2016 Running Thread

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  • lifelover
    lifelover Member Posts: 553
    edited September 2016

    Great thread and now I'm joining to help support my new running habit! Went back to running after I lost all the weight I gained following treatment (about 36 pounds).

    I've been doing the Couch to 5K program and am about to complete Week 8. Once I complete that I'll start the 10K program.

    I'm so pleased to read some of these posts. One of my biggest worries is that I'm way too slow. I'm between a 14 and 15 minute mile. But I suspect I'm doing really well. I will little by little try to go faster but I don't want to discourage myself.

    I'm very tired most of the time but I take a day off after each run so that my body can heal itself. I tried walking on my "off" days but it made me too tired - my body just got exhausted.

    What a great activity this running is.

    Are there any UK runners on this thread?

  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    welcome lifesaver! Looking forward to reading about your outings!

    One down, one to go for me at Disneyland. My grumpy glute dragged me a bit but my 10K time (~75 mins) did not totally suck. I don't know how tomorrow's Half will go. May be a bit fatigued tomorrow, but I played it a little safe and I am not in the medical tent wrapped in ice, so there's that. Heading to the park to walk and stay loose (and look for carbs...)

    How about the others?

  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    So the DL Half was a nice outing. Couldn't have had nicer weather. After feeling a bit of pain in the 10K in the glute, I also was being careful not to do bigger damage, so I figured I would walk more so I wouldn't be injured for Paris. My feet were killing me by the end, and my legs were so tired. I had two bars of shot blox but dropped one before the start - so much for planning. By the finish line, I was delirious. Felt like I'd had 4 glasses of wine. Having given up on a time goal (I started with the 2:30 pacer and the 2:45 passed me about 10 miles in) I was okay with my time but I will now need another good run for future proof of time. I had a great night's sleep afterwards, though and I am now back home and feel a perfectly reasonable amount of stiffness, and have physio and massage already booked for later this week, so I think we're under control!

    Hope panthrah and cupcaker had good trips too!

  • Unbreakable01
    Unbreakable01 Member Posts: 153
    edited September 2016

    goldlining I forgot that I had written in this thread. Its good to see my goal. I ran a 5k in May, placed 4th in my age division. I had to have surgery again in August, and have started to run again. I have a race scheduled for November, and will start to condition again. I have a dog I adopted and she's not as fast, so my speed isn't where I'd like it to be. I'll work on her conditioning. :)

  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    yay, and welcome back Unbreakable01. Good strategy to work out the dog. Sadly I can't blame MY pace on anybody :D

    If you can share any more about your Nov. event, we could put the race name and date in the calendar.

    (Would be nice to be in the single digit rank by age but it's not in the cards for me unless I outlive everybody!)

  • panthrah
    panthrah Member Posts: 433
    edited September 2016

    Mixed feelings here-

    Cons: stomach was full so it made it hard to run. couldnt keep up with my friend cause i was feeling off. ( only new thing is that i sipped on water in the corral) , i was hot by mile 2 and pretty much never cooled off til mon night. my shuffle wouldnt work so i had to use pandora which meant a headphone cable out of my pocket. had a headache from the day before that just wouldnt go away ( didnt get better or worse)

    Pros- Husband showed up on the course 4 times!! hes never done that before. new course had me clueless which route we would take, LOVED seeing the odd characters that they never have out, LOVED LOVED the mini hula girls, body finally got into rhythm by mile 6, I owe my well being to mouseplanets sponges ( since i was having temp issues, those saved me.. Will be writing them a letter). I posed for EVERY camera.. got some damn good pics. ooh and i PR'ed by TEN MINUTES!

    and I must have altered my form cause I havent been this sore after a race prolly since my first one. I wasnt going for time. sooo recap.. had an physically meh race , loved my visuals and I PR'ed :p

  • lifelover
    lifelover Member Posts: 553
    edited September 2016

    Panthrah, Goldlining, Unbreakable - I enjoy hearing about your triumphs and also challenges as I'm new to the running - I've been running 3 times a week for 8 weeks now. I'm up to 30 minutes run a day. It is so hard - I keep wanting to stop during my 30 minutes but I just slow down a bit and keep going. Does it get easier? I'm aiming for a 5K the end of September - a park run.

  • Unbreakable01
    Unbreakable01 Member Posts: 153
    edited September 2016

    Lifelover yes, it gets easier. When I started running I was pacing at 10 minutes a mile. After lots of co.auditioning I got down to 7:47/mile. After my first race I kept wanting to get better. What helps is throwing in a slightly longer run, even if it's slower so your body builds endurance.

    Goldlining it will be a 5k in riverside, the Lexus lace up. I totally forgot I was supposed to do it in Sep, but it was a few weeks after surgery so I was able to change it.


  • geewhiz
    geewhiz Member Posts: 1,439
    edited September 2016

    LIFELOVER!!!!!!!!!!!! Hang in there girl. I was in your running shoes awhile back. I had a torn meniscus and MCl that after tons of surgery and rehab never healed. I could barely walk..I would break out in cold sweats from the pain. This went on for over a year then another BCO'er Mary (everyminute?, or something like that) encouraged me to run. RUN??? I couldn't walk!! But I jogged to the next mailbox one day. Then the next. Then the next. And then my knee stopped swelling, and I finished a half marathon. And then the next half marathon. And I don't worry about times. They get faster, and I don't care if they do or not! I worry about having fun running. Stick with it. It is a game changer!!!

  • lifelover
    lifelover Member Posts: 553
    edited September 2016

    Thanks Unbreakable but I am only at a 13.29 minute mile which seems very very slow but I refuse to give up. I was able to push myself a little bit yesterday and I will keep trying :) Running has improved my breathing so much - the weight loss has been important as well.

    Thanks Geewhiz and you are right - it is changing my game. My dear partner, well, he says he doesn't recognise me and he is so impressed. I am enjoying myself - it is just such a challenge with hot flushes and all that but I hear what you are saying - we all will have some challenge or another but we just gotta keep moving :)


  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    Unbreakable, did I get the date correct? I googled Lexus Lace Up Riverside and got December 4.

    lifelover, I am a big believer in running your own pace, so I certainly envy the 7-minute miles, but settle for 7-minute km on a good day. I am not 25, I am often not properly trained, I am clumsy and fall and get injured but run anyway, etc. I like to say I am not good at running, but running has been good to me. My asthma is much better controlled, the running events give me something to look forward to, and some shiny recognition just for following through. I have learned so much anatomy from the physiotherapy - every time they repair what I wreck, I learn another body part I didn't know I had. The long runs like the half and 15K give me time with my thoughts that I rarely have in the course of normal living, yet relieve me of making any decisions - just follow the ladies in front of me for 2+ hours.

    Panthrah, sorry you had the out-of-sorts run at DL. I found the course, er, interesting - like, where are we now?? In and out of the parks instead of continuously in one then the other. But then once we got out into Anaheim, I found I knew what was coming, knew where Mouseplanet would be and had my camera ready (see the "Damn you autocorrect, R-U-M" fingerspelling?) and got my red vines to make up for the Shot Blox, and I was able to run the tangents more efficiently because I knew the turns. Oh temp-wise, at the expo, I had bought a new Dr. Cool hat and neck tube. Boy, those are great products. I poured water on the neck tube and just turned it around every few minutes, and I had new coolness on my neck. My new favourite running gear. :)

    I had my post-Disneyland leg massage today. Holy mother of pearl, that hurt. They were so full of tightness. I am going to do another 30-minute before I head to Spain (on the way to Paris) then have one booked the day after I get back from there.

  • lifelover
    lifelover Member Posts: 553
    edited September 2016

    Thanks Goldlining :)

    I had a terrible run yesterday - I just couldn't run very far before I had to stop and walk. And I didn't hate myself for it. Result!!


  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    lifelover, are you using a running watch with pace data? I find my enthusiasm sometimes gets me going faster than I can sustain, and I have to walk. The very first Nike fitness band I ever had was a revelation, because I realized if I used it as a speed LIMIT, I could run much longer and build endurance (and then increase pace as I built up conditioning over time.) Now, I have a better feel for my pace, but sometimes in a race, I find myself excited and going too fast, and I check the watch and hold back. Sometimes I have to walk a bit to get myself out of the rhythm and then start running at a slower pace (usually keep the high cadence but shorten my stride). But glad you celebrated your constructive use of run-walk! :)


  • Unbreakable01
    Unbreakable01 Member Posts: 153
    edited September 2016

    Goldlining you're right, can I blame it on anesthesia amnesia still? My memory with dates has been off after all these surgeries

  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    Unbreakable01, that explanation totally works for me :) My whole brain was wonky for ages after all my surgery, particularly the long DIEP sleep. It was the best sleep I've ever had, but man, my head and stuff like my oxygen uptake in running did not work right for a lonnnnng time. Multiple years, easily!

  • lifelover
    lifelover Member Posts: 553
    edited September 2016

    Thanks Goldlining. I use my iPhone and the Endomondo app. It's pretty good.

    I want to buy a watch but there are so many out there I am confused. I also can't spend loads of money but I might ask for one for Christmas so perhaps I can spend a bit more. Is there a particular one you recommend? Is the Nike fitness band still a good one? I just checked it out on the internet and the price of some of the fitness bands seem good but I'm wondering how easy some of them are to use. And I need one with a GPS don't I?

  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    Let's poll everyone - what watch(es) do you use? Weigh in here!

    I use a Garmin 620 for running and a Garmin vivoactive for everyday (steps and sleep). Both will connect to the same heart rate band and will upload to the Garmin website via the Garmin Connect app. The vivoactive will do GPS and analysis as well, but I already had the 620. The 620 does not do step counting, but it does more running analysis like vertical oscillation and so forth. Vivoactive has apps that can be downloaded to it from the Garmin platform so you can modify the watch faces and additional data fields. When I run, I wear both, so I get the steps on the vivoactive, and collect my running stats on the 620. If I just go out for a walk, I use the vivoactive GPS, with or without the HR band. If I am just doing a light run and don't care about the deeper analytics, I may use the vivoactive in running mode. I like that I do not HAVE to take my phone to have a GPS in it. (Though now I may take it to catch Pokémon and hatch eggs!)

    The Garmin website will "talk" to My Fitness Pal (MFP) for calorie intake and MFP will "talk" to the Withings wifi scale, so I have weight and food connected to it through that. I am a data geek so I enjoy having all the information and I do pore over it afterwards. I don't run with my sound processor on, so I am as deaf as it gets when I run, and coaching is basically unavailable to me, so the data is my "coach". Not everyone likes that kind of thing but my Garmin, it gets me.

    What about everyone else?

  • geewhiz
    geewhiz Member Posts: 1,439
    edited September 2016

    I use the Garmin Forerunner 225. I like the cadence counter. It helps me pace myself. I do use the GPS also - I really like tracking where I have been!

  • panthrah
    panthrah Member Posts: 433
    edited September 2016

    i use the garmin forerunner 410 .. which can do way more than i need it to. Im actually looking to get something smaller and less complex.

    Goldlining- i might need the neck tube and oooooo i was looking for your sign. i didnt see it on the course but i saw it in the post on their fb page. :) i LOVED it :):)

  • lifelover
    lifelover Member Posts: 553
    edited September 2016

    Thanks Goldlining, Geewhiz and Panthrah! I will go for a Garmin.


  • lifelover
    lifelover Member Posts: 553
    edited September 2016

    Hi runners :) I bought myself a basic Garmin: Forerunner 10 which turned out to be perfect for me. I ran 3 5K's this week - the best time was 41:44. Next week's runs I will try to go just a little bit further so that I can work towards a 10K :)

  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    Welcome to Garmin-land. You may now proceed to purchase the T-shirt saying "if found on ground, please pause my Garmin". :D

  • scrunchthecat
    scrunchthecat Member Posts: 269
    edited September 2016

    Have not posted in a while. Have been running on treadmill 5x per week for 30 minutes, but no races. I am signed up for a 5k on October 16 to benefit Mount Sinai Medical Center, where I get treatment. So - yay! I also bought a mini-trampoline and have been jumping for 5-10 minutes a day. It's supposed to be good for lymphedema (mine seems to be under control), It *kills* your calves, though! Hope everyone had a good summer.

  • lifelover
    lifelover Member Posts: 553
    edited September 2016

    Hi Goldlining - yeah I luv that pause button - now when people stop me on the street to ask directions I can hit the button - too bad I can't stop the gasping for breath :)

    Scrunchthecat - Super well done! I have been doing 5K's but haven't raced yet - am working up to it trying to increase my stamina. I was treated at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City back in 1994 when I lived in the USA (for Hodgkins Lymphoma). I might try the mini trampoline - have you noticed a difference - my calves could use the extra workout. Have fun!


  • Heidihill
    Heidihill Member Posts: 5,476
    edited September 2016

    I just got a Garmin for my birthday, and yes, I want that t-shirt, too, goldlining. I still have to inaugurate it, will check in here when I do. I already have a Fitbit so will do the step-counting there. I don't like it though that I'm not getting badges like I did when it was new. Hoping the Garmin will get me outside more.

  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    Here's the link to the shirt.

    Lots of other funny slogans on their site.

    They have a schedule showing which race expos they will be at as well.

  • Heidihill
    Heidihill Member Posts: 5,476
    edited September 2016

    Funny! But no shirts in site.

    Still trying to set up the Garmin... 

  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    Oops!!!

    I fixed the link! (I hope!)

    The wrong link (which I have removed!!!) was leftover from my clipboard, in response to someone who was telling me about a "stunning" sign language version of a song on the internet. I responded to her with that clip to show that enthusiastic sign language songs on the internet are sometimes atrocious. People who do not sign respond to the enthusiasm and confidence of the person flapping their arms rather than to the fidelity of the interpretation. So sorry for posting the wrong one!!!!

  • goldlining
    goldlining Member Posts: 1,178
    edited September 2016

    So, tomorrow is the Disneyland Paris Half - cupcaker, you here?

    I'm impressed with the start time a leisurely 7:00 and the hotel rooms are very close to the start - no buses. Aside from being at the far end of the corridor from the elevator, it's closer than any room I have had at WDW or Anaheim. Combined with the late start, it's a pretty sweet deal.

    Unfortunately, I have acquired a virus in my throat, sinuses, ears, and thereabouts, probably just a plain old rhinovirus that unfortunately I have not already had, from one of the thousands of people I encountered in the train stations, train, metro on the way here from Spain.

    Forecast is a little cooler than I'd like, at 12C at dawn, so opting for plan B long sleeve shirt. Unless I recover overnight, all bets are off as to pace, but I've been looking forward to this a long time!

  • Heidihill
    Heidihill Member Posts: 5,476
    edited September 2016

    Thanks for the new link! So exciting that you're in Paris, and cupcaker, too. I will definitely look into the 5K and 10K runs for next year. All the best to you both!! Sorry about the virus though. I recommend some alcohol to kill the bugs, seriously. Strong stuff though, not just wine. It usually works for me. Also try zinc and Vitamin C. A good brand is Redoxon, which is probably available in France.

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