When and Where Do You Guys Run?

[krj]

I just got back from a run, and I feel awesome! It is cold and sunny outside - perfect weather for a Saturday afternoon run.

Summers are very hot and humid in Tennessee, and even though I have been down here for almost 7 years I just can't get used to the heat. Every summer my running distance goes down, my times get slower, and I feel like I'm gutting out every single mile. It sucks, and for 4 or 5 months I really dislike running.

And then it gets cold again - my mileage goes up, my times go down, and I remember why I love running so much.

I ran in the rain the other day - I ran when it was 21 degrees outside another morning - it's all good :cool:

Before the time change I was running after work - now I'm running before work. Pretty soon it will be too dark at both times, and I'll be stuck on a treadmill during the week.

So.....my preferences:

1. outside
2. mornings
3. cold (preferably dry - but rain is OK too)

When do you guys like to run, and where?

[hooahmedic]

TEXAS!
Need I say more?
Summer months are too brutal run in except EARLY MORNING or after work. Or go inside to the tread mill.

Spring and winter months are great, during the day, but when that wind is blowing, forget that!

I love running the roads - can't stand a track. The military burned me of that. Running in cirlces is so freaking boring.

Anyone run with a MP3 player or any type of music device?

[krj]

Originally posted by hooahmedic
TEXAS! Need I say more?

OK - you've SHAMED me into shutting up :p I'll stop whining about the heat in Tennessee :p

I have a fair number of people who come into my community center who walk around the gym in the morning - 24 laps for a mile. Can't even BEGIN to imagine the tedium. Same with a track.

Run the roads most of the time - sometimes the trails.

I also listen to music a lot when running (on tapes - don't even freakin' KNOW what an MP3 is - too old for new fangled electronic gadgets :D :cool: ). Ran a marathon last winter listening to a Linkin Park tape my son had made me (carried extra batteries in my sock :D )

[hooahmedic]

Now, I ain't no computer whiz but if you have Windows Media Player,
you are good to go.
Go to Best Buy, put some shekels down a good MP3 and you'll never go back.
It stores several hours of music. It stores them digitally so that they can be compressed. Buy one, take it home, follow the directions on loading the program. You can either down load music off of those
music web sites or you can load them from any music CD you have. You get tired of the music on it, delete the files and put new ones on. ?Takes just a couple of minutes.

Best thing is, it weights next to nothing, you can wear it on your arm like in a band - most come with a runners band. It frees up your hands. It plays for hours and the absolute best thing -

It dosen't skip

Once you try it, you'll never want to carry a bulky CD player or tape player again.

Unfortunatly, I only speak from my non experience. Ain't got the dough to buy one but I still look and edumacate myself. I'm just waiting to find a Ben Franklin that ain't got to be used elsewhere and we'll be cooking with grease!

[Resq14]

Much better on battery life than tape or CD players too.

[K9 Police]

I like the bumper sticker:

I Rather Be Running

I run everywhere. I like outside runnning the best, but its much more difficult when it is below zero. Then I hit the "gerbil machine" at the gym and feel like a trapped animal.

MP3 player all the time.

K9

[krj]

Originally posted by K9 Police
[B] I like outside runnning the best, but its much more difficult when it is below zero. Then I hit the "gerbil machine" at the gym and feel like a trapped animal.

With all the technical clothing available now it's easier to run outside in the winter than it was years ago - if you haven't bought any of the hi-tec stuff it's definately worth the investment to buy a couple of good pieces. It puts off the move to indoors running a bit longer :)

[jarhead6073]

When the weather is decent I run outside at different times. Usually early afternoon or evening. I try to do a minimum of 3 miles when I run. I had been running around a near by lake that's about 2 miles around. That trail is paved which I don't really like. A friend of mine turned me onto a state park with lots of hills a nice unpaved trail. Running on the unpaved trails is so much better than paved trails in my opinon. Much more fun and mentally stimulating. It is officially winter in Minnesota so I'm relegated to the tread mill now. I had to take the CD player with me yesterday and it made a huge difference. Usually I'm dying at the 1.5 mile mark and I made it a full 4 miles with the music.

[ogm668]

Hi,
I've been getting out to run either during lunch or right after I get done. Here in PA, it could be downright cold in the mornings.

I've been running with the body armor cold weather pants (underneath my sweats - i'm not that modest!), a long sleeve cool max shirt and a t-shirt over that. After the first 1/2 mile, the cold is no longer a factor.

I've been running outside just about every day. The only exceptions have been when we had the last snow storm hit and the few days following that. As long as the course is relatively clear of snow and ice, i'll try to run it.

Just make sure that you get a really good warm up before you run.

[Crazy Canuck]

Hi, well I ran during Spring, Summer, and Fall, I usually would run on country roads, I live on a farm, and their is nothing better than running on a beautiful day, at the end of grade 10 I decided to become a police officer, so I started getting into physical shape, but I could barely do 15 push ups, 20 sit ups, or run for 1 mile. But by the fall, I could do 50 push ups, 50 sit ups, and I have run 10 miles in one hour. But winter came, and so far I have only run 5 times in three months. Canada sucks because of the six months of winter, and -20, and -30 degree days, thats in celcius.

[krj]

CC - I used to run in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario in the dead of winter and have run in -20C. As long as the roads were clear and the day was sunny (and not windy) I was good to go. Lots of layers and tech-clothing, and once I was warmed up the cold wasn't an issue. Getting out the front door in the first place, was the hardest part!! :cool:

Buy most of my everyday clothes at Goodwill stores - spend big bucks on workout clothing/gear :rolleyes:.

Still remember running when I was a teenager - canvas Converse high-tops, cotton shirts and cotton sweatshirts. Never gave a second thought to "hydration". Never thought about carbo-loading. Never wore a watch to track my times. Didn't know (and didn't care) how many minutes/mile I ran. Didn't keep a workout log. Just ran for the sheer joy of running.

OK - I'm makin' myself feel old - I think I'll shutup now. :p

[Crazy Canuck]

Wow, you're originally from Canada. Yeah well I actually tried running out in the cold here for a few times, and put on some extra clothing. But I found it to be fairly uncomfortable, so I started running at the rec centre a few times. It was alright, the only negative thing about it was that it cost 4 bucks to run, and the power walkers were always in my way.

[krj]

Originally posted by Crazy Canuck
Wow, you're originally from Canada.

Actually no - but I lived in Canada for many years - BC, NB and Ont. Never saw so much snow in my life as when I lived in the Soo. :eek:

[WA-K9]

Usually just a fast walk, like from the car through the lot and into the door. If it is raining or snowing I might jog it, but I don't want to shock my body too much.

Just kidding. I run mostly on the treadmill, my knees just ache after a couple days on the sidewalk and street.

[MCSD241]

I just got done running a few minutes ago. Outside temp was around 16F and sunny. It took about 2-3 miles to really get warmed up. If you dress warm you can run at nearly any temp. As long as its dry out, I run outside. I run for 40 minutes or so = 5-6 miles.

[Pedalin'Cop]

LOL....actually...I ran college track....I run as little as possible now days..:D

Being bike patrol I go for rides all the time. I love bouncing off of trees in the TX hillcountry! :D

[krj]

Pedalin' Cop - two experiences with trees this past year:

1. First adventure race last spring - doing some pretty hairy trails in North Carolina, when I took a dive down a ravine. As I put it in a race report I wrote, "I fell about 10 feet down a ravine, a tree broke my fall and my bike landed on top of me" :p (Yeah - I paid good money to do that!! :D )

2. Adventure race this past November on the TN-KY border. We were in the bottom third of the teams about half way through the race, but had been trying like a son-of-a-gun to keep up with one team that was just ahead of us (but we thought we could take 'em, and then hopefully start picking off other teams through the last half of the race).

We DID pass them on a hill, took off down another trail at the top of the hill, and continued on. We knew that there was a turnaround a few miles up ahead, and figured we would run into the guys on the way back. By the time we got BACK to the top of the hill we started to get worried, because these guys were nowhere in sight.

We waited for a few minutes and sure enough they finally show up (they're all walking their bikes at this point) - and one of them looks VERY happy (dilated pupils, goofy grin, slight lack of co-ordination, short term memory was gone - didn't remember the race, where he was, why he was out in the woods etc.).

As one of his team-mates said, "a tree jumped out in front of him on the trail and he hit it with his head." We all figured concussion, talked about what to do to keep him safe, and my team continued on to the next checkpoint (and sent help back to haul him out of the woods).

They found him OK - and we came 9th out of 23 teams.

Edited - because I just thought of another tree story. Didn't happen to me, but rather to a woman adventure racer I know. She fell asleep while running, and ran straight into a tree. :p True story.

[CO Starks]

When? (when I remember, but I try 3 times a week)

Where? (Lebanon Valley college baby!)

Why!? (Because when I got out of the Navy I weighed 280lbs at 6 foot 4)


I was discharged August 08th of 2003 at a nice 280lbs of nothing but fat. Using good old lifting, running, and eating right (6 times a day if I can remember!). I am now a solid 236lbs.

My goal is to be around 215-220 of rock hard muscle by July of this year.


note: time of this post is Febuary 2st. That's right folks I've lost almost 50lbs in 6 months.

[ogm668]

Nice Weight Loss!!!

I graduated college last may. My weight was 330. Police Academy started in July. I was down to 310 at that time.

Yesterday, I weighed myself and tipped the scale at 265. My goal weight is 220. Slowly but surely, I am getting there.

I believe the running was the contributing factor to the weight loss. I wasn't very active during my college days. Once I started getting ready for the academy, the runs started and haven't stopped.

I did hit a plateau at 275 but I recently changed up my routine. I had been training for our mile and a half run. Now, I am training to run 5K's in the spring. I believe that the increased effort in my training (slightly slower run time with a longer period of running) pushed my metabolism in the right direction.

Send me an e-mail if you ever want to run. I'm about an hour away from LVC.

Matt

[krj]

NO MILE WASTED
By: Joe Henderson
Runners World Magazine (March 2004)
(A bit long)

Ask me about my normal daily run, and the answer won't impress you. Tell me you run longer and faster, and I'll agree; most runners do. But try to tell me that my runs lack "quality" or, worse, are "junk miles" and you'll get an argument. Here it comes.

For as long as I've been running easily and writing its praises, I've heard how these runs waste time and effort. That was the knock on my first book, Long Slow Distance, which was published 35 years ago. One critic with a good memory recently called to comment on a column of mine. The stranger said, "I'm happy to see your metamorphosis from the person who promoted long slow distance (LSD) to admitting now that you were wrong."

Wrong? Did I say that?

"I tried LSD and so did many others who ran with me at the time," the caller continued. "All it did was make us long slow racers."

Then came his unkindest cut of all: "LSD was a cancer that hurt the sport for a long time, and you were the person who spread it. I praise you now for having the nerve to renounce it."

Renounce? Hardly!

I only retired the term LSD. It was misleading because it invited runners to stack up the highest possible mileage at the slowest possible pace. Too much distance can do as much damage as too much speed. I substituted less catchy but more accurate words such as "gentle" and "relaxed".

My shift to a slower gear wasn't meant to improve my racing but to escape the ravages of excessive speed training. The other runners featured in Long, Slow Distance did the same. To our surprise, all six of us improved our times anyway.

Our improvement didn't come from any inherent magic in slower running but because this was easier running. It let us freshen up between harder efforts instead of staying forever tired.

I was slow to see that the slower running was less a training system than a recovery system. We raced better by staying healthier and happier, not by training harder.

One way to judge a running program's success is by the eventual results it confers. When runners aim for the biggest racing payoffs, no training is too hard and no sacrifice too great.

But another way to judge a program's value is to ask yourself: Would I still run this way even if there were no racing payoff? The runners who followed LSD didn't keep racing better indefinately; no-one does. But we kept running, and keep doing it, in the same relaxed way as before.

You can view your runs as either vocational or recreational, as a job or a hobby, as work or play. "Serious" training falls on the left side of those word-pairings. My running tilts to the right.

I've spent a running/writing lifetime trying not to use certain words, because how we describe an activity shapes our view of it. One such word is "work". Another is its cousin "workout." Working implies doing something because you must, but don't welcome the job. It suggests putting up with a distasteful task to earn an eventual reward.

But what if that payday never came, or if it was smaller than expected.? Would you feel that all of your time and effort had gone to waste?

Running isn't my second job. No one pays me or forces me to practice this hobby. It's my choice, and I choose to find my rewards in the maximum number of runs.

To me the real "junk miles" are those run reluctantly today, only as an investment in a better tomorrow. This feels like counting the hours until quitting time, the days until the weekend, the weeks until vacation the years until retirement. Always working towards a distant finish line may mean missing the fun in being here now.

Running can give its rewards instantly and regularly. Ask me about my runs, and I'll tell you they're nothing special - except in the quiet ways that all runs are special. Any run anyone wanted to take, and feels happy for having taken, is never wasted.

[JRT6]

For the past four weeks I've taken my own advice and slowed down my runs. I now do about three easy/moderate runs for every fast/hard one that I do. Well I just did a slight sub race pace 1.5 mile the other day and took 15 seconds off my most recent average. In actuality is 30 seconds as I was a little burne dout to start with.

[krj]

Yeah JRT - I think I'm gonna start taking my own advice too. My stress level has gone up a lot in the last couple of weeks, and doesn't look like it will improve in the immediate future. I haven't worked out (no running, swimming, lifting or biking) in 10 days - mostly because my head is "tired".

I'm forcing myself to run tonight. No timing the run, no recording the distance, none of that crap. Just going out as far or as short as I can muster. :)

[JRT6]

Slwoing down is the hardest part. I'm way too A type and am always trying to go faster. I can only imagine how fast I would have been by now.....