The Running Thread--2024

[FlyingDonut]

October
57 miles
9:48 average pace

I only did 12 runs in October, down from 24 in September. After getting sick in late September, I had pain coming back several times in October. I didn't think I'd lose so much fitness / knee tolerance in just a week off. It could also be old shoes; I need to figure it out.

 

[Herding_Cats]

October totals:
53.2mi “running” (quotes because it makes all treadmilling into running and I did a couple of tread walks)

4mi walking

Almost double of September, so I’m trending the right way, even if I’m behind where I feel like I should be for mileage. Refereeing starts on Monday, but I only have 6 dates for November, so plenty of time to keep building mileage without worrying about repeating last year’s calf strain from overdoing things.

 

[pluto377]

October mileage- 69.62. Should have gone for that extra .38 for an even 70, but oh well. Hoping November continues to build on that. Been having some pain in my left hip so I've taken 3 days off. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

 

[Naomeri]

October Totals
Cleaning up leaves kind of took over my life toward the end of the month, so I have a number of missed runs, but not missed time on feet.

Running
41.65 miles in 9:33:06

Walking
4.90 miles in 1:34:13

Leaf Blowing (and other yard activities)
23:10:37 in 17 sessions

 

[LorrieAnn5]

October 2024: Activities: 19 Distance: 90.96 mi Time: 16:52:55
This was weeks 2-6 of 16 for marathon training. Included four 5ks, one 15k, and a half marathon. I'm practicing fueling during my long runs which is new for me. I'm loving Untapped maple syrup; cocoa and raspberry are like desserts. I also like the citrus flavor. I enjoyed a Honey Stinger waffle too. I would like to try Huma chia seed gels in the next couple of months.

Strength training is my passion above running, but I was worried that my current strength training program was going to be too much on my body combined with the marathon training so I switched to a very beginner strength program which takes about 20 minutes per session vs. an hour on my other program. The loss of time in strength training has given me more time for yoga and stretching.

Marathon training has gotten me to a point where a 15k run is short! I'm proud of how far I've come because back in 2021-2022 15ks were tough for me!

On Monday I had 1 mile speed repeats x3. I felt really good. Today was the same workout except 15 degrees warmer...my heart rate was higher and I was about 40sec slower per mile. I knew it was going to be tough.

DH is also marathon training, but we're not following the same plan so we rarely run together. Recently I twisted his arm to come out with me for a short speed workout. I listened to music instead of my normal audiobook and the friendly competition with DH combined with the badass tunes made me super speedy. It was an awesome workout and a good mental boost.

November will bring weeks 7-10 of 16 for marathon training. Lots of big weeks!

 

[Professor_Cookie]

October totals and a couple questions.

Run 7 hours
33 miles.
Big jump from September’s recovery month. I still feel my psoas, but it’s not painful. I think I really did a number on it. It was hard to stand at work, and I couldn’t lift my foot to engage the parking brake in my daily without intense focus or picking my leg up with my hands.

Strength
7 activities
7 hours 35 minutes
Strength keeps moving in the right dirrection

Questions-has anyone run in Old San Juan? Any recommendations?

@flav did you ever sort out your promenade running on the cruise ship. We will be on the magic in a couple weeks time and I was really hoping for an at sea for strava

 

[flav]

@flav did you ever sort out your promenade running on the cruise ship. We will be on the magic in a couple weeks time and I was really hoping for an at sea for strava

No, I didn’t fix Strava and it seems like manually entering the activity is the only proper way to do it. I use the NRC for all my stats and this one somehow recorded properly. Have a good cruise!

 

[dobball23]

No, I didn’t fix Strava and it seems like manually entering the activity is the only proper way to do it. I use the NRC for all my stats and this one somehow recorded properly. Have a good cruise!

When I've been on cruises and run on Deck 4, I think I've chosen "Indoor Track" on my Garmin. My GPS isn't on, so I don't get a map, and it is likely slightly off from actual distance, but it ends up being relatively close.

I wish there was a way for the GPS to account for the movement of the ship. It would be kind of cool to have an accurate mid-ocean map in Strava.

 

[FFigawi]

When I've been on cruises and run on Deck 4, I think I've chosen "Indoor Track" on my Garmin. My GPS isn't on, so I don't get a map, and it is likely slightly off from actual distance, but it ends up being relatively close.

I wish there was a way for the GPS to account for the movement of the ship. It would be kind of cool to have an accurate mid-ocean map in Strava.

You might be able to do that using a Stryd footpod. The watch would get the pace and speed from the footpod and the GPS map from the watch itself. Would be an interesting experiment anyway.

 

[fatmanatee]

New PR, 50 min off my prior NYC trek. Incredible race, crowd support was insane, and the Queensboro Bridge is still very bad. REALLY thought I was on my way to hitting my target goal and they reminded me that nope, wasn’t going to be that easy. I’m at peace with my performance though, didn’t feel like I prepared well enough for this two years ago, this time I did, so we’re good.

One funny side note: I had been monitoring my Apple Watch pace throughout the race and thought I was where I wanted to be to hit my goal (10 min per mile), thought if I could maintain that for 20 miles I had a really good shot. 8 miles in a pacer with a 10:06 pace starts approaching and I realize that something isn’t quite right. Then I started keeping an eye on mile markers compared to when my watch was showing as hitting them and it was a quarter mile off and increasing. I managed to keep up with the pacer for awhile to maintain that pace but obviously I was very uneasy about what I’d need to do to get 4:30. By mile 23 it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to hit the target (my left thigh started twitching at mile 18 so I was being careful about my strides so it wouldn’t blow up) so I focused on the PR goal, then at mile 25 my watch died. Kinda sucks! I know people here were talking about how this happens but really frustrating when the whole purpose of having this is to track my runs and it can’t last through the big one. It’s two years old and I don’t wear it outside of runs.

 

[Naomeri]

View attachment 909688

New PR, 50 min off my prior NYC trek. Incredible race, crowd support was insane, and the Queensboro Bridge is still very bad. REALLY thought I was on my way to hitting my target goal and they reminded me that nope, wasn’t going to be that easy. I’m at peace with my performance though, didn’t feel like I prepared well enough for this two years ago, this time I did, so we’re good.

One funny side note: I had been monitoring my Apple Watch pace throughout the race and thought I was where I wanted to be to hit my goal (10 min per mile), thought if I could maintain that for 20 miles I had a really good shot. 8 miles in a pacer with a 10:06 pace starts approaching and I realize that something isn’t quite right. Then I started keeping an eye on mile markers compared to when my watch was showing as hitting them and it was a quarter mile off and increasing. I managed to keep up with the pacer for awhile to maintain that pace but obviously I was very uneasy about what I’d need to do to get 4:30. By mile 23 it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to hit the target (my left thigh started twitching at mile 18 so I was being careful about my strides so it wouldn’t blow up) so I focused on the PR goal, then at mile 25 my watch died. Kinda sucks! I know people here were talking about how this happens but really frustrating when the whole purpose of having this is to track my runs and it can’t last through the big one. It’s two years old and I don’t wear it outside of runs.

Great job! Congrats!

I don't get why Apple can't give the Watches better battery life. My 1yr old Watch barely lasted from bedtime Saturday through the W&D half yesterday--I was at 11% when I got back to my room.

 

[col1]

View attachment 909688

New PR, 50 min off my prior NYC trek. Incredible race, crowd support was insane, and the Queensboro Bridge is still very bad. REALLY thought I was on my way to hitting my target goal and they reminded me that nope, wasn’t going to be that easy. I’m at peace with my performance though, didn’t feel like I prepared well enough for this two years ago, this time I did, so we’re good.

One funny side note: I had been monitoring my Apple Watch pace throughout the race and thought I was where I wanted to be to hit my goal (10 min per mile), thought if I could maintain that for 20 miles I had a really good shot. 8 miles in a pacer with a 10:06 pace starts approaching and I realize that something isn’t quite right. Then I started keeping an eye on mile markers compared to when my watch was showing as hitting them and it was a quarter mile off and increasing. I managed to keep up with the pacer for awhile to maintain that pace but obviously I was very uneasy about what I’d need to do to get 4:30. By mile 23 it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to hit the target (my left thigh started twitching at mile 18 so I was being careful about my strides so it wouldn’t blow up) so I focused on the PR goal, then at mile 25 my watch died. Kinda sucks! I know people here were talking about how this happens but really frustrating when the whole purpose of having this is to track my runs and it can’t last through the big one. It’s two years old and I don’t wear it outside of runs.

Congratulations on a huge PR

 

[nancipants]

Way to go, @fatmanatee!

 

[fatmanatee]

Great job! Congrats!

I don't get why Apple can't give the Watches better battery life. My 1yr old Watch barely lasted from bedtime Saturday through the W&D half yesterday--I was at 11% when I got back to my room.

Was super frustrating, like might be a dealbreaker when I have to get a new fitness watch. Stinks because I know Apple keeps getting better with health stuff and it's obviously better integrated with the iPhone, but if it can't handle under 5 hours of activity then what are we doing? Going to look into Garmin eventually.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Was super frustrating, like might be a dealbreaker when I have to get a new fitness watch. Stinks because I know Apple keeps getting better with health stuff and it's obviously better integrated with the iPhone, but if it can't handle under 5 hours of activity then what are we doing? Going to look into Garmin eventually.

Have you tried turning all of the "extra" stuff off when you're going to do really long efforts like a marathon? I don't have an apple watch, so this might all be moot, but with my garmin, I turned off a bunch of metrics that I don't use (pulse ox as an example) and when the screen turns on (turned off the "wrist flip" option so the backlight wasn't constantly turning on), and turned the screen brightness down. Made it last another 36+hrs between charges for me.

 

[mmm_texas]

Have you tried turning all of the "extra" stuff off when you're going to do really long efforts like a marathon? I don't have an apple watch, so this might all be moot, but with my garmin, I turned off a bunch of metrics that I don't use (pulse ox as an example) and when the screen turns on (turned off the "wrist flip" option so the backlight wasn't constantly turning on), and turned the screen brightness down. Made it last another 36+hrs between charges for me.

This. I'm much slower than you and haven't had a problem with my older Apple Watch making it through a Dopey or any of my training runs. I would just turn off WiFi and always on display. I do carry my iPhone with me, which could make a difference I suppose.

Now I'm wearing the original Apple Watch Ultra, so as long as I can charge overnight I don't have to stress.

 

[fatmanatee]

Have you tried turning all of the "extra" stuff off when you're going to do really long efforts like a marathon? I don't have an apple watch, so this might all be moot, but with my garmin, I turned off a bunch of metrics that I don't use (pulse ox as an example) and when the screen turns on (turned off the "wrist flip" option so the backlight wasn't constantly turning on), and turned the screen brightness down. Made it last another 36+hrs between charges for me.

I didn't, but it's something I've thought of since (and something that I've seen recommended since searching about this issue). Not sure what extras I have running, worth noting that I was getting quite a few texts from people on course so that was something extra to monitor. I dunno... never had this issue during the training runs, which peaked at close to four hours, battery seemed like it could go for longer, so I had no sense that this would be a problem yesterday.

EDIT: did not think I had always-on on but apparently I do, so that's something I'll have to look into. Keep my phone with me on an armband. Not sure about wifi status.

 

[kps7795]

By mile 23 it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to hit the target (my left thigh started twitching at mile 18 so I was being careful about my strides so it wouldn’t blow up) so I focused on the PR goal, then at mile 25 my watch died.

I unfortunately know EXACTLY how frustrating that is having had the same thing happen during my first marathon at Disney in 2022. It's such a feeling of helplessness because you don't know if you're going too fast or too slow when you're accustomed to knowing your pace (at least approximately).

Nevertheless, congratulations on your PR!

 

[Dopey 2020]

View attachment 909688

New PR, 50 min off my prior NYC trek. Incredible race, crowd support was insane, and the Queensboro Bridge is still very bad. REALLY thought I was on my way to hitting my target goal and they reminded me that nope, wasn’t going to be that easy. I’m at peace with my performance though, didn’t feel like I prepared well enough for this two years ago, this time I did, so we’re good.

One funny side note: I had been monitoring my Apple Watch pace throughout the race and thought I was where I wanted to be to hit my goal (10 min per mile), thought if I could maintain that for 20 miles I had a really good shot. 8 miles in a pacer with a 10:06 pace starts approaching and I realize that something isn’t quite right. Then I started keeping an eye on mile markers compared to when my watch was showing as hitting them and it was a quarter mile off and increasing. I managed to keep up with the pacer for awhile to maintain that pace but obviously I was very uneasy about what I’d need to do to get 4:30. By mile 23 it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to hit the target (my left thigh started twitching at mile 18 so I was being careful about my strides so it wouldn’t blow up) so I focused on the PR goal, then at mile 25 my watch died. Kinda sucks! I know people here were talking about how this happens but really frustrating when the whole purpose of having this is to track my runs and it can’t last through the big one. It’s two years old and I don’t wear it outside of runs.

Congrats! That’s a huge PR

As far as the watch, that is frustrating, had mine die at mile 20 on a colder day once. I now turn it to airplane mode before any race and it makes it through a marathon (4hrs) with about 35% left. It’s three years old and I wear it all the time. Shouldn’t have to worry about it but if you want to save paying for a new battery or watch try it out on your next long run and see if it helps.
Congrats again! Awesome job

 

[fatmanatee]

Congrats! That’s a huge PR

As far as the watch, that is frustrating, had mine die at mile 20 on a colder day once. I now turn it to airplane mode before any race and it makes it through a marathon (4hrs) with about 35% left. It’s three years old and I wear it all the time. Shouldn’t have to worry about it but if you want to save paying for a new battery or watch try it out on your next long run and see if it helps.
Congrats again! Awesome job

Thank you! And to be clear (my wording was a bit confusing) the PR was 30 seconds, was set with my first marathon in Chicago five years ago. First NYC race was 2022 and I had a blast but it was just a really tough race. In retrospect I didn’t train as well as I could have, had gotten a new job so that cut into my training, and I wasn’t remotely prepared for the hills. On top of that it was over 70 degrees on race day. Got really lucky this time because it’s supposed to hit 77 degrees this week but race day weather was as good as I could ask for.

Given how flat Chicago was and how not-flat NYC is it certainly feels like the 30 second PR is bigger deal though lol. Gives me confidence that if I decided to pursue my target with a more tame course I’d have a really good shot.