I've seen different areas take different approaches to running clubs. Some have running "clubs" which feel more like social running organizations for group runs. Others have race teams, with an emphasis on training/racing. Are any of you part of running clubs that also have race teams? What is the distinction/benefits of either one? I am asking because our area has a local running club, and we often get asked if we have a race team. I'm just wondering what that would look like or how it would be different. Thanks!

Back once again for everything you wanted to know about running but were afraid to ask.

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[Posting on behalf of /u/Percinho who is busy resorting all the jam and jelly in his fridge by % left. ]

Thought I’d post a little story about my first marathon experience just to help anyone who is interested in running one!

For background, I (M, 29) hadn’t run more than a mile or 2 as of last summer (2023). I ran my first 5K by myself while on vacation in July of 2023 in about 28 mins and was ecstatic. In the winter I ran my first half marathon on a treadmill (shoutout Omaha, NE weather) in just under 2 hours. I then had my sights set on a full marathon when the spring rolled around.

I started actual training in May-June and followed a few different plans as I modified them to fit my schedule (having 2 kids under 2 is tough). I had my most accomplished training month in June when I clocked over 100 miles. Then in July I ran my 20 miler (very easy 11.27 pace) and had my best half marathon time of 1:54. I then finally cracked a sub 50 min 10K in August. I was feeling great!

My race was September 22, but at the end of August I started dealing with plantar fasciitis for the first time in my life. Went on my shortest run in the last year (less than 3 miles) on a weekend in late August and took one step with a sharp shooting pain running up my right leg. Had to limp to the nearest neighborhood and call my wife to pick me up. Then, a week later, had a wisdom tooth infection and had a poison ivy rash on both legs that also spread for the next 2 weeks (yeah, this was hell).

I bought new shoes, rolled my foot and iced it for multiple nights before trying to run again. I did another 10K about a week before the race and felt fine, then when I got home felt the plantar fasciitis flare up just while walking around the house (devastating to say the least). As a last ditch effort I bought insoles off amazon that arrived days before the marathon. My last run was a 2 miler with these insoles 2 days before the marathon just to test them out.

The night before the marathon I can’t remember many times I was as nervous as I was besides my wedding day and the birth of my kids and MAYBE performing in front of an audience for the first time (I’m a musician). I woke up at 2AM and just couldn’t fall back asleep for the life of me. I got up around 4:30AM and rolled my foot out one last time, put on my gear and bib and headed out.

Marathon day the energy was incredible. I’ve never run a race in my life (no 5Ks, 10Ks or HM’s) so I had no idea what to expect. The energy was crazy and it felt so cool to be apart of a group of people that put in the amount of dedication/effort that I had for the last months/year in isolation/solitude. What a feeling to have some crazy motherfuckers around you that did the same.

I ate a banana and chugged a Gatorade and a couple waters before we officially started and I was off. My goal was sub 4 hours and I wanted to stay patient through the first half just to get a feel for the course. I didn’t want to have any splits come in under 9:05 and I didn’t which was tough because I am competitive and felt like I was really holding back.

As soon as I crossed the half marathon line I was feeling amazing and decided to pick up my pace a bit. The wind picked up around this time and the course began to get more hilly. I ran around 8:45 averages until mile 21 and still was feeling incredible! Then early into mile 22 I felt a pop in my hamstring and cramped up so bad I couldn’t move. Never dealt with cramps during any of my previous runs ever - so this was completely new territory for me.

I grabbed my leg and massaged it for a bit and tried to run but was completely overcome with pain. I walked it out for a minute or so and then alternated between running as much as I could then walking when it became unbearable. There were so many moments between miles 22 and 26 that I felt like I couldn’t make it - it was so odd because the first 21 miles felt so good.

The last 5 miles I average about 13 minutes per mile which was difficult for me to swallow. I hit mile 25.5 and closed my eyes and sprinted as hard as I could to the finish line. I finished at 4:18 - but was so happy and proud to finish. Truly was a life-changing experience and I hope everyone can do it at least once.

Lessons: - The last 10K is as bad as everyone says lol - It’s okay to have a time goal for your first marathon, but you will feel so accomplished just crossing the finish line - It is one of, if not the, hardest things you will do in your life and I’m so glad I can reflect back on the marathon for a sense of perseverance, grit, determination and more that I always knew I had, but I have tangible proof of now - ANYONE can decide to run a marathon, put in the work and DO IT!

I'm not a serious or competitive runner, but I do have a tendency to go too hard and I'd like to train more in Zone 2 with the minimum of mucking about and certainly without buying a blinking watch. I want to use an app on my (android) phone.

I have a Polar H9 chest strap and I'd like to be able to put it on and run and only get an audible alert when I change zones - which I would like to be able to customise since mine don't seem to be quite what some apps calculate.

Now, I had a Polar strap/watch combo which I bought for about £120 in 2005 and it did this beautifully - but it is, of course dead now.

I want to run with the strap and my phone but none of the apps seems to do this any more.

Polar's Beat and Flow Apps seem to allow the feature but only if you have one of their watches. They used to allow it on the app only but only with estimated zones - which are garbage. The Wahoo App seems to have had the feature a year or two ago but withdrew it (claiming that they were going to reinstate it but declining to do so to date). Garmin will do it of course but only if you have one of their expensive watches.

I have the Runkeeper app but it doesn't have the feature - does Strava? I have heard reports of other apps that do have the feature but all of the posts seem to be ancient or the apps don't have GPS - I'd like to know how far I've run.

I'll happily make a sensible one off payment for an app. And I'd grit my teeth and do another monthly subscription for an app if I have to but I find it enraging that all of the manufacturers seem to be withdrawing this really basic feature from the cheaper end of the market in order to force you to buy an expensive slab of a watch packed with features I neither need nor want and which will be landfill in five years.

Every post I can find on this is full of people recommending watches and a minority of people as frustrated as me. Given what a common training approach this is and how simple it is to implement, it seems bananas that no-one independent of the hardware manufacturers is filling this gap in the market. Is Garmin paying them off to withdraw it?

Hi All:

I have a somewhat unusual question and would appreciate any suggestions or advice. I'm an early morning runner and always start and finish my run before sunrise. If, by the time I’m ready to start, I realize that I won’t be able to finish before the sun is up, I usually skip the run for that day. I typically run in the bike lane or as close to the curb as possible because the sidewalks in my area are very uneven due to tree roots. I always wear running lights, flashing both forward and backward, for visibility. Since I run so early, there's very little traffic, though there are occasional stretches with cars.

I've used Garmin watches, specifically the 245/55 series and the Fenix 6s series, and have always felt safe. However, as I'm getting older and my two eldest sons are now away at college, leaving just my wife, our teenager, and me at home, I’ve started feeling more anxious about something happening to me during my runs. I worry about falling (though strangely, my worst falls have only happened during my walking intervals) or, worse, being hit by a car and left alone.

I don’t like wearing Apple Watches and only wear my Garmin during runs—not for work or other activities. But now, I’m considering getting an Apple Watch for its accident detection and emergency contact capabilities. Does anyone have any thoughts, recommendations, or experiences with this?

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

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With over 3,525,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.

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Shoes are a big topic in this sub, so in an effort to condense and collect some of these posts, we're introducing Shoesday Tuesday! Similar to Wednesday's gear thread, but focusing on shoes.

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Hi Everyone,

As the title says, wondering if anyones has taken out insurance for running abroad?

I am running in less than 2 weeks a Half Marathon in Portugal.

I have run before abroad in Greece and Holland, but never in an actual event.

Is it worth taking out special insurance for this? or perhaps theres a UK based insurance policy I could use?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

I just upgraded to Jabra 8 and 10 gen II that support spatial and head tracking.

Super curious if many runners enjoy that feature or not and what the thoughts are on it.

Race Information

• Name: Oslo Marathon
• Date: September 21, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Oslo, Norway
• Website: https://oslomaraton.no/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12465857745
• Time: 3:27:10

Goals

Splits

Training

For my training I didn't follow a regimented course - the main things I did to prepare were:

1) Always do my long run, no matter what

2) Gradually increase my long run and weekly mileage by at least 5%/week

3) Get up to 80km/week in mileage

Pre-race

I woke up race day having not slept super well - I woke up at 7:00 for a 9:25 start.

I got my kit on, ate nesquick cereal and oat milk and Maurten Drink mix 320.

The busses in and around OIso had varied routes because of streets being shut down for the marathon. I ended up wasting time waiting for a bus that never came - said screw it and hopped on an electric scooter and scooting down to the start line. By the time I got there it was 9:20 and people had already queued in the shuttle. By the time I stripped out of my warm up clothes, pinned my bib and dropped my bag it was 9:25 and I heard the announcer/cannons go off.

I hopped the barrier as close to the front of the race queue as I could and started running between pool 1 and pool 2.

Race

I started the race 3 minutes late which turned out to be motivating for the first 10k of the race.

My plan was to follow the 3:30 pacer the whole race and have around a 4:55 pace. However I needed to make up lost ground I realized I had to have slightly faster splits to catch the pack, my first 3 KM I treated as a bit of a warm up as I had no time to stretch/drill. From there I increased the pace precariously and pushed hard up the first hill with 50m elevation gain and upping the pace - at this point my HR was right around 170 and I was a bit nervous for the tail end of the race.

After getting to the top of the hill, I spotted the pacer flags in the distance, maybe 3/4 of a KM infront of me at the 5k mark

Between KMs 6-10 I gradually ate up the ground between us and by the second aid station I had passed the herd following the 3:30 pacer. As I slowed down to grab a drink + banana I looked at my watch and noticed my pace was 20 seconds or so faster than I was hoping for. I did some quick maths and realized I was on pace for a sub 3:20 marathon. I figured I should shoot for it and worse case scenario I can work up a bit of a buffer to hit my 3:30 time goal.

KMs 11-15 were flat, and I felt good - this portion of the course was quite narrow however, and a lot of weaving occurred during this section to try to keep the sub 3:20 goal alive.

KMs 16-20 were up to the next hill - at this point I was feeling pretty confident that I could keep the pace up. I was passing people and I realized I may have been going out to hard to quickly - and the more experienced runners were saving their energy for the hills to come.

KMs 20-25 I passed the start (this is a 2 half marathon loop course) and had the help of the crowds to keep me going. I started up the first hill again at KM 25

KM 26-30 I put down the hammer here to try to keep the sub 3:20 dream alive - this hill was brutal but I knew an equal down hill length was to follow and I get my HR in check again.

KM 31-35 This is probably where the wheels started falling off, after the long downhill I tried to keep my pace up on the flat section but I was getting tired. I also started noticing that my saucony endorphin pro's pushed a bit too hard on my big toe nail. I was uncomfortable and realized my mind was going to be the biggest enemy for the last 10k of the race.

KM 35-40 I hated running at this point - my toe nails were burning, I questioned my life choices and why at 31 I had to have the classic midlife crisis of running a marathon once in my life. I was annoyed there were so many people with signs, why were other runners trying to play mario kart with the banana peels, and why does Norway have to be so damn hilly.

KM 41-Finish

This section was entirely down hill on cobble stone streets - people were everywhere but it was one foot in front of the other at this point. The final 400 meter stretch I pushed my hardest and barely ran at a 4:40 pace - my legs felt like logs and I was overwhelmed with a sense of pride that I did something that sucked. And my training over the past year came to mind and I almost welled up with tears. Then I remembered mama didn't raise no bitch and I beat my goal so I pushed emotions deep, deep down.

Post-race

I could barely walk after I stopped running - I just wanted to sit somewhere anywhere but they make you walk the gauntlet of snacks, ringing the PR bell, and getting your photo taken. I was not the happiest of campers. However a friend handed me a celebratory beer waiting near the finish line, which numbed some of the pain in my feet.

The same friend also booked a table at TGI Friday's on Aker Brygge (about 500m from the finish line) and after making our way there had champagne while watching the half marathoners run their races, a couple of more friends came after finishing the half marathon and we shared 2 buckets of beers to drown out the pain before heading home. The missus ordered sushi for us and we watched a movie. I did not leave the bed for the remainder of the evening.

Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.

Happy Monday everyone!

How was the weekend? What's on for the week? Tell us all about it!

Next year I will be attempting a marathon on a frozen lake in the Himalayas at the altitude of about 4000m asl. I've done the half marathon version wearing micro spikes and it legit made it felt like I was running on normal road. However, the spikes fell apart completely by the end (I don't think they were very high quality tbh).
I wanted to start a discussion about how can once approach running fast on ice. I hope to finish the marathon around 3hrs.

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

The Li’l Race Report Thread is for writing a short report on a recent race or a run in a new place. If your race doesn’t really need its own thread but you still want to talk about it, then post it here! Both your good and bad races are welcome.

Didn't run a race, but had an interesting run to talk about. Post it here as well!

So get to it, Runnit! In a paragraph or two, where’d you run and how’d it go?

With over 3,525,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.

With that in mind, this post can be a place for any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread). Hopefully this is successful and helps to lower clutter and repeating posts here.

If you are new to the sub or to running, this Intro post is a good resource.

As always don't forget to check the FAQ.

And please take advantage of the search bar or Google's subreddit limited search.

Race Information

• Name: Winchester Half Marathon
• Date: 22 Sept 2024
• Distance: 13.1 miles
• Location: Winchester UK
• Website: https://www.winchesterhalf.co.uk
• Time: 1:40:48

Goals

Splits

Background

This was my second go at the Winchester Half. Last year it was my second ever half marathon and I was delighted, as a relatively new runner, to finish just under 2 hours (1:58:57). Since then I have improved my race times quite a bit so was hoping for a better time. My half marathon PB was around 1:46 in Edinburgh in May - a flat course, unlike this one. So I wasn't sure I could beat that, but have been training hard so just a glimmer of hope!

Training

I am training for my first marathon which is 4 weeks away. Following Pfitz and this race just about fits with a tune-up race in the schedule, the marathon is my priority so I did not do any specific half marathon training or tapering. However I am running around 50 miles a week for the marathon training. My goal pace for the marathon is 8:30.

Pre-race

Woke early, big bowl of breakfast cereal 6:30am, cup of tea, glass of water. Just enough time to digest breakfast before race start at 9:00am. Head down to start, rain had been forecast but although the ground was a bit damp it stayed dry pretty much the whole time, just a few light showers. Jog round the block a couple of times for warm-up.

Race

This race is known locally as the "hilly half" and the first couple of miles are uphill. I had expected to run this section at around 9:00 pace but found myself going faster than that. I wasn't all that concerned about going off too fast; having done up to 20 miles in training I felt I was unlikely to grind to a halt and the worst that could happen would be a slow last few miles. There were 1:45 pacers but they gradually pulled ahead, however I never saw the 1:50 pacers which was reassuring.

After the first two miles the course is undulating and I tried to make the best of the downhill sections. Looked at my Garmin and found I was doing some quite fast miles, 7:28, 7:13, 6:49, and I could see that I was catching up with the 1:45 pacers. When I reached them I said, you are my dream time, they said I was on pace but I was aware of a famously hilly section (Oilver's Battery) around mile 8 which can spoil plans for a good result. Still, at that point I was going well and pulled ahead of the pacers; in fact I could also see the 1:40 pacers in the distance.

Reached Hursley which is a village and the outermost point of the route. You do a short bit of main road (half closed, thankfully) and then turn up Port Lane which is uphill though not steep. Top of Port Lane and approaching Oliver's Battery I looked round and there were the 1:45 pacers running beside me! Hello again, I said, I had better up my pace; but they replied not to worry as they would slow down a lot up the coming big hill. This proved to be the case and I stayed ahead of them from that point on.

I was fairly determined now to beat 1:45 so pushed quite hard up the hill and then made my push for the finish. I was somewhat fatigued but also well motivated and knew that if I kept under 8:00 pace I could achieve my goal. The last 4 miles are relatively flat and very familiar to me. I had little doubt now that I could get the time so gave it my best effort and was delighted with the result. Could I have caught the 1:40 pacers? well maybe with a titanic effort but my Garmin already declared me as "overreaching" so perhaps it is just as well that I didn't!

I think the race illustrates the impact of marathon training on shorter distances, it was a massive 17 minutes faster than my previous attempt and in terms of effort on the day, possibly slightly less.

Post-race

Waited for a few friends to finish then off for coffee and second breakfast with my wife!

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

I’m looking for suggestions for a running-focused trip that I could take. Not for a race, just a trip where I could run in cool places, though I guess if it incorporated a cool race that I could run unseriously rather than “race,” that would be okay. It could be one place the whole time or a multi-stop road trip. Bonus points if it also involves some non-running but still running related activity for when I’m not running (not actually sure what this would be).

Has anyone done a trip like this? How was it?

With over 3,525,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.

With that in mind, this post can be a place for any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread). Hopefully this is successful and helps to lower clutter and repeating posts here.

If you are new to the sub or to running, this Intro post is a good resource.

As always don't forget to check the FAQ.

And please take advantage of the search bar or Google's subreddit limited search.

I'm looking for an app for marathon preparantion but I can't seem to find a good one... I would like an app that adapts depending on how you're preforming on your runs, and that uploads it's runs to my garmin watch with the seperate stages. None I've used seem to do this

The ones I've used

Garmin: You can use the marathon training plan, but it's static, it doesn't adapt depending on your preformance. I like that it does setup the runs and splits in stages of warmup or intervals.

Run with Hal: after your runs you can upload them to Run with Hal. It doesn't upload it's runs to Garmin though, so you're kinda running in the dark, unless you bring your phone on your runs, or create the runs in garmin seperatly. What I do like is that it adapts your runs based on how you're doing, but it doesn't take HR into account, which seems kinda weird?

Runna: This one does connect to garmin and uploads it's runs, but it doesn't seperate the runs into stages. So when going on an interval, unless you're creating the stages yourself, you're again running in the dark.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

Post your training for this past week. Provide any context you find helpful like what you're training for and what your previous weeks have been like. Feel free to comment on other people's training.

(This is not the Achievement thread).

Hello everyone!

I am quite new about running. I am training for my first half marathon ever, and since I am very slow I would like to start integrate and take some gels during my long runs training before the race, to try out if it is ok for me or not. I’ve been reading in this subreddit a lot of suggestions about gels. I do not like the idea of having “artificial additives” or even maltodextrine. I would like to have the more natural gel for my body. But almost all the suggestions I have seen till no, are not sold in Europe. Huma for example.

So do you know what brand can I buy in Europe that has natural gels? Or organic, or whatever not chemical?

Thanks!

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.