Monday, September 9, 2013

Demotivational Monday #3 and 10QRQ

Two things on the agenda for today: Demotivational Monday and 10QRQ.

Let's start with installment #3 of Rachel's Demotivational Monday link-up! Here is my submission for the week:


I can personally vouch for this. To all the Kenyan marathoners out there who can run faster than I can ride my tricycle, you wouldn't look nearly as good if it wasn't for the rest of us.

YEAH.

Now, onto the 10QRQ. Kim posted a 10-question running questionnaire (10QRQ) last week. I am rather late to the party, but here are my responses.

1. Who is your running shoe twin?
My workhorse running shoe is the Asics Gel Cumulus. Speaking of Kim, she wears them, too!

I am also currently rotating the Mizuno Wave Rider and the Saucony Progrid Kinvara; however, I haven't personally met anyone else that currently wears either of those shoes.

Unscientifically, though, it seems like a ton of the runners I know wear either Brooks or Mizuno shoes.

2. When do you pause your watch on a run?
When I'm running a race, I never pause my watch. But during training, I pause my watch any time I am not moving forward, i.e. when I am waiting at a traffic light, guzzling at a drinking fountain, dancing around inside a portapotty, etc. If I am walking forward or moving forward in any way, I do not stop my watch. It's all about forward progress.

Although, technically "forward progress" can be accomplished in a host of different methods, e.g.:


3. What is worse - being called a jogger or hearing someone call a 5K a "marathon"?
Hearing someone call a 5K a "marathon." To me, no doubt about it. While it certainly takes effort to run a 5K, there is absolutely, positively, zero comparison to the effort that it takes to run a marathon.

4. What is your preferred running shorts inseam length?
I'm not sure of the exact measurement, but I'm going to estimate 4 inches. Basically I'm looking for something long enough that my shorts won't ride up on me in the most unflattering way. Nobody wants to see that.

Although, from a clothing fashion standpoint, it isn't all just about shorts length, of course. Case in point:

Believe it or not, this picture was NOT photoshopped.

5. Spitting when you run - gross or necessary or neither?
I myself don't spit, and having been personally spit-bombed a time or two, I don't like when people spit.

On a side note, if anyone used to watch Seinfeld, there was an episode devoted to "the second-spitter theory" (a la the JFK movie) which was hilarious. (Yes, I know I am unfortunately dating myself when I make a Seinfield reference these days.)

6. What is more exciting, randomly seeing a friend on a run, or hitting a goal pace/workout?
Sadly, the odds of me hitting a goal pace/workout are much, MUCH lower than the odds of me randomly seeing a friend. Therefore, I'd say it's more exciting to hit a goal pace/workout!


7. What has been your worst running injury?
I've had a lot of running ailments throughout my lifetime but my most nagging and debilitating injury has been IT band syndrome on my left knee. I've written about it many times. In short, the injury was so bad that for awhile it hurt just to walk, and I was sidelined from running for several months. I've been in physical therapy twice for my knee problems and to this day I still battle to keep the injury under control.

8. What is your perfect running temp?
Temps in the 40s and the 50s are my ideal range, but if I had to narrow it down I'd say temps in the 50s are perfect for me. However, I'm more than happy with anything between the 30s to the low 70s.

9. Do you follow a running plan or make your own?
Both, but I lean a bit more towards making my own. When I was marathon training, I created a hybrid of Jeff Galloway's plan and Hal Higdon's plan. I was good about the weekend long runs but gave myself some flexibility on the weekdays. In recent days I have become adept at creating emergency 3-week half marathon training programs (albeit with mixed results).

All in all, though, I try to focus on high-level training goals. But, I always allow myself some flexibility based on how things might be going that particular day, e.g. injury pains, long nights at the office, travel, don't feel like it, etc.
10. Preference - treadmill, road, groomed trail, or technical trail?
Out of these four, I'd have to say groomed trails would be my favorite. They are heavenly for their softer surface, and the usual peace that they typically offer. My dislike for treadmills is very well documented, and my one experience with a very mildly technical trail didn't leave me wanting more. I don't love roads, especially when interrupted by traffic lights and when sharing with pedestrians and other wheeled contraptions - but I do 99.999999% of my running on roads.

Your turn!

1. Who is your running shoe twin?
2. When do you pause your watch on a run?
3. What is worse, being called a jogger or hearing someone call a 5K a "marathon"?
4. What is your preferred running shorts inseam length?
5. Spitting when you run - gross or necessary or neither?
6. What is more exciting, randomly seeing a friend while running or hitting a goal pace/workout?
7. What has been your worst running injury?
8. What is your perfect running temp?
9. Do you follow a running plan or make your own?
10. Preference - treadmill, road, groomed trail, or technical trail?

18 comments:

  1. Wow, you don't spit. I had guessed that all runners did that, since I seem to need to do it at least once a run. I guess it is gross, but please don't hate me, I try not to hit anyone! :) Again, I've never measured the inseam of my shorts. Is that a thing I should start doing?! Also, I love the "emergency" run plans that we are both fond of. As long as they get us to the start line (and finish line) safely that is!

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    1. LOL, I don't think spitting is horrible as long as it is done subtly (e.g. NOT aimed lengthwise across the lakefront path in the field of oncoming runners!) I get the sense that you are probably a more subtle spitter. =D

      I've never measured the inseam of my running shorts either! I wear a lot of Reebok running shorts so I actually went onto their website to see if they listed the inseam length, but they don't. Imagine that!

      Yay for emergency training plans!!! We should co-author a book on emergency training, it would be a NY Times best-seller!!!!

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    2. Yeah, I don't think there is an emergency training plan book out there! Although I did see a tweet from McMillan today where he is offering a 4 week crash plan for the Chicago Marathon (for $59). I'm surprised he is even encouraging such a thing. Unless his plan is to run 13.1 then walk 13.1! :)

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    3. A 4-week crash marathon training plan for $59, eh? I am almost tempted to purchase it just out of pure curiosity to see what he would recommend!!! Although, I have seen some marathon plans that only go up to 15 miles for the longest run - and that would be doable in a 4-week plan with little or no taper (although I would be really worried about jumping the extra 11.2 miles on marathon day!)

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  2. Heh, I make all runners look good. You're welcome, fast and moderately-paced runners.

    I wear Brooks AND Mizunos! Fleet Feet put me in Brooks the first time I got an analysis with them, and I won a free pair of Mizunos last summer and have been hooked ever since :)

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    1. Yay for those of us who make all runners look good! We do it for the team!!!

      It's funny, I did think about you when I mentioned the Brooks AND the Mizunos. You are my running friend shoe-poster representative! I love my Mizunos, too. I didn't have a great experience with the one pair of Brooks that I tried but given how much people rave over Brooks shoes, I think I may need to try another pair somewhere down the line. Did you win the Mizunos through one of their Mezamashii (or however you spell it) giveaways?!?!?

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    2. Well, the first pair of Brooks I tried was the Adrenalines. They were okay, but I actually didn't get them for running (I was just doing cross-training, and incline-walking at the time). I did win through Mezamashii, and Mizuno's online quiz suggested the Wave Inspires for me. I'm ready to order my third pair, so I definitely love those. Then when I looked at Brooks again, their website recommended the Ravenna, based on my wearing the Wave Inspire. The first time I wore those was on an 8 mile run, and they didn't need any breaking in at all, and they've continued to be really good shoes.

      If you want to give Brooks another try, it looks like the Ghost is comparable to the Wave Rider. I've heard a lot of good things about the Ghost, and the Ghost 5 is currently on sale on their website.

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    3. You are so incredibly resourceful! I wore the Brooks Glycerin and wasn't thrilled with it despite the rave reviews about it. But I have heard great things about both the Ravenna and the Ghost. At the Chicago Half Marathon expo last week, there were some places offering the Ghost on ridiculous sale and I was REALLY tempted. But unfortunately I really, really need to retire some other of my running shoes first. I have two pairs of brand-new running shoes in my closet right now and at the mileage that I run, I won't need to buy another pair of shoes for about 3 years. =( But this is great feedback for the point at which I give in and just buy more shoes anyways. =D

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  3. I wear Kinvaras!

    Oh and I totally make fast runners look good. ;)

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    1. Yay for us runners that make the fast runners look good!!!

      And yay for a Kinvara shoe twin! Quick question for you - do you think the Kinvaras can hold up to the same mileage as a non-minimalist pair of running shoes? I usually put 300 miles on my shoes before retiring them, but my Kinvaras have about 100 miles on them and are looking pretty worn down already.

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  4. LOL! Love your pic choice! So funny you say that about the tricycle! I cannot ride my mountain bike as fast as they run! I have thought about that on rides!

    Love the funny Nike pic too!

    I did a 5K that I thought was harder than the first marathon I did. It was a snowshoe 5K :) My dad's first 5K was a trail one. Buah ha ha.

    I totally forgot to pause my watch for a train this am. Oops! Added 4+ minutes to my time. LOL.

    Those blue shorts. NOOOOO!!! lol

    Thanks for doing the survey!

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    1. Thanks for the positive feedback on the pictures! =) It really is insane how fast the Kenyans can run. When I am riding the stationary bike in the gym, even then I'm not biking much faster than the Kenyans can run!

      A snowshoe 5K would be super difficult! Something like that is not really a fair comparison to running a marathon. But could you imagine how difficult a snowshoe 26.2 would be!?!?!?

      A train would cause an ENORMOUS delay during a training run! And 4 minutes must have been a really long freight train! My old Garmin used to have an auto-pause feature where it stopped on its own if you weren't moving, which I liked a lot (except it could be either too sensitive or not sensitive enough, depending on the day's satellites).

      Thanks for hosting the 10QRQ - there were some nice, unique questions on there that I've never seen before in all the running quizzes I've done. =)

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  5. Seinfeld is awesome!!! And quotes from it can apply to anything.

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    1. Yay for Seinfeld!!! One of the most classic TV shows of all time!!!

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  6. I make most runners look good that don't drop sweat after 5 minutes of warming up, you're welcome!

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    1. LOL, that's a great way to make tons of runners look good. =D

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  7. I love the de-motivational quote! Awesome.

    I wear Mizuno Wave Rider 16s (rotation with Karhu Fast/Karhu Ride and Hoka One Ones (AKA my clown shoes!)

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    1. Erica! I remember now that you wear those gorgeous red Wave Riders (of which I have the exact same pair in my closet). Yay for Wave Riders!

      I've never tried Karhus or Hokas, so those may be on the list for future shoe experimentation. And you'll have to share more details with me on these supposed clown shoes. =)

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