The Running Thread—2023

[GreatLakes]

QOTD:
If you were going in incorporate 4 exercises for your core into your training, what would they be? (For this purpose, planks would be one, but side planks [which would include both left and right] would be a 2nd exercise.)

I like moving on all planes of motion for any muscle group, including core so my top 4 would be:

Cable Crunch
Standing cable core rotation
Plank routine (I do front and both sides as one set).
Ab Strap Leg Raises (can be done with a bar but my shoulders fail before my abs).

 

[Marebear_runs]

QOTD: plank, dead bug, single leg lift, single leg drop

 

[Professor_Cookie]

I was today years old when I found out about the half and full marathons in St George, Utah, due to one of the daughter's friend in it this morning. For the half, it is all downhill, a 1,892' drop in elevation!

Does anyone have any experience with this race? It looks like the scenery is beautiful, and should be good for a PR.

If you live near sea level it may provide some difficulty breathing. 3000 feet is not high, but is technically where you start adjusting quick bread recipes due to altitude. I would, though, recommend this over the Revel Big Cottonwood Canyon Half. Start elevation of 7000 feet and I could hear some people breathing clearly over my music. Several were transported off the course.

Side note, training has fallen apart again. Wife had Covid last week and I had to cover her at the restaurant, I have it this week. Yay.

 

[Professor_Cookie]

I was today years old when I found out about the half and full marathons in St George, Utah, due to one of the daughter's friend in it this morning. For the half, it is all downhill, a 1,892' drop in elevation!

Does anyone have any experience with this race? It looks like the scenery is beautiful, and should be good for a PR.

Oh, yeah start elevation is ~4500 feet. That will be challenging breathing

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Oh, yeah start elevation is ~4500 feet. That will be challenging breathing

I live at 5400 feet and my parents are at 7000. When I go to their place for the holidays, the treadmill running isn't that fun for the first couple of days. The elevation change is no joke.

My recommendation is go a couple days early and relax, and hydrate. You'll at least get your body hydrated enough in the dry altitude.

 

[GreatLakes]

I live at 5400 feet and my parents are at 7000. When I go to their place for the holidays, the treadmill running isn't that fun for the first couple of days. The elevation change is no joke.

My recommendation is go a couple days early and relax, and hydrate. You'll at least get your body hydrated enough in the dry altitude.

Elevation is no joke. I went out to Colorado to do a half in Estes Park which is about 7,500ft and then stayed in Cheyenne for a few days which was 6,000 ft. I never really felt short of breath like I expected but I felt like I was running a much faster face than I was. I also go way more thirsty. On one easy run in Cheyenne I was fortunate enough to run past a gym and they let me come in and grab a drink.

 

[dis_or_dat]

The Hansons plan works well because it follows three key tenets.

1) It balances the mileage across the week.
2) It is really specific towards marathon pace towards the end.
3) You do most of your training at slower than marathon pace.

Many times (but not all) when I see someone not do well on Hansons, one of the three above tenets was altered.

Question: I find the core of Hansons is running on "tired legs" and thats why it typically maxes out on 16 mile LRs. Because of my scheduling, my off day is the day before my LR - how do you think it'll affect my performance? I know I'm not running for time, but I'm nervous how painful the marathon will be.

Have you ever tried Pfitz? I feel like you would do well on 18/70

@Sara W I don't think I'll ever be more than Hansons Beginner!

ATTQOTD: I always do planks (including side), bridges, and clamshells. I'll add some deadbugs since everyone is recommending it.

 

[jmasgat]

QOTD: Tell me about a race you had that was canceled last minute. How did you deal with it?

Mine is ……now. I flew from Michigan to go to Dufftown Scotland to run the Half Dram—a half marathon Speyside where you run by various Whisky distilleries. At the end, you get your tastings of the distilleries you ran by.
Sadly, storm Babet has done a number on the area ( and my hiking plans) and last night—after days of quiet confidence they could still do the race—they canceled it when a new flood watch popped up for part of the course area.

First thought is: I need the miles, so I have got to figure out a way to run since I haven’t all week. Second is….I got the glass—I’ll do my own tastings! The trip is not a total wash (pardon the pun). I’m mildly impressed with my own reaction so far. We’ll see as time progresses!

 

[azrivest]

First thought is: I need the miles, so I have got to figure out a way to run since I haven’t all week.

My reaction would be to try to run some sort of virtual race by myself. Maybe others are also running part of the course?

Congratulations on the lemons to lemonade attitude. It must really suck to have travelled all that way for a cancelled race Hope you can still enjoy Scotland and the Highlands despite the weather

 

[FFigawi]

QOTD: Tell me about a race you had that was canceled last minute. How did you deal with it?

Mine is ……now. I flew from Michigan to go to Dufftown Scotland to run the Half Dram—a half marathon Speyside where you run by various Whisky distilleries. At the end, you get your tastings of the distilleries you ran by.
Sadly, storm Babet has done a number on the area ( and my hiking plans) and last night—after days of quiet confidence they could still do the race—they canceled it when a new flood watch popped up for part of the course area.

First thought is: I need the miles, so I have got to figure out a way to run since I haven’t all week. Second is….I got the glass—I’ll do my own tastings! The trip is not a total wash (pardon the pun). I’m mildly impressed with my own reaction so far. We’ll see as time progresses!

I’d go run as much if the course and miles as you can. Kind of like what’s bunch of us did at Disney when the half was canceled a few years ago. It’s not exactly the same as doing the race, but it gives you the miles and a great story.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Question: I find the core of Hansons is running on "tired legs" and thats why it typically maxes out on 16 mile LRs. Because of my scheduling, my off day is the day before my LR - how do you think it'll affect my performance? I know I'm not running for time, but I'm nervous how painful the marathon will be.

It’ll have a non-zero effect. The cumulative effect of the whole training plan is important. Having to run for 60-90 min the day before the long run makes the long run tougher. If you have an off day the day before the long run it makes it easier. However, if you’ve shifted the moderate day somewhere else in the week it still means you’re adding fatigue to some other training day. The usual Hansons off day is Wednesday or between the speed and marathon tempo SOS workouts. If you were to do a 1:1 swap with no other shifts than that 60-90 min moderate workout is now right after the speed SOS and before the M Tempo SOS, then that makes the M Tempo run much harder. So if you’re still on the mark for a 10 mile M Tempo, when the original plan had an off day the day before, then you’re showing that you’re in good shape. Regardless of the loss of that same moderate the day before the long run. So the answer is, it depends, but if you’re still doing the totality of the weekly plan just in a slightly different order, then you’re still reaping the majority of the benefits and may just be making some other workout much harder than originally written. Although it’s best to try and find a plan that you can make as little edits to because we don’t always know the authors intent with each workout in sequence.

 

[RuntheMouse]

QOTD: Tell me about a race you had that was canceled last minute. How did you deal with it?

First thought is: I need the miles, so I have got to figure out a way to run since I haven’t all week

Just went through this with Twin Cities! Ours was a heat cancellation though. I went and ran that morning anyway, obviously not at race pace and I shortened it because I too needed the miles. I made the rest up that week when it cooled off.

Hopefully you find a safe route to get those miles in and enjoy some tastings as well!

 

[dis_or_dat]

ATTQOTD: The 2 that come to mind (I wasn't registered to either) are the Twin Cities (heat) and New York Marathon (Hurricane Sandy).

 

[Naomeri]

ATTQOTD: mine was also the Twin Cities Marathon Weekend 10 Miler. I agreed that it was too hot to run, and because I’d gotten some blisters from doing the 10K and 5K the day before, I chose to forgo the miles. It was the end of a bad training plan and I was ready to just be done. I will be earning the medal in December with one of the scheduled long runs in my current training plan.

 

[PrincessV]

ATTQOTD: 2017 (is that right?? It feels so long ago!) WDW Half. The one canceled the night before due to incoming storms with a cold front. I was already in bed when I started getting the text messages from friends who were out at dinner wen the news dropped. I handled it… not well lol! It was to be my first Dopey: I’d trained well, felt good, had the first 2 races done - I was not a happy camper. A couple friends staying at the same resort said they might DIY the half around our resort area - we all agreed to sleep on it, take advantage of not needing to be up so early, and see what the next day brought. We wound up doing 13.1 around the Wyndham, Hilton, and Waldorf Bonnet Creek resorts, including stops for pics with staff, other runners doing the same, a visit to an arcade, an elevator ride in a parking garage, and a quick game of giant checkers. It was a blast! We even staged our own post-race medal “PhotoPass” shoot with an rD Mylar as backdrop. It may not have been “official,” but it actually made my first Dopey extra special.

As an addendum some of you will appreciate, I was not expecting that cold front to be quite as cold as it was and absolutely did not have the appropriate clothing for it. But I told myself, “That’ll never happen again!” And did not bother buying any real cold weather gear because I live in FL. Y’all know what happened the following year, right?! Yep, excessively cold AGAIN. Literally, in my room immediately after the marathon, I ordered cold weather tights and a jacket. Not a single regret and I’ve used them plenty since then!

 

[Disney at Heart]

Atlanta 10-Miler in the morning. DH and I are going for Triple Peach again.

 

[Zutroy]

ATTQOTD: mine was also the Twin Cities Marathon Weekend 10 Miler. I agreed that it was too hot to run, and because I’d gotten some blisters from doing the 10K and 5K the day before, I chose to forgo the miles. It was the end of a bad training plan and I was ready to just be done. I will be earning the medal in December with one of the scheduled long runs in my current training plan.

I’ve gone back and forth on whether cancelling the Twin Cities marathon was a good idea. The starting temp was 67 degrees with 75% humidity. This morning I ran 16 miles in 65 degree, 94% humidity weather. I wouldn’t describe it as pleasant, but I also didn’t consider it deadly. I think they could have done what Disney did in 2020 and cut the course short once the temps got too high. Regardless, cancelling 2 hours before the start was the wrong way to handle it when the forecast was known for days.

 

[RuntheMouse]

I’ve gone back and forth on whether cancelling the Twin Cities marathon was a good idea. The starting temp was 67 degrees with 75% humidity. This morning I ran 16 miles in 65 degree, 94% humidity weather. I wouldn’t describe it as pleasant, but I also didn’t consider it deadly. I think they could have done what Disney did in 2020 and cut the course short once the temps got too high. Regardless, cancelling 2 hours before the start was the wrong way to handle it when the forecast was known for days.

The problem is that the forecast did change last minute, change in cloud cover, that pushed them into black flag territory. Everyone saying they ran in summer temps that were similar probably weren’t running race pace in those temps. Also had to take into account all of the volunteers and EMS and the impact to them. I don’t think they could’ve won in any scenario.

As a plus, the generous refund they are offering us and guaranteed entry for next year is above and beyond anything I expected.

 

[Zutroy]

The problem is that the forecast did change last minute, change in cloud cover, that pushed them into black flag territory. Everyone saying they ran in summer temps that were similar probably weren’t running race pace in those temps. Also had to take into account all of the volunteers and EMS and the impact to them. I don’t think they could’ve won in any scenario.

As a plus, the generous refund they are offering us and guaranteed entry for next year is above and beyond anything I expected.

But there was absolutely no reason to cancel the 10-miler, which started an hour earlier, and an hour into that race it was still 66 degrees. The temps would only be in the low 70s when then last person would finish. The official explanation that too many marathoners would try to run, and they didn’t have enough water, just doesn’t make any sense.

 

[Naomeri]

But there was absolutely no reason to cancel the 10-miler, which started an hour earlier, and an hour into that race it was still 66 degrees. The temps would only be in the low 70s when then last person would finish. The official explanation that too many marathoners would try to run, and they didn’t have enough water, just doesn’t make any sense.

As someone who ran almost 10 miles on Saturday in very similar conditions, it wasn’t going to be a nice day for a race. And I’m not sure where you’re getting your temp info from, but it was 69° and 80+% humidity when I woke up at 5:30 to see the race cancellation email. I was at the Capitol to get my gear bag when the 3:30-3:45 marathoners would’ve been finishing, and it was HOT in the sun, and I’m sure it would’ve been worse on the asphalt as opposed to the nice grass where the gear bags were.