The Running Thread -- 2022

[Bree]

In this circumstance, there would be minimal issues with splitting the easy day. Easy days are mostly active recovery and filler for the weekly training load.

That’s what I thought, but I have such brain fog right now and wasn’t sure if I was remembering right

Thanks for confirming!

 

[dis_or_dat]

@FFigawi wow, ironmans are just on another level - amazing and congrats!

@Bree and @opusone congrats on Chicago! Hope your daughter finds a way in too

re: marathon times. I think a lot of people don't train "effectively" for their first. Usually it's a "just to finish" type thing, so there's always room for a lot improvement especially with a good training plan and if everything goes your way. For my first, I thought it would be my only and wanted to BQ so trained pretty hard for it.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

re: marathon times. I think a lot of people don't train "effectively" for their first. Usually it's a "just to finish" type thing, so there's always room for a lot improvement especially with a good training plan and if everything goes your way.

That is my experience. When I decided to attempt the marathon, I spent much of my training unlearning what I had learned in training for half marathons. I made a lot of mistakes, but they also helped discover potentially disastrous mistakes that were not impacting the half marathon, but could derail a marathon. Including character stops and feeling the heat, I finished in 6:58:30 in 2019. Despite the much warmer weather in 2020, I very likely would have finished the marathon in much faster time than 2019 had I not had to run the shorter course. This year I cut around10 minutes off my 2019 PR. So learning from previous experience goes a long ways.

Since almost all of my races have been runDisney races, it's tricky to determine what my actual improvement is. Suffice it to say I have been able to have fun along the courses and never worry about being swept despite being a last corral runner.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

I’ll probably post this in my training journal too but just in case other eyes/insights are here:

I did a fun run yesterday morning that started at 4:40 am (it was through a Christmas lights park) to practice for MW early mornings. Something that happened is during the run (5.5 easy miles) I got nauseous, which is common for me if I’m up at that time of the night (“morning”). Does anyone have any advice? I ate before the run. I am worried about this during MW.

 

[The Expert]

I’ll probably post this in my training journal too but just in case other eyes/insights are here:

I did a fun run yesterday morning that started at 4:40 am (it was through a Christmas lights park) to practice for MW early mornings. Something that happened is during the run (5.5 easy miles) I got nauseous, which is common for me if I’m up at that time of the night (“morning”). Does anyone have any advice? I ate before the run. I am worried about this during MW.

A few things to consider or look at adjusting to see how it affects you:

Have you tried not eating before the run when you get up this early?
What are you eating? Are you having coffee? Does caffeine help?
Do you take any medications or vitamins when you get up? (My multivitamin makes me seriously nauseous if I don't take it immediately after I eat.)
What about the night before? What's the last thing you're ingesting and how late?
Does it seem to make a difference if you get more or less sleep?

 

[steph0808]

If the run is under 6 miles, I don't usually eat before it. If it is up to 9, I eat a half a peanut butter sandwich. If it is more than that, I eat a whole sandwich. If it is a marathon, I usually throw in a poptart for good measure.

For Marathon Weekend, I don't eat as soon as I wake up. It is just too early. I pack my food in ziploc bags and usually eat on the monorail or hanging around before we move to the corrals.

 

[Bree]

I’ll probably post this in my training journal too but just in case other eyes/insights are here:

I did a fun run yesterday morning that started at 4:40 am (it was through a Christmas lights park) to practice for MW early mornings. Something that happened is during the run (5.5 easy miles) I got nauseous, which is common for me if I’m up at that time of the night (“morning”). Does anyone have any advice? I ate before the run. I am worried about this during MW.

How much time was there between eating and running? I eat about two hours before a long run or race. A few minutes before race time I used to eat a waffle or gel. I’m using tailwind now so I’ll just have a few sips of that.

 

[opusone]

I eat about two hours before a long run or race.

I also use the two hour rule on eating anything solid/substantial.

 

[FFigawi]

I also use the two hour rule on eating anything solid/substantial.

Me too. 2-3 hours is my time frame for eating food before a race.

 

[PrincessV]

Just to throw it in another possible direction: I feel nauseous when my blood sugar gets low - I need to eat an hour before running. At races, where I’ll have eaten at home likely hours ahead of starting, I bring a granola bar or extra gel to eat an hour before starting.

 

[kps7795]

Does anyone know about a good source of information for finding out the elevation incline of bridges? For what it's worth, Google has failed me in my quest to find out the incline degree of the Blue Heron bridge in Singer Island, Florida? This is the bridge that killed my half marathon POT attempt last April. I was hoping to compare it to something like the Verrazano Bridge for the NYC Marathon, but I cannot get the comparable incline percentage for the Blue Heron bridge.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Does anyone know about a good source of information for finding out the elevation incline of bridges? For what it's worth, Google has failed me in my quest to find out the incline degree of the Blue Heron bridge in Singer Island, Florida? This is the bridge that killed my half marathon POT attempt last April. I was hoping to compare it to something like the Verrazano Bridge for the NYC Marathon, but I cannot get the comparable incline percentage for the Blue Heron bridge.

Strava is a good source. You can search for "segments". The data is as accurate as the runner's device.

Blue Heron Bridge

https://www.strava.com/segments/9678290

Verrazano Bridge in NYC

https://www.strava.com/segments/25302094

 

[kps7795]

Strava is a good source. You can search for "segments". The data is as accurate as the runner's device.

Blue Heron Bridge

https://www.strava.com/segments/9678290

Verrazano Bridge in NYC

https://www.strava.com/segments/25302094

Thank you, Billy. If I understand this information correctly (that's a big "if," mind you), I don't believe that my South Florida bridge is that different than the mighty Verrazano. The elevation difference is only 5 meters less than the Verrazano and it's only shorter by approximately .6 km.

 

[opusone]

Thank you, Billy. If I understand this information correctly (that's a big "if," mind you), I don't believe that my South Florida bridge is that different than the mighty Verrazano. The elevation difference is only 5 meters less than the Verrazano and it's only shorter by approximately .6 km.

It appears that the Blue Heron bridge is actually a steeper incline (both directions) but for a shorter distance. For the Verrazano segment, the Strava segment is only showing the distance shore-to-shore, but the bridge is actually quite a bit longer than that as it is already quite elevated at the shoreline on each side. I don't know about the Blue Heron, although the elevation seems to flatten out on each side of the segment which implies that it includes the full ramps up and down.

 

[kps7795]

It appears that the Blue Heron bridge is actually a steeper incline (both directions) but for a shorter distance. For the Verrazano segment, the Strava segment is only showing the distance shore-to-shore, but the bridge is actually quite a bit longer than that as it is already quite elevated at the shoreline on each side. I don't know about the Blue Heron, although the elevation seems to flatten out on each side of the segment which implies that it includes the full ramps up and down.

All I truly know about the Blue Heron is that it SERIOUSLY kicked my a$$ in April.

 

[DopeyBadger]

It appears that the Blue Heron bridge is actually a steeper incline (both directions) but for a shorter distance. For the Verrazano segment, the Strava segment is only showing the distance shore-to-shore, but the bridge is actually quite a bit longer than that as it is already quite elevated at the shoreline on each side. I don't know about the Blue Heron, although the elevation seems to flatten out on each side of the segment which implies that it includes the full ramps up and down.

All I truly know about the Blue Heron is that it SERIOUSLY kicked my a$$ in April.

https://www.strava.com/location/Ver...n/terrain/all/center/40.6064,-74.0458/zoom/13

Here are some more options. Maybe "A" and "B" is a better representation of the Verrazzano Bridge. But both appear to have some wonky GPS elevation data.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I’ll probably post this in my training journal too but just in case other eyes/insights are here:

I did a fun run yesterday morning that started at 4:40 am (it was through a Christmas lights park) to practice for MW early mornings. Something that happened is during the run (5.5 easy miles) I got nauseous, which is common for me if I’m up at that time of the night (“morning”). Does anyone have any advice? I ate before the run. I am worried about this during MW.

I can struggle with something similar. If I eat too early in the morning, I feel nauseous. Which is not good for early morning races. On the advice of other runners, I tried applesauce. While I don't love applesauce, it went down and provided enough fuel.

However, for Dopey, I learned the hard way that my body does not want to eat applesauce very early 4 consecutive mornings. So on marathon morning I had to decide between playing with fire by trying something new on race morning, playing with fire by having more applesauce, or playing with fire and eating nothing. I opted for playing with fire by trying something new because nausea did not sound good at all and no fuel could spell disaster later on during the race. I remembered many people here eating plain bagels with smooth peanut butter. That worked spectacularly for me and is my go to race breakfast now.

 

[PrincessV]

On the subject of pre-run food… check your PB label carefully before buying: chunky PB does not schmear well on bagels.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Running is wild. You finish a big race and swear up and down you'll never do that again. And the next thing you know, you've signed up for another one!

Case and point, from my Goofy race report last year:

Will I run another marathon? On Sunday I would have told you NO *#$%&)@ WAY. But now? I don't know. I still have mixed feelings (that anxiety attack really messed with me.) Maybe in a couple of years. Maybe when I turn 40 I'll do something utterly stupid like sign up for Dopey. And maybe if I'm really lucky The Expert will come and run (some? all?) with me.

And now I'm 2 weeks away from attempting Dopey.

My SIL said something to the effect of "probably won't do one of those again, or maybe not for a long time" after we finished our first marathon together in October of '21.


And I've been telling her we can't run that race weekend again for 3 more years because the kids have a big XC meet that weekend, except I started digging around next year's schedules and the meet is on a different weekend this year. If we don't get another big meet scheduled in that weekend we could totally run "just" the half! Who am I?

 

[DopeyBadger]

Who am I?

A very normal and logical marathon runner.