The Running Thread--2024

[marty3d]

October Totals - a little late I know!
128.6km / 18 runs

Overall, Dopey training is continuing to go well and I've only missed 2 training runs all month which is pretty good for me. Even better is I've stayed on top of strength training. November will be tough as mileage ramps up but so does work travel with 3 trips this month. Going to have to be creative with my running schedule.

 

[dobball23]

I'm doing a marathon on Sunday. My Garmin Connect displayed this for me today. Hopefully I can still be peaking in five days!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I'm doing a marathon on Sunday. My Garmin Connect displayed this for me today. Hopefully I can still be peaking in five days!

View attachment 910069

Nailed it! Fingers crossed!

 

[steph0808]

October Running
Miles: 90.54
Time: 15:24:47
Avg HR: 145
Avg Pace: 10:17

October went very well - I wanted to do another long run in anticipation of a November half marathon, but I had a medical procedure that kept me off my feet for a few days. I didn't want to jump in with a 8-10 mile run, so I cut it back to 4-milers for a few days.

October Walking
Miles: 14.6
Time: 4:53:16
Walks: 16

My lab was very happy with all the walking!


And October 30 is where is all went wrong. I finished up my next-to-last run before my half marathon on November 3. Woke up the next day with a sore throat and neck. Followed quickly by double ear infections that did not respond at all to antibiotics. My right ear is totally plugged and my left one continues to give me stabbing pains. I was switched to a new antibiotic, which I hope works soon, but I made the decision not to race on Sunday.

I'm very disappointed as the weather was lovely (no wind, clear, 50-55 degrees), and while not quite in PR shape (1:53:58), I thought I could run somewhere under 2 hours.

Unfortunately, I don't think I have time to make up a half marathon this year with everything going on. Ah, such is life.

 

[camaker]

I'm late to the October reporting party, largely due to being at Disney for Wine & Dine last weekend. October was a strange monthe, with more than half my total mileage coming in a single day. The month started with the taper into the Cape Fear 24 Hour Endurance Challenge. I ran the race mid-month, completing 100k in just over 16 hours, then went into non-running recovery until the last week or so of the month when I started light running to get ready for W&D. Here are how the numbers tallied up for the month:

October Training Summary
Running Miles: 126.78
Running Time: 28:12:50
Average Pace: 0:13:20/mile
YTD Mileage: 1,433.53 mi

Other
Walking Miles: 39.40
Rolling 12mo Miles: 1,598.39 mi

 

[KCO5988]

Also late to the game because of Wine and Dine trip:

October Miles: 148.5

And now I'm officially in taper for my marathon on November 16th!

 

[gosalyn_mallard]

October Running
Miles = 63
Pace = 10:03 min/mi

Great month considering I didn't run for a week while on vacation. I ran the Purdue Half Marathon and loved it! Well organized race with easy logistics and a great course through campus. This one has been on my list for years as a Purdue alum and so glad I finally made it work schedule-wise. I finished within a few minutes of my PR and was happy with that considering I didn't get in as many long runs as I wanted.

Had a great time at W&D this weekend and looking forward to cooler runs in November and December! Hoping to finish the year strong!

 

[DisneyParrothead]

My area is getting our first big snow storm of the year and these big storms always knock the motivation out of me. I’m three weeks into Princess training and I don’t want to miss my run today, but I also have to shovel snow and handle the snow blower for my mom since my dad is out of town and my mom is in a boot after surgery. I’m fine getting my strength training done but running on the treadmill takes on a different mood.

 

[Isabelle12345]

What app does everyone use for intervals? I will be doing my first marathon in January and I have started on tu -walk for the long runs. I have an Apple Watch and use Nike run club to track my runs so I need to look at my watch regularly to respect the intervals… there has to be a better way!
I have tried Jeff Galloway’s app but I don’t like it
Any recommendations?

 

[Erika10021]

I love the runkeeper app for intervals. It has a tremendous flexibility for different times or mileage intervals. The only downside is that it's all sound so you either have to have headphones or volume up on your phone.

 

[Naomeri]

What app does everyone use for intervals? I will be doing my first marathon in January and I have started on tu -walk for the long runs. I have an Apple Watch and use Nike run club to track my runs so I need to look at my watch regularly to respect the intervals… there has to be a better way!
I have tried Jeff Galloway’s app but I don’t like it
Any recommendations?

I use RunIntervals. It's really basic and that's just what I wanted. It plays over my headphones, one sound or voice for "time to run" and a different sound or voice for "time to walk" It does have the option to install on my Apple Watch, but I haven't tried that.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

What app does everyone use for intervals? I will be doing my first marathon in January and I have started on tu -walk for the long runs. I have an Apple Watch and use Nike run club to track my runs so I need to look at my watch regularly to respect the intervals… there has to be a better way!
I have tried Jeff Galloway’s app but I don’t like it
Any recommendations?

I’m a run-walker and after years of using my watch, I just bought a gymboss interval timer on Amazon this fall. You can set your intervals and then just cruise without worrying about your watch.
I had always seen people wearing them but ended up getting one because I was worried about my watch dying (whole different story) during my last marathon and wish I would have gotten one sooner.

 

[kps7795]

What app does everyone use for intervals? I will be doing my first marathon in January and I have started on tu -walk for the long runs. I have an Apple Watch and use Nike run club to track my runs so I need to look at my watch regularly to respect the intervals… there has to be a better way!
I have tried Jeff Galloway’s app but I don’t like it
Any recommendations?

You can set intervals on your watch but it limits you to 99 which is not enough to get you through an entire half marathon let alone the marathon. Do you plan on running with your phone? If so, you can use the app that @Naomeri recommended (I've never used that one myself, so I cannot say anything about it but it looks like it does the job). Another app that I used to use when I would do intervals on a treadmill is Seconds Interval Timer. I believe that both have free versions, so there's no harm in trying them to see what helps you. Good luck in finding what works best to help you in your marathon.

 

[kps7795]

My area is getting our first big snow storm of the year

Wow! Not just that you're getting snow, but your first big snow storm...in early November.

 

[nancipants]

I use the run/walk alerts on my Garmin. One of the reasons I bought it was so I didn't need to use a separate app or device to do my intervals. The only thing I don't like about it is that the alerts don't go off if you're doing a programmed workout. I've been doing 10k tempo runs with .66 mile repeats, and I still run/walk during those, so I use the app Naomeri mentioned.

 

[PrincessV]

What app does everyone use for intervals? I will be doing my first marathon in January and I have started on tu -walk for the long runs. I have an Apple Watch and use Nike run club to track my runs so I need to look at my watch regularly to respect the intervals… there has to be a better way!
I have tried Jeff Galloway’s app but I don’t like it
Any recommendations?

I’ve used the iSmoothRun app for a decade or so. I can program all sorts of different run/walk workouts, track shoe mileage, set up alerts for time, distance, hydration, fuel. It integrates well with music. I also have a free basic Runkeeper account and have iSmoothRun export to that to keep a log.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Wow! Not just that you're getting snow, but your first big snow storm...in early November.

Yes it’s quite unusual. We’re getting more snow than the ski resorts.

 

[mmm_texas]

What app does everyone use for intervals? I will be doing my first marathon in January and I have started on tu -walk for the long runs. I have an Apple Watch and use Nike run club to track my runs so I need to look at my watch regularly to respect the intervals… there has to be a better way!
I have tried Jeff Galloway’s app but I don’t like it
Any recommendations?

I'm also a RunKeeper user. I use the interval functionality for every run, it's very flexible, and you can have it repeat indefinitely, but I want to point out what I feel is its weakness: AFAIK you can't change the interval setting once you've started your run. This is usually not a problem, but occasionally it would be nice, and I know there are other solutions that do allow this.

I think that limitation might be related to the fact that after your run it will show you your pace, etc., for every single interval (which can be a lot of them if you're doing 30-30 walk-runs!) It might be hard to do that if you allow a change in the middle of a run....

 

[Dopey 2020]

What app does everyone use for intervals? I will be doing my first marathon in January and I have started on tu -walk for the long runs. I have an Apple Watch and use Nike run club to track my runs so I need to look at my watch regularly to respect the intervals… there has to be a better way!
I have tried Jeff Galloway’s app but I don’t like it
Any recommendations?

You can set intervals on your watch but it limits you to 99 which is not enough to get you through an entire half marathon let alone the marathon. Do you plan on running with your phone? If so, you can use the app that @Naomeri recommended (I've never used that one myself, so I cannot say anything about it but it looks like it does the job). Another app that I used to use when I would do intervals on a treadmill is Seconds Interval Timer. I believe that both have free versions, so there's no harm in trying them to see what helps you. Good luck in finding what works best to help you in your marathon.

I use the Apple Watch app. It depends on how fast you run and what intervals you’re using as to 99 being enough. I don’t like the limit as I used to use intervals pro and could set it to infinite but using 3.5 minute runs with 30 second walks gets me through a marathon in less than 60 (15 intervals/hour). When I ran 2 minute intervals, it wouldn’t have worked. I’ve found it very nice to use as I get a tap on the wrist when each time is up and can view whichever stats I want including time left for each interval if I want, and I like the simplicity of not having another app to look up and or sync any info I might want. It was easier when you set it up on the phone, but it’s still pretty simple to set up on the watch under outdoor run - custom.
It really depends on what you want in the end, I tried several of those that have been mentioned, they all work but only one will work how you want it.

 

[kps7795]

It depends on how fast you run and what intervals you’re using as to 99 being enough.

This is technically true, but I was assuming that she is not as fast of a runner as you are. Most of us aren't. I hope that this doesn't come across as being snarky because it is sincerely meant to not be. I am training hard myself to get to your level. Nonetheless, I was basing my answer on what I assumed was the average runner training for their first marathon who would need a lot more intervals to complete her marathon.

Specifically, I had my daughter in mind when she ran her last half marathon and the Apple Watch interval timer ended at ten miles. One would think that you can just set another timer for 99 intervals, but we unfortunately found out during the Encanto half marathon that you have to wait for your Apple Watch to process the run before it will give you all the data (heart rate, mileage etc) for a new interval workout. It still told us when to walk and when to run, but no other information was displayed.