The Official Thread for Runners

[Sea Chicken]

I still haven't healed up from the crash. I broke out the exercise bike a few days ago. Putting in 1.5 to 2 hours a day on it now. Hopefully that will keep my fitness to a level where I can get back to the full running routine shortly after the ankle is fixed.

[Moliere]

I'm a week away from my first race since high school. I'm a bit nervous already, but I know I shouldn't since it's only a 5K but yesterdays run didn't go too well....of course it was 28 degrees and I didn't really eat well that day but still.

Tomorrow I'm doing a 6 miler. I'll rest on Sunday, do 3 miles easy on Monday, rest on Tuesday, do 2 miles easy on Wednesday and rest Thursday/Friday. The 5K is on Saturday at 9am.

But my question is what should I eat the day before and also the morning of the race? I'll be eating some good carbs (pasta) for my dinner Friday night and I figure for a 5K there is no real reason to load up on carbs for a whole week. I'll increase my water intake on Friday as well but not by much.

Any advice?

[Pheidippides]

I'm a week away from my first race since high school. I'm a bit nervous already, but I know I shouldn't since it's only a 5K but yesterdays run didn't go too well....of course it was 28 degrees and I didn't really eat well that day but still.

Tomorrow I'm doing a 6 miler. I'll rest on Sunday, do 3 miles easy on Monday, rest on Tuesday, do 2 miles easy on Wednesday and rest Thursday/Friday. The 5K is on Saturday at 9am.

But my question is what should I eat the day before and also the morning of the race? I'll be eating some good carbs (pasta) for my dinner Friday night and I figure for a 5K there is no real reason to load up on carbs for a whole week. I'll increase my water intake on Friday as well but not by much.

Any advice?

My personal opinion is that carb loading is a meaningless exercise for anything shy of a marathon. I try to stay with familiar foods the day before - nothing super spicy or that is going to give me gastrointestinal issues, and nothing too heavy. So no Mexican, Indian, cheese, etc. That's for me - others may be fine with those foods.

When I am carb loading, I have my biggest meal at lunch the day before, and have a traditional Japanese meal for dinner if I can find it.

For breakfast I usually have a banana, some oatmeal, and maybe a Powerbar. I stop drinking about an hour prior to the race (otherwise I'll have to pee during the race, although for a 5k or 10k I can usually hold it).

[John McClain]

I agree that carb loading is overkill for anything other than marathon or longer distance. I can't run within at least 2 to 3 hours of eating, so generally at morning races I don't have anything to eat before the race, I will drink a very diluted energy drink or plain water just to hydrate, but never more than a cup as I don't like it sloshing around in my stomach during the race.

[Pheidippides]

Ran a local 5k with my 9 year old daughter today. This is our second year in what is becoming a tradition. Last year we finished in just under 45 minutes. This year she had a goal to finish in under 40. We set a really even pace and ran it in 36 in change. Hardly even a workout for me, but a big deal to her, and I have to say that pacing here in these sorts of things is just as much fun as a full marathon (not to mention a good bit cheaper!) and it's wonderful to see her love running like this.

Funny story - with about half a mile to go, she spots a guy with a Green Bay Packers Cheesehead hat on about 100 yards ahead of us. "We can't let a Cheesehead beat us!" she exclaimed, and we turned on the afterburners. By the end I think she was doing about an 8:30 pace or so. I'm very proud of her.

She was all smiles at the end, exhausted but proud of herself. She wants me to set up a running training program for her too. She's now just big enough to buy women's shoes so we picked her up a new pair of Sauconys (last years model on clearance, so they were cheap).

And the damn kid has exactly the form I'm trying to get naturally. Oh, she needs to swing her arms a bit less and get her leg cadence up, but those are easy things to fix. Everything else is smooth and natural.

On that note, I took some video of my form today and the results are pretty amazing. It looks much better. Still some work to do in my hips and with my legs (I'm swinging them outside just a bit) but I'm very happy with the results so far.

[happyone]

I would much rather walk/run in 10 degree weather, like last week than 35 degrees and a 35 mph wind! When I turned into the wind monday it was almost like walking into a wall.

One nice thing about the wind thou is the air is nice and clean. Driving home from work yesterday, I could see clear down to Point of the Mountain, appox 50 miles

ended up jogging 4 miles and walking 3 yesterday.

[Moliere]

I would much rather walk/run in 10 degree weather, like last week than 35 degrees and a 35 mph wind! When I turned into the wind monday it was almost like walking into a wall.

One nice thing about the wind thou is the air is nice and clean. Driving home from work yesterday, I could see clear down to Point of the Mountain, appox 50 miles

ended up jogging 4 miles and walking 3 yesterday.

I hate the wind. It's always blowing into my face. I can run the same route that loops around my neighborhood and every time I turn the wind is in my face. It's like it follows me around and laughs at me. I've tried running the route both directions and it still is always blowing into my face.

[PaloAltoCougar]

This morning I ran 3.25, and was pleased to find that each split was within one second either side of an 8:45/mile pace. Unimpressive for most here, but for a 58 year-old who used to run in the mid 9's, and perhaps still will, it was a noticeable improvement and shows the benefit of daily exercise and strength training.

In an age where immediate gratification and quick victories are paramount, it's instructive for me to see, yet again, that real gains in strength, speed and weight control are only achieved through a lot of patience and steady work. This message of uplift brought to you by the makers of Geritol.

[happyone]

This morning I ran 3.25, and was pleased to find that each split was within one second either side of an 8:45/mile pace. Unimpressive for most here, but for a 58 year-old who used to run in the mid 9's, and perhaps still will, it was a noticeable improvement and shows the benefit of daily exercise and strength training.

In an age where immediate gratification and quick victories are paramount, it's instructive for me to see, yet again, that real gains in strength, speed and weight control are only achieved through a lot of patience and steady work. This message of uplift brought to you by the makers of Geritol.

I resemble that remark - I'll be happy to break 10:00 someday

On another note - spring must be around the corner - I saw 6 other people out with their dogs yesterday. Normally I don't see anyone else

[Green Monstah]

My daughters just ran in a kids trail run (little over a mile), and my 8 year old finished in fourth place behind kids 2 and 3 years older than her. She's so proud, so I told her I'd brag about her on here.

[John McClain]

My daughters just ran in a kids trail run (little over a mile), and my 8 year old finished in fourth place behind kids 2 and 3 years older than her. She's so proud, so I told her I'd brag about her on here.

Good for them. I think it is great to get the kids involved in running. On Labor Day last year we took our kids to a run in Santa Fe and all of us placed in our age groups. Great fun.
One of my favorite local trail runs in the ABQ is to run to the western volcanos. It is a 6 mile run over lots of scoria (volcanic scrub rock) with pretty good elevation gain and great views of the Rio Grande valley. I ran it last week and I am still a little sore, as I haven't been doing a lot of running lately.

[Moliere]

Well that was an adventure....

My first 5K in a long time and I should have realized something was up when it was called the Piney Woods 5K.

I showed up about 45 minutes early and got my packet and stretched out a bit. It was a blistering 30 degrees when I stepped out of my car but got up around 40 by the time the gun went off. Prior to the race I walked along the first 200 yards of the course. It looked to be a graded dirt road in very good condition so I thought things would go well. I guess I should have walked a bit longer down the trail since at 300 yards it veered off into the woods.

Anyway, I got all set up and was stretching by a tree chatting it up with some locals. One guy was speaking french so I chatted it up with him. He was American but had a French wife and it was fun to hear a bit of French after so long.

With about 15 minutes to go before the race, the MC of the event started giving us the course instructions. There were two races, a 10 miler and the 5K. They both started and ended at the same place, but the 5K took a small detour at the start, connected back onto the 10 mile path after about 400 meters, and then took its own path at about the 1 mile mark. Easy enough, I'd just start close to the front so I wasn't stuck behind the 10 milers right? Nope, the 10 milers were going to start first with the 5K runner starting 2 minutes later . Well, I knew the path was pretty wide so I could pass a bunch of them no problem right? Wrong, see mile 1 below.

Here's the break down of the race (keep in mind I'm no nikuman with race write-ups):

Mile 1: The 10 milers had been out about 2 minutes when our gun went of. The first 200 meters were a detour and went along a pretty skinny/grassy path. No problem here since I started near the front of the 5K pack and the pace was decent enough. Then we merged onto the 10 miler trail and I realized I was in for a tough first mile. The trail was literally just wide enough to fit two bodies across and I was basically stuck behind people running a 10 min/mile pace and slower. Also, the trail was no longer a nice graded path, but was instead a real trail through the woods. It was littered with leaves, pine cones and tree roots, not to mention several places where the trail crossed a small ditch, each of which were filled with water and mud. One guy next to me tripped on a root and went down pretty hard. Another guy was limping back on what looked like a sprained ankle. I then almost turned my ankle on a root.

I spent this whole first mile passing people all while trying not to trip or turn an ankle. Often times I had to take it very wide or go around trees to pass people since they were often running in packs. The trail was also not straight. In fact, It was almost a complete zigzag and the tree canopy above made sure my gps didn't work correctly. So I was basically running through all this crap and doing it blind with no idea of my distance or pace. But I forged on...

Mile 2: Thankfully the race organizers had put out mileage signs so I at least knew when I finished the first mile. About 200 meters after the sign we came out onto a graded, smooth surface. By this point I had basically passed everyone that I needed to pass. It sure would have been nice to have this path at the beginning of the race! I settled down at this point and got into a groove. I put my 8 min/mile pace on and passed a couple other people. After passing the point where the two races split, I settled in behind a guy that was running my pace. It was nice to have someone pace me for a bit but he started to wane a bit so I passed him. I could only see two other people ahead of me. One was about 30 seconds and the other 15 seconds ahead. I made a quick goal to at least stay with one of them in sight. The race route turned off of the road and headed down a very nice/flat trail. I was started to feel the burn in my legs but I knew the last mile was just ahead.

Mile 3: The last full mile was more like the first mile, a very narrow and nature-littered trail. However, I was able to keep my pace since I no longer had anyone to pass. I was still running blind since my gps was off. About three minutes after passing the 2 mile marker I finally get the time from my phone (17 minutes 10 seconds) which tells me I made up a lot of time in mile 2. I still had one guy about 15 seconds ahead of me and I pushed on trying to keep up with him. It was a good thing I stayed close to him since often times the trail was not well marked and I found myself wondering if I was still on the correct path. The organizers must have spent more time on the 10 mile path since the 5K one was difficult to locate, especially when my legs and lungs are burning.

Final Stretch: As I passed the 3 mile marker I turned on the jets, or what little of jets I had left. I'm pretty sure I ran the second mile in 8 minutes and I bet my third mile was around 7:30 to 7:45 since I was making up for time lost in the first mile. About 400 meters after the 3 mile marker I started to wonder if I had taken a wrong turn. I was fully expecting the finish line shortly after 3 miles because a 5K is 3.1 miles right? The must have put the sign off a bit since I swear I ran another 600 to 800 meters after the 3 mile sign.

Well, I see a sign for the 10 mile route and the guy I was keeping up with took that turn so I followed him. This route took us to the finish line, but it turns out we were suppose to follow the small/narrow trail and come around a different way. So evidently we both crossed the finish line coming from the wrong side, but no bother since the distance was about the same. Things were obviously no clearly marked and the guy I was following, who beat me by 1 second, was pretty livid and laid into the organizers a bit. I didn't care as I was happy to be done, however in all the confusion I forgot to stop my timer on my phone.

When I finally remembered to stop the timer it read 24:59. My chip time read 26:24, but I didn't remember how many minutes had passed before they let the 5K start. I think it was two minutes, but hopefully they will post the official times online soon. In any case my goal was 24:30 and I think I got around that number pretty closely, and given the obstacles I had to fight to get there I'm feeling pretty good about the race. The worse obstacle was running blind. I didn't know my distance or pace and didn't know the trail. This was a stark contrast from my training where I know and run the same 5K distance. It helps so much to know how much distance is left and during this whole race I really had no clue.

One thing is for sure, I'll not sign up for this one again. It's a fun race, but was not organized well enough to enjoy, at least for me. It also didn't help that I had to skip the BBQ and beer to run home for an appointment. Now I'm looking for a real road race so I can set a PR time that I can work towards lowering.

[Pheidippides]

Well that was an adventure....

My first 5K in a long time and I should have realized something was up when it was called the Piney Woods 5K.

I showed up about 45 minutes early and got my packet and stretched out a bit. It was a blistering 30 degrees when I stepped out of my car but got up around 40 by the time the gun went off. Prior to the race I walked along the first 200 yards of the course. It looked to be a graded dirt road in very good condition so I thought things would go well. I guess I should have walked a bit longer down the trail since at 300 yards it veered off into the woods.

Anyway, I got all set up and was stretching by a tree chatting it up with some locals. One guy was speaking french so I chatted it up with him. He was American but had a French wife and it was fun to hear a bit of French after so long.

With about 15 minutes to go before the race, the MC of the event started giving us the course instructions. There were two races, a 10 miler and the 5K. They both started and ended at the same place, but the 5K took a small detour at the start, connected back onto the 10 mile path after about 400 meters, and then took its own path at about the 1 mile mark. Easy enough, I'd just start close to the front so I wasn't stuck behind the 10 milers right? Nope, the 10 milers were going to start first with the 5K runner starting 2 minutes later . Well, I knew the path was pretty wide so I could pass a bunch of them no problem right? Wrong, see mile 1 below.

Here's the break down of the race (keep in mind I'm no nikuman with race write-ups):

Mile 1: The 10 milers had been out about 2 minutes when our gun went of. The first 200 meters were a detour and went along a pretty skinny/grassy path. No problem here since I started near the front of the 5K pack and the pace was decent enough. Then we merged onto the 10 miler trail and I realized I was in for a tough first mile. The trail was literally just wide enough to fit two bodies across and I was basically stuck behind people running a 10 min/mile pace and slower. Also, the trail was no longer a nice graded path, but was instead a real trail through the woods. It was littered with leaves, pine cones and tree roots, not to mention several places where the trail crossed a small ditch, each of which were filled with water and mud. One guy next to me tripped on a root and went down pretty hard. Another guy was limping back on what looked like a sprained ankle. I then almost turned my ankle on a root.

I spent this whole first mile passing people all while trying not to trip or turn an ankle. Often times I had to take it very wide or go around trees to pass people since they were often running in packs. The trail was also not straight. In fact, It was almost a complete zigzag and the tree canopy above made sure my gps didn't work correctly. So I was basically running through all this crap and doing it blind with no idea of my distance or pace. But I forged on...

Mile 2: Thankfully the race organizers had put out mileage signs so I at least knew when I finished the first mile. About 200 meters after the sign we came out onto a graded, smooth surface. By this point I had basically passed everyone that I needed to pass. It sure would have been nice to have this path at the beginning of the race! I settled down at this point and got into a groove. I put my 8 min/mile pace on and passed a couple other people. After passing the point where the two races split, I settled in behind a guy that was running my pace. It was nice to have someone pace me for a bit but he started to wane a bit so I passed him. I could only see two other people ahead of me. One was about 30 seconds and the other 15 seconds ahead. I made a quick goal to at least stay with one of them in sight. The race route turned off of the road and headed down a very nice/flat trail. I was started to feel the burn in my legs but I knew the last mile was just ahead.

Mile 3: The last full mile was more like the first mile, a very narrow and nature-littered trail. However, I was able to keep my pace since I no longer had anyone to pass. I was still running blind since my gps was off. About three minutes after passing the 2 mile marker I finally get the time from my phone (17 minutes 10 seconds) which tells me I made up a lot of time in mile 2. I still had one guy about 15 seconds ahead of me and I pushed on trying to keep up with him. It was a good thing I stayed close to him since often times the trail was not well marked and I found myself wondering if I was still on the correct path. The organizers must have spent more time on the 10 mile path since the 5K one was difficult to locate, especially when my legs and lungs are burning.

Final Stretch: As I passed the 3 mile marker I turned on the jets, or what little of jets I had left. I'm pretty sure I ran the second mile in 8 minutes and I bet my third mile was around 7:30 to 7:45 since I was making up for time lost in the first mile. About 400 meters after the 3 mile marker I started to wonder if I had taken a wrong turn. I was fully expecting the finish line shortly after 3 miles because a 5K is 3.1 miles right? The must have put the sign off a bit since I swear I ran another 600 to 800 meters after the 3 mile sign.

Well, I see a sign for the 10 mile route and the guy I was keeping up with took that turn so I followed him. This route took us to the finish line, but it turns out we were suppose to follow the small/narrow trail and come around a different way. So evidently we both crossed the finish line coming from the wrong side, but no bother since the distance was about the same. Things were obviously no clearly marked and the guy I was following, who beat me by 1 second, was pretty livid and laid into the organizers a bit. I didn't care as I was happy to be done, however in all the confusion I forgot to stop my timer on my phone.

When I finally remembered to stop the timer it read 24:59. My chip time read 26:24, but I didn't remember how many minutes had passed before they let the 5K start. I think it was two minutes, but hopefully they will post the official times online soon. In any case my goal was 24:30 and I think I got around that number pretty closely, and given the obstacles I had to fight to get there I'm feeling pretty good about the race. The worse obstacle was running blind. I didn't know my distance or pace and didn't know the trail. This was a stark contrast from my training where I know and run the same 5K distance. It helps so much to know how much distance is left and during this whole race I really had no clue.

One thing is for sure, I'll not sign up for this one again. It's a fun race, but was not organized well enough to enjoy, at least for me. It also didn't help that I had to skip the BBQ and beer to run home for an appointment. Now I'm looking for a real road race so I can set a PR time that I can work towards lowering.

Nice job! I should have warned you about the trails; I go camping in the park where they have that run all the time. As a guy who is pretty reliant on his Garmin, I'm impressed you kept so close to your time without your GPS working.

For your next race you might want to consider the Pearland 5k/10k (since you've turned down the opportunity to run with me for free ). It should be coming up soon and I thought it was pretty well run for a smaller race. The course isn't super scenic but I very much enjoyed it.

[Moliere]

Nice job! I should have warned you about the trails; I go camping in the park where they have that run all the time. As a guy who is pretty reliant on his Garmin, I'm impressed you kept so close to your time without your GPS working.

For your next race you might want to consider the Pearland 5k/10k (since you've turned down the opportunity to run with me for free ). It should be coming up soon and I thought it was pretty well run for a smaller race. The course isn't super scenic but I very much enjoyed it.

You warned me, I just didn't listen

The Pearland race is enticing. I'll consider it although it's quite a ways from my house. It might be the next best 5K coming up that is on a Saturday.

Hey I would have ran with you for free but I've got more important things to do . Actually, I'd probably be running with you for the first 50 meters after which I'd be eating your dust.

[happyone]

This is just an observation from my walk Saturday, the golfers were out in force! I went by both Valley View and Davis and the parking lots of both courses were full and there were people on on of the holes that I could see from the road.