The Running Thread

[spork]

Search function did not spot a thread about running, so I'm reviving this from the old fora.

As part of my effort to self-recuperate from still partially-unexplained medical problems, and build up my pulmonary and cardiovascular function in case I get Covid-19, I've been running three times per week. Lately it's been 4-4.5 miles per run, just really slowly because of my physical condition and the high temperature. This morning: 80 degrees.

[downer]

Yeah, early morning is good. I've done 6am and 7am recently. And yet there are still people already running when I start.

[Parasaurolophus]

I haven't run any appreciable distance in over ten years, but I took it up while we were locked down because the gym was closed and I didn't feel like I was getting enough exercise, despite my daily walks and weekly hikes. I also found that my asthma had been getting worse for some time, especially when I lie down to go to bed, and I remembered that back when I ran quite a bit it was at a low ebb.

It seems to be working. I've taken it slow, and I'm not running far--just two kilometres to get the mail (you need to understand: I'm a big, heavy bodybuilder type, and where I live it's all huge, steep hills) a day. But it's done the trick with the asthma. I still go for walks, hikes, and the occasional swim in the ocean, and now that the gym is open I get my usual weights and rowing in, too. It's a bit of overkill, but it's nice.

I think I'll double the run to four kilometres in August, and see how that goes. It does mean adding about 1.5 km of steep hill, however.

[ergative]

I've also started running since lockdown closed the gyms. I'm at about 3 miles per run (usually divided up into four bouts of running interspersed with three walking breathers of a block or so), but not always every day. Usually after I've taken a day off I go farther before I need to rest, and in the last week I've started upping my distance to 3.5 miles when I'm feeling good.

I'm still not at the point where I can see myself running the whole thing without walking, though.

I audio-booked Seth Dickinson's THe Traitor Baru Cormorant (which was outstanding!), and have now started Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea.

[ohnoes]

I overtrained for too long and it caught up with me last year with two spectacular DNFs, so I am rehabbing (injury and weight gain) and restarting.

I'm walking 4-5 miles every day and running a couple every other day or so.  The walking has been great to help me still feel like I am training and to help me relearn the not really subtle signs that my knees send.

[mamselle]

Folk dance last night was fun.

Lots of running in place with different styles of footwork in between...

;--}

M.

[traductio]

I'd been thinking about this thread from the old fora. I read it but didn't often contribute.

My goal by the end of the summer is to run 10 km. I'm up to 6 km, which I run every other night (after my kids are in bed, when it's cooled down, or "cooled" down, depending on the day). I've really improved my pre- and post-run stretching routine, which I neglected for years, and that's had a really positive impact on my knees. (Geez, that's the stuff my dad used to say when he was in his 40s and I thought he was old. I'm in my 40s and do not have the same impression of myself as I had of him, until I start complaining about my knees.) I also ordered a pair of my favorite shoes online (my other shoes had > 300 km on them), and they're so cushy!

[spork]

I'd been thinking about this thread from the old fora. I read it but didn't often contribute.

My goal by the end of the summer is to run 10 km. I'm up to 6 km, which I run every other night (after my kids are in bed, when it's cooled down, or "cooled" down, depending on the day). I've really improved my pre- and post-run stretching routine, which I neglected for years, and that's had a really positive impact on my knees. (Geez, that's the stuff my dad used to say when he was in his 40s and I thought he was old. I'm in my 40s and do not have the same impression of myself as I had of him, until I start complaining about my knees.) I also ordered a pair of my favorite shoes online (my other shoes had > 300 km on them), and they're so cushy!

Make and model? I'm always looking for suggestions. My medical escapades over the last two years have included getting nearly every part of my body imaged in one way or another, and x-rays showed a healed metatarsal fracture in each foot. The fractures probably occurred back in 2015-2016, when I was running 30 miles per week.

[pgher]

Yeah, early morning is good. I've done 6am and 7am recently. And yet there are still people already running when I start.

That's always my plan, but I can't seem to get my lazy butt out of bed, and get properly caffeinated, early enough. This morning I didn't go until 7:30 when it was already starting to get hot and muggy. I've had some luck with dusk, as Traductio mentions.

I also find that when I run in the morning, I get pretty bad afternoon drowsies. (As I write this, I'm considering going to take a nap.) Yet when I run in the evening, it doesn't make sleep come any easier. Suggestions?

[downer]

Yeah, early morning is good. I've done 6am and 7am recently. And yet there are still people already running when I start.

That's always my plan, but I can't seem to get my lazy butt out of bed, and get properly caffeinated, early enough. This morning I didn't go until 7:30 when it was already starting to get hot and muggy. I've had some luck with dusk, as Traductio mentions.

I also find that when I run in the morning, I get pretty bad afternoon drowsies. (As I write this, I'm considering going to take a nap.) Yet when I run in the evening, it doesn't make sleep come any easier. Suggestions?

You seem to imply that an afternoon nap is a bad thing. I would question that, unless you are worried it will make it harder to sleep at night.

Sometimes I just have a glass of water, perform some necessary morning functions, and go for the run. I'm lucky that I am able to go for a run straight from my front door. I have the caffeine on my return.

[traductio]

I'd been thinking about this thread from the old fora. I read it but didn't often contribute.

My goal by the end of the summer is to run 10 km. I'm up to 6 km, which I run every other night (after my kids are in bed, when it's cooled down, or "cooled" down, depending on the day). I've really improved my pre- and post-run stretching routine, which I neglected for years, and that's had a really positive impact on my knees. (Geez, that's the stuff my dad used to say when he was in his 40s and I thought he was old. I'm in my 40s and do not have the same impression of myself as I had of him, until I start complaining about my knees.) I also ordered a pair of my favorite shoes online (my other shoes had > 300 km on them), and they're so cushy!

Make and model? I'm always looking for suggestions. My medical escapades over the last two years have included getting nearly every part of my body imaged in one way or another, and x-rays showed a healed metatarsal fracture in each foot. The fractures probably occurred back in 2015-2016, when I was running 30 miles per week.

Asics GT 1000. They're nothing fancy, but they're also the first shoes I ever bought that I didn't have to wear in -- they just fit exactly right, out of the box. I bought my first pair a few years ago when I realized that having tenure meant buying decent shoes so I wouldn't hurt myself. (I suppose I could have done that before tenure, but it took a mindset shift to get me to really see that.) I went to a running store (that was the other thing that changed -- I moved to a city with stories devoted to running, and a whole new world opened up!) and said I wanted help to find the right shoes.

I wish I had done that years ago.

Anyway, tonight I went 6.5 km -- it was an amazing run, the best I've had this summer.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I love running, but I live in a very very hot part of the country so no running for me till late September.  In the meantime, I'm trying to stay in shape from home so that it isn't too awful to get back into the swing of things when the weather cools down.

[traductio]

I love running, but I live in a very very hot part of the country so no running for me till late September.  In the meantime, I'm trying to stay in shape from home so that it isn't too awful to get back into the swing of things when the weather cools down.

I'm just the opposite -- I live in Canada, and summer's when I get to run, although it has been awfully humid these days. The dark and cold winter months are hard.

[ergative]

Yeah, early morning is good. I've done 6am and 7am recently. And yet there are still people already running when I start.

That's always my plan, but I can't seem to get my lazy butt out of bed, and get properly caffeinated, early enough. This morning I didn't go until 7:30 when it was already starting to get hot and muggy. I've had some luck with dusk, as Traductio mentions.

I also find that when I run in the morning, I get pretty bad afternoon drowsies. (As I write this, I'm considering going to take a nap.) Yet when I run in the evening, it doesn't make sleep come any easier. Suggestions?

I can't help with the sleep patterns, but on the topic of running times, I find that morning runs are a no-go. I can't get myself together that quickly. On the other hand, after a day sitting at my desk and wrangling with colleagues and Zoom meetings and frustrations of working at home, I'm desperate for a run by 5:30 or so. Evening runs are the absolute best way to clear the workday from my mind.

[spork]

I love running, but I live in a very very hot part of the country so no running for me till late September.  In the meantime, I'm trying to stay in shape from home so that it isn't too awful to get back into the swing of things when the weather cools down.

I'm just the opposite -- I live in Canada, and summer's when I get to run, although it has been awfully humid these days. The dark and cold winter months are hard.

My last exciting Canada run was a 3 km round trip at 4 degrees F to fetch kouign amanns. Montreal, Thanksgiving holiday 2018.