The Running Thread - 2019

[chuckille]

My older son is spending his first winter at school in upstate New York, after growing up in metro Phoenix and the SFBA. He decided he was going to keep wearing shorts until it snowed.

He regretted the decision but stuck to it, apparently. Fortunately, given the current weather, my sister took him to go get a winter coat, boots, and gloves when he visited over Thanksgiving.

I was a SoCal boy who went to upstate NY for college many years ago...and I had no idea how cold, snowy, and windy it got. It snowed in May that first year and I was ready to transfer back to LA! Thankfully, I stuck through it, but I still remember the “culture shock” going to the east coast, and specifically upstate NY.


ATTQOTD: I’m about 90/10, running from home vs driving somewhere. The Bay Area has pretty good trails and bike paths so I can just lace up from home and run a decent distance. I will drive a short distance to change up the scenery once in a while.

 

[FFigawi]

QOTD: How often to you have to drive v/s walking out your front door for a run?

Only need to drive on weekends to meet my running group. Otherwise, I head right out from home. Lots of good streets and running paths nearby.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

ATTQOTD: Almost always drive. We live in a rural 'neighborhood'. The best I can do there is a mile round-trip out and back on a gravel/mud/dust road. It's hard to get any momentum.

I do one of the following:

Drive to the end of the dirt road: .5 miles
Drive to town: 4 miles
Drive to the technical college: 15 miles
Drive to the local state college: 25 miles

The drives to the colleges are highway, so really not significantly longer than the other drives. I enjoy running on the campuses because I don't have to worry about dodging traffic.

 

[flav]

ATTQOTD driving to run: I only drive/transport to races. Being able to only have to go through the door (home, work or hotel) to exercise is a big part of why I run.

 

[michigandergirl]

ATTQOTD: I don't have to drive anywhere. I have a quiet neighborhood to do my weekday runs and I am only a half mile away from a rail trail for my weekend long runs. Occasionally I will drive to meet friends for long runs or trail runs.

It's been nothing but the treadmill for me lately though. Because of the warmer waters of Lake Michigan, we aren't as cold today as the rest of the Midwest (only -20), but that big lake also produces a lot of lake effect snow, which has been the case the last few days. We made the national news last night for a multiple car pile up on the highway. Current view from my office window:



The kids haven't been to school in 4 days and could have tomorrow & Friday off too. I'm pretty sure their brains are turning to mush.

 

[Miranda]

ATTQOTD: Have to? Only to races. Actually do? Well, it depends. After training alone in 2015-2016, I joined a running group and ran with them from late 2016 to mid-summer 2018, then I stopped because I wasn't doing the fall half marathon with them and the running group is only free in the winter. Then I didn't join back up with them for this winter because I lost my cold weather mojo this year and there's been some drama with the owner of the group.

But anyway, I used to drive to meet the group all the time when I ran with them because we'd start from the same spot downtown (~3 miles from home). When I run by myself, 99% of the time it's just out my door. I can create a bazillion different routes from home of varying lengths, as like I said I'm only 3 miles from downtown and still within the non-rural area. I have lots of main roads and neighborhoods and stuff in every direction and most of my routes involve either a loop out here in the semi-urban areas or if it's a longer run, running to town, running around varying directions within town, and then running back via a different route. I can only think off the top of my head of one time that I actually drove somewhere to run when I was training alone. I needed 8 miles and I was getting a little tired of my longer routes from the house, and I knew we'd probably be bringing our dog to the dog park later on in the day, so I planned a route from the dog park to home that was 8 miles and drove to the dog park, parked my car there and ran home, then picked up the car later when we went back. Actually I guess I also drove another time to do a long run, but that one doesn't count. I needed 9 miles for that run and was running a 5K that day, so I drove to the race early and ran a 6 mile route before the race started. So that really just counts as driving to a race.

 

[tidefan]

ATTQOTD: Both, I have a lot of intra-neighborhood runs, especially since the neighborhood next to ours, which is linked by a sidewalk, has a loop through it that is EXACTLY one mile long, so if I need to add a mile or two, I can do loops. However, for longer runs, I prefer to drive to the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk. It's 2.5 miles in length and mostly all asphalt, so a full loop out and back is 5 miles.

A couple of other quick notes:

1) It was a balmy 22 degrees this morning here in Alabama

2) I tried my first post-marathon run yesterday. I had a miraculous recovery from my inner thigh/adductor/groin injury prior to the marathon where I was finally able to run. However, I went yesterday and realized I am not there yet. Not sure if I should take off another week and see how thing are or what. I have a Half coming up on March 30th, so I am anxious to get back out training. I have been wondering how I hurt that muscle in the first place, since it seems to be an uncommon one to injure just by running. The only thing I can figure is when I was having my bout of achilles tendinitis about week 13 of my marathon training, I didn't want to lose fitness, so I went and did laps in the pool a couple of times. I wonder if I could have hurt it then?

 

[canglim52]

Lol so I’m a Florida boy, and it’s humorous to even give my two cents on cold running... but I personally always over dress for the cold. I read an article that the Kenyan/East African runners use the strategy to help keep their heat adaption and also to keep the muscles “warmer.” I don’t know if there is any science to back that(@DopeyBadger ?) That said I’m so used to being warm, I kind of like being too warm in my layers. I typically treat any run under 60 as cold, and will run in tights and a long sleeve. If it’s a wet cold and under 50, I’ll add gloves. If it’s under 40 I’ll throw a light run jacket on too. All that said, if I’m racing I go the other direction and strip down to shorts and tank with arm warmers that I generally toss after a mile or so.

On the other topic, I’ve started driving to my speed workouts because I need flat ground. I also drive out to a clay loop we have in central FL or a few trails to get a break from the pavement and develop some extra stabilizing muscles. The rest of my runs I just do out and backs on the hilliest section I can find near my home . If you run loops, I strongly recommend trying out and backs... might help clear up some nagging injuries!

 

[run.minnie.miles]

ATTQOTD: I guess I've never really thought about driving to run at home! If I ever run after work (rare), I drive to the lake in town where they have a nice 1.8 mi paved loop.

 

[GreatLakes]

QOTD: How often to you have to drive v/s walking out your front door for a run?

Have to? Never. I can be in an award winning park system less than 2 miles, and only backroads, from my front door and then I could do 300 miles without leaving that park or connected parks if I wanted to. When I was house shopping the ability to run from my front door at least 20 miles was a must. I didn't even consider houses in areas I couldn't get in a long run from home.

Choose to? 1 out of 20 I'd guess.

 

[QueenFernando]

ATTQOTD: outside of races, 100% run from home. Our neighborhood has 2 big loops and plenty of side streets that I can customize the distance to suit each day's needs. My biggest problem is that it's FL, so I have 0 hills to train on. My neighborhood is flat, flat, flat. So the Disney overpasses kill me!

 

[baxter24]

ATTQOTD: Right now, it’s about 50/50. Two of my weekday runs are usually in the next town over because that is where my son’s preschool is. I could drop him off and come back home to run but it’s easier to run there then take care of errands before I pick him up.

 

[avondale]

ATYQOTD: The coldest I have run in is 0 F (real temp, not the windchill - luckily it was calm). I wore regular (not fleece-lined because I didn't have them ) leggings, regular socks and shoes, two long sleeved tech shirts with a windbreaker, a hat that covered my ears, and double gloves. No balaclava or scarf - do not like things over my mouth or around my heck - one shirt had a mock turtleneck collar. I was warm enough once I was moving. I did discover that the straw to my hydration pack froze in about 10 minutes - total rookie mistake, since I'd never run anything nearly that cold before.

So, in cold like that, I take a bottle of water and put it in my hydration vest pocket (and don't carry the reservoir). In similar temps, even the sloshing would not keep the cap from freezing on once I drank a bit, so the key I found was to carry the bottle upside down so the sloshing liquid stays moving over the cap.

 

[avondale]

Only for a race. Otherwise, all my training runs involve walking out the door and starting to run. Unfortunately, my neighborhood lies in a little bit of a hollow, so I have to run uphill within the first 1/4 mile to get out of the neighborhood to more level terrain. There are times when I wish I could start on a more level surface to warm up, but I'm too lazy to change it.

ATTQOTD: Ha, I am the opposite of you...I live on the top of a small hill, which means that the ends of all runs are up that #$#@ hill.

About half of my runs are right out the door, and about half I drive either a few minutes (to the bottom of the #$#@ hill and near the trail) or a bit longer to the HS track.

 

[Bree]

ATTQOTD: I just walk out my front door to run. It gets monotonous running my same neighborhood streets over and over so on longer runs I will run on the road to get to sidewalks that will bring me into town. It’s maybe .10 miles in one direction and .60 in the other, but speed limit is 40 & 45 and people go faster than that.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I read an article that the Kenyan/East African runners use the strategy to help keep their heat adaption and also to keep the muscles “warmer.” I don’t know if there is any science to back that(@DopeyBadger ?)

I believe that to be the case. That they attempt to do heat acclimation training more year round. Especially on easy days. So even though the conditions are ideal, they don't dress like it on many training days,

 

[DIS-OH]

Drive to most training runs...we live on a narrow “country road” with no berm. I used to run on the nearby roads, but one too many close calls with inattentive drivers and oversized farm equipment was enough! Although, I must say that telephone poles make great motivational markers...as in, sprint to the third pole and then jog to the next one!

The nearby town recently built a running trail from the YMCA to the small local college. It passes thru wetlands, along a creek and thru farm fields. It’s currently our favorite trail.

 

[Waiting2goback]

QOTD: How often to you have to drive v/s walking out your front door for a run?

ATTQOTD: I would say its currently about 50/50 right now. When I can I run from home except the weekend long runs I always drive to. Some midweek runs I drive to my office after things settle down at home to run on the treadmill or just stay after work to run on it. I'm looking forward to the longer days coming up, but not the heat that comes with it.

If the roads are good enough to run outside I am running from home. If the roads aren’t good I have to drive to the treadmill.

 

[Dis5150]

Drive to most training runs...we live on a narrow “country road” with no berm. I used to run on the nearby roads, but one too many close calls with inattentive drivers and oversized farm equipment was enough!

This is me too! I used to run there but have had to dive into a ditch one too many times to feel safe!

 

[Nole95]

Most of the time I drive to my local greenway to do my runs. It's about 15 minutes or do to get there. They're currently building sidewalks along the main road outside my neighborhood. I use to run there all the time, but it became too much of a speedway. I felt like I was taking my life into my own hands sometimes while running out there. Once the sidewalks are done in hopefully the next month, it will be safe again and provide some good hill work when I need it.