The Running Thread - 2018

[flav]

I have to vent a little and this is the only place where I know people will understand. For the last two months I have found my motivation. Prior to that I was running still, I would just skip a run here and there. The last two months I haven't really skipped any runs (I missed a run last week because I felt my plantar fasciitis coming back so I took a run off and did my stretches, which worked). These last couple of runs I have had have just been brutal mentally. The heat and humidity up here in MA has been record breaking this last month. We reached 96 this week, which for MA is high for this time of year, along with high humidity. I realized you southerners are used to this but we are not. I run in such a hilly area on top of it so my times are 3:00/mile slower than what I was preinjury.

I know the important thing is, I am out there at 5:30 am doing it. Not making excuses anymore. But it is so discouraging. My body won't loosen up for these runs. My Achilles both have tendinitis right now so they are very sore. And I have a 1/2 marathon at the end of the month. It will be my first race for time since September of 2015. All my races since then were fun races, races with other people to help them, or races during my injury comeback where I just wanted to finish.

I know I am rambling. I also know that eventually cooler temps will return and the humidity will disappear. The course for the race is very flat and along the ocean so I may surprise myself on time since I am training on ridiculous hills and humidity, it right now it is just so frustrating. I haven't had a 100+ mile month since before my injury, which is over 2 years now, but I am giving myself a goal of at least 100 miles this month. I will be posting my results and if I don't make it you all have permission to yell at me.

OK, I am done. Thanks for listening.

I ran a 100 miles month once in my life and never had to go over the type of obstacles you had (injuries). All I know is that you are doing what everyone on this thread is saying to do, you are listening to your body, you are running here now in your actual state, even when the world seems to make it difficult and you reach for external support when you need it. Congratulations. Keep it up. And we want you to stay with this community for many years so, no yelling. Looking forward to read your results and race recap!

 

[Jules76126]

I have to vent a little and this is the only place where I know people will understand. For the last two months I have found my motivation. Prior to that I was running still, I would just skip a run here and there. The last two months I haven't really skipped any runs (I missed a run last week because I felt my plantar fasciitis coming back so I took a run off and did my stretches, which worked). These last couple of runs I have had have just been brutal mentally. The heat and humidity up here in MA has been record breaking this last month. We reached 96 this week, which for MA is high for this time of year, along with high humidity. I realized you southerners are used to this but we are not. I run in such a hilly area on top of it so my times are 3:00/mile slower than what I was preinjury.

I know the important thing is, I am out there at 5:30 am doing it. Not making excuses anymore. But it is so discouraging. My body won't loosen up for these runs. My Achilles both have tendinitis right now so they are very sore. And I have a 1/2 marathon at the end of the month. It will be my first race for time since September of 2015. All my races since then were fun races, races with other people to help them, or races during my injury comeback where I just wanted to finish.

I know I am rambling. I also know that eventually cooler temps will return and the humidity will disappear. The course for the race is very flat and along the ocean so I may surprise myself on time since I am training on ridiculous hills and humidity, it right now it is just so frustrating. I haven't had a 100+ mile month since before my injury, which is over 2 years now, but I am giving myself a goal of at least 100 miles this month. I will be posting my results and if I don't make it you all have permission to yell at me.

OK, I am done. Thanks for listening.

I feel you. It has been so hot. I was ready for a little cooler down. You running Smuttynose? I think you will find you will surprise yourself come race day. I ran last week in Maine and it was so nice to run along the beach in a flatter environment and of course my pace and distance improved. And if you don't hit this month's mileage goal, just remember that cooler temps are ahead and soon we will be complaining about all the snow and ice.

 

[LSUlakes]

Had to take the day off because DS is sick. He has been running a fever around 102. Little pixie dust he gets better soon would help. We leave Tuesday for a trip to WDW.

 

[PrincessV]

So my gym just upgraded their treadmills. I was just getting to where I could run 5 miles on one so I was prepared for my 7 miles today.

Welp, the new ones are super cool and energy efficient but have a PERMANENT 4 or 5 incline. Guys, I don't do that! I'm a 1.5 TOPS. I made it 2 miles and my calves were yelling at me. I had to go outside in the blazing sun and 100 degree to get 2 more miles and then I died.

UGH.

That's insane! I use a 5 (%? degree? I actually have no idea what that number represents!) when I'm specifically doing hill repeats - no way is that a normal state. Definitely ask someone about it!

For those who race with their watches and look at the mile markers (samesies!) do you also set alerts for when you're running above/below pace?

I use a plain old watch, no GPS or anything, so no sad alerts!

I have to vent a little and this is the only place where I know people will understand.

I hear ya - vent away! Every. ding-dang. year. I question the sanity of marathon training in the ludicrous heat that is FL in August/September. By this time, it's been ludicrously hot for 5-6 months straight and the cumulative effect is simply life-sucking. I love running and never, ever feel like it's a chore... but even I have a hard time making myself go out the door some days this time of year. Hang in there, keep your eye on the prize and remember that it really won't be like this forever!

Had to take the day off because DS is sick. He has been running a fever around 102. Little pixie dust he gets better soon would help. We leave Tuesday for a trip to WDW.

It never fails - illness always seems to strike right before a trip, right?! Sending healing thoughts his way.

 

[BikeFan]

I have to vent a little and this is the only place where I know people will understand. For the last two months I have found my motivation. Prior to that I was running still, I would just skip a run here and there. The last two months I haven't really skipped any runs (I missed a run last week because I felt my plantar fasciitis coming back so I took a run off and did my stretches, which worked). These last couple of runs I have had have just been brutal mentally. The heat and humidity up here in MA has been record breaking this last month. We reached 96 this week, which for MA is high for this time of year, along with high humidity. I realized you southerners are used to this but we are not. I run in such a hilly area on top of it so my times are 3:00/mile slower than what I was preinjury.

I know the important thing is, I am out there at 5:30 am doing it. Not making excuses anymore. But it is so discouraging. My body won't loosen up for these runs. My Achilles both have tendinitis right now so they are very sore. And I have a 1/2 marathon at the end of the month. It will be my first race for time since September of 2015. All my races since then were fun races, races with other people to help them, or races during my injury comeback where I just wanted to finish.

I know I am rambling. I also know that eventually cooler temps will return and the humidity will disappear. The course for the race is very flat and along the ocean so I may surprise myself on time since I am training on ridiculous hills and humidity, it right now it is just so frustrating. I haven't had a 100+ mile month since before my injury, which is over 2 years now, but I am giving myself a goal of at least 100 miles this month. I will be posting my results and if I don't make it you all have permission to yell at me.

OK, I am done. Thanks for listening.

First, I have huge respect for you and anyone else getting out at 5:30. I'm almost never a morning runner except when I run with my club on the weekends, so props to those of you who can get out first thing in the morning! Second, yes, the heat/humidity combo can and will slow you down, so don't worry too much about your pace and perceived effort in these temps. We southerners are "used to it" in the sense we experience it all summer, but I don't know anyone who's a fan of it or does well in longer races in these conditions. Honestly, I've mostly been running on the treadmill this summer - I'm just tired being sweaty, sticky, and exhausted every run! Plus, I don't plan on doing any of my target races in these conditions, so I'm not going to spend too much effort acclimating to them. Just log your miles and know that when the cool temps return, you're going to be that much faster. Best of luck to you and I hope that tendinitis gets better!

 

[rteetz]

QOTD: Since a minor discussion has been started about our running watches I thought I would be a good question for the day. Do you wear your running watch all day, just to run or anywhere between?

I am falling behind now that school started.

I wear an Apple Watch all day everyday. I only take it off when I sleep and shower.

 

[AFwifelife]

Had to take the day off because DS is sick. He has been running a fever around 102. Little pixie dust he gets better soon would help. We leave Tuesday for a trip to WDW.

Hope he gets better quick! How long are you there? We go down next Friday for the weekend.

 

[TheHamm]

Had to take the day off because DS is sick. He has been running a fever around 102. Little pixie dust he gets better soon would help. We leave Tuesday for a trip to WDW.

5 days with a sick kid may feel like an eternity, but it is plenty of time to kick some crud!
Children's tylenol is kind of like pixie dust in my experience. May the force be with you on your 'day off' that is often more work than places of employment.

 

[jennamfeo]

First, I have huge respect for you and anyone else getting out at 5:30.

I appreciate this comment so much as I wait for my coffee to kick in. These 5am wake up calls are rough.

Guys, I am 10 days out from my race and my biggest concern right now is the weather. I obviously can't get an accurate forecast 10 days out but I am predicting it to be 72 degrees at race start (yay!) with like 90% humidity (BOO!) and I am not ready for it. It's been "humid" here thanks to monsoon season, but we usually max out around 30%-40%. I know I can't ~do~ anything about it, but let me complain a little. I just had an awesome workout this morning and the weather was perfect, so I am bummed out about the potential weather situation ruining my goals.

C'est la vie.

 

[garneska]

I've gone back and forth on this. I have used Garmins for many, many years, and prior to my current version, I only wore them when running. However, when I first got my Garmin 935, I decided to test out the sleep data, track my steps, and try the 24-hour HR feature, so I wore it all day and all night. I would only take it off when showering and charging. Unfortunately, my skin (under the watch) wasn't really a fan of this constant use, so I switched back to using it only during the runs. This, however, creates a problem with the watch's calculation of my resting HR since I only have it on when my heart rate is elevated. So now, I use it during my runs (mostly in the morning), but I also try to remember to put it on again when I get home from work until I go to bed in order to get a good resting HR number.

How do you like the 935? I have a garmin vioactive first generation and i am going to upgrade. Trying to decide between the 645 and the 935. i am not really doing triathlons at the moment but feel like i will do them again. @FFigawi and @Keels because you guys might have an opinion thought i would tag you. Am hoping to get swimming again soon (i am not a fan but i like the cross training) have had work conflicts keeping me from it. I am not sure if i will ever get past that sprint tri as the swim is killer but hoping to at some point just not sure if that is next year or 5 years from now.

 

[TheHamm]

I appreciate this comment so much as I wait for my coffee to kick in. These 5am wake up calls are rough.

Here! Here!

Guys, I am 10 days out from my race and my biggest concern right now is the weather. I obviously can't get an accurate forecast 10 days out but I am predicting it to be 72 degrees at race start (yay!) with like 90% humidity (BOO!) and I am not ready for it. It's been "humid" here thanks to monsoon season, but we usually max out around 30%-40%. I know I can't ~do~ anything about it, but let me complain a little. I just had an awesome workout this morning and the weather was perfect, so I am bummed out about the potential weather situation ruining my goals.

C'est la vie.

I don't know about the rest of the people here, 72 and 90+ humidity with a 5:30 wake up call has led me to believe I do not like running as much as I thought I did. Also, I am convinced I pay more attention and more bothered by weather in the last year of running than in all of the time I had to walk and bike to school and work.
I keep telling myself this weekend's race with the every increasing probability of rain would actually be better than the early morning, darkness clouded with humid fog I have been enduring. Also, races start later than mom runs, so at least I will have time for coffee before the race? Still, I whine and waver in resolve.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Not making excuses anymore. But it is so discouraging. My body won't loosen up for these runs.

More than anything, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your struggles. It's very easy to think that running is always fun and perfect when we only see and hear the good stuff. But in reality there are a lot of days when it challenges us and we just have to get through it.

 

[Bree]

I appreciate this comment so much as I wait for my coffee to kick in. These 5am wake up calls are rough.

Guys, I am 10 days out from my race and my biggest concern right now is the weather. I obviously can't get an accurate forecast 10 days out but I am predicting it to be 72 degrees at race start (yay!) with like 90% humidity (BOO!) and I am not ready for it. It's been "humid" here thanks to monsoon season, but we usually max out around 30%-40%. I know I can't ~do~ anything about it, but let me complain a little. I just had an awesome workout this morning and the weather was perfect, so I am bummed out about the potential weather situation ruining my goals.

C'est la vie.

That's less humid than what I'm running in right now, but still damp. Just have some wet wipes and dry clothes to change into at the end of the race.

 

[Bree]

I posted this in my journal, but I'm over the moon excited and wanted to share here too.

I hit my goal of running 1000 miles in 2018 today. ONE THOUSAND MILES!!!

 

[opusone]

How do you like the 935? I have a garmin vioactive first generation and i am going to upgrade. Trying to decide between the 645 and the 935. i am not really doing triathlons at the moment but feel like i will do them again. @FFigawi and @Keels because you guys might have an opinion thought i would tag you. Am hoping to get swimming again soon (i am not a fan but i like the cross training) have had work conflicts keeping me from it. I am not sure if i will ever get past that sprint tri as the swim is killer but hoping to at some point just not sure if that is next year or 5 years from now.

I love the 935. As someone who likes to upgrade every couple/few years, I truly can't imagine upgrading anytime in the near future. The 935 does just about everything you can imagine (basically everything the Fenix 5 does), is a great form factor, quickly acquires satellites, and is easy to sync with either your phone or WiFi. In addition, you can easily swap out the bands if you want different colors, which at first I thought was a little ridiculous, but I actually do switch colors fairly often.

I also like some of the software differences from my previous version. The auto lap feature still works even when you are using a workout. On my previous watch (Garmin 225), if I did a custom workout (e.g. 3x2mi), the auto lap feature would be disabled and wouldn't work during the 2 mile intervals, but on the 935, it still does. I also like that you can turn off or on the auto lap feature while you are already running (I switch this feature off when I do a speed workout on the track so that it doesn't potentially auto lap before I finish a 1600m interval, but I often forget to turn it back on until I've already started the next run). No problem with the 935 since I can switch on the fly.

As far as the multi-sport features, I actually haven't used them yet (except for using the watch in bike mode when I go for a ride). However, I have read about the multi-sport features, and if I ever get back into triathlons, I think this watch will work quite well.

 

[kbenson13]

Here! Here!


I don't know about the rest of the people here, 72 and 90+ humidity with a 5:30 wake up call has led me to believe I do not like running as much as I thought I did. Also, I am convinced I pay more attention and more bothered by weather in the last year of running than in all of the time I had to walk and bike to school and work.
I keep telling myself this weekend's race with the every increasing probability of rain would actually be better than the early morning, darkness clouded with humid fog I have been enduring. Also, races start later than mom runs, so at least I will have time for coffee before the race? Still, I whine and waver in resolve.

Meanwhile I can only dream of 72 degrees and 90% humidity down here in Houston. We're at least a few weeks away from mornings being that "cool"! Yesterday it was 79 Degrees with 97% humidity at around 5:30AM and I actually thought it felt pretty nice relative to what I've been experiencing over the last few months...

 

[TheHamm]

Meanwhile I can only dream of 72 degrees and 90% humidity down here in Houston. We're at least a few weeks away from mornings being that "cool"! Yesterday it was 79 Degrees with 97% humidity at around 5:30AM and I actually thought it felt pretty nice relative to what I've been experiencing over the last few months...

No thanks, I'd prefer snow. It really is all relative!

 

[Waiting2goback]

I ran a 100 miles month once in my life and never had to go over the type of obstacles you had (injuries). All I know is that you are doing what everyone on this thread is saying to do, you are listening to your body, you are running here now in your actual state, even when the world seems to make it difficult and you reach for external support when you need it. Congratulations. Keep it up. And we want you to stay with this community for many years so, no yelling. Looking forward to read your results and race recap!

thanks.

I feel you. It has been so hot. I was ready for a little cooler down. You running Smuttynose? I think you will find you will surprise yourself come race day. I ran last week in Maine and it was so nice to run along the beach in a flatter environment and of course my pace and distance improved. And if you don't hit this month's mileage goal, just remember that cooler temps are ahead and soon we will be complaining about all the snow and ice.

I'm doing Smuttynose, yes. I keep telling myself at the end of September, along the ocean, it is bound to be in the 50's for the race. And I did do a training run on vacation in Maine. My pace was back in the 9's, which is still slower than preinjury but way better than what I have been doing. It's not all about the time though. I just want to get back to the point where 6-8 miles is "easy" again.

That's insane! I use a 5 (%? degree? I actually have no idea what that number represents!) when I'm specifically doing hill repeats - no way is that a normal state. Definitely ask someone about it!


I use a plain old watch, no GPS or anything, so no sad alerts!


I hear ya - vent away! Every. ding-dang. year. I question the sanity of marathon training in the ludicrous heat that is FL in August/September. By this time, it's been ludicrously hot for 5-6 months straight and the cumulative effect is simply life-sucking. I love running and never, ever feel like it's a chore... but even I have a hard time making myself go out the door some days this time of year. Hang in there, keep your eye on the prize and remember that it really won't be like this forever!


It never fails - illness always seems to strike right before a trip, right?! Sending healing thoughts his way.

Thanks. I know I'll be fine.

First, I have huge respect for you and anyone else getting out at 5:30. I'm almost never a morning runner except when I run with my club on the weekends, so props to those of you who can get out first thing in the morning! Second, yes, the heat/humidity combo can and will slow you down, so don't worry too much about your pace and perceived effort in these temps. We southerners are "used to it" in the sense we experience it all summer, but I don't know anyone who's a fan of it or does well in longer races in these conditions. Honestly, I've mostly been running on the treadmill this summer - I'm just tired being sweaty, sticky, and exhausted every run! Plus, I don't plan on doing any of my target races in these conditions, so I'm not going to spend too much effort acclimating to them. Just log your miles and know that when the cool temps return, you're going to be that much faster. Best of luck to you and I hope that tendinitis gets better!

Thanks.

More than anything, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your struggles. It's very easy to think that running is always fun and perfect when we only see and hear the good stuff. But in reality there are a lot of days when it challenges us and we just have to get through it.

I know what you mean. I follow people on instagram and they always make it look so easy. Makes me feel like I am doing something wrong when it feels like I am pulling a trailer truck behind me.

 

[FFigawi]

How do you like the 935? I have a garmin vioactive first generation and i am going to upgrade. Trying to decide between the 645 and the 935. i am not really doing triathlons at the moment but feel like i will do them again. @FFigawi and @Keels because you guys might have an opinion thought i would tag you. Am hoping to get swimming again soon (i am not a fan but i like the cross training) have had work conflicts keeping me from it. I am not sure if i will ever get past that sprint tri as the swim is killer but hoping to at some point just not sure if that is next year or 5 years from now.

I have a 920 which I do not want to upgrade. If I had to choose one to switch to, though, I'd buy a 935. Better battery life for triathlons, and more features too.

 

[camaker]

How do you like the 935? I have a garmin vioactive first generation and i am going to upgrade. Trying to decide between the 645 and the 935. i am not really doing triathlons at the moment but feel like i will do them again. @FFigawi and @Keels because you guys might have an opinion thought i would tag you. Am hoping to get swimming again soon (i am not a fan but i like the cross training) have had work conflicts keeping me from it. I am not sure if i will ever get past that sprint tri as the swim is killer but hoping to at some point just not sure if that is next year or 5 years from now.

@opusone has done a great job breaking things down already. I just wanted to throw another vote the way of the 935. I upgraded a year ago from the 235 to the 935 and have been very happy with the move. The 935 has been a huge upgrade in comfort, capabilities and reliability.