The Running Thread - 2018

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

RANDOM QUESTION: So I'm back in the saddle on my running plan, and I'm trying to do 10,000 steps a day overall. Finding that I'm getting little aches in my feet that aren't severe, just nagging. Is there a problem with just popping an Ibuprofen immediately after my morning runs/walks? I have a friend who does it and says it really helps him stay on track every day. Does anyone else do it to prevent/eliminate general soreness?

I used to do that. Somewhere along the line, I decided aches and pains are messages that should not be ignored. I decided to listen to them. I go with ice now (no chance it might damage my kidneys). This is the only way that works for me: https://www.jeffgalloway.com/2017/11/20/injured-ice-massage-the-right-way-to-do-it/

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

ATTQOTD: whatever @DopeyBadger tells me to do

This.

 

[michigandergirl]

I used to do that. Somewhere along the line, I decided aches and pains are messages that should not be ignored. I decided to listen to them. I go with ice now (no chance it might damage my kidneys). This is the only way that works for me: https://www.jeffgalloway.com/2017/11/20/injured-ice-massage-the-right-way-to-do-it/

I do this too. My friend who is a football coach told me about it. It hurts so good!!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

QOTD: How do you determine what your goal is for a race? How far out do you make your decision?

I usually set a goal at the beginning of the training cycle for the "A" race. It's what I reasonably expect I could do under ideal conditions with ideal training. But life happens, so I usually reassess the goal the week of the race. I look back at training and glean any insights I can based on past training as to what a good goal is. So, I set a goal months in advance, and then reassess the week of. But as I learned this past weekend, things happen and even in a data driven approach the goal can be missed. But as others have discussed about failure of a goal, it only means you pick yourself back up again and reassess. I've got 102 goals that I recently listed out. Some are things I hope to achieve in weeks time, others years, and others a lifetime. Some are reasonable, and some very likely will never be met. But I enjoy the goals because whether they be easily attainable or insanely difficult/unrealistic, the joy of reaching a goal is usually measured by the amount of failure/hard work it took to attain it. Haven't gotten a BQ yet, but I know whenever it happens for me, it will be one of the best days of my life.

QOTD: Do you have a rule or guideline you go by to increase weekly mileage? How about for your long run distance?

Yes and no. I don't adhere to the 10% rule, but I do follow a 3 up and 1 down. After the 3 up and 1 down, is when I move the mileage up in the next 4 week block. It usually goes high, medium, high, low. The purpose being recovery to allow the muscles to become stronger and the bone to rebuild.

As for the long distance of the run, I set a maximum of 2.5 hours for a continuous runner and 3 hours for a run/walk plan. Ideally, I try and keep the LR % of the week to be 25-30%. I don't like to go above 35%, but I make exceptions from time to time.

 

[KaitlynJ]

ATTQOTD: My usual rule of thumb is to increase my long run by about a mile a week. When I'm not injured and not training for anything in particular (just running for fun/fitness) my baseline level of fitness is usually about a 10K (in the sense that that's the longest race I'd feel comfortable running without additional training). When I'm training for something longer, I usually increase my long run by one mile per week and don't increase my short runs a ton (and do it very slowly). So it might look something like:

3mi 3mi 6mi
3mi 3mi 7mi
3mi 3mi 8mi
. . .
4mi 4mi 11mi
4mi 4mi 12mi
etc.

 

[opusone]

QOTD: Do you have a rule or guideline you go by to increase weekly mileage? How about for your long run distance?

I keep a close eye on my weekly mileage increases, but don't strictly follow the no more than 10% rule. That being said, I don't allow for two weeks in a row with greater than 10% increases. So, if I have one week where I increase mileage by 16%, I don't worry as long as the next week is less than a 10% increase (and I usually like to see only a 5-7% increase the week after a big increase). As others have mentioned, I also have recovery weeks every so often (every 4-5 weeks).

For long runs, they increase at a max of two miles from week to week (but oftentimes just one mile per week). Long runs sometimes have plateaus where they stay at the same distance for two weeks in a row, and if schedule permits, sometimes I alternate every other week with more mileage/less mileage on the long runs (sort of a recovery long run every other week). This typically only works in a plan if you peak on your long run well before the end of the training cycle.

I just listened to a podcast (Endurance Planet ask the coaches) that discussed this and the standard 10% rule. Their synopsis on the 10% rule is that it makes no sense unless you are elite and putting in 80 miles or more per week. If you are running 3 miles a run or 10 miles a week increasing 10% is way too little. They suggested going by feel and I concur. When I first started and could only run 1 mile I went from 1 to 1.25 to 2 to 2.5 to 3 in about 2 weeks. Now I generally increase my long run by about 2 miles a week when I'm ramping up and don't worry so much about my weekly mile increase provided I'm not feeling any pain.

I mostly agree with this. I agree that beginners, especially beginners with a decent general athletic base, starting with low mileage can increase quicker than 10%, although they should still take a recovery week every 4th week or so. This also goes for runners gearing back up after a bit of time off. However, even if you are not an elite runner, once you get to 15-20 miles per week (or whatever might be a decent load for your body), I think you should start paying attention to the mileage increases, with the general rule of 10% not being a bad starting point (with appropriate wiggle room as I stated above).

 

[Sleepless Knight]

RANDOM QUESTION: So I'm back in the saddle on my running plan, and I'm trying to do 10,000 steps a day overall. Finding that I'm getting little aches in my feet that aren't severe, just nagging. Is there a problem with just popping an Ibuprofen immediately after my morning runs/walks? I have a friend who does it and says it really helps him stay on track every day. Does anyone else do it to prevent/eliminate general soreness?

I've heard serious warnings about the risks of ibuprofen up to 48 hours after a long run. I will use tylenol after a long run if I need it, but I usually try to avoid it if I can. I bought one of the those bumpy yoga balls and found that rolling my feet over it for a few minutes helps reduce my soreness pretty quickly.

As far as the failure comment earlier, I feel like we all have our big, long term reasons we run (medical reasons, helps maintain mental health, weight loss, maintaining physical fitness, etc.) and that those are generally served by just being consistent and continuing to run. If having scary goals with races and times helps keep someone engaged and running, then it makes sense to have them. If maintaining comfort in your running is what keeps someone engaged, that makes sense too. After all, most people have plenty of discomfort in their lift from other things and I can see where it would feel good to have running as a refuge that feels good. We all have different journeys and whatever works to keep us going is the right thing

I think this is right on. Each of us needs to find the motivation and plan that works best for us. And not worry if that motivation or plan is different from someone else.

ATTQOTD: I usually follow the long run increase strictly. Under Galloway, it was 1.5 miles increase over the previous long run. One time I had to condense training and used a 2 mile increase. Now, I follow the plan from DopeyBadger.

 

[huskies90]

QOTD: Do you have a rule or guideline you go by to increase weekly mileage? How about for your long run distance?

ATTQOTD: I have increased my weekly mileage this summer in order to build base miles. I did not really have a rule or guideline. I just increased based how I felt. For my "long run," I have increased it about 1 mile every other week. Not really basing it on a rule or guideline but it seems to have worked OK for me.

 

[rteetz]

This is better swag than a runDisney race and its only $15

Yacht & Beach Club Resort’s New Regatta Run Offers Exercise and Some Awesome Gifts

 

[KSellers88]

This is better swag than a runDisney race and its only $15

Yacht & Beach Club Resort’s New Regatta Run Offers Exercise and Some Awesome Gifts

This is awesome!

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

This is better swag than a runDisney race and its only $15

Yacht & Beach Club Resort’s New Regatta Run Offers Exercise and Some Awesome Gifts

I would rather have the nautical themed rubber duck and some chocolate than the headphones.

 

[KingLlama]

Thanks everyone for the Ibuprofen feedback and confirming that my friend is, in fact, a moron.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

This is better swag than a runDisney race and its only $15

Yacht & Beach Club Resort’s New Regatta Run Offers Exercise and Some Awesome Gifts

This is cool! Think I can transfer my marathon registration to this? 3K seems like a nice distance..

 

[SarahDisney]

This is better swag than a runDisney race and its only $15

Yacht & Beach Club Resort’s New Regatta Run Offers Exercise and Some Awesome Gifts

Am I the only one thinking about doing this post-5K in January?*

*Assuming it's being offered that day, of course, which it may not be

 

[KaitlynJ]

I used to do that. Somewhere along the line, I decided aches and pains are messages that should not be ignored. I decided to listen to them. I go with ice now (no chance it might damage my kidneys). This is the only way that works for me: https://www.jeffgalloway.com/2017/11/20/injured-ice-massage-the-right-way-to-do-it/

This is what my doctor advised when I was first diagnosed with my injury. He strongly recommended against pain meds (even OTC) unless the pain was interfering with my life because it would be so much more difficult to tell whether or not I was making consistent improvement or if it was just the meds.

 

[avondale]

Thanks everyone for the Ibuprofen feedback and confirming that my friend is, in fact, a moron.

Well, pain is an issue. If you've got chronic pain, it can be hard to make good judgments about how to treat it because at some point you just want it to stop. Even low-grade pain can become extremely frustrating if it just keeps going on and on.

Seems like there are two issues:

1. If there's some injury or other problem causing the pain, then that needs to be addressed and just taking a painkiller covers it up.

2. Long-term use of most painkillers has negative side effects. For ibuprofen, I believe the effects tend to be on the stomach, i.e., ulcers and bleeding. For acetominophen, it's on the liver - my father took Tylenol long term for arthritis in his knee (didn't want to get the knee replacement) and that's what the doctors think led to his liver failure, which ultimately killed him.

So, it seems best to save the painkillers for more of an acute, short-term issue.

 

[jennamfeo]

Am I the only one thinking about doing this post-5K in January?*

*Assuming it's being offered that day, of course, which it may not be

Nope, the thought definitely crossed my mind. Let's do it!

 

[SarahDisney]

Nope, the thought definitely crossed my mind. Let's do it!

I will add it to our list of planned marathon weekend adventures!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Thanks everyone for the Ibuprofen feedback and confirming that my friend is, in fact, a moron.

I've also read that ibuprofen is fine 48 hours after the race. Your body will naturally swell as part of the healing process after the race. Because ibuprofen reduces swelling, it can interfere with the necessary healing.

Well, pain is an issue. If you've got chronic pain, it can be hard to make good judgments about how to treat it because at some point you just want it to stop. Even low-grade pain can become extremely frustrating if it just keeps going on and on.

Seems like there are two issues:

1. If there's some injury or other problem causing the pain, then that needs to be addressed and just taking a painkiller covers it up.

2. Long-term use of most painkillers has negative side effects. For ibuprofen, I believe the effects tend to be on the stomach, i.e., ulcers and bleeding. For acetominophen, it's on the liver - my father took Tylenol long term for arthritis in his knee (didn't want to get the knee replacement) and that's what the doctors think led to his liver failure, which ultimately killed him.

So, it seems best to save the painkillers for more of an acute, short-term issue.

Exactly. When it's an acute issue (ie after a race or a long run), it will help. I almost always take Tylenol after a race because it does help reduce the pain. But also keep in mind that pain is also your body telling you that something isn't right. And you want to identify what isn't right. Post race or long run soreness is self explanatory and should improve in a few days at most.

I developed knee issues in January because I tried to increase speed too much too soon. My attempts to run through the pain only made it worse and would have destroyed my Dark Side weekend if I had continued to try and run through the pain. I realized that while I did not want to take time off, I could still get my fitness back in time for the races if I rested and healed up. You don't want to sacrifice your long term goals by masking pain now.

My dreams of increasing my speed for Dark Side did not happen because of the knee issues. But the idea of using Dark Side as a test of sorts for marathon weekend worked out and the marathon dream is still alive.

 

[BikeFan]

This is better swag than a runDisney race and its only $15

Yacht & Beach Club Resort’s New Regatta Run Offers Exercise and Some Awesome Gifts

More and more Disney resorts appear to be rolling out these events. We just got back from 8 days at OKW and they had the "Southernmost 3K Fun Run" every Wednesday morning, which I ran. My kids just rolled their eyes at their dad's joy in finding a race to do while on vacation. It was a fun, low-key event with maybe 50-60 runners. Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside both have runs as well, as does Saratoga Springs, I believe.