The Running Thread

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Wishing you a smooth surgery and speedy recovery, @gpoli111! And wow to the marathon. I have zero desire to do one of those, but am so inspired by those who do!

 
20 hours ago, gpoli111 said:
1 Half and 2 full marathons in the books for me. 1:43 min on the half and 3hr 41min for the full (ran the second marathon with the wife at her pace). Just when I was about to be ready to run again after this past marathon in November, I slipped down some stairs and tore my left meniscus. I'm getting surgery Thursday and hope to be back out running in March! 


 
Oh man, that sucks.  Hope you get better soon!

I actually tried the treadmill last night and it was pretty good.  I did one of the preset workouts for 30 minutes and supposedly burned 400 calories or something.  My HR was up around 170 for most of the workout and I worked up a pretty good sweat, so it was at least as good as the T25 Speed and lower body workout.  My knees did start to bother me a bit in the middle of it though.  I'll try some different sneakers to see if that helps.

 
170 BPM heart rate? How old are you?

For a strenuous run I try to keep mine around 150 BPM and I'm 39. Then again, with all that I run my resting HR is like 50.

 
36, almost 37.  I never really felt out of breath or that I was pushing myself too much, though.  I was reading it using the treadmill handles.  I'll have to find my HR monitor to see where I'm really at.

 
For a strenuous run I try to keep mine around 150 BPM and I'm 39. Then again, with all that I run my resting HR is like 50.
Same here. Anything at 150 or above for me and I'm in the aerobic zone and really pushing.

I was reading it using the treadmill handles.  I'll have to find my HR monitor to see where I'm really at.
That explains it. You will get a more accurate reading with a chest strap. The handles get you close, but I believe tend to almost always read higher than what you are really at. Plus, depending on the model of your HR monitor, you should be able to enter in some basic personal data (i.e. height, weight, age, etc.) so that it can really narrow in on your target zone.

 
Ah, a funny running story! This was my Saturday morning:

It was the first sunny and blue-skied, not a cloud in the sky day we had seen in what seemed like forever. So, the boyfriend and I say, "Yes! Let's go for a run!" And proceed to do just that. About halfway through our 5-mile run, running along a sand/dirt path along the side of a bike/pedestrian path, I trip, fall, and skid forward on my hands and knees. Luckily, I did not sprain anything and was not seriously hurt, but when I pick myself up, I see a pretty much unscathed right hand, a crazy bloody left palm, and blood dripping down my shins. My hand hurt like heck. Lovely. Fortunately, we were near a public bathroom, so I go inside to wash myself off and attempt to stop the bleeding. I did the best I could, and then came back out to my boyfriend, who had been waiting for me. There's something on his forehead that wasn't there before, so I ask him what it is. He asks where, and I point to the upper left corner of his forehead. He responds with, "A damned bird pooped on my head!" And I respond, "Wait, really?" He says "Yep!" We both then agree that this was a pretty ridiculous start to our Saturday. We go for a run, I fall and am all bloody and scraped up, and he gets pooped on by a bird. I obtained a few bandaids from a nearby policeman that helped somewhat (until they basically fell of of my palm thanks to sweat), and then we proceeded to finish the run, because what else was there to do? Haha.

We were hanging out with a friend later that day, and he astutely stated that we had both "figuratively, and literally, gotten shat on" earlier in the day.

 
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Be sure to tell him that....

XFierce+Thor+450.jpg


 
So last week, I had a big development in my running! Get this. I ran before work! On a track!

Okay, that doesn't sound that exciting. But it was literally the first time I had ever run before work, because I have always been a solid after-work and weekend runner. Anyway, a friend invited me to join her at a track that I conveniently pass by every day on my bike commute, at an earlier enough time that I could still get to work at a reasonable time. On a 400 m (.25 mile) track, we did 200m sprints followed by 400m recoveries. I did 8 rounds, and my friend did 10. I have never, ever really tried working on my speed other than just running more to build up my endurance. I am typically bad at getting myself to spring on my normal road runs, but found it really easy on the track. Maybe it was because I was going off of the track markings, which made it very easy to see how much I had left every time.

I was very happy with my paces, but I need to find a better way to track myself... I was just using my Pixel's timer capabilities, but that was only as good as I was in using them. Read: not great! Haha. What do people use to track distances/heart rate/times, etc.? I'm thinking I should probably invest in an arm band for my phone, and a running watch (which I've long considered, but never bought). Does anyone have any recommendations for either?

Overall, I had a lot of fun! Said friend and I are doing it again tomorrow morning. If I ever get my act together, I might get around to doing a track run 2x/week before work, but that likely won't happen until after the PE exam in April.

 
My wife has a Fitbit Charge HR2. It will connect to your phone via bluetooth, use your phone's GPS for running workout distances as well as a few other things. I'd get one myself if I didn't already have a Fitbit One. 

My wife just bought it at Costco. It came with 2 wristbands. 

Congrats on making it to the track before work!

 
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My wife has a Fitbit Charge HR2. It will connect to your phone via bluetooth, use your phone's GPS for running workout distances as well as a few other things. I'd get one myself if I didn't already have a Fitbit One. 

My wife just bought it at Costco. It came with 2 wristbands. 

Congrats on making it to the track before work!
Thanks for the recommendation! I have a FitBit One myself, but don't know where it is. I got depressed with it thanks to sitting at a desk all day while at my job. It also couldn't figure out my bike commuting, though I can't really remember what it did incorrectly any more.

I'm thinking something along the lines of a Garmin watch... I'm mainly worried about comfort and a smaller face. I don't need anything that fancy. My friend had one that she could program the distances into, which was neat! I'd like something like that.

 
My wife has a Fitbit Charge HR2. It will connect to your phone via bluetooth, use your phone's GPS for running workout distances as well as a few other things. I'd get one myself if I didn't already have a Fitbit One. 

My wife just bought it at Costco. It came with 2 wristbands.
The Samsung Gear Fit 2 has it's own dedicated GPS in addition to 4GB of internal storage space so that you can basically just use that without the need to have it connected to your phone. It's also is pretty good at "auto-detecting" what type of activity you're doing such that you don't have to hit start or whatever. :thumbs:

Gear-Fit2-HW-Tizen-Interview_Main_2.jpg


 
yesterday I went and ran, I didn't even use a normal watch or bring music. I wonder if that still even counts as running anymore?

 
All I use is a watch, but sometimes I don't even remember to wear that.  If I need to know how far I ran, I drive the route or use Google Earth.  

I hate running on a track, or for that matter a treadmill, just because it makes it seem more like a chore and really drags the time out.  I prefer to just pick a turnaround spot or a loop and just run it, that way I am not thinking about time or being tempted to stop, like I am on a track or treadmill.

Too bad that a treadmill is about all I can do until things thaw out here in another month or so...

 
Do you guys have those indoor rec centers like in Denver? Ours has an indoor track- 10 laps = 1 mile. It's not the best but when it's cold and windy as shit here it is better than the treadmill. Plus the "scenery" is pretty good #yogapants #creepyoldguy

I bought some of those slip on running spikes for running on the snowpack but generally after a day the trail is slush and mud... but I really do enjoy the cold running in the hard pack snow (with spikes) when I can get it... just not as cold as "Alaska cold"

 
I've been running on the treadmill about 3 times a week or so now and playing basketball on Sundays.  So yesterday I thought I would see if I could keep up with 5 years ago me.  I set the treadmill for 6mph to see how long I could go.  After two minutes, I had to lower the speed because it wasn't going well.  I've lost over 15 pounds in the last 12 weeks though so that's something.

 
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