Dan, I was Mimi (mimiisarunner) and Kathy T. I am running the Disney Princess HM with a couple of friends this weekend. We are not going for a time, but to have a good time! My friend wants her picture made with all the characters! LOL

Good luck and have a great/fun time!  I'll be running the Disneyland HM in September with my daughter and her husband, and they plan to stop for pics with the characters too.

Cheers,

Rich

Hi Mimi/Kathy!  Welcome to runningAHEAD!  You should have a blast @ Disney this weekend. Soak it all in.

The snow&roads aren't keeping us from traveling to DS/DIL today; DW woke with severe back pain/spasms.   Quick trip to town to get heating pad, pain med & muscle relaxant med.  Thought we were doing better, started packing and spasms started up again. If we make the 3 hour drive it will probably be tomorrow.

Did the 8 treadmiles this morning using 3:1 run/walk ratio.  Felt like I was laboring but felt better after mile 4.

Time to go push the dust mop and vacuum a while-DW back won't stand any of that!

Run strong & safe this weekend friends.  And have a GREAT time Kathy & anyone else racing!

Hi everyone!

I returned to MN last night.  There is so much snow here!!  But temps are above ZERO, yay!!

After my training runs of 10 miles back to back on 12th and 13th, was planning on a short run of 5 miles on 15th but woke up with a slight cold, congestion mainly, on Friday, 2 DAYS before my HM in AZ on the 17th!!

Are you kidding me?!?

Needless to say, I was feeling pretty crappy on race day.

So decided to treat it as a training run.

It was an ideal morning, a beautiful sunrise, for a race though, about 42 degrees, slight to no breeze.

Took a couple of decongestant, the 'non-drowsy' ones.  Ate half of bagel with jelly, and gatorade.

Perked me up for the first 7 miles, time was good, about 1:01, remember thinking I could finish under 2 hours (my usual time for HM).

But at mile 9, right ball of foot started to hurt, had to walk which I kept under a minute at mile 9, mile 9.5, mile 10.5, mile 11, and 11.5.

Man, I just don't like road courses!!!  Then the decongestants wore off: difficulty breathing through my nose by mile 10.

I only took one hammer gel with me which I used up by mile 9.  Took the GU gel in peanut butter flavor from my runner's bag that morning  ........... not a smart thing to do, it was awful, irritated my stomach by mile 11 and don't know how I kept myself from throwing up.  Kept trying to drink water to 'wash it down' but then I began to get a side cramp,

Also at mile 10, we joined up with the 10k walkers and runners which clogged up the return side of the road  !!

This slowed me down and felt discouraged that I may not finish under sub 2:00 as I checked my garmin.

Strong finish the last 1/2 mile, official time:  2:02:28.  12th out of 52 in my age group.

But like I said, it was a 'training run' ........... yeah, I tell myself that but ............... still disappointing.

Oh well, there are other races to come!!

Haven't run since; still feeling crappy and was on the road on business till Wednesday, and drove home to northern AZ in the snowstorm; morning flights were delayed and mine got cancelled but I waited and got in due to a couple of empty seats.  Stroke of luck finally!!

Great to see that you all have been running despite some weather conditions!!

Marie- Sometimes it just feels good to relax and enjoy the view with a good cup of coffee.  Good Job!  You'll do fine on your HM.

Altair5- welcome to this group of might masters.  Look forward to hearing more of your training and racing.

Debra- isn't it great that all your running translates to better endurance at work!  Who knew you were 'cross-training' for work on your 12 miler today.

az2mntrail- I know that the result wasn't what you had hoped for, but it's really an amazing time considering everything that went wrong.  Lots of determination and drive to get that run done!  Way to go.  Glad you got some above zero temps back in MN.

Had to postpone the trip to visit DS/DIL for 2 weeks, DW's back had been balky at getting better.  Today was supposed to be just weights, more of a rest day, but it's been sunny the last few days so the local roads are mostly clear of slush, so I had to get outside for a change and did a nice 4.5 miles with the slow heart rate.  Planning to continue that almost exclusively for another 3 weeks or so, then ramp it up in the 5-6 weeks before Door County HM with faster runs, hills and a little speed work.

Have a great week friends.

YAY!!  woke up feeling better and to a beautiful foggy mist of winter wonderland.  Snowed a bit last night but day was partially sunny, no wind, and about 18 degrees when I decided to run before the NASCAR Daytona race, haha!!  Yeah, I enjoy watching those even before I met my husband who is a gearhead and loves NASCAR.  Dad and brothers all mechanic and taught me a few things in the garage.

Anyway, ran 6.15 miles, 1:02, easy, slow, short and sweet!  Ran on frontage road, less traffic and less icy/slick.  Snowmobilers loving the snowpacked ditches!! Finished with some core exercises, foam roller and health rider.  Not sure about my next race, might run the HM on St. Pat's in Twin Cities but I'm more focused on next marathon on May 4th in NM.  Hoping temps and days in northern MN will be like today and warmer so I can run outside!!

ArtinAZ:  those "days" do creep in bu they will pass; sometimes, our body needs to rest too; a day off can do wonders.  You'll be piling on the mileage before you know it!!

Kathy:  how was the Disney event?!?

WDWRich:  that is wonderful! to run with your daughter!! Makes the event so much more enjoyable and memorable!!

Altair5:  INCREDIBLE!!  and I hope to still be running at 61; yeah, takes awhile to find the 'perfect' fit and then it gets discontinued!! But I have been happy with Brooks for my trail running and just got ACIS for my road course, and they are a whole size larger.

Justrundan:  again, hope DW recovers quickly!! I still incorporate the run/walk in my training and races.  Sometimes, it takes a few miles before I get into the 'groove' and I can run for miles!!  Love it!!

gito57:  you're amazing!!  30 something who can't keep up with you? PRICELESS!!  where is your next race?

I thought you all would get a kick out of what happened to me the other day at the community center. I had stopped by to use the treadmill and to find out if they knew anyone who would work on mine. After checking in and paying my $1 entrance fee....what they charge us "senior citizens" to use the facilities for the day, I was talking to the2  people at the reception desk about the treadmill.  We all wondered WHY I would spend a bunch of $$ to get it fixed when I can use theirs for a dollar, when a man (I believe he is asst. mgr) looked at me and asked "are YOU 55?"  I chose not to answer him as he was sort of interrupting our conversation. He asked again, "are YOU 55?" So I answered, "No, I am not................ (long pause), I'm going on 62.  His jaw dropped and he exclaimed, "you can't be"!  Well, I told him he needed glasses, and thanked him for the flattery!  I told him that was what running does for you. When I finished my tm run and ready to leave, he was still saying, "you sure don't look like you are as old as you say you are."  Maybe he thought I was trying to save a couple of bucks. LOL.

I'll post my run info in the other thread. Have a great week my mighty master friends.

Marie

This is a continuation of a disscussion with old-runner about using a percentage of yor maximum heart rate as the basis for your training pace. I am moving it here because this is more of a place for general disscusion. I am considering getting a watch with a heart rate moniotor. Up to now I use very little equipment, I have a digital watch with a timer. I run courses I have made as maps here on RunningAHEAD and when I enter my run time on the calendar here it gives me my pace. Lately I have not been pushing myself for speed and am working on distance and endurance. I think LSD will give me a good base of cardiovascular fitness. Now, often when I start my run for the first mile or so I will have the feeling "Do you really want to be doing this? Wouldn't it be nice to lay on the couch and watch TV or read a book?" Then, as I get used to the pace of the run I will almost go into a trance. I will be daydreaming and looking at the scenery around me. This is the enjoyable part of the run for me, I love to be outdoors and with running you always have changing views just over the next hill. Now for me to work on speed I have to push myself out of this comfort zone. I prefer to do this in small steps by running faster for some chosen distance: "I'll run up to that tree in a faster pace", then increase the lenght and frequency of these speed intervals until I am running the full distance at that pace without even thinking about it.  To use my heart rate would be a different experience for me, I am not sure if I would like it if I always have to be pushing to keep up the pace and looking down at the heart rate monitor. Do any of them come with sounds to warn you if your heart rate is faster or slower than the pace you want?  It would be nice to hear a sultry voice say "slow down and take it easy big boy!" when my heart rate gets too fast, and if it gets slow to hear a drill sargent yell "MOVE IT PYLE! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!" Well, this is all basic stuff I said but I would appreciate any comments or recomendations. What is the best HR monitor? I have looked at GPS watches that monitor heart rates, but they go for $200 or more.