ILX running running thread

i'm a bit down as i have a chesty cough and haven't run in nearly two weeks but that's nothing on being destroyed by a horse, that sucks.

(maybe i'm a wuss but i googled and it seems a bad idea, i've gone on my low budget bike trainer a couple of times)

for the first week of my injury I also fast walked a mile and a half a day on crutches

Dear god in heaven I seriously cannot even fathom this. Even just about ten minutes of work with the PT when I was in the hospital (lap around the ortho floor, practicing stairs) was exhausting and left me with the most amazing core soreness--like, my ribs and obliques were just killed, not to mention my shoulders. I have a knee scooter now, which is much easier but also cumbersome to get around a very small house with lots of furniture.

My approach is usually to do nothing and just go into a deep depression, desperately hoping that I can eventually get back my fitness.

Yeah I'm afraid this will be me. Doesn't help that at 50 and perimenopausal, I'm already on the downward cliff of muscle mass and bone density.

I reached out to an aqua PT center (didn't even know there was one in town until I looked) and will plan to start there as soon as ortho says OK. In the meantime, he says three to six months before return to riding.

Thanks for the good wishes and for sharing injury experiences, it is helpful for sure.

For any beginning runners perusing this thread, I got the None to Run app and it has really worked well for me. It's an alternative version of the couch to 5k that ramps up more slowly and with a somewhat different strategy. It felt good to me to work through the weeks (3 runs per week) and see progress without it being overwhelming.

Left to my own devices, I just suck at sticking with running. I need someone to just tell me wtf to do and I'll do it.

I started the c25k thing this morning. It was hellish. I ride my bike a lot, so I thought I was in decent shape.

Nooooooope. Running felt kinda like being a big box of pots and pans rolling down a flight of stairs. Ordered some decent shoes. Will try it for a couple of weeks and see how it feels.

i think the c25k needs a week zero where you just walk around in the kit to get used to it all, work out places and times and how you're going to time the various bits.

Consider None to Run (N2R)—it was specifically developed for people who started C25K and found it discouraging at first. I was also a pretty fit person and found my first attempts at running were WTF this is so much harder than I thought!

I'm getting to grips with the fact that some runs will just feel awful for no discernible reason - though the cold i have at the moment certainly doesn't help. But how was the run i've just done 18 seconds faster per k than the one two days ago even though they felt equally awful?

I'm convinced that the both the feeling and the result of any individual run is completely subject to the whims of the Gods for any given day

It's a fun little part of getting into running: how will I feel today? Oh, terrible? Great!

17 years in, it never really gets better. It almost always sucks. But it sucks in a familiar and consistent way. Hey there old friend, nice to see you again. Let's suffer together for a few hours.

cool, i'm glad i picked such an uplifting new (er sort of) hobby!

i've signed up for a half marathon in may. hope i get some less awful runs in before then.

I often think half-marathon is the best of all distances

If by best, you mean worst, maybe. It just hurts so bad. 10 mile hard tempo followed by a 5K race. But all distances are bad in their own special way.

I do love running though. It's an interesting relationship we have.

Running is sheer happiness. My body is letting me run so I'm getting my feelings back and a bit of ambition with spring around the corner and the first flowers in bloom on my running path today. Since I last posted here I did my 7.3K city run (fun, temperature was 2 degrees, decent time) and I've been running 2-3 times a week. The 9k that was my long train run is now the short one, and I'm starting to think of extending the new long one (I haven't measured it yet, something like 12k). I should start to time myself too. But right now, I'm just enjoying it.

Running IS fun! And if it isn’t, just chill and walk for a while. That has increasingly been my approach as I deal with aging and the increasing injuries that involves. It’s great to train and get faster but it’s also just nice to be outside, on one’s feet and moving.

Yeah half-marathon is pretty much perfect, up to 25 maybe 30 is fine, but after that I'd get bored I think. I don't have the patience for running about 3.5 hours for a full marathon. Maybe I'll still do one someday just for the sake of it.

Agreed. I'm thinking of signing up for the next half marathon in May, it will be the 10th anniversary of me running my first (and then I ran another directly after). It's a comfortable distance because it's long enough that time does not matter too much. I wouldn't be able not to set myself the objective to run faster than in 2014, although that might be a challenge, as the first half of my marathon was way faster than the second. It was a whole different race, going from blissful to "uh oh" at km 25 to horrible at km 32.

Trying to come up with pun type names for a team we're entering in a relay competition. Anyone got any suggestions?

Google suggests things like Scrambled Legs, Chafing the Dream etc

Code Brown

Shin Sprints
Plantar FASTiitis

GU Hard or GU Home

Last (and second) (and third ever) practice half marathon before the race in two weeks. My quickest and easiest so far, hope I haven't peaked too soon. It was ideal weather, will almost certainly be warmer (or bucketing it down) on the day.

I also signed up for a 20 km race which is next Sunday. It's another urban one, a loop with a 150 meters ascent between km 4 and 12 and the rest mostly downhill. I couldn't run for a week due to an ankle problem, then I was on holidays in Greece for ten days, and just now we had an April shower of snow and the wind is freezing, so it's remarkable that I feel ready. I did a 15km train-run in Greece on Wednesday at a comfortable pace and 12-ish yesterday at a good pace that left me confident. I will go out once more, but I guess that's it for preparation.

Good luck! Love a halfa.

Same. I think it might be the best all-around distance. Go Ledge go!

My ankle fracture is healing well and I am out of the dreaded CAM boot, but have developed posterior tibia tendonitis. It has been 11 weeks sine the injury and I despair that it will be forever until I can do running running again

Had my first aqua PT session this week; I guess that will have to suffice for now.

The tendonitis is a result of the ankle fracture somehow?

Probably from doing too much too soon after 8 weeks being non-weight-bearing. So basically my fault for thinking I knew better than my PT

Aha. Makes sense.

I’ve got tendonitis in both feet and possibly arthritis now. Confirmed bursitis in one hip. So I’m being super careful about training and recovery but getting old is a drag. Really want to do one more ultra in the next year or so if possible. But it might not be possible.

What's everybody's favorite running shoe in 2024?

New Balance FuelCell Rebel v4

On Cloud something, they were on sale and seemed good enough

bought a pair of brooks ghost last month, I tried them and a pair of mizuna and the brooks felt almost like there was nothing on my feet.

Hoka Speedgoat or Arahi

I had another Brooks model - can't recall which - and maybe coincidentally developed a case of PF, so I stopped wearing them immediately. Swapped out for a pair of Hoka walking shoes I'd purchased, and it has more or less gone away. I liked the Brooks, but I think maybe I just needed something with more support.

Asics Gel-Cumulus have been all I've worn for the last few years.

Apparently I am going to need a stability shoe to prevent over pronation. Must also accommodate orthotics. Any suggestions?

I wear Hoka Arahi for support and use custom orthotics religiously. I think p much all decent shoes can handle orthotics tho.

> Asics Gel-Cumulus
> Arahi
> FuelCell Rebel v4
> Hoka Speedgoat
> brooks ghost

thought i'd clicked the DRUKQS+ or autechre thread for a moment.

So I think I have PF - I don't feel anything at all when running, but heel pain (more like discomfort) first thing in the morning and low key noticeable throughout the day. Not worrying too much as it's been pretty stable since I noticed it a couple of months ago and I'll be running less once the HM is done. Any tips welcome, gonna try some exercises found on instagram!

This happened to me years ago. I got a pair of off-the-shelf green superfeet and they solved the problem.

so you replaced your actual feet with green hulk super feet?

(ok I googled it, thx!)

Roll bare foot on tennis ball, concentrating on stretching the arch

I'll report on my race. I was feeling tired and yawning on the way to the race village. Rain was certain, temperature fresh. I was glad to be early with all the preparation steps: getting there, picking up your number, giving your phone and wallet, changing, queuing for the toilet, getting in line. I like the good-humored ambiance, this gathering of people of all ages. I only briefly warmed up and started in the lower middle, block 5 out of 8. I respected my race plan which was to keep some gas in the tank until the peak elevation at km 12. Sure enough, quite a few people were overtaking me until I found my cruise speed. Mildly surprised and amused to see a few people walking on the first uphill.

My favorite part of those large popular races is to spot runners going at a similar pace and mark them out. I was neck and neck with a ponytail young woman for the first 10 km. I slightly overestimated the difficulty of the race and I was almost surprised when I saw the cathedral and we reached the high point. It had been a succession of uphills with no real killer. I overheard someone say behind me it was a mistake to go too fast now and took no heed, mentally told myself my race begins here. The race brutally accelerated. I moved up with a few new "targets" in front. When we came in sight of the lake again (start / finish) I felt pumped up and accelerated again. They were showing the km again and it said 16. It was this wild part of the race with people at very different speeds. I passed under inflated gates very near the finish line but the km still said 18 and I understood I could not maintain my high pace. My feet were starting to hurt too.

I tried to adjust and then, for the first time in the race, I saw a person running with a flag: I hoped it was the 1h45 and sure enough it was the 1h50. I knew she was from block 4 though, they had started two minutes before us. I overtook her at km 19 and tried to give it my all. I passed a guy whose t-shirt said "do visit Rwanda" who had overtaken me in the first km (he overtook me again in the final sprint) and I managed to clench a time just under 1h45.

Feeling happy about my race and hungry for more. Probably I could have pressed more at the beginning, but then it would have played out differently: more painful teeth-grinding at constantly pushing your maximum, less silly heroic fun.
(Sorry about the detailed replay for people who couldn't care less :) )

Thanks for that! 1h45 is my target for this sunday but it's 3 minutes faster than my pb (nb i've only run the distance three times before!) and i've never practised pacing or aiming for a target so we'll see.

& congrats!

Thank you and all the best to you, esp. that extra km :)
My experience of races is also very limited, but essentially the other people are both a distraction and a motivation. I would say focus not too much on time but on your feelings and looking ahead.

Nice job!

Looking at my old races, the last time I ran a half and my PR was all the way back in 2017, 1:35 and change. A very depressing thing about running and aging is before you know it, you have years fly by since your last PR.