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Good news - I did really well in my 10k, reaching my target pretty much bang on time (three minutes faster than my PB for the course).
Bad news - My achilles tendon has given way. It was fine during the run (no indication of issues whatsoever) but after sitting for a couple of minutes with a drink at the end, I got up and it was painful to walk on. I have never had achilles problems before and what I am reading about those sort of injuries isn't promising.
FFS
Every chance that's just a bit of stiffness or a wee strain, take it easy and see how it feels after a couple of days.
Every chance that’s just a bit of stiffness or a wee strain, take it easy and see how it feels after a couple of days.
Yeah I am praying that's the case as my training this year was progressing pretty well and I have the GNR in September.
And what’s more, a heathy PB and under 90 mins for a half with a solid 1:28. Top 10 in my age category and top 20 overall, albeit in a run not exactly packed with elites! Plus I beat all of my club mates which means bragging rights next week.
Good job @lunge, last point is clearly the most important 🙂
@johndoh, I'd not be too concerned by that. Rest, stretch, maybe add in some calf raises/lowers and I reckon that'll be fine.
@mogrim, absolutely. Just checked who's attending this week and the only disappointment is that the football is on Wednesday so I may not see as many people!
lunge @johndoh, I’d not be too concerned by that. Rest, stretch, maybe add in some calf raises/lowers and I reckon that’ll be fine.
Thanks for that - I must admit it is feeling much better today. I'm resting it this week and am already doing calf raises. I have also booked in to see my physio on Thursday morning and she already thinks she knows what we need to do to get on top of it. Fingers crossed!
Struggling with my running at the minute.
Don’t know if it’s still the effects of having COVID at the end of February or something else but my running has gone down hill.
I’m currently sat about 8 minutes down on my 5k and can only just sneak it under 30 minutes at present.
My 10k is a similar tale and barely managed to go under an hour the other day.
Neither are important. I don’t race but I know I’m down and it’s getting me down too.
I am just randomly hitting a wall some days. No build up. I will literally just lose it.
Not sure if it’s partly down to me shifting focus to more hiking when I was initially recovering.
I definitely feel weaker in the legs. Hills absolutely destroy me.
Have just rebuilt my old Langster fixie so I can start riding again and get some long slow stuff in.
Ran my first 1500m track race since 2018 yesterday evening. While running to my boys swimming lesson in the afternoon (he was on his bike) my left hip was feeling iffy and similarly so when coming home. Consequently I wasn't sure whether I would bother going to the race, but I jumped on the bike and warmed up to see how it felt. This was a Vets League race, so I wasn't expecting fireworks, and just for a change I thought I'd sit in the pack for the majority. 2 3/4 laps at around 5k pace later, at the bell it was time to go. Pretty happy with a ~62 second last lap, although I was 10 seconds shy of my far from impressive PB.
Warming up for the 5000 which was an hour later the hip wasn't feeling good at all, so thought discretion was the better option and cruised home after cheering on my clubmates.
Hopefully a couple of days of rest and it'll be good to go as I need to knuckle down to some proper marathon training asap!
Struggling a little here too.
Pulled my Achilles about 5 years ago, after a few months of laziness it calmed down and all was well, until a few months ago, seemyling without provocation.
Post-run leaves it feeling achy and stiff, stretching and heel drops dont seem to do much for it. During a run its fine, its after the aches and pains come.
Fortunately riding doesn’t cause issue!
Amazing efforts all. @pieface
- that’s an incredible achievement.
I had 2 races this week. 3k relay on Tuesday that was fun. Hit target pace of 4min/km.
Dorking 10k today. I only entered at last minute and haven’t trained for specific distance. Easy first 5k running with someone who was around the same pace but then the hills started. Legs were dying by the last but somehow managed a PB of 43:41 on Strava and positioned 4th in my age cat, out of about 27. Was blooming’ tough but I’m buzzing a bit from it now. So good to do some races again.
From my brother this morning;
Just ran my second fastest 3k steeple in three years at masters champs 11:28:87 -
* Scottish gold v55
• V55 record
• v55 Championship record
& 10th position on uk all time list
He is quite rapid for a bandy legged old git.
Only ran a couple of steeplechases. They are incredibly difficult and those barriers are high, unforgivable and become exhausting, not to mention the water jump.
He has done very well particularly at his age (I can say that as we are in the same age group) to keep the flexibility and fitness to keep running them. Well done to him!
Did my first race in nearly 18 months on Friday, a 105km ultra in the Pyrenees. On paper it didn't look too bad - similar sort of distance and height gain to other races I've done. In practice, it was quite a bit tougher...
7:30am, and I set out at a decent pace with a couple of mates who are generally a bit faster than me, and stayed with them until the first aid station at around the 8km mark with 400m or so of climbing. I was struggling to maintain their pace so (generously 🙂 ) let them go, with the idea of doing the rest of the race at my pace. I was right to do so, as I'm what the Spanish call a "diesel", not that much top-end speed, but I can keep going for ages. I'm not going to say the kilometres flew by, they didn't, but I kept on going and despite the heat and humidity slowly but surely the total distance went up, and the remaining distance went down.
13 to 30km or so was the longest climb of the day, but with relatively fresh legs it wasn't too bad. As usual the 11km downhill after was far tougher.
The main feed station was at 46km, with hot food and the opportunity to use stuff from your "life bag", which was a 30l plastic bag containing whatever you thought you might need. In the end, and despite filling it with approximately 1000 gels and associated crap, I didn't use any of it.
An endless 8km downhill stretch, which sounds great until you actually have to do it, and then another 600m climb. All good fun. A relatively short downhill, feed station, and then it all went horribly wrong for me and just about everyone in the race.
Up until this point most of the race had been on relatively well marked trails with nothing too technical. Thankfully the sun was starting to go down, so it wasn't that hot, but of course a bit more light is always handy when you're navigating a scree field. It was a 900m climb, with a bit of scrambling towards the end, but the killer was the 400m descent after. Picking your way down through the scree with the always-present promise of a twisted ankle (or worse) is never that easy, but by this point we'd all been racing for over 14 hours, it was dark, and you had to tread very carefully. I was following a couple of French guys who were going a bit more slowly than I'd have liked, but at the same time I knew there was a fair distance to go so better safe than sorry.
Incidentally, they were the only French runners who voluntarily spoke to me all race. The Spanish were great as usual, and happy to cheer you on and offer help. The French, not so much. French spectators were also quick to offer an "allez, allez!" or similar... but the runners? Bah.
Anyway we made it down to km82, and that was probably the most depressing part of the whole experience. The race bib had a copy of the race profile on it, and I'd been estimating how much climbing was left. I'll admit my tally and what Garmin was telling me weren't exactly aligned, but I was kind of hoping the electronics had failed. But as we picked our way down the hill to the feed station we could clearly see the lights of the runners ahead of us as they made their way up the next climb, and *. It looked like a little bump on the race profile, but up close and in person it wasn't. *.
SO I dragged my sorry arse into the feed station, and grabbed a coke and a bite to eat. Looked around, and who should I see but my two mates? LOL, they'd blown up 🙂 Dani was holding his head in his hands and close to giving up. Juan clearly hated the world and everyone in it. I wasn't feeling great, but schadenfreude in a wonderful thing and perked me up no end. So I wandered over and told them to stop being so wet, we had a race to finish. It took a bit of effort, has to be said, but I managed to convince them. And the 3 musketeers set off for the last 23km of the race.
And what can I say? I'd like to meet the race manager in a dark alleyway sometime, baseball bat in hand, and let him know just what I think about 400+700+400 climbs in the last bit of an ultra. It'll never happen, but I can dream.
The last 6km include over 1100m of descent. Unfortunately my mates had recovered a bit by then, and decided to run it. There were a few moments of lightheartedness when we tried to provoke the French into speaking with a cheerful "Monsieur La France qué tal vas? Ánimo!", which inevitably drew little more than a grunt, but my in general my memories of the final descent are of a burning sensation in my quads, and an overriding desire to get the bloody race done.
And then it was. A bit of a let down, really, as the three of us made it to the finish line at just past 6am, and there weren't that many people around to cheer us on. But at that point, who cares? We'd done it. I finished 277/951, with over 35% of the starters abandoning the race.
Next race is at the end of August, I should be recovered by then 😀
https://www.aranbyutmb.com/cdh/
(And despite my comments above about the race manager, I feel I should point out that the race organisation was impeccable, the feed stations well stocked, the volunteers wonderful, and the scenery incredible. The locals were also 100% behind the race, and hoteliers overjoyed to have 4000 runners + friends/family/partners turn up just out of season. If you're looking for a (tough!) race at the start of next July, this is definitely one to consider.)
Christ, that sounds brutal! well done sir.
No, Swiss Peaks.
Ah, looks good - not heard of that before. Good luck!
Awesome work mogrim.
Epic race Mogrim, I'd like to do something in the proper mountains!
What do people use/recommend to carry water with them on a run? Im training for a half at the minute and doing about 12/14k at the weekends which ill increase steadily over the 6/8 weeks; I really should think about taking some hydration with me.
Depends on your pace and what else you're carrying!
Shorter runs with minimal kit (just keys, phone etc): Salomon Active Belt with a hard bottle or a Montane bumbag with a soft bottle or two
Longer runs if I'm carrying jacket, layers etc: One of a few vest packs, either with soft bottles or a bladder.
Me personally, I don't take water up to a half on normal terrain, hilly stuff I'd take ultra vest with a soft bottle. I've a m,ate who only really hill runs, he carries a wee summit to sea collabsable cup, seems to work for him.
Ditto the water comment, however I found it did take quite a bit of time to be able to wean myself off water for the longer runs.
For medium runs I put a soft bottle with a lockable spout (Dectahlon Kalenji) in my bumbag.
Long I have a couple of soft bottles in my race vest, and a little collapsible bottle.
When its long / hot and I know there's no reliable water I'll take 3 soft bottles (1.5 litres) and a cup.
I rarely use a bladder as they're difficult to fill from little streams.
Upto about an hour, just drink well before and after.
Over about an hour and a half, I have a small belt with 250ml soft bottle. I try to hold back until about half hour from finish, then it really helps.
Around three hours, vest with two soft bottles.
Other option i like sometimes is run light and use a shop
What do people use/recommend to carry water with them on a run? Im training for a half at the minute and doing about 12/14k at the weekends which ill increase steadily over the 6/8 weeks; I really should think about taking some hydration with me.
In my view its not necessary unless you are out for a very long time. This whole "drink before you are thirsty" malarky is marketing IMO
What do people use/recommend to carry water with them on a run? Im training for a half at the minute and doing about 12/14k at the weekends which ill increase steadily over the 6/8 weeks; I really should think about taking some hydration with me.
I don't carry anything, well, maybe a gel if I'm going above 15 or so miles. Just make sure I'm well hydrated and fed before I leave the house. I've started carrying a facemask with me so if I get really thirsty I can dive into a cafe or similar and ask for a glass of tap water.
In my view its not necessary unless you are out for a very long time. This whole “drink before you are thirsty” malarky is marketing IMO
I agree. Having anything in my stomach and running is a miserable experience. I can actually hear my internal organs slapping around.
Agree with the above - unless it is very hot I don't take a bottle with for anything up to half marathon training distance (I usually top out at about 11 miles on training runs). For the occasional time I take a bottle, it's just one of those small grab bottles with juice in it.
I did my first ultra at the weekend, the Lakeland Trails 55 (anybody else there?).
I was aiming for 8 hours, crossed the line in 8 hours and 10 minutes, really chuffed with that. It was actually 58 km with about 2500m of climbing.
I set off well, remembering to pace myself and not get carried away with trying to keep up with others. Saw a few people blow up on the first big climb up to Kirkstone Pass. Luckily climbing is my special skill 😊 Had a bit of a wobble halfway, as I wasn't eating enough. It was so warm and humid, I just couldnt stomach anything. Luckily they had soup at one of the feedstations and that saved the day!
It was a lovely event, really well organized. Fully signposted and marshalled. There were people cheering, clapping all over the course. There was even cowbells on the way into Grasmere. I'd definitely recommend the event to anyone wanted to do their first ultra.
I've got the Lakes in a Day in October next , just over 80km. Which I'm feeling more confident about after the weekend.
The winner of the 100km course finished in 9.5 hours😱
Historically I've not taken any fuel/fluids with me on training runs, unless they're long and hard. Happily run 20 miles on a completely empty stomach 15 minutes after waking up in the morning.
However, subsequent to my GI issue mid-way through my 100 miler, I've started trying to train my guts to handle getting carbs in while running. I've been mixing my own Maurten equivalent to save a huge amount of money - maltodextrin/fructose in a 2:1 ratio plus some pectin and sodium algenate to turn it into a hydrogel. Yesterday managed to get 240g/carbs in dissolved in 1 litre of water (150% concentration of Maurten) on a 2 hour run with no issue.
Upside - run was calorie neutral
Downside - cannot pig out on junk all day to compensate
I've been carrying this in 2x500ml soft flasks on the front of my homemade ultra vest. It does feel like having a pair of bouncy boobs to start off with (I would imagine, not being blessed with any personally), but you get used to it
Bargain shoe post, Puma Velocity Nitro, a very nice daily trainer which has a good bit of pop if you do some speed work. Currently a quite ridiculous £38 with the discount code at ASOS. Free returns if they don’t fit too.
https://www.asos.com/puma/puma-running-velocity-nitro-trainers-in-black-and-orange/prd/22502813
Bit of a long shot but i just wondered if anybody else’s was taking part in this years Thunder Run?
Third time for me. Tough but a really enjoyable weekend…
double post
Bought a new pair of spikes at the weekend (despite having only run 4500m in my last new spikes 😀 ) and tested them last night at the Vets AC 5000m champs. Not a competitive field so I was anticipating running solo, and it was a warm evening, so unsurprisingly it wasn't a PB. I do find it strange that I run faster on the road than the track though, I equalled my parkrun PB of 15:35, and was 22 seconds slower than the 5k road course which starts and finishes on this track but includes a decent hill in the middle 😐
Shoes look nice though and I got a wee cup to look after for a year 🙂
Are those Nike Victory's? I have a club mate with a pair if so, said they#re rapid but really uncomfortable.
Re. the track v's road time, that is strange, I'm definitely faster on the track, but I do know some people who like road as you have variety of gradient to help you recover.
@lunge yes, Nike Air Zoom Victory. Not super plush, but I didn't find them uncomfortable. I'm probably not running quickly enough to really benefit from them so may well have been quicker in my Dragonflies. We'll perhaps see next week when I have a track mile.
I think the track is as much mental as anything, running round in circles vs actually going somewhere...
parkrun returns tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it. Can't wait to see so many people I've not seen in 18 months, although I'm not 100% sure I can remember how to be a Run Director!
Hmmmmm....
Been asked of I wanna run a support leg of BGR in sept, I've not really been doing much, and no hill running of note, but a lot of hillwalking.
Head says no, heart says yes, as I really fancy a go myself in the next couple of years, be good to recruit a few helpers!.
Coincidentally, I'm walking it with a couple of mates over a few days next month, camping a couple of nights.
Have we done this yet?
#bawbagcentral 🤣
#bawbagcentral
Accurate assessment I feel.
£15k 😮 😮 😮
48 followers on Instagram, 9 on Twitter, 9 Likes on their FB page.. will this event even go ahead?
As running is the talk of the forum again thought I'd bring this thread back up.
Everyone well? Any tales to tell?
I've been really enjoying parkrun being back. I was run director for the first 2 which was great fun seeing people back out there. Decided to run the third and bagged a top 5 and a healthy PB.