ILX running running thread

Six miles today. Slow pace, but nice run.

i did the 4 minute sets last night and felt really good, but definitely feeling some shin tenderness today. now i am paranoid. i know it's a normal noob thing but now i'm all freaked out.

Six more miles today, a little faster than I did yesterday.

So you know, I gps track all my runs. I walk in today, sync my run and Jenny comments that it was a "pretty" run. It was mainly along the shore and had lots of curves. See below:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3438/3897967263_455a01d296_o.png

I think next run I'm going to try and write my name with gps. It will take some planning but it shouldn't be too hard.

After 12-15 years of not doing this regularly, I've now decided that I need to start running again, just to keep up with my beer intake. I should probably get new shoes.

that IS pretty! will you write your name in script or print it legibly?
xpost

i am going shoe shopping on wednesday :)

Wow Jeff, I'm a bit jealous! That looks like a beautiful run along the shore and grassy areas. Have fun writing your name :)

I'm so so glad it's cooling down, my runs are suddenly a lot more pleasant! I'm going to try to work back up to 25 miles a week in the next four weeks after my midsummer month off, so far I am not having any trouble with it (although last week was only 12).

Ran an informal 5K last night just under 26 min. That's my fastest time ever, but I don't really count it because I had to pause at crosswalks. Also, that put me over 100 miles for the year. Most if that has been in August and September, but still an accomplishment.

Ran a very miserable 6 miles yesterday. Which is a shame because I felt pretty good going into it. I feel like I need a goal at this point, specifically one that isn't speed or time based. I think a half marathon would be a good distance. I've already ran 10 miles casually, so I should be able to finish.

Still waiting on that runners high. I've yet to experience it. At least I've been injury free fir a couple of months now.

Jeff: Nike Plus is a statwhore online game that you play by running
I'm doing 25 minutes on the stationary bike and 25 on the elliptical while I take 25 more days worth of Celebrex. Hopefully it won't be too cold to run then.
In the meantime: NFL Season + TIVO = I bought a reasonably cheap stationary bike in the hopes of pedaling while watching games -
http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-Active-Upright-Exercise-Bike/dp/B001AS0ZHO/ref=pe_32160_12535910_as_txt_4/
yay for free shipping

i got new shoes! the guy was super helpful. also they had me run on treadmill w/ a camera behind and then did frame by frame analysis of how my foot moved to figure out good shoe choices. wow. they even said i can come back after a few weeks if these don't work out.

i feel good running but i have not moved into the 5 min sets yet bc i'm trying to take it easy/not do too much too soon to avoid pains. so i am behind schedule. but i'd rather be behind than injured, right?

definitely, getting injured sucks and is hella frustrating.

maybe i'll do the 5 min sets but not 5 of them in a row.

gonna try to start running again tomorrow, had to abort plans a couple months ago because of severe leg pain, but l.a. heatwave would've interfered anyways. now it has cooled off so i'm hoping my ancient legs are up for it.

I like the idea of the Nike+ community, but I'm pretty committed to my Garmin Forerunner tracking. If there was a way to input all that information, I would totally be down.

The other running community tracking websites are really mediocre. Mapmyrun, The daily mile, garmin connect, etc all really suck.

but i'd rather be behind than injured, right?
yes! geez, yes. i've been sort of stuck at the point where i can run for 10-15min, usually about a mile, then i need to walk for like 90 seconds, but then i can do it again. what i can't do is run for 15+ minutes without walking at some point.

but that's ok. whatever. as long as i am still enjoying it, i will continue to do it. i try to end each run on a positive note.

Jeff: http://www.e-runners.com/
works with Garmin

Ran another practice 5K tonight in 25:21. Certainly my fastest time ever. 8:06, 8:20, 8:10 for each mile. I'm happy with the consistency. I think I can get under 25 min.

I used a new setting on my Garmin which doesn't show me the time, just a countdown of the distance and the pace. I liked it because I didn't check it as much. Now I can use this one as a baseline and then run against a little virtual Jeff. The watch will let me know how far in front of or behind I am. I like gadgets.

is treadmill running cheating?

i had to tonight bc it was too dark out. i decided to test myself to see how long i could run and i did 8:15, then walked 4 min, then ran 10 min! i felt accomplished! somehow i feel like i wouldn't be able to do this on the street, though.

If you're doing a treadmill, give yourself at least a 1.5 grade to simulate real world ground.

protip! thankig u.

Didn't even realise he was doing this but, wow, amazing achievement:

After 1,100 miles and 52 days, Eddie Izzard has finishing line in sight

dude sounds completely insane!
also, minor protip: don't gorge yourself on cake and icecream when running multiple marathons, it is not a good energy replacement system.

how is that possible!? burgers mid-marathon?! a;sldkgj. he should be dead by now, right?

man I've been following this thread for a while and been reluctant to chip in cos my efforts at running are always abject failures: I tried to start that interval program linked upthread about a week ago, got 5 minutes into the first run and was so dispirited I turned round and headed home... butttt I didn't know why I was so bad or why I hated it so much, cos my fitness levels (lung capacity whatever) are ok to good (I play football once a week) and I've always been an ok runner growing up and my dads always ran... today I signed up for a gym (first time ever woot) and on the treadmill ran 3miles in 20 minutes barely losing breath, I know that's hardly amazing but I was feeling pretty good afterwards considering how my road running always crashes after the first few minutes

so I guess I'm saying hi! and go me!

charlie, are you stretching?

― iatee, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 17:22 (2 weeks ago)

apparently not enough because, after three weeks of four miles every other day - feeling better and better, noticing my body slowly changing shape, losing chubby cheeks, gaining in stamina while noticing some clearly impact-based pain in my legs - i had to stop dead halfway through a run and hobble home, so painful were both my knees.

how tf does one stretch a knee in preparation for running?

meh.

charlie, i know i am a noob, but noob-to-noob? why push so hard? real painful injuries are way worse than having people pass you/running slowly/running shorter distances. for real. also they are expensive.

― figgy pudding (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 00:50 (1 week ago)

This is a good question. I think it's because last time I tried running regularly I was doing about 2.5 miles a time and it didn't feel like enough (ie I couldn't feel the benefit). So I used mapmyrun.com to plot a local route I liked the look of, and it came out just over 4 miles, and I tried it and made it and carried it one and then this (two weeks, no exercise).

Told my doctor what happened (I was seeing her for another reason) and she told me to stop for now, till the knee pain subsided, and try non-impact (ie swimming, which I don't love) and furthermore banned breast stroke, the only stroke I do at all well!

I definitely need new trainers, as about 17 friends have now told me.

Charlie, static lunges and toe touches are reasonable ways to stretch out.
If you're having knee pain severe enough to stop a jog or that affects you when you're not running, see a doc asap. It can get much worse.
Maybe time to hit the pool or bike for awhile.

coz, that's impressive! i would just say be careful. but maybe i just jealous bc i couldn't do that! also, the first week of that interval program was the hardest - it seems to get easier to go longer times as you go, so don't give up! granted, i'm only 3 weeks in, but...

also i heard you should stretch post run, not before. right?

light stretches before; longer after... though the common wisdom on that fluctuates about once every five years.

If you're having knee pain severe enough to stop a jog or that affects you when you're not running, see a doc asap. It can get much worse.

my knee pain has now entirely subsided but for nearly a fortnight after the event described above I hobbled everywhere and couldn't walk down stairs without holding the bannister (climbing stairs = ok though).

my doctor told me a physio was unnecessary as it's v likely to be a general unfitness-to-fitness issue rather than a specific "injury" as such. i think i understand that.

i have read in the past the results of a test that shows, it the great scheme of things, people who warm up/warm down get just as many running-based aches and pains as people who don't. of course, i can't find the thing now, for google has failed me.

man I've been following this thread for a while and been reluctant to chip in cos my efforts at running are always abject failures: I tried to start that interval program linked upthread about a week ago, got 5 minutes into the first run and was so dispirited I turned round and headed home...

This sounds similar to me when I started running again. First run was so awful I had to sit down halfway through for a smoke. I think the thing is that you can just go off way too fast, cos I just took off down the street like my arse was on fire and was totally wrecked by the time I reached the end of the road. Before you start running as an adult, you just have these memories of tearing around as an indestructible and energetic kid, and it takes a while until you can judge your pace properly. This goes for running intervals too - you still have to run hard at a sensible pace.

yeah, the going down stairs thing is emblematic of runner's knee, basically tendinitis. rest and anti-inflammatory helps.

so the bonus is that with my 0 incline cheating last night, i have 0 shin tenderness today.

I had the best run ever today! It was just lovely out and I went out for about five miles (and autumn is my favourite month, when the light gets all watery) and I had some Basic Channel on my iPod and I just took it easy but I think I made really good time (amazing how just relaxing on the uphills saved me so much energy for the flats)

I am doing this organized 3.5 mile run tonight which I am kinda intimidated by. There were dudes who finished last year in like 16 minutes which is basically bonkers fast as far as I am concerned. I'll be very happy if I can do this in 24 minutes.

24 minutes is a really good time!

I know! That's why the idea of someone doing it in 16 is so intimidating!

16 is nearly a four minute mile though, it's not really "jogging enthusiast" territory

I think you are getting to the heart of why I am finding the idea of this race intimidating. I run with my dog (who is a bit of a slow poke frankly)!

what site lets you log runs using google maps? sanoodi doesn't, does it?

has anyone used the nike sensor thing? i don't have the $$$$ for a fancy garmin deal. and probably i'm not good enough to justify that expense anyway.

yeah i would like a gps eventually and i think it would help but for now i have to click on the map by myself. the runnersworld log is *awful*. you always have to try twice before your route saves! but i like how it keeps track of total mileage and stuff for you.

i ran about 4.5 miles today! not as big of a deal as i had thought it would be. am guessing that i averaged around 10-11 min per mile? gettin' better.

this is after taking about 4 days off, btw, so i feel confident that i am actually getting stronger because this didn't feel like a huge burden, just a moderate to difficult run (for me).

i have been tracing routes on gmaps pedometer but obv you can't save that. it's fun but hard. i was looking at mapmyrun.com yesterday and it is a disastrously designed site.

figures. :(

bikely.com is nice and simple

i think this http://www.runningahead.com/ might do what i want

Wait why can't you save gmap ped routes? It appears to have a save option.

you can save them to revisit them but you can't use it to automatically log if you do it twice or something.

I cannot recommend a GPS watch enough. I love love love my Garmin Forerunner 305. You can probably find one for around $150 these days. I'd go with it over the newer 405. The 305 is bulkier, but you really don't notice it after a few runs. I refuse to run without it.

After my last practice 5K, it felt like I was running a few notches below sprinting the whole way. That's good and bad. Good in that it's 3 to 4 minutes faster than I could run the same distance 2 months ago. Bad in that I can't imagine myself getting much faster.

I'm going to try and do some fartlek training to improve my speed. I need to work out the ratios I want to do and program them into my Garmin.

Someone above mention stretching. I am vehemently opposed to stretching. Refuse to do it. It's not going to prevent most running injuries, it takes too much time, and is booooooring. I'd talk myself out of running before I got done stretching. For runner's knee, I read that you need to strengthen your quadriceps. I did that for awhile with leg lifts, but found it equally as boring.

haha. i always say "i'm going to stretch later" when i get back from a run but i never, ever do. i pretty much agree they won't prevent injuries but i still feel like i should just to have better posture and to feel less stiff all the time. maybe later.