Running • Page 56

First full Ironman in exactly 10 days. Have my last "long" run of 10 miles tonight. I'm a tightly wound ball of stress and nerves.

 

entry usually goes pretty quickly from what I can tell and then you get put on a waiting list. they just did their 10k this past Friday and I was hoping to go down to the finish but couldn't get there in time.

I got lost the other day just running around in the bordering neighborhoods of where I live so I'm right there with ya'll and I live here!

 

they’re going to London!

 

i was able to run 8 miles in juuuuuuust over an hour the other day. that was really exciting.

my new "normal" pace is about 8:15 a mile which is awesome. hoping to still be able to drop that another 20-30 seconds or so before my marathon in November.

 

thats cruising. good work

 

Thanks! It’s amazing how quickly you see progress in strength and speed when you stick to something. When I first started running my normal mile time was around 10:30 or so probably (didn’t pay that close attention at the start) and now running a 8:45ish mile feels normal. On my long run yesterday I was actually able to slow down to a 10:30-11 minute mile (for awhile) and I was so happy about it since it’s so hard to do these days lol

 

Bought the Salomon Agile 2 best today. Very excited for that to arrive later this week!

Tried buying it off Salomon’s website but purchasing things on there is fucking atrocious and it froze / got weird like 3 times so luckily they had it on amazon (and of course, for cheaper).

 

nice! I have a Salomon Sense 5(5 Liter) vest and I love it, but I keep thinking I should have bought a size smaller. I use it for all loooong runs.

 

Do you use bottles for that or a hydration pack? I like the idea of hydration packs, but the cleaning and upkeep on them is more annoying to me so I prefer bottles. I’ve tried a few cheap waist-packs that I didn’t like so I’m excited / nervous to see how a $100 vest feels / works.

For my last two long runs I’ve had to plan routes that circle back to my car so I can get more water and supplies. I’ll be excited to not be handicapped by that going forward (knowing full well that the pack I bought isn’t significant in size and storage).

 

Yes bottles all the way. In this case, soft flasks. If I’m ever on a super long adventure run or something I’ll probably use a bladder In one of my other packs, but as long as I can get reasonable resupply bottles up front is my choice. Easy to clean for sure. The waste pack with a bottle or bottles I’ve never been a fan of. But I’ve got a Nathan waste strap thing that I use from time to time for my phone if shorts won’t hold it. I take it on all bike rides.

 

You may already have this or tried it, but if you’re looking for something super light weight to hold small items like keys, ID, a gel pack or something else of that size I highly recommend the FlipBelt. Reviews talk about how you forget you’re even wearing it and I can attend to that! I’ve almost had a few times where I come home and am about to jump in the shower and realize it’s still on I can fit my iPhone XS (with or without case), keys, Kleenex, gel pack without any issue or poking into my sides, stomach or back. It’s fucking magic and like 30 bucks.

If they made that with a bottle or flask holder I’d be in heaven, but alas I am not so the Salomon gets a try.

Also fun, I see that I have a credit card charge from them even though the website said error and it didn’t go through and yet no email confirmation either. So, we’ll see how that goes. If I do get something from them I’m definitely going to compare vs what I get from Amazon to see if it’s the same / real (Amazon was about $35 cheaper after including shipping from Salomon’s website). I might keep both if I really love it, but we’ll see. Wasn’t planning on spending $100 on a vest let alone $200 lol

 

I have 5 weeks to train for a Hot Chocolate 15k. Longest I’ve run since the Chicago Marathon last October was 6.5 miles. I’ve got some work to do.

 

I have a 10K trail race in November. Training was good for about 4 weeks and then I got severe runner's knee in both legs. I took a week off but am easing back into training as I only have 5 weeks left.

Going to pickup up some new shoes after work. Besides icing and stretching, anyone have any good tips on have to alleviate knee pain?

 

I do these for my long runs. They don’t look nearly as ridiculous as these pics would have you believe. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PA4XCBU/?tag=absolutepunk-20

 

Finished my first Ironman this weekend in 13:51, which was right around my goal of 14 hours! I had an excellent swim, a very terrible flat-tire plagued bike, and was reasonably pleased with my 4:50 marathon at the end! If anyone with a running background wants to mix it up with some cross training, I would strongly recommend training for a sprint triathlon. It's a great sport and let me know if you do! I'd love to help any way I can.

 

epic work. i can't imagine the dedication to training it would take to be able to pull something like an ironman off. incredible.

 

I had some "runners knee" problems earlier in the year. I took time off to let it heal. It healed. I didn't go to a PT for that, but I did go to PT for foot tendinitis. He was a runner/athlete that examined me to see if he determined any weaknesses in my mustles, gate, balance, range of motion, ect..... he gave me a routine that I did 2-3 times a week that targeted some of the direct issues as well as the muscle chain above the issue(which is important). Weak hibs, glutes, quads, ect.... I'm pretty much healed from it now(but I still pay close attention to it). If I feel a little niggle down there after a run, I take the next day or 2 off and rest and adjust my training days accordingly. I won't run through the pain anymore like I used to.

Exercises I did:

- 3 minute mountain leg workout:

- Air squats. I had a resistance band around my knees that I would use to try to fight to keep my knees spread apart. That really worked the glutes/hips. I did 3 sets of 20. I increased as I got stronger. Sometimes, 20 -rest - 30 rest -40 - stop


- running man drills

(I didn't use the balance pad - I tried to go a bit deeper on the single leg squat. it was hard enough to stay balanced and to keep my knees from wobbeling, especially my left) I tried to do 20 on each leg then swap or around 60 seconds worth. two sets of that.

 

This is excellent, I may try to incorporate these into my routine. I took a week off and did nothing but ice and stretch, and I picked up some new shoes last night (Saucony Ride ISO 2's which after only a quick 2 mile run felt amazing).

 

Tomorrow is my first 100k race. I think I’m more excited than I am nervous. My first 50 miler was nerve wracking. I had a great training block for this race, but last 2.5 weeks were pretty unproductive bc I got tendonitis in my groin. I ran on and off but no real long runs or anything. Basically ran to stay loose. I’m hoping I didn’t rest too much!

 

If you see this before the race, good luck! Hopefully its a blast with minimal pain-caving(or zero).

 

Zero would be great lol. Thanks!

 

Finished my 100k. 62 miles and about 9,000 ft of elevation gain. Longest 13.5 hours of my damn life. I almost dropped at mile 28. Miles 22-28 was hot as shit, had a 1300ft climb in 5 miles, and I ran out of hydration way too fast. Started hallucinating and everything. It was bad lol. Then I got my shit together and hammered the second half. What an experience.

 

That’s awesome / amazing!

Did you have a crew or use drop bags or just what you had on you and the aid stations? How were the aid stations (food wise)?

I’m already thinking / preparing a training plan for my first 50-miler next September and I feel like I’m most worried about the logistics of water/nutrition than anything else since you can go at a slower pace for the running itself.

 

my wife crewed. She basically had my handheld soft flasks loaded with my nutrition and premade my hydration mix. Aid station food was on point. They legit helped save my day with assortment of real food calories, ice, and Coca Cola.
For nutrition I used Spring Energy gels and tailwind powder to mix in. Without aid station foods included, I was taking in about 210 calories per hour. I ran with two soft flasks and 2-3 gels while out on the trail.

totally do the 50! It’ll be worth it. Learn the distances and elevation gain between aid stations and plan to have enough calories and hydration on you. A typical person will probably take in 200-250 calories an hour. And if it’s hot out, wear a hat and put a bag of ice under it. That helped me focused

 

I remember reading recently that people should treat ultramarathons as “7-10 mile runs with a buffet at the end, repeat 5-10 times for your distance” and I thought that that’s a great way to view it lol.

Was it tempting at all to stay at the aid stations and just chow down or were you able to stay in the right head space and head out after a short visit?

I use Spring Energy as well! I don’t think it’s a gel per se, but I use their organic peanut butter... packs(?). Took some getting used to the taste but now I love it. I usually use that and UCAN hydration mix in my water for longer runs so far.

I have learned that I live in a very flat part of Wisconsin so most of my elevation training has to be repeating the same 1-2 hills over and over again or doing a large staircase somewhere. Sucks since most ultras I ultimately want to do are in more elevated places, but I’ll recreate as I can.

Do you have off the next few days from work? I always wonder what the recovery process of an ultra looks like.