ILX running running thread

25' this evening, first run since March. Going to be a long road back.

Going to be a long road back.

Yeah, I'm on that road now, and I'm experiencing failure and frustration and discouragement to a degree I never have before. I'm abandoning runs just minutes in, which is not me at all. I have the abstract desire to run and to be a runner, but when it's time to run it's difficult and unenjoyable. Don't know what the deal is; I've been a consistent runner for most of my life. Ugh.

I'm dealing with my first extended layoff in years - first ever involuntary one (injury) - and yeah it's hard to get back in. Each week I tell myself "ok, this week you're going to get serious" and then I flake. Yesterday I ran my first sub-6-minute miles in ages, maybe this is the right week at last. Plan to do a marathon in October so I really need to start training properly.

Yeah I've been there and probably will have to fight discouragement over the next few months if I'm going to make it stick. If you've been a runner most of your life I'm sure it'll come back.

Ran a 6:19 mile today. It sucked, I hate balls out running sometimes.

Got a 5k tommorow. Going for around 22 minutes. These always SUCK.

Also, I'm suddenly traveling to Hong Kong and will be there for two weeks. Anyone run there before?

I volunteered at my local parkrun last weekend, managing the finishing funnel. Watching the sub 20' guys finish was an eyeopener—I had no idea people could run themselves into such a state. I'll stick to the slowish jogging for now, thank you :)

22:43, PR'ed by 1 whole second.

A PR's a PR, and in far from ideal conditions for a 5K - well done.

rah

last weekend i walked the half marathon i built up to doing last year, strained ankle ligaments prevented any training in the build up this year. feeling motivated to get back into it for the late summer

nice1 jeff!

I'm dealing with my first extended layoff in years - first ever involuntary one (injury) - and yeah it's hard to get back in. Each week I tell myself "ok, this week you're going to get serious" and then I flake. Yesterday I ran my first sub-6-minute miles in ages, maybe this is the right week at last. Plan to do a marathon in October so I really need to start training properly.

yeah i feel you on this, i just can't stay fit, my left shin keeps twinging, even today walking to shops and it's been 3/4 weeks at least since my last run. everyone i talk to says there's basically no way of losing shin splints, i'm hoping a physio, which i finally can afford, will at least give me some exercises to help ease pain or build the muscles.

it's v psychologically offputting too as i find the injury gives me an excuse not to go running or to feel a bit of trepidation about doing so. then you get less fit and it gets harder too.

thinking of taking up some other sport to have a fallback. i hate swimming even tho that seems the best natural choice, just find it too much hassle to get changed etc etc.

it's all really annoying.

and all the while beer gut grows

I've always found swimming unsatisfying because you can't really work up a sweat. Have you considered cycling?

don't really trust my self on a bike, think i'd be dead in about a day cos i am such a daydreamer. this is how i've never got into the whole london bike obsession.

really thinking of getting into cycling since this opened

when i was training a couple of times a week ronan (last year, obv) i never really shook off all of the aches and pains- like shin splints, slight strains in groin, knees aching, what have you. probably needed/need to lose a bit more weight before hitting heavy duty mileage tbh

cyclists around here are intense and i am kind of scared to ride on the same trail as them. but my goal is to start riding to work at some point so i better grow a pair.

eh tbh best off without the pair for the longer rides ime

when i was training a couple of times a week ronan (last year, obv) i never really shook off all of the aches and pains- like shin splints, slight strains in groin, knees aching, what have you. probably needed/need to lose a bit more weight before hitting heavy duty mileage tbh

yeah i think i rushed things a bit too, i was doing 9/10 miles after about 4/5 months of running. i'm hoping a combo of new trainers and a physio will get me going again but hard to know.

well the flipside is that the whole rush aspect of progressing to longer distances fairly quickly was a major motivator, i dunno would i keep it up if i couldn't get up to ~10 milers within a few months again

I only bike around town for transportation not exercise, car traffic is dangerous enough when running. If I'm injured and trying to stay/get in shape I do the stationary bike. It's not so stultifying w/ good music.

it is when the handlebars keep falling off, like on the one i inherited

Thanks all. 5K's still suck. First mile was 7:01, which was right where I wanted to be, but then I realized at 1.5 I wouldn't be able to hold that. Second mile in 7:30 and picked it up a little for mile 3, 7:25. Sprinted the last .1. Had no idea I had just beat my PR. Should have run a little faster.

7.5 hot hot miles today. I think I'm finally back in a groove.

im still totally not in the groove, but i am frustrated

h8 being out of the groove

out of the groove as well and it kind of sucks but am taking it easy after a half-marathon ~ 3 wks ago. Kids are out of school for the summer so I basically have to wake at 6 to run these days and I am very, very bad at that. Signed up for another half in September so will get back on the horse over next couple of weeks.

first 10k i did this year a couple months ago, after spending the winter not running and taking up smoking again, i dropped from 54 minutes to 48 minutes. after spending the intervening two months training regularly and going to a fucking gym for the first time in my life, yesterday's run i dropped from 48 to 47. bahhhhh

I ran an informal training 10K yesterday in 50:26, which was a like a minute and a half faster than I've ever run one in a race. Nice when you can actually see the improvements. I'm getting better of running in my discomfort zone, the pace that I can uncomfortably hold for a sustained amount of time.

set out to run 9 miles today, did maybe 6.5

i lived in my neighborhood over a yr and i still can (and did) get lost like 2 streets away from my house. 1st thing i finally found that i recognized was cuz of too much time on ilx reasons of noticing it once (collier st.) and knowing where it came out

Running in Hong Kong has been challenging. With mountains, poor air quality, and soul soaking humidity, my pace has suffered greatly. Great views though.

Who's running?

ive been running around this lake a bunch, then i jump in, p dope tbqh

I've been running again over the past couple of months after a long layoff. I abandoned my old route completely (now I run south instead of north), at least for the time being. I still feel pretty good about my running, I was surprised at how quickly I re-adapted to the whole psychology of it, I don't know how to explain it but if you've recently taken time off from running for whatever reason then maybe it makes sense to you. I tweaked my knee again (just like the old days) and have been dealing with that over the past couple of runs.

Just walked in the door from a 6.5 mile run on a steamy DC morning. First time I've done more than 4 in the past month - starting to ramp up again for another half- marathon at end of Sept. Felt pretty good, even in the heat.

you are a better man than i. living in the dc area has really zapped my will to run out of doors for the months of may-august.

Yes I am much more careful about over-doing it in the bad heat. Just a few years ago it didn't bother me at all. But I knew a dude who keeled over from a heat stroke in the middle of a half-marathon a couple years back. It was only like 85 that day and he was in p good shape. Can't help but think of that when I go out in 90+ heat.

I've been running great, no pains. However today I was going to run a practice half marathon, but ended up puking twice in the first 4 miles. I'm going to guess I'm still jet lagged or got sick coming back from Hong Kong. Regardless, it sucked and I'm bummed I didn't get to test how fast I could run a half. I've got the real thing coming up in two weeks.

i never thought i'd ever click the running running thread, but today i went for a "run" for the first time in 12 years! i'm a stat nerd with about everything i do, so i started off by just running a mile to establish a baseline (7:45, not as bad as i thought i'd do). then it started pouring rain and i got the fuck out of there. but i think i'll try to keep this up, with the goal of being able to run 4 miles or so at a decent pace.

Welcome to your new addiction. Stats are basically the only reason I got into running. I hate running, but I do love a good data set.

I hate running

wwwhaaat!?

anyway, a very positive side effect of my running is that my psoriasis has almost completely disappeared and i think this is the number one factor. psoriasis is basically your body making too much skin and, i think, since i've given my body so much more to do than i have in recent years then that's being kept in check. it's only my theory/rationalisation but i think i'm right.

so, i tried to find this in the thread above, but there are about 90K posts so...

does anyone know of a good calculator/tool that can recommend goals for distance and/or time? For example, you could enter in your time for a 3 mile run, and it would provide escalating goals for improving that time, or for running farther at the same pace?

i know i could go old school and just come up with the goals myself, but for some reason computer-generated goals are more inspiring to me

This is quite good (scroll down to the calculator, it's free, no need to click "Buy DVD" or w/e)

http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

thank you!

It assumes the "best time" you enter is a race at 100% effort, so the pace it recommends for the majority of your runs is going to be much slower than that.

Also, the equivalent race performances assume you've adjusted your training for the new distance. So if you can run 3 miles in 24 minutes, you ought to be able to run a half-marathon in 1:55 - but obviously you'll have to do longer runs.

I've yet to live up to mcmillans expectations of me.

Yeah, his extrapolations over longer distances are a bit optimistic. The implication he's going for is probably that you need to purchase his online coaching to reach your full potential, which is BS. But it's still a decent calculator I think.

went on a run today on a track near my house, and this is what the app I was using (Fitnio, basically the first cheap running app I found on the the iPhone app store) showed as my route.

http://i55.tinypic.com/25tuh04.jpgI don't remember losing my mind and running into the street, and then cutting across the baseball field on the following lap, although I suppose it's possible.

Does anyone have any suggestions for an app that's useful on outdoor tracks? Nike+? Something that uses a sensor on the shoe? An old-fashioned stopwatch?