2266 replies to this topic

[Trautwein's Degree]

VCM is a ton of fun. Way to go, Jerry!

[Jerrygarciaparra]

Thanks. I'm nervous. Alternating between fear that I won't finish and very vivid fantasies of running a Boston Qualifier my first time out.

Hopefully I'll land right in the middle

[Trautwein's Degree]

Thanks. I'm nervous. Alternating between fear that I won't finish and very vivid fantasies of running a Boston Qualifier my first time out.

Right where you should be! The course at VCM would be a very tough BQ. Looking at the data from my Garmin, the course has 1013 feet of elevation gain and 1134 of elevation loss - that's a lot of hills. Looking at the website made me want to sign up.

[Jerrygarciaparra]

Thank Traut ... I need to banish those high expectations so I don't get discouraged.

[Jerrygarciaparra]

OK , so trying something new : I'm adding one fartlek workout a week.

Being older and retunring to running i'm been very careful to only run every other day to avoid an injury

But if I do Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays that should be too taxing on my old bones

[Trautwein's Degree]

I don't think so. Most all marathon plans are 4 to 5 days a week running. The best rule with running is to listen to your body. If something feels wrong in your stride - cut your run short and rest. Fartleks are just unstructured intervals. I mix them into my runs all of the time. Namely, I like running hard up hills.

[sass a thon]

Haven't been here in ages, but there's so much awesomeness in this thread! Congrats to everyone on accomplishing your 2011 goals and best of luck this year. If you haven't joined Daily Mile, what are you waiting for? It takes motivation and accountability to a new level.

[WinRemmerswaal]

OK, so picking up on Traut's plans for 2012 theme:
I think I am going to have another go at a marathon. Ran Providence this May 1, tweaked my knee and so was well off of my goal time of a BQ for my age. Built back up slowly through the spring and summer, but I really never feel that good running in the heat. Through this fall have been doing steady mileage, about 40 miles/week the past 4 weeks, did 13.4 this weekend and felt pretty good.

So, suggestions for a spring marathon? I am leaning towards Providence again, it was a reasonable course and seemed well organized, but I could be convinced to try somewhere else.

[bosoxgrl]

I just finished a relay race in Florida. 12 man team runs from Miami to Key West. 3 legs a piece. It was the most fun running I have ever done.

[Hildy]

I'm setting my running goals for 2012 to Don't Quit. The next four months are going to suck (chemo) but from what I can tell, the more you can stick with an exercise regimen, the better off you are. I just need to figure out how to do it.

[Trautwein's Degree]

I'm setting my running goals for 2012 to Don't Quit. The next four months are going to suck (chemo) but from what I can tell, the more you can stick with an exercise regimen, the better off you are. I just need to figure out how to do it.

Rock on Hildy! One of my Daily Mile friends ran the Chicago Marathon in 3:58 while undergoing chemo for large cell lymphoma. In addition to being amazing, she's also very friendly. Here's a link to her blog if you want to reach out to her. I'm sure she would love hearing from you.

[Jerrygarciaparra]

Right on Hildy!

[Kremlin Watcher]

Go Hildy, go! We're here for you.

[Hildy]

Wow, Traut, that is an amazing blog. Thank you so much for sharing it.

[Jerrygarciaparra]

So I can take the cold ; I've lived in Vermont most of my life and I know how to dress in layers.

But I must say I am getting a little tired of the slushy and sloppy sidewalks and shoulders. It's like slogging through quicksand.

I guess I just have to quit my bellyaching and expect it.

[Trautwein's Degree]

I just signed up for the Holyoke St. Patrick's Day 10k. It is my second 10k. My first was Holyoke in 2003. I'm excited to challenge myself at that distance. The race is a ton of fun. I'm going to do some 800s tonight.

[Jerrygarciaparra]

This is a cool looking race :

http://www.oldporthalfmarathon.com/

[Kremlin Watcher]

Is anyone here planning on doing the Hyannis Half down here on the Cape in February? Did it last year in the snow, but if the weather's nice it's a pretty race. I'm signed up.

[bosoxgrl]

I'm setting my running goals for 2012 to Don't Quit. The next four months are going to suck (chemo) but from what I can tell, the more you can stick with an exercise regimen, the better off you are. I just need to figure out how to do it.

I totally missed this (don't check this thread enough). What Ryan said. We're all behind you in your fight!

[Gunfighter 09]

Carlsbad Half Marathon 1:45:25.

I hate that 25 seconds more than the thought of 130 games of Nick Punto.

Great race, with a relatively flat out n back course right along the beach.


Hildy, good luck, rooting for you to keep at it.

[Jerrygarciaparra]

Nice job Gunfighter !!

Can anyone recommend any good stretches for the gluteus maximus? I am very stiff and sore , uh ... downtown .

I had a couple that I used when my IT band was bothering me and I've been doing them, but I never feel like I'm stretched enough.

[Kremlin Watcher]

Nice job Gunfighter !!

Can anyone recommend any good stretches for the gluteus maximus? I am very stiff and sore , uh ... downtown .

I had a couple that I used when my IT band was bothering me and I've been doing them, but I never feel like I'm stretched enough.

Some effective ones I have used in the past:
- leaning against a counter or a bar that allows you to bend to about 75 degrees at the waist, cross one leg over the other, and on the weight-bearing back leg, stick your butt out and to the side of the weight-bearing leg. You should feel stretching on the lateral side of the glute. Do this several times for 20-30 seconds.
- sitting on a medicine ball, or failing that, a tennis ball, roll your glute around and around on the ball, putting most or all of your weight on the pressure point generated by the ball. This massages out the fascia and is effective in eliminating adhesions in the muscle.
- there is another one that I do that really stretches a lot of leg muscles (including the glute), but you have to be really careful with this one because it's easier to strain something with it: do a forward lunge, putting both hands on the ground as you lunge forward as far as possible with one leg (the back leg heel should come off the ground to maximize the length of the lunge). Then try, slowly, to touch the instep of the outstretched leg's foot with the same side arm's elbow. Go slowly, but this is basically the most comprehensive dynamic stretch I have ever found for the leg.

Edited by Kremlin Watcher, 25 January 2012 - 02:27 PM.

[Jerrygarciaparra]

Thanks Kremlin, I'll try them. I hope I didn't hurt myself last week when I fell flat on my back like a sack of wet cement.

[sass a thon]

Anyone ever run the Cape Cod Half Marathon in late October? I'll be in town for a wedding and am contemplating running it.

[Kremlin Watcher]

No, but I understand that it is a beautiful course in Falmouth. The Cape Cod Marathon, run the same weekend, is said to be a brutally hilly marathon course, but I am not sure that the half is that bad as it doesn't go as far inland.

[rbeaud]

Question for the Garmin 405 users...a friend went running on Monday when it was raining. On powering up, the screen was black. Google revealed how to reboot the watch, no dice. Anyone else have a suggestion that might restore his running computer? As an aside, he's getting a little leary since the original purchase was through Amazon. Not much by way of service unfortunately.

[underhandtofirst]

Question for the Garmin 405 users...a friend went running on Monday when it was raining. On powering up, the screen was black. Google revealed how to reboot the watch, no dice. Anyone else have a suggestion that might restore his running computer? As an aside, he's getting a little leary since the original purchase was through Amazon. Not much by way of service unfortunately.

I have a 405 and have had success with the reboot. The watch may need to dry out some more. I've heard you can put electronics in rice to help them dry out. Supposedly it works well with cell phones.

[pedro1918]

I was planning on running a half marathon here in D.C. on St. Patrick's Day weekend but it looks like I'm going to need to visit my parents on the North Shore of Boston that weekend. Does any anyone know of a replacement race, 10K to half, that I could run? I can drive a bit, but the Swampscott, Lynn, Salem, Beverly area would be ideal.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Joe Sixpack]

It's a bit of a drive from the north shore, but I'd recommend the New Bedford Half Marathon. Really great race, well run and has been around for about 35 years. I ran it last year and will be running it again this year.

The only other one I can find is the Half of Quincy Half Marathon, which I don't really know anything about so I couldn't tell you if it's any good.

http://newbedfordhalfmarathon.com/
http://halfofquincy.com/

[Trautwein's Degree]

I second the New Bedford half. I ran it two years ago and enjoyed it. The town really embraces the race. It is well organized and still has the feel of a local road race. Several miles of this course are on along the ocean. Iirc, there were two hills, one at about mile two and a smaller one later in three race.

[pedro1918]

Thanks folks, I'll check out New Bedford.

[Hildy]

Went running today for the first time since surgery in December (not allowed to jiggle around reconstructive surgery. TMI, but thems the facts.) Only went a mile, but since I also had the first chemo infusion last Monday, I'm particularly happy to have been able to shuffle around the track. I have been walking regularly, which helps.

Edited by Hildy, 02 February 2012 - 03:04 PM.

[Jerrygarciaparra]

Right on Hildy! I am impressed.

[TallerThanPedroia]

[Kremlin Watcher]

That's pretty amusing. I say most of that shit.

[TallerThanPedroia]

Cha cha cha chia!

[TallerThanPedroia]

Looks like Dan Lieberman has finished his injury study:

RESULTS:

Of the 52 runners studied, 36 (59%) primarily used a rearfoot strike and 16 (31%) primarily used a forefoot strike. Approximately 74% of runners experienced a moderate or severe injury each year, but those who habitually rearfoot strike had approximately twice the rate of repetitive stress injuries than individuals who habitually forefoot strike. Traumatic injury rates were not significantly different between the two groups. A generalized linear model showed that strike type, sex, race distance, and average miles per week each correlate significantly (p<0.01) with repetitive injury rates.
CONCLUSIONS:

Competitive cross country runners on a college team incur high injury rates, but runners who habitually rearfoot strike have significantly higher rates of repetitive stress injury than those who mostly forefoot strike. This study does not test the causal bases for this general difference. One hypothesis, which requires further research, is that the absence of a marked impact peak in the ground reaction force during a forefoot strike compared to a rearfoot strike may contribute to lower rates of injuries in habitual forefoot strikers.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/22217561

[pedro1918]

Sorry, but I just need to compalin about this here. No one at work will understand so SoSH Running Dogs get to hear about it.

Technically, I was hit by a car while running this morning. I'm fine, but a little pissed off. I was running down on Hain's Point in Washington D.C. It's a peninsula in the Potomac River with a golf course in the middle. I had run all the way down the south side and I was returning on the north side. There is hardly any traffic there at 7 AM, and it's mostly one way to boot. A good place to run.

But near the end of the return it opens up to 2-way traffic with one lane going in each direction with a traffic island in the middle. Nothing you could call a two-lane stretch of road. I was jogging along when a car pulled up next to me while passing. No problem. Then out of the blue a little red sports car came flying up an passed the original car on the inside, between the original car and me. The red car ended up hitting my left hand with it's mirror as it passed me. I yelled out "Asshole!" as the car simply sped away. I was a little pissed, but I'm fine.

I finished my run without further issues.

[Kremlin Watcher]

Man, that is scary. Glad you are alright.

Do you wear a Road ID or other emergency identification when you run? I never go anywhere without wearing my Road ID.

[pedro1918]

I do about 90% of the time. I had it on this morning, but sometimes I just forget.

[ichirob4ichiro]

But near the end of the return it opens up to 2-way traffic with one lane going in each direction with a traffic island in the middle. Nothing you could call a two-lane stretch of road. I was jogging along when a car pulled up next to me while passing. No problem. Then out of the blue a little red sports car came flying up an passed the original car on the inside, between the original car and me. The red car ended up hitting my left hand with it's mirror as it passed me. I yelled out "Asshole!" as the car simply sped away. I was a little pissed, but I'm fine.

I finished my run without further issues.

Man, you handled that a lot better than I think I would have. I've been hit/nicked like that on many occasions over the years. A few times on purpose-- followed by some heated verbal exchanges. It is funny how a scrawny, defenseless runner wearing short-shorts can extract the worst behavior from insecure passerbys. Those confrontations can stick with you, though. Going to college down in MD (not near the cities, but in redneck western MD) there are some horror stories to be told. Now I feel conditioned and find myself waiting for these encounters to occur on each run. It has resulted in me being so psyched up before anything comes close to happening, imagining a foolproof plan for an immediate death-defying retaliation and a quick escape route, that I have morphed my ego into that of a freaking super hero's. Though I'm pretty confident that I'd never have the gonads to do anything remotely as badass, but just thinking about doing it puts my head on a swivel; ultimately keeping me aware of my surroundings, hopefully enough to not get hit by any more fucking cars.

I know. I know. I suffer from total nerd rage.

[HomeBrew1901]

Never thought I would be back in this thread, I'm on my second go round with C25k, now Ease into 5k and I'm going to finish up week 3 either tonight or tomorrow night.

The first time I did this I started in the middle of June, put too much padding in my shoe and ended up tearing ligaments (didnt' know that at the time) in two toes on my left foot. Kept running through that and the wear and tear on my knees was too much, so between the heat and humidity and my knees I couldn't get through a 3 minute run and flat out quit.

A few months ago I realized that I needed to lose a lot of weight and after a month of trying different things I decided to try C25k again. This time I'm doing it on a treadmill to save the wear and tear on my knees until the muscles around them are stronger and wearing cross trainers instead of running shoes because for some reason I have never found a running shoe that works for me (and I used to work at Saucony so I used to know all about running shoes).

So far I'm really enjoying it and I've seen a dramatic shift in my weight loss and energy level. I haven't signed up for any 5ks yet but I'm looking forward to doing my first one this April or May.

[Trautwein's Degree]

Couch to 5k is great. There are no right or wrong running shoes. There's only the right shoe for you. For some, that's no shoe at all. Runstrong, Homebrew.

[Kremlin Watcher]

Homebrew - one thing you should probably look into instead of changing shoes is modifying your gait. Different shoe companies can argue the merits of their shoes, but no scientific studies have ever demonstrated the efficacy of running shoes. But many people experiencing problems with joint pain can address it through modifying your gait to a more efficient mid-foot or forefoot strike. Do a google search for "mid-foot running". There a lot of resources out there to help people use the body's natural abilities to run pain-free.

[HomeBrew1901]

Interesting that you mention that Kremlin, the one thing I've been doing on the treadmill is coming down on my forefoot instead of heel to toe running and I've found that it is more comfortable and I don't make as much noise on the treadmill. When I try to run heelstrike I sound like a herd of elephants but it is much more comfortable and more graceful(?) when I run on the forefoot, that may have more to do with my knees and ankles not hurting as not running on the street.

[Candy LaChance]

Registration for Race to Wrigley 5K now open! http://www.race-cubs...26055-251196408 It's April 14th, and they have a chip timed run, and a fun run. Looks like it would be a blast for those in the Chicago area. Starts and finishes in Wrigley.

[Jerrygarciaparra]

Right on Homebrew!

[Kremlin Watcher]

Hyannis Half-Marathon: 1:49:55 or thereabouts. Very pleased with this result considering that about 75% of my training thus far this season has been on the bike. Gives me a lot of optimism for the upcoming season. Only about four minutes off last year's PB with significantly less training.

[HomeBrew1901]

Did Day 1 of Week 4 for couch to 5k tonight, didn't know what to expect going in because I can't remember the last time I successfully ran for longer than 3 minutes (before C25K probably 1 minute) and was surprised when I looked and saw I'd have to go for 6 minutes. Threw my headphones on and started the treadmill and to my surprise had no problems getting through the workout at 6 mph and felt great the whole time.

I'm looking forward to seeing how things change when I get outside because it is difficult to run when my kids are running around the basement fighting but I still got it done.

C25K is awesome though, I can't tell you how many times I would try to start jogging only to quit 2 days in after running a little over a mile (more like plodding) each time because my lungs or legs or some other part of my body couldn't handle it.

Edited by HomeBrew1901, 27 February 2012 - 08:53 PM.

[steveluck7]

Ran the Hyannis 1/2 on Sunday... my first 1/2 so i was pleased just to finish w/o stopping. Finished in 2:18 and change. I was shooting for 2:10 so I'm not too disappointed. I felt very prepared physically, the only thing I underestimated was how long (time) I was going to be running! Sounds dumb, I know but my longest training run was just over 10, adding the 3 messed with my head more than I thought it would! I'll be ready for Providence in May!