The Running Thread --2025

Back after nearly 2 weeks in Iceland and London. For the first time in all my travels to London, I finally went for a run: 4-ish miles around St James’s Park, Green Park and environs. So finally, I have used the running gear that I generally pack about half the time!

Back home and now it just seems so dark in the morning. Guess fall is coming, which will suit me to run.
 
Anyone tried Xendurance in their training? Was talking to someone the other day about my IM training and then going into Dopey training right after. They said to take a look at Xendurance for endurance and recovery. I searched it online and of course, immediately after, my Instagram was flooded with ads. I watched a bunch of videos on it from runners, and they seemed to have liked it what it did for them. I ended up buying a 30 day supply to try it out.
 
I am a sucker for trying products. I was reading about BASE Performance salt. Instead of take a tab or pill, it's like Fun Dip, LOL. Lick your finger/thumb, cover the container with it so that the salt sticks to your finger, then lick it off. Ordered some to try on my runs and long bike rides.
 

I am a sucker for trying products. I was reading about BASE Performance salt. Instead of take a tab or pill, it's like Fun Dip, LOL. Lick your finger/thumb, cover the container with it so that the salt sticks to your finger, then lick it off. Ordered some to try on my runs and long bike rides.

That’s definitely a pre-porta potty supplement. Not sure I want to be licking my fingers and sticking them in my mouth during races.
 
Congratulations - great accomplishment ! Being able to able to wear that media is an accomplishment in and of itself too!
It's ridiculously enormous. The announcer told us they're about a pound and a half each. And they're 7in in diameter. Apparently SIL told DH that he's going to need the extra-heavy-duty hook to hang it. :worship:
 
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Question for the fellow marathoners/Dopes out there: has anyone else experienced chronic mental burnout/fatigue on the longer training runs? I mean, it happens to everyone sometimes, even the elite runners (which I am very much not). But this year for some reason as I'm starting to ramp up the miles for Dopey '26 I'm having a hard time getting motivated for long run days across the board.

If I'm doing 5 miles or less, no problem. I can cruise all the way with no issues because I know I'll be done in less than an hour. In the 7-8 range I start to get testy but I can usually power through. Once the planned run gets into double digits though I just have a hard time making myself go, and even when I do get out there, I've often quit at 4-5 miles not because I'm physically tired, but because my brain can't stop thinking about how much farther I have to go and how much time it will take. Such thoughts eventually knock me out of my zone and I just lose focus and quit.

It's completely mental I'm (almost) sure. I've tried changing up my routes, going to different locations, with music, without music, etc etc. But no matter what I try I still just get daunted by the idea of being out there for hours. Maybe because this will be my third Dopey and I don't have the "first time" motivation of conquering a goal?

I don't know, it's starting to get to me and the miles/hours haven't even gotten "serious" yet. Any thoughts or suggestions from this extremely helpful community are welcome.
 
Question for the fellow marathoners/Dopes out there: has anyone else experienced chronic mental burnout/fatigue on the longer training runs? I mean, it happens to everyone sometimes, even the elite runners (which I am very much not). But this year for some reason as I'm starting to ramp up the miles for Dopey '26 I'm having a hard time getting motivated for long run days across the board.

If I'm doing 5 miles or less, no problem. I can cruise all the way with no issues because I know I'll be done in less than an hour. In the 7-8 range I start to get testy but I can usually power through. Once the planned run gets into double digits though I just have a hard time making myself go, and even when I do get out there, I've often quit at 4-5 miles not because I'm physically tired, but because my brain can't stop thinking about how much farther I have to go and how much time it will take. Such thoughts eventually knock me out of my zone and I just lose focus and quit.

It's completely mental I'm (almost) sure. I've tried changing up my routes, going to different locations, with music, without music, etc etc. But no matter what I try I still just get daunted by the idea of being out there for hours. Maybe because this will be my third Dopey and I don't have the "first time" motivation of conquering a goal?

I don't know, it's starting to get to me and the miles/hours haven't even gotten "serious" yet. Any thoughts or suggestions from this extremely helpful community are welcome.
I went through this the past Dopey training cycle. I HATED my long runs (longer than 13ish)! I just never felt good on the long runs I would loose motivation midway through. It even had me questioning if I'd be able to finsih the 48.6 miles.
In order to force myself to finish I would always map out my long runs so that I was furthest from the house at the 1/2 point thus making my get the distance I needed. Those runs would sometimes be pretty terrible and often contained considerably longer walk intervals but I mostly got through them all but it definintely had my questioning how I would be at mile 20 on Sunday.

Rest assurred I was absolutely fine during the marathon. I was running at party pace with a couple of friends and was even sprinting ahead to character stops during the late miles when they didn't want to stop anymore.

Don't worry it happens to all runners, the natural ebb and flow of running desire.
 












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