Its the first of the month, how is your running going? My plan is to run 3 days a week. Mondays are my long run, Wednesdays I go for speed at shorter distances, and Friday I run a 5k length that is timed.

Tonight I did the longest run ever. I ran (and I always want to put "run" in quotes as it is really a very slow jog) 6.6 miles. On Mondays I don't keep track of my time but just go for distance.

I'm doing a 4 mile race on Thanksgiving and two 5K races this winter. It felt good to know I could even do a 10K race as I went further than that distance tonight.

Congrats on your longest run ever, Matt! Isn't that a great feeling?

I signed up for a 10k this Sunday. I'm hoping for under 57 minutes, but lately I've felt sloooooow. We'll see. One of the girls who babysits for us is aiming for 45 minutes.

Next I've got to find a Turkey Trot near my inlaws in NJ.

Congrats Matt on your longest run ever! What a great feeling!

I have no races to run but I am going to try to run at least 3 times a week. I have been averaging maybe 2.5 times a week the past few weeks and I'd like to up that, especially since the weather is so perfect for running now.

I ran for 45 minutes at a fast jog/slow run last night and it felt almost effortless. How times have changed! Still in disbelief that I am able to perform like this.

Great work Matt. How exciting to have gone your furthest ever! Sounds like a good plan you have. I enjoy the long slow runs best, but that's because i'm a lazy runner really!

I've got a 12km trail race this weekend. It starts only about 8km from my house and it's the inaugaral event. There aren't so many trail races that are so short round here so i'm keen to add my support to this one.

I went round it for practice about 6 weeks ago and it's got a huge down hill, 3 stream crossings, a huge up hill, a few undulations, then a cheeky uphill to finish. Nice though, so will see how that goes. I'm expecting to be very slow as always, but hope to keep running all the way up that big hill!

TheSame7lb - Good luck with your race on Sunday. Is it flatish? What's the weather forecast?

krampus - just love those effortless runs! They don't come around often enough though.

I had an 'uphill-through-treacle' one yesterday (i am up north in the tropics at the moment though so it's a bit hotter than i'm used to, which doesn't help!).

I'm going to jump in on this thread for the month. Maybe hearing about everyone else's successes will give me the motivation to keep going. I run every other day. Went out last night and walked/ran 2 miles (took 30 minutes) and then walked another 1/2 mile. My goal is to be able to completely run a 5K in July. My biggest issue is that my calves get so darn tired and achy.

I'm going to jump in, as well. Matt, congrats on the mileage...nice work!

I did a 12K this past summer, slow, but I ran the whole distance, even the hills, which was my goal, so I was stoked. I haven't run anything over 3 miles since then, though. I usually do some kind of run about 5 or 6 days a week, but usually it's just part of my warm-up, so a mile or shorter is typical. I like a long run, though, and am looking for something challenging to do next year, a goal to help keep me focused and eating right, working out, all that. I need a kick in the butt on the running, basically. Running, more than anything, seems to help me with keeping the weight from creeping back on.

For some reason, marathons don't appeal, triathlon, same thing. I'm just, meh! However, I've been reading up on ultras, like 50K, or 50 or 100 miles. Hmm...crazy...impossible...did I mention crazy? I'm thinking THAT would be something, because I can't imagine running that far, I just can't even wrap my mind around that. So, that might be my goal for next year.

I'm still hunting for a potential race to enter. I want a trail run this time, because 50 miles on asphalt and I'm sure my knees would just swell up like pumpkins and I'd fall over dead. I'd rather twist my ankle on a tree root, thank you very much. So, find a run, I'm thinking 50K or 50 miles, dirt, then figure out a way to butter up my trainer at the gym, so he doesn't have a coronary or kill me with his bare hands. He's more of a strength guy, so he's not gonna be keen on the distance running idea. I'd better start saving up the starbucks money for bribes, or learn to bake.

Oh, and in the meantime, I'm putting in one or two longer runs, to start building up mileage and refresh my memory on distance pace. We do a lot of sprint distance at my gym, so if I don't do some distance, I forget how to pace and end up gassing out a few times before I find a pace I can maintain for distance. I'd imagine that for an ultra the pace would have to even a little slower than a 10K pace, but I'm just guessing.

Jamsk8r--
you are in luck with the Ultras...they are all run on trail/dirt. The problem will be your training, however. Unless you live in the mountains or near a significant expanse of dfirt trails (which you might!) than a lot of your running will prob be on asphalt. The key to training for an ultra is the back-to-back long runs...Its just not realistic to do 30+ mile training runs on the wekkends (recovery wise, especially) so you do two longer runs back to back. On Sat you might run 18, and then on sunday 15 (or whatever) so that your legs are still pretty fried for the second run, closely simulating running straight through for 8 or more hours. Ideally these 2 runs would be spaced about 12 hours apart, but that can be hard to do. Also, your "ultra" pace, is going to be more than a "little slower" than 10k pace! For me personally, 10K pace is ALMOST twice as fast as ultra pace. 10K = 7 min/mile, Marathon (26.2 mi) 9 min/mi-- although i SHOULD be able to run about an 8 30, and Ultra is approx 12-12:30 (once you factor in hills and walking breaks)

matt: Great job on the long-distance run, I wish you the best of luck.
jamsk8r : congrats on finishing the 12k that's AMAZING, especially running the entire distance

As of right now, I am training for a half-marathon in April, my only goal is to finish it without walking. Right now I'm at a long distance run of 6.0 miles and hope to extend it to 8.0 before the new year.
Do y'all beleive it is necessary to use Energy chews for a half-marathon?

personally no-- but it also epends on how long it is going to take you to finish it. Anything over 90 minutes and its a good idea to take something in, but this is also dependent on the intensity, in my experience. If you did 90 minutes of walking,w ould you be worried about replacing nutrients? Like-wise if i do 90 minutes of a slow, easy paced run than im not too worried about it. If its 90 or more minutes at a higher intensity, then i plan on taking in something every 45 minutes or so.

Hello Runners!

Speaking of Ultras, this dude is my friend's brother. Pretty amazing!

I'm running a 10K on Sunday and was trying to decide if I should lift on Wednesday or Thursday, or if that would leave me sore and slow on Sunday (I just started lifting so I get sore pretty easily). I was jabbering on about it to my husband and he's just looking at me, and then I said, "I know, it's not like I'm going to slip from first to fourth and not win a prize!" (I'm slow). But still, I have a time in mind, and I want to do my best, YKWIM?

Planning a short run tomorrow morning before Mommy and Me Yoga (no, I'm not kidding -- I paid for it, I need to go every so often). I love the cold mornings but I've got to get the little guy bundled up!

I was loving my new running shoes but now the balls of my feet are killing me. So they probably need to go back. Can you put inserts in running shoes, like those gel things? Or does that throw off all the complex engineering?

ETA: I like to eat a GU if I'm running 10 miles or more. And basically I just like them because they taste like frosting to me and I don't get enough frosting these days.

Congrats Matt, on your longest run yet! This thread is inspiring for me as I'm just getting back into running, and I hope to do a 5km this spring/summer.
I haven't run in about a year, and I tried to see what shape I was in a few days ago, and I ended up doing 30 min intervals, of 2mins walking fast, and 1 min jogging. I surprised myself, but I want to work up to where I'm running continuously.

thesame7lbs, I have put inserts into my shoes before, and it worked fine. I guess you should just try them and see if it helps. I have really bad feet (flat feet and fallen arches), I really like the support and padding of Reebok and New Balance runners.

Great job everyone!

My half marathon is a week from Sunday and I'm super excited. I learned that my legs were cramping because of the Gatorade Prime I was trying pre run so that's a relief. All my runs lately have felt awesome.

I'm gearing up to settle in on a maintenance running plan before I decide on my next race and while I stabalize my weight. I'm thinking 3,4,3,8-10. For about 18-20 miles per week. Does that sound reasonable? I want it to be slightly challenging but not so much so I burn out.

Good luck this month everybody!

Hey everyone!!!! I just wanted to pop in. I am 8 weeks from the Disney Marathon. Cant wait....because just like jamsk8tr I am planning to do a 50 mile ultra next year. I have been reading up on it and it says the key is to get used to being on your going forward for 6-8 hours not necessarily worrying about distance at first. ANywho I have a long way to go but uhm I WILL be doing an ULTRA

MK- How many ultras have you done

Matt- Congrats on your long run. WTG

Man I just read back through about the ultras! Nothing but respect for you all! I'm not even sure that a marathon is in my future, I may be capped out with the 1/2, we'll see.

Awwww . . . ultras. The most fun you can have with your clothes on. My desire to run ultras again (using the term run really, really loosely!) was what motivated me to finally put down the feed trough for good.

I'm doing Mercedes Marathon - my first in years - in February and I've been scoping out ultras for the spring and summer. My kid has volunteered to crew for me if I do this one: http://www.keys100.com/ Same kid has decided to do the half at Mercedes and will be training with me . . . which is super cool since he's 25 and speedy, which will help me push on the short runs.

So, my first November run will be later this afternoon with the kid and the dog, trying to avoid the golfers.