back from Florida. As race weekend gets closer, I worry about the weather. In our case, flying from the Northeast, we need to worry about winter weather canceling flights as they did last year and almost prevented us from making it down. Then there is the FL weather. Last year I agonized about how many “throw away” clothes I needed for the race start. And of course, I worry about the weather canceling a race like it did in 2017. I would be heatbroken if that happened this year with all the work I have/will do for the marathon. During the race itself, I don’t really worry about the weather since I run in just about every weather condition but I do worry about having an injury or stomach issues pop up or any other issue that would potentially keep me from finishing.

 

[flav]

Mickey Pretzels are terrible.

Maybe but somehow that is all I wanted for pre-race dinner last fall... I can’t explain it myself.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

QOTD: What do you worry most about before a race? What could go wrong that would have the biggest impact on your race?

I worry most about injury. Even down to the point where I'm extra cautious around rambunctious and energetic nephews and nieces in the last few weeks before a race.

Really, I'm looking at a lot of the things I've been imagining for myself and recategorizing them as stretch goals...or letting them go. I have this grand plan for the next year and a half that I really do want to hold onto because I think it's going to be amazing, but I'm reminding myself that there are decades more to come as long as I don't burn myself out and quit.

I always struggle in explaining my idea of stretch goals. I don't want it to come across as everyone's a winner and we all get participation trophies. Real life isn't like that and we need to learn how to deal appropriately with disappointment. But I also think it's very important to know where you are at any given time as a runner.

I spent the entirety of training for my first half in fear that I would fail. That fear manifested itself in the form of starting out way too fast and almost injuring myself on race day. I went from the elation of "I can't believe I'm actually doing this" to "my legs hurts so much right now that I should just quit" in less than half a mile. I refused to quit, so I slowed down and hoped that would be enough. My first race became a mixture of painful, challenging, difficult, and ultimately rewarding as I did cross the finish line without being swept. But it wasn't necessarily fun. I learned how to do that a lot more in the subsequent races.

 

[flav]

Congrats!

I don't think I've ever seen a local race with an actual podium finish. I'm not sure I could make the step up (or down) after a race.

Actually, at the local race this weekend the older (it is in your screen name) age group winners did not go up those steps, they just stayed behind them... I understand not wanting to risk your legs for a photo!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

ATTQOTD - I worry about everything if I am running a proof of time race. But, for WDW races, my worry list is limited to injury and illness prevention ahead of the race, and then getting to the race on time. Once I was stuck on a bus for over an hour and barely made it to my corral before it started moving. The stress from that ruined the first 4 or 5 miles of the race for me and makes me think way too much about getting there on time.

And do not come near me if you think you might be sick in the few weeks leading up to the races.

 

[jennamfeo]

ATTQOTD: I am literally a walking ball of anxiety and worry all the time. Things I worry about: Outfit/Costume, hitting my goals, pushing snooze too many times, showing up late, falling during the race, weather being crappy. Things I surprisingly don't ever consider: getting sick or injured before a race.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

ATTQOTD: I differentiate between 'worry' and 'fret'. Worry is long-term and fret is more 'in the moment'.

On race day, I fret about losing my bib. I will check that it is pinned to my shirt 10,000 times between waking up and arriving at the start.

I worry about getting sick before an 'A' race. I try to avoid crowds and wash my hands a hundred times a day.

Spoiler: Warning: TMI!

What I really worry about on race day is 'when am I going to poop?' I actually eat a special diet the week before a race designed to have a desirable timing of events. You were warned!

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

Pre-race nightmares: I get lost on the race course and usually seem to end up inside some building (often a mall - what the heck??) and can't find my way back out to the course.

It's always a parking garage for me!

 

[SarahDisney]

Oh, and if we're talking about pre-race nightmares ... I'm never wearing shoes.
I have regular life nightmares about not wearing shoes too, but they're a little scarier pre-race.

I think I might have a shoe problem.

 

[TheHamm]

question ahead: While I see all sorts of tempo runs, easy runs, speed work, long run, and other things I am not sure I even understand, training plans by Higdon, Daniels, Galloway, and more, I think I have seen only Galloway focus solely on time/distance and not worry about pace. Is this to make it more accessible to newer runners? Specific to run-walk? Just a preference thing?

 

[apdebord]

ATTQOTD: Because I am shorter, I get worried during a race that I'm going to get elbowed in the face by a fellow runner. Particularly on rD courses in the cluster between DHS and Boardwalk. I've done many Matrix style backbends on that sidewalk.

 

[jennamfeo]

ATTQOTD: Because I am shorter, I get worried during a race that I'm going to get elbowed in the face by a fellow runner. Particularly on rD courses in the cluster between DHS and Boardwalk. I've done many Matrix style backbends on that sidewalk.

HA! Forever dodging fairy wings!

 

[opusone]

question ahead: While I see all sorts of tempo runs, easy runs, speed work, long run, and other things I am not sure I even understand, training plans by Higdon, Daniels, Galloway, and more, I think I have seen only Galloway focus solely on time/distance and not worry about pace. Is this to make it more accessible to newer runners? Specific to run-walk? Just a preference thing?

Every training plan has its own underlying system to develop the required physiological adaptations to run the goal race, so it's best to learn enough about the plan to understand its basic principles (this way you understand why you are doing the different types of workouts). That being said, plans designed for "just finishing" usually do not include as many variety of workouts as more advanced plans. This is by design, since to finish, you really just need to strengthen your muscles (the heart being one of the key muscles that needs to be strengthened). Muscle strengthening occurs at fairly slow paces (easy effort), so there is no need to add other workouts. More advanced plans introduce other workouts or items such as threshold, tempo, interval, speed, repetition, strides, etc. These are typically added to work on additional physiological adaptations that help you become faster, such as your lactate threshold, VO2 max, and/or running form. These should only be added once you have a good running base under your belt.

One thing I will mention that can be very confusing is the term "tempo." Tempo is a somewhat loosely defined term in the running community, and each training program may have a different definition. For some plans, tempo runs are true lactate threshold runs, so you would run at a pace that you can keep up for about one hour. Oftentimes, you would run at this lactate threshold pace for 15-20 minutes, but some plans have you do intervals at this pace. Other plans use tempo to describe runs at your goal half marathon or marathon pace. The key thing is to make sure you understand what tempo means for the specific training plan you are using.

 

[TheHamm]

Every training plan has its own underlying system to develop the required physiological adaptation to run the goal race, so it's best to learn enough about the plan to understand its basic principles (this way you understand why you are doing the different types of workouts). That being said, plans designed for "just finishing" usually do not include as many variety of workouts as more advanced plans. This is by design, since to finish, you really just need to strengthen your muscles (the heart being one of the key muscles that needs to be strengthened). Muscle strengthening occurs at fairly slow paces (easy effort), so there is no need to add other workouts. More advanced plans introduce other workouts or items such as threshold, tempo, interval, speed, repetition, strides, etc. These are typically added to work on additional physiological adaptations that help you become faster, such as your lactate threshold, VO2 max, and/or running form. These should only be added once you have a good running base under your belt.

One thing I will mention that can be very confusing is the term "tempo." Tempo is a somewhat loosely defined term in the running community, and each training program may have a different definition. For some plans, tempo runs are true lactate threshold runs, so you would run at a pace that you can keep up for about one hour. Oftentimes, you would run at this lactate threshold pace for 15-20 minutes, but some plans have you do intervals at this pace. Other plans use tempo to describe runs at your goal half marathon or marathon pace. The key thing is to make sure you understand what tempo means for the specific training plan you are using.

Thanks! More confusing than the variations in definition of 'tempo' is the lack of definition for 'running base' or 'base mileage.' I imagine no handy chart exists, but is there a range of values to which people are referring?

 

[cavepig]

Oh, and if we're talking about pre-race nightmares ... I'm never wearing shoes.
I have regular life nightmares about not wearing shoes too, but they're a little scarier pre-race.

I think I might have a shoe problem.

ah, Yes, I've had that no shoes dream before races and real life!

 

[kbenson13]

ATTQOTD: Sorry to be gross, but I'm with the group who worry about having bowel troubles on the race course. It hasn't happened to me on a race yet but it sure has happened to me more than once on training runs. I'd really hate to lose time in the porta potty on a race where I'm trying for a specific time. I have a sinking feeling this will happen to me eventually, though....

 

[avondale]

QOTD: What do you worry most about before a race? What could go wrong that would have the biggest impact on your race?

I am very much not a worrier. I don't really worry about anything specific except to hope that I'll be able to do well. When I hear other people talk about things like getting a cold or getting an injury or other things happening before a race, I'll think , "wow, that could've happened to me - I'm glad it didn't!" I'd like to think that I don't manufacture things to worry about, but maybe it's more of a lack of imagination.

Hmmm... I'll amend that to say I do worry about having enough time to use the port-a-potty before the race. One of the times I did the 10K associated with the Marine Corps Marathon, the security line was SO SLOW that by the time I got inside security, the lines for the potties were huge. I ended up starting about 8 minutes after the official start (and just a couple minutes before they closed the start) because I was ALMOST THERE to the potty and wasn't missing that chance.

What could go wrong that would have the biggest impact? Traffic not letting me get to the race on time and being too late to start. I guess I don't worry about this because I always make sure I'm there REALLY early. The potty incident has only made me be earlier.