"We'll Get There When We Get There!" Mr Incr3dible's journal (comments definitely welcome)

[WillRunForPizza]

My left calf is actually bigger than my right calf, with no injury.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

My left calf is actually bigger than my right calf, with no injury.

Curious. I'm hearing that you are actually an NFL place kicker when not running.... ;-)
For me, I'm OCD and an engineer, so always keen on measurements and numbers.
FWIW, the DW's knees have been subject of scrutiny for symmetry as we try to keep an eye on how the swelling is going down on her knee replacement.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

After running 6 out of the 7 days through March 1st, I was feeling it in my legs yesterday. Besides it being a bit brisker than expected with the wind, my legs were tired, so at the 1-mile mark, I bagged it and headed back for a total of just over 2 miles, and decided to take it easy the rest of the day (not easy for me to do).
But on Saturday, I had a nice 3.56 mile run at a 12:22 pace, and no shin splints! So definitely on the road back towards where I was 9+ months ago, and super excited about SS.
And as now noted in my signature, put me in the group that doesn't have to run, I GET to run!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Got home from work this afternoon and it was sunny and temps in the mid 60's. Perfect.
Did my warmup walk, which is getting out of the neighborhood and across the intersection to the sidewalk I run on, started the watch and started into a jog. When I had to stop for a walk break, I looked down and it was 4/10 of a mile of continuous jogging! A good start. The first mile was in the high 12's and then miles 2 and 3 were both sub 12-minutes miles. By the time I was getting back to the neighborhood I was back to regular strides! The last 2/10 or so of my run are flat or even a tad downhill and I was (for me) moving. No shin splints and regular strides with no ill effect. I haven't felt like this since early August of last year. Still feeling the miles in my calves for now, and still having to build my lungs back up, but definite progress. Plus I'm starting to get back to feeling full of energy. I tell family and friends that it sounds counter-intuitive, but the more I run and improve my conditioning, the more energy I have, and I was really feeling it today. I know: for curmudgeon-in-training me, this is positively giddy.
Thank you for reading.
And as I've started telling people: I don't have to run; I get to run.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I managed to go for a run Tue afternoon after the conference sessions were over. A coworker wanted to run also, but has a pace literally twice as fast as mine. This individual is younger, a lot thinner, and can qualify for any of the majors. Really fast. I pointed out how slow I'd be and coworker said, no problem, they would just circle me. And did, running ahead and behind in giant loops. We ran down to Seaworld to where I could see the roller coasters over the fence, take a selfie, and then turn around. Perfect weather.
The bigger takeaway is that I did 4.65 miles, the longest I've run since last summer. My pace was over 15 minutes, but I also forgot to stop my watch when I ducked into a drugstore for some antacid, and got stuck behind someone who's credit card wouldn't swipe, so I think my pace will take care of itself for SS, and I now have more confidence of finishing the 10 miles. It won't be quick or pretty, but I'll git 'er done, to quote Larry the Cable Guy.

I'm excited for SS, and very excited for 2026 Goofy. I'm also extremely grateful to the person who shared a queue link with me to get registered for MW. I later shared a link and hope that someone was able to benefit from it. As I said in the main forum, I love how we support each other both at registration time and overall.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Great afternoon for a run: 75 degrees and fairly how humidity, plus I had taken a couple of days off to rest my legs. I also tried to consciously follow a Galloway RWR cadence with something like a minute of running and 30 seconds of walking. The result was 4 miles with an overall pace of 11:59 min/mile. On the two miles that are flat-ish, the times were down to 11:14 and 11:25, and the uphill walking definitely affected the times of the other two miles. So maybe no balloon ladies in my future, assuming I can do 2.5x what I did today in a few weeks. But feeling good, and progress.
Thanks for reading.

 

[LSUlakes]

Great afternoon for a run: 75 degrees and fairly how humidity, plus I had taken a couple of days off to rest my legs. I also tried to consciously follow a Galloway RWR cadence with something like a minute of running and 30 seconds of walking. The result was 4 miles with an overall pace of 11:59 min/mile. On the two miles that are flat-ish, the times were down to 11:14 and 11:25, and the uphill walking definitely affected the times of the other two miles. So maybe no balloon ladies in my future, assuming I can do 2.5x what I did today in a few weeks. But feeling good, and progress.
Thanks for reading.

Good to hear that you are getting some workouts done! Little steps at a time. Remember to stay positive and dont get frustrated at the rate of your progress. If you do, just recall the point where you would have been happy to just walk a mile in 20 minutes or something like that. Helps bring everything back into perspective! Keep up the good work!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Reposting for posterity and continuity from the SS thread:
Yesterday was darn near perfect: temps in the low 70's, low humidity, some breezes. So I headed to the greenway to enjoy some flat-ish running and to try for 5 miles while sticking to RWR intervals. Keep in mind that on Friday, I did a neighborhood run (meaning with hills) of 4 miles with an 11:48 pace, so I had optimistic thoughts for yesterday.
I started with a 3 minute/24-second run/walk interval and had a 10:33 pace for that first mile. That said, I think I may have overdone it a bit. Or maybe I forgot a second shot of my inhaler right before getting out of the car, maybe from not long enough time since having lunch. Either way, I was really breathing hard at the end of that first mile, and jogged the next half mile at an 11:45 pace and then decided to try a different interval.
I reset things to 2min/30seconds and set out again. This time I had an 11:16 pace, but again was really feeling it at the end of that mile.
So in spite of near perfect conditions, it just wasn't going to be a great run. Maybe from overdoing it the first mile? But I was 2.5 miles from my car, so I walked the rest of the way back at about a 16 min/mile pace.
So whereas ten months ago I wouldn't be concerned about the SS 10-miler [cue to me laughing derisively in the face of 10 miles], I'm taking nothing for granted and will be pacing myself accordingly with an eye on simply finishing. Just dang, but still way ahead of where I was a few months ago.
I'll go back out tomorrow or Wed and stick to the 2/30 interval and see how it goes. Maybe just a day or two of recovery will make a nice difference. Regardless, progress and really looking forward to SS.

Note: sometimes we serve as examples of how to do something, and sometimes for how not to do something. This post was more of the latter. YMMV

 

[LSUlakes]

Some runs just arent the one. Bad ones happen, but whats important you were out there and got it done!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

At this point, we are supposed to be tapering before the race, but since I haven't done any particularly long runs, my tapering looks more like a flat line with a step function at the end.
I did 4 miles yesterday in the yellow fog of pollen and managed 4.11 miles at an avg pace of 11:52 using 45/45 RWR intervals. The best mile (the flattest mile) was 11:31. I'm hoping the rain clears the air a bit and then Tue will be an easy 2-3 mile run for my taper. Wed is all day driving, and then Thur in the park, Fri and Sat trying not to walk too many miles at the airshow, and then SS race day!
I'm packed, I'm pumped, and looking forward to being back at WDW on a race weekend!

 

[col1]

It’s been a rough road for you, congratulations on your recovery and getting back to a race weekend, Enjoy

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Thank you. Much appreciated.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Springtime Surprise race report and notes:
As noted elsewhere in the SS thread, I really overdid it with walking in the three days before the race (nearly 60k steps total Thur - Sat) and another 41+K steps after the race. My pinky toes are susceptible to blisters and both of them had blisters after Thursday, so this is the first time I've gone into a race (not named Dopey) with blisters. I drained them, applied blister tape, and never noticed them during the race. Whew.

Also as noted elsewhere, I should have gone for comfort over style and dressed a little less warmly. (But I really wanted to do the full Mr Incredible outfit for this race!)
I did my usual pre-race fueling, hydrated at every water stop, and consumed fuel at the 4-mile mark. I skipped my 8-mile fueling because by that time I was in a rhythm and had eaten some of the energy beans rD was handing out, and basically didn't feel like stopping.
As for the rhythm, I was nominally running a 45/45 second RWR, occasionally skipping a walk segment when I was feeling it, and sometimes doubling up on the walk segments later in the race, or on some of the uphills like the on-ramp.
Speaking of the on-ramp, as I'm part way up, I hear the speakers with the two women bantering, one about U of Florida, one about FSU, and in the back-ground I hear the Georgia Tech fight song! I sang it as best I could while trying to breathe, and said something about it to the ladies, but they had no clue as to what they were hearing. Go figure.
Back to the RWR: I can definitely say that I was feeling fresher at the end than I would have been otherwise, and I was still alternating running and walking to the finish line. So I will continue using this method, and tweaking my intervals, as I train between now and January for MW 2026.
My chip time was 2:35, but take out the 25 minutes I spent standing in line, and I finished in around 2 hours and 10 minutes. Given that I've been back to any sort of running for only about 6 weeks, I am more than happy. As for the hamstring, it was totally a non-factor, which was a pleasant surprise. As mentioned in in the SS thread, what turned out to be factors were: overdressing for the heat, still carrying a few more pounds than I care for, and a general lack of conditioning. The conditioning was something for which I could not do any more than I did, and it will come with time, so nothing to dwell on here. At this point, it's back to being careful with what I eat and slowly amping up the training over the next 8-9 months.
Oh, and race day stats: After HS, and because we had already checked out and because there is nowhere quiet at Disney, I had to go back to the car to crash for a bit before heading over to Epcot. With the time in HS and Epcot, a total of 45,174 steps for 23.5 miles, and 4,163 calories burned. We left Epcot around 6 and headed to a hotel room waiting in Ocala. I was pretty wiped out and slept quite soundly. And still feeling it on Tuesday, but by the end of the week, I'll be back to training. Great weekend, great shirt, great medal.

 

[jmasgat]

So glad that you had a good experience. As for "no quiet at Disney", I was there last month with my DH and on our last day we went and had lunch at AK Lodge and just hung out there. Walked over to Kidani, then back to Jambo to sit in the corner by the hot tub area until it was time to leave for the airport. It's peaceful, there are animals and it's a nice way to just relax.

 

[nancipants]

Great report. Glad you are back to running races!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Went for my first serious post-SS run. Great weather for it as a cool front came through. I did (mostly) a 45/45 RWR, and I say mostly in that a couple of times I ran through a walk segment, knowing that I'd walk through a run segment on the hills. I think it all evens out in the end.
I was definitely going faster on the run segments, and wound up seriously breathing hard at the end, so plenty of exertion and a good workout.
Bottom line: 4.0 miles at an 11:31 average pace, with the first and last mile down near 11!
And the weight is starting to slowly come back down as well.
Woo-hoo! Thanks for reading.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Another run yesterday, and while I am back to decent running, it is still clear that certain muscles, especially the calves, are still getting themselves back to full race tune. It is hard to explain, in that most of the time I feel fine now, but there are times when things still don't feel quite like before, both while running and regular walking around. And if I do too much bending or crouching, I'll feel it in the hamstring later in the day. Hopefully all of that will eventually go away with time and as training continues.
Yesterday was another 4.02 miles at an 11:34 pace. Looks like the RWR does yield a fair amount of consistency. I'm going to keep the 4 mile distance for a while and see if the times drop with faster run segments, and if my breathing improves. I have mild asthma and use an inhaler for runs, but I have found that my lungs will build up somewhat as I train, and I need to get that back.
Thanks for reading. Happy running.