The Running Thread - 2019

[roxymama]

Hot Chocolate 15k (Chicago) Race Recap

I had a surprise visit from my college roommate and his 16-year old daughter this weekend. They flew in from Austin to pre-celebrate my birthday as well as attend a college tour at the University of Chicago.

So, my weekend plans changed last minute from a scheduled quiet Friday night, attending a football game on Saturday (ND vs. VA Tech), the Hot Chocolate 15k on Sunday morning, and a pre-birthday dinner on Sunday night to picking up from the airport late Friday night, staying up even later Friday chatting, registering my 16-year old daughter for the same UChicago tour on Saturday, attending the UChicago tour with both our daughters, dining out with our guests on Saturday night, and returning them to the airport mid-afternoon on Sunday. Although I skipped the ND/VA Tech game (which ended up being quite an exciting game), the good news is that I was able to catch up with a really good friend that I haven’t seen in quite a while. Also, I was still able to fit in the Hot Chocolate 15k race this morning. In fact, in a very odd sequence of discussions on Saturday morning before heading to the UChicago tour, we last minute decided to hit the Hot Chocolate Expo and register my college roommate (5k), his daughter (her first 15k), my wife (5k), my daughter (her first 15k), and my son (5k – his first race ever). This was awesome as my original plan was just to pop downtown, run the race solo, and drive back home.

After dropping my wife, son, and college roommate at their corral (I), then taking the two 16-year olds to their corral (E), I made my way to corral A. As my first race in over two years and my last race on the front half of a century, surprisingly, I went in knowing exactly what I could expect to do and felt confident that I could achieve it. So, the question I was mulling over in my mind was whether or not I should push the pace a little faster than my goal to challenge myself a little more. However, there is a problem pacing at the Hot Chocolate Chicago race (as @roxymama can verify); within the first 0.2 miles of the race, you go underground for almost a mile followed by running amongst the tall buildings in downtown Chicago for another mile. This completely throws off your GPS watch, and it usually doesn’t get back fully on track for another mile or two after that. Although I was confident in the pace I could run for the race, I was not confident in my pace-by-feel abilities. But, as I entered my corral, I immediately saw the most beautiful thing in the world… pacers! Given that I had an 8:00 pace as my goal pace, I lined up perfectly with the nice round pacer intervals, and Paul, the 8:00 pacer, was right in front of me. Perfect, I thought. I will just run behind Paul during the first few miles when my watch will be useless, then I can go by feel after a nice, controlled start.

Soon the starting horn sounded, and we were off. It was crowded at first, so I wasn’t right near the pacer, but I kept him in my sight until the crowd thinned out enough to make some moves to get with the group. I didn’t see the first mile marker, so I don’t know our split, but by the second mile marker, we were slightly ahead of pace (maybe a 7:50 average pace). Paul, the pacer, slowed down a little, and by the third mile marker, we were on target. Paul continued to pace us very well, and although I was feeling pretty comfortable and thought I could push more, I decided to stick with the pacing group a while longer. In my mind, I was thinking I would stay with the group until about mile six, then go on my own. Mile marker six came, and I didn’t speed up. It wasn’t a conscious decision, and I’m not sure why I didn’t go as I still felt quite good. Also, it wasn’t until this point that I realized that nobody was talking in this group. I mean, the entire time since the start. I did hear a few words between the pacer and a guy next to him at a couple of the mile markers when the pacer was stating the last mile/overall time/pace, but it wasn’t really a discussion. Not sure why this hit me as weird as I believe there is no expectation of conversation in a pacer group, but the few times I have joined or stayed near one, they always seem to have some type of discussion/excitement. Anyway, I decided to strike up a conversation with the pacer. So, I asked him how long he had been pacing (two years), what distances (up to marathon which is his favorite), if he had paced in Chicago before (no, this was his first), where else he was pacing (all over the U.S.). All of the sudden, everyone else jumped in and started asking questions of Paul and each other. It was as if someone just needed to break the ice. We were at about mile seven, the group seemed to be enjoying themselves, so I thanked Paul for his awesome pacing, and I went off to see what I could do for the last 2.3 miles. I was able to increase pace by about 30 seconds per mile which felt good from a performance point of view but definitely not sustainable for more than a couple miles at this point in the race. Luckily, all I had was a couple miles left, and I crossed the finish line at 1:13:11 (7:51 overall pace).

More importantly, my daughter and my college roommate’s daughter finished the 15k (their longest race so far) at a 9:06 pace, and my son finished his first race ever (5k). I’m a very proud dad!

Congrats on the race to you and your family! I was up until past midnight the night before seeing Sebastian Mansicalco at the United Center with my husband and in-laws. Even with the time-change I still got a late start out the door and literally ran a quarter mile to get into the corrals mere seconds before they closed off A-H. Oops. So I am sorry I did not get to say hi. Had to literally race to finish and get back home to drive to our family Thanksgiving. Was a blur of a weekend for sure. Sound like we were kindred spirits on that front.
I'll try to post a little recap here soon.

 

[Mickey Momma]

October stats a few days late:

Miles - 68.01
Avg HR - 138
Avg Pace - 15:09 (40+ seconds above most of this year's average?)

After three 110+ mile months, mileage dropped big time in October, mainly thanks to tapering before and resting after Chicago. I am having a very difficult time getting back on track for Marathon Weekend in January. I took a week off after Chicago and when I started back up my body and my mind just didn't seem ready. There also seemed to be no controlling my heart rate. Took some more time off and then got sick (along with the rest of the family) last week. Hopefully this week will feel more normal. I have no plans to race or set any PRs during marathon weekend this year, but I also don't feel like being miserable and death marching my way to 26.2.

 

[DopeyBadger]

There also seemed to be no controlling my heart rate.

From my experience, it usually takes my HR about 42 days post-marathon before it returns to a pre-marathon pace vs HR relationship.

 

[Slogger]

Happy Monday everyone. Now that cooler weather is here (for most of us), I had a quick question about discarding clothes during a run. Not much of an issued during hot weather!

When you are running an event with a cool/cold weather start, do you typically shed and get rid of clothes during the run or just keep them with you? Where do you get these "disposable" items? And just for fun, have you ever picked up an item that someone else discarded and used it?

ATTQOTD-I have never gotten rid of any clothing items during a running event. I keep everything with me. I might have lost a glove or hat but not on purpose. I am guilty of using a discarded glove and a mylar blanket before the start of a race because I didn't have either. But I've seen lots of nice Northface hats and jackets lying on the side of the road and wondered if anyone picks them up before they go to charity.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

Attqotd: I don’t race often enough that I don’t have some piece of clothing that I’ve been meaning to replace for sometime that I can’t sacrifice. That said, at both of my cold start distance races this summer, a half and a full, I intended to lose a hoodie I’ve had for sometime, at the half(it snowed that morning in June) I hung it over a fence and picked it up after the race. At the full they had a volunteer with grocery bags that we wrote our numbers on and picked it up at the finish. I just suffered in the cold for less than a minute before the race started.

I still have that hoodie, from Menemsha Fish Market on MV. I guess I’ll never get rid of it.

 

[michigandergirl]

ATTQOTD: I usually go to Goodwill a couple of times a year to stock up on throwaway clothes. This fall I scored a bunch of track pants & sweatshirts from my sons, who each grew like 5 inches since spring. I run races frequently and use throwaways often, so it's nice to have a stockpile.

I did pick up some gloves once during a race when I had tossed mine too early. That day was a lesson learned (I have Raynaud's). I now hang on to my gloves the entire time just in case.

 

[AntimonyER]

ATTQOTD: Being in S. Georgia, it never really gets THAT cold. And only one race has been so big that I couldn't run to my car a few minutes before the start to drop off my jacket, and that one I just toughed it out in short sleeves for 45 minutes or so (Temp was mid 40s).

 

[PrincessV]

When you are running an event with a cool/cold weather start, do you typically shed and get rid of clothes during the run or just keep them with you? Where do you get these "disposable" items? And just for fun, have you ever picked up an item that someone else discarded and used it?

ATTQOTD: As a Floridian who only races in FL and only experienced pretty mild conditions for years before a couple of truly frigid races, I used to own NO cold weather running gear other than throwaway items. After WDW Marathon Weekends 2017 and 2018, I now own a few true cold weather running items that are not throwaways, lol!

Anyway, back to disposable items... mine come from a few sources: old long-sleeve race shirts I won't otherwise wear, worn-out work sweaters, my son's outgrown PJ pants and sweatshirts. I ran out of my son's out-grown PJ pans, though, so I bought some super-cheap sweatpants at Walmart last year, as well as some cheap knit gloves and $2 fleece blankets. I also buy Mylar blankets (10 for $10 on Amazon!), and hand & feet warmer packs. I detest being cold, so I'll use all the layers and tools necessary to prevent it!

 

[opusone]

When you are running an event with a cool/cold weather start, do you typically shed and get rid of clothes during the run or just keep them with you? Where do you get these "disposable" items? And just for fun, have you ever picked up an item that someone else discarded and used it?

After on and off racing for over 30 years, yesterday was my first race that I used a "disposable" item (a sweatshirt). This was not to shed during the run but to shed just before the start (where they will be donated). In the past, I just sucked it up while waiting in the corrals and only wore what I wanted to be wearing during the race. Evidently, I finally went soft because I took my family and visiting friends to Target the night before to pick out items for us to wear while standing around in the corrals. My only instructions before releasing folks to scamper around Target was that the items must be cheap and more points would be awarded to funny/ugly items. There were lots of options, some of which were pretty funny, but in the end, all items were fairly plain which is good since disposed items are donated by the race organizers.

 

[Neon Cactus]

I've never disposed of any clothing. The only races I've run where it's been really cold at the start were 5Ks, so I just carried my warm clothes with me. I did buy a 10 pack of Mylar blankets on Amazon for my two Dallas races and the Dopey races, so that means it will probably be 80 in Florida all marathon weekend.

 

[Mickey Momma]

ATTQOTD: I have this black lightweight zip up that I have worn to several local half-marathons and at least two Disney marathons, always with the intent to toss it at some point. Instead it gets tied around my waist or, during Dopey one year, handed to my husband in AK. The one time I actually discarded it was two years ago racing a local half. I hid it in some bushes and then made my husband stop on the way home so I could pull it back out. So, needless to say, it’s still hanging in my closet.

For Dopey 2018 I brought along two pairs of old fleece Christmas PJs that were no longer the right size to wear in the corrals for the half and full, but peeled them off right before the race started.

 

[bovie]

Balance exercises. Stand on one foot for 30 seconds. When you can easily do that, try it with your eyes closes. When you can do that, try it standing on a pillow.
This exercise is great to do if your job requires lots of time on the phone. Take your phone calls like a flamingo.
It works on multiple levels: strengthens your foot and ankle, improves balance, quickness, and proprioception https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception#Stability

It makes you less likely to trip and less likely to fall if you do trip.

You can find lots more on the internet.

Thanks to @OldSlowGoofyGuy and everyone else who replied (I should probably figure out how to quote- reply to more than one person in a post). I've started working on balance exercises while going out with the dogs and such.

 

[flav]

ATTQOTD: I never discarded clothes yet. The frigid winter races I have done keep us inside until the last minutes. I once asked a volunteer a few hundred yards after the start of a race if he was planning to still be there at the end and gave him my over mits to keep in his car, which he kindly did.

I have a huge pile of old clothes and promotional gloves ready for Dopey. I also bought Mylar blankets and rain ponchos. If downpours are announced for January, I might also bring retired running shoes to wear before the start.

 

[MissLiss279]

ATTQOTD: I usually get cheap $2.50 fleece blankets from Walmart to keep warm pre-race. The blanket usually gets laid over the railing just before the start. I also have gone to Ross or some other discount store to buy long socks or tights that I cut the toes out of to wear as arm warmers. Those usually get tossed at some point. I also get the cheap one size fits all gloves that I won’t feel bad about tossing, but I usually end up stuffing those in my pocket and keeping them. Same with an extra headband for over my ears, once I warmup, it comes off and goes in my pocket.

 

[FFigawi]

ATTQOTD: I use old airplane PJs, shirts from past Disney races, or cheap sweats from a local discount store. The clothes get tossed either right before the start or within the first mile. As for using things found along the way, I did that at Disney on Ice in 2010. My gloves were cheap and soaked through rather quickly. I upgraded as I went along.

 

[avondale]

Happy Monday everyone. Now that cooler weather is here (for most of us), I had a quick question about discarding clothes during a run. Not much of an issued during hot weather!

When you are running an event with a cool/cold weather start, do you typically shed and get rid of clothes during the run or just keep them with you? Where do you get these "disposable" items? And just for fun, have you ever picked up an item that someone else discarded and used it?

ATTQOTD-I have never gotten rid of any clothing items during a running event. I keep everything with me. I might have lost a glove or hat but not on purpose. I am guilty of using a discarded glove and a mylar blanket before the start of a race because I didn't have either. But I've seen lots of nice Northface hats and jackets lying on the side of the road and wondered if anyone picks them up before they go to charity.

ATTQOTD: Generally I discard any planned discard clothes prior to the race start - usually in the corral or starting area. If there aren't bins set out for this, I try to make a relatively neat pile that is as out of the way as possible so that people don't trip on them. I

I like to run cold and dress lightly for races, so I don't usually have that much to discard - usually some type of long-sleeve top and hand-covering. Sometimes bottoms.

When I am getting rid of old sweaters and tops (such as donating to charity), I usually hold back a few that I plan to use as discards for a race. I get cheap sweat pants that I wear to/from tennis matches, so I save the old ones of those for race discards. For one race that was going to be in the 50s F for starting (cool for me until I start running), I wore a light pair of old pajamas over my running clothes to discard.

For my hands: I keep old pairs of my husband's socks and use them as mittens. Seriously. What could be cheaper? They are usually ones with small holes in them, so we wouldn't even donate them to charity. I have a few pairs stashed away right now waiting for the next races where I might want them.

 

[LdyStormy76]

To build off of yesterday’s question, for those of you that train in cold weather what do you wear? What changes in your gear from 40* to 20*? How do you keep your phone warm?

Answer: what I have for my legs isn’t going to work this winter so looking for ideas. I typically treadmill train so cold weather has not been a daily issue, but am without a treadmill/gym until we are out of the short term rental into something more permanent and I know which city to look in.

 

[JulieODC]

From 40 to 20 I add gloves and a hat or headband, and a vest or additional zip top layer. I may also add a buff/neck warmer too - but more so when it’s colder than 20 or windy.
I use a flipbelt all the time for holding my phone, and that does a good job of keeping it warm, since it’s against my body.

 

[Jules76126]

ATTQOTD: I have not yet had to discard clothing, mainly because I have run races in warmer weather. However, most of the time, my husband does not run the race so I just hand him things before heading to the corrals. I typically stuff the gloves in my pocket after a mile and will carry my hat if my head becomes too hot. For really cold weather, I have lined running pants from LL Bean that I love. They keep me nice and warm and they sell them in long so my ankles are actually covered. I also may wear a fleece pullover and then a coat over that. I can always shed layers as I get warm. I keep my phone in my pocket and have never had an issue with it. I think my body heat keeps it warm. I also won't run with my phone if it is raining or snowing.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

ATTQOTD: RE Disposable clothes. I'm cold-natured, except when I'm racing. On a training run, I'll have more clothes on than anyone else; for a race, I'll have on less. So while warming up and waiting for the start, I want lots of disposable clothes. I get my stuff at Dollar General or Walmart. Packs of Brown Jersey gloves, 6 packs of men's over the calf tube socks for arm warmers. Toward the end of the season, I can get stocking caps for 1 or 2 dollars. I'll pile it up at the side of the start and possibly retrieve it at a small race, or ditch it along the way as neatly as possible.

During a Disney Marathon, I ditched my gloves too soon. There were hundreds of pairs on the ground. Even though my hands were freezing, I could not bring myself to pickup a pair.