The Running Thread - 2021

[jmasgat]

My favorite race of the year followed very closely by Strade Bianche though the later has been harder to find coverage of the last few years. I rode some of roads the race often uses and Siena is hands down the best city I've ever visited.

GCN racepass (worth every penny) has pretty much every race there is, including cyclocross (yeah!). Some geo-restrictions which (cough, cough) can be gotten around.

 

[camaker]

September was a mixed month of running. It started with a 50k trail race of which the best that can be said is that I finished and that I reaffirmed my dislike of trail running. After that, it was a couple of weeks of light running to get the legs back in order and ready to jump into my Dopey training plan at the end of the month. October will be exclusively Dopey training with a brief detour for the W&D Challenge at the start of November. Anyway, here’s how September broke down:

September Training Summary
Running Miles: 151.84
Running Time: 28:19:13
Average Pace: 11:07/mi
Average HR: 139/min

Extras:
Walking Miles: 90.92
Rolling 12mo Running Miles: 2,016.02

 

[DopeyBadger]

September 2021 Training Summary

Running duration = 28:59 hours
Running mileage = 205 miles
Average Pace = 8:27 min/mile (about 60-75 sec/mile slower than peak M Tempo)
Average HR = 129 (18 bpm less than M Tempo)
Total Training Time = 28:59 hours

G miles = 6.2 miles

September was a good month of training. Most running miles in a month since July 2018. Longest I've gone running since Nov 2020 without having ankle problems (about three weeks now). Of course I'm working through a knee issue instead. Lots of new gear this month. I got a new pair of Saucony Pro to try out. I got a pair of Saucony Ride 14s to match my old school Vision costume. My headphones broke, then my iPod died, then my Garmin 235 watch band broke. So Steph convinced me to stop with all these stop gap measures and finally get some bluetooth tech. I got a new Garmin 245 Music and Aeropex bluetooth headphones. Now I've got all new data to play with. I ran a workout this month that saw my 4th, 5th, and 10th fastest miles ever all in the same workout. I ran my second fastest 10k at 42:03. But I'm still struggling on my M Tempo workouts. My speed is good. My long runs are good. But my M Tempo is still a struggle to match the other two. So I'm just being patient. The weather has been hotter here than it was in 2017 when I had some amazing M Tempo runs in a buildup to my marathon. So I'm hoping for some temp drops over the next 6ish weeks before my mid-November marathon. But I'll continue to try and control the things I can, and be patient with the things that I can't.

G continues to have fun in our joint training sessions and sees it as the highlight of her day. I tried to pull a fast one on her and change the intervals to 45/30, but she knew where our first walk is. So she knew something was up. For the duration of the run, I was able to convince her that the GPS signal must have been bad for the first rep, that's all. But she remained skeptical. After the run was done, I told her the truth and she felt validated she could tell the difference. The run seemed too hard at 45/30, so we've gone back to 30/30 for now. She missed one week of training with a major dental procedure at the hospital, but all is good now and she's back to normal.

 

[FFigawi]

September Totals
Swim: 11.8 miles
Bike: 299 miles
Run: 21.4 miles

 

[cburnett11]

I got a new Garmin 245 Music and Aeropex bluetooth headphones.

Same-sies... I love this *ahem* pairing.

 

[jmasgat]

Random Friday QOTD: What was your most fun run/walk/physical activity last month?

I was "off training" for a week to go to Boston for my daughter's wedding, but decided to go for an easy run from their house in Somerville to my college dorm at Tufts (Carmichael Hall). It still looks the same, and it hit me that it's been 45 years! since I was a freshman there. The window to my old room was open and I could still see the stairway window that we used to get out onto the roof over the lobby. Brought back a very fond memory of a late spring day when someone got some medical tubing and a funnel and constructed a very effective sling shot, which was used to lob water balloons onto the quad. Simple pleasures!

It was fun, as I hadn't been on campus in forever.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Random Friday QOTD: What was your most fun run/walk/physical activity last month?

ATTQOTD:

realizing at DS2’s cross country meet that if I wanted to get finish line pics after he passed me at about the 1.5mi mark that I was going to need to RUN back through the golf course (up and over a hill, through knee high rough, and across the driving range) with DD in a carrier on my back. And I made it just in time. The looks and laughs from other parents was great

Bonus: DS out sprinted his teammate at the finish to take first place by 0.06 seconds, and I got some great pictures.

 

[Naomeri]

ATTQOTD:

I think my most fun run of September was the 18th. I ran on a new path because the start/end was next to an ice cream shop, and it turned out that the town’s church was having a carnival, so I got to have my ice cream, and then fresh french fries and mini donuts as a bonus!

And then when I got home and actually looked at my run data, I found out I’d set a new personal best for a virtual 5K.

 

[MissLiss279]

ATTQOTD:
I don’t know about most ‘fun’, but it at least was entertaining or interesting!

A few weeks ago I went back home to my parents’ where I grew up to get my 3 hour training run in. Because of timing of other things that day I had to start at 4:30 - so the first two hours were in the dark. So this place is out in the middle of the country on gravel roads with very few houses within 2+ mile radius and it was practically a new moon, so it was VERY dark. My one fear with this run was running into a skunk! I was a trying to be really aware of my surroundings. The first section I ran I had planned to do four miles out and back. I was almost to my turn around point when I saw two sets of eyes staring back at me! I’m pretty sure they were far enough off the ground that they weren’t skunks, but I decided to go ahead and turn around. I think they were probably foxes?? So… on I run. I’m about 2 hours into my run, and it’s just before it starts lightening up with sunrise, and I hear rustling in the trees/weeds next to the road. I shine my light over, and there is a calf out of the fenced area. So I’m standing there trying to decide if I want to run a mile out of my way onto someone’s property, in the dark, and knock on their door at 6:30am. I’m not sure that would have been a good idea! So instead, I found where I think the calf had gotten out and corralled it back into the field. It was not easy, and it took probably 15 minutes. I ended up with a few scratches from the weeds. The sun came up in that time, and the rest of my run was uneventful.

 

[TheHamm]

Random Friday QOTD: What was your most fun run/walk/physical activity last month?

I was "off training" for a week to go to Boston for my daughter's wedding, but decided to go for an easy run from their house in Somerville to my college dorm at Tufts (Carmichael Hall). It still looks the same, and it hit me that it's been 45 years! since I was a freshman there. The window to my old room was open and I could still see the stairway window that we used to get out onto the roof over the lobby. Brought back a very fond memory of a late spring day when someone got some medical tubing and a funnel and constructed a very effective sling shot, which was used to lob water balloons onto the quad. Simple pleasures!

It was fun, as I hadn't been on campus in forever.

I had two very fun runs in September:

(1) While I have zero interest in college football and think packing the stadium is not a great idea, I love running through tailgaters on Saturdays. While no one has offered me a beverage yet this season, it is a festive atmosphere that just makes it less of a slog. Also, there are plenty of porta potties, which is helpful! This used to be when I would plan a long run, but now that we have kids playing soccer and field hockey, I seem to have to stick to ~5K. I will take it!

(2) The kids wanted us to all spend the night at grandma's so we could make s'mores and pie iron pizza at night, which gave me a chance to wake up and run in the countryside and into the town I went to high school in. The first mile is a run along fields and pastures, which were still misty. The goats tend to ignore people, but oddly the alpacas trotted along the fence with me until we got closer to the house dogs (behind a fence) who greeted us with excitement. It was simply peaceful and a bit light hearted. I ran past the house we lived in, and it was both interesting and a bit sad to see what has and what has not changed in the tiny town in 20 years. At mile 4 I got a text from DH that the kids wanted to go to the park so I turned around and headed over where they wanted to play Pokemon Go as much as swing, but they did share their water with me! After a brief break I headed back to the house, where I got a whole 15 minutes of peace and quiet. It was slow, I took a break, and I did not care, it just felt nicer than most any run of late.

 

[corn princess]

September:
Ran-66.7 miles
Avg pace-9:44
Finished up a weight lifting program as well!

 

[GreatLakes]

Random Friday QOTD: What was your most fun run/walk/physical activity last month?

Most of my September runs were pretty vanilla but my first half marathon since 2019 would be it. I posted about it here but it was a run through Amish country which is beautiful here.

 

[SheHulk]

ATTQOTD: My 10k race, that I described in dramatic detail earlier. So happy in-person racing is back!

 

[flav]

ATTQOTD: Most exciting is my first in-person race which I have already described. Most visually stunning and peaceful was yesterday: Gorgeous rainbow, golden hour and the last true run before the marathon, this training plan is completed.

 

[Kerry1957]

September Totals:
Miles: 107
Average Pace: 12:45
Average HR: 117

First month this year I have been over 100 miles. Des Plaines River Trail Marathon in suburban Chicago is October 17 so my long run (a HM last weekend) is in the books.

The marathon will be a bigger challenge for me this time around since I just cleared to start running again post knee pain six weeks ago. My @DopeyBadger plan has worked out very well for me, but we both agreed at the start that the training time was much much to short for proper preparation. I'll run/walk until I can't, then walk the rest. As always, I'm confident I'll finish upright with a smile on my face.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

September miles: 41.

A step back from August, but I injured my toe on September 1st and was forced to rest it for days at a time. I started to pick things up again later in the month as it's getting better.

Random Friday QOTD: What was your most fun run/walk/physical activity last month?

Probably my 3.69 mile run last Saturday. It marked my first official run in my new @DopeyBadger training plan for 2022 Marathon Weekend. While I've been pleased enough with my running during the pandemic, it felt good to have a run that was part of a defined plan with a stated end goal in sight that will hopefully result in my first live race since marathon weekend 2020. I've had some good experiences with virtual races during the pandemic, but this just felt different since there's a time goal even if that goal is simply to not get swept.

 

[Dopey 2020]

Getting excited for a return to racing now. Picked up my packet for the inaugural Steel Rail Marathon and got reverse sticker shock. After running Disney as many times as I can, I registered for a local marathon for $85 and was presented with a cinch bag containing my bib (with food and finish line beer tickets!), a pint glass, a bandana, a bottle opener, a car magnet, a long sleeve tech shirt, and of course at the finish I will get some bling and an ice cold 16 oz pour of BBC steel rail pale ale. And I don’t need a plane ticket

 

[kimbert]

ATTQOTD: My run buds and I ran from one of their homes to the other which was great fun, even with some MP miles in the middle. We ran over the bridge across our harbour (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), passed a giant inflatable goose at the pond, and I ran ON Clifton IN Cliftons. I really enjoyed running and planning this point-to-point route once I got the idea in my head that I had to run on Clifton street! (I'm the one in regular glasses).

 

[Jules76126]

September miles - 0

However this was for a very good reason. My baby arrived two days past her due date on September 15, 2021. We did not find out gender ahead of time, so it was quite the surprise to find out she was a girl. Totally was getting boy vibes. Waiting for my 6 week appointment before I can start running. But Madeline and I are starting stroller walks for now.

 

[flav]

September miles - 0

However this was for a very good reason. My baby arrived two days past her due date on September 15, 2021. We did not find out gender ahead of time, so it was quite the surprise to find out she was a girl. Totally was getting boy vibes. Waiting for my 6 week appointment before I can start running. But Madeline and I are starting stroller walks for now.

Best milage ever then! Long and happy life to Madeline and congratulations to the parents