MK: You rock on the training . I greatly admire your determination. If you ever want to do tris swimming wont stand in your way. I have a really hard time pushing myself into uncomfortably hard ground. REALLY hard. I worry A LOT. I know it's the fastest way for me to improve and the best for pushing my weight loss along but....... It's really hard. I'm afraid to crash and I don't know why .

Also in an unrelated note I thought of you yesterday when I gave a new family a tour of my kids elementary. They were from Boulder so I kept an eye on them for extra shenanigans.....

HA!! Now the Boulderites are YOUR problem! too funny......are they weirdos? JK

Thank you Geranium for the Compliment!! Pushing oneself into being comfortable with being uncomfortable def takes work. But let me tell you something:

It was only just this last July (like, a few months ago) That i learned to push thru my own fear. ANd it WAS fear. But fear of what? I still dont know. Fear of being fast, fear of being good, fear of being uncomfortable, fear of failing--- it all created such a block, a MENTAL block, as it does i think, for so many of us. I threw caution to the wind at a local race one day, and went out HARD. I went out FAST. I Pushed myself right at the beginning---to the point where i KNEW my pace was way over my head, and completely unsustainable.......and then i pushed right thru that mental block, and right thru that fear. I survived. I ran 6 or 7 miles at that "impossible" pace, and then i DID burn out...HARD....but you know what? i lived. ANd i finished the race ( i think it was 15 miles?)
The single greatest thing that ever happend to my running....... Since then ive gone on to PR my 10K by OVER 12 MINUTES, ive won one 10K, placed 2nd in a 20 miler, and completed, very successfully, my first marathon. Im not afraid to be uncomfortable, or too hurt, or to push myself anymore.....

MK, you are incredible! Congrats on overcoming your fear and doing amazing in past races! I am finished with week one of c25k and I'm a bit afraid of moving on. But I'm certainly not going to let fear stop me! It's so inspirational to know that even totally awesome runners like you get that fear every now and then. You rock!

taking charge, Thanks! The race is on June 19th 2010 so I have 7 months roughly to train. Right now I am starting off with c25k, when I finish that I will be moving on to a training plan i found on marathonrookie.com that goes from 3 miles up to 13. After that I will be joining the races' local running group/seminar that runs from april 3rd to race day. It has running coaches, nutrition lectures etc. along with actually training for the race so I'm really excited about that. Good luck on your half! You can totally nail it! Post us lots of pics! And you will conquer those 8 miles girl! Just push past the fear and you will rock it! Hope your hip feels better as well! will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Sporty, WELCOME! Congrats on your latest run! Keep it up.

ETA: weighed in this morning and I am 5 pounds away from ONEDERLAND! YEAH!

you do rock MK!!

EveLHaelf - Onderland will be wonderfull Congrats!!

I'm lazy these days... I didn't go out today I have no idea/reason/excuse why I just didn't wanna

Helloooo ladies! Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather like we are here... oh, what were wwe saying last week? That it was blizzarding? Yeah, welcome to Fall/Spring in Colorado. 68 one day, snow the next!

I took advantage of the nice weather and got out for a 5.2 mile run this afternoon. I did it in 60 min FLAT which is exactly what I was aiming for (actually a bit faster). This was my last "long run" before my 10k next Saturday!!! I REALLY needed this run to go well and it went perfectly. I know I keep saying it, but I can't believe the difference that weight training has done for my running. My legs are solid now and rarely get tired. In fact I felt like I could have gone for the entire 6 miles, but I had to get home and start dinner.

About the mental thing...oh yes. Our minds can convince us of anything. Hence why I tend to suck at racing, and then go out and have a perfect 3 miles the next day. LOL

Sporty - Welcome! Glad you had a great first run back!

Mk - Thanks for the hip advice! It only really gets bad after I've sat for a while and then left up my leg and it's really stiff in the hip flexor area with a slight sharp twinge. Do you think I can try running tomorrow or should I stick with boot camp (which is only a bit of running but mostly strength training)? Your ability to push yourself to that uncomfortable point is really impressive! I definitely have a lot of trouble with that, but I'm slowly working my way there.

SGeranium - Sounds like things have been crazy for you! Don't worry too much about your race. Just give it your best and have fun!

Eve - Thanks for the encouragement! It sounds like you have a really well-thought out training plan. You'll have to give me some tips!

Ilene - I think daylight savings makes everyone a little lazy! I got into bed at 9pm last night!

FatPants - Wow, what a great run!! You're SO ready for your 10k. I can't wait to hear about it!

Howdy all!

I wore my new nike drifit top for a gorgeous twilight run today and felt great. Totally agree, fatpants - these are some crazy weather changes but I'm just glad the snow is off my path!

eve - woohoo on being so close to onederland!!

sporty - welcome! That's quite an avatar you're rockin'!

mk - you continue to blow me away with your dedication! how's the foot? Have you been running barefoot for all of your runs?

tc - ouch! is it your IT band? Or something else entirely?

geranium - it was so interesting to read your post about feeling more comfortable running after biking. It must just be whatever you get used to. I definitely walk 5-10 minutes to warm up a little before I run - I imagine you've tried that but no dice, right?

TC - sorry if you answered this previously, but do you have the foam roller? My hip flexor can get sore/stiff if my IT Band is inflammed, and it's worse if I'm sitting for a bit. If you haven't tried the foam roller yet, I would give it a shot!

Denver - glad you got to enjoy the weather as well! It's supposed to be a fabulous weekend! So you liked the dri-ft? To answer your tights question I just let them air dry. Since there is plastic around the ankles I didn't want to risk melting it haha. They dry pretty quickly.

Ilene - I've been feeling like that as well... just tired/burned out/not wanting to! It helped to add some variety in my routine...and knowing the holidays are coming up makes me want to get ahead as much as possible!

Eve - You're so close to onederland!!! You'll be here before you know it!

Geranium & Sporty - welcome!!! Glad you joined us!

Okay I have a question for the more experienced runners. My 15k was this past weekend and it went really well! It was my first running "only" race I normally do Tris. I'm really happy with my pace and everything. During the last mile though my knees began to ache. Then maybe the last half mile they really hurt a lot.

What I don't understand is why has they not happened on training runs? The only thing I can figure is that maybe I took the slight declines too fast (thinking hey free speed!) but it was a fairly flat course. I have been running mostly on the treadmill so the cement didn't help I guess, but it's not like I haven't run on cement at all. Any ideas?

They stopped hurting after the run ended and feel fine now... but I'm taking a few days off just in case. I know I haven't been running this far that long, but still makes me wonder why in the race and not training runs?

hey all-- Will come back later and post/respond to everything going on!

Plan this am : "rest" day.... (hahahahahahaa)

Getting ready to drive to the gym right now. Will do 3.5 miles barefoot outside, around the gym neighborhood then do a cycle class that starts at 5 am.... Have great morning runs, ya'll !!!

I think races stress our systems differently than training runs. We run races much harder for much longer and the terrain is different than our "usual" routes (unless we train in the same place). When we run that hard, we exhaust our primary muscle fibers and then recruit secondary muscles to pick up the slack and keep going. Our gait or stride may change slightly as we use muscles a little differently in our push forward to the end. So yeah, anything can happen.

I've had that happen too, something will start bothering me (quads, or calf or feet, or whatever) toward the end of a race and it never bothered me in practice. The good news is, if it really was an incipient overuse injury, you probably would have felt twinges before now. A few recovery days (easy runs), good stretching, and it should be fine. It could signal that your shoes are getting worn and time for replacement though.

Did a few intervals on the TM this morning, 5.4 miles total. My first half is on the 15th and I'm not feeling speedy this year. I just haven't focused on speedwork, more focused on longer long runs, cross training and calorie burning. I set my PR at this race last year, around 2:01. I doubt I'll do that well this year, not that I really care. I'm in it more for the fun these days, rather than the PRs. Althought it would be nice to break 2 hours some day ...

MK - I was posting at 5 am my time. I'm an early bird and early morning is when I have time for this!

fatpants - love the tights! too bad they're not dryer friendly but things do dry so fast here it's no biggee. Really liked the new drifit long sleeved t as well - am going to try to get some more for layering as it gets colder. I'm definitely looking forward to riding this wave of nice weather! Then I'm in Orlando next week so back to running on the hotel TM and maybe some walks outside.

Anyone else have issues from time to time with knee pain from their patella (kneecap) not tracking quite right, rubbing against something (a tendon or ligament - not sure) and getting sore? I've done some poking around online and it sounds like it helps to strengthen part of your quads to help hold it in place but I'd be curious to hear if anyone else has conquered this particular demon....

Morning ladies, though from the sounds of it this hardly counts as morning to many of you! Early risers! Thanks everyone for the welcomes! I went for another run last night and boy am I feeling it today! Feels good though.
MK - I never really was a runner before but I was a dancer and would run home from the studio after rehersals (about a mile), but that was almost 10 years ago so it all feels brand new!
I hope everyone has a great day and great runs!

Gonna read up and comment on posts later this evening when I'm at work. Got cleared to run again, and have restarted my C25K. instead of rest days, which tend to make me conveniently "forget" to set aside to run, I go every day. Drop the kid off at school, and head to the park before I can even THINK that I'm tired and don't want to run. Feeling great, sleeping heavy- it's just awesome to be back out there.

I've lurked on this thread, but never really posted. I would love to start posting here if it is okay.

I currently run at my local park. I only get out there a couple of times per week, last week I did 14.5 miles between the two days. I also run on my treadmill some, too. I'm really afraid about running on the roads here in Atlanta - I see people do it all the time, but where I live there aren't a lot of sidewalks and people drive all kinds of crazy. There is a local running club I've seen there a few times that I'm thinking about joining up with, and I'm considering signing up for a half marathon in March. I know if I do that I'll have to get my tail to the park more often.

I'm currently a little incapacitated running wise - I tried running on the balls of my feet instead of my heels both times last week and my calves are still killing me after Sunday. I liked the way it felt during the run itself, but the afterward hasn't been pleasant. Thursday didn't bother me at all, but Monday morning the calves were really unhappy with me... Getting better every day, but still not great.

I'm going to read back through the older threads to get to know everyone. You guys all seem so much more dedicated than me. Inspiring!