ILX running running thread

last night on the way home after a few beers i almost got chips...then just thought......NO. am trying to replace fried breakfast on a sat with boiled egg plus smoked or pickled fish...pretty nice alternative!

hurray imogene pass run is over. i was srsly hoping to do under four hours injury free. i ended up 3:24:25, 17th in my age group out of 113.

would be so easy to fuck yourself up beyond belief on the way down-- and many did.

How was the weather on the Imogene Pass Run? Sounds like a pretty amazing race.

I had 18 scheduled today but only did 3.66. Leg started hurting, I suspect because I didn't give time for the cortisone shot to really take effect. I don't think I'm going to attempt a 20 next weekend. In fact I'm just going to run sparingly leading up to the marathon. I think I
Just need rest at this point.

Bummer. I planned an 8-mile for Saturday evening and my legs went leaden before I even made it one mile. Had to do 5 instead, with a couple minutes of walking here and there. Drinking a bunch the night before and then skipping breakfast is not a good running plan. Also, the trails have dried out after the torrential rains, but now they're hard-packed and feel more like concrete than dirt.

fwiw i think resting is the right call at this point, jeff. the fitness gains over the last 3 weeks are probably not that great, and far less important than having sound legs.

f.hazel the weather was PERFECT, completetely cloudless and relatively warm. it was probly mid 40s at the start, 50s at the top, then 60s back down in telluride. i never put on a jacket, just gloves and a superlight long sleeve.

the weird thing about the race is that the final 2 miles or so to the pass, _everyone_ in my area was walking. just a long long string of folks walking up a very very steep jeep road. the elite guys run the whole way im sure. anyway i made it my goal to run 30 or 40 yards every couple of minutes, but i had to back off pretty quickly, just not enough o2 over 12000 feet.

good view of crest of pass from a previous year. because the weather was so nice this year, there were waaay more ppl on the crest spectating/supporting. there were all kinds of air horns and car horns and a giant ass bell going off, in addition to the cheering. you could hear from below well down the mountain, it was super encouraging and fun.

i may have missed this upthread: how long's the imogene pass run? that's a spectacular photo.

its 17.1 miles. garmin had it at 16.8 mi as it usually undercounts on courses with lots of vert and hairpins. also i didn't reset the altimeter, so its about 400 ft low throughout

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48799670

that's a little bit brutal and a little bit beautiful. or a lot of both, i don't know. cool.

this morning 3.7 miles in 28 mins...my furthest yet!

yer flyin

yeah rly! some ppl are just fast.

damn, i'll never try to run w/out socks again. :(

i'm not trying to sound like some sort of dickhead, but i really tried to slow down this morning, and felt like i was going slower. i think once i know the end of my route is near i kick into a pretty wild sprint.

I sprinted at the end of my run the other night and hit 10mph for the first time! For about five seconds. It makes my heart rate go scary high, so I don't do it very often.

There's definitely a point where slowing down makes running less comfortable.

yeah, holding back against the rhythym you feel like running doesn't help, but it does depend if you're heading out on a set course or whether you can turn round at any stage and head back i guess.

Ran 3 miles this morning at 5am after a self-imposed month-long exile from running. WOO!

Why the exile? Recovery?

Recovery, and also just taking a couple steps back to refocus on life, work, family, other things in general. I got a huge lecture from my wife about how running 37 miles at once was the most insane, stupid thing I'd ever done, that I was becoming obsessed with running, and needed to get myself in check. I wouldn't describe it in such extreme terms myself, but I think it's helped me to take time off and enjoy other things in my life, sans running. Which isn't to say I won't do this again, because I'm already planning my next ultramarathon. But I needed a few weeks of down-time to think about what I wanted to do next, and why I was doing it.

that's a little bit brutal and a little bit beautiful. or a lot of both

oh, its A LOT beautiful, the most beautiful place ive ever been. here's a pic i took of the downhill side of the pass after lunch- it was after 2:00 p.m. and not a cloud in the sky. imogene pass is on the flat bench at the top right, but actually behind the peak at the far right. you can see the jeep road switching back and forth up the valley starting lower left.

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/Chass3ur/IMG_1746_pshop.jpg

37 is very sane! What is she going to think when you are working on your first 100 miler?

needed to get myself in check

missus has done many marathons, half irons and an ironman, so outright lectures to me are few on this point. but i still have to fit in my share of housekeeping and childtending, no mercy. her attitude is "i do more than you, i fit it all in, why can't you?" i always tell her "because you are _amazing_, and faster than me." u_u

looks like a postcard. wow.

Haven't run in a week... debating on how much I want to before the marathon. I don't want to go in cold turkey, but I don't want to aggravate the ITB pain.

Sad because everyone else is doing their 20 milers this weekend.

i tried to do 16 today, ended up only 15 miles, and it sucked terribly. had to walk a bit. nothing specifically hurt, just overall my legs couldn't keep it up. ive signed up for denver rocknroll marathon for october 17, cant wait to get it over with.

anyone got any tips for warming up and warming down?

my right ankle is in SERIOUS PAIN after running about 4 miles this morning.

stand on steps with heels sticking out, put weight on one heel to stretch downwards then another- best stretch i found to help starting off

also running shoes.

my trainers are decent...they are running but a v old style, maybe not great overall.

matter more that they suit you tbh, if you've not done longer distances in them before it's hard to judge

i feel like a problem is that i go to work after i run and am sat down all day and bones just stiffen.

not so sure about that, muscle pain yeah but ankle, hmm. but i'm no expert

I warm up by starting running. Cool down by stopping. This is not medical advice.

i warm up by chasing and catching a pronghorn. cool down by eating it. totally paleo man.

i warm up with walking and stretches and wide leg swings, cool down with stretches and walking

It's like the inside of my right ankle, and the pain is in the achilles too I guess. Hurts with downward pressure or walking down stairs. Really hope this doesn't scupper my rhythm. I may buy some deep heat or similar muscle gel stuff...

nothing wrong with giving it a day or two to settle either

don't be afraid to take a day or two off. sometimes that's a miracle cure for small, nagging aches and pains.

and upgrade your shoes as soon as you can. get fitted at a decent store or at least figure out your foot type etc. and try a few pairs on.

i warm up like Jeff. start slow and finish slow, with whatever else in between. if you do stretch, run for at least 10-15 minutes first, or stretch after you run.

having broken down several times in the past, these are the things that seem to have worked for me this time (so far):

a) aggressive resting strategy - i take off days if i feel twinges in my known problem areas (knees, feet). also, scheduled periodic rest weeks- find a low impact subsititute.
b) consistent preventive anti inflammatory treatments - i ice potential problem areas after 5+ mile workouts. i keep an ice pack at the ready at home and at the office. i take ibuprofin after long workouts, too.
c)run on softer surfaces - i do the majority of my runs on cinder trails, jeep roads, or even singletrack dirt trails, and i do my speed workouts on a composite oval.

i also have been really selective about my footwear. i shelved a brand new pair of shoes that felt not quite right.

going to do a 6 mile trail run in november with some Hash House Harriers club. should be a trip.

Hashers often describe their group as "a drinking club with a running problem,"

I ice after walking home from the train station sometimes. Or just for the fun of it.

i did a 20.6 mile run yesterday. a personal victory, but everytime i think i can get to enjoy running, i run farther and that feeling goes away. :)

Stepping up to >20 really is a case where the first times are the worst experiences ever (e.g. it's cold and dark, I'm miles from home, I'm hypoglycaemic and I can barely walk) but your body gets used to it surprisingly quickly. That said, I completely blew up on a 21-miler yesterday after the first 10 miles were straight into a huge freezing Cambridgeshire headwind, just about staggered home in the end.

It was supposed to be a 24-miler as well.

i haven't run since saturday. i played a rec-league soccer game on sunday—first time i've played in almost 20 years—and i'm pretty sure i cracked a rib. ouch.

also out of action, not run since last monday cos my ankle is still sore. was just at the doc and he said to take ibuprofen twice a day for a week, but when i got home after buying it says "do not take if you have stomach conditions" so might just avoid that.

it's torn muscles around my ribs, but it hurts about the same as a cracked rib, and treatment options are about the same, i.e., not much besides ibuprofen. i may try to take a long walk this weekend and run next week.