digamma - congrats on winning your age group. For me, that's as good as winning the race.

Heh. When my wife and kids picked me up at the finish, my three year-old son of course asked me if I won. I told him no, but I was pretty close.

Fast forward an hour or so as we're walking around the zoo. He asks, "Daddy, why are you losing so much?"

Me: "Losing what?"

Him: "Your races. Why are you losing? When are you going to win?"

Thought of this post when I was reading the following article: Sub-Elite Runners Chase Improvement - NYTimes.com

Enjoyed that article. Thanks for posting.

A really bad flu kept me out of running for the past several days. But good thing I caught it now instead of later because this week starts my first week of my Half Marathon training.

I'm using the Hal Higdon's Half Marathon Intermediate training program for a few of reasons. The schedule fits with my busy weekday schedule leaving the long runs on the weekends, it doesn't really change how I've been planning my runs now, and I had already signed up for a 5K race and a 10K race that happens to fall in line with the program.

I'm going to give it one more day's rest and hit the pavement tomorrow night.

Damn i'm through a bad patch and will use this post as self therapy.

In the last 2 weeks i have run only twice, stopped to control my diet and feeling like shit because that, but at the same time, finding new excuses every day to keep on not doing anything about it.

I guess the main issue it's been a really busy schedule at work, we are releasing tons of new stuff, the company is growing crazily, from 30 employees to 65 in the last year and my responsibilities are also growing at the same pace. It has me pretty excited and enthusiastic, but i end working over 10 to 12 hours per day and i'm so tired at least mentally if not physically, as i'm sitting all those hours in front of a computer along some trips around Europe and for example next week i'll expend 9 days in Canada.

On top of it, my second kid (10 months old) is giving us a lot of work, as every small kid does, my wife is so tired and complaining about it so when i'm not working, i'm trying to help at home as much as i can, but i have no time for myself at all, besides surfing some sports sites when i'm "working" to relax a bit.

Talking about the wife, she also going through a rough time too, tired of being just a housewife and depending on me both on the economical side and on driving her to every place she wants to go. She has epilepsy on a very soft way, but that doesn't allow her to drive a car for example and that was the cause of leaving her work 3 years ago. As our economical side has improved a lot, we have thought about buying a large house and moving to another part of the city, maybe to start a new life, but on the other side, leaving the center where we live now, close to shops, kids school, etc would mean more issues with transport that would also fall over me.

It also puts a lot of pressure on me, as she has a lot of mood changes and ends firing against me because my work hours and specially the work trips.

Then come the small excuses i put myself, like winter is coming, it's cold outside when i would have the time to run (too early in the morning or late at night), i'm so tired so i can't wake up 1 hour before my family to run when it would be a good time as it wouldn't affect the time i dedicate to them nor the time i dedicate to work.

In resume, i have a very stressing l¡fe right now and can't find either the time or the mental energy to think about running or dieting...

... but it must change from today, I was in a very good path, losing weight and improving a lot my running, can't just throw it all as i'm doing right now.

Still a little dinged. Didn't run. Boo.

Icy -

When you are in that place it is so hard to get out of it. It's such a spiral. All I can offer is that just going outside and walking a mile will make a huge difference. And often those first few steps turn from walking to jogging and then to running, and all of a sudden you have gone three miles and feel incredible.

You can do it. Winter is your bitch.

Good call on the shorts guys, made a world of difference.

Another beginner question. I am on my third week, and feel like I am progressing very slowly. I was able to finally do all of the day 1 C25K runs for the first time without stopping (yay, baby steps), but it took me multiple tries to get there. My schedule has been run, day off, run, day off, run, 2 days off.

However, because of the crippling pain in my calves, I took three days off before my run today. The calves got sore about a mile in, but not enough to stop me from running, and the pain went away after about another half mile or so. I'm wondering if I just need to do more rest days in between since I am so out of shape. I'm thinking for now trying 2 days off between runs, at least for the next week or so, and seeing how that goes. Did anybody else have this problem when they started?

Icy, sorry to hear you are going through such a rough patch. I'm not really the best to give advice since I always seem to manage to mess everything up in my own personal life, but the only thoughts I can offer is to make sure to set aside the time for yourself that you need. At least for one activity, whether it is your running or biking or something else, it is important to not neglect yourself as well.


I won't say that everyone has gone through this, but I think most of us have. It is just a sign of using parts of your body that has been mostly dormant before, and not necessarily something to be worried about.

When you start up, it is going to be a little slow, it has to be. Especially your first several weeks of running. When you start out especially the recovery time is just as important or more important than the actual running. Your current schedule sounds fine to me. Three times a week with days off in between.

I would suggest that you look into rolling your calves after running and/or compression recovery socks, especially if you're having tightness or soreness in them after the runs. It will help your recovery a pretty good deal. The most often recommended ways to roll your calves would be with a foam roller or something like the Roll8Recovery.

After a series of false starts with running over the past six months, I think I've found something that works. I've done a couple of short runs (1.5 miles) recently with no hip tightness in the days afterward. I'm hoping that I can slowly work up from that and not run into the problems I had this summer. Maybe I just tried biting off more than I could chew when I started out running 2.5 to 3.5 miles instead of working my way up? I guess I was under the illusion that since I was a runner in high school, that I could jump in at a higher level than other beginners. I'm hoping the new baby-steps approach works better.

I think that's a great approach. I am in a similar boat - always running injured - and I think that starting too fast/too far/too soon has a huge impact. Look how incremental Ben was. It seems like he became a world class marathoner overnight, but in reality he started small and methodically worked his way up.

it is definitely the most sensible approach. I too started running only every other day, although I did start at about 3 miles per run. I still was careful not to push too hard in the first few months, then not too long. You gotta listen to your body...

FM

Here is a neat little calculator that can help you determine the cumulative increase in calorie burn for standing versus sitting at work.

http://www.juststand.org/tabid/637/default.aspx

I started using a stand up desk full time about a month ago and it already seems to have made a difference in my back and leg strength/endurance. The transition was kind of tough, but certainly worth it.

How does the Instagram stuff work on Strava? I have the accounts linked and took a photo during my run this morning, but it's not showing up. It just keeps saying "Syncing with Instagram. Refresh the page in a few minutes to see your photos" but it never does anything when I refresh, even much later.

I think for me I had to make sure to mark the location in Instagram for the picture for strava to detect it was part of the activity. Once that is done it just automatically synced for me

Finally uploaded a run to Facebook via Runtastic. Ran 5 miles this morning, burning about 580 calories.

Trying to make morning runs a regular thing.

Pretty solid 10k run this morning: 2k WU, 6k tempo, 2k CD

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/401765968

Tempo pace came down to an average of 7:08 per mile, very satisfied with that.

Was supposed to go out for an 8 mile or so run tomorrow but got invited by one of my FB friend (don't know him very well but both our sons swim for the same swimming club) to participate as a replacement in a 120 minutes fitness challenge to raise funds for a cancer research fund.

30 minute workout to help out the fund - Home

I'll be taking part in the "4x4 team challenge" which at first I thought would be that we'd each do our part on one of the machines (elliptical, treadmill, sationnary bike and stairmaster) but reading further, I learned we will ALL be rotating and everyone will be doing ALL four machines for 30 minutes each. Okay then, I guess I'll skip the morning run...

In case you were wondering what Lance is up to these days: Run Profile | 5miles | Times and Records | Strava

That was a great article. I'm just hoping I can someday become sub-"sub-elite".

I missed that article the first time it was posted, very intersting read!

FM

Reporting back about that team challenge I took part in over the weekend. That was an intense 120 minutes! And surprisingly, it was fun! I say surprisingly cause I still can't get my head around the fact that I enjoy cardio work. Used to hate it, with a passion.

Started with the stationary bike, then on to the stairmaster, then the elliptical and finally on the treadmill. I'd specifically asked to finish with the treadmill cause I knew if I was getting tired, I'd be able to will myself into going on.

A couple of those machines I don't get to play with very often, namely the stairmaster and the elliptical. I used to own a very cheapo stairmaster almost 20 years ago, when I was in college. It laid there collecting dust for a long while until I used it to death one Summer in 1995 or so, then sent it back to collecting dust in the basement until we threw it away a couple years ago. Now that I think about them workout sessions, I liked the feeling back then. Never realized it until now.

The elliptical, I had NEVER done before. The feeling was weird at first but I liked it once I got used to the movement. The treadmill, I let it all go and pushed through the fatigue. It was great!

Here's a picture of our team after the challenge. The younger middle guy who looks all fresh and clean is a representative from the gym ;) I'm the second from right, sweatiest of the bunch, lol


They were also tracking how many calories you were burning with prizes for the teams who burned the most. Cause yes, it was a team challenge and all four members of the team rotated on all four pieces of equipment. Machines count came up to 1679 calories for me. As per my HRM, it's more like 1504, still a good afternoon's work ;)

Not sure how well the treadmill was calibrated cause I saw the 3.1 miles mark at about 21:25 which would give me a pretty clear personal best and an amazing pace over the first five 5k. I had unclipped my footpod so I don't know about distance. Still, I had the machine set to 9.8 MPH for a long while there and while I was running hard, it didn't feel that fast, and I was on tired legs. Oh well, the burn was nice. ;)

They said our team burned 5818 calories and the best at our gym burned something like 6000, we got close!

It was for a good cause, a local cancer research fund and we were sponsored by my FB friend's realtor's office.

Probably cheating somehow.

I just did a run with these..

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0036Z...r=8-3&pi=SL500

It's a hat with removable headphones. They worked out really well on a 30 degree, 20 mph wind morning. At least most of the snow and ice melted yesterday afternoon. .

Not a fan of daylight savings. Haven't been able to run in 2 weeks because of the sun setting before I get home due to my work schedule/commute. Going to go join a gym tomorrow so I can at least stay/get in decent shape over the winter.

My wife has been struggling a little bit with this herself. With the sun setting at 4:20 in the afternoon, she has been having issues with the dark. I'm pretty lucky that I can fit runs in during lunch time, I think I would go crazy otherwise.

Today was my first run using my new Camelbak for hydration. My initial impression is that I'm glad I have it for convenience during training runs, but I'm not sure I want to use it on race day. With the water stations in place, it seems like it would be unnecessary extra weight to carry. Thoughts either way on that?

No way I would use a camelbak for a race unless it was an ultra. Definitely training only.

This flu really knocked me off my game. I haven't been running for two weeks because of the congestion in my lungs. I'm already two weeks behind in my half training, and I have a 5K race next weekend.

I'm not going to stress about it too much as my recovery from the flu takes priority. I'll take this next week with very light training and just enjoy the 5k race as a welcome back run.

I ... just ... can't ... catch ... Subby ... in ... Fitleagues....

That's pretty much how I use mine - only for training runs (and even then, it has to be more than 12 miles, or particularly warm weather). If water is going to be provided on race day, why bring your own?

I found out the iTouch has poor GPS capability so I wasn't able to get an accurate read via Runkeeper last night on my first run in literal years.

Signed up for a 5K on December 7th. Will be my first race since sometime in the early 2000s, possibly even a little earlier.

I need to run at night otherwise I struggle to get any runs in between November and February. If the weather is cloudy it can get dark well before 4pm. The streets are well enough lit, but fallen leaves make any kind of night run a bit dangerous.

Last year I slid on a pile of leaves, pulled something and ended up being out of action for over a month. Hopefully the leaves will be gone over the next few weeks, and ice will be the only thing I need to look out for.

If you do go out for a run at night, make sure you are wearing some high vis gear. I also usually wear sunglasses with clear lenses at night as I have run into a few unseen branches in the past!

I usually run at 5:20 am but it's pretty much the same as 6 pm, it's just as dark. Since I start work at 7:30 and I am at the dojo most evening starting at 6, if not for running in the dark, I wouldn't be running at all. I'm okay with it though. I avoid the big roads and stay in the neihgborhood, on streets I know are well lit but not with many cars going on them. I need to get some high vis stuff though...

FM

+1

Heh. Well, those of us unconcerned with our speed do (to carry phone/music, drink, snacks).

I haven't gotten to the point where I feel confident enough that I won't get thirsty/dry mouthed between stops. But then I typically have a drink near me at my desk to take a sip every minute.

I usually use a hand held water bottle if I think I will need a drink on my run.

My run for Saturday was 2k warmup + 6k hard tempo + 2k cooldown. I just realized last night, when looking at the splits that I ended up running that 6 km in 26:01, or at a pace of 4:20 per km (6:59 per mile). The last 5 km of that stretch came down to 21:37 for a 5K, a good 40 seconds faster than my previous best effort for a 5K in training, paced at 4:19 per km (6:57 per mile). The last km was done in 4:09.

I'm not so much bragging as these numbers blow my mind a bit. I never thought I could sustain this kind of speed over 5-6 km. Will try very hard for a good time on Strava's Any Way 10k this week but it's a busy week with an even busier weekend (son on a hockey tournament, karate competition Saturday and big karate gathering with seminars that start at 8 on Sunday).

Although I'm not actively trying to lose weight, I weighed in at 159.6 lbs this morning, first time under 160 lbs in, well, forever! I feel in shape, I feel lean. Life is good, happy running everyone!

And Tim, welcome to the fold! :)

FM

That's really impressive, FM. Nice work!

I need to log my walks with my wife so I can catch those cheaters ahead of me. :D

Have a 5k race I'm doing this morning. Pretty excited for it, I woke up at 3:45am unable to go back to sleep. :)

Looking to try to break 24:00 this morning.

go for it Alan!

FM

Good luck!

Looking forward to hearing your results, Alan.

I got my highest Suffer Score ever this morning: 302! I ran the same distance as two week ago (15 miles) and only slightly faster (around 90 seconds over 15 miles ain't much,) but the Suffer Score went from 214 then to 302 now. Why? Temperature. Two weeks ago was the coldest morning of the fall so far: 43 degrees. Today it was around 63 with near-100% humidity and foggy. Big difference. Run Profile | 15-Mile Run | Times and Records | Strava

I've got a 5K race this morning as well. I haven't been able to train since I got sick except for a 1.5 mile run earlier this week to test out my lungs.

Looks like my coughing is pretty much gone this morning, but it'll still be a "just enjoy the moment" kind of day for me.

Good luck on those 5K's.

I just did a 5 mile run in 22 degrees with a wind chill of 10. Strava needs a Wind Adjusted Pace on days like these, forget the GAP.

Finished with a 23:32 time today (Course measured only 3.01 miles instead of 3.11 though). Seems every 5k I do lately has come up about 1/10th of a mile short. Winds up being a 5k pace of just a hair over 24:00 which was my goal, so my avg pace was maybe 5 seconds per mile slower than what I was hoping for.

Today's performance speed wise was pretty much the same as my previous record on 9/28, but with a higher HR over all. on 9/28 I was fresh after a 2 week break following my half-marathon and my TSB score was 17.2 vs today where my TSB is -13, so I guess I'll take it. Not quite the improvement I was hoping for, but there is always next time I guess.

I did get my first Age Group award though today, finished 2nd in the 30-39 men's group (out of 13) and 15th overall (out of 369). Was actually the 4th Adult to finish so that was pretty cool I suppose.

I really haven't been in this to compete against others though, more so with myself so I think my wife is happier for my performance than I am with it :)

Wow, that is colllllld. Hope you were layered up good.

Sounds like a successful run to me!

I finished with an unofficial (Strava) time of 44:07. Unlike Alan's race, mine really did measure 3.11 miles, at least according to my phone's GPS.

Weatherwise, it was a really nice 55F degrees, with a light breeze. The course itself was a trail course. Part packed dirt, part rough asphalt. In the first 1/2 mile, we went down a long gradual downhill. It didn't take us runners long to realize we were going to go up that same hill at the final mile.

Throughout the entire run, I was sucking on a Halls cough drop. I'm not sure if I really needed it, but it did make me think it was keeping my lungs clear, that alone helped me keep pace, at least for the first 2 miles.

Once I reached the 2 mile mark, the lack of training caught up to me, and I went the rest of the way walk/running, including up that dreaded hill at the final 1/2 mile.

As I approached the finish line, my family saw me and my daughter ran into the course and met me about 20 feet from the end. I picked her up and we crossed the finish line together.



I'm quite happy with this run, though - finishing under 45 minutes with very little training.

I'm nearly 100% recovered so it looks like my training with return in full force this coming week, with a 10k race coming up in December.

Happy running everyone!

Awww, that's great you guys finished together, what a sweet thing for her to do. And kudos on running after the flu.

Seems like it was the weekend for running a 5k... It is a bit easier for me, as there's a Parkrun fairly close by. (In the likely event that you haven't heard of Parkrun (it started in the UK a few years back - has spread to quite a few other countries, but hasn't really taken off in the US yet), it's a series of free 5k runs held every Saturday morning - more info here: 403 Please don't scrape. See http://www.parkrun.com/scraping for details. )

Today's run went pretty well: Run Profile | Parkrun 211 | Times and Records | Strava

My first 5k is on the 7th, which is a couple weeks from now.

well done on the races Alan and ABC! :)

Alan, same thing for me about time, I run mostly to challenge myself with mytimes and all but it'll be something special if I ever get an age group award of any kind...

FM

Official race results:

Time: 44:54 (Gun timed, I crossed the starting line 45 seconds in)

312th of 370 total runners
172nd of 191 male runners
20th of 20 in Age Group Male 40-44

Did I mention this was a "just enjoy the moment" kind of race I was going to run? :lol:

I know a few of you on here have done the C25K, so I have a question. I finally finished week 3, which is two sets of 1.5 minute run, 1.5 walk, 3 run, 3 walk. The second 3 minute run kills me every time. I have finally completed it (it took me four tries to do three days), and I am looking at week 4.

This week alternates 3 and 5 minute runs, with very little walk time in between. Because of how much trouble I have had with the second 3 minute run in week 3, this week is kind of psyching me out. It seems like the largest jump of the whole program. Am I getting psyched out for no reason, or is this a tough jump?

Try this. Run a bit slower. Focus on completing the allotted time, but at a slower pace. You'll be surprised how much longer you can maintain a running motion when you slow down.

[edit] Hint: notice how I repeated the word slow.

:+1:

The answer when starting out and running out of breath is the question is almost always to just run slower. The goal is to complete it, not complete it at a certain speed.

The other thing that I will add is that the C25K program should be totally comfortable. You shouldn't start dreading it, or it will start giving you reasons to skip days which is far worse. So my recommendation is if the previous week is not totally comfortable for you, there is no harm in continuing it again on repeat until you are ready for the jump.

Sounds like good advice. I have been watching my times, and the last couple of runs I have gone out way too fast for my ability. I think my problem is that I feel good at the beginning, so I push it too much. And also, it has been pretty cold (at least for Arizona) in the mornings, so I am going too fast because I am trying to warm up. Time to invest in some warmer jogging gear.

I need to quit comparing myself to everyone else and focus on my own times, no matter how slow they are.

+1. When I did Couch to 5K I constantly surprised myself at the jumps I was able to make along the way. It took me like 4 weeks before I could actually do week 1, my fitness level was unfathomably bad, but some of those milestones where you run for 3 minutes or 5 minutes you might find doable, just go into it saying "lets see what I can do today".

The key past that of course, is to do what you're able but not to consider it a failure if you have to repeat a day or a week. You're improving every day, and that's what matters. Couch to 5k is a generic program, its not tailored to your body/fitness level, so its not going to fit exactly and its no big deal if you go at a different pace.

focus on your times and more especially on your body and how you feel when you run. Compare how you feel from one run to another, at similar pace. Is today's pace the same as you last run's pace but it feels easier? GOOD, that's what you should aim for. Then someday, the pace will get quicker for the same effort... It takes times, but all runners are not created equal. The good thing is, it doesn't matter to you how fast I run. It's all about you making a better you than the one you were yesterday. :)

edit to add: I compare my runs to my own runs too. Say I do intervals, they are getting to be fast but they're not always easy, not even for me. Then again, I want to compare how the intervals I do this week were compared to the ones I did last week or the month before. If they feel easier for the same times, I'm going in the right direction. If not, it could be for many reasons, one bad run doesn't mean you are not doing the right things...

FM

Every time I see this thread, I think it says STAVKA and is about WWII in the east.

Every time I am disappointed.

Is anyone else doing a Thanksgiving day race?

Around here it is a pretty big tradition to freeze your butt off right after sunrise in a race, and then go eat turkey and watch football the rest of the day.

Looks like the wife and I are going to do a local 5 mile race early Thursday morning. Not really planning for it any, just going to slide it in a normal training day slot so don't expect any PRs on it, but I am going to aim for sub-40 minute time weather permitting.

I would so do a race on Thanksgiving if it actually was our Thanksgiving ;)

FM

I was going to do a local 5K in Madison until I noticed it was actually a 5 mile run. Figured that was too much for my current level of training.

So I need 18.3 miles by Saturday to hit 200km for the month. I figure with the 5 mile race tomorrow, plus I'll run about 2 miles warmup, that will leave me needing roughly 11 miles on Saturday (Friday is an off day for me).

I'm only scheduled for 10 miles on Saturday, I think I may go an extra mile though :)

I have now run 8 miles in 4 days. LOOK OUT SERIOUS RUNNERS.

Ok, you don't really need to look out.

Well.. holy cow, the wind was something special today for the race. 7MPH constant wind with 15-25mph wind gusts. I turned on to the final street around mile 4 and ran into a wall of wind that nearly knocked me over. That was quite different to run through. I tried finding someone to run behind to try to let them take the brunt of the wind, but unfortunately there weren't too many tall people around me.

I ended up with a 41:37 time for my 5 mile race, average pace of 8:15min/mile. about 100 seconds slower than where I was hoping for, but honestly with the wind, I feel I did fine and on a normal day would have been right at my target.

Finished 223/751 overall and 28/64 in my Age Group.

Time to now eat! :) Happy thanksgiving all!

Did an unofficial 2013 Kodos Turkey Trot at the local track. Ran my best estimated 5K (27:02) in the wind and cold (32 degrees or so). Good enough. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Nice job!

that's awesome, well done! And Happy Thanksgiving to you too! :)

FM

harsh conditions, well done! And Happy Thanksgiving to you too! :)

You need to try running in Scotland. In October I think that every run I made had at least a 15mph sustained wind. A few weeks back I played soccer in 35mph wind with stronger gusts. Not fun at all.

When I plan a route I am thinking about shelter from the wind rather than elevation changes!

Nice going, guys!

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow runners :)

On the windy days, you don't need a treadmill - just head outside, point yourself into the wind and start running...

I ran a Turkey Trot out here. The highlight for me was definitely seeing my 3 year old finish the 1-k kids' run.

Happy Thanksgiving!

That sounds absolutely miserable! :)

In just under the wire to get my 40k badge in for November. :)

Anyone know if the Strava badges count treadmill runs? I'm guessing "no" as there is a significant gap between what I have run and what Strava is reporting on the "Find Your Way" measure.

Off to get my 10K badge. Hope treadmill mileage counts ...

TM counts toward your weekly mileage but not the challenge badges as far as I know.

FM

I played in similar conditions in Florida recently - we had the wind against us and while we ultimately lost I loved it, nothing like playing in defense with the ball continually coming back towards you if you clear it high in the air ;)

(was more like 'training' than a real game, just one attack after another ... the only rest was when one of the opposition tried a long through ball and we had to go and search for it 100 yards down the road ;) )

First proper run after a 5-6 week lay-off. Not too bad timewise: 7.49m miles instead of 7.23/4, but the outside of my knees still ache like hell - looks like rest, foam roller and physio hasn't done that much good

Hopefully better tomorrow.

I caved and shelled out $59 on lightning deal at Amazon for a Wahoo Blue HRM. Absolute breeze to set up. Looking forward to using it for training runs (not that I ever do those). Really interested to see my heart rate when I am doing hills.

have I just gone insane??? I'm getting ready to plop down 265$ of racing registration fees for the Summer of 2014. Never thought I'd even think about such a possibility just 6 months ago...

Here's how it would fall down for the Summer schedule:
May 4, Lévis Half Marathon
May 19, Duchesnay trail run (8 or 18 km)
June 1, Royal Descent (5 or 10k going downhill about 90% of the distance)
June 15, Quebec Stairs challenge (13.5 or 19 km)
August 22, Under the stars fun run (2k loop you do 1, 2 or 3 times)
August 24, Quebec City Marathon

These events are all part of the Run Quebec City circuit and you can read more about them on their website
Run Quebec City | Run Quebec City Series

Some very varied events as you can see. I've never done a trail race so I'll probably go with the 8k but I'm tempted by the 10k downhill and the 19k stairs challenge, as much as I'm frightened by that last one... The fun run is part of the whole marathon weekend experience. They give everybody hats with lights and it's run in the dark on the Friday evening preceding the Marathon that's held on Sunday...

I will probably add another 5 or 10k on July 4th which is very close to home but I'd shift all my attention after that to getting ready for the marathon.

I live about 5 minutes away from the start of both the Lévis Half Marathon and the Quebec City Marathon. Both start from the same place and share the first half except the Full Marathon in August keeps going and goes over the St-Lawrence river and ends in Old Quebec City...

FM

That's a lot of races!

I'm just trying to build a bit of a base before I dip my toes in the 5K racing. :)

Looks like a good summer of running for you FM!

If you've never done trail runs, they are a good bit tougher for me than road running. My last 5k trail race was about 4 minutes slower than my 5k road time. Plus they cause more aerobic wear on me. Doing an 18k trail run two weeks after a half marathon might be a bit rough if it is your first half marathon. My wife felt a bit worn out for a bit after her half. I was ok myself later the next week. Probably each person is different.

I'm not sure what a 19km stairs challenge is, but that sounds insanely scary fun :)


For myself, planned to run 9miles today, but my stomach is super nauseous. Not sure what is going on with it, but I'm hoping it goes away soon or I may try to run through it as much of a disaster that might cause.

Yeah, everywhere I've read about trail runs, it's what I've seen. I don't relly plan on training for it though and it kinda comes as part of the deal. See, the season ticket I was planning on paying for is 265$cdn but the fees for the four events I really wanted to sign up for comes to 255$ is I pay them separately. The four events are the Half Marathon, the Descent one, the Staircase challenge (how they actually call it) and the Marathon.

The 265$ assures me a bib for all events including the trail race and the Fun run under the stars as well as a 20$ gift card at Running Room so it's kind of a no brainer. I could even enter the trail run just for the fun of it but it will quite certainly be the 8 km.

I'm not too worried about the half marathon killing my legs. Maybe I should but I have run an 18k that was on a VERY hilly course back in October and was about all right one week after the race.

That Staircase challenge is indeed scaring me. The Old Quebec City is built on two levels, going up from the St Lawrence river, with, from what they say, about 3000 steps on the 19k course. :eek:

From: Course information | Staircase Challenge

Again, I wanna think big yet 19k of that thing is kinda scary ;)

It's a lot of races but it will be my second summer of running and I'm up for the challenge. What I like it that it's kinda front loaded and leaves a good two months between the last big race and the marathon.

Also, one that's not showing here but that I plan on doing again next year is the 18k around the lake that I did this year. It's usually happening around the middle of October...

FM

Well, we had a little change in plans over the last week or so.

Old plan: Begin training for the Illinois marathon in Champaign on Jan. 6th.

New plan: Oh shit, oh shit, we're moving to the Dallas area. My wife earned a promotion that*includes*a move to Dallas. The next couple of months are going to be filled with move preparation. I never really saw myself as a suburbanite but I'm sure it will be fine. I will target the Dallas marathon around this time next year, hitting a couple halfs along the way.

No more...squares...?

:D


Though it'll make me kinda sad to see the squares go away.

You pulled off that awesome red cross route so maybe there's still a possibility for a square or two :).

I'll make you proud. :)

Congrats to the wife on the new job/location I suppose! :) I lived in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area for three years after college, way back when. It wasn't that bad in my opinion. I didn't run back then, but people who did always said it was great running during the winter, but during the summer get used to running at night or before sunrise!

Speaking of the Dallas Marathon for 2014.. ironically enough, the 2013 version was supposed to be this weekend and it just got cancelled due to the ice storm there.

Picked up race packet for 5K tomorrow, and hoping I can figure out this D-tag thing in the morning without wrecking it or my shoelaces.

Gorgeous blonde behind me in the pickup, too, but I didn't realize that until I was halfway out the door due to the swiftness of the line.

Here's to hoping the snow doesn't hit until after the race is over. It shouldn't - not supposed to hit till evening and post time is 11 am.

Thinking about getting the Garmin 210. Anyone have any positives/negatives with it? I know people don't like the charging cable.

It is the one that I've had for almost a year now. I've had no problems with it at all and have loved it. DCRainmaker for a while said it was probably the best mid-priced watch for pure runners (non-triathletes/cyclists). The charging cable is annoying, but really the only issue as everything else with it has been great.

Now that the next generation of 220 is out, it replaces the 210, so you're probably finding some good deals on the 210. Even though the 220 does more than the 210, the 210 is still a really good watch in my opinion. I got my wife a 220 recently, but have stuck with my 210 myself. My next upgrade is likely to go from my 210 to a 620 myself, but that is quite a bit more expensive.

Good luck in your race! Racing in the snow is actually quite alot of fun. One of my best races last winter was when it was snowing :)

The D-tag just basically slides under the laces but on top of your tongue in your shoe. Generally with running shoes, you don't want the laces too tight anyways so it shouldn't be too difficult to get it in there. If you need more help, here is a quick youtube video on it: ChronoTrack D-Tag Instructions - YouTube

Love the watch, hate the charging cable.

The watch itself, in combination with the heart rate monitor and foot pod, has given me a ton of data to help better understand my runs. The watch is pretty intuitive, and for the times it isn't (like setting interval runs) the documentation is good. This is my first watch, so I don't have a point of comparison with other running watches.

Yeah, I noticed it seemed lower in price from when I last looked.

What are the main benefits with the foot pod? Is it for treadmill running? I was thinking of just getting the heart rate monitor.