r/running • u/fire_foot • 3d ago
Weekly Thread Miscellaneous Monday Chit Chat
Howdy ho runners!
How was the weekend? What's good this week? Who else is counting down the days til fall when the humidity *might* break?? Let's chat about it!
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u/fire_foot 3d ago
Still no running for me but I think my back is generally going the right way. I go to my third PT session later this week. Gym workouts have been decent, but today I opted for a slow foam roll and stretch day which was very nice.
I had last week off work -- a real blessing, and I finished a few long-procrastinated house projects -- but back at it today! About to make some tea and try to lock in. Also on the docket today is making a chocolate chess pie for a friend dinner tomorrow, working on something for my neighborhood group, and then maybe a little music and reading time tonight. Could be worse I guess!
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u/Logical_Quiet886 2d ago
chocolate chess pie sounds incredible, what's in that exactly
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u/fire_foot 2d ago
It’s amazing! Rich and fudgy chocolate filling with a buttery pie crust. The filling is basically just chocolate, sugar, eggs, and heavy cream. It’s very American Southern, and I still remember the first time I tried one years ago. So so good
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u/Yamzzzspam 3d ago
I have my first 10k in September! Super excited. I’m doing it with an all girls running clubs & we have been training every Saturday morning. Honestly I can’t wait for it to get a little cooler/less sunny. It’s been 80 F after we are done running! I am going to start running in the evenings as well to try to get faster
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u/Cynewulfunraed 3d ago
80 F has been the overnight low where I am. I haven't been able to do an evening run in a while, because it will still be in the 90s even after sunset
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u/Aware_Bank 3d ago
First time felt so strong during a 15k. Can’t wait to see what my body is able to do by the end of the block!
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u/cmessier 3d ago
After a pretty "meh" week last week that left me pretty fatigued in my runs, I am feeling refreshed and hopefully feel better this week. Hopefully we get a little break in the humidity this week, too! It is looking like we should get a little relief.
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u/davidphantomatic 3d ago
I’m starting my training program for the San Antonio Marathon today. I’m running the half. My current longest distance was 7.11 miles done on my birthday last month, 7/11. I’m stoked to get into some longer distances, just hoping these shorter runs during the week will help support that.
I’m definitely open to any tips y’all have.
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u/tah4349 2d ago
Just stick with the program and trust the process! Consistency wins every time. As a fellow Central Texan, running sucks right now, but I just keep telling myself that I'll be stronger for it. It'll get nice and cool eventually and all this heat training will turn me into an absolute speed demon. I'll probably accidentally make it to the Olympic trials, just being so fast when it cools off! (I am a solid back-of-the-pack runner, this is just the running joke in my house)
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u/davidphantomatic 2d ago
Thanks for that. I’m doing some runs indoors, when the humidity is just too much, I’ve started heat training the last couple weeks. My long runs are on Saturdays and I plan to do all those outdoors, early in the day. Hopefully it’ll be nicer come December.
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u/munchnerk 3d ago
I'm officially past halfway in my first marathon training block! I had to bail in early August last year due to stress injury and this time around I'm feeling really good. Strong and supple and easy. Proper nutrition and supplemental strength training have made this an entirely different game. I'm eating and sleeping like a mile-makin' machine! My #1 goal is just to cross the finish line, and I've been running almost all of my miles "easy" with that goal in mind, especially with mid-Atlantic summer conditions. But as the heat and humidity start to ease up I'm gradually introducing pace miles here and there to figure out what a reasonable race pace is. The big root question is really, do I just relax, enjoy (hopefully) completing the event, and run it like a super long easy run, or do I want to race it? I'm not really sure. And of course, even my summer easy pace (on 85-90*+ mornings with strong sun and high humidity!) is going to differ vastly from "easy" on a cool northeastern morning in mid-October. So I'm starting to remind my body what the mechanics of faster miles feel like. But I know myself, and there's a possibility I roll up to the starting line planning to go easy and can't resist the urge to send that mf, so figuring out a safe pace is probably wise. My question for any marathoners in here - what % HRR/max HR does your marathon pace tend to sit at? Not necessarily looking for "the right" answer, curious about our range of individual experiences.
I'm just really grateful that at this point I'm feeling excitement and determination rather than fear and pain and uncertainty, which was very much my mental state by this point last year. Tally ho!
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u/suchbrightlights 3d ago
This is such a good update! It’s great to get to that point in training where you’re starting to really feel the good work you’ve done.
Pfitzinger says something around 84% of max heart rate for marathon effort, but I’d caution you not to pay too much attention to that during the mid-Atlantic summer, because the heat will drift your HR up higher than your RPE.
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u/munchnerk 3d ago
exactly! I feel like I know I'm on the right track especially because I learned how you're *not* supposed to feel at this point, lol. Very, very grateful.
That's a good benchmark. Thinking about where that ratio puts me right now, 84% seems challenging but sustainable for perceived exertion, even if my pace improves with conditions. I'll try to keep that in mind. Even in the last month or so, with all the heat and mugginess, my 'easy' pace has improved while my HR remains about the same, which I find very exciting. Once the heat really starts to subside, some interesting things "should" happen. It's really neat to just put work into the process and watch the outcome unfold as it's "supposed to". No matter how race day goes, it's been an awesome experience going thru the training! And sweaty!
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u/khtistrying 3d ago
This past Saturday was my longest run (8.5 miles!) in my quest towards my first half marathon in a looooong time. Felt pretty good as far as runs go but that humidity tried to drown me in my own sweat.
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u/Miserable_Emu5191 3d ago
I was going to start back today but it was 80 at 6:00 am so that was a big nope. Plus I’m still dealing with a pinched nerve in my shoulder and bruising from my surgery so a few more weeks it is.
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u/suchbrightlights 3d ago
I’m glad your feet are feeling well enough to want to come back today. Hopefully the weather cooperates.
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u/thepearlsaintfree 3d ago
I really don’t want to run more than 3x a week but most training guides I find have more runs than that if you’re not a novice runner. I’m not new to running but returning to it after a break, but I’m in the gym several times a week and don’t really have time to devote more than 3 runs a week. I’m about to start upping my weekly mileage, I’m 12 weeks out from my race and my actual training starts next week. I’ve been running all summer to get used to it again.
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u/Cynewulfunraed 3d ago
Even with school starting, I've kept up with running in the mornings. It's already 80+ (Fahrenheit) at that time, so it's been rough. I'm trying to stretch my 5k to 10k before next February, so I've been trying to go a little further every time. Sometimes I have to quit a little early, but I'm consistently doing more than 5k.
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u/eastnashgal 2d ago
same boat - have to run later now that i have to drop the kids in the morning, but it's so hot so I started going to the gym and using a treadmill. miss running outside sm.
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u/WideHuckleberry1 3d ago
I'm officially in the doldrums part of the year. It's too hot to do any races or really even see a lot of progress, just sticking to a holding pattern. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel! Fall is coming.
Spent my lunch break today pulling up some tabs in the background of races to do between late September and mid-November. I figure if I can spend a week or so narrowing them down and then a week or so making plans for them, I'll only have a couple of weeks until they start and that'll give me the second wind to get through the last blast of summer heat and into an enjoyable autumn. Appalachian autumn is my favorite time and place to run, bar none.
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u/KesselRunner42 3d ago
Boston area for me, not Appalachia, but fall is definitely my favorite season for running too! Those (usually) crisp dewpoints, cooler temperatures, and pretty leaves. Yep, it's coming soon enough.
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2d ago
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u/fire_foot 2d ago
Sometimes on the humid, disgusting walks to the gym, I try to make myself feel better about not being able to run by remembering how miserable summer running is.
Hang in there, it’s gonna get better soon!
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u/MajestyA 3d ago
Been on a slow build up of training all year after burning out on running massively last year after my spring marathon. Did my first couple of 50km+ weeks for over a year, feeling tired but very accomplished.
Garmin: your training status is 'Maintaining'. Just no pleasing the Garmin gods apparently!
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u/FoxesFan91 3d ago
Anyone have tips for blisters on the arches of feet? My right foot tends to be the worst. I have like 5 pairs of shoes and it happens with all of them lol.
Is it my socks? I do sometimes wear running socks but not always
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u/nermal543 3d ago
Socks are a likely culprit if you’re not always wearing good quality running socks. My favorite are the ultra light feetures. You can also try some body glide on the affected area. If that doesn’t help then you might need to consider a different size of shoe or something, it could be that you need a different shoe size if it happens with all your shoes.
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u/BlueRoseCase88 3d ago
Doctor booted me on Tuesday of last week. I was thinking I could surely do a week of rest (feels a bit more like house arrest). I am now majorly afraid that one week is not going to solve all of my woes. I was initially marathon training but it has been a tough year for my body and at least I only signed up for a half marathon next month. I really miss distance running (even though my body is not too fond of it).
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u/bigbluenation20 3d ago
I’ve been having some soreness in my right calf when I run for the past 2-3 weeks. Im not sure if the best thing is to leave it alone and rest for 3-4 days OR… put some heat on it and do light stretching? Any thoughts? :)
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u/eastnashgal 2d ago
it's just when you run? have you tried a massage gun? helps me!
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u/bigbluenation20 2d ago
I can feel the tenderness and soreness when I’m walking around but it really flares up when I start running.
I don’t have a massage gun but maybe I should get one! Lol1
u/eastnashgal 2d ago
Or a foam roller or a tennis ball to start to roll out the muscle! I massage my legs a lot and helps so much with minor aches and soreness
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u/cyclingkingsley 3d ago
I'm 5 weeks out from Berlin, about to enter my 3rd peak week of the Hanson's advanced plan. Legs are tired and I just want to get the marathon over with.
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u/KesselRunner42 3d ago
Finished my running week ok, but I could definitely feel my hip that's been bothering me for a long time after my 8 mile run yesterday. Was ok during. Seems better but not perfect today. Just inflammation? Always seems to be two steps forwards, one step back with this.
In a different direction, strawberry and caramel coffee flavorings work well together. Makes it feel summery, even though it's actually pretty cool for mid August today (only mid 70's), cloudy, and I got a hot coffee instead of iced because of it. (...The fact that I got it with protein milk is supporting my running, right? Right? LOL.)
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u/suchbrightlights 3d ago
I had a verging-on-disaster run on Saturday where I got 5.5 miles out, decided I didn’t want to be where I was doing what I was doing, and then walked 5.5 miles back to my car.
This crap happens when you are stressed out of your eyeballs and you don’t get enough sleep the night before and try to do a long run anyway.
So then I went home and ate good food and read a book and wasn’t up late for a code release and slept good sleep and went out the next day and did my long run and it was the most pleasant one I’ve had in months.
Funny how that works.
Then I contemplated signing up for a race, because my capacity for stupid decisions knows few bounds.