The Official Thread for Runners

[PaloAltoCougar]

I'm going to break the Sabbath in style prior to our Christmas program on the 23rd. My daughter and I will run a Double Race, an unusual event that features the two longest track races in the Olympics, the 10,000 and 5,000 meter runs (somehow, that sounds far more impressive than "a 10K and a 5K"). Bob Anderson (Runners World founder) will be seeking to complete his 50th race of the year with a 7 min/mile average or better, which depresses me as he's four years older than I. Bill Rodgers, the great marathoner, is also running. It's a very intimate affair here in our small town and should be fun.

To prepare, I did two runs this morning, a 7-miler and a 3-miler. I rested for 45 minutes in between, calling a client, sending emails and stretching. I've never done two runs in a day before, and I was surprised that it wasn't all that tough. I'm sure stretching and moving during the rest period are essential for an old guy to avoid becoming the Tin Woodsman. If any of you have any tips on prepping for this, let me know. BTW, my times aren't remotely close to what most of you would post, but I posted negative splits with both runs, feel great and think I can do this just fine. I may even sing in the ward choir two hours later.

[eldiente]

I may even sing in the ward choir two hours later.

Careful - don't strain yourself

[lambdacoug]

Santa brought me and my oldest cold weather running gear. We went for an Xmas run in 20 F weather. I'm surprised how comfortable I was running in such cold. We ran a couple miles. It was nice to get back out running. I've been off my leg since Halloween. Time to get started on training for the so-cal ragnar in April and my first half Marathon in June.

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[BigPiney]

Santa brought me and my oldest cold weather running gear. We went for an Xmas run in 20 F weather. I'm surprised how comfortable I was running in such cold. We ran a couple miles. It was nice to get back out running. I've been off my leg since Halloween. Time to get started on training for the so-cal ragnar in April and my first half Marathon in June.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I'll be there too.

So while my wife went out and ran 6 miles in the cold yesterday. I climbed into bed and took a 2 1/2 hour nap. I must have needed it because I was dead to the world.

Of course we got 4-6 inches of snow last night, so I won't be running any time soon. Lost my window of opportunity. Last year I ran in the snow and injured myself for 6 weeks, not going to do that again.

[lambdacoug]

Well, I just threw my hat over the fence and registered for the Hospital Hill Half-Marathon on 6/1/2013 in KC. That gives me the next 5 months to train... I'm a bit nervous.

Sent from a Jelly Bean

[Joe Public]

2013 running goals:

• Sub-20:00 5k at the Provo Freedom Festival
• New half-marathon PR at the Fontana race in June
• New marathon PR in Saint George in October (if I make it back)

We'll see how it goes. I need a much better January than December to get off on the right foot, so to speak.

Well, I just threw my hat over the fence and registered for the Hospital Hill Half-Marathon on 6/1/2013 in KC. That gives me the next 5 months to train... I'm a bit nervous.

Go for it! There's no need to be nervous. Remember, the real race isn't on race day. It occurs over the training days between now and then. The race is the reward.

[Eddie]

When I'm scheduled to run, it's rare that I let anything stop me. Injury, sure. But I'll run with a cold or in the cold. I've been in some pretty deep snow (and prefer snow to rain). I was even out running during the famous wind storm of December 2011 - though watching the power lines bounce off each other and spark, a transformer explode, numerous large and dangerous items flying, not to mention multiple large branches crashing to the ground and enough dust in my eyes to make seeing where I was going and what was flying my direction difficult all led me to determine that it was a mistake to be outside and I cut that particular run short.

But the last couple of weeks have me thinking about running on the bad inversion days - when the news is saying to keep the young, elderly, and folks with breathing issues indoors where they won't be breathing the stuff.

Do ya'll just not exercise outdoors when there are a lot of particles in the air? Do you use any kind of mask or facial covering to attempt to filter the stuff and go anyway?

Just curious.

[happyone]

I really enjoyed my walk today. It started snowing about a mile into it and came down fast, by the time I finished (for a total of 6.5 miles) there was 3 inches on the ground. I think that is about as deep as it can get and I can still walk comfortably and at a quick pace.

I must have been a sight, because 3 strangers stopped and offered me and the dog a ride.

[lambdacoug]

6 miles this week, average pace of 11:28. I thought I'd lose a lot of fitness by not running for two months, but I haven't. Granted, I'm only doing 2 mile runs ATM, but I'm starting slow and building slow. I'll do six next week too, then jump to 7.5 for two weeks, then 9 for two weeks. That's roughly 10% per week average. Adding a mile per week after that should have me at about 12-13 miles/per week at the beginning of March when I start the half marathon novice 1 training plan.

[lambdacoug]

Thought I'd provide a mini-review of my newest running toy, the Garmin Forerunner 10 GPS watch.

I know most people here might be more interested in the advanced abilities of a more expensive watch, but if you've avoided GPS watches to this point because of the cost or just prefer to keep it simple, check out the FR10. I'm loving it.

This was my daughter's xmas. Your post gave me the idea. She's an aspiring HS XC runner and it made her xmas, she's loving it. Thanks.

[lambdacoug]

Lunch run was a disaster. I had to cut it short...something about what I ate last night or this morning...

[OhioBlue]

This was my daughter's xmas. Your post gave me the idea. She's an aspiring HS XC runner and it made her xmas, she's loving it. Thanks.

That's cool! I think it's a great gadget.

On an unrelated note, I haven't seen a single runner in 2013 yet, on my morning runs. Thought I'd see more with New Year's resolutions and all that. Maybe it has something to do with 5 degree weather at 5:30 a.m.

[Eddie]

That's cool! I think it's a great gadget.

On an unrelated note, I haven't seen a single runner in 2013 yet, on my morning runs. Thought I'd see more with New Year's resolutions and all that. Maybe it has something to do with 5 degree weather at 5:30 a.m.

I haven't seen a lot of runners - but I've seen a few. Been pretty cold here, and the inversion doesn't help as folks are worried about breathing in that crap.

As a side note - I read a study recently regarding the whole idea of not adding more than 10% mileage each week which suggests that the idea is a bit of a myth.

From the article I read (sorry, didn't actually read the research paper) research was done with two groups. One stuck to 10% increase mileage per week while the other group was more aggressive. In the end, they had the exact same number of injuries. Total group was over 500 runners.

Same article suggests that a better method to adding mileage is to progressively add for 3 weeks, then step back on the 4th to the first week's mileage. Which is something I think most training plans you see online do.

The runners from the research study were all "novice" runners and not long-time folks. But I was surprised to learn that the 10% rule really didn't hold as a threshold to decrease chances of injury.

[ERCougar]

That's cool! I think it's a great gadget.

On an unrelated note, I haven't seen a single runner in 2013 yet, on my morning runs. Thought I'd see more with New Year's resolutions and all that. Maybe it has something to do with 5 degree weather at 5:30 a.m.

I went at 5 am this morning!
Thermometer read zero degrees. I'm pretty sure there were parts of my body were frostbitten that should never be frostbitten.

[Joe Public]

For anyone who's interested, registration for the 2013 Disneyland Half Marathon opened today. The website says the race is 75% full at this point. The new Dumbo Double Dare (a mini Goofy with a 10K and half marathon) has already sold out.