Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023 (Read 574 times)

 

Well...  Most of the runners still got the medal and the backpack - it's just me who was way too polite and believed everything they said - due to my level of education and the way I was raised 

Maybe THIS is why they ran out of medals. I didn't know I had to choose. Perhaps they could have asked which one I want in one of their emails asking me to confirm things.

 

I always take my ring off when I am lifting weights and such. It causes discomfort when the bar is pushing down on my ring and it is digging into my finger.

Same here.  Just gets a little uncomfortable particularly with things like deadlifts and bench press.

Cold seems to be finally leaving.  IDK I wish I was one of those people that gets the sniffles for a couple days and is then fine, mine always seem to hang around for at least a week.  I did take a couple days off, before that I was an outside chance of hitting my highest mileage year ever.

CommanderKeen take the ring off at home. It’s a game of checkers not chess. See a problem, overcome the problem and remove it from the board.  Bonus points for placing it on the food scale.

Can I leave the scale out on the counter while I do this, or do I have to put it up in the cabinet?

I actually paid more attention to this over the last couple workouts, and I never notice the ring at all while lifting (chunky fingers, maybe?), and only notice that extra calloused area when doing barbell rows with a supine grip (for a bit more bicep engagement).

K - Welcome back from lurk mode! Right now I'm just building back some base mileage and adding in an easy workout here and there. I'm still trying to decide between very different goals of a flat, fast 100 miler in March or just focusing on 5k speed for the spring.

Dave - I remember those burritos from '21 when I got sick mid-race. Chicken and veggie are the two last options I'd ever want in a burrito, post-marathon or not.

Dave - Bahahahahaha, excellent, I wanted to write that (kill all humans), but backed down, coward I know.

Keen - How unreasonable of her hahaha!!! This candlestick seems to be more trouble than benefit to be honest.

Mark - Good news that the cold is going away, I swear a few years back it seemed like you were immune to colds, I guess old age is catching up to you?

Wedding rings - I'm told wedding rings are magnets for women, true story. I've known guys in the past that would put fake rings when going out.

I myself have never worn a ring nor any jewellery of any kind ever.

Can I leave the scale out on the counter while I do this, or do I have to put it up in the cabinet?

I actually paid more attention to this over the last couple workouts, and I never notice the ring at all while lifting (chunky fingers, maybe?), and only notice that extra calloused area when doing barbell rows with a supine grip (for a bit more bicep engagement).

 

Do you wear gloves while lifting? I always wear my wedding ring and have a callous from it like you are saying but I always wear lifting gloves, the ones where the fingers are not covered.

I rarely take off my wedding ring as it doubles as a bottle opener. I bought the most generic 10k white gold ring I could find in case I lost it I could go to any jewelry store and pay $300 to make sure my wife didn't notice. I've never had to do this because it almost never comes off. It turns out that a ring with very little gold makes it very strong/durable and holds up well to steel bottle caps. No joke, I have probably opened over 1000 beer bottles with it in 13 years and you can't even tell.

We paid way to much for my wedding ring and I was out squirrel hunting with a buddy of mine and washed my hands off in the creek, shook them dry and went about my morning in the woods. Wasn't until a few hours later I noticed my ring was no longer on my finger, went back to the creek to try and find it but had zero luck. After that I just hopped on amazon and bought this guy https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FKRR9VP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1 now if I lose a ring it's 25 bucks to replace, the ring looks and feels more expensive than that. The only thing that has happened is the blue is no longer on the ring.

Do you wear gloves while lifting? I always wear my wedding ring and have a callous from it like you are saying but I always wear lifting gloves, the ones where the fingers are not covered.

 

I rarely take off my wedding ring as it doubles as a bottle opener. I bought the most generic 10k white gold ring I could find in case I lost it I could go to any jewelry store and pay $300 to make sure my wife didn't notice. I've never had to do this because it almost never comes off. It turns out that a ring with very little gold makes it very strong/durable and holds up well to steel bottle caps. No joke, I have probably opened over 1000 beer bottles with it in 13 years and you can't even tell.

Sorry to read, mt, and thanks for your introduction and story runethechamp! My update is that my calf is also injured. I'd have done some walking, mmerkle, if I could walk properly. I don't think it was the mile race (which, yes, Flavio, felt a lot like driving a 0-100mph car in 3 seconds for those first 400ms!). I think the mistake was a) running in the super shoes on Sunday without having done more than 6 miles in them previously, and b) getting advised by folks in the med tent that running and stretching is exactly what you should do right after you get a major calf cramp. So I did it, twice, and lo and behold the calf got worse. It's sticking around too long to be DOMS, but I'm holding out hope it's not a 2nd degree sprain and that the pain is gone within a few more days [edited to fix 2nd or 3rd to just 2nd, because I'm pretty sure I'd know if it was 3rd].

So I 've been doing the normal obsessive internet surfing, and read that the likelihood of reinjury is especially high with a calf injury. I checked in with darkwave and her blog for some pool running tips, so that's my plan for now. At least it's the end of what I’d consider a pretty successful year, and I have a bit of breathing room before I want to build up for the next cycle.

re:medals I won't take them for anything less than a half, and I intend to donate my box of half medals to https://medals4mettle.org/donate/ when I finally make it down to Fort Lauderdale again. Been thinking of getting a proper rack for my full and ultra medals, but right now I just hang the most recent one up and the rest live in a box in my closet.

jblackjr, I made the mistake of donating blood right in peak fitness and ruined the rest of my spring season. It can affect your speed and race times for at least 3 weeks.

But I’m annoyed at whoever threw out your lunch before end-of-day. That could have happened even if you hadn’t donated. Sorry to read about your daughter's ankle, but if I remember correctly, Jan. is fine to start getting back to running and still have a strong track season. 

Flavio, I hope you figure out whatever you think it was that negatively affected you for the marathon (and maybe you never do, but you certainly have some ideas of what to do better/differently), and I kind of like the idea of just seeing what race is available when you feel like you’re at top fitness. You just need to figure out if you’re a 2-week or 3-week-taper kind of guy. 

Also, good luck with running without a schedule. I’ve been off one for three weeks and it’s already too long for me. 

Re moose mugs and mice cups, it looks like the 40s are statistically the best age to aim for either one. 

Steve, the progression sounds mentally more fun than the positive split, though I do wonder what the mental benefit would be of planning to do it versus falling into it because you underestimate how slow is too fast at the start. 

Dave, did I wish you congrats on your PR yet? I think I did on Strava, but it’s pretty awesome how you got the quadruple-crown this year! 

Darkwave, that track looks awful. I can’t believe it’s not closed! 

Cal, good to read you feel recovered! And re: cramps, I’m with Dave in that I don’t think it’s necessarily correlated to hydration or lack thereof (though everyone says it is). I cramp whether I’m hydrated or not. I think it could have a lot more to do with muscle imbalances. Re: hydrating in a race, I’ll run through most stops and grab a cup (and thankfully most Florida races have enough volunteers to have folks holding them out for you). What gets me is when they’re offering water and a sports drink and don’t announce which one they’re holding. 

Only if the race is going poorly do I stop to walk through water stops.

 Hydration vests are allowed at most races, but they can’t be full before you get through the security at many races these days. So you have to figure out how to fill up your pack on the other side of those checkpoints. Cupless at ultras makes a lot of sense, and doesn’t bother me none. 

Nice speed work last week, SomethingClever!

Hope you’re feeling better soon, Mark. Not fun, but could be worse timing. 

Re rings: Neither of my parents wear a ring, and they’ve been married for 35 years. I’m sure some people did/do try to hit on them, but it’s real easy to let someone know you’re married in a conversation. 

Re moose mugs and mice cups, it looks like the 40s are statistically the best age to aim for either one. 

DK- I'm going to take this as a personal challenge! My master plan has always been to let my age catch up to my marathon times Sorry to hear you're injure and hope it clears up quickly.

Flavio Take advantage of your training and current fitness and race whatever distance feels right! You had a killer cycle and should run a great race whatever you pick.

JBlack My ring story was similar except mine went overboard into the ocean when I was throwing in a handful of chum It was replaced a couple of years later.

Piwi- My wife lost her band bodysurfing in cancun on our honeymoon!! Luckily it was the band and not the engagement ring.  We bought a cheap band in town the next day

Boston training begins this week.  Nothing significant planned except getting the miles back up. As Keen noted all of this tapering, racing and recovering is seriously messing with my mileage!!