The Running Thread--2024

[nancipants]

@Kerry1957 Avalon Road is SUCH a joke. I take that home from the parks sometime but during the week it stacks up past Western Way going south toward 192. It's a two lane road with no shoulders - fine when there was nothing around but a few rural houses. Now there's multiple apartment complexes, a resort, that whole housing development off Hartzog Road, and of course Flamingo Crossings. It boggles my mind that they have not made that a four lane road yet - but there's NO LAND to do so. But they keep building along it, anyway.

We don't call it Flori-Duh for nothing.

 

[flav]

I have a running + cruise question… I ran the track at sea this morning. NRC calculated properly the 5km (I know by the number of laps) but Strava is lost. It flagged my run because it kind of suspect that I did not suddenly improve to the speed of a world class sprinter over 13km… Is there a way to adjust the run without completely deleting it and entering it manually?

 

[flav]

Also, sad to read about all the hurricane devastation in Florida. The hotel we were supposed to stay at next week called us to cancel because they are not sure power will be restored. We are lucky to have friends more South who are welcoming us. Safe and fast recovery to all.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

@Kerry1957 Avalon Road is SUCH a joke. I take that home from the parks sometime but during the week it stacks up past Western Way going south toward 192. It's a two lane road with no shoulders - fine when there was nothing around but a few rural houses. Now there's multiple apartment complexes, a resort, that whole housing development off Hartzog Road, and of course Flamingo Crossings. It boggles my mind that they have not made that a four lane road yet - but there's NO LAND to do so. But they keep building along it, anyway.

We don't call it Flori-Duh for nothing.

It’s happening in so many states. They keep building homes but don’t update the infrastructure. Denver airport keeps expanding the terminals and yet there’s no additional parking. I was out of town this week and had to get a ride both ways because of the parking situation.

 

[GollyGadget]

QOTD: How do you plan your race schedule? Do you try to vary your race distances? Do you prefer to run the same races every year or find a new race to try?

ATTQOTD: I have a few local favorites that I run every year but the distance will vary. I'm currently undecided which variations to run next year. Usually I have some sort of goal(s) for the year and pick whatever would support that.

I hadn't really thought that far ahead yet but naturally all the spring races are having specials this weekend for our local marathon expo. Currently I'm leaning towards a couple of 10Ks. It's been a couple of years since I ran the distance and it's my "worst" PR.

Still very much undecided so curious how other folks make their decisions.

 

[avondale]

I have a running + cruise question… I ran the track at sea this morning. NRC calculated properly the 5km (I know by the number of laps) but Strava is lost. It flagged my run because it kind of suspect that I did not suddenly improve to the speed of a world class sprinter over 13km… Is there a way to adjust the run without completely deleting it and entering it manually?

The problem is that the ship is moving under you while you're running, so you're getting that speed, as well. If you had a GPS map, I bet it looked pretty funky. I'm not a Strava user, but I really doubt there is a way to fix this - it's really a pretty special case. It's not just the overall speed of the ship that needs to be removed, but also its direction of motion because that will make the ship's speed add differently into your speed at different spots along the oval (?) track - so it's not trivial.

I once was taking a long-distance train trip, and I wanted to somehow try to run back and forth through the cars just so I could see how my GPS track would look with it. My husband disapproved of this idea, so it remained hypothetical.

 

[avondale]

ATTQOD: I usually only race maybe twice a year for important personal goal races. I only do these races when it's cold (preferably T+D < 100), so that puts limitations on dates and locations (if I'm willing to travel north, I could go for a date closer to warmer weather).

With that in mind, I usually am trying to increase distance and/or elevation gain compared to my previous trail race and choose accordingly.

I will occasionally do maybe two additional short races that are something for fun, like a local race or something a friend would like me to do.

Usually I don't like to repeat races because there are so many different ones to experience, especially if you're willing to travel.

 

[Herding_Cats]

ATTQOTD: I don’t do very many races. Mostly, it’s about arranging things around my kids’ schedules, which makes things very difficult (for example, I won’t be “able” to do W&D weekend until DS2 graduates because it’s the same weekend as XC state finals) and when I can realistically do the training since I have very few good winter running options. So, with all of that in mind, I look for weekends where I know there will be a reliable gap in the schedules, and then see if there’s a race I’m interested in doing. As an example, DS2 and I ran a race near Ft Lauderdale the day before we got on a cruise ship for spring break! In August I’m going to attempt a 50k the day after our school team’s big XC invitational.

 

[Naomeri]

ATTQOTD: other than Disney races, which are dictated by the state of my finances when registration happens, I kind of wing it on planning races. The organizations around here usually end up having some kind of "do X races and get this random swag" that I usually get suckered into.

2024 was the year of the "Triple 10" where if you did a 10 miler (or half marathon) at 3 different race events, you got a little plaque at the final event (or several weeks later if you were so slow to finish the last race that they ran out before you got there )

 

[WillRunForPizza]

ATTQOTD: I try to hit a couple of local races I like each year, whether I'm actually racing them or not (Rock 'n' Roll DC, DC Half). I also try to do at least one Disney race for MW or Princess, since that's when I'm already in town. Other races depend on what I want to train for, but I keep those pretty local as well (to DC or Orlando depending on time of year). My dog is not the best with people he doesn't know well taking care of him, so travel is a bit challenging. Since there are plenty of local race opportunities anyway, I've been focusing on those.

 

[The Expert]

ATTQOTD: I pretty much just do rD races at this point. When I was in Salt Lake, there were lots of local 5K and 10K runs I could sign up for as they aligned with my rD training schedule. Since we moved (to Vermont) it's a much more rural area with fewer, smaller, more challenging (ie hills and trails) races. The race season is also much shorter up here, and the races I'm seeing don't seem to be super friendly to Team Not-So-Fast runners like myself.

I've considered tossing in some travel races (Flying Pig, Cherry Blossom), but honestly, if I'm gonna take the time to train and travel for a race it's probably going to be Disney.

 

[camaker]

QOTD: How do you plan your race schedule? Do you try to vary your race distances? Do you prefer to run the same races every year or find a new race to try?

Planning my race schedule is a multi-step process. I start by deciding what my goals for the year are and then look for races to achieve them. Once those primary goal races are established, I'll look for any other race opportunities that make sense or fit into my primary plan. Marathon Weekend is always a given, so planning generally starts and ends there.

A good example would be this year. My Disney PoT expired after this year's MW, so I decided to focus on getting my pacing back to where it should be and establishing a new PoT. There's a PoT friendly half marathon here in mid-March, so I made that my spring A race. That race would take me halfway through a typical marathon training plan, so I decided to look for a May marathon to continue my training towards after the PoT race.

Another way my planning often works is to identify a goal marathon/ultra and then look for shorter races beforehand to use as supported training runs. It all just depends on what my goal is.

 

[jmasgat]

ATTQOTD: I'm at the end of my racing career. I don't plan to "race" anything anymore, however, if there is a race that catches my eye--especially if it is in some locale that I would like to go--I would consider doing it for the "fun" of it (I have never previously been a person to do a race for fun--even Disney--I've always been driven by race time)

My first attempt at implementing this strategy last year didn't work out too well--I flew to Scotland to run the Dramathon (half) and the race was canceled the night before due to severe weather. This year I did the BAA 5k (Saturday before the Marathon) and am doing W&D--for the Muppet medal.

Next year, my DD and I may go to Iceland, so that has possibilities if timed appropriately.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

ATTQOTD: I don't run many races during each year, but I do like to do one Disney race per season. That's the one I focus on more since that requires more traveling.

I've done enough of the local races around here, and they don't feel special anymore. The Hot Chocolate race does still feel special, maybe because it's a bigger race compared to the smaller races. I like to get to sea level, which always requires travel. It depends on what I can get for airfare and deals on hotels. I finally caved and got a United card to start accumulating points. I'd be stuck otherwise because United and Southwest are taking over Denver and the prices keep getting higher.

 

[jmasgat]

I finally caved and got a United card to start accumulating points. I'd be stuck otherwise because United and Southwest are taking over Denver and the prices keep getting higher.

Not to go OT, but I have a Chase card, and their domestic point transfer partners are United, SouthWest, and Jet Blue. Plus depending on the card, you can book travel through their portal and actually end up using fewer points than the mostly egregious dynamic pricing.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Not to go OT, but I have a Chase card, and their domestic point transfer partners are United, SouthWest, and Jet Blue. Plus depending on the card, you can book travel through their portal and actually end up using fewer points than the mostly egregious dynamic pricing.

YES! We have done so much with our chase cards.

We even got a united card this year because the annual fee was less than checking 2 bags roundtrip, ended up with a bunch of bonus miles, and we can turn chase points into miles when we need more. And united flies out of our small regional airport, which is why they were the selection.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

Attqotd: I generally don’t plan as I usually just do one half marathon. There have been outliers such as this year and next year by adding in the RUN SLC race series to attempt to keep me motivated and carry a base through the winter. My goal with the 10k in the series this year is to get a decent enough POT to start in an earlier corral at a RunDisney race, if I get in. 1st choice is Halloween at Disneyland, second choice is wine and dine.

But, we are signing a lease on a space in SLC for a new restaurant shortly, so we’ll see how things go with that opening, preferably after Sundance.

 

[nancipants]

ATTQOTD: runDisney races are my local races. I will probably continue to do Princess every year because some friends travel in for it and I don't have to start training until November. TBD on whether I'll continue to do the marathon. I'll also sign up for Springtime Surprise if the theme appeals to me.

There are some local races I'd like to try, but it depends on money/what else is going on/if it fits in with training.

 

[Herding_Cats]

TBD on whether I'll continue to do the marathon.

Be fully prepared to say “NEVER AGAIN” and then have us enable you to do another one

 

[nancipants]

Be fully prepared to say “NEVER AGAIN” and then have us enable you to do another one

If my calculations are correct, the next time the marathon falls on my birthday will be in 2031, aka my 50th birthday.

So, Dopey then?