2015 Running Thread

Congratulations Gully, and you will NOT be last in your age group at that pace!

That's a good 30 sec / km better than I'd hope to do, and in the 50s age bands I'm in the top half of the field. Pace isn't everything, but it's definitely a shot in the arm to see people behind you, isn't it?

Wait, so Disney World in Florida is doing a half in April? Hmm, might check that out! As I am upping mileage things are creaking and groaning on my body.I might look into the Galloway training intown. They teach a run/walk method that might help a little.

geewhiz, I hope others post too, but here's my own outlook. I took a long time to "come back" after surgery. Everyone told me there was no clinical reason for it-- like, I even had a treadmill cardiology exam -- but subjectively to me it seemed like my oxygen processing was not recovered. That took a long time to get back on track. I just ignored everyone telling me there was "nothing" and just decided to run my heart rate, not my pace. Gradually, the pace has started to recover.

If I felt tired the day after running, I'd be looking at the muscles recovering or the energy itself. Seems the body wants to be left alone to regroup and restore.

I'm curious. What kind of protein? I only use chocolate milk, yogurt, cheese and that kind of deal, because of the whole "soy" thing - I can't keep straight what we're supposed to run away from or toward on the soy front and they did not test my hormone receptor status because I didn't have "risk factors" to qualify for that test. For anybody that does the protein drinks and bars, what is your take?

Aside from protein after, do you need more fuel during the run? I get tired during longer runs, and start chomping the Clif Shot Blox (not a Gu person - chewing gives my brain something to pay attention to instead of my feet). I can usually do a 5K without, but for 10K and up, I'll start eating them about an hour in, a block every 10 minutes or so, followed by water, and I'll cut down the powerade at the same time to avoid a squicky tummy. It's funny -- it doesn't feel like "tired" when it comes on. It feels like "slow" or "cranky". Now, I just eat the gel cubes on schedule because I won't always recognize when I need it. I also carb load religiously before a long run, even if I have not completed any other facet of being properly trained

My last idea is about your shoes. Are they too heavy? I cut almost a minute per km by switching to lighter shoes, thanks to an idea planted from someone on this forum. On paper, I should wear heavier shoes (based on my weight, although I lost 20 lb when I linked my Garmin account to My Fitness Pal and forced myself to run for any calories over 1500). I have had no adverse effect on my feet or anything above the feet from the lighter shoes. They're still cushioning but not so "cushy".

Ouch minivan!

I did a faceplant not long after my DIEP. Right in the middle of a downtown intersection, not even running. Just walking, to lunch or something. I wasn't even fully upright at that point yet - still within the first few weeks. Landed on my chest among other things. Not fun at all. I was afraid I'd wrecked stuff, disconnected the blood-vessel connections or something, but after taking it easy, it was okay. The swelling and bruising from the fall just makes everything feel more sensitive and of course my mind would ruminate too. I hope some of the implant-users can comment for you.

Minivan- I tripped and fell (real hard) on my right side while trail running 9 weeks after my exchange surgery! The side of my right implant hurt for a good week as did my right arm and leg. Of course I had thoughts that maybe the implant had ruptured or I would cause lymph edema in my right arm but so far I'm doing fine and the pain went away.

geewhiz, it takes time to regain our strength after surgery and other treatments. It took a long time for me to get back on running too. Before BC, I was able to run through half marathon without walking. But now I use run/walk method. I like it though. I enjoy running more this way. It's been over a year since my surgery and I finally started feeling strong. I'm doing Yoga, playing hockey, and training for half marathon in November. I ran 8 miles last weekend! I eat Gu during long runs. I tried Shot Blox before but almost choked myself. LOL. Now I stick with Gu energy gels. Tri-Berry is my favorite.

Super cool Robynjolly - thanks!

Hockeycat - I tried a run/walk method last weekend. It actually seemed harder but my time was better. It makes you run harder on the "run" segment.

Anyone deal with sciatica issues? I went to a chiro yesterday - he said he thinks it IT band from all the miles but when I google I come back to sciatica...

My right leg on the outside is tingly - and seems to come from a point on my back right at the hip which is identical to a piriformis related sciatica issue (per Dr Google). I am icing today, will probably sit for a few days just to make sure it doesnt get worse later.

Grrrrr

Today was a goal day for me. Last chance for a long run before surgery. Had to get a neighbor to watch the kids so I could do it because DH is away.

Did the 10k distance. Average pace 10:59. My last two miles were as good as my usual 5k pace. And had enough left to really kick it for the last half mile. Feeling good about this accomplishment. (Original goal was to be under 11:30)

Now to get this treatment thing going so I can get to the other side of it.

bTW please add my race to the list: Bay Bridge 10k on Nov 8. starts in Anapolis, Md

Yay outrunning! Good luck with your procedure!

scrunchthecat - I'm with you on the bacon, but it sounds like an event that will be fun atmosphere. You won't need the run to look forward to, because I'm sure the last chemo itself is something to anticipate, but it will be a nice celebration.

Time to recap the Disneyland Half. The 10K on Saturday was great, just a little off the pace from last year's personal best, and I did 1:10. My best mile was 9:19 on mile 1 but once back into the park, 11:15 to 11:45 mostly. I had a tummy ache, and I had been so careful about food sensitivities, and I wonder if there were some allergens in the Earl of Sandwich carb-a-palooza I had packed in the night before. Anyway, the time wasn't bad. The 10K course is great. Just up the street to the convention centre to stretch a couple of miles to get to the 10K total, but mostly through both parks, winding around between onstage and backstage, past the horse stables and parade vehicles and cheering custodial teams, firefighters, and just really cheerful pleasant ambiance. Lots of photo opps if you don't care about time. I need all the help I can get, so I don't stop, but I do look. Funny, I really have no recollection of where we ran, specifically, until I review the Garmin map. It is so relaxing and zen to be in this happy, familiar, comfortable place and just not to have to make a single decision for over an hour. Just bliss.

On Sunday, back at it, walking to the starting line for the 5:30 start, woke up at 3:45 and had 3,000 steps in the bag before I was in my corral. But at least at Disneyland you CAN walk to the start and you don't need to wake at 2:45 to get a bus! I squeezed to the front of the corral so I could see the ASL interpreter when it was our turn to get whipped into a frenzy by the emcees, and that was a nice change. Now I understand what all the waving and clapping is about. When the corral was launched we headed down Disneyland Drive through that dip and up the hill, the same as the 10K start, but either I was going faster or I wasn't quite recovered enough, but my airways started to close up. I had my inhaler but it was too crowded to wrestle with it, so I adjusted my pace a bit and focused on calming the airways. My first mile was 10:33 even so.

The next few miles are through the parks, onstage and backstage. The day before, I had some digestive discomfort. I thought it was resolved, more bark than bite. The bark started bothering me through the park miles. I decided to avail myself of the actual bathrooms in the park before exiting onto the city streets and the prospect of porta potties. I hate to make bathroom stops because I run in compression tights (CW-X) and it is like wrestling a python to get them off and on. However, wrestling a python in a porta potty would be worse, and not getting to a porta potty in time would be worser! It still was more bark than bite, but better safe than sorry, and I hit the road again, about 2.5 minutes lost.

I played around with pace and it seemed my tummy barked more the faster I went, so I was in the 12:15 to 12:45 range with a combination of running and walking. After Mile 1, my best mile was 8, where the classic cars and their people were (mile 7.5 to 9.5 or so, just before Angel Stadium). I was really encouraged to see these cars older than ME and still in good condition. While I was passing the old cars, I forgot to take walking breaks, and made 11:40 for that mile. The second mile of cars were newer and not as motivating. Past Angel Stadium, I was getting kind of hungry. I only had one pack of Shot Blox (usually that is just right) but I needed more. I ate everything anybody was handing out except Gu. I had red vines, orange wedges, pretzels, and a Timbit from random generous souls along the sidelines. I had Powerade at every single station. I inhaled the snack box while waiting for my medal engraving. I get so hungry my picky tastes go out the window. I don't care for those Almond Roca but I ate it! (I tossed the Builder's Bar. Honestly, everything is gluten free these days, but soy abstainers get no love.)

Getting ahead of myself there. Anyway, about mile 11, the 2:45 pace runner trotted by with a herd of people. Although I had not done any distances over 5K since January, 2:45 was my notional dream pace. (I would love to train up to 2:30 at least, but so far, I haven't pulled off the training part and I know I can do 2:45 but I thought it would be out of the question with my lack of training and a 10K the day before.) I knew the pacer was in my corral farther back, because the emcees remarked on it (the ASL interpreter coming in handy for me). So seeing the pacer made me conscious of the timing and the possibility to actually do it, but I just did not have the energy or digestive comfort to keep up with her. I thought back to the lost 2.5 minutes in the python wrestling bathroom stop and my insufficient fuelling and regret about not bringing more shot blox or Imodium. And I decided to Let It Go, and run my own race.

I dug deep for last 100 yards and finished on a run, pressed the Garmin and the word "Done" on the face and it appeared: "2:44:24". I was stunned that I beat 2:45. I was crying through three medals - the race medal, the Dumbo medal, and the Coast to Coast Challenge medal. I was crying when I got the Dr. Cool cloth, and just pulled myself together in the medical area picking up Tylenol, on the way to the photos. I couldn't believe I did it. Very motivating. I hope I can leverage that and train more seriously for the January Donald Half at WDW.

With my engraved medal, I went straight to the park, and ate a Dole Whip, a salad, and a huge $6 cupcake (google Disneyland diamond cupcake) and headed back to my hotel, barely making it to the lobby washroom before my digestive distress went nuclear. However, that resolved, I took a cool shower and had a nap, and returned to the park for a massive fried chicken dinner. I was hungry again when I got back to the hotel, so I foraged for some snacks before bed!

My own mismanagement of food sensitivities and fuelling aside, the run was as usual very well organized and the volunteers were fantastic. In addition to the classic cars, there were numerous cheerleaders / dance squads, a Mexican folkloric dance group including some adorable little tiny girls in full costumes and makeup, and a Polynesian dance group doing gorgeous hula dances, and Angels stadium was packed with Girl and Boy Scouts cheering. The medals were great and so were the shirts. The expo was a little on the small side, in terms of numbers of vendors (compared with WDW) but pretty much all the necessities were there. I wanted a black hat for my 10K outfit and got one from Dr. Cool and was very impressed by the product line. When you sweat or pour water on it, the cloth is cooler, but isn't chemical treated to get that way.

Anyway, on the basis of training, I totally don't deserve the time I made and I am very grateful that it all ended up so well. I have a perfectly appropriate amount of stiffness, but no aches or limping, can go up and down stairs, walk briskly and trot short distances with no problem. I lucked out, for sure!

Goldlining - my hat is off to you for perseverance in the face of GI distress. I don't know if I could run through that publicly. You make the Disney runs sound fun, although as a native Floridian I am allergic to all things Orlando. There is a Star Wars weekend in April 2016 that is not sold out - if a few folks were interested in attending this (I would probably sign up for the 5k, although I would consider the 10k), perhaps we could make it an outing.

Turns out my official time is a few seconds better than the Garmin (reaction time) and I am about 27th percentile of my gender-age band. I can't imagine the other 73% what their excuse is

panthrah, I thought of you as I reached the trail between Honda and Angels stadium because that was where the Avengers cosplayers were in November and I figured that would probably be where they would put the Star Wars cosplayers too. Boy there was a lot of Star Wars merch, pins, toys, and T shirts in the parks and on guests. (Funniest was the ones with the "all about that base, that base, no rebels" and I have never seen any of the films, so I don't know what that would even mean in the movies, but it was a funny twist of the song lyrics.)

geewhiz, the field can be pretty dense in the early miles but it thins out. It's tougher in corrals toward the back where people are walking for the "endurance experience" and they ignore the race guide etiquette tip to limit to two across. Corral C was perfect for me - the right level of peer pressure I needed to run more and walk less.

Proof of time is critical to getting a good corral at runDisney and it is SO worth it not to end up in Corral Z if you plan to go for any kind of time. You need a certain time in an officially timed race of 10K or longer by a certain deadline prior to the run. It is well worth signing up for a well-scheduled chip timed 10K for that purpose.

While the time requirement is 3:30, that's from the time of the last starter, so if you are not in the last corral, or at least you get right up at the rope at the front of the last corral, you buy yourself some time to get across the finish and get the medal.

My Gu aversion is partly the texture, and also a bit germaphobic about putting the outside packaging of the Gu packet on my mouth, but I also subscribe to the mantra of "nothing new on race day" so even if my hunger overcame the revulsion, I couldn't do it.

scrunchthecat, just to consider, the runDisney 5K medals are silicone. If you want bling, you need 10K or longer. If you can run 5K, you can finish 10K - just walk the back half.

After January's Donald half, I'll probably do Disneyland again in Sept 2016 just to keep the Coast to Coast streak alive (at 6 so far), but I have my finger poised to click the inaugural Disneyland Paris run later in Sept 2016. Word was that was opening for registration in about a month with "travel packages" then in January for race-only registrations. I'm nervous about it selling out before then, and anxious about what they mean by "travel packages". I am happy to bite the bullet on their pricey hotels but I need to arrange my own air because I'll need to spend the following week in Spain and fly home from there. I guess there are worse hobbies to have, but pricey. Just wait until they announce Disneyland Tokyo, Hong Kong, or Shanghai races, too, because I'd do it... The women's Half winner (at 1:21:30 age 29) was from Japan, so it's when, not if, that will happen.

Thanks Goldlining! I didn't realize the clock starts with the last corral runner - good to know. I am just looking to get through it at my pace. It's so funny what you adapt to - I have gotten very used to headphones and last night they died. I was out on a 5 mile run. AND it was after a 4 hour 3 set tennis match in 90 degrees. I almost didn't go running after tennis, but I read somewhere that it is good to get used to running tired.So tired legs, sunburn and no music - wowza I struggled. I ran a minute slower a mile - but...I did it. Better days ahead!

I am following Higdon's half training - and it looks like it's finishing up several weeks before my race date, and nothing else really local is available. Is it best to repeat a few weeks..like last Sunday was 7 miles. Then I go to 8, then there is a week drop back to a 5k. Should I add another 7 mile week, and another 8 mile week then taper to hit the date right?

Goldlining, great race report! Congrats for your time! I can't wait to try Disneyland Diamond Cupcake.

I'm running LA Kings 5k this Saturday! I get to run/walk to Kings players and alumni. Hockey season starts in a month!

Hi all - I am currently training for the NYC marathon and going through chemo treatments. It has been going very well. The only so so run is my long run the week after chemo. That is definitely my toughest. My chemo treatments are 3 weeks apart. Running has definitely given me strength and energy throughout all of this. My marathon is Nov. 1st so I am coming into the toughest weeks of training with two more treatments left. I am just hoping I keep feeling well enough to keep it all going.