The Running Thread --2025

[Professor_Cookie]

As far as supplements go, in high school I took everything on the legal side of Diana(not that I didn’t try to get gear).

As an adult all I supplement with is protein powder when I’m being serious about nutrition, because 200+ grams of protein is expensive(steaks/fish), boring(boneless skinless chix breast), or diarrhea inducing quantities of fiber(veg protein sources).

 

[avondale]

ATTQOTD: I only take a couple of supplements. The most important one is a glucosamine/chondroitin complex. I can really tell a difference in my knees with it. I also started taking urolithin A over the summer on the recommendation of my PT. It's supposed to help with recovery, but I don't feel like I've seen any real positive effects from it and may stop taking it when the current bottle runs out.

What brand do you take for the glucosamine/chondroitin? I have a recent arthritis diagnosis.

I have never heard of urolithin A - what is that supposed to do?

 

[GollyGadget]

Wineglass - continued

So how my day went, this was my A-race attempt at Boston. 2027 gets me the age bump, but with them cutting time I still need a 3:30 (so really I’m looking for 3:23). That is right on the edge for me, maybe a little beyond even. Having just done Dopey at 3:32 I am confident that I can beat 3:30 well rested. Mathematically my best half says I can do a full in about 3:28 and that’s almost 4 years old. My best recent mile according to a couple calculators says I can do it in just over 3:22 but really that would have to be me feeling perfect, the weather being perfect, and the course being fast. Well you can’t win if you don’t play so I made a plan and didn’t care that the weather wasn’t ideal, I was going for broke. I trained good but probably relied too much on my base and didn’t do enough speed work, but just the fact that I consistently run 4-5 days/week 100+ miles/month I felt really good going into it.

Lined up at the start, I talked with the fastest (3:30) pace group and found a few looking for 3:25 or faster so it was nice to know who I could watch and try to stay ahead of or with, I let them know I’d be running 4 min, walking 30 sec so we’d be playing leapfrog for some of the race. Started good, not too fast this time, really tried to keep tabs on it. This was the first time I made up a pace band (more discussion on this to come) and at mile 1 I was ahead, not because I was fast but because there was less crowding than I expected. Mile 2-3 saw me about 30 seconds ahead, perfect to slow a little for a small hill and stay on target. Basically went up and down from my pace within 30 seconds of my goal right to mile 10. Mile 11-12 saw a bit of slow down when the aid station didn’t line up good with a walk interval but I was still on target. My pace band said 1:40:49 for the half goal and my split was 1:41:14. 25 seconds off pace and feeling good, much better pace management than previous races. Gained a little on a downhill and showed 10 seconds off at the mile 14 marker, now for a little bit of uphill.

Now is when I started to feel it, the sun was getting up there and the temp was climbing faster than forecast, my pace slowed to above 8 minutes/mile and I knew my goal was out of reach today. No problem, I just pulled a near perfect first half so if I could hold 8/mile or even a little over I could still pull off a record so I pushed it a little harder. Mile 17 saw a 7:57 split and that was all it took to push me off the knifes edge. My brain said you can do it but my legs disagreed wholeheartedly. 9 min, 10 min, 11, 12, the pace dropped steadily. Stopped off at mile 24 aid station for a quick stretch and a reset, glad I spent a few minutes there (came in at a 15 min mile) because it saved my sub 4 streak. I was able to push it back to sub 10 min miles to the finish and keep it just under 4 hours.

I’m happy, it’s another marathon finish, I will get the right race and weather at the right time. Tried different fueling this race and it worked for me, I don’t think that’s why I slowed this time. I was able to drive 4-1/2 hours home and I’m fully functional today. Any time you finish 26.2 with a smile is a win.

View attachment 1013105


The Corning glass medal

View attachment 1013106

Thanks for sharing. Sorry it didn’t go to plan but I love your positive attitude. You’ll get there.

 

[Naomeri]

No medal on this Monday, my first DNF

Yesterday was the TC Marathon. It was my third marathon but first time here. I had a great training block, didn’t get sick, was injury free except for a few whispers from my old friend IT Band. I was so ready for this race. It was warm, windy and had pop up rain. The best laid plans…..

I’ve wanted to do this race for awhile but didn’t think I was ready, until now! I love Twin Cities in Motion events and feel lucky to be local and participate in most of them. I usually run the 10 mile which finishes on the same course so I was familiar with the end but not the first part of the course. You start in Minneapolis, run around the chain of lakes, up the Mississippi River and then down Summit Ave to the Capitol in St. Paul. It’s gorgeous and the crowd support is unbelievable! I was having the time of my life, dare I say even more so than Disney?

We started in the city people seeing their runners off. It was a little quiet from mile 1-2 until you see Justice Page playing his sousaphone. The after that it’s a full on party. I’ve never seen so many people out spectating. Miles 3-8 go around the chain of lakes and the number of lawn parties, no words. Bottomless Mimosas. None for me but there were many takers! The Vikings were playing so lots of score talk. One house even had a DJ! Mile 9 things started to go sideways. The whispers from my IT Band turned into a not so subtle poking. I’m thinking I’m still going to gut it out, I’m pacing well and enjoying the race too much. Mile 11 the nausea I battled earlier in the summer when it was hot returned. NOOOO! I texted DH and asked him to bring Goldfish crackers at our next meet up. When I saw him at Mile 12.6 I told him how I was feeling and he told me I didn’t look so good. I sat down on the curb and he went to wipe the sweat off me with a towel, only there was no sweat. I was in trouble. I made the awful decision to drop out.

It sucks and I’m having all kinds of feelings about it. I really want to run the whole course, it truly was amazing, but I’m scared to death to run into this same scenario again in the future. This race was cancelled in 2023 due to heat and I think the reality now is that I need a later fall marathon as insurance for the weather. So right now I don’t know where I stand on this marathon for me but I can’t recommend it enough.

So I’m taking the week easy and then jumping back into training for MW. Not sure if this is going to change my plans to focus on fun during the marathon or not. I was going to focus on pics this year but now I have the itch to run for time.

I'm so sorry it didn't work out for you! But you definitely made the right choice to protect your health.

I'd love to run the full at TCMW, but I'm not fast enough over that distance, and the way the weather has been trending, I don't think we're going to get many cooler TCMW in the future. I saw an article from MPR that they're considering moving it later in October, but realistically, it can't move back more than 1 weekend, otherwise it hits MEA weekend, and they'd lose a lot of the student volunteers.

And they didn't mention this, but it can't really go after MEA because then we start getting close to Halloween, and the potential for snow, which would be even worse than heat.

 

[col1]

Wineglass - continued

So how my day went, this was my A-race attempt at Boston. 2027 gets me the age bump, but with them cutting time I still need a 3:30 (so really I’m looking for 3:23). That is right on the edge for me, maybe a little beyond even. Having just done Dopey at 3:32 I am confident that I can beat 3:30 well rested. Mathematically my best half says I can do a full in about 3:28 and that’s almost 4 years old. My best recent mile according to a couple calculators says I can do it in just over 3:22 but really that would have to be me feeling perfect, the weather being perfect, and the course being fast. Well you can’t win if you don’t play so I made a plan and didn’t care that the weather wasn’t ideal, I was going for broke. I trained good but probably relied too much on my base and didn’t do enough speed work, but just the fact that I consistently run 4-5 days/week 100+ miles/month I felt really good going into it.

Lined up at the start, I talked with the fastest (3:30) pace group and found a few looking for 3:25 or faster so it was nice to know who I could watch and try to stay ahead of or with, I let them know I’d be running 4 min, walking 30 sec so we’d be playing leapfrog for some of the race. Started good, not too fast this time, really tried to keep tabs on it. This was the first time I made up a pace band (more discussion on this to come) and at mile 1 I was ahead, not because I was fast but because there was less crowding than I expected. Mile 2-3 saw me about 30 seconds ahead, perfect to slow a little for a small hill and stay on target. Basically went up and down from my pace within 30 seconds of my goal right to mile 10. Mile 11-12 saw a bit of slow down when the aid station didn’t line up good with a walk interval but I was still on target. My pace band said 1:40:49 for the half goal and my split was 1:41:14. 25 seconds off pace and feeling good, much better pace management than previous races. Gained a little on a downhill and showed 10 seconds off at the mile 14 marker, now for a little bit of uphill.

Now is when I started to feel it, the sun was getting up there and the temp was climbing faster than forecast, my pace slowed to above 8 minutes/mile and I knew my goal was out of reach today. No problem, I just pulled a near perfect first half so if I could hold 8/mile or even a little over I could still pull off a record so I pushed it a little harder. Mile 17 saw a 7:57 split and that was all it took to push me off the knifes edge. My brain said you can do it but my legs disagreed wholeheartedly. 9 min, 10 min, 11, 12, the pace dropped steadily. Stopped off at mile 24 aid station for a quick stretch and a reset, glad I spent a few minutes there (came in at a 15 min mile) because it saved my sub 4 streak. I was able to push it back to sub 10 min miles to the finish and keep it just under 4 hours.

I’m happy, it’s another marathon finish, I will get the right race and weather at the right time. Tried different fueling this race and it worked for me, I don’t think that’s why I slowed this time. I was able to drive 4-1/2 hours home and I’m fully functional today. Any time you finish 26.2 with a smile is a win.

View attachment 1013105


The Corning glass medal

View attachment 1013106

That’s a shame but you left it all out there in your attempt and with more favourable conditions I’m sure your BQ is out there for you.

 

[col1]

No medal on this Monday, my first DNF

Yesterday was the TC Marathon. It was my third marathon but first time here. I had a great training block, didn’t get sick, was injury free except for a few whispers from my old friend IT Band. I was so ready for this race. It was warm, windy and had pop up rain. The best laid plans…..

I’ve wanted to do this race for awhile but didn’t think I was ready, until now! I love Twin Cities in Motion events and feel lucky to be local and participate in most of them. I usually run the 10 mile which finishes on the same course so I was familiar with the end but not the first part of the course. You start in Minneapolis, run around the chain of lakes, up the Mississippi River and then down Summit Ave to the Capitol in St. Paul. It’s gorgeous and the crowd support is unbelievable! I was having the time of my life, dare I say even more so than Disney?

We started in the city people seeing their runners off. It was a little quiet from mile 1-2 until you see Justice Page playing his sousaphone. The after that it’s a full on party. I’ve never seen so many people out spectating. Miles 3-8 go around the chain of lakes and the number of lawn parties, no words. Bottomless Mimosas. None for me but there were many takers! The Vikings were playing so lots of score talk. One house even had a DJ! Mile 9 things started to go sideways. The whispers from my IT Band turned into a not so subtle poking. I’m thinking I’m still going to gut it out, I’m pacing well and enjoying the race too much. Mile 11 the nausea I battled earlier in the summer when it was hot returned. NOOOO! I texted DH and asked him to bring Goldfish crackers at our next meet up. When I saw him at Mile 12.6 I told him how I was feeling and he told me I didn’t look so good. I sat down on the curb and he went to wipe the sweat off me with a towel, only there was no sweat. I was in trouble. I made the awful decision to drop out.

It sucks and I’m having all kinds of feelings about it. I really want to run the whole course, it truly was amazing, but I’m scared to death to run into this same scenario again in the future. This race was cancelled in 2023 due to heat and I think the reality now is that I need a later fall marathon as insurance for the weather. So right now I don’t know where I stand on this marathon for me but I can’t recommend it enough.

So I’m taking the week easy and then jumping back into training for MW. Not sure if this is going to change my plans to focus on fun during the marathon or not. I was going to focus on pics this year but now I have the itch to run for time.

Sorry it didn’t go as planned. IT bands issues are a curse . The issues with the heat , nausea and no sweating were scary and you did absolutely the right thing to call it when you did. Live to fight another day . For marathon weekend if you now want to run for time will you just make the call based on the weather in the days before ?

 

[RuntheMouse]

Sorry it didn’t go as planned. IT bands issues are a curse . The issues with the heat , nausea and no sweating were scary and you did absolutely the right thing to call it when you did. Live to fight another day . For marathon weekend if you now want to run for time will you just make the call based on the weather in the days before ?

If my training goes as well as it did for TC and the weather is near 50 I’ll probably run for time. I really wanted to do a photo stop run this time but admittedly it’s hard for my brain to be ok with that. It’s the only reason I signed up for 2 marathons so close and well, now I didn’t finish the first. Game time decision!

 

[nancipants]

Prime Day sales: picked up Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 for $124.99. (They’re also on sale on the Shokz site but I want them for a race this weekend so faster shipping won out.)

 

[KCO5988]

Ugh so my training block starts Monday for my Feb marathon and my shin splints that I dealt with at the end of my May marathon training have returned. They started to bother me the slightest bit during the peak week of my half marathon training in September but went away during taper. I've held the same (taper) mileage steady for the last 4 weeks to avoid them coming back by building too fast but mid last week they came back. I'm now trying to get into the orthopedic asap to try for PT because I should not be having shin splint pain during a 25-mile week! Trying not to panic for what this may mean for my training block. Also, with only 14 weeks until Dopey I'm worried and very frustrated. Rant over, thanks.

 

[The Expert]

Prime Day sales: picked up Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 for $124.99. (They’re also on sale on the Shokz site but I want them for a race this weekend so faster shipping won out.)

Woohoo! Finally picking up the mini size I need. Thanks for the tip!

 

[camaker]

What brand do you take for the glucosamine/chondroitin? I have a recent arthritis diagnosis.

I have never heard of urolithin A - what is that supposed to do?

I just use a generic Target "Up & Up" brand of "triple strength glucosamine chondroitin complex". It's supposed to be equivalent to the much more expensive name brand Osteo Bi-Flex Triple Strength. Seems to work well for me. If I stop taking it for a while, I find aches and pains start to creep back into my knees and then go away when I get back to taking it routinely.

Urolithin A is supposed to be some kind of mitochondrial booster. It gets advertised as a muscle strength enhancer and recovery booster. I haven't really noticed a big impact from it, though. My PT recommended it and was planning to start taking it herself. I need to check in with her and see if she saw any benefits.

 

[nancipants]

Woohoo! Finally picking up the mini size I need. Thanks for the tip!

What color did you get? I was debating between black and silver to be neutral, but decided on Rebel Alliance orange.

 

[LSUlakes]

VENT: Does this discussion board make anyone else's web browser crash regularly? It is not uncommon for me to be typing in here, and my browser freezes up - all windows - and I have to restart it. For the second week in a row, it has done this as I'm typing up my long training blog entry.... and of course if I restart the browser, I lose everything I've been typing. SO FRUSTRATING!

It's probably just the specific lucky combination of my laptop + web browser + whatever else...but geez,

This is the website it happens most often with, and honestly, it's not where I spend most of my time in my web browser, so it seems like there's something "special" about it.

I almost asked about this the other day and yes it makes posting on this site a pita! It will suddenly stop typing when new adds load or the site refreshes itself.... Drives me a little crazy, but glad to know I am not the only one. There is a crazy amount of adds on this forum!

Out of curiosity can we talk running supplements? What does everyone take and what do you swear by?

Does chocolate milk count for post run refreshment?

And now one more discussion topic- pace bands, anyone use one or thought about it?

Thought about it, but then I was like my Garmin can do this as well if I set it up correctly, but then I didnt want my watch beeping at my that I suck if I was falling behind on pace so I opted not to lol.

Ugh so my training block starts Monday for my Feb marathon and my shin splints that I dealt with at the end of my May marathon training have returned. They started to bother me the slightest bit during the peak week of my half marathon training in September but went away during taper. I've held the same (taper) mileage steady for the last 4 weeks to avoid them coming back by building too fast but mid last week they came back. I'm now trying to get into the orthopedic asap to try for PT because I should not be having shin splint pain during a 25-mile week! Trying not to panic for what this may mean for my training block. Also, with only 14 weeks until Dopey I'm worried and very frustrated. Rant over, thanks.

Shin splints for someone with a regular running routine is not something I hear about often. Just my $.02, get new shoes, your current ones may be the issue or worn out. Ride a bike if you can to keep up cardio and freeze water in a solo cup, take ice out and rub it into the painful parts of your shin for a few days. If you have been running 25 MPW on average for the last 2-3 months, I believe your problem is your shoes. fixing that will fix the problem in just a few days. IF not that, it could take a while and in addition to the bike, a elliptical machine and/or some swimming would help.

 

[KCO5988]

Shin splints for someone with a regular running routine is not something I hear about often. Just my $.02, get new shoes, your current ones may be the issue or worn out. Ride a bike if you can to keep up cardio and freeze water in a solo cup, take ice out and rub it into the painful parts of your shin for a few days. If you have been running 25 MPW on average for the last 2-3 months, I believe your problem is your shoes. fixing that will fix the problem in just a few days. IF not that, it could take a while and in addition to the bike, a elliptical machine and/or some swimming would help.

I actually peaked at 40 miles for my half that was a month ago (so peak was 6 & 7 weeks ago) they started niggling a bit those two weeks but went away with taper. I've been sticking at 25 to have a couple weeks recovery but then they started acting up again end of last week. They first hit back in April when I got over 40 miles in training, but not my marathon before that. The shoe theory is interesting. When I first had them, they hurt more on days I ran in my Brooks Glycerin so I retired those. Asics Novablasts were the other pair in my rotation. I got Mount to Coast R1s and was running most days with just those until I could get a new pair of Novablasts since they were worn out. I'm trying to remember if the pain started up again before or after I got those new ones because maybe they're the problem. Either way I've got an appointment with an orthopedic tomorrow and hopefully she'll send me to a PT who can help. I'm thinking the more likely scenario is weak hips/core because I know those aren't as strong as they were before I had kids.

 

[jrsharp21]

I did it! After talking about it for the longest time, I finally did an IronMan event. I raced and completed the IronMan 70.3 Waco this past Sunday. Finished in 6 hours, 43 minutes. On top of the physical aspect of it, that may be one of the most mentally exhausting things I have ever done. The voices in your head are so loud and non stop the entire race. The highs and lows are crazy. And one thing that was always there, was fear, at least in the swim and bike stages. Luckily I came out in one piece, no injuries, just some soreness. Ready for MW now!!!

 

[nancipants]

I did it! After talking about it for the longest time, I finally did an IronMan event. I raced and completed the IronMan 70.3 Waco this past Sunday. Finished in 6 hours, 43 minutes. On top of the physical aspect of it, that may be one of the most mentally exhausting things I have ever done. The voices in your head are so loud and non stop the entire race. The highs and lows are crazy. And one thing that was always there, was fear, at least in the swim and bike stages. Luckily I came out in one piece, no injuries, just some soreness. Ready for MW now!!!

Yes, way to go!

 

[nancipants]

Tim Walz and his daughter Hope ran the Twin Cities 10 miler in 1:38:12!

 

[RuntheMouse]

I did it! After talking about it for the longest time, I finally did an IronMan event. I raced and completed the IronMan 70.3 Waco this past Sunday. Finished in 6 hours, 43 minutes. On top of the physical aspect of it, that may be one of the most mentally exhausting things I have ever done. The voices in your head are so loud and non stop the entire race. The highs and lows are crazy. And one thing that was always there, was fear, at least in the swim and bike stages. Luckily I came out in one piece, no injuries, just some soreness. Ready for MW now!!!

Amazing! way to go!!!

 

[pluto377]

How many days of training can you miss before you need to think about adjusting your plan? My last run was an 11 miler on Sep 28. Then I got sick. Started feeling better from a sinus infection and now I'm having upper respiratory symptoms (cough, sore throat) I'm thinking it'll still be a few days before I can run. I'm supposed to run a half on Oct 19, but I'm not opposed to bagging it. I'm just freaking out because the margin for error for me with Dopey training is razor thin. I'm not sure how to get back into the groove when I start up again.

 

[Naomeri]

Tim Walz and his daughter Hope ran the Twin Cities 10 miler in 1:38:12!

Yep, my governor kicked my butt on Sunday

It explains why I didn’t see him greeting runners in front of the Governor’s Mansion like he was on Saturday.