Runner's Forum: The Official: Training Summary Start Up Thread

kipfaulk - it's not an uncommon phenomenon to gain weight when trying to lose it primarily through exercise.  Wish I had some answers for you.  Don't lose heart. It's the overall trend that counts.  Even the TV shows which concentrate primarily on weight loss (Biggest Loser springs to mind) don't ALWAYS result in losses for a week.  Besides that, remember that it's better for you to be big and fit than small and a couch potato.

Bonzi - good luck to you too.  Race reports due in ASAP.

Last big tempo session this morning before next week's 1/2.  Covered 16.5 km with a 25 min warm up and 25 min warm down, with 3 lots of 9 min tempo and 2 min easy in the middle. Tomorrow I fly out to see my Mum and Dad in New Zealand to spend some time with them before the race.  Will be running for 2hrs on Sunday this weekend then mostly just running 30 - 40  mins easy each day with a slightly longer 90min session on Wed.  Will probably throw in some stride outs on a couple of sessions and relax.

Gilly  Thanks for your kind words.  One thing I have learned in the last 9 months.....we are all different duh.  My weight came off quickly and has stayed off with the consistent exercise.  My wife worked even harder than I did and it came off much slower.  That said she dropped 35 lbs and has kept it off as well.

 We rewarded ourselves with new road bikes so that we wouldn't kill ourselves on the Huffy and Royce Union!!  What a difference.  My run yesterday was 35 degrees cool and wet.  Did 27:50.  Tomorrow I think I am going to move up to three and a half.

 I do have one questin that I hope doen't get people mad at me.  I now need to keep weight on.  At 6'2" I am down to around 163.  I DON'T want to go back to eating garbage but I can eat ton's of fruits and veggies and it is a struggle to stay in this range. 

 Again, thank you veterans for engaing with us newbies, your stats are an inspiration!!

good luck to those doing races this weekend.

chiggy - welcome to my world man, stupid cold temps...I hate this. When's your next race? conference?

Who would have thought that a runner would need wrist guards when running?  I took a nice tumble today and now my wrist hurts...

But more importantly..I did my first long run!!  I had stolen someone's route on here that was for 7.4 miles and thought I could just add a little at the end to make it 8...well...I added more than i thought and it came out to 8.6!  No difference though!  i felt great!  :)  i did the whole thing in 1:30.  According to runner's world training coach..I should be doing those runs in 11 min pace...but  i did it in about 10:30  and felt fine...so..yay..im ahead of the game..:)

Except that my calf is really, really killing me....i think ill be hobbling the rest of the day.....sigh.  Tommorrow off....Sunday...bike ride.

Kip- I have the same issue!  I started running Sept 3 and my weight has not budged from 144-146...and in fact..the other day actually read 147!  I really don't get it.  I mean..I changed my whole way of eating, I run every other day....and ..nothing.  I understand the muscle is denser theory..but come on!    But..i must say..the scale is not the real way to measure.  Your best tools are your mirror and your clothes.  And...two weeks ago I fit a pair of jeans i havent worn since 2005!  So...there's hope...i know its hard..but try not to be discouraged by numbers.

Have a great weekend all..:)

It's a few days since I've posted on here.  I've been in Pittsburgh PA for the week for a work training.  I was real excited cuz it meant I got to find new places to run.  Pittsburgh is an absolute beautiful place to run.  I did a 9 mile run starting in downtown and looping around the southside and back again to downtown Pittsburgh.  Then the next day I just had to get out again.  I did a 6 mile run - this time looping from downtown to the north side and back again.  I ran late afternoon so the sun was setting and glaring off the buildings and the water.  The temps were high 40's - just perfect. 

A mere two weeks and 1 day until my first marathon - Harrisburg Marathon in PA.  It's a small marathon compared to most usually about 700-800 runners and a relatively low cost at $45.  Wish me luck!

It's been awhile since I posted here...will repeat the advice others have given about weight. Plus my scale is just not that accurate (old analog) and can be off by a pound or two if it's not tared properly. Time of day, I can gain 5 lbs in the afternoon over my morning (post elimination) weight. If you want to track your fuel...recommend Sparkpeople.com, you can add favorite foods and copy meals from previous days to today which makes tracking easier than Fitday.com but Fitday.com has better reports.

Did my first Half on Oct. 4th in 2:10. Slow for all of you but I was happy with 10 min miles. I'm fighting burnout but only 1 week and one day before starting taper for the Flying Monkey Marathon. It's really, really hilly so plan is to just do it at easy run pace and finish hopefully before DLF. Should top 1700 miles YTD after tomorrows run.

Ben

labasheeda and tranquil.....sorry about those wipeouts  When you "kids" wipeout it scares an old man like me.  Your distances impress for sure!!  Keep it going.

 I did my 3.1 this am in rain wind and 40's.  Feet got heavy...soaked shoes I guess.  Wasn't the day to bump up mileage.

fricstar....My wife and I got real bikes this week!  Trek 1.5's.  Rode 9m miles yesterday.  Quite a change form the Huffy and the Royce Union.  Have fun!

I had a 5k race today. I went for it and died. Normally I get out at a decent pace and maintain, today I went out at what I thought I could hold the whole way in a best case scenario and just didn't hold on. Mid-race complacency sucks.

5k - 15:43 (4:45, 5:05, 5:15, 38). Embarrassing.

Around 2.25 miles I turned into the wind and it slowed me down a bit and I didn't force myself to recover. Probably cost me a decent amount of time. Running alone sucked too. I suck at pushing myself when I am by myself, I'm not sure how to work on that though.

Overall, I think 4:45 for the first mile was a tad fast. 4:50 probably would have been better. Fix that, plus get a little stronger mentally to help with the solo effort + wind and I'm money.

I don't think this is a bad effort considering how overtrained I was just a week or two ago.  But definitely not what I wanted or expected of myself. This has been a fun season of training for me, I learned a lot about my body and what works for me and what doesn't. Next season I'm working with a coach and gearing up for a marathon, which I think is more what my body is suited for.

Time for a week off and then back to building. 

Hey time for a race report!!!

 Started off with high humidity, with some drizzle and fog. 3 or 4 miles in it cleared up and a litte sun came through, but it didn't last. More fog...high humidity for the whole race. But it was a great race, and the race director did a great job. I'd recommend the Ridge to Bridge marathon to anyone that likes a small race (<200 runners). The 2 big drawbacks were: only a small crowd to watch the race, and the roads weren't closed...but traffic wasn't bad.

Okay on to me...

It wasn't a chip timed race, so I have only my memory for splits: 1hr 48min for the halfway point. It was almost all downhill to that point, and I was expecting a little bit faster time. Felt good through about mile 22 of the second half (including a long hill with a 300 ft rise)....then I "hit the wall" with some pain in my hips. I walked/ran (mostly ran) until just past 23, and started feeling better and ran to the finish. My final time was 3hrs 52min.

congrats on your new ride fricster.

kdogg i would love to be embassed with that time..that's too fast for me to even dream about..

5 mile easy treadmill tonite,. pourin rain hear..

Junkie: - Congratulations!!!!  Humidity is a killer!!!  You trained well.  I'm wondering why you hit that wall.  Do you think you started out a little too fast?

Steve - Well done!  Excellent discipline.

Congrats and kudos to all runners today. Today was my day off. Watched LSU get destroyed by Georgia :-(. Going to try and get in about 6 miles in the morning.

Looks like good weather is in the forecast. All the best to you all. 

junkie

congrats man!!!..glad you had a pretty good race ,.humidity is brutal in the long races ...how did your quads feel after all the down hill?..or didn't you notice??..nice time by the way.

fungusfoot..i usually crank up some music when i hav too use the dreadmill..it gives me a nice change from outside where i never use i pod,.(i enjoy the serenity of the outdoors) i picked up a new one for the coming winter  (i thrashed the old on i had last winter between me and my son)..got a great deal from my "2 week and done" sister..this one is high quality and offers 10% elevation and up to 12 miles per hr,. and continuous heart rate data.. so i can control the workouts better to simulate "real running" on the road...i am hopin to integrate "snow shoe" running into my workouts this winter,. but i just don't like running in the rain, or sub-zero temps...i am hopin too concentrate more heavily this winter on vo2 max training on the mill.

hope everryone elses races went well this weekend,.can'twait to hear.

Great job junkie! I only hope I can come close to that time for my first marathon in two weeks.  By the way, where is the Ridge to Bridge marathon?

ericjacquie - are you running NYC? good luck! is it your first?

I ran a 13 mile course today - absolutely beautiful weather - high 50's creeping up to low 60's.  I did the first half (6.5 miles) in 53 minutes (just over 8 min miles).  I took a bathroom break at that point as I have been fighting some kind of stomch bug.  I downed a GU and some water and then headed home.  I was much slower on the way home - probably around 1 hour.  But in my defense, there are a couple of nice inclines on the way home.  I also had to walk about 5-6 minutes around mile 8 due to a side stitch.  I have been training since march and still can't figure out the pattern to the side stitch.  I have run 18 mile long runs w/ no trace of a side stitch.  And then other times, 3 miles into a run, there it is.  I have read all the articles on how to prevent and how to get rid of, but I still get them.  At this point, I don't think I could be in better shape.  I am certainly not pushing myself too hard.  I am determined in two weeks to run a good race (Harrisburg  Marathon), but I am sure that at some point the dreaded side stitch will come.  Any suggestions? - even unconventional ones. 

BoyJame - yes, this will be the first I will be running NYC (this is my 2nd marathon).

Ran 6.5 miles today - did extra because I should have ran 8 miles on Sunday but only did 5 miles.

Good day all!  :)

First of all, congrats to Junkie on a great marathon!!   I like when you said you swore you'd never do it again...but then...by the end...you may have changed your mind....thats awesome.

 I believe GraemeC is running his Dublin marathon (today?)  so...good luck to him!

Gilly....Im really surprised to learn you've never ran a marathon before.....I can picture you smiling the whole way through...!  I think it was either KDOGG or Chiggy who also surprised me when they said they would consider doing one.....1% of the population guys....like pappypage said...:)

 As for me...I ran horribly today.  i wanted to do a 5 mile tempo....but it didn't turn out that way at all.  i did 45:12 instead...:(  funny thing is..my legs felt great.  The calf has slowly been healing...but i just wasnt having it.  Not to mention i am dehydrated today and I had to use the bathroom in the first mile..uggh.  Its okay.  I will attempt the same run next monday and see how it goes...:)  Also, i didn't bike on Sunday because i was at a wedding on Sat and danced my heart out.  I figured that was cross train enough...but at the same time, I ate more that night than I did in a week..!!  that explains the sluggishness i guess!

Happy Monday all!

baseroom : haha, I sure don't feel like a super hero, I mostly feel like I've taken a super beating! Here it is, 2nd day after my marathon, and I'm having difficulties walking down stairs!

Gilly32 : A marathon is definitely an experience. And my first one was an eye-opener for me. If I'd done a half marathon on Saturday, I'd be out running an easy recovery run today....instead I'm avoiding stairs because it's too hard to walk down them! LOL It was also a test of will, I could have quit when it became too painful to run, but I managed to make it through that and finish well enough to make myself happy :)

krose : I guess you have to look in the right places for runners. I don't pass very many either.

Wow - firstly, thank you SO much to all the well-wishers. People on this Thread are always so supportive, encouraging and kind in their words. I'm really glad I came across this Thread.

Ok, so today was probably the longest, yet the most enjoyable day I've had in a long long time. It started at 4:15am and I arrived in Dublin at around 8:10am. The city was buzzing with people doning their running shorts and making their way to the baggage drop area and through to the rather crowded starting area.

This year saw the largest marathon field in Ireand's history with 11,700 taking up the challenge and approximately 300,000 spectators lining the street.

As far as he spectators go, I've never came across a more friendly, applauding and giving crowd. I was bombarded with smackin' high 5's, jelly babies, fig rolls, wine gums and all sorts of other sugary goodies from start to finish. If anyone is looking to run a marathon for the "marathon experience" - please consider Dublin in 2009. I promise you won't regret it!!

The weather stayed dry all day and it was perfect running weather. The start of the race, as with any big city marathon, was slow. It took about 3 miles for things to spread out and me to take enough space for a good stride. I thankfully didn't make the mistake of starting out too fast, which I was sure I would do.

My "dream time" was 3:30 - I knew it would be very hard to hit, but I just decided to put one foot in front and pray for no unexpected problems;

The first 10k took me 50:21.

The Half Marathon took 01:43:22

30km time was 02:27:39

Finish time was 03:36:41

I think the final straight was the single greatest feeling I've ever experienced. The crowd was thick and the atmosphere was INCREDIBLE. It was such a euphoric high. People were going crazy for everybody. I really wish everybody could experience that, even if only once.

I was so chuffed with my position. I came 1801st overall. Ok so I finished nearly 1hr 25mins after the winner - Andriy Naumov from Ukr, but I am so happy right now that I don't even care that I gotta work tomorrow. I didn't get home until 7:30pm and I'm exhausted. My legs don't feel too bad, although I'll know more in the morning when I attempt to get outta bed.

Anyway, sorry for going on a bit. I've enjoyed reading through everyone's posts. Thanks again for all your kind words. Definately taking tomorrow off any exercise but toying with the idea of some rowing or biking on Wednesday.

Take care folks :)