igbomb

wat?

Yep. Thrilled to be back to 25+ mile weeks and I see that I finished 9th in running time last week. But, if i was doing this to win I would have given up a long time ago. Just chase those PRs.

Agree. But when I ultimately ruptured it I was playing softball and in no pain. I'm of course rather skittish about this topic since blowing out my Achilles was awful (not the incident itself, more the length of recovery). Bottom line, just be careful.

In 2011, I ruptured my Achilles completely. In the months leading up to it, I had some pretty severe tendinitis that I just powered through. Turns out that Achilles tendinitis that is ignored and continually stressed can lead to a rupture. I'm no doctor, but it seems odd that you would be told that it's ok to keep running with tendinitis.

For any of you Strava Premium users, are the training plans for running good? Do they really add any value? I keep getting this 30 day free trial email but would rather not enter a bunch of credit card info if I know I'm just going to cancel in a month.

Hey all. Finally got off my ### and managed to start logging some miles again. Man, take a couple months off and your fitness goes right in the crapper. I've never been fast but I feel like I've dug a huge hole for myself. Oh well. Getting back into a training groove, targeting a half in late April. Hoping to try my hand at some trail races this year as well.

Exactly. I was able to actually jog home afterwards. Then I took a 30 minute nap in the early afternoon and was good to go.

Thanks all! My last couple of races had been pretty demoralizing so it's nice to have a good experience to keep me motivated. So this race I ran is part of a series with the last one in three weeks on the exact same course. I'm thinking I'll sign up and give it another go. I'm going to use the last three weeks of Hal Higdon's Intermediate 10K to get ready. Other than to start a bit more forward in the pack and to go out a bit harder, any other advice? I'd try to get that first mile down to 8 or so and then get down to 7:30 and under a bit quicker. Maybe I can knock a minute or so off my time that way. Tough to think I can do much more with only three weeks in between.

Wicked Halloween 10K First ever race at this distance! My last two races in the summer I bonked in the back half so I planned for a pretty conservative approach. Plan was to go out at 8:30 for mile 1, bring it down to 8 for miles 2-4 and then hope I had enough left to get under 50 minutes. Pre-race routine: Woke up, had a cup of coffee and a Clif Bar, then agonized for half an hour over what to wear. It was low 50s but raining hard. Settled on shorts, long sleeve tee a hat and a poncho. Left my house about 30 minutes before race start, jogged the 1.2 miles to the start line, used the bathroom one last time at Panera and stashed my poncho under a bush near the start. Mile 1: Mild uphill for most of the first mile. Spent a lot of time working through the crowd. I should have started a lot more near the front as I had to pass a ton of people just to get in with my general pace group. But I managed to hit the pace I had planned almost spot on. Pace - 8:31 Mile 2: Plan was to kick it in a bit here and bring the pace down to 8:00. But, having cleared through the crowd and getting a bit of downhill, my speed picked up pretty quick. Really started to feel good in here as the crowd thinned and the dark morning rain left me racing on my own. The only other runners I encountered was as I passed by them. In fact, I don’t think another runner passed me after the first mile of the race. Pace - 7:39 Mile 3-4: In cruise control here. Passing a lot of people, feeling great. Was easy to hold my pace but I held back from pushing it harder in the hopes I would have some gas left in the tank at the end. Pace – 7:44, 7:24 Mile 5: Starting to feel it here. In my original plan, this is where I was looking to really push it but I was sliding into hang-on mode instead. I’m starting to seek out the mile marker sign, constantly wondering how much farther I need to go. Still passing people though, and at this point I knew I was running well under 50:00, so all is good. Pace – 7:21 Mile 6 plus 0.2: Pure hang-on mode at this point. Trying to push it but not getting any faster. Started searching out the finish line and hating the fact that there is that extra 0.2 at the end. I had earlier delusions of hitting a 7 minute mile, but that was out the window. But, still passing people one at a time. Pace – 7:27 plus 1:37 for last 0.2 Really pumped with this race. Blew past my goal time and felt pretty good doing it. While I still like the longer distances, this was easily the most fun I’ve had in a race this year. Plus, my poncho was still under the bush at the end of the race for my jog home. Final time: 47:45 49th of 772 overall 7th of 42 AG

Freaking cold out there this morning. 33 degrees during my run and like a moron I wore shorts and no hat. Time to flop over to winter gear.

1. Your wife rocks. That is someone who definitely gets it. 2. Your friend is some good people.

Done

I really wanted to run Dances with Dirt this year. I need to find a way onto a team next year. I did the Tough Mudder the week before DwD so my wife wasn't going to let me run it, but next year that is a target race for me.

When I was a runner ten years ago, my knees were always the part of my body that would tell me when I had worked too hard. Now, it's my feet every time. They just ache after going hard or for longer runs. And my right big toe has been hurt for the last 10 months or so. Not enough to stop me obviously but constant. I've just accepted that without a good long break my feet will always hurt. But if I take that break, I'll lose the little bit of fitness I've managed to find and will have a hell of a time getting going again.

Maybe I can help. 6'1" and 200#