The Running Thread - 2019

[DopeyBadger]

are there any good books folks can recommend for me? I'm not necessarily looking for a book on training or inspiration to run, but really more about the science behind running. Certainly appreciate any suggestions!

Here are some of my favorite scientifically based resources:

Hansons - Principles of pacing, training plan design, during marathon carbohydrate calculations (Hansons Marathon Method)
Stephen Seiler - Principles of balance in training plans (80% Easy and 20% Hard) (Seiler; and Fitzgerald - 80/20 Running)
Jack Daniels - Principles of maximum duration training per session, 5K training (Daniels Running Formula)
Arthur Lydiard - Principles of Specialization
Steve Magness - Principles of Adaptation and Principles of choosing what type of training is best for an individual (Science of Running)
Jeff Gaudette - Running technique (foot strike, breathing, shoulders, arms, eyesight), Principles of Aerobic and Anaerobic running and why warm-ups are important (runnersconnect.net; podcast)
Samuele Marcora - Psychobiological Model (motivation and perception of effort) (Countless scientific articles; or Fitzgerald - How Bad do you want it?)
Benjamin Rapoport - During marathon carbohydrate calculations (Rapoport)
Timothy Fairchild - Western Australian carbohydrate loading procedure for pre-running carb loading (Fairchild)
Hadd - Principles of choosing what type of training is best for an individual (Hadd's Approach to Distance Running)
Pete Magill - 5K training (Runners World)

Out of curiosity, I went and looked at Hanson's Beginner Half plan because my first will be princess 2020. It has you run 615 miles in 18 weeks. Is that normal?!?! I'm intimidated

Something to keep in mind. Like myself, Hansons and Daniels are big proponents of time limits or constraints on types of runs. So make sure you read the whole Hansons book before you actually follow through with the plan (if you or anyone else chose to do so). Because in the text about the different types of training runs, you'll find guidelines on how long certain runs should be. So it may have said you should run 13 miles at LR pace. But then you find your LR pace is a 15 min/mile. Then you multiply out and find that's a 3:15 hour run. But the guidelines might state to limit it to 2.5 hours or 3 hours. So the pre-written plan in the book isn't for everyone. It's an original guide that needs to be scaled appropriately for a person's current fitness pacing. As a different example, I don't like to schedule a easy/recovery day from more than 60 min. So dependent on someone's pacing that might be 4 miles, 6 miles. or 8 miles. So a plan written purely by mileage means totally different things from a duration standpoint.

Here's something I've written in the past about changing the mindset of mileage to a mindset of duration X current fitness relative pacing. The miles is just a function of duration and your appropriate pace. Look there first.

Two kinds of impressive: The person who finishes first may not be the most impressive, it could be who finished last.

And a different series of posts I made about how the same training plan by mileage is going to yield completely different results for people of different fitness levels:

Spoiler: Training Load

-A longer thread from earlier in 2018: The Beginner's Guide to Stravistix or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the TRIMP (started by @kleph)
-An explantation of the terminology and whether "Fitness" = Pace: "Fitness" and "Fatigue"
-More isn't always better
-Finally figured out how to apply the mathematical formula of Stress Score, "Fitness" and "Fatigue"

Training Load Calculations on Different Training Plans for Different Fitness Profiles
-Covers the following scenarios.
--4 hour runner vs 6 hour runner using traditional Galloway Advanced Marathon
--4 hour runner choosing between traditional Galloway Advanced Marathon and a hybrid with 4 days per week but minimized long run
--6 hour runner choosing between traditional Galloway Advanced Marathon and a hybrid with 4 days per week but minimized long run
--4 hour runner vs 5 hour runner using Hansons Advanced
--4 hour runner vs 5 hour runner using Hansons Advanced; Determining appropriate Base training
--4 hour runner vs 5 hour runner using Hansons Advanced; A Secondary method to make Hansons Advanced appropriate for 5 hr runner

Training Load Calculations on Different Training Plans for Different Fitness Profiles: Part 2
--Covers the following scenarios.
--4 hour runner choosing between Hansons Advanced and Higdon Advanced 2
--4 hour runner missing the last long run in Hansons Advanced: What truly happens to training load when you miss the last big training day???
--4 hour runner missing the entire peak week in Hansons Advanced: What truly happens to training load when you miss the entire peak week???
--4 hour runner who chooses to increase the long run in Hansons Advanced because 16 is just too short

4 hour marathon runner choosing between Hansons Advanced and Hansons Beginner

Training Load Calculations (What happens when the next cycle starts?): Part 3
--Runner decides to follow up 18 week Hansons Advanced with another 18 week Hansons Advanced starting right after the Marathon ends
--Runner decides to follow up 18 week Hansons Advanced with another 18 week Hansons Advanced starting 2 weeks after the Marathon ends and takes some time off
--Runner decides to follow up 18 week Hansons Advanced with 12 week Hansons Advanced starting 2 weeks after the Marathon ends and takes some time off
--Runner decides to follow up 18 week Hansons Advanced with 10 week Hansons Advanced starting 2 weeks after the Marathon ends and takes some time off
--Runner decides to follow up 18 week Hansons Advanced with 12 week Hansons Advanced starting right after the Marathon ends

May Training Summary

Running duration = 17:15 hours
Running mileage = 124.7 miles
Average Pace = 8:18 min/mile (about 17% slower than estimated LT pace)
Average HR = 138 (71% HRR)
Indoor Cycling duration = 27:41 hours
Indoor Cycling mileage = 425 miles
Indoor Cycling average power = 170 watts (71% of FTP)
80 Day Obsession = 16:12 hours
Total Training Time = 61:08 hours

May was a decent month for me. I had my first race in nearly 33 weeks at the BratFest 5k. Finished in 4th overall and while my running is way down I'm in a good place right now fitness wise. Also had a spectacular 3k paced training run hitting an average 5:52 min/mile pace. But I stretched my right glute just a bit too far on a "burnout" exercise in 80DO about 2 weeks ago now. I've had to back off the training slightly and it does seem like it's improving. I've got my HM in 2 weeks, and then I'm taking 2 weeks completely off (pre-planned before the glute issue) to prepare for my next very ambitious training cycle for Disney Marathon Weekend. Steph and I have decided I should probably pull back a bit more on the weights I've been using during 80DO just to be on the safe side.

 

[FFigawi]

Fun Friday QOTD: Any of you brave souls at DL currently or planning on going in the next 7 days? How about after Galaxy's Edge opens at WDW, how soon after opening are you going to go?

Not until Marathon Weekend at the earliest.

Public Notice:

I am leaving for Punta Cana tomorrow morning and will be out for the week. I've been told WiFi works there, so I will do my best to check in and post. If someone would like to ask the QOTD before I do, feel free to do it. Have a great weekend everyone and good luck with yalls races!

I volunteer to get the QOTD posted on Monday

 

[bananabean]

Fun Friday QOTD: Any of you brave souls at DL currently or planning on going in the next 7 days? How about after Galaxy's Edge opens at WDW, how soon after opening are you going to go?

ATTQOTD: I think I’m going to limit my park visits until the WDW 50th. I got a little burned out on the parks. Unless I win the lottery tonight. Then I’ll be at DL next week.

Edit: did not win the lottery.

 

[Smilelea]

ATTQOTD: we don't expect to see GE until December 2020. We did book a fairly last minute trip in July but it's resort only. It will be our relaxing-pool-time-resort-activities-chill trip before school starts back. We have our Disney cruise in December but that's still no park time. We aren't really big Star Wars fans so waiting til end of 2020 isn't a hardship.

May totals
Miles: 28.3
Cross Training time: 9:21:00
Total time: 14:46:49

I'm low on miles but way up on all other activities/exercise.

 

[flav]

May totals
Distance: 100km (63miles)
Average speed: 6m3s/km (9m40s/mile)

Not a big volume for me at this time of the year but I know why: At the end of April, I went for a Biometric test. The person giving it convinced me to change my stride (landing in front of the foot instead of the back). I must have tried to do it too fast and ended up slightly injured. That completely derailed me from my speed/tempo runs and even made me rest for a while. So, I reverted to my old ways otherwise I would not have been able to race. I might try the new technique again but no more than five minutes at a time. Or I’ll decide, as other professional have adviced: If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!

 

[lauraleh]

May totals: 78 miles
Average pace: right around 9 minutes per mile

I'm happy with that. My mileage should go up as I begin official training.

ATTQOTD: It will be November before I'm at WDW. I'm following the media and it looks amazing!

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

@LSUlakes
DH here. Double Creek Half Marathon result: 2:13:11 Very happy with the time, as I was hoping to be under 2:20.
Over a mile on the cross-country course. At the beginning. And more at the end. Not a fan of wet grass and elevation changes. Felt something in my right knee as I stepped up to get back onto the grass course from the road at the end, so I kept it easy to the finish. Nothing hurts right now.
Up next: Run Like an Animal 5k on 6/8. Sponsor makes animal cookies.

 

[Waiting2goback]

I don't really have anyone I can talk to about running stuff, so excuse the upcoming ramble/splurge of information!

I'm running the W&D in November, and just signed up for the Princess in Feb. I'd ultimately LOVE to do a Dopey, but I work with a college/university, and there are 2 weeks I absolutely can't take off work: the first week of school in August and in January. And the WDW Marathon weekend seems to always coincide with the first week of school. So, I think I'm going to do the Memphis TN St Jude Marathon in December as a sort of placeholder. It will be my first full marathon, if I can manage it.

I've done the Disneyland Heroes Half (RIP) and the Star Wars half in Nov 2017 and April 2018. In April of 2017 I was at about 220 lbs and decided to use RunDisney as a goal to help me lose weight. I ended up getting down to 160. I stopped running after the Star Wars half, and saw the scale creep back up to 185. So, I started running again in March with the same tactic: W&D to motivate me to lose weight. I'm back down to 170, and hopeful that I'll hit 160 by August.

I started reading "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" by Haruki Murakami and was really enamored with the idea of running every day. I tried to start last week, but probably overloaded myself, as my calves and shins started to hurt in what I can only guess was a warning that shin splints would soon follow. I backed off and didn't run Wednesday through Sunday, and then picked it back up this week. I ran 4 miles this morning to cap off my 5 day streak, and I feel great. I ordered a Hypervolt massager, and was VERY skeptical (so much so that I was ready to return it in a week if I didn't see results), but I'm shocked to say that it has definitely helped. Still trying to figure out the best way to use it, but Wednesday I was feeling a fair amount of tension in my calves post-run, and I used the thing and was almost immediately 100% relieved.

Anyway, ultimate goal is to be running a 10k every weekday morning, with a long run on Saturdays leading up to my first marathon in December. No real time goal, but my current stats are fastest mile 7:30, fastest 5k 27:01, fastest 10k 59:50.

Back to Haruki Murakami... in the book, he mentions interviewing an Olympic marathoner and asking what he assumes has to be the dumbest question the Olympian had ever been asked: "Do you still struggle with the desire to get up in the mornings and go running." The Olympian scoffed and said something along the lines of "every day."

Running isn’t always fun. Some runs you just aren’t in the mood to start. Some runs you aren’t in the mood to finish. Sometimes you feel like a million dollars after a run. The important thing is to be consistent.

Hi everyone,

First time posting in the runDisney forum, and relatively novice runner here. Started running for the first time about five years ago, which dipped off for a couple of years (thanks second kid and crazy schedules!) but have been getting back at it in 2019. I've done a few 5Ks, and am aiming to bump that up to a 10K race coming up in August. Last night was my first time doing an "easy run" as I start on sticking to an actual training plan as opposed to just go run 3 miles several times a week and see if you can improve your pace. Staying at a 14-15:00 pace took more focus than I would've thought, but I managed it.


I've been doing some looking online, but this post prompted me to ask here – are there any good books folks can recommend for me? I'm not necessarily looking for a book on training or inspiration to run, but really more about the science behind running. Certainly appreciate any suggestions!

I have a few books but can’t look them up right now. I think one of them is the 80/20 Rule by Matt Fitzgerald. It discusses the science behind doing 80% of your runs slow. I would start there.

Fun Friday QOTD: Any of you brave souls at DL currently or planning on going in the next 7 days? How about after Galaxy's Edge opens at WDW, how soon after opening are you going to go?

ATTQOTD: Not at DL, and wont see it at WDW until June of 2020

I am scheduled to be in DL at the end of September. I’m assuming the crowds will be tolerable by then. If not, I won’t be going in that area.

I won’t be back to WDW for a while I think. The prices have gotten to ridiculous even for this Disney lover. I spent $420 on a breakfast at Chef Mickeys with horrible food, mediocre service, and rushed character interaction. This was the just the tip of the ice berg of eye popping price tags on my last trip.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

May totals-
102.2 miles
10062 vert

Lost some steam on mileage. I took my running gear on vacation in Brownsville/South Padre, TX, but it was too hot, too humid, and too much running around to do actual running.

@LSUlakes
Professor_cookie, Red Bull 400, (not have heart attack/did not have heart attack/9:52)

Sorry about the photos, but I can’t figure out how to get them to load properly.

The previous three years I have had Disney races planned. 2016 wine and dine, 2017 Superheroes, 2018 Star Wars, and i DNSed all three for, in order, divorce, injury, surprise baby. I also DNSed the Red Bull 400 last year, but that falls under baby DNS. This was the first race I toed the start line for in a minute.

My race strategy was jog to the 100m mark, power hike to 125, all fours to the crest of the first hill, then take my time up the final ramp, which I did. Turns out I probably could have put in a better effort since my heart rate was so low, but now I know for next year.

I really gotta say, though, the character stops were ********. I tried to pose with a bear on my run back down and it mauled me, but other than that no complaints.

The climb was not as hard as I thought it would be, which is not to say it was easy, but I was doing a really good job of trying to psych myself out.


There was plenty of Red Bull flowing, unlike the Dunkin Donuts Cape Cod Marathon which had no donuts, which was pretty damn weak.

ETA- it was the first race I’ve run that had crash pads, puke bags, and o2 tanks at the finish line. At least one poor, unfortunate soul took an ambulance ride.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

@Professor_Cookie, luckily I'd already tipped over so the pictures didn't bother me.

Your face says it all: pretty worried at the start and tongue hanging out at the finish.

Congrats, that is awesome!

 

[Sleepy425]

May miles were 34.5.
I did a 10k today. It’s the longest distance I’ve ever run. My goal was 1:15. I’m shocked I came in at 1:08:42.
I need to do better drinking water. I realized when I woke up super thirsty this morning that all I had to drink yesterday was beer and coffee. Then I was running late so I had no water before the race. I think it would have gone a lot better (or at least I wouldn’t have crossed the finish line trying not to vomit) if I was smarter about drinking water.

 

[Kerry1957]

Then I was running late so I had no water before the race.

Congrats on crushing your goal!

Now to push back a little, grabbing a quick drink of water takes like 20 seconds; you learned an important lesson that most of us need to relearn from time to time.

 

[huskies90]

@LSUlakes :

huskies90 - UCONN HEALTH HALF MARATHON (1:43:58 / N/A)

Result:

Goal: 1:43:58
Finish: 1:41:30 (7:45/mile) - new PR!!

Recap:

My goal in this race was to set a new half marathon PR. My PR from November (past the 2019 marathon cutoff) was 1:43:59 which put me 3 seconds ahead of @DopeyBadger ’s POT estimate for Corral A for the marathon. My goal was to make it into Corral A for Dopey 2020 and I just thought a 3 second buffer was cutting it too close. So I spent the last 12 weeks following the Hal Higdon Intermediate 2 training plan which included speed work to improve my time. I actually trained for a 7:40/mile pace but it was very humid this morning in CT and that cost me a few seconds on my pace. But with my new POT time, I am pretty confident I will be in Corral A in January!!

I did a 10k today. It’s the longest distance I’ve ever run. My goal was 1:15. I’m shocked I came in at 1:08:42.
I need to do better drinking water. I realized when I woke up super thirsty this morning that all I had to drink yesterday was beer and coffee. Then I was running late so I had no water before the race. I think it would have gone a lot better (or at least I wouldn’t have crossed the finish line trying not to vomit) if I was smarter about drinking water.

Great job on your time!!!! I hope you took advantage of the water stops on the course today. I thought it was very well supported.

 

[Sleepy425]

Great job on your time!!!! I hope you took advantage of the water stops on the course today. I thought it was very well supported.

Congrats on a great race! There were some very impressive people out there this morning.
I tried to take water on the course, but after not having any in me it just made me too nauseous. But I agree the course was great. So many volunteers making sure people knew which way to go and just the right number of water stops. I will definitely try to get to this race again next year. It’s such a pretty location, and pretty flat, too.
If corrals stay the same as what @DopeyBadger has posted, I’m 11 seconds shy of moving up (if I take the leap of faith and signup for the half in January). Looks like I’ve got some training to do so I can try again!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Any of you brave souls at DL currently or planning on going in the next 7 days? How about after Galaxy's Edge opens at WDW, how soon after opening are you going to go?

I'm heading down to Disneyland this week. I'm spending two days with some friends who were kind enough to add me to their Galaxy's Edge reservation for Wednesday. Based on what the crowds have looked like this week, I think we're seeing how Disney is going to handle very anticipated new rides from now on. 3 days in and the reservation system is keeping the wait times in Galaxy's Edge very reasonable.

I may get an annual pass or I may just get a 5 day park hopper since I'm going down for a couple days in mid June with my brother and sister and their families.

I am registered for Marathon Weekend 2020 and Star Wars Rival Run 2020, so a WDW annual pass is happening. The question becomes when to get that once since there's a potential December 2020 Walt Disney World visit with no race (finally!) after my last 4 visits with two more in the next 12 months tied to race weekends.

Running isn’t always fun. Some runs you just aren’t in the mood to start. Some runs you aren’t in the mood to finish. Sometimes you feel like a million dollars after a run. The important thing is to be consistent.

I've learned that consistency is the greatest key to success. And honestly, I think when consistency occurs, you're much more likely to find the running million dollar moment. During marathon training there were so many days when I did not want to go out and run. But I told myself that I had to. I further decided to treat those runs like the prescribed distance for the day meant I was really at mile 22 or 23 of the marathon. When the real mile 22 during the marathon came, I told myself that I had one more training run to my dream and this was why I did all those runs when I didn't want to. And shortly after mile 25 came the runners high where I felt like I was flying through Epcot, almost wanting to sing Let's Go Fly a Kite at the top of my lungs with the sound system in Epcot.

I am scheduled to be in DL at the end of September. I’m assuming the crowds will be tolerable by then. If not, I won’t be going in that area.

I think the boarding system will keep wait times tolerable. So if you want to experience it, just make sure to get into Disneyland at opening and get an early boarding group.

May miles: 38. I feel great about this after no running at all from marathon weekend until May started. Pace is still slow, but that's okay. Steady consistency will lead to success in the September race I'm training for.

Mountain House Kite Run 5K Race Report from June 1, 2019.

This was a family fun run. As I was the only one not battling pain or injury of some sort, I was responsible for making sure that my 8 year old nephew maintained a pace appropriate to his fitness level for the distance. We knew he would want to do his best Dash impression from The Incredibles so I needed to make sure he didn't wipe himself out.

I'm still working on getting back to where I was in January, so this worked well. There were no mile markers so while I don't know when it exactly it occurred, my nephew began to tire out so we slowed down from run/walk to walk only for the rest of the race. My nephew wanted to sit down a few times, but I didn't want to stop so instead we walked slower.

We crossed the finish line and would find out after the rest of my family finished that my nephew placed first in his age group, so he collected a 1st place medal in addition to his finishers medal. Since the race was themed to Star Wars, they held a costume contest and my Darth Vader tech shirt with a lightsaber attached to my running belt got me second place. The prize money is headed to Batuu with me where it will be spent all in one place.

I'm excited about my costume contest prize, thrilled about my nephew winning his age group, and encouraged by a good mark of my overall current progress. I know I could have gone faster today. But today was about making sure my nephew didn't overdo it.
This also doubled as my June 5K for the runDisney summer virtual 5K series.

Time 52:44. My 5K PR technically speaking, but that's entirely because my previous 2 5K races were at Walt Disney World.

 

[derekleigh]

Fun Friday QOTD: Any of you brave souls at DL currently or planning on going in the next 7 days? How about after Galaxy's Edge opens at WDW, how soon after opening are you going to go?

Guess I’m in the minority, but I have absolutely no plans to ever step foot in SWGE. I’m just not big on Star Wars and unless I’m with someone who is during our visits, I’d just skip over it.

 

[CDKG]

May Miles: 80.0
2019 Miles: 414.4

May was about maintaining my base before training for my August half began this week. There is not much more to say, mission accomplished! June will be more of the same...

 

[flav]

I just learned that the first Wednesday of June is Global Running Day... runDisney has customizable bibs and bragging posters for the occasion:
https://www.rundisney.com/blog/global-running-day/

 

[JulieODC]

May: 52 miles (this feels low somehow because I had a 10 miler race sandwiched on either side at the end of April and beginning of June!)

Quick race report....Newport 10 Miler

Ran the 2nd 10 miler in a 3 race series yesterday in newport. Gorgeous course, well supported (water, Gatorade, and porta potties every 2 miles), and nice after party (free beer).

It was super foggy though, so we literally ran 10 miles along the ocean....and couldn’t see the water!

This was a bit of a struggle fest. I’ve been dealing with dead legs lately, and need some rest days - and really felt it during this race, esp with rolling hills. Wasn’t aiming to PR, and ran it as a fun run - but finished 2 minutes faster than the 10 miler I ran 5 weeks earlier - 1:42:14.

As a side note- I had planned to train better for this, and end of school and work craziness for the better of me. Luckily, I’ve got some previous races to use as for my marathon POT.

Also happy to report that my fueling and fluid intake is getting better and it’s really helping prevent the GI issues I’ve had in the past!

 

[Waiting2goback]

Guess I’m in the minority, but I have absolutely no plans to ever step foot in SWGE. I’m just not big on Star Wars and unless I’m with someone who is during our visits, I’d just skip over it.

I like Star Wars but I’m not an Uber fan. I won’t wait in a crazy lines for it or anything but I do want to see the land. From what I have seen, it looks amazing. I think this is Disney imagineering at its best. I feel I need to at least see it because of all the work they put into it. Same with Avatar. I never saw the movie but I at least went to see the land to see how much work went into it.