SOSH Running Dogs

Jerrygarciaparra

My kid has superpowers
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2001
3,410
Montpelier, VT
My sixth marathon in the books.  My worst time yet by far : 4:15
 
I went out slowly ; wore my Camelbak so no problems with hydration.  Took my gels every 45 minutes.
 
I just didn't have it in me today
 

Traut

lost his degree
Lifetime Member
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Jul 20, 2005
12,750
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4:15 is a fantastic time when you're not at your best. And you can't be at your best every race. Just not possible. Way to push through when you didn't have it.
 
I did Twin Cities Marathon in 4:31. The race was beautiful, well organized, and the weather couldn't have been better. It's an amazing run and if you're reading this thread and have the chance to do Twin Cities you really should. 
 
Anyhow, going in, I knew my training was subpar. I did 1 20 mile run instead of 3. And 1 18 mile run instead of 2. A business, a 4 year old, and a 15 month old who gets up at 5 am every day will do that to a man.
 
We were supposed to fly in on Thursday but our flight got cancelled Wednesday night because of the asshole who set fire to air traffic control in Chicago more than a week prior. We ended up booking a 6:55 am flight to ATL on Friday and then onto MSP. The kids were way overtired and my son was up from 330 am forward on Saturday morning. The race was on Sunday and my son was again up at 3:30. 
 
I actually toyed with not lining up. I had my bib on, shoes laced, and gels packed. Then I said "fuck it". I'm going out with two goals: (1) to enjoy it; and (2) to finish it. And I did just that. I stopped to pose for pictures at mile 20 with family. I took as much in as I could. I didn't really "push myself". I knew a PR was out of the question (not doing better than 3:52). 
 
I finished and surprised myself by getting a little choked up with the finish line in sight. I felt great. And without much fuss, it was my second best time in the marathon. And was only moderately sore the next day for the flight home. 
 
All and all, I'm pleased. It rekindled my love of the distance. I've stopped seeing races in terms of finishing times. Just happy to be alive and running. 
 
I'm fortunate, in many respects, to be not that good of a runner. I do not believe that I have the talent - even if I really applied myself - to BQ or place in an age group at anything more than a 5k. I'm just not built for it. I'm short, flat footed, and one leg is longer than the other. Could I do a 3:35 if I really dedicated myself? Maybe. But that doesn't make me any less of a person than if my next best time in a marathon is 4:25. 
 
Never once, before the age of 29 did I consider myself a runner. I was fat and out of shape. Then one day in 2009, depressed, I went out the door with couch to 5k on my ipod and I haven't stopped since. In my mind, me finishing a marathon is only slightly more likely than the Red Sox signing me to firm up their bullpen. The real joy is in the journey and I've enjoyed every step of it. Including and especially some of my most recent steps across the finish line in St. Paul.
 
Really the marathon is like art. It's what makes us different than animals or machines. It's what makes us human.
 

Jerrygarciaparra

My kid has superpowers
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2001
3,410
Montpelier, VT
Actually I just looked at the results and feel a little better.  Solidly in the middle of the pack overall, in my age group and for men.
 
Disappointing time but not terrible.
 
And it was a great day ; the race was along Lake Champlain and the views were terrific.
 

Traut

lost his degree
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Jul 20, 2005
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No need to let vanity get in the way of fun and good running. Which is what I nearly let happen by toying with not lining up. Live the run.
 

TallerThanPedroia

Civilly Disobedient
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
25,546
Boston
Trautwein's Degree said:
No need to let vanity get in the way of fun and good running. Which is what I nearly let happen by toying with not lining up. Live the run.
Shit I do that at every race. Especially 5Ks. I spent 26 years being a lazy couch potato and I still am at heart, even when I'm pulling 80-mile weeks. Standing at the start line, especially of a short race where I know I'll be running hard the whole time (even if it's for less time than a Daily Show episode), that guy starts complaining hard.

And then the adrenaline hits, and I remember that I'm also an adrenaline junkie.
 

TallerThanPedroia

Civilly Disobedient
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
25,546
Boston
drleather2001 said:
If you could do it all over again: what worked well and what didn't for moving from kinda-runner-in-decent-shape (i.e. 4:15 marathon time) to a BQ runner?
 
How long is a realistic time frame to make that jump?
 
For me, I think my goal next year will be to break 3:50, which is still a ways off from the 3:10 time needed to qualify (I'm 35, 36 in April).  Is that a good goal, or should I be more ambitious?  
 
I have a half in 2 weeks, going to try for 1:40 but we will see.  I ran my first half last month in 1:48, but have done a lot of long runs since then and the course is more downhill.
Well, after my 4:17 marathon, I ran another one in three months and ran 4:16, and decided that running marathons wasn't the best way to get faster at them, because I was wasting too much time in recovery. So I decided to run half marathons until I could run a BQ-equivalent time - 1:27:30 or so. That was maybe too extreme - what I needed to do was learn to recover better. But I don't really regret it.

What I do regret is that it took me two years after that second marathon to stop running in these:



And start running in these:



Because that meant two extra years of hip and knee problems. I still remember the sales person at Marathon Sports who gave me my "gait analysis" (sorry, which advanced institution of learning did you go to to qualify you for that?) and told me that my arches need extra support with a really thick column of rubber. Oy.

And even then, it took my another five months to learn to run properly in them. After all, it's not so much the shoe as the gait and form. It just took getting me out of shoes with ridiculous soles to get me to learn. I know runners who wear sneakers but still run correctly in them.

But what has really helped me get faster over the last two years is getting better at recovery. That starts with proper fueling. I used to think I could train my body to go longer without fueling. This is like trying to train your car to do the same. Every run, I take a GU every five miles, starting at Mile 0, no matter what. In the summer, I also take salt pills, which have been a huge help. Lots of water. I've been using a foam roller before and after (the big thick hard kind). After every run, I have 8oz of chocolate milk (or 16 after a long run) and a banana.

That's what has allowed me to run six days a week, with doubles. And being able to do that is what helps you recover after hard workouts and races, which lets you keep your volume up. And for me that's the key to getting faster: miles miles miles. I don't do much speed work. I was doing intervals from last summer until Boston, but I largely dropped them, so now I just do one tempo run a week (two miles of warmup, then 5/7/9 at somewhere between marathon and half pace). Find hills and run up them, lots. Hills will make you tough as nails.

As for time frames, in the middle years I was doing a spring half and a fall half, dropping 3-5 minutes each time. I started doing marathons again when I hit 1:29.

Losing 20 pounds probably helped too.
 

rbeaud

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
348
Orange, CT
drleather2001 said:
In talking to people about marathon training, and looking at various running-devoted message boards, it seems like very, very, few people get through their training programs the way they would like to.  People get hurt, they get the flu, they have a kid...
 
Most training programs recommend a base of 20 miles per week prior to beginning a concerted 12-16 week program leading up to the marathon.  You've run a half recently, in good time, so you clearly have a sufficient base to build up off of.  I think you should be fine as long as you maybe give your legs a rest for a week or so and then start with a 12 week program.  The lower mileage at the beginning will allow you to rest a little bit.  Just my inexperienced POV.
 
Also, everyplace I've looked says NOT to take GU with sports drinks (e.g. gatorade, powerade) because it's basically an oversaturation of electrolytes that can cause lack of absorbsion and stomach aches.  Take GU with water.
 
Thanks drl.  I've started running again and hope to pick up the mileage again next week (figure two weeks to get back into the swing of things).  Worst case, I will just have to take a page from Traut's book and enjoy the Bahamian scenery. 
 

24JoshuaPoint

Grand Theft Duvet
SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2004
4,944
Cell Block C
Anyone else run any of the Hartford races last weekend? The rain sucked. I don't think i've ever run so far in the rain and cold before. I only did the half marathon. I wanted to run the full race but two calf injuries held me back mid to late training. I did beat my half record by about 12 minutes with an 8:35 pace so at least that's something. Two years removed from smoking has certainly gotten me a bit healthier as my normal pace is far better than what i used to run. I still want the marathon so i guess i'll set my sights on next year.
 

leftfieldlegacy

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2005
1,005
North Jersey
WSJ article about [SIZE=14.3999996185303px]gait analysis for runners available at the [/SIZE][SIZE=14.3999996185303px]Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC (and many other locations across the country) [/SIZE]which tries to identify abnormal gait patterns in runners to prevent injuries and avoid surgery. The video of the author undergoing an analysis of his running gait shows what is involved. 
Thought you Running Dogs would enjoy this. 
http://online.wsj.com/articles/gait-analysis-the-serious-runners-salvation-1411428069
 
If the direct link to the WSJ doesn't work you can get there through the HSS site. 
http://www.hss.edu/newsroom_gait-analysis-serious-runners-salvation.asp
 
 
Increasingly the runner's road to healthy joints starts with gait analysis. Medical boots, cortisone shots or even surgeries never solved runners' problems the way 20 minutes of being filmed on a treadmill can, experts say.Gait analysis seeks to identify the root of an injury, or a bad habit that may lead to one. It usually starts with an evaluation of strength and flexibility that includes some manipulation on an examination table and a series of exercises. A running session on a treadmill in front of a video camera follows. 
 

pedro1918

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 5, 2004
5,139
Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
24JoshuaPoint said:
Anyone else run any of the Hartford races last weekend? The rain sucked. I don't think i've ever run so far in the rain and cold before. I only did the half marathon. I wanted to run the full race but two calf injuries held me back mid to late training. I did beat my half record by about 12 minutes with an 8:35 pace so at least that's something. Two years removed from smoking has certainly gotten me a bit healthier as my normal pace is far better than what i used to run. I still want the marathon so i guess i'll set my sights on next year.
 
A buddy of mine ran a PR in the half and now has a really bad cold/flu.  He blames the weather, but between the sneezes, hacks and coughs, is still very excited for his PR!
 
I ran my sixth Army Ten-Miler on Sunday morning.  The talk of the morning was thank goodness it was run on a clear, crisp Sunday morning than the rain and cold of Saturday morning.  My PR for the event was 1:14:00.  I finished in 1:10:46.  I had this outside notion of finishing under 1:10, due to an off hand comment from one of my running buddies, but I am thrilled with taking 3 minutes of my PR for 10 miles. 
 
My 50K is in three weeks. A much slower pace is planned.
 

24JoshuaPoint

Grand Theft Duvet
SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2004
4,944
Cell Block C
A buddy of mine ran a PR in the half and now has a really bad cold/flu.  He blames the weather, but between the sneezes, hacks and coughs, is still very excited for his PR!
 
 
I'm lucky i didn't end up in the same sickness boat. I also figured it would be easy to find a cab after the race but alas since the whole city was basically blocked off it was tougher than anticipated. I walked for about a mile and finally stopped at a police station to call yellow cab.
 
My 50K is in three weeks. A much slower pace is planned.
 
 
Good luck that's hard core.
 

CSteinhardt

"Steiny"
Lifetime Member
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Dec 18, 2003
3,201
Cambridge
pedro1918 said:
 
 
I'll give you the best advice anyone ever game me about running races.  Run your race.  Don't worry about anyone else's race. 
 
But of course you want to beat your friends.  I understand that too.  I have no idea what they run but if they are fast and experienced you are not going to catch them by training hard for 2.5 weeks.  No matter.  There is nothing embarrassing about a 9:00/mile 5K, especially your first.  If you can rip that off without pushing it, I think you're in fine shape.  You should probably think about increasing your pace as you go.  At first, just run a comfortable, even pace for the first mile or so.  Smooth, light and easy.  I'd imagine you'll have a little race adrenaline pushing you along a bit faster than you think.  That's alright.   When you pass the first mile marker, assess how you feel.  Odds are you'll want to pick it up a notch.  Do it. If you don't want to, keep your pace. Then figure out where you are at the mile 2 marker.  If you feel like it, and it sounds like you might, you should be able to pick it up even more.  If you don't feel it, keep your pace. When you see that three mile marker, or the finish line, you can run as fast as you can and/or want.  There is no reason to hold back at that point.
 
Good luck and have some fun!
 
Thanks to you and drleather for the advice - ran the 5k this morning and managed to finish in a halfway decent time, 22:45.  Felt like crap in the first 200 meters (slightly uphill, dodging traffic, but mainly that I don't think I know how to warmup properly), but ran 7:45, 7:15, and 7:05 or so.  One of my friends ran around 20:15, but I beat the other two by a little bit.  
 
Not sure if I'll do something like this again, as I was much more motivated by going with a group than by wanting to run a 5k, but if I do, I'll make sure to try and train more properly next time.  Thanks again!
 

LogansDad

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
29,152
Alamogordo
Finally got back off my ass.  35 makes you get fat, lazy, and out of shape a lot faster than I had expected.
 
Also, fuck shin splints.  Seriously.
 

CSteinhardt

"Steiny"
Lifetime Member
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Dec 18, 2003
3,201
Cambridge
Pretty sure this is a stupid question, but I'll go ahead and ask anyway.  Having run a 5k, my friends are trying to talk me into running a marathon in the area on Nov. 15.  I like the idea of having run a marathon more than I like the idea of running a marathon, but the idea would be that we'd basically run together at a reasonable pace, and the one they have in mind has about 4500 feet of downhill over the course with basically no uphill, so I suppose it's about as easy of a marathon as one could imagine.  The nice thing about this being three weeks away is that I won't go crazy training for it, but of course that would mean I have three weeks to train for it.  Online calculators suggest that my 5k time projects to around 3:38, for a marathon presumably with a lot of training, so I'm thinking I'd start out aiming for around 4 hours, but be prepared to change my mind partway through and aim for just finishing or to speed up a bit if I'm feeling really good with a few miles to go.  There's a 6 hour cutoff. 
 
Is this a really crazy thing to do, or only somewhat crazy?  I've run a total of one race ever, a 5k last weekend, but that went well, and it at least means I've been running 3-4 miles about three times per week for the last few weeks.  I'm not in shape specifically for running, but play other sports seriously, and found that my main difficulty in training for the 5k was motivation more than fitness.  So, I'd like to think that I'm not that far from in shape to run a marathon, but I honestly have no idea.  We're planning on running about 10-12 miles tomorrow at a very easy pace and seeing how bad that is before deciding whether to sign up, but we'd have to decide by Nov. 1.  
 
So, is this slightly crazy or really freakin' insane?  If only slightly crazy, we might try it.  I'm not really worried about embarrassing myself or not finishing, but I do want to make sure that I do enough training to be sure that I'm not going to injure myself, so if that's just not possible in 3 weeks, then we shouldn't do it.  If it's only slightly crazy, what's the right training schedule?  
 

Traut

lost his degree
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Jul 20, 2005
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Do not do a marathon right now. Properly building for a marathon takes about a year of running with 18 weeks of dedicated training. Anything else you run the risk of significant injury. And you are guaranteed to have a terrible time - not just a finishing time - it will be a miserable experience.  Running a 4 hour marathon, especially it being your first, and with no training - is a lot harder than it sounds. 26.2 miles is far even when you've trained. You would be regretting your decision very early in the race. Pick one for next fall.
 

CSteinhardt

"Steiny"
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Dec 18, 2003
3,201
Cambridge
Thanks for the advice -- I had cricket matches Saturday and Sunday mornings, which involve ~5-8 miles of movement but not anywhere close to all at once, and then we did a 13.3 mile run in 2:08 Saturday evening, aiming to run really easily and not worry about pace.  At the end of the run I didn't feel like I needed to stop immediately, but I don't think I would have made it another 13 miles without some food/water (we drank a lot before going but didn't carry water with us, which was probably a mistake).  I was...not entirely happy with that decision playing cricket the next day, but did make it through the match.
 
So, I think this is something where I'd have to push myself pretty hard but is (barely) doable, which is a good fit for what I'm looking for, so unless something comes up that changes our mind, we'll be going for it.  If you think it'll be helpful for people considering something similarly stupid, I can post updates on what we end up doing for training, and otherwise I'll let you know how it goes in a few weeks.  
 

Leather

given himself a skunk spot
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
28,451
Start slower than you think is necessary. Walk through every water stop. Use Gu or something early and often to avoid glycogen depletion in the last hour.

Good luck!
 

pedro1918

Member
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Mar 5, 2004
5,139
Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
So I was going to run my first 50K on Saturday.
 
Last Sunday I ran my last double digit run, 14, and felt great afterwards.  I was planning on running 6 on Tuesday, 4 on Wednesday and 2 on Friday.  I was feeling good and ready to go.
 
Then I was stupid.
 
After my run on Sunday, I took my 8 year old to her last soccer game of the season.  The other team didn't have enough kids, so the coach decided to have the kids play the parents.  You know where this is headed.  About 15 minutes into the "game", I was lightly running down the sideline when another father passed me the ball.  I had to turn and run backwards for a couple of steps when all of the sudden I was shot in the left calf by a BB gun.  Well, not really, but that is what it felt like.  I went down in a heap.  I limped off the field and couldn't walk without assistance.  I went home, iced and compressed, and took my my ibuprofen.  I was not ready to admit my race was done.  It still hurt the next day.  And on Tuesday.  I reluctantly went to the doctor today and was given the news I already knew.  No running for 2-3 weeks.  The good news is that none of the muscles my calf have been torn, but it still hurts to walk.
 
I'm a little depressed, but I needed a doctor to tell me to stop running.  I think I would have tried to run on Saturday if I didn't have a doctor tell me no.
 
Maybe I'll run a Thanksgiving race?  We'll see.
 

Leather

given himself a skunk spot
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
28,451
:smith:
 
Sorry to hear that.  That must be really disappointing.
 

CSteinhardt

"Steiny"
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Dec 18, 2003
3,201
Cambridge
Thought I'd put this here in case anybody else was crazy enough to try the same thing we just did (decide to run a marathon without having ever done more than a 5k, on 3 weeks' notice).  Can't promise that my experience is particularly one that you should emulate, but we probably got at least some things right.
 
So, other than trying the most reasonable training schedule we could come up with, I think I made just about every mistake possible.  The training schedule we tried: 3 runs per week with either off days or 1-1.5 mile recovery jogs in between, the first week 13, 7, and 7, the second week 18, 7, 7, and the last week no long run, just 6, 4, and 2 leading up to the race.  The long runs were ideally slower than our goal pace and the others a little quicker.  It turned out that the 18 mile run cratered because we weren't taking food/water with us, and around mile 10 realized that we weren't going to make 18, so instead we did 13, ate, drank, rested for several hours, and did another 7 in the night in the hopes that it would be approximately the same (20 total) as doing 18 all at once.  We also found that most of us missed a couple of the runs for various reasons.  In my case, I had a stress-related foot injury about a week before the race, dialed it down as much as possible, and decided to just go for it.  Probably not all that wise, as it definitely was a very sharp pain every time I landed.  I suspect this is also because my running form isn't very good -- I've been told that especially downhill you should be landing really quietly because it spreads out impact, and we sound more like a herd of elephants.  We knew that the marathon we were running had a lot of downhill (one of the reasons it was chosen), so we tried to do a few miles of downhill running in each of the long runs, though we couldn't really get a long, uninterrupted stretch.
 
On the day of the race, we felt good from having not trained much in the last week, and thought we'd aim for about a 8:45-9:00 pace for the first half, hoping that we could continue at that pace and end up under 4 hours.  Three of us with similar conditioning decided to run together, and after pushing through a little traffic at the start, what we thought was an easy pace for us turned out to be a whole lot quicker -- we were running more like 7:45 but we didn't feel like we were working that hard -- I knew that were trying to go out easy, but this really felt easy, so we just decided we should continue until we started feeling that it was a problem, then slow down.  I should have known better, since my 5k time is about a 7:20 mile.  But, there were some downhill stretches, and I didn't know better, and we did the first half in 1:43, which was almost a full 15 minutes faster than we were aiming for.  We made sure to get both water and powerade at every stop (every 2 miles), as well as food/gels every time they were offered.  It's shockingly hard to grab a cup and drink while running, especially when you've got the elephant gait going, and I decided to just sacrifice 10 seconds at every stop and actually come to a stop, drink whatever I needed and get all of it in my mouth instead of on my shirt, then go on.  Any tips on this?
 
Shockingly, somewhere after that my calves started cramping up, probably from being bad shock absorbers (oh, and note to self: if they provide a drop bag, remember to put your thick keychain with like 10 keys in it rather than jangling for 26 miles!).  As I tried to adjust to that, it meant my hamstrings started feeling the burden instead, and basically my pace was limited by how much I could take before cramping rather than cardio.  I did try stopping and stretching for a bit, as well as walking for about a tenth of a mile, and neither helped -- actually, walking made it much tighter and worse when I stopped!  I had been getting all of the electrolytes I could, so I think I just went out too hard and my legs couldn't take it anymore.  The last 10 miles of the race were pure torture, especially because I was incredibly motivated to run under 4:00 since otherwise I thought I'd end up talking myself into doing this again.  Somewhere at this point one of the guys in our group was suffering even worse and decided to drop back, and ended up around 4:22.  I made it to a nasty hill around mile 20 before I finally just couldn't keep any sort of reasonable pace, but knew that I could get under 4 hours just by running about 11:30 the rest of the way.  And, having said that, I nearly missed.  I discovered at the aid station with 4 miles to go that stopping meant I almost couldn't get started again, and just didn't stop in the last few miles.  I thought that the last few miles would be fun, because so much of the hard work was done, there were cheering fans, and all of that, but it really wasn't.  Even when we turned to the finish with about half a mile to go, I really, really wanted to walk and just couldn't bring myself to do it.  My friend went ahead with 4 miles to go and finished 8 minutes ahead of me, and I limped home in 3:51:34, having managed a sprightly 32 minute 5k at the end and basically collapsing two steps after the finish line.  Amazingly, I was passing people regularly over those last 4 miles.  Even with the postrace massages they offered, it took all of us about 30 minutes to make it the half mile to our cars when we left.  
 
Would I consider doing this again?  I swore I wouldn't somewhere in the middle of the race, but ask me in again in a week or two I suppose.  I think I was also looking for a test of willpower that would be really hard, and I certainly got more than I bargained for in that regard.  Now that we finished, I'm definitely glad that we did it, but if I thought about doing another one, I'd make sure to train enough that the race itself was more enjoyable.  The first 10-15 miles were pretty fun, but didn't nearly make up for the last 10 miles or so.  But, if anybody wants tips for how not to run a marathon... :)
 

Traut

lost his degree
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Jul 20, 2005
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Congratulations on your marathon! A 4:22 in your first race considering your training is outstanding. Keep with it. The last so many miles of a marathon suck no matter how you train, what your pace, or really much of anything else.
 

CSteinhardt

"Steiny"
Lifetime Member
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Dec 18, 2003
3,201
Cambridge
Trautwein's Degree said:
Congratulations on your marathon! A 4:22 in your first race considering your training is outstanding. Keep with it. The last so many miles of a marathon suck no matter how you train, what your pace, or really much of anything else.
 
I'll tell him you said that -- I should have been satisfied with something like that too instead of killing myself over the last 5-10 miles, but was kinda focused on sub-4:00 and refused to do the sensible thing and slow down.  
 
As an, um, completely unrelated question, any suggestions for recovery?  It's now two days afterward and I'm still working on difficult stretches like "bend over and try and touch your knees", or "see if you can successfully get over the rim of the bathtub into the shower".  Is the basic idea just not to move for a few days, or is there something better to do?
 

Harry Agganis

Member
SoSH Member
Just discovered this thread.
I finished a half on the 15th in 2:09:12. This was after losing 33 lbs since January (see Fatass Thread) Started running in September and was pleased by the results. I hadn't done a half since 2007.
 
I have my sights set on a 39.3 challenge. This is three halfs in 5 weeks. Two in April and One the first week of May. Also the Kansas City Marathon in October. My last marathon was in 2002 at 3:29 (age 42).
 
It feels incredibly good to be back out on the roads. I am currently building my base. I am at about 30 miles a week now. I've also added some speed work for  VO2 and some tempo runs for LT. At 55 my BQ time is 3:40. I'm training towards a 1:45 for one of the three halfs. That would put me on track for an 18 week train for the Marathon.
 
We'll see how it goes.
 

GregHarris

beware my sexy helmet/overall ensemble
SoSH Member
Jun 5, 2008
3,460
Does anyone use Strava?
 
I really like it and find that the dashboard and the running analytics are pretty darn impressive.  I'll be moving over to Strava from Daily Mile for the start of 2015.  Send along an invite if you enjoy following my never-ending quest to BQ, and my rather lame excuses of why I don't feel like running in inclement weather. 
 
http://www.strava.com/athletes/7046735
 
I also went ahead and created a running club for the Dogs as an easy way to get us together on there.  Feel free to join, or ignore if this doesn't appeal to you.
 
http://www.strava.com/clubs/SOSH
 

GregHarris

beware my sexy helmet/overall ensemble
SoSH Member
Jun 5, 2008
3,460
And then there were three.  Let's go chumps! 
 
Get those resolutions in early.
 

HomeBrew1901

Has Season 1 of "Manimal" on Blu Ray
SoSH Member
So a couple of years ago I angrily posted in this thread because I didn't believe anyone could be a runner. I was over weight, had crappy knees, and tired easily and believed it wasn't meant for me.

Then I got a good pair of running shoes, lost the weight, but still couldn't go more than a 5K without a ton of effort and decided to focus on lifting instead of running.

Over the summer something clicked... I started walking daily and running a half mile each practice with my soccer team. Still could only do a 5k but it was easier and I could do it without stopping. Then I committed to a Thanksgiving Day race thinking it was a 5k, then found out it was a 5 miler decided to do it anyway with one goal finish without stopping and I was able to do that.

Since then I have run 3 10ks on my own an increased my distance to 7 miles and now Im training for a 12 mile Tough Mudder and half marathon. So turns out Traut was right. :)
 

Jerrygarciaparra

My kid has superpowers
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2001
3,410
Montpelier, VT
So with the really cold weather is coming my way,  I'd like to keep running as much as possible.  I dress pretty well and am usually OK up to about ten below zero.
 
The biggest issue is my glasses get really fogged up (I am blind as a bat and really not comfortable running without them on)
 
I'm thinking about wearing ski goggles when I run.  Am I crazy?
 

vintage'67

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
327
Jerrygarciaparra said:
So with the really cold weather is coming my way,  I'd like to keep running as much as possible.  I dress pretty well and am usually OK up to about ten below zero.
 
The biggest issue is my glasses get really fogged up (I am blind as a bat and really not comfortable running without them on)
 
I'm thinking about wearing ski goggles when I run.  Am I crazy?
First, be careful if you run in the dark, as the goggles might cut too much light.
 
Do you wear anything on your face when running in really cold temps?  If so, what do you use?  I know from skiing that if I have a face mask on and my goggles and get breathing heavy, the moist exhaled air just comes out too fast. So, depending on your mask/bandana/whatever, the goggles get fogged up like your glasses. If contact lenses are not an option for these runs, you might play around with whatever you wear on your face.  I don'r wear glasses on really cold runs, but I've had success with something like this seirus masques because the holes vent better. I've also seen these recently that you might try airhole-balaclavas-neck-gaiters.
 

TallerThanPedroia

Civilly Disobedient
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
25,546
Boston
Since then I have run 3 10ks on my own an increased my distance to 7 miles and now Im training for a 12 mile Tough Mudder and half marathon. So turns out Traut was right. :)
Yeah, he's pretty smart. Congrats!
 

nomarshaus

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2002
906
DTR
I ran my first half-marathon last April in 2:12 and change (which is good for me considering I'm a 36yo fatass who likes beer too much - 6'1" 225lb at the time). I did one of those Hal Higdon beginner half-training programs and stuck pretty closely to that. Unfortunately about 2 or 3 weeks after the race, and after I had run again a few times I got pretty bad bilateral patella tendonitis, which took forever to get better. I lost about 4 months of training and in that time I couldn't even do any bike riding or anything. I decided it was probably due to pretty much just running (and I run typically on the balls of my feet) without much in the way of core, stretching, or variety like biking, hiking, etc. So I started doing yoga a couple times a week and started running a bit last fall and now I'm ready to ramp it up a bit. Targeting the same half-marathon this year and hoping to get under 2:00. I've dropped another 10 or so pounds in the interim.
 
My questions if you'll indulge me:
1. I've been only using my iPhone with mapmyrun and I want to step up to something more sophisticated (and convenient) with easy pace monitoring (for tempo runs and 400s), and probably heart rate monitoring. Is this (http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Forerunner-220-Black-Bundle/dp/B00FBYY5UG/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A266VNETU7PIIX) a good watch for these purposed? Anyone have anything they like better?
2. Anything other recommendations to avoid injury? I've got the Higdon intermediate half-training program printed out, which gives a little time for variety, but I'm going to try and really stretch 15-20 min a day in addition. I'm also being more serious about warm-up and warm-down, which I think should help. 
 
Thanks!
 

Mloaf71

Well-Known Member
Gold Supporter
SoSH Member
Jul 13, 2005
644
Anyone here come back to running after ACL reconstruction.  A year and a couple of months ago I had my ACL reconstructed using my hamstring as a graft.
 
PT and initial rehab went great was back to running again in 6 - 7 months.  After that work and life got in the way and I couldn't/didn't work out as often.
 
Now when I run my IT band and hamstring tighten up to the point where I can't get my leg back around fast enough after a mile or two.  I have no problems on the elliptical at all.
 
Is this typical and do I need to keep stretching and strengthening?