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GAF Running Club |OT| - Couch to Marathons, All abilities

Good luck to the peeps racing this Sunday! I’m sure it’ll be fun for everyone involved :).

My “fall” marathon isn’t until December 3, so I’m smack in the middle of my training plan and things are finally starting to ramp up- got my first 15+ mile run of the year this weekend and still feel a wee bit apprehensive about it even though I’ve covered longer in the past ¯_(ツ)_/¯ ...
 

mdsfx

Member
I'm probably grossly overthinking hitting the wall again, but I'm already increasing my carb intake and keeping water moving.

All of these people in my life asking me if I'm "ready" is getting to my head!
 

titch

Member
So its starting to get colder outside and tonight its wet and windy too.

I am due to do a hills repeat set but running up a hill and then cooling down doesnt sound like my idea of fun just now.

Motivate me gaf!!!
 

midramble

Pizza, Bourbon, and Thanos
So its starting to get colder outside and tonight its wet and windy too.

I am due to do a hills repeat set but running up a hill and then cooling down doesnt sound like my idea of fun just now.

Motivate me gaf!!!

Go!

Is that good enough? Now you've set an expectation. So if you don't update in an hour and a half, then I'll be disappointed and ask again. Don't let me down now that you've dragged me into this.
 
less then 30 days till marathon so I finally popped that Strava premium trial bubble with my 2 years of service use


Heat map is neat. Ill have to take a screenshot of that before I cancel and never actually pay for this service
 

midramble

Pizza, Bourbon, and Thanos
Titch..... It's been an hour and a half. You ran right? Right?! You wouldn't just ignore me after this effort of accountability would you? You woudn't just ask for my help but not do your part would you? Titch?

Edit: Ninja'd. I guess you wouldn't hahaha.
 

titch

Member
Titch..... It's been an hour and a half. You ran right? Right?! You wouldn't just ignore me after this effort of accountability would you? You woudn't just ask for my help but not do your part would you? Titch?

Edit: Ninja'd. I guess you wouldn't hahaha.

image.php
 

midramble

Pizza, Bourbon, and Thanos

Haha congrats. Wish there were tools other than professional trainers that you could get to dog you to commit to stuff like this. Community apps, the people tend to stop caring pretty fast as they drop out themselves, and my friends and family do the opposite by telling me to just do it tomorrow, or that I don't really need to do it at all hahaha.
 

titch

Member
Haha congrats. Wish there were tools other than professional trainers that you could get to dog you to commit to stuff like this. Community apps, the people tend to stop caring pretty fast as they drop out themselves, and my friends and family do the opposite by telling me to just do it tomorrow, or that I don't really need to do it at all hahaha.

Cheers!!!

I probably would get told i do too much if the family said anything...

Yet feel like i am not doing enough - should probably be pushing myself more, etc, etc.

Some other form of motivation would be good tho - its easy for everything to feel like a grind till its over when you've been training constantly for a few years.
 

Cyan

Banned
Look at it as a short long run after a recovery period (easier said than done unfortunately). If the circuit is nice and the organization is up to par you'll be able to enjoy the race anyway :)

Sort of like Duebrithil's saying, see it as a no-pressure event. You haven't trained for this (due to no fault of your own), there's no expectation of performance. Have a nice, quiet easy run and enjoy your time outside, hanging out with fellow runners! :)

Yep, good call. Had a nice chill run with some friends, and we managed to duck in at just under an hour. :)
 
This time tomorrow I'll have just started the Chicago Marathon. My first one of these and after being a spectator last year I can't wait to run. Have a goal of five hours. No other expectations other than to run and enjoy it.
 

mdsfx

Member
This time tomorrow I'll have just started the Chicago Marathon. My first one of these and after being a spectator last year I can't wait to run. Have a goal of five hours. No other expectations other than to run and enjoy it.
Awesome! I'll be right there with you :)
 

Fisico

Member
This time tomorrow I'll have just started the Chicago Marathon. My first one of these and after being a spectator last year I can't wait to run. Have a goal of five hours. No other expectations other than to run and enjoy it.

Take as many breaks as you need, eat easy to digest food as much as possible (but not too much either!) and drink a lot.
Enjoy!
 
Yep, good call. Had a nice chill run with some friends, and we managed to duck in at just under an hour. :)

Great to hear! :D

This time tomorrow I'll have just started the Chicago Marathon. My first one of these and after being a spectator last year I can't wait to run. Have a goal of five hours. No other expectations other than to run and enjoy it.

Awesome! I'll be right there with you :)

Good luck and have fun you two! And of course good luck to Fistwell, too ;)
 

Fistwell

Member
RACE DAY!!1

Good luck and have fun you two! And of course good luck to Fistwell, too ;)
Wishing the marathoners a good run tomorrow - enjoy!
Thanks you guys! Was sick like a dog for a cple of days, so not in the best of dispositions, but eh, we'll see what happens.

Good luck to Mike and vacantseas!

Yep, good call. Had a nice chill run with some friends, and we managed to duck in at just under an hour. :)
Nicely done! :D
 
3:17, went out a little too fast, didn't have the endurance to sustain it. Started fading at 30K, blew up around 35K, held on for dear life. Can barely walk now. Also, GPS file is fucked, gg garmin.

Edit: 348/4295, 3:16:44 net chip time.

Edit2: Bonus pic, from before form completely went to shit.

Looked on Strava, looks good to me. Some very fast sub-7s in the middle and an equal number of 8s near the end. You finished strong, maybe it didn't feel like it but that all looks decent - well done, Doc!


Hmmm, you know it's probably cheating if you run with 3 legs. Just sayin'.
 
Man I barely missed the cut off for signing up for Chicago (and I really really wanted to race in it).

Guess I lucked out ironically, because I pulled my IT band/vastus lateris three weeks ago. I definitely didn't tear it but after giving it a few days rest it still bothers me when I go running. I'm giving it 5 days rest now so hopefully I can get back to running decently well tomorrow. Never had a running injury before so I'm not quite sure on recovery timetables still TBH
 

Toxi

Banned
Ran my first marathon today in Chicago. I felt like shit right after finishing, but the beer made me feel better. :p So glad I can finally do this.
This time tomorrow I'll have just started the Chicago Marathon. My first one of these and after being a spectator last year I can't wait to run. Have a goal of five hours. No other expectations other than to run and enjoy it.
Hope you had a good run. :)
 

mdsfx

Member
Well I managed 3:59:34 which is nowhere close to my goal of 3:45 or less, but the conditions were pretty warm and sunny which made my plan of running a conservative first half (9min/mi pace) turn into my pace for the full race. Heat started effecting me at mile 16 and miles 23-26 were pure survival. I pushed myself not to walk one step and thankfully at least managed that.
 
Ran my first marathon today in Chicago. I felt like shit right after finishing, but the beer made me feel better. :p So glad I can finally do this.

Hope you had a good run. :)

Hey I finished. I didn’t make my 5 hour goal. Finished in 5:19 which sucks but I slept maybe a 30 mins last night. The heat on the second half didn’t help.

For my first marathon it was pretty cool. Definitely an accomplishment. Don’t know if I have a second on in me though. Need to let this sink in

How was your run?
 

mdsfx

Member
Yeah that heat really started to hit hard didn't it?! I was nice and cool when we started, but boy did that change.
 

Toxi

Banned
Hey I finished. I didn’t make my 5 hour goal. Finished in 5:19 which sucks but I slept maybe a 30 mins last night. The heat on the second half didn’t help.

For my first marathon it was pretty cool. Definitely an accomplishment. Don’t know if I have a second on in me though. Need to let this sink in

How was your run?
Started out well, but I really fell apart in the last third. I ended up with 4:51, but I'm just happy to finish. And yeah, the heat at the end was ridiculous.

I think I want to run another marathon in the future, but I need to practice more serious long distance next time. My legs just aren't used to running 20+ miles.
 

DrMungo

Member
Did my first half marathon!
2:10:19
I was pushing to see if I can get into marathon shape, but 4 weeks prior to the race I bonked on a practice run at 16.5 miles. It would have been torture to finish so I settled for the half marathon and did better than I expected.

We'll see how the winter goes - its either Spring if I am keeping up in the winter or I will try again next fall for the marathon.
 

Fisico

Member
I'm always amazed by how stupid the mind is when training.
Very often I make some kind of program for the day like "today 100% of training is on easy pace" or "today 70% easy pace, 30% marathon pace"

These two always ending up in "90 easy pace 5% half pace 2.5% 10k pace, 2.5% crazy sprint" and "65% easy pace 15% marathon pace 10% half pace 5% 10k pace 5% crazy sprint"

It's funny once in a while but if you follow à regular training it just hurts your recovery time badly and doesn't help you improve..

Yet I just can't stop myself for doing it almost every single time urg...

J-20 for Marathon

Congrats for everyone, finish is always the biggest victory, time will come naturaly later on.
 

Fistwell

Member
Great work from the Chicago people! Temperatures stayed cool all the way through over here thank god, can't imagine having to deal with the heat on those last 5Ks! Already painful enough!
 

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
I'm gonna try again.

About two years ago, I was at my all-time heaviest weight - 257lbs. I'm 6'2", so in my mind I said I carried it better than I probably did. And I've never been super lazy - always have had a gym membership, and have almost always "worked out" a couple times a week. Back in college and even early in my career I was doing weight training 3-4 days a week for 90-120 minutes. But more recently? 35 minutes there. 45 there. But the thing is - at the tail end of my 20s, my metabolism isn't keeping up and I knew that with my travel-and-sitting-heavy career, things were just gonna get worse.

I decided I had never *really* done cardio. So I made it a goal to run, not just walk fast on a treadmill. And well, that first jog? I made it maybe 200 yards. MAYBE. It was embarrassing.. The next day I tried again... and failed miserably. My feet hurt. My back hurt. My neck was sore. I was completely out of breath. I even posted on GAF I think. I mean, shit, I hadn't run in - a decade?

But I stuck with it. I never got fast. Hell, I'm slow as all hell. We're talking ~14 minute miles. But I went from a half mile without stopping. To one. To two. To three. To eventually doing a 5K without stopping and walking. Again, slow... but progress. I even did five or six 5Ks with my wife!

I dropped down to 236. TWENTY POUNDS! A whole waist size. From a 38 to a 36.

And then... my wife and I got some really bad news. Emotionally, it hurt us a bunch. And I didn't get depressed or anything - but my good habits just stopped. Abruptly.

And now ~9 months later, I'm back up to 244 and I didn't even think I could even do a mile again :( But I've PROVED to myself I can make progress. I know I can. I even maintained for a good year last time. But a year isn't my life. And so, I'm trying again. Don't know why this hit my head yesterday - I think it was a desire to actually USE my new Apple Watch. Maybe it's just cause I'm so fed up at work that I need an escape. Maybe I just don't like the idea of slipping back into a 38 waist. I dunno. And I don't know why I'm sharing. But I'm gonna try. I'm gonna start slow and steady and then see where it takes me.

Yesterday I did the "First Run" on the Nike+ Run Club for 21 minutes. Didn't stop. Made it about a mile and a half.
 

Madouu

Member
I'm gonna try again.

We're rooting for you! Anything that helps motivate you is welcome, I know posting about running again here motivated me a whole lot to finally do it!

Here's me back in January:

I think it's time for me to start running again.

A year ago, I managed to go from a completely sedentary lifestyle to being able to run 15km very comfortably, it was something I was very proud of.

Sadly, an ankle injury and then moving to a different country meant my lifestyle reverting back to complete physical inactivity. The fact that the city I live in currently is very polluted and security is not great did not help. Before, I could run to a park 5 minutes away at any time of the day, now the closest running spot is at about an hour in public transport. I feel bad about it because there are very few things I enjoy as much as running.

Still, no matter, I'm at the point where I think that running in any shape or form is better than just sitting idly so I think I'm going to start doing laps around the neighborhood early in the morning before traffic picks up and see how that goes. Maybe go to the running spot once or twice a week when I have a bit of free time.

Posting this here for a bit of extra motivation, hopefully I can do it!

I only managed to muster the will to go out and run 7 months later, and after seven weeks of running once every two or three days, I finally finished my first 5km since resuming running. I felt horrible to the point that I threw up the first day, but you know the drill, the more you run, the easier it gets. I'm pretty happy with this, hopefully I can go for more with time and one day do a 15k again.

 
I only managed to muster the will to go out and run 7 months later, and after seven weeks of running once every two or three days, I finally finished my first 5km since resuming running. I felt horrible to the point that I threw up the first day, but you know the drill, the more you run, the easier it gets. I'm pretty happy with this, hopefully I can go for more with time and one day do a 15k again.

Keep it up! You'll be back into running 15Km in no time at all :D
 

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
The first step is usually the hardest. I'm glad you stuck with it for as long as your circumstances allowed you and that you are willing to try again. Remember that RunGAF is rooting for you, and is willing to help with whatever doubts you may have :)

We're rooting for you! Anything that helps motivate you is welcome, I know posting about running again here motivated me a whole lot to finally do it!

Here's me back in January:



I only managed to muster the will to go out and run 7 months later, and after seven weeks of running once every two or three days, I finally finished my first 5km since resuming running. I felt horrible to the point that I threw up the first day, but you know the drill, the more you run, the easier it gets. I'm pretty happy with this, hopefully I can go for more with time and one day do a 15k again.

Thanks, guys!

I've now done the NRC "First Run," "The Next Run," and "First Fast Run."

25-30 minute "coached" workouts, and then I turn around and walk back.

Slow as all hell, but I force myself to keep "jogging" and never stop or slow down to a walk (even if they're about the same speed). Slowly but surely...
 

Saya

Member
I ran wearing running tights for the first time today just to test them out. They're so comfortable. This will be great for the upcoming winter.
 
With all the wildfires close to where I've been in California, I've been limited to running/exercising exclusively indoors this week after my 16miler last Sunday.

Definitely not ideal, nor do I feel like I actually have any right to actually complain, but with the amount of air pollution in the air it's throwing my training schedule out of whack. Mostly just focusing on maintaining for now, but hope that the bad air in Cali goes away for everyone involved so I can get back to proper training! :(
 
Love this time of year. The weather cools, the days get shorter and work becomes more hassle than it's worth so I sack it off and do fun stuff instead! A few years back that used to mean bunkering down and huddling up with the playstation and a mountainous backlog pile, but not anymore hah. Can't wait to get out for some proper long trail runs and doge walks/hikes. Going to build up the miles pretty slowly and get up in the hills as often as possible. Looking to move away from running hard halves and 10k road races next year and do trail marathons and ultras and not care about times or performances, just do them and enjoy the shit out of them.
 
30 km run done. First one of those in a while.

Other then the bottom of my feet hurting a bit which is mostly down to some shitty roads I feel great and could have kept going. Only reason I stopped was I needed to get home to feed the dog.
 
Come on duebrithil, race report overdue! :)

Hahaha, I was getting a good old cold shower :)

Today was the day of the 6th Correbarri race, a 10K race were you sign up representing one of the ten districts of Barcelona (each district has a different t-shirt colour). Afterwards the fastest 35 men and top 15 women of each district are used to determine the winner. The friendly rivalry between districts is one of the best aspects of the race.

The circuit is fairly flat and runs through the streets of Ciutat Vella and Port of Barcelona, which means that, weather permitting, is an ideal race to try and set a PR. Luckily it wasn't too hot today (although it was quite humid, but that's what you get for running near the sea) and there wasn't a hint of wind near the end which meant a comfortable race.

Since the streets are plenty wide I tried to maintain a fairly constant pace. I'd have to look at the splits on Strava but I think I mostly managed to pull it off with a bit of a slowdown on the second half when the sun had completely risen. There were some difficult spots (a cobblestone street, speedbumps) but nothing that can't be managed. I'd say the toughest spots are a short slope right before Km. 9 and a 180-degree turn right after it, but by then you are already speeding up for the finish line (and I'll be damned if I let runners from the other districts overtake me near the end! :D) so it's not too bad.

Final time of 40:05 so a bit of a redemption after being a bit slow on the last race. Hopefully I'll be one of the 35 men to contribute to my district (the first time I didn't make the cut, but managed to contribute the second), and with any luck Sant Martí or Sant Andreu won't win again!
 
It's a nice concept for a race and you did great. If your placing doesn't contribute to your region's result then a) you have some very, very fast runners in your region and b) your region probably won as you placed really high. Good one!
 

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
I can't tell if I have a shin splint or a stress fracture.

I've had this very localized pain in my tibia (I think? The inner shin) on my left leg for over a month now. There's a spot that if I press firmly it can hurt pretty bad (sometimes less, sometimes more).

The strange part is that when I RUN (and I'm hardly running three to six miles per week at the moment), there is no pain. I can jump up and down. I'm on my feet ten hours a day and I have no pain. But every now and again, like when I wake up in the morning, I'll feel this dull ache. This reminder that there's something going on there. There isn't any bruising nor is there any swelling. I can hop on my feet without any trouble, I can do calf raises. I rock climb and so I often hop off a pretty high wall and can land on my feet without issue.

But it's a persistent, nagging injury, and I'm afraid it might at least develop into a stress fracture if it isn't one already. I've already had periods during this injury where I've taken a week or more off, and while it gets better during that time it doesn't fully heal. Should I just say screw it and take a full two weeks off?
 
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