Official Strava/Runkeeper Thread

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Subby

Our boy Alan T 2nd this month at Fit Leagues.

Can anyone here catch him?

I'm taking advantage of my wife being out of town visiting family for 2 weeks! She comes back later this week, so I'm sure my 3 hours a day of cardio won't be able to continue

[Alan T]

I noticed this week that Withings has a new web interface now. The old one wasn't very good, the new one is alright I suppose. For those with Withings scales, check it out I suppose.

Also, good luck Todd and Steve with your races this weekend. Have fun and knock it out of the park!

[Subby]

There is no chance I am completing this challenge, but the CTS Bucket List Challenge begins on Monday. Bike 574 miles in two weeks. That's all!

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Also, good luck Todd and Steve with your races this weekend. Have fun and knock it out of the park!

Thanks Alan. I'm feeling better and better about this 10k. Following my latest two 5k tempo stretches, I'm confident I can sustain a PR crushing pace over 10k.

I was originally aiming at 4:45 per km, or 47:30 for the 10k but think a pace of 4:40 is attainable, or at least a repeat of my 4:41 pace I did over 8k two weeks ago. 4:41 would give me a time of 46:50 over 10k which I would be elated with.

Weather looks nice and forecasted temperatures have kinda cooled off to about 25C, feels like 29C (77F feels like 84F). Race starts at 10 though and overnight from Friday to Saturday is supposed to be kinda cool, something like 10C (50F) so maybe it will not be the full on sun by then yet...

Got an easy 5-7k (that could get longer depending on how I feel) planned this evening before a couple days off leading to Sunday.

Wife and kids will be there Sunday to cheer me on but I still weirdly nervous at the idea of going out there and suffering for 45-50 minutes though...

It's almost a shame that our open doors/registration weekend falls next weeken at the dojo because next weekend will be the big local marathon weekend. Don't think I'm anywhere close to a marathon or even a half marathon but they also have a 5k and a 10k but as I said, it's the big weekend where we hope to have as many people sign up for classes at our dojo heading to the Fall schedule so a no go for the sensei to be missing...

FM

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Subby

There is no chance I am completing this challenge, but the CTS Bucket List Challenge begins on Monday. Bike 574 miles in two weeks. That's all!

I've only biked 403 miles all year, most of which has come the last two months


I'm trying super hard to get a biking badge or two this month though! 250km is almost done, but I have a very outside shot at getting the 500k badge.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I've shelved the running for a bit because every time I think my ankle is better and I go for a run, I end up re-aggravating it. So, for now I'm trying to be content with walking a lot and using the roller thing that Alan suggested to loosen my tight hips.

Running was easier when I was a teenager.

Okay, nine days later I think I'm ready to start things up again. I felt like it was okay to run on last Saturday, but I held myself out for another week to give it time to fully heal. Hopefully I'll be able to hit the track tomorrow morning or Saturday without any further setbacks.

[Alan T]

Strava introduced a route planner today which looks similar to the one that I use in Garmin to figure out where I want to run each day. Other sites have similar tools as well, but I like how Strava prints out cue sheets for you if you want.

If anyone else picks random paths to take each day, check it out. (Sorry if you live in the middle of corn fields, this might not help much)


Edit: Looks like it is just for premium users at least right now

[FrogMan]

looks like it's got some issues with some bike paths I'm using fairly regularly, especially how these paths are supposed to cross with some streets. Don't have this problem when drawing the route on Garmin connect...

FM

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

looks like it's got some issues with some bike paths I'm using fairly regularly, especially how these paths are supposed to cross with some streets. Don't have this problem when drawing the route on Garmin connect...

FM

I don't have that many bike paths close enough to me to have noticed. Most of the bike paths I use are at least 30 minute drives from me in car.

From playing with it some, using the popular route mechanism probably works better in bigger cities than where I live. I would have to guess like 70% of the paths in the 3 miles around my house are my runs anyways I can see this being really cool for me to use when traveling though.. want to find a popular path to run between point A and point B.. cool deal.

[Kodos]

It looks like Fit Leagues has stopped getting Ben's updates.

Speaking of Fit Leagues, I'm enjoying my battle with FrogMan.

[Ben E Lou]

No idea on Fit Leagues. *shurg*

Strange as it may sound, my slow "recovery run" today may well have been the most encouraging run I've had in all this time. It was six miles at a 10:04 pace and my average heart rate was only 133. As recently as around April of this year, 10 minutes per mile for 6 miles was a "if-I-run-and-train-really-hard-maybe-one-day-I-can-do-it" *goal* for me, and now it's a throwaway easy workout. As I've said before, I'm as stunned as anyone at the progress that can be made.

Run Profile | 6-Mile Run, Recovery Pace | Times and Records | Strava

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Kodos

It looks like Fit Leagues has stopped getting Ben's updates.

Speaking of Fit Leagues, I'm enjoying my battle with FrogMan.

hehe, hadn't realize we were in such a close fight

FM

[HerRealName]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I noticed this week that Withings has a new web interface now. The old one wasn't very good, the new one is alright I suppose. For those with Withings scales, check it out I suppose.

Also, good luck Todd and Steve with your races this weekend. Have fun and knock it out of the park!

Thanks! I'm feeling anxious and ready to go. I heard there are several strerches of road with loose gravel. That's unfortunate but I've dealt with similar conditions all summer.

[HerRealName]

The race went about as well as I could have hoped. My goal left unmentioned yesterday was to beat 1:45 so a pace of 8:00/mile.

The weather was perfect. Something like 60 degrees at the start and mostly cloudy throughout. The course was fine. Other runners around me were complaining about running through corn and bean fields. This was not an issue for me . The loose gravel was fine too, just a fresh layer of gravel over tar. Again, not an issue.

I started faster than I intended but had no problem keeping my pace throughout. I think I was able to run all miles under 8:00 but mile 11 or 12 was close because I stopped for a drink.

I'm not sure about the official time - I had to leave pretty quickly after finishing to pick up my son from football - but it was close to 1:42:40.

How could I forget? The biggest accomplishment was finally passing wedgie guy in front of me. The guy had the worst self-inflicted wedgie I've ever seen and he would not let me pass him. He finally stopped for a drink around 6:00 and I was able to lose him. This poor guy's thighs have to be on fire right now.

[Alan T]

Congrats! Great job! And great time!

[FrogMan]

that's awesome Todd, just saw the run on Strava, awesome pace for a half-marathon!

For me, I'm one of three regulars among the runners over on the Lose It! forums to have a race tomorrow. I have a 10k, my first run ever, but the other two are something else. One of them will be doing the Ironman triathlon at Mont Tremblant and the other will be doing the Pikes Peak marathon, on a course that looks like this:




Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon [Home]

That's frigging crazy!!!

FM

[HerRealName]

Elite runners are just unreal to me. I started seeing finishers warming down at at 11 mile mark.

I don't even understand that Pikes Peak course. It looks a course made for Thomas.

[Ben E Lou]

Wow. Ran 14 this morning with the last mile being the fastest. It was nearly 4 1/2 minutes faster than last week's HM PR despite significantly warmer weather. I guess getting 6 runs (including two 13.1s) in the hills last week made a big difference.

[FrogMan]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/361043024

Well, it's done, the first race is in the books! Official time comes to 46:09, VERY proud of this time.

I usually don't do much warmup but this race situation forced me to read and everything I'd read about 5k and 10k races said a mile or two was ok, with some race pace strides in there. Ended up doing four race pace strides at the end of 2 km and I now know the importance of a good warmup.

After that warmup which ended with maybe 8-10 minutes to go before the start, I kept active in line for the start and I started with a solid pace at about 4:31 or so for the first 5 km then slowed down just a bit and had a VERY good last km (4:24 according to my watch).

Amazing experience, there's really something special about running in the middle of people. I didn't know what to expect at first and it was just a bundle of people so I almost got stuck behind some slower people, especially on a part of the course that was narrower, but it all worked itself out and it was some tough fun

Website with results isn't up but from the sheet at the race site, I finished 70th, 60th among men, 11th among men 40-49. There were 249 regsitered runners for the 10k last year and based on my initial goal of 47:30 I was simply hoping to make it into the top 100. Happy with #70

FM

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/361043024

Well, it's done, the first race is in the books! Official time comes to 46:09, VERY proud of this time.

I usually don't do much warmup but this race situation forced me to read and everything I'd read about 5k and 10k races said a mile or two was ok, with some race pace strides in there. Ended up doing four race pace strides at the end of 2 km and I now know the importance of a good warmup.

After that warmup which ended with maybe 8-10 minutes to go before the start, I kept active in line for the start and I started with a solid pace at about 4:31 or so for the first 5 km then slowed down just a bit and had a VERY good last km (4:24 according to my watch).

Amazing experience, there's really something special about running in the middle of people. I didn't know what to expect at first and it was just a bundle of people so I almost got stuck behind some slower people, especially on a part of the course that was narrower, but it all worked itself out and it was some tough fun

Website with results isn't up but from the sheet at the race site, I finished 70th, 60th among men, 11th among men 40-49. There were 249 regsitered runners for the 10k last year and based on my initial goal of 47:30 I was simply hoping to make it into the top 100. Happy with #70

FM

Great job with the race! great times and new PRs across the board for you!

I made a comment on your strava warmup, but copying it over here, about the warmup for a race:

I usually warm up anywhere between 1/2 a mile to around a mile myself. the distance isnt as important to me as just making sure my legs feel right. Strides are great to do before a race though, also many excellent runners suggest running strides at the end of your easy runs a few times a week too as they don't wear you out too much and help the body alot.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/361043024

Well, it's done, the first race is in the books! Official time comes to 46:09, VERY proud of this time.

I usually don't do much warmup but this race situation forced me to read and everything I'd read about 5k and 10k races said a mile or two was ok, with some race pace strides in there. Ended up doing four race pace strides at the end of 2 km and I now know the importance of a good warmup.

After that warmup which ended with maybe 8-10 minutes to go before the start, I kept active in line for the start and I started with a solid pace at about 4:31 or so for the first 5 km then slowed down just a bit and had a VERY good last km (4:24 according to my watch).

Amazing experience, there's really something special about running in the middle of people. I didn't know what to expect at first and it was just a bundle of people so I almost got stuck behind some slower people, especially on a part of the course that was narrower, but it all worked itself out and it was some tough fun

Website with results isn't up but from the sheet at the race site, I finished 70th, 60th among men, 11th among men 40-49. There were 249 regsitered runners for the 10k last year and based on my initial goal of 47:30 I was simply hoping to make it into the top 100. Happy with #70

FM

Great job, man!

[Radii]

awesome frogman!

[Kodos]

Very nice job, Frogman!

[Ben E Lou]

I think I have a freaking hernia. Headed to the doctor now. :-(

[Kodos]

Ugh.

[FrogMan]

Thanks everyone!

Originally Posted by Alan T

Great job with the race! great times and new PRs across the board for you!

I made a comment on your strava warmup, but copying it over here, about the warmup for a race:

I usually warm up anywhere between 1/2 a mile to around a mile myself. the distance isnt as important to me as just making sure my legs feel right. Strides are great to do before a race though, also many excellent runners suggest running strides at the end of your easy runs a few times a week too as they don't wear you out too much and help the body alot.

I read the exact same thing and it's probably an habit I will take, to do maybe 4-5 60 to 100 meters strides toward the end of my easy runs.

Honestly, before the race, they gave me just what I needed in knowing that my legs would be able to push and when the start happened, I felt ready to push right from the start...

FM

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I think I have a freaking hernia. Headed to the doctor now. :-(

Yuck. hope it isn't anything serious

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I think I have a freaking hernia. Headed to the doctor now. :-(

I'll say like the others, ugh and yuck. Best of luck!

FM

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Thanks everyone!



I read the exact same thing and it's probably an habit I will take, to do maybe 4-5 60 to 100 meters strides toward the end of my easy runs.

Honestly, before the race, they gave me just what I needed in knowing that my legs would be able to push and when the start happened, I felt ready to push right from the start...

FM

Evidently they are very common in school track teams, but for people like me that never ran until I was almost 40, I hadn't heard of them before a few months ago. I link to this blog alot, but he has some good stuff in it. Here is his entry regarding strides:

What Are Strides? Why You Need to be Running Strides (Video)

[HerRealName]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I think I have a freaking hernia. Headed to the doctor now. :-(

Hope this isn't a hernia or anything serious.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Evidently they are very common in school track teams, but for people like me that never ran until I was almost 40, I hadn't heard of them before a few months ago. I link to this blog alot, but he has some good stuff in it. Here is his entry regarding strides:

What Are Strides? Why You Need to be Running Strides (Video)

Interesting and very informative video. Yeah, regarding strides, I was reading the word left and right but it's really the race warmup thing that kinda pushed me to find what they meant by "strides" If anything, this race served the same purpose that my competing in karate did when I was competing, it helped me try to get better...

FM

[Ben E Lou]

It's likely an inguinal hernia. Pain right now is nil, so they can't really tell, but the doc says everything I've described points to it. (Just walking from our den to the bedroom was difficult earlier today, though.) He says I can keep running as the pain allows, but no heavy lifting. They'll do surgery, likely outpatient, hopefully rather soon.

[FrogMan]

some pics

Standing in line for start, looking serious and focused


Again more of the serious type


Time stamp is about 10:25 so about 5-6 km into the race:


After the last turn and entering the very last 200-300 meters


Going full out now, do or die time!


After race smile


More after race smile, from up close, thanks to my photographer, my 16yo son


Sweaty hug for my greatest supporter, my wife of 16 years


And even a sweaty after race kiss


Sorry for flooding the thread, just very proud of my day

And as you can see, it's my almost-glow-in-the-dark orange shirt. With that one on, I know if I'm hit by a car, it's because the driver wanted to hit me, not because he didn't see me

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

It's likely an inguinal hernia. Pain right now is nil, so they can't really tell, but the doc says everything I've described points to it. (Just walking from our den to the bedroom was difficult earlier today, though.) He says I can keep running as the pain allows, but no heavy lifting. They'll do surgery, likely outpatient, hopefully rather soon.

Get better soon Ben!

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

After race smile

I think an updated Strava profile picture is in order here.

Congrats!

[HerRealName]

Looks like a great day FrogMan. Great job and congratulations.

Ben, sorry to hear about the diagnosis. Does it sound like it will be a couple months off? You should be fine even if you do need to take a break. With your eating habits you should have no problem maintaining until you can get back out there.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

I think an updated Strava profile picture is in order here.

Congrats!

hehe, had changed my profile pic on Lose It! but didn't think about Strava. Funny you picked this one cause that's the one I used on Lose It! It will fit right in with the orange theme of Strava.

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by HerRealName

Looks like a great day FrogMan. Great job and congratulations.

Thanks, it was indeed a great day. Thought I'd be aching a bit more today after pushing this hard for this long but I was all right. So much so that I dropped my son for his goalie school and went out for a couple easy miles while he got dressed.

FM

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

It's likely an inguinal hernia. Pain right now is nil, so they can't really tell, but the doc says everything I've described points to it. (Just walking from our den to the bedroom was difficult earlier today, though.) He says I can keep running as the pain allows, but no heavy lifting. They'll do surgery, likely outpatient, hopefully rather soon.

I suspect that this is going to be a tough decision for now. No pain whatsoever since around 6pm yesterday. Did a warmup jog and body-weight strength training workout today with no issues at all, and planning to do a hard run in the morning. However, the possibility that the pain could come back at any second is probably going to be in my head whenever I run. I've got an exam and consultation with a surgeon scheduled for Wednesday. I guess I'll know a lot more then.

[AnalBumCover]

FM I just saw your finish line video on FB.

Fail.

You were supposed to cross the finish with your arms up in victory and a huge smile for the camera, not looking down at your watch.

[FrogMan]

yeah, well, when you are 70th overall, you're more interested in your own time than the victory celebration

And I had not looked at my watch for at least 500m, until I turned that last corner. And even if I'd looked at it during that last 500m, I'm not sure I would have been able to see anything on that watch, my body was trembling so much

FM

[JonInMiddleGA]

So lemme get this straight .... FrogMan ran so damned hard that he gave Ben a hernia?

Damn, ya'll are hardcore


Props to to da Frog, get well soon to BenELou

[Ben E Lou]

Thanks to all for the well wishes on the hernia. Taking a step back, I'd find the conversation with the doc on Sunday at the urgent care to be fairly humorous were it not about me and my own personal innards. (OK, I find it fairly humorous even though it's about me and my own personal innards...)

Doc: "So, no pain right now?"
Ben: "None whatsoever, but 30 minutes ago when I left the house to get here, it was hurting so bad that I could barely bear to take a single step."
Doc: "I'll take a look in a minute, but if it's a hernia, I may not be able to tell anything, and the scan we could do here won't show anything either if it isn't sticking out and causing you pain at the moment. But the reality is that hernias don't fix themselves. If you have one, you're going to eventually need surgery. I'll set up a consultation with a surgeon and you can work with them to set up the date. In the mean time, if the pain comes back and you can't get it to go back in, come back here or to the E.R."
Ben: "...if I can't get it to go back in? Do you mean that if the pain comes back I should feel around down there, see if something is sticking out, and push whatever is sticking out back down?"
Doc: "Absolutely. That's exactly what I'm gonna do if you come back here in pain and exactly what they'll do at the E.R."
Ben's Inner Monologue: "AUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHH!!!!!!"

The doc felt around in the area where I'd been feeling pain and said he felt "a possible small defect that could indicate a hernia," but didn't give a definitive diagnosis, and referred me to a surgeon (appointment is tomorrow.)

However, fairly early during my run this morning, I had some pain. My time at that point was looking really good for me, and I didn't want to quit, so, sure enough, I felt around where it was hurting, found something protruding, and gently pushed it back in.

Pain=gone.

*shurg*

I ran without any pain or discomfort for the next 35+ minutes. It isn't an official diagnosis yet, but given that little incident, sounds like that's the deal. I'm hoping to get it taken care of ASAP so I can get back to training hard for 10/20 and beyond.

[Ben E Lou]

Dola:

So for now, it's very likely that I can say that I set a new PR for the 10K, 2 1/2 minutes faster than 4 weeks ago today, and did a quick stopgap hernia repair along the way.

Run Profile | 10K Self-Race For Training Pace Recalc | Times and Records | Strava

[Alan T]

Not going to lie, that entire post made my stomach a little sick.....


As for the reality of the situation, my non-medical guess is that hernia was more likely going to be a problem for your strength based exercises than running ones, so hopefully it won't impact your race too much. Only issue I can think of might be similar to what happened when I had back surgery last December and had to take it easy for a few weeks after. I actually had to shelve my running until the end of January before I felt comfortable enough post-surgery to run more. Not suggesting what or how you should handle it, but make sure to talk to the surgeon about post-surgery running if you end up going that way.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Alan T

As for the reality of the situation, my non-medical guess is that hernia was more likely going to be a problem for your strength based exercises than running ones, so hopefully it won't impact your race too much.

Yeah. He told me I was fine to keep running, just no heavy strength training. And yeah, part of me wants to postpone surgery until after 10/20, but that's very likely just foolish short-term thinking talking.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Yeah. He told me I was fine to keep running, just no heavy strength training. And yeah, part of me wants to postpone surgery until after 10/20, but that's very likely just foolish short-term thinking talking.

One thing I've learned is that the short term goals are great and help keep us motivated, what we're doing is lifestyle changes, so you're likely right about that last sentence. If you did have to take a short break, it won't set you back too much in term of overall fitness, and anything you did lose would come back much faster the second time. Fitness is accumulated over a long term, so thinking long term is usually safest.

[Icy]

Ouch sorry to hear Ben, hope the best, but even a forced rest for a week or two could be good for you long term, as if not for a problem like this, you would never take that time off running.

Congrats Frogman!! Only saw something wrong with you... Those pants are too long for running!!!!

[AnalBumCover]

New running challenges are up.

September 2013 Long Run (20 miles in a single run, between 9/1-9/30

October 2013 Marathon (26.2 miles in a single run, between 9/29-11/03

[HerRealName]

Ben, that is simultaneously the most disgusting yet bad-ass running story I've ever read.

Icy, I see kneecap. Those shorts are already too short.