Running • Page 101

Does anyone here pay for Strava? Going into my next full, trying to figure out if it’s worth it.

 

I don't currently but I did the trial. It gave me a bit of extra analytics info but there wasn't that much that my Apple Watch doesn't already track. Nothing that made me actually pay for it when the free trial ran out

 

Yeah, I don’t think it’s worth it. You’d probably be better off finding a coach to make you a custom training plan.

 

Trying to talk myself out of two fulls next year at the moment. Definitely doing one in October. But my local one in April seems tempting and I’m not sure why… doing that half no matter what.

 

I’d say be honest with yourself about how much you’re going to be able to train for the one in April. If you’re planning to run a lot this winter, then maybe the full! But 26.2 is so agonizing if you don’t quite have the base, and you might have more fun training up to a 13.1 in the spring and then using that to build to a marathon in the fall.

 

I agree with Craig. I did a half in June to gauge whether I could maybe try a marathon again. I figured if my body couldn't handle training for and racing a half, I wouldn't be able to do a marathon. But being able to roll into marathon training off the half training really did wonders and was a great springboard. Planning to do that again next year.

 

I had a great training for this October half but then an absolutely abysmal race. It’s more about how much night running I’d have to do that gives me pause more than anything.

 

I'm going to do Boston in April and then another marathon six weeks later, so we'll see how that goes.

 

Based on my work schedule, I mostly ran after work Monday through Thursday. Fridays, I typically did shorter runs before work since I work from home Mondays and Fridays. I do my long runs on Saturday morning and then run in the morning on Sundays as well. I prefer morning runs, but I can't commit to changing my schedule to run super early in the morning during the week. If I have week days off of work, I will do those runs in the morning.

 

95.9 mi Run Activity on November 4, 2023 by Patrick B on Strava

Completed my 2nd 100 miler yesterday. I PR'd by 5 mins shy of 2 hours for 27h:19m under roughly the same conditions. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. Pinhoti 100 is organized on my home trail(s), put on by people and volunteers that I have met throughout the local trail running community. I'll see people running, crewing, or volunteering I know throughout the entire event. It really pumps you up when you get to an aid station at 3am at mile 81, its cold, and are surprised to see a familiar, smiling face(the hot coffee, coke, and potatoes helped too).

First 31 miles were a breeze. Then some negative thoughts crept it so I threw on my curated "ultra" playlist to tune those thoughts out(Shokz headphone). Mile 45 to 62 was somewhat of a runners high that whole stretch. From 62-88 was a bit of a slog. Fatigued, and not wasn't eating as much, but I was moving. Mile 88-95 sucked ass because I made a terrible shoe change choice at the 88 aid station. They were too tight with my slghtly swolen feet and I think those caused me knee pain I had earlier(that went away) to come back in full force causing me to sad-boi walk 98% of that section. Mile 95 aid station I had a hashbrown burrito and had just taken 2 Advil that my pacer had on her. Once that kicked in I could actually run! In 2021 I could barely walk over the finish line this time I had maybe a 6:30 pace up to the line!

 

I prefer morning runs as well, but it’s extremely difficult to fit them into my schedule. I usually run three midweek after work runs and then my long run on Sunday morning. I do some treadmill sprints as well usually once a week.

There’s not a lot of safe and convenient places to run in the dark around me unless you’re double or triple out and backing if you need any sort of distance.

 

Going to see if I can hit 2400. This year I'll probably hit 2200. Going to dial back the number of races I do and up the volume on training miles.

For me it's worth it. Seeing the segment leaderboards is cool to me because I like taking down people on those. The training log feature I also use to go back to see how my running's looking over time or at a specific point. Creating a route is also cool.

 

Can’t recommend the Nike Run Club app enough. They have an 18 week (can go as low as 12 week) marathon plan in the app. The guided runs are so nice for checking in during the run or just to hear Coach Bennetts musings. I’ve done the 5k and half plans and they were great. I’ll probably try and do the full marathon next year if all goes well

 

I actually used NRC for my first full. I loved the feature where it would read to me my pace when I got to the next mile marker so I didn’t have to look at my watch all the time. I switched to Strava to be in a more social app with the guys here and people I know IRL.

 

Will probably scrape past 1000 after 2262 last year. Had a lot of life, work, and health challenges/changes to navigate, so hoping next year is a little more productive.

Not really worth it unless you care about the segment leaderboards. You can get most of the metrics and features for free on whatever app your watch/phone comes with.

 

What's everyone's preferred tempo run setup?

 

What is a fartlek run and how can it help me get faster?

 

April 7, 2024. Marathon #2. Only goal is faster than my 4:48:48 first. I was on a run last night along part of the course and literally thought, "why not? You're 35 pounds lighter, can run further and faster, and the worst thing that happens is you walk some."

...probably also registering for Marathon #3 in October today, too. I'm making my best friend pay for his entry first so I know he's committed so I'm not doing a destination marathon alone.

 

What’s everyone’s wildest “this happened while I was running” story?

I had to call the police today because a homeless man was beating up a homeless woman (there’s a little camp in the woods by where this happened and I’ve seen these two before) in the middle of the cemetery where my long runs usually end. He saw me and took off before he could do too much damage, but it was pretty jarring to come across. And now I’ve had multiple police and sheriff interviews with more to come because I asked if I could please go home and shower since I’d begun cramping.

 

Damn, that’s scary to think of happening or witnessing.

Craziest thing for me personally was a car that almost got demolished by a train as it barely made it across the tracks before the train crossed and to make it across the car had to essentially be on the tiny shoulder of this cramped two lane country road.

And where was I? I was on that shoulder about 15 feet from the tracks and mostly looking at my phone while I waited for the train to pass. I had misjudged how far away the train was and thought it was closer than it was so decided to play it safe which coincidentally almost got me seriously hurt/maybe killed. I actually had my right elbow get knicked by the passenger side review mirror of the car as it flew back into the lane. The lady in the first car waiting for the train to pass had her window down and just started screaming as she thought for sure I was hit.

Would have been crazy to have a go-pro on for that experience.

I also once passed people yelling and heard one of them say, “I don’t give a shit who’s around, I’ll make sure neither one of you says shit to nobody!” and immediately started turning down streets and alleys to get the fuuuuuuuuck away from the area.

 

that would’ve freaked me out with the car and train.

Someone threw a can at me and missed one time. Also had people come up behind me when I’m running along the shoulder and just blast their horn to see me jump. People are kinda dicks, haha.

I had a police guy stop me because a pit bull was loose, but I never saw the dog (or would’ve been scared of it, tbh).

 

I feel like the weird/unusual situations come in spades. I think I shared in here that high school looking kids once yelled at me from their car with a megaphone but they yelled nice things (“keep going!”, “that’s incredible!”, etc.) and I feel like that week was the only time I’ve had a few memorable things people have done or said in my direction, outside of some usual comments (usually regarding wearing shorts when it’s 30-40 degrees out and similar things).

For the longest time I never had any incidents with dogs or animals but over the last 9-10 months I feel like there is at least one a week. Enjoyably, they have all been good/fun experiences with very nice, adorable dogs. 3 of them have somehow gotten so close to me that I didn’t even know anything was there until they bumped my leg and I finally looked or slowed down. There was one super annoying ankle biter that came right into the country road, across the lane chirping at me and like… the lady just stayed working in her garden if she even heard her dog. Kind of surprised me because if I live in the middle of fucking nowhere and my dog is losing his shit I’d want to know what was up. But then again ankle biters never shut up so maybe it was a constant thing lol

 

I've almost been run over a couple of times (same intersection).

Lightning struck when I was running by Bill Snyder stadium (Kansas St football) and I was listening to Explosions in the Sky

Got my first bee sting on my ankle during a run

 

Visiting my grandma down in Florida and just set my PR in the 5K and 5 mile just on a training run. No way I ever go for distance at that pace, but very proud I’ve stuck to it. Feels like the work I’ve been doing since last July is finally starting to click into place.

 

This is really what it's all about. You know you're training well when the things that used to be at the very top of your racing potential just happen in the middle of regular runs.