Running Thread - Page 117

On September 10 2013 06:15 KwarK wrote:
3.5 mile run today with my foster brothers. Hope to make it a regular thing for the last 12 days or so before I participate in Tough Mudder.

On September 10 2013 13:07 micronesia wrote:
Day 1 of my forced rest is complete. I completed some daily quests and got a couple of pieces of gear to improve my item level.

I also went 2-1 in a draft and collected some new cards.

How do I know when I've waited long enough that it's safe to start jogging again? I feel like I could do absolutely nothing for three weeks, start jogging, and my hip flexor will start acting up again.

On September 10 2013 14:13 L_Master wrote:


You don't. You just kinda try. If pain comes back...needs more time. Just don't run through it at ALL if it starts to come back.

I'd take 2 weeks and then go for like a half mile jog. If there are no problems there...go for a mile a day or two later. If it flares up, give it another week or two and try again.

On September 09 2013 08:53 micronesia wrote:
I did my 5k today. I'll tell my 'story' chronologically.

My right hip flexor is still bothering me. I rested it a couple of days, and the day before the 5k I did some uphill walking on a treadmill (as opposed to jogging). Basically I did almost no prep for this 5k in the week and a half leading up to it, so I didn't expect to meet my goal of 30 minutes (which I was able to do on the treadmill a few weeks ago). I also don't have much experience running outside yet, so the fairly hot sun and hills (gentle fortunately) both made it a bit more difficult for me. Add to that the fact that this is my first 5k and that I haven't run the course and I was just hoping to do respectably.

I get to the event about 30-40 minutes before the scheduled start time and find the check-in table. This event is both a 5k and a 10k that start at the same time, just with a further turnaround point/cone for the 10k runners. They give me a number/chip to pin to my shirt... although they don't tell me to grab pins they have in a box so at first I was very confused when I went to put it on lol. I went back to the table and saw the pins and took some. I knew a couple of other people there so we picked up our gift bag, chatted a bit, handed our excess stuff over to the designated driver essentially, then walked over to the starting line with about 5-10 minutes left.

By that point the starting line was clogged with people who had established position at the front of the pack. I was told in this thread weeks/months ago that most people tend to launch too fast and that I should start roughly 3/4 of the way back from the front. I did just that.

They blow the horn, and it takes me 15-20 seconds to actually get to the start line. I don't think they take a measurement of when you cross the starting line at this event so I used a stopwatch to click start just as I crossed the start line. The track is fairly narrow so there was not that much room for passing. I think that first quarter mile or so when everyone was bunched up was us moving at a 12 minute per mile pace, which is a little slower than how fast I wanted to go. I figured it's better to be forcibly slowed a bit at the beginning and save energy than it is to go too damn fast at the beginning due to the adrenaline and then be exhausted for the last 80% of the race.

As we got through the first half mile things started to spread out enough that passing was possible. I found I was passing people much more than I was being passed, so in hindsight I could have started more like at the 50% point in the pack at the starting position. According to my watch I got to the "2 miles left" marker at about 9:50, which was perfectly fine given the downhill section leading up to it, except for one problem. Despite taking advil before the race, I was starting to feel my hip flexor a little. It probably would have hurt if I hadn't taken the advil, but it didn't bother me all that much.

I got to the turnaround cone which is almost the halfway point (slightly before I think) and there was a table with them handing out cups of water. For my runs on the treadmill I don't normally drink water until I'm done, so I chose to skip the table. If I was doing a 10k I would probably want the water, though. Is this a reasonable decision?

I reached the second mile marker and was feeling pretty tired. Part of the difficulty was probably because the footing was not always perfect (dust, pebbled, cracked pavement, etc) which is much different than the jogging I normally do. I don't remember what time I reached the marker, but I had slowed down a bit. There was also no downhill from miles 1-2, unlike from 0-1.

I think my pace slowed a bit more for the third mile. I realized as I was nearing the end of the course that unsurprisingly I wasn't going to break 30 minutes. Unfortunately, my stopwatch stops showing seconds after 30 minutes for some strange reason... this kinda surprised me, confused me, and threw me off. When I noticed it I was like 'f it' and decided to just finish the run.

The course terminates with 3/4 of a lap around a high school quarter-mile track. I was very unsure of how much gas I had left in the tank until I was about two-thirds done with the final section on the track, when I realized I had enough for a final push. I then outright sprinted the last section to the grandstand.... well it wasn't outright. I sprinted at like 80-90% of my top sprinting speed under such conditions, I would say. I decided to go a bit slower because I had not sprinted in years, and because I thought suddenly tripping and tumbling through the finish line in front of a grandstand of observers was not how I wanted to be remembered in the event.

I was too distracted and/or delirious as I approached the finish line to notice the clock ticking up above it, but it wasn't accurate for me anyway. They called my name as I passed through, and then I met up with my friend who had finished earlier. We drank some water and discussed the race/etc. Later they posted the preliminary results so we walked over. There were about 450 entrants including both the 5k and 10k. My friend registered as a Clydesdale since he weighs just over 200 pounds and came in third among Clydesdales with ~25 minutes. My official time was 31:20, which means the race actually took me about 31 minutes. This result is fine given the circumstances. I feel confident I can break 30 minutes next time if my condition is better and I practice more before the race, mostly on actual roads.

Even though I did not place well overall, the irony is that I placed second for males in my age group! I got a medal while people older than me with better times did not LOL.

The details of the results are not posted online yet so I can update later if people are more curious about what the field was like, etc.. I'm glad I did this 5k, but the timing was pretty bad :p

On September 05 2013 22:58 Don_Julio wrote:
So, I'm preparing for my HM at the end of october. I just finished the 5th run in 7 days and felt shitty for the first time today. I accumulated 65k which is the most I have ever run in my life. One of the runs was about 18,5km long and I didn't feel too tired. I'm going to run a 10k race next sunday to check my current form and determine what time I'm going to target at the HM. I'm hopeful to run sub 45min at the 10k.

I have a couple of questions about the next weeks leading up to the HM though:

1. How long should my LSD runs be? I ran the 18,5k comfortably in 1:40. Should I run even further?
2. I haven't worked at my speed at all the last two months. I plan to squeeze in some interval workouts at the track to get accustomed to race speed. I used to run 400m/200m or 1000m/400m intervals. Should I increase the distance to say 2k/1k intervals?
3. I didn't drink when I ran my first HM a year ago and I'm not drinking at 10k races. But I feel that I should drink at my LSD runs and it would help at the race, too, I guess. I'm not quite sure how to approach this as I expect my stomach to rebel. I'm not even sure what the question is here. I think I have to carry a small bottle of water at a tempo run and see how it goes.
4. Do I need to eat at a HM? I didn't need to last year but I will run way faster this time. I'm not really hungry at my LSD runs but get very hungry shortly after.

On September 11 2013 05:14 Don_Julio wrote:
Gonna repost what I asked last week because it was kinda overshadowed by the treadmill discussion.

On September 10 2013 13:27 ShadeR wrote:

I've got TM this Sunday and exactly like my previous TM in January i haven't managed to do any cardio in preparation =/.

On September 13 2013 02:50 Don_Julio wrote:
Thanks AirbladeOrange. Gonna stick with 1k intervals then. I ran five of them today at a 4:30 pace (the first two a little faster) and it was really fun to run at the track again. This might not have been the best idea considering my 10k test race at sunday but it wasn't too hard and I'm mildly optimistic that I can break the 45:00 now.

On September 13 2013 13:32 LagLovah wrote:
I recently bought some New Balance minimus shoes, and I am really enjoying running in them so far. My question is, alot of people have told me that they make you run in a different style, and that I should expect pain in my calves until I get used to them. I have done a 5k and a 7k with them so far, no issues, but I was already a midfoot striker anyways. Should I still be expecting that to be an issue?

I have a half marathon on sunday, and I would like to use them for that, but I am worried that ill have problems before I can finish.

On September 10 2013 06:15 KwarK wrote:
3.5 mile run today with my foster brothers. Hope to make it a regular thing for the last 12 days or so before I participate in Tough Mudder.

On September 14 2013 18:08 Tommylew wrote:


what day and time are you doing it? My start time is at Saturday 12.30! Ive busted my arm falling out fo a tree drunk, so I am not looking forward to things such as the monkey bars...lol Looks like I will be getting a lot wetter then I had hoped!