Running

[Jeff V]

How the hell does Minocqua do a marathon at the end of May? Aren't the roads there not yet cleared of snow and ice until the day before Memorial Day? How is anyone supposed to train?

Most marathons (at least the ones we want to go to) are in May and early June. The others we looked at were Deadwood, SD and Ogden, UT. We did a half marathon in April in Iowa and are looking for another half this year but closer to March. My wife ran a half-marathon in January a few years ago. I'm actually worried it will be too warm at the end of May in Wisconsin.

Yeah, April/May are big months for races as is October. I'm running Green Bay in May (after two years of COVID postponements). Hadn't thought about the weather too much. I've found the towns/cities usually choose weekends that have a decent chance of adequate weather, but who knows.

In other news, I went 2.5 weeks before deviating from my training plan. Was hoping I would be able to stick to it better, but then Super Bowl/Valentine's Day happened. It'll all work out in the end but I still feel like I dropped the ball.

Good luck on your race EvilHomer3k!

Don't get me wrong, end of May is great for a destination race (although good luck finding accommodations Memorial Day weekend or later - Minocqua is summer vacation land, not a resort or hotel mecca). My comment was more along the lines of how do the expect locals to train up when trails and roads could be snow-covered through the end of April.

[EvilHomer3k]

How the hell does Minocqua do a marathon at the end of May? Aren't the roads there not yet cleared of snow and ice until the day before Memorial Day? How is anyone supposed to train?

Most marathons (at least the ones we want to go to) are in May and early June. The others we looked at were Deadwood, SD and Ogden, UT. We did a half marathon in April in Iowa and are looking for another half this year but closer to March. My wife ran a half-marathon in January a few years ago. I'm actually worried it will be too warm at the end of May in Wisconsin.

Yeah, April/May are big months for races as is October. I'm running Green Bay in May (after two years of COVID postponements). Hadn't thought about the weather too much. I've found the towns/cities usually choose weekends that have a decent chance of adequate weather, but who knows.

In other news, I went 2.5 weeks before deviating from my training plan. Was hoping I would be able to stick to it better, but then Super Bowl/Valentine's Day happened. It'll all work out in the end but I still feel like I dropped the ball.

Good luck on your race EvilHomer3k!

Good luck to you as well. I hope you are able to stay on plan. With months long preparation it's hard to hit it every week. Is there a specific training plan you are using? We looked at several and ended up doing our own. We are running 4 times per week with one long run on the weekend and 3 runs of 3-5 miles during the week days.
Feb
date - distance
6 - 8
13 - 6
20 - 10
27 - 8
March
6 - 12
13 - 9
20 - 14
27 - 10
April
3 - 16
10 - 10
17 - 18
24 - 10
May
1 -20
8 - 10
15 - 22
22 - 10
29 - Race Day

[Baroquen]

My comment was more along the lines of how do the expect locals to train up when trails and roads could be snow-covered through the end of April.

Yeah, that would be rough. I really should run outside more than I do since I don't have to deal with the snow nearly as much. I used to run in the cold more than I do now. It must be a bear for those who have to deal with that all winter long.

Good luck to you as well. I hope you are able to stay on plan. With months long preparation it's hard to hit it every week. Is there a specific training plan you are using? We looked at several and ended up doing our own. We are running 4 times per week with one long run on the weekend and 3 runs of 3-5 miles during the week days.

I've got a spreadsheet where I track my miles and have it divided into two calendar halves: the left has the plan on it, and the right has my actual results. For the races, I copy a 16 plan into the correct time frame on the left, and if I recall correctly, it's the Higdon moderate plan. 16 weeks, 4 runs/week, long run on the weekend. 2 weeks increasing miles, 3rd week is a cut back, with a taper the last few weeks. Pretty standard kind of thing.

I struggle with running 4 times a week these days. But as long as I keep up the long runs, I'm generally ok.

[EvilHomer3k]

My comment was more along the lines of how do the expect locals to train up when trails and roads could be snow-covered through the end of April.

Yeah, that would be rough. I really should run outside more than I do since I don't have to deal with the snow nearly as much. I used to run in the cold more than I do now. It must be a bear for those who have to deal with that all winter long.

My wife doesn't like treadmills so we don't have one. We live in Iowa so we have to run outside even in the cold. For the most part if it's too bad we just move to another day. Honestly, it's not the cold that keeps us from running as much as we'd like it's the darkness. 5:30 AM runs just sucks when it's pitch black. On the other hand I hate Iowa summers too. The heat and humidity really get to you.

I've got a spreadsheet where I track my miles and have it divided into two calendar halves: the left has the plan on it, and the right has my actual results. For the races, I copy a 16 plan into the correct time frame on the left, and if I recall correctly, it's the Higdon moderate plan. 16 weeks, 4 runs/week, long run on the weekend. 2 weeks increasing miles, 3rd week is a cut back, with a taper the last few weeks. Pretty standard kind of thing.

I struggle with running 4 times a week these days. But as long as I keep up the long runs, I'm generally ok.

Glad to hear that since that's the only thing we've really planned out. We looked at Hal's plans and figured it would be tough to maintain the middle week runs of 8-10 miles especially when we've still got kids at home. Probably going to be plenty of nights where we eat Subway in the next few months.

[Skinypupy]

Today marks one year since I started running.

On Feb 24, 2021, I barely wheezed my way through 1 mile in just over 14 minutes, thinking I was likely to die the entire time. Fast forward to now, where I'm running between 2.5-3 miles either 5 or 6 days a week at around a 9:30/mile pace. Came in just under 500 miles for my first year (494) and probably would have made that milestone if not for the stupid snowstorm here this week. I've managed to drop right around 30 lbs this first year, and am the best shape I have been since my last year of collegiate soccer 25 years ago. Lots more work to do, times to improve, miles to run, and pounds to drop, but I think this has been a pretty successful year one.

It's sort of amazing when you consider that prior to last year, I absolutely hated running and wouldn't have voluntarily done it for any reason. I just got tired of being fat and out of shape, and simply getting out and running has proven do wonders for both my mental and physical health.

[YellowKing]

That's really inspiring Skiny. I've gone from the 1 mile wheeze on Jan 1 to knocking out 3 miles at around a 12:30 pace. I'm running 3 times a week, and on the off days I'm getting my 10k steps in every single day with walks. Pace is still slow, but I'm trying to keep in mind I'm only 7 weeks into the year. If I can keep this regimen for a year, imagine the possibilities.

I REALLY want to walk in for my annual physical this November in the best shape of my life. My doctor told me last November I was the heaviest I'd ever been, and he was 100% correct. I refuse to walk back in there like that.

[EvilHomer3k]

Congrats, Skinypupy. That's a nice milestone to hit. Sorry about missing out on 500 but honestly, it's just a number. No different than 494. Neither are as important as the health benefits you've gotten.

YK I am sure you'll be in better shape for your next physical. Walking or running doesn't matter that much. My brother lost a lot of weight just walking. I prefer running, though, because it' takes less time (or you can get more in with the same amount of time). It gets easier every time so just keep at it.

I've been running for about a year and a half now (started September 2020). I'm at the point now where I get really antsy if I haven't gone in a couple days. We had Monday off after a long run and got an ice storm Tuesday that made things a bit too slippery to run Tuesday or Wednesday. It's still slippery out today but we're finally going to be able to get out for 3-4 miles. But since we missed yesterday we have to go today, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to get our four runs in. Thankfully it's a shorter run this weekend.

[Baroquen]

Congrats Skinypupy! That's awesome. Glad things are going well for you. (And you too YK! Keep doing your thing!)

I think I'm coming up on my tenth anniversary or so of running. Hated it as a kid, and not a huge fan of it now, but it's keeping me in shape. I'll have to look up when I started doing this, and see what the details are. But I think I started all of this around 2012. Crazy to think about it.

[Skinypupy]

Ran a sub 9:00 mile for the first time this morning.

2.8 miles at 8:58/mile.

[YellowKing]

Very nice! I wish I had more speed, but I'm a total clodhopper out there. If I really wanted to work on it I could get it down, as I can sprint pretty well. But it's never been much of a priority.

Just finished Week 4 of the Runkeeper guided 10K program, something I never thought I'd be anywhere close to being able to do. That's a damn good program. I like it because unlike a lot of other 5K/10K programs I've tried, they don't focus on just lengthening intervals. Instead, it's a mix of longer intervals and shorter rest times, but they change it up enough that you're almost tricked into running longer than you think. Throw in some ladder runs for variety, and before you know it you're outside running for an hour and going "how they heck did I just do that?"

[YellowKing]

Week 5 of 10K training done and I hit a huge milestone today. 45 minute non-stop run.

While that may not sound like a whole lot to long-time runners, it represents my longest run in a LONG time, and really makes that 10K goal feel achievable other than some pipe dream. On Jan 1, I couldn't run a mile (roughly 12 minutes at my pace) non-stop.

Even better, it wasn't 45 minutes of agony. I know for a fact I could have run 15 minutes, maybe 30 minutes more.

I'll be finishing up Week 6 just before I go on vacation, so I'm using that as my reward.

[stessier]

Congrats to Skinnypuppy and YK for their progress!

After hurting my ankle the day after Thanksgiving and being in a boot for much of January and February, I started physical therapy around the end of February with my first run around March 1. That was 30s of "running" followed by 1:30 of walking. My 12 year old laughed at me as she never had to break into a jog to keep up. The pain was pretty bad, though, so I stopped after only 20 minutes. The physical therapist suggested that it was more pain from disuse rather than pain signaling damage, so the next time I tried a week later I pushed through the pain and completed 2 miles in about 28 minutes. He was right - it was just disuse. Since then I've been slowly ramping up my mileage and speed.

It's been a little depressing knowing where I was and looking at where I'm at now. Back at Thanksgiving I was running 10 miles at sub 9:00 pace with ease and doing over 120 miles/month. This month I'll be right around 35 miles with my long run being 2.75 miles and my best pace as 9:58/mile over that distance - it felt huge to break 10:00! Sigh. Doesn't help that I put on 25 lbs when I was in the boot. At least my scale appears to have stopped rising since I've started exercising again. Hopefully I'll be back under 200 lbs by this Thanksgiving.

[Baroquen]

Good news Skiny, YK and stessier! Glad to hear it. I always like hearing about your successes. It spurs me to get off the couch and stop being lazy!

So my next marathon is in May. The first two weeks, I stuck to the plan and had 20-30 mile weeks. The next month, I was a lazy bum, and blamed it on being busy with work/family. Weeks floating in the 10-20 mile range, with no long runs.

The last two or three weeks, I've buckled down and got back to work with 30+ mile weeks. I joined a fitness group at school, logging miles/minutes and that's been a motivator to keep at it. We'll see how long it lasts. Hopefully enough for me to actually get ready for May. But we'll see. (I need to get outdoors more though, and get off the treadmill.)

[Skinypupy]

Hoping things get back to normal with the ankle, stessier...that sounds rough. And good luck to everyone training for upcoming 10Ks or marathons!

Today was one of the first warm spring days (was around 60 at 5:45am) and I saw more people out running in one day than I typically see in a week.

Week 5 of 10K training done and I hit a huge milestone today. 45 minute non-stop run.

While that may not sound like a whole lot to long-time runners, it represents my longest run in a LONG time, and really makes that 10K goal feel achievable other than some pipe dream. On Jan 1, I couldn't run a mile (roughly 12 minutes at my pace) non-stop.

Even better, it wasn't 45 minutes of agony. I know for a fact I could have run 15 minutes, maybe 30 minutes more.

I'll be finishing up Week 6 just before I go on vacation, so I'm using that as my reward.

This is awesome YK, nice work.

I struggle to run non-stop, especially on any sort of hills. There's a hill that's about 3/4 mile into my run that I always need to walk up. It takes about 20-30 seconds and gives me the slight breather I need to finish the rest of the run. The one day I did a sub-9:00 mile was the day that I ran the entire thing without taking that brief walk.

My brother texted this morning, letting me know he did an 8 mile run with a 957-foot elevation change. Said he's very really excited to show me that route when we visit in June. So if you don't hear from me after mid-June, just go ahead and assume my younger brother killed me with a run that was way too long (my longest run ever is a 5K with about 150 ft elevation change).

[coopasonic]

My brother texted this morning, letting me know he did an 8 mile run with a 957-foot elevation change. Said he's very really excited to show me that route when we visit in June. So if you don't hear from me after mid-June, just go ahead and assume my younger brother killed me with a run that was way too long (my longest run ever is a 5K with about 150 ft elevation change).

My biggest elevation change in a run was 1952 feet over 8.7 miles. Thanks Zaxxon!

I haven't run in a long time and... I'm good with that.

[YellowKing]

You guys made me want to check my elevation change on my typical run, and it was a whopping........15 feet. Guess there's some benefit to living in the coastal flatlands of North Cackalackey.

[EvilHomer3k]

Good news Skiny, YK and stessier! Glad to hear it. I always like hearing about your successes. It spurs me to get off the couch and stop being lazy!

So my next marathon is in May. The first two weeks, I stuck to the plan and had 20-30 mile weeks. The next month, I was a lazy bum, and blamed it on being busy with work/family. Weeks floating in the 10-20 mile range, with no long runs.

The last two or three weeks, I've buckled down and got back to work with 30+ mile weeks. I joined a fitness group at school, logging miles/minutes and that's been a motivator to keep at it. We'll see how long it lasts. Hopefully enough for me to actually get ready for May. But we'll see. (I need to get outdoors more though, and get off the treadmill.)

Keep at it. Hopefully you can stay motivated the next 8 weeks or so. We are still in the 20-30 mile range. Mostly just doing long runs on weekends with 3 5k runs during the week.
Our (wife and myself) marathon is Memorial Day Weekend. Just finished a 14 mile run Sunday which put us at 23 for the week. We've got a 16 mile run coming up this weekend and just moved to 4 miles during the week. We are only doing one long run each week (many programs have you doing a 6-8 mile run during the week). I am both looking forward to and dreading the next 9 weeks.

[Baroquen]

Keep at it. Hopefully you can stay motivated the next 8 weeks or so. We are still in the 20-30 mile range. Mostly just doing long runs on weekends with 3 5k runs during the week.
Our (wife and myself) marathon is Memorial Day Weekend. Just finished a 14 mile run Sunday which put us at 23 for the week. We've got a 16 mile run coming up this weekend and just moved to 4 miles during the week. We are only doing one long run each week (many programs have you doing a 6-8 mile run during the week). I am both looking forward to and dreading the next 9 weeks.

Is this your first marathon? I went back in the thread to where you first mentioned it, but you didn't say. Just that your wife talked you into it. Anyway, it sounds like you both have a solid base of mileage down. You two should be rocking it by the time May rolls around!

[YellowKing]

If you'd told me at the start of the year that I'd be running an hour/5 miles non-stop by the first week in April, I'd have thought you were delusional. But here we are. First hour+ run, first five mile run. And what's more, it didn't feel that hard. In fact, I have no doubt I' could have finished out the 10K by running another 10 minutes or so.

That finishes up my 10K program. My pace is still slower than I'd like, and an hour is pretty much the limit of what I want to run time-wise, so training from here on out will be focusing on getting faster.

Will definitely be signing up for some races this spring to keep me motivated.

[EvilHomer3k]

Nice job. Great progress.

[LordMortis]

This is as close to an appropriate thread as possible.

I got out and walked for 30+ minutes two days running and today I have to take a break. My shins are killing me. I guess I need to learn how to stretch shins. I tried runners stretches yesterday and I cramp up bad even trying to contort my legs a little. I suppose I need to learn how to stretch. It's going to be long uphill battle just staying in motion, I suppose.

[Skinypupy]

This is as close to an appropriate thread as possible.

I got out and walked for 30+ minutes two days running and today I have to take a break. My shins are killing me. I guess I need to learn how to stretch shins. I tried runners stretches yesterday and I cramp up bad even trying to contort my legs a little. I suppose I need to learn how to stretch. It's going to be long uphill battle just staying in motion, I suppose.

Next to buying running shoes, my second most critical purchase when I started running was a yoga strap. I got this one off Amazon for $9.

I have always suffered from shin splints, and they got particularly brutal when I started running last year. Someone recommended this strap to stretch with and it's been a lifesaver. I use it to stretch out my calves and shins before and after every run, and have had only very minor discomfort since I started using it. I just loop it around my foot to give resistance while I pull up and push down with my toes. Could do the same thing with any strap, but I found the handles on this one to be helpful.

I can't recommend it enough.

[LordMortis]

Hmm.. I also have always suffered shin splints and worse... I can see how that stretches your calves but how does the stretch your shins? I want to get into a regular stretching routine but I don't know how. Yoga, even for people who can't do yoga absolutely kicked my ass when I was in good health. I can't imagine doing anything like that now. What I really need is 7 days a week with a PT, but that will never happen.

[Skinypupy]

Pulling your toe up stretches your calf. Pushing your toe down (with the added resistance from the strap) stretches your shin.

YMMV, but it's made a world of difference for me.

[Skinypupy]

I'm seriously considering dropping some $$ to track my running progress from The Shire to Mt. Doom and get a "One Ring" at the end.

Lord of the Rings Virtual Challenge

[Baroquen]

I'm not a fan of virtual events, but that sounds pretty awesome!

Tweaked my knee on the treadmill last night. Sharp pains are never good. I aggravated it a couple times walking around the house last night, so that was worrisome. It's been pretty quiet today so far. I really don't want to take extended time off from running with my next event about a month away. Hoping it settles down in a day or two.

[YellowKing]

That LOTR challenge does sound really cool!

I've only done one paid virtual race, a "Run from Michael Meyers HALLOWEEN 5K." I just did it for the medal and shirt which were nicely done and officially licensed. As a horror fan, it was too cool to pass up. I didn't even run that one, I just wanted the swag.

I've done several free virtual challenges at work - they typically do them bi-monthly and range from walking challenges to general workout challenges to running. I find those to be great ways to stay accountable since if you slack off you're letting your co-workers down.

Speaking of virtual stuff, I decided to get back into Zombies, Run! since I never finished it and there are now something like 9 seasons available. There are far too many mission now to ever hope to complete them on my 3x a week run days, so I think instead I'm going to walk the missions on the non-run days. That way I can get 6 or 7 in a week instead of 3, and it will encourage me to get out there and walk on the off days.

[raydude]

My daughter joined crew and they launch out of Old Town Alexandria onto the Potomac. I've discovered that it is a really pretty running location - much prettier than running around my neighborhood. So now I show up about 45 mins before she's done with practice and I run my 5k. I took a long break during December-February as it was too cold and I was too wimpy. But now the weather is nice and the running scenery is amazing. On this particular loop my elevation change is 98 feet per loop, and each loop is 1k.

I haven't started trying to expand beyond 5k yet, but I figure I'll start adding 1k here and there over the next several weeks.

[EvilHomer3k]

My wife and I spend a lot of time deciding where to run because she hates running in the same places and wants pretty scenery. I'm sure she'd love running there.

[Skinypupy]

My wife and I spend a lot of time deciding where to run because she hates running in the same places and wants pretty scenery.

I'm the exact opposite. I need to run the same route so I have comparative data on how I'm improving (or not). That's my primary driver and what keeps me going.

I have a few different routes that I run, but they're all just slightly longer or shorter variations around the same general area.

[Baroquen]

I fall somewhere in the middle. I've been running my neighborhood streets so long that there aren't many new locations to discover. These days, I usually run the same routes that I enjoy, not so much for data, as that's pretty consistent too. Since I don't run outside too often these days, I just stick to runs that I enjoy. I have a handful nearby of various lengths.

That said, I will sometimes branch out to try something new. I've driven the short distance to the airport to run their 13-ish mile trail around the site. When I go down the beach, I have some usual runs, but once ran about a dozen miles from the inlet to my place at the state line. Anything to keep things interesting, whenever I get into a rut.

So I did go outside this morning to run some before it got too hot. The knee didn't act up much, though I did feel it at times. I'm going to have to be careful not to aggravate it as I try to ramp up miles for May. I'm hopeful, but we'll see.

[Kurth]

I'm seriously considering dropping some $$ to track my running progress from The Shire to Mt. Doom and get a "One Ring" at the end.

Lord of the Rings Virtual Challenge

If we got an OO group together to virtually run the One Ring to Mt. Doom, I would totally be in.

[YellowKing]

Yep, I'd be in to run to Mt. Doom as well.

[Baroquen]

I'm seriously considering dropping some $$ to track my running progress from The Shire to Mt. Doom and get a "One Ring" at the end.

Lord of the Rings Virtual Challenge

If we got an OO group together to virtually run the One Ring to Mt. Doom, I would totally be in.

I'd participate if we get a group.

[Skinypupy]

Never done anything like this, not quite sure I understand how the pricing works. Tell me if I’m understanding this correctly.

There are 5 different challenges:
- The Shire (145 miles)
- The Fellowship (98 miles)
- Miles of Moria (40 miles)
- Eye of Sauron (95 miles)
- Mordor (282 miles)

Paying $50 lets you do one of these, $200 lets you do all five. If you buy all five, you have to complete them in order. You can join up with others which allows everyone’s mileage to count towards the goal. Everything is tracked in an app, which syncs to most run trackers. They then send you a nifty medal as you complete each one (which are currently backordered).

That all sound about right?

[YellowKing]

Yeah, though it's slightly less appealing now that I re-read it. When I first read it I was thinking the $200 was 5 entries for the whole shebang, so you could split it 5 ways and everyone could pitch in towards running all 5 challenges and split the cost.

However, it's just 5 challenge entries total. So if 5 of us pitched in $40 for the package, we would still be running only one challenge. The only benefit for the package deal would be we could save $10 on a single challenge and share the mileage.

The Fellowship and The Eye of Sauron have alternate mileages of 680 and 668 miles respectively, that sound more fun for a group.

[Kurth]

Yeah, though it's slightly less appealing now that I re-read it. When I first read it I was thinking the $200 was 5 entries for the whole shebang, so you could split it 5 ways and everyone could pitch in towards running all 5 challenges and split the cost.

However, it's just 5 challenge entries total. So if 5 of us pitched in $40 for the package, we would still be running only one challenge. The only benefit for the package deal would be we could save $10 on a single challenge and share the mileage.

The Fellowship and The Eye of Sauron have alternate mileages of 680 and 668 miles respectively, that sound more fun for a group.

I'd be up for whatever the group option is.

[EvilHomer3k]

My wife decided yesterday while we were running in 25mph winds that marathon training was ruining her joy of running. We talked about it and decided to drop from the full marathon to half marathon. Everything was revolving around running. Finding times to run, where to run, what was the weather, etc. Mapping out our long runs so we had water and gels/food. Everything was about running. Said she feels a huge weight has been taken off her shoulders now. I am a tiny bit disappointed but much more happy I can do something besides running and enjoying running when I do it. Plus I can bike more now.

[Jeff V]

My wife decided yesterday while we were running in 25mph winds that marathon training was ruining her joy of running. We talked about it and decided to drop from the full marathon to half marathon. Everything was revolving around running. Finding times to run, where to run, what was the weather, etc. Mapping out our long runs so we had water and gels/food. Everything was about running. Said she feels a huge weight has been taken off her shoulders now. I am a tiny bit disappointed but much more happy I can do something besides running and enjoying running when I do it. Plus I can bike more now.

I can sympathize. Training for a marathon absolutely killed any love I had for running. It didn't help that a podiatrist that evaluated my gait a month before the marathon advised I enjoy that one (2012 Chicago Marathon) best I can then give it up, I'm not cut out for it. Pretty much that's how things went down. I should probably try to get back to doing what I can , if only because it helps combat fatbastardom.

[Baroquen]

I can sympathize too. I think that's why I fall off my training plan all the time. Ideally, I'd love to follow the recommended distances, and frequency but I just can't do it. The motivation just isn't there. So I do the best I can, given life's realities, and that's enough.

That's one of the nice things about running though. You can adapt your goals to suit your needs. I remember ramping up mileage and events when I started to reach a challenging level. (I remember starting by running the couple blocks in front of my house and back). And when I decide to drop down from marathons, that will be ok too.

Good luck with the rest of your training and the upcoming race!