The Official Thread for Runners

[PaloAltoCougar]

Have you fallen during a run? This morning I ventured out for what was to be an easy (10:30 pace) run. At mile 1, on a short uphill on a dirt trail, my foot caught a small rock or something and instantly I was horizontal, having hit the ground with my chest and right knee at the same time. It was very sudden, and I had no time to react. I jumped up immediately, hoping no one had seen my faux pas, but a driver on the adjacent street called out to ask if I were ok. “Uh, yeah, just a little embarrassed,” I replied as I dusted off, noting I had put a small hole in my favorite running tights. He was very kind, responding, “Dude, you’re out running. I’m fat and sitting in a car. I’m embarrassed.”

I have some scrapes on my knee, and will no doubt have a little bruising there and on my chest, but otherwise I’m fine.

The stumble really bugged me, and I hate that the fall was likely due in part to age—this is certainly the first time this has happened. But I derive some solace that I ran another five miles after the fall, a distance I had never run until five years ago. I guess this is a stumblebrag. Still, embarrassing.

[bluegoose]

I have always used a small running fanny pack. I can't stand those straps that go around the bicep.

For Christmas I got a spibelt from my wife. I have an iPhone 6. It is pretty snug but it fits pretty well into the pouch.

I'm curious to see if it improve my longer runs on 3-4 mile runs. I've used it twice this week and it seems good so far. With my older pouches I got a lot of friction on any run longer than 9-10 miles on my lower back from the pouch bouncing. Hopefully this one will be better.

My wife uses a belt called a Level running belt. She loves it. It doesn't have any zippers , just flaps to hold stuff in, so it makes me nervous I'm going to have my phone bounce out. But she has used it for 3-4 years without any problem. It has 4-5 pouches so it holds tons of stuff.

[Parrot Head]

Anyone use a flipbelt or spibelt to carry things when running? I recently got a iphone 6 plus, which doesn't fit in my armband, so I have been carrying it around when I run. I feel a little like this:



Even with my old iphone 4, I didn't really like the armband, it was always slipping down my arm and chafing. I guess my other option is to go back to a Forerunner, but my eyes aren't good enough to read it while running.

Any preferences on a belt, or are they only worn by women?

There was a guy near me at the half I ran 9 days ago who had a 6+ on his arm and I was amazed that someone wold carry that for that long. At least an iPad would allow you watch a full movie.

On a personal note, I shaved almost 13 minutes off my PR for the half -- that's a pretty good feeling. The only thing that trumped everyone's excitement for my PR was that they set a Guiness World Record for the tethered 5k. ~200 people ran a 5K bound together. They also have a finish line video and at about min 35, you can see the crowd of tethereds slowly navigating the poorly thought out hairpin turn before making the last-dash shuffle. Mrs. PH also broke 2:00 for the first time and we came away with medals that have flashing lights on the border.

[Topper]

I note from P'dip's Strava report that he ran a 10K yesterday, but within the run he had a mile time of 4:06 and a 400 meter split of 44 seconds (just a couple of tenths off of the world record). Either he's ready for the Olympics or he found a skateboard near the end of his run.

He's not listing his runs so that he can surprise us all on the day before the finish. P-dip is the Hare and the Tortoise combined.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I note from P'dip's Strava report that he ran a 10K yesterday, but within the run he had a mile time of 4:06 and a 400 meter split of 44 seconds (just a couple of tenths off of the world record). Either he's ready for the Olympics or he found a skateboard near the end of his run.

[Clark Addison]

Anyone use a flipbelt or spibelt to carry things when running? I recently got a iphone 6 plus, which doesn't fit in my armband, so I have been carrying it around when I run. I feel a little like this:



Even with my old iphone 4, I didn't really like the armband, it was always slipping down my arm and chafing. I guess my other option is to go back to a Forerunner, but my eyes aren't good enough to read it while running.

Any preferences on a belt, or are they only worn by women?

[Green Monstah]

I couldn't find the inspirational video thread (it has a weird title, doesn't it?), so I figured I'd post this here. Watch the final race...it's pretty remarkable. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11909407

[Parrot Head]

I've seen people doing short sprints before races and my goal is to actually do that at some point because I've noticed that after some sprints on a normal run, it's much easier to run at a faster pace without feeling like as much of a push. I don't eat more than a handful of raisins for anything shorter than 8 or so, but I imagine you won't take that route. My only other major pre-race concern is running as light as possible for comfort.

[Moliere]

What warm up routine do you follow before you do an organized race? I don't expect to PR, much less put up an impressive time, when I do my 10K Thursday but I'd like to be prepared and run well. Do you jog a short/long distance before the start? Stretch or roll? How far in advance do you eat anything, and what do you eat?

I try to eat something about 1.5-2 hours before the race. Usually some type of bread (toast, bagel, etc.) and always a banana and then maybe a powerbar or granola bar. I'll then sip water/gatorade up until almost the start time of the race. I always get nervous before the race so I don't think I could hold much down if I ate closer to the start time. I will also stretch a bit, but really that depends on the length of the race. If it's a short 5k then I'll do some full stretching and maybe some really short light jogging. If it's a longer race (I've ran one half marathon) then just some light stretching.

Ever since my latest injury that forced me out the of the marathon, I've been doing some dynamic stretching before every run. I have no idea if it helps, but it's a way to loosen up and also get in some plyo work. If I were racing now, I'd probably still do some dynamic stretching but certainly not to the extent I do before a run as some of it certainly tires me out a bit. I'd probably keep it to some lighter lunges, heel kicks, and some other stretches to loosen up the hips and glutes. I find static stetching to be most beneficial after the run and dynamic stretching to be best before the run....but that's advice from someone that seems constantly injured so take it for what it's worth.

[chrisrenrut]

What warm up routine do you follow before you do an organized race? I don't expect to PR, much less put up an impressive time, when I do my 10K Thursday but I'd like to be prepared and run well. Do you jog a short/long distance before the start? Stretch or roll? How far in advance do you eat anything, and what do you eat?

I normally run at 5:00 am on an empty stomach. Our race Thursday doesn't start until 9:00, so I think I will have to eat something. I'll probably have a couple of pieces of toast around 7:00 so I have something in my stomach, but don't feel full. 6.2 is not a long enough distance to worry too much about fueling, I think feeling bloated would be a bigger concern than running down the glycogen stores.

Warm up for me will consist mostly of shivering. There may be a bit of running in place, and maybe some jumping jacks if there is enough room to not a accidentally hit someone. I usually stretch after my workouts, so I'll save the yoga for the finish line as the F 30-40 class comes through

[Eddie]

What warm up routine do you follow before you do an organized race? I don't expect to PR, much less put up an impressive time, when I do my 10K Thursday but I'd like to be prepared and run well. Do you jog a short/long distance before the start? Stretch or roll? How far in advance do you eat anything, and what do you eat?

I always eat a toasted bagel with peanut butter and honey along with a banana on race day. I try to eat at least an hour before the race begins. Sometimes I'm earlier, sometimes I'm later. As for a warm up - I can't say that I've ever actually warmed up. Most races I've done are thick enough with people that unless you position yourself in the front of the group the first quarter to half mile (sometimes further) is all a warm up. I'll do some stretching while waiting to begin - but it's pretty gentle.

[Topper]

What warm up routine do you follow before you do an organized race? I don't expect to PR, much less put up an impressive time, when I do my 10K Thursday but I'd like to be prepared and run well. Do you jog a short/long distance before the start? Stretch or roll? How far in advance do you eat anything, and what do you eat?

I find staying up all night eating cookies, candy and popcorn, plus a lot of soda, is good carbo loading.

On top of that, I believe one should roll out of bed five minutes before start time. That should do you well.

[Bo Diddley]

What warm up routine do you follow before you do an organized race? I don't expect to PR, much less put up an impressive time, when I do my 10K Thursday but I'd like to be prepared and run well. Do you jog a short/long distance before the start? Stretch or roll? How far in advance do you eat anything, and what do you eat?

Warming up is the most important thing for me to do. I've found that riding a bike for 7 minutes before a run works really well. Dynamic stretches are good. As for eating, that probably depends on what time the race is. Most are early, so a small meal about an hour ahead should be good--something mostly carb. I like a bowl of steel cut oats myself.

[PaloAltoCougar]

What warm up routine do you follow before you do an organized race? I don't expect to PR, much less put up an impressive time, when I do my 10K Thursday but I'd like to be prepared and run well. Do you jog a short/long distance before the start? Stretch or roll? How far in advance do you eat anything, and what do you eat?

[Moliere]

The IT band/glut issues have pretty much subsided so I've been running up to 4 miles...basically building up to a decent base.

However, last week on a normal 4 mile run I had something pop in my right foot and now it's sore like crazy. The pain subsided after a couple days so I did another 4 miles and it held up fine but then a couple hours after the run it was really sore. I can't freakin' catch a break and this fluke injury is now bugging me I have no idea what it is. It certainly didn't come on gradually so I'm guessing I either tore a tendon or maybe dislocated a cuboid bone

I can't get an appointment to see the podiatrist until mid-Oct so now I'm relegated back to swimming and weights for another 3 weeks.