Forums >Racing>2018 3:20 (and beyond)
OMR - I've seen a similar imbalance - sometimes I'm very right leg dominant, otherwise I'm even. I think that the faster one runs, the less time one spends on each foot and that has the mathematical effect of equalizing the time spent on each foot.
Interesting theory, and probably right, but I don't think I've ever seen mine improve as I get faster. There seems to be a lack of hip extension on my left side...I noticed that even when walking, there is a point at which I stop extending my hip and straighten out my knee, which seems to put a lot more pressure on the calf. And it's not that I can't extend my hip that much...I just don't...possibly due to limping around for five months.
Ace: Good luck with the trail race!
rovatti: Wow, what a diagnosis. As was already said, good to know exactly what the problem is, and to what extent. Two miles is perhaps a good sign, hope to see that fall comeback!
max: Said it elsewhere, but congrats again on the race, and sorry to hear about DD.
ilana: Sounds like progress!? And I refuse to accept my inevitable downward slide!
pie man
I'm here. The barracks are pretty far up so no internet up there. I have some connection down in town, but as soon as I head up the road I'm back in 1987. It's not terrible. Up in the forest, paradoxically, is the pretty much best spot, up above the smoke to an extent. Still north of the flames.
No runs since (checks) Thursday, but I do I have a hike that will upload at some point. Not sweating it.
11:11 3,000 (recent)
Speed Surplus
OMR - Sorry to hear about the setback. Have you tried compression socks for the calves? I had a partial gastroc tear in 2011 that kept me out of running for a while with severe cramps just when I was getting started. The compression socks seemed to help as I was getting back into it.
Rovatti - Damn! Even though that sucks, it probably feels good to have diagnostic confirmation. Good luck with recovery!
Brew - Sounds like you're going through it, with the heat and the training and the lifestyle changes. Keep your head up.
Keen - 76 miles and 3 kids. I'm in awe.
Arvind - I've noticed that you've been participating a lot, but we haven't heard about your training for a while. How's it going?
Ilana - Gah! Hope this turns out to be nothing and you can keep getting after it.
Max - Sorry to hear about your dog. We have a 15 year-old dog ourselves, and he came down with vestibular disease last week, which is incredibly scary. He couldn't walk and his eyes were going crazy. He seems to be recovering, thankfully. Sometimes it can be caused by a brain tumor or lesion which, at his age, would likely be inoperable. Fortunately that doesn't seem to be the case.
Ace - Seems like the fitness is coming along again. That 5x1200 and long run are both solid!
5:27 / 18:49 / 40:32 / 88:12 / 3:12
Problem Child
sc I'm "managing" and it's kind of an organized mess. Mostly an emotional roller coaster in my head about Chicago.
omr so you WON'T be doing an UTMB qualifier this year?
max sorry about DD. I had to deal with that a few years ago. DW and I have agreed when the current dog dies we won't be replacing him.
rovatti wait...10,000 miles? damn that's at LONG time to deal with an injury.
ken and ace seriously, you two are kind of redefining the realm of possibility with running and children. I think kev4x100 would be the only one who could POSSIBLY outdo you two and only because he has one more.
rune how's the weather in the Neatherlands? Any cool runs?
Air Quality is 221 (very hazardous) outside. airnow.gov is either down, or so popular it's not letting everyone in. Someone said Gardnerville, NV has the WORST air in the nation and it's about 20 minutes south. Meanwhile...it's 122 at home so I'd be able to get LUNCH MILES in but I'm probably going BACK to the stupid fawking treadmill after work. fuckthatthing.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Resident Millennial
I've been lurking but inactive recently. Good to hear some updates from dwave, smax, rovatti, ilana, etc. And hello to all you other fine people!
Ilana- Sorry to hear you are still fighting AQI issues. Question - do you have a self-imposed limit on AQI and/or corresponding activity time limit? I ask because some friends and I (cc brew) are planning a weekend in Tahoe and biking around the lake on Saturday. That's a several-hour long adventure, and the air there doesn't look great.
Smax- so sorry to hear about pup. Sounds like she is in a beautiful place now with doggos that she loves, and that she had a great family in you all.
Big congrats on the Ouray adventure. I was there a few years ago on a roadtrip with my parents, flagged it as "another 'quaint'/fairly deserted mining town" (we had passed through Leadville the previous day), and thought nothing of it. If only I'd ventured into the hills up above!
Rovatti- yikes, that sounds like a bad diagnosis, but I'm glad you have at least an explanation and now a path forward. Also, couldn't help but laugh a bit about you putting 10,000mi on the injury...
_________________________________________________mile, 5:26 /5k, 19:34 /10k, 41:00 /13.1, 1:31:49 /26.2, 3:12:58
Brew: What I've learned about kids and running is that it's not about how many you have, but what stage of life both they and you are in. Keep grinding, be patient, don't die in that terrible air quality. You still have lots of training days left. Our air quality felt poor the other day, so I checked that purple thing. I think it was in the 70s. I really felt for you at that point. 221!!
sc: Good to hear from you. Thanks for the kudos! What kind of running are you doing these days?
Any recommendations for trail racing?? Sounds stupid, but I have no idea how to pass or be passed. What's the etiquette? Race is Saturday evening, mostly single track with a couple wider sections that could fit two people.
Road Mile: 5:19 (2017), 5k: 17:09 (2021), 10k: 35:54 (2021), HM: 1:21:55 (2020), M: 2:53:18 (2021)
Mother of Cats
I am really the last person who should be answering questions about trail running. Ping me if you run across a pool out there.
Smax - so very sorry for your loss. Pets are tiny treasures and tiny tragedies. We love them, and it hurts so much when we outlive them.
Rovatti - it's god to have a DX, I guess? And two miles sounds promising.
PJ - good to hear from you!
Hi to the rest of y'all - take care of your lungs with that AQ.
Upper body weights/core and 8.5 "miles" of pool-running.
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
Pace Prophet
AQ - yeah, check http://www.purpleair.com. I won't do stuff outside >130. In the low 100s ("unhealthy for sensitive groups") it looks a bit icky in the distance and I guess I might be doing a little damage, but I'll do an easy run or bike. This is what it was like in Telluride. When the 416 fire was cranking we had mornings in the 200-450 range.
Trail racing - if it's a short race there will likely be a lot of jockeying for position early to minimize singletrack passing. In a longer one, it's polite to move aside if someone behind asks you to, or taps you on the shoulder.
Inevitable downhill slide - menopause sucks. Though for Reasons I looked at my Garmin's predictions and it told me I can run a 1:31:46 half - that's more than four minutes faster than my PR from five years ago (and when I was in much better shape)! Hah, I wish.
Duke Of Bad Judgment
Ace: What Ilana said. You'll find it's not that hard. Some races open with a bottleneck somewhere in the first mile and in that case you have to decide if you'll push to be toward the front or just hang back and coast for a while (good idea in long races). Otherwise, it is simple - "Passing on your left" or "I'd like to pass when there's a wide spot" or simply stepping out of the way when you can tell someone is breathing down your neck. Rarely you'll have to push and go through the rough to get around someone. Your race isn't that long so it will depend a lot upon how many people are running. You may find yourself by yourself after a half mile. You probably will - except for Dipsea which makes passing part of the race design, most trail races aren't designed to make passing people a huge consideration. Also, "trail" varies a lot - sometimes it's technical single track that is hard to pass on, a lot of time it's a wider trail that easily fits two people. Assume some congestion for a little while and then not much trouble after that.
Cobra Commander Keen
PJ - Zero internet actually sounds pretty nice! I got a taste of that last October on a hunting trip to CO.
Brew - Chicago is a long way off still. Worrying is like a rocking chair...
Running while having kids - I agree with Ace. Being a morning runner, the situation with DDs 1 & 2 getting up early is far different than if DD3 gets up early.
DD's 1 & 2 start school within the next 2 weeks, which means that I'll have to get up an extra 45-60 minutes early to get my miles while still getting back in time to help get the girls ready for school. I'm going to miss sleep SO much. My coffee consumption will likely spike around this time.
Air quality - Hopefully those various fires get under control soon, that has to really suck for all of you affected by it. Makes me super-thankful for my AQI of 20 (just looked it up).
Things I learned from my last couple workouts that are probably obvious to everyone else: 400's aren't as bad when they aren't preceded by a bunch of 200's (they still suck). I still can't imagine actually running a mile at that pace, though. 200's are tougher after after T work, but still not bad since they're over so quickly.Mixing paces is fun, but brings a whole new challenge and feeling to the different segments. Football practice looks like a mess.
5k: 17:58 11/22 │ 10k: 37:55 9/21 │ HM: 1:23:22 4/22 │ M: 2:56:05 12/22
Upcoming Races:
OKC Memorial 5k - April 27
Bun Run 5k - May 4
Too funny you'll be in town-ish. MY self imposed (training) limit is about 140 and an hourish. I try to watch the mornings and see how it is because it seems to be the better option currently. Today's wind (WSW) might bring some of the Sacramento/Auburn smoke in. Work has been 150 (unhealthy) all week and if it's unhealthy just to BE outside I'm not even thinking of running. Orange (Sensitive groups) is 100-150 so I feel comfortable there, but I'm also training for a race. If CIM was my goal I'd take the week(end) off. South Lake and Tahoe City seem to be okay so you should be fine.
ace I hear you on the age changing training with kids. I guess if NeRP was older and could entertain himself it might not be as difficult to get out for a run. 221 = 3.5ish miles of visibility. Anything beyond that is smoke. I can't imagine ilana's FOUR HUNDRED level smoke. As for trail racing, "on your left/right" seems to work for me. I did a 10K with a 5K mixed in. I was towards the front when the 10K merged with the 5K "casual/parent and child" runners and they don't move over as much as you'd like. If it's on single track you may be searching for options to pass. If they won't move just say "CAN I JUST PASS YOU?!?!" if it gets to that point. Since you mentioned knowing the trails you could be familiar with wider areas to pass or options for running "off course" to pass.
keen I look forward to seeing your 4:08 am runs. I hope you have a good light. It's a little odd running in the dark in summer, BUT it has the advantage, for me, of helping with the morning bowel movement. You MIGHT even get away from taking DD3 because NeRP has been known to wake up at 4:30 am and I'm not home. I also agree on the mixed paces. Doing 800s and 400s right after some longer speed work intimidated me. Oddly I still had the energy left to do them. I typically walk/jogged the 400 recoveries and they ended up being the same time as the running portion. Oh and I'm signed up for the Inagural Reno Mile. I've haven't run a mile race since high school and that was for the Presidential Physical Fitness test. I think it required sub 6 and that was "IMPOSSIBLE" for anyone to do according to me.
I'm leaning towards skipping the camping trip this weekend and blaming the weather. No point going into "moderate" (90 AQI; 100 is USG) air sitting in a trailer when I can be home. I could get a few things done at home, possibly put in some big miles today and tomorrow before some M paced work Sunday, and I'm just not motivated/looking forward to camping. I don't know if it's no beer while camping (probably not), but I just kind of don't want to go and the AQ would make an easy excuse.
400-level smoke (actually I don't recall what it was exactly when I took the first photo, but I'm certain it was above 300 as it was every morning during this time):
The mountain (it looks like a hill, I guess; the summit is ~1100' higher than my house) is about a mile and a half away.
SC: I haven't worn compression sleeves lately, but they may go on when I start running a little more.
Brew: No, I won't. I'm thinking about just taking the rest of the year off from racing, and just running for the enjoyment while I (hopefully) get back into shape. We have a little smoke in the air today, from Canada. Nothing like what you're dealing with, however.
(EDITED TO ADD: Also nothing like what ilana is dealiing with!)
Ace: Not sure what "proper" etiquette is, but when I've done trail races, if I hear someone coming up behind me, I will either ask if they want to get by, or just step off to the side. If I'm behind someone I want to pass, I just wait for a good opening and announce my intentions, or for them to step off or ask if I want to pass. I've found trail runners to be extremely polite (for the most part). Oh, and I see others have already answered this!
Dwave: Funny. Is there proper etiquette for passing someone while pool running?
Smoke was worse in Nevada than here and I’m 20 miles from fire. Wind direction helps a lot. I ran up in the forest this morning and it was nice until I passed a ridge and it got a little worse.
Im headed to San Fran, I think. I have a bit of family there and I might not even see them (real last minute). I could be convinced to hop in a run, though.
Hi All.
Air quality here is not great, but tolerable, There's an odd pinkish light in the afternoons, like sunset but the sun is still high in the sky.
Max - So sorry about the pup. That's rough.
Ilana - You are facing some challenges there. When we are new to running, getting faster and racking up PRs, motivation is easy. I think your real qualities shine through in adversity when it gets to be hard.
At the track this week my pace partner was lacing up, said:
'I have some new shoes."
"Wait, are those Vaporflys?"
"Yup. a friend won them in a race, not by being fast, it was some other thing. She let me have them because I'm the only serious runner she knows."
"How do they feel?"
"Hmm. the instep feels a little odd in the right one."
"Hah, you could take them back for a refund!"
Then she kicked my ass, as usual. maybe a bit more than usual, but we were running 400s (9 of them in sets of 3) which is right in her wheelhouse. I had my third-best pair of shoes on.
"Those shoes... Certainly did not... Slow you down... Any!"
"Heh, They feel a little strange, but they're OK for free."