The Running Thread - 2020

[YawningDodo]

The good: weekday runs are getting easier. When I first started doing the interval increases recommended on Tuesdays on the Galloway plan, the final five minutes of 30/30 intervals were too difficult for me and I dropped it down to a second round of 20/40 instead. This week I missed Tuesday's run because I was doing heavy manual labor in the yard that day, and I decided to do the increases this morning instead of Thursday's usual 15:00-15:30 pace run. Felt good, tried the 30/30's, and got through them without losing my breath! It was still challenging but nowhere near as hard as it had been.

The bad: wasps are jerks. The first I even knew there was a wasp in the area, let alone that it was annoyed with me, was when it flew up behind me and stung me on the calf. I'm mildly allergic, so that's probably going to swell up and be painful for days. I'll have to keep an eye on it, but I'm hoping it won't interfere with Saturday's long run. I've covered it in a topical antihistamine and so far it's painful but not as bad as some of the other stings I've had in recent years.

 

[steph0808]

I know there is another day left in July, but I know I won't be running tomorrow, so...

July Totals
Mileage: 62.78
Time: 11:02:11
Avg HR: 156
Avg Pace: 10:33

LIIFT4 workouts - I think around 9 or 10

I'm still holding steady at 4 runs/week, though I might have missed one or two when I was on vacation earlier this month.

All of these runs except one were started in the 6-8 a.m. range because otherwise it is just too darn hot!

Not sure what August will bring - another vacation might cause me to miss some runs and then I have to decide whether to continue with LIIFT4 or maybe cut back on running and do Body Beast.

 

[jmasgat]

Ah yes, the monthly totals. I can add my now as well because.....

Running Miles = 0
PT hours= 8

On the plus side, my C5 issues are not entirely healed, but I am definitely on the slow mend. I m finally able to sleep in a horizontal position after 6+ weeks of attempting to sleep sitting up. Plus, my DH set my bike up on the trainer, and if I sit up straight with no weight on the handlebars, I can cycle for 30 minutes. So my final stat is:

Trainer time= 8 hrs, 30 min

I am hoping that if I take August off--and maybe start up with some yoga again, I will be able to resume running in September.

 

[RunDopey]

Ah yes, the monthly totals. I can add my now as well because.....

Running Miles = 0
PT hours= 8

On the plus side, my C5 issues are not entirely healed, but I am definitely on the slow mend. I m finally able to sleep in a horizontal position after 6+ weeks of attempting to sleep sitting up. Plus, my DH set my bike up on the trainer, and if I sit up straight with no weight on the handlebars, I can cycle for 30 minutes. So my final stat is:

Trainer time= 5 hrs, 30 min

I am hoping that if I take August off--and maybe start up with some yoga again, I will be able to resume running in September.

Congratulations on the slow progress. As someone who fractured one of my lumbar vertebrae last September, I can appreciate it is hard to "not do". I hope you are able to make a quick recovery.

 

[TheHamm]

Also reporting in early
July Miles 27
July Pace 12:43

I expected this month to be a disaster in terms of running. But it was a disaster for reasons I did not anticipate, and had zero to do with Garmin's disaster

We increased in-person hours in the lab/office, the kids had online summer school at home for the month of July, and rain storms all impacted the time I had to go out and run. I twice hit 'treadmill' when going for an out door run and found myself confused at the mile splits and ended up running too fast to try to not be so slow, and then being exhausted. I figured out something was wrong the third time the mile lap buzzed well off of where I knew the mile to be. It it took me far too long to figure it out the second time I did the same thing! I am pretty happy I figured out I could get into work and start a test before dawn, stop and get in 2-3 miles at my favorite park trail on my way back to home school at 9am, and just go back to work later. So up to the middle of the month I was doing slightly better than I expected. The true disaster came in when I made a poor choice and hurt my back/hip, then decided the next day to run hills knowing I probably did not have enough time. So I was too fast on hills with probably bad form. My knee was swollen for the next three days, and on day 9 I am now debating just how long I should wait before I need to seek medical attention. So for now, I think it is walks, bike rides with my kids, and yoga- but NO MORE SLIP AND SLIDE!

 

[Baloo in MI]

View attachment 514229
And now I have anxiety.

I am not familiar with this race. What a beautiful place for a race!! When is it? And good luck!

 

[FFigawi]

July Totals
Swim: 3773 yards
Bike: 710 miles, 83943 ft of elevation gain
Run: 0 miles

vEveresting completed in 16:16 with 8888m of ascent
https://everesting.cc/hall-of-fame/#/hill/3808556813

 

[Dopey 2020]

July - 63.5 miles
10’18”/mile

Didn’t run while on vacation for a week and then sort of just stayed in a holding pattern of maintenance runs. I‘m going to try increasing a bit in August as Dopey training should be starting soon. Wine and Dine usually fits in to my plans perfectly so I will run that anyways, I just won’t pay that much for the official virtual.
Hopefully anyways, the ambition level is not doing well with all the cancellations

 

[Herding_Cats]

I am not familiar with this race. What a beautiful place for a race!! When is it? And good luck!

it's on october 3rd. First Saturday of whitetail archery season, but I figure that since one of our kids will likely be playing soccer, no one here was going to get to hunt that day anyway.

My baby has decided to be a vampire this week, and I was doing OK with the 3 miles runs earlier in the week, but today is supposed to be my 5 mile run (the longest run i'll have done in literally 17 years) and it's going to be a challenge. I'm also pretty sure I need to go get fitted for shoes because after I finish a run my ankles just ache for the rest of the day. I was doing enough exercise stuff before (80DO, liift4, and my "too fast" running) that I feel like it shouldn't be my body just getting used to it. IDK though. My husband's comment was, "You have ALL THOSE SHOES and NONE of them are running shoes?!" Of course some of them are "running shoes" but clearly they aren't working.


I went back and added up, and it looks like i did 29 miles in July? ish?

 

[flav]

July 2020 totals

Distance: 138km (86 mi)
Average pace: 5m54s/km (9m33s/mi)
2020km family challenge: 1696km so far

Very similar stats as for the previous month. I sometimes get in the groove and sometimes have trouble fitting exercise in my day. I will be ramping up the distance in August for what seems to be a real race at the beginning of October.

ETA: I forgot to recap my nutrition tasting adventures in June so here are the flavours I tried in the last two months:
- Maurten 320 with caffeine: Sweet water, very pleasant and kept me on a high the entire run
- Gu Gel Espresso Love: Still my favourite, just amazing
- Gu Gel Triberry: Like an oversweeten berry jam
- Gu Gel Mint Chocolate: Spot on with the taste but I don’t always feel like having mint while running
- Gu Gel Toasted Marshmallow: Just sweet, no interesting flavor profile
- Gu Gel Campfire S’mores: Add chocolate to the above and you get this great taste that transports you to those evenings by the lake
-Gu Gel Birthday Cake: How do they actually make this taste like cake? Wow, a perfect celebration that will make you smile and sing Happy Birthday.

 

[cburnett11]

July Running Totals
Mileage: 213.1... Garmin says 214.1 but they somehow gave me a free mile yesterday during my workout. The result was my strava showing a sub-4 mile split which was a bit entertaining.
Time: 32:20:43
Avg HR: 136
Avg Pace: 9:06

Had Chicago and W&D cancel on me this month. Next on my schedule is Dopey (would be my first)... so hoping that sticks. A bunch of local runners decided to create our own fun, so for August we are having 3 teams of 12 runners compete. We have 3 weekly race "segments" (on strava) and the top 10 runners get a certain amount of points for their team as well as anyone gets points just for completing them. In addition, there is a large amount of bonus points for the team with the most miles at the end of the month. I think we are probably the slowest team, but we do have some high mileage runners. It's all for fun, and any of the runs can be done solo. Everything is tallied via Strava or other visible results. Just something to do during the month of August since most of us no longer are keeping to a Fall marathon training plan.

 

[camaker]

July was definitely a mixed month from a running standpoint. Physically, it was great, coming in at my second highest monthly total ever, even if some of it was the hottest I’ve run in, with T+Ds up to 169. Mentally, not so much, as the Labor Day 50k I was training for was cancelled and then Wine & Dine followed shortly after. That leaves me with Dopey as the next race on my calendar and I just don’t have a good feeling about it right now, either. Here is July’s summary:

July Training
Running Distance: 170.01 miles
Average Pace: 10:31/mile
Running Time: 29:48:54
2020 YTD Distance: 1,007.03 miles
Walking Distance: ~70 miles

The year to date distance is especially noteworthy. Historically, I’ve been in the 1150-1350 miles/year range and typically hit the 1,000 mile mark in October or November. This year is on pace to crush my annual mileage PR, knock on wood. Hopefully I can maintain this momentum into August and beyond.

 

[Novatrix]

Similar to a lot of other people, the news that most of my fall races have gone virtual has left me with a lot less motivation to get good quality training in. The only in-person race I have left in 2020 is the Space Coast Marathon, but based on the Covid-19 trends in Florida I don't have high hopes for either this or the Disney marathon in January.

July Training
Running Distance: 63.2 miles
Average Pace: 10:12/mile
Running Time: 10:39:27

On the plus side this month, I got to go on a road trip to Acadia National Park and do a lot of hiking, biking and kayaking around their beautiful trails. I also finally updated my original gen vivosmart to the Fenix 6, the increased battery life and the find my phone features alone have been worth the update. Now to learn how to use all the features!

 

[rteetz]

122 miles for me in July. We will see how it goes now that I’m officially in marathon training mode. Currently on run streak day 55 as well.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

65 miles in July- this mileage feels like a sweet spot for me. I finally hit a good routine of 4-5 runs per week, ranging from 3-5 miles per run. So thankful for a treadmill and baby naptime

 

[avondale]

July Totals
Swim: 3773 yards
Bike: 710 miles, 83943 ft of elevation gain
Run: 0 miles

vEveresting completed in 16:16 with 8888m of ascent
https://everesting.cc/hall-of-fame/#/hill/3808556813

Great job!

Now you need to go for Olympus Mons, on Mars: 21,287 m. Good news - lower force of gravity there, so it should be easy!

 

[huskies90]

July miles = 153

A pretty standard running month for me. Lots of good news / bad news on the racing front this month. The bad news is I lost the last two races I had planned for the Fall with Hartford and Wine and Dine both going virtual. The good news was I was able to do an actual live race!! It was only a small local 5K but it was great to get out there. The same race group that organized the 5K was hosting a double out and back half marathon scheduled for Labor Day. With the short half marathon track (3.25 miles out and back twice) and with all the same social distancing rules they had with the 5K, I was sure it was gonna happen so I registered and got excited about training for it. The bad news was it just got canceled this week and the reasoning was that even though things are good in CT, the state is really trying to lock down on people coming in from out of state and there were too many out of state people registered so they made the decision to cancel. However, more good news is that there have been a few other races that got approval this week and I signed up for a in person small local 10K in mid August, so we will see if that happens. There are still a few other longer races that are saying they are trying to get approval but as we know, every day is a rollercoaster so I am just waiting and watching. In the meantime, I am doing my best to just try to stay in shape...

June = 140
May = 191
April = 164
March = 164
February = 101
January = 110

2020 total miles = 1,023

 

[Disney at Heart]

July totals
Distance: 109.03
Duration: 21:27:00
Average Pace: 11:48

Usual schedule is MWFSat, 6+ miles per run. I haven't really gone over 7 in 2-3 months. Staying at home allows time for running, but the desire is starting to fade and I am thinking I may lighten up on the mileage next month, especially since, like @camaker T+D has been 150-160 almost every morning, and it is that low only because I am up at 6:00 every morning.

Still have Atlanta 10 miler (October) and Peachtree Road Race 10K (Thanksgiving Day) on the calendar before Disney 1/2 (since I missed out on getting Goofy). I have no idea if they will happen as Georgia's Covid-19 numbers are still rising.

 

[YawningDodo]

ETA: I forgot to recap my nutrition tasting adventures in June so here are the flavours I tried in the last two months:
- Maurten 320 with caffeine: Sweet water, very pleasant and kept me on a high the entire run
- Gu Gel Espresso Love: Still my favourite, just amazing
- Gu Gel Triberry: Like an oversweeten berry jam
- Gu Gel Mint Chocolate: Spot on with the taste but I don’t always feel like having mint while running
- Gu Gel Toasted Marshmallow: Just sweet, no interesting flavor profile
- Gu Gel Campfire S’mores: Add chocolate to the above and you get this great taste that transports you to those evenings by the lake
-Gu Gel Birthday Cake: How do they actually make this taste like cake? Wow, a perfect celebration that will make you smile and sing Happy Birthday.

I've been trying out mostly Gu since I can get that on subscribe & save through Amazon...I was surprised how much I disliked their vanilla flavor, and even more surprised that the banana-strawberry was the only fruit flavor I liked. I really thought the "decadent" chocolate, caramel, and coffee flavors were going to be the gross ones but I like them all about as much as I think gel is likable. Ordered a box of the "indulgent" mix to try out the other chocolate/coffee flavors (pretty sure that means I'll also be choking down more vanilla, but oh well), but what I really need to do is see if I can buy just one of the birthday cake gels locally so I can try it without committing to a whole box of them.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

July Totals:

Running: 150 miles
Average Pace: 9:57

Another good month for me. Again, most monthly miles YTD. I have to stop playing that game. I'm declaring now: next month will be down from that. Pace is substantially slower due to 2 reasons:

1. The crushing heat and humidity. As I get older, I seem to have less tolerance. I'll still take it over the cold.

2. Group runs with people half my age. I'd fallen into the non-plan pattern of doing every run at somewhere between easy and long run pace. Now that I'm running with fast youngsters a couple of days a week, I've had to slow the easy runs way down. I'm doing more fast runs and taking the easy runs easy.

Hitting the gym for 2 strength workouts a week and back to weekly yoga. I may curtail the strength training due to the rising Covid numbers.

The highlight of July was running the Peachtree course on the 4th. Had the race happened, it would have been my 35th in a row. Still feeling nostalgic about that. I'll use that as an excuse and give everyone a chuckle with a picture from my first Peachtree, 1987. Thankfully the t-shirt hides the short shorts.



I'm really missing races. I'm looking at the Tear Drop Half in September and the Athens Half in October. Both are 'real' right now, but I have to believe that's going to change with Georgia's rising numbers.

Spoiler: Old Guy Bragging. Read at your own risk.

I put this behind a spoiler because it is probably TMI. You've been warned.

I am possibly in the best shape I've been in since high school. My cardio-vascular is not at it's peak and I've probably been stronger, but the overall combination (CV, strength, flexibility, weight, body fat) may be the best in 40 years. The other day my DW told me I looked like a surfer boy. It doesn't get any better than that!

Back to your regularly scheduled Running Forum.