The Running Thread - 2020

[The Expert]

QOTD: I'd enter a race tomorrow if it had extra hand washing stations and sanitizer, face coverings at expo and in corrals, and those edible water capsules at aid stations.

 

[camaker]

ATTQOTD: I would be comfortable entering a race now. I would alter my personal approach to the race to enhance my own safety. I would wear a mask to the corrals and expo. I already try to find a ”bubble” to fit into in a corral and I would continue to do that, perhaps delaying my entry into the corral as late as possible. Once there, I would avoid anyone having obvious respiratory issues. Once on course, I would maintain as much distance as possible from the other runners. I do that anyway. Finally, I would eschew water stations entirely in favor of carrying my own fluids. I’ve demonstrated I can run a marathon without refilling my 2 L hydration bladder, so no worries there. After the race, I’m out. No hanging around the finish area.

Ultimately, I think racing is a low risk endeavor related to a respiratory contagion. Most with a significant case are not going to feel like running half marathons and marathons (my most common distances). If someone has a mild case or is not yet symptomatic, they are not going to be doing a lot of coughing and sneezing to project the virus across additional distances. I make it a habit not to get close to strangers, anyway, so I don’t think there’s a high risk of contraction from a mild/asymptomatic individual.

 

[flav]

ATTQOTD: Though question, and my answer today might be different tomorrow. Here, every events until August 31st have been canceled or postponed. That brings the next possible race to when schools are supposed to reopen. By then, we might be more used to live our life in presence of others. In general, I find that compulsory masks in high density area (expo, corrals, chute) are a good idea. Mailing the runners package and medals can help, so do staggered starts. Hand washing/purifying stations all along the course, especially before water stations and after portapoties are a must. Would that make me comfortable racing? I am not sure, I guess it depends what is at stake.

So far:
Marathon des Érables 5k (May 2nd) with the family got pushed to May 1st, 2021 with possibility to transfer to another race or someone else for free. Small enough that the above could be managed in 2021, except for the lunch at the end.

Ottawa Lumberjack Challenge (May 23-24) for me and 5k for the family got Virtual. Cost 250USD. Shirts and medals will be mailed, no other options.

Montreal Rock’n’Roll (Sept 19-20) Full for me and 5k for the family. They had so much problems these past years that I was already doubting they would be able to get permits from the city. Cost 190USD. At this point, my preference would be to get reimbursed for that one and move on. If I have to run it, I might downgrade to a Half, or a Virtual provided that we get the medals (they currently do not ship outside USA for their virtual races).

Petit Train du Nord Marathon (Oct 4th). Cost 100USD. This was supposed to be a BQ attempt (for 2022). The field is small and the course is straight. So I would be comfortable to run it with the measures above, probably not with a mask the entire time. If there are complications at water stations, that could have an impact. Maybe I should buy a hydration belt and train with it.

New York City Marathon (Nov 1st). Cost 358USD plus 8 hours drive and hotels. That certainly won’t be the race we all dreamt it would be. Right now, not knowing if the borders will be opened, the insurances coverage in effect... means that I would accept a reimbursement. Being international also means that a non-complementary spot for the next year has no value since travel agencies sell packages with guaranteed spots (value of about 600USD). So far NYRR has been a very responsible organization so I trust that if the race is on, the mitigation measures to ensure runners and volunteers safety will be adequate. I just don’t know if the race will be worth putting up with them, with the stress of the situation and the cost of travel.

ETA: I just had a mental image of a drive-style-run-through plexiglass window where you pick the snacks and medal at the end of a race.

 

[avondale]

Agreed. Now can you please explain the appropriateness of that orientation to my wife? The only exception being for households with cats who like to play with it.

Fortunately my husband and I both agree that this is the correct and only way, so we have no arguments about it.

 

[YawningDodo]

Agreed. Now can you please explain the appropriateness of that orientation to my wife? The only exception being for households with cats who like to play with it.

Agreed, hanging the toilet paper the other direction is acceptable if you have cats or cat-minded toddlers. Otherwise the direction shown is correct. I HAVE SPOKEN (and clearly my opinion is Fact!!).

QOTD: That's a tough one, and I'm not sure I know the answer. I know that I'm going to abide by whatever directives are in place both in my state and with the specific race (up to and including just not running if I'd have to break travel restrictions to do it). Wearing masks in the starting area/corrals sounds plenty reasonable, and I'm going to get a lot of practice wearing a mask when my workplace reopens next month--they got us branded cloth masks that we'll be required to wear in all common areas. Would strongly prefer not to wear a mask for a full race, but if that was the only way I got to run the WDW marathon for the first time come January, so be it.

As for plans...still holding off on registering for that half marathon I've got planned for September, hoping there'll be some news by the end of May so I can make a choice before prices go up on that one again. Right now the only race I've got money tied up in is the WDW marathon. Hoping that the local 5K's will go on this summer and fall, but waiting to see.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

A local 5 miler/5K scheduled for next month just went entirely virtual today. It offered a virtual component before these events so that did not surprise me. I'm currently not registered, but have been considering it since all the Covid-19 stuff hit.

I'm eyeing a local race in September, but may just go virtual on it no matter what if I decide to do it.

Personally, I have no problem if I'm required to wear a mask at pick up, staging area, and post race sorts of things. Currently my part of California is even stricter than the rest of the state. Even then we are not required to wear the mask while exercising, but we are encouraged to practice physical distancing during exercise if necessary. Racing with a mask would likely be a deal breaker for me with the possible exception of Star Wars.

The next big race decision I have to make is Star Wars 2021. All the uncertainty right now basically has me in wait and see mode until much closer to registration date. We should have a better idea by then one way or the other anyways.

 

[JediKnightXan]

QOTD: As far a running races goes, I would be comfortable running one right now, but it would have to be a goal race or help with something like that. I would actually run a big race right now than a small one. I say that because: From what I can tell, as a guy in his mid 30s who is in good health, I am very low risk when it comes to the virus, my biggest fear is getting it and then not knowing about it, as I have some high risk family members, one of which I see about once a week. So if I ran a race I would self isolate for two weeks after the event.

If I am going to put myself in a higher risk spot where I feel I need to self quarantine for two weeks it would need to be a big deal. If you told me there was a race tomorrow that would work as a PoT for the marathon, I would (after clearing this with my wife of course) go to the grocery store and stock up on two weeks worth of food and supplies, then go run the race, and then not leave the house two weeks. I am fortunate in that my job would offer me that flexibility, as right now for my position we are doing one week work from office one week work from home, so doing two at home wouldn't be a problem, and my wife is full time work from home at the moment.

Before the start of the race I would hang back to make sure I have plenty of room, and wouldn't mind being one of the last people to cross the starting line. During the race I would do my best to give people plenty of space on the course. For a half I can do the distance without water, but would perform better if there was an aid station or two, so I might carry my own, or see if I could find someone I knew to hand me a bottle on the course somewhere, but probably wouldn't think twice about grabbing a glass off a table during the race.

All of this is easy to say, if I had to pull the trigger on something it might be harder, as I am still debating on if I will sign up for the WDW Marathon next week, but the hesitation is not as much about worrying about my health as it is, worried that if I wait for another year that the experience at the parks and during the race will be better.

*edit fix typos*

 

[SarahDisney]

QOTD: What would make you comfortable to start running races again?

This is a great question, and also a tough one. I've appreciated everyone's well-thought-out answers.

For me ... I'm honestly not sure.
Just based on my location, demographics, and lifestyle, I'm operating under the assumption that I'm infected but asymptomatic because I've definitely been exposed but haven't been experiencing symptoms (although I have a family member who I was living with for a while whose test just came back as negative, so I'm a little less confident in the idea that I'm infected at the moment). I don't actually know what my status is, but acting as if I could infect others protects everyone around me and is important to me even if the people I interact with are "low risk". I know too many people who have been too closely affected by this to assume anyone is safe.
I wear a mask when I run, and I'm okay with that for regular runs that I'm taking easy, but I don't know that I'd wear one for a race. And the races I run tend to be big enough that I am usually within 6ft of someone else, and I do sneeze when I run, and I'd really rather not sneeze on someone right now, just in case. So if someone wanted to put on a race in Central Park this weekend ... I would not register.

I'm not really concerned with what is put in place so much as whether I think the risk of infection is high. Things are starting to re-open soon, and I think we should see a second wave in 2-6 weeks. If the second wave is as bad as the first one, then I can't even imagine being comfortable with races anytime soon. If we can stop the second wave quickly, then I might be okay with races restarting in the fall, preferably with smaller fields (if possible) and larger start/finish areas.

That said ...I don't think NYC races will resume until subway ridership gets back to somewhere close to normal. I never imagined that there would be a time when I wasn't comfortable riding the subway ... but we've hit that point. When my office re-opens (as of right now June 15th, but that may be extended or they may stagger return dates), I'm planning to walk back and forth. Same with my barre studio - I'll walk there and back. Public transportation is such an integral part of life in New York that I can't imagine races will restart until people are fully comfortable traveling on the subway.
At this point, I cannot even begin to guess what's gonna happen with the NYC marathon.

As for Tuesday's registration ... I'm contemplating 5K/10K, but currently leaning towards dropping out. It's not that important to me that I do the races this year, and I've been leaving open the possibility that I would choose not to go even if I was registered, so I think I'd rather leave my spot available for someone who really has their heart set on running 2021. I'll probably make a final decision Monday night.

 

[GreatLakes]

I haven't seen this yet around here but I wonder if any of the virtual races you guys are doing have gone virtual but are still awarding awards. If the route isn't on public roads, like some trail races, and they publish the course as a TCX or GPX file for everyone to load into their watches or phones and you could run the race, send in your file, and they would be able to hand out awards or series points if it is part of a series.

I have a trail race that is part of a series that got pushed back to the end of this month and since all of the races are trails and they all have their course files public I think they could still have this series, award points, and it would be a bit more satisfying than just running any 3.1 miles you want and calling it the virtual version of the race you were supposed to do.

Just something I've been thinking about that would allow a virtual event to have some of the appeal of an actual race.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Just based on my location, demographics, and lifestyle, I'm operating under the assumption that I'm infected but asymptomatic because I've definitely been exposed but haven't been experiencing symptoms (although I have a family member who I was living with for a while whose test just came back as negative, so I'm a little less confident in the idea that I'm infected at the moment). I don't actually know what my status is, but acting as if I could infect others protects everyone around me and is important to me even if the people I interact with are "low risk". I know too many people who have been too closely affected by this to assume anyone is safe.

I think awareness of the risk level of those we regularly interact with is crucial also. For myself, I work in an essential business, so my normal routine has seen far fewer interruptions than others. I basically shelter in place in my office and my home. At the same time, I do have to consider things like what would happen if I were to go to a race that is held and expose a co-worker to it. So while I'm careful for myself, I also have to weigh my potential impact on those who I interact with on an almost daily basis.

I haven't seen this yet around here but I wonder if any of the virtual races you guys are doing have gone virtual but are still awarding awards.

I think the trickiest part of all this is how they would collect and then verify results. How do you absolutely know that someone's tracking data is completely accurate? I certainly think the idea is interesting, but how we would know?

 

[flav]

If we're looking for a discussion, this is only lightly running-related, but ... which way does the toilet paper go?

The correct answer:
View attachment 493514

Agreed to the correct answer but there is a problem with that picture. I hate open loop toilet paper hanger. If I use one at someone house and I am not careful, the entire roll will go flying!

 

[flav]

I haven't seen this yet around here but I wonder if any of the virtual races you guys are doing have gone virtual but are still awarding awards. If the route isn't on public roads, like some trail races, and they publish the course as a TCX or GPX file for everyone to load into their watches or phones and you could run the race, send in your file, and they would be able to hand out awards or series points if it is part of a series

One of the virtual racing app I use (JustMove) has positions and maybe the winners get more points for it. Nothing that will push somebody to cheat for it. More of a encouragement through comparison approach.

In my province, the sport associations for kids (school, teams, etc) were forbidden to continue their season and were asked to refrain to provide awards or rankings.

 

[GreatLakes]

How do you absolutely know that someone's tracking data is completely accurate? I certainly think the idea is interesting, but how we would know?

Well, if someone wanted to have their faster friend run for them that can happen. There is some trust involved. If you upload the raw track from most modern devices they can tell if you biked the course instead of ran most of the time and there are usually signs of a manually entered run.

Just like eSports though there is a chance someone could cheat but if It is for some local swag as opposed to money or a BQ I'm not sure there is enough motivation to cheat on a 5 mile trail run in a state park.

 

[DopeyBadger]

QOTD: What would make you comfortable to start running races again?

Great question. I don't actually know yet. I still want to learn more about COVID19's characteristics. I feel like we're still in the early days of understanding what we're even dealing with so I'm not sure I have enough information at this point to know how I would want to see things operate differently. So until I satisfy that desire for information, I probably won't sign up for anything. I was planning on doing Princess Weekend 2021, but at this moment in time I've scrapped those plans. I'm perfectly content at this time just racing time trials against my past self.

 

[flav]

QOTD: What type of hydration belt do you recommend? We talked about races where someone might need to carry their own fluids, how would you adjust your training to be able to run with a limited amount of fluids?

ATTQOTD: I don’t know, that is why I am asking. I can run a 10k without anything but if I were to attempt a Marathon where I have to carry more fluids than my 5oz bottle, either to save time at refill stations or because there is less stations in the future, I would need to use a belt. The running stores are still closed so your advice is appreciated. Also, because I am registered to NYC Marathon, hydration vest are out of the question (nothing with a pouch or that goes over the shoulders).

 

[FFigawi]

QOTD: What type of hydration belt do you recommend? We talked about races where someone might need to carry their own fluids, how would you adjust your training to be able to run with a limited amount of fluids?

I have an old school 4-bottle Fuel Belt and a new Nathan waist pack. I prefer the Fuel Belt but it’s sadly nearing the end of its life after a good 12 years of service. If you can only run with a limited amount of fluids, I suggest either making loops back to your house or car, or stashing bottles in the bushes or trees along your planned route.

 

[camaker]

QOTD: What type of hydration belt do you recommend? We talked about races where someone might need to carry their own fluids, how would you adjust your training to be able to run with a limited amount of fluids?

ATTQOTD: I don’t know, that is why I am asking. I can run a 10k without anything but if I were to attempt a Marathon where I have to carry more fluids than my 5oz bottle, either to save time at refill stations or because there is less stations in the future, I would need to use a belt. The running stores are still closed so your advice is appreciated. Also, because I am registered to NYC Marathon, hydration vest are out of the question (nothing with a pouch or that go over the shoulders).

In cooler weather, I run anything under 10 miles without carrying any hydration. In warmer weather, I’ll top out around 6 miles. I just don’t have the need for it and the only thing I’d suggest is trying progressively longer distances without fluids to see how far you can extend things.

As far as hydration solutions go, I’ve got several go to options depending on how much I’ll need. On the shorter end of things, the Nathan Trail Mix belt works great, but only carries 18-20oz. On the upper end, I really like the Orange Mud Endurance Pack with a 1.5L or 2L bladder. I’ve been looking for a mid-range solution and think I’ve found it in the UltraSpire Speedgoat and its 2 500 mL soft flasks.

 

[MissLiss279]

ATTQOTD:
I really like my Orange Mud HydraQuivers. I have both a single bottle version and a two (double) bottle version. I usually use the single bottle version for halves or fulls, because I want to make sure I have water when I want it. It usually supplements aid stations. If I were trying to go self supported without stopping, I would probably go with the double. If it were hot, two bottles (22oz ea) would not be enough for me though.
Also, for the past when I have had group training runs, I would use the single bottle for any distance because I would have opportunities to refill. Anything longer than 90 minutes where I need to self support on training runs, I go with the double.
I also recently got Orange Mud’s Gear Vest Pro for a 50k I ran this spring. It came with a 1L bladder and then I added on a 600mL soft flask for a front pocket. I thought I may need to carry a few extra supplies than either of my HydraQuivers could hold. I like this one as well.
There are lots of good options out there!

On another note, I have one race that I run that does not allow over the shoulder packs. I hate this! I get it, but my HydraQuiver does not hold anything more than a waist pack can hold so it drives me crazy. I have bought a cheap waist belt off Amazon that holds one of my insulated water bottles. So maybe check with some races to see what they have allowed and haven’t allowed. Maybe it will change to allow more options due to the current situation???

 

[garneska]

ATTQOD: I use amphipod Belt. I like it as I customized it.

https://www.amphipod.com/products/hydration/customize-your-run
i have 4 bottle holders but usually use two. I have two pouches and bib clips. I like that I can pick what I want and change it out.

 

[jmasgat]

the Nathan Trail Mix belt works great

+1 for this.