just wondered if anyone here turned their back on events but kept up the distances and increased the love?

I’ve never gone over 30k, but have signed up to the Bath Marathon this year, but that’s it. It will likely be the only time I have ran with someone other than my daughter in the Chariot or my Son on his bike.

I’ve been gradually increasing my distances over the last year and will quite happily do a couple of 21-29k runs a month these days. Pace varies dependent on how I feel, weather, commitments etc, but it seems…easier, less pressured, more fun/relaxed than a proper training schedule. I can just plod along in Z2 for 4/5 of my runs at 5.30/km and not really fuss. I generally listen to Audible.

Things don’t seem to be progressing quite the way I’d like it for me on the recovery front… Ran halfway to work yesterday morning, and stood on the train to keep the hips mobile. Then sat on a Swiss ball for half the day at work before running the 12 miles home. 4 miles were at a decent pace and I was feeling good, albeit with a rather high HR. A few hours later my legs were so sore/weak I couldn’t do a single part of my core exercises 😮 Also slept really badly because of discomfort. So much for a comeback after 3 weeks on the bike…

No Fettersso for me Terry,still partially broken.

I can’t really talk having gone straight into an event at the weekend after an injury break, but the above doesn’t really sound like easing back into it? Maybe a few runs of just single figure mileage / one run a day would help?

Sorry the above was a reply to Turboferret.

No Fettersso for me Terry,still partially broken.

thats a bummer.

I’m fighting a cold atm – and lack of sleep.

Ill probably still give it ago since there’s various ways back to the car if it all goes Pete tong.

I thought the same RE TF- easing back into it .

@nobeerinthefridge – I’m not no. Fancied a long run in the hills that weekend instead.

@spin – Great stuff.

Final Aberfoyle Night Race tonight, which I can now thankfully make. Should be painful/good.

Maybe I need to take it a bit more steadily so I can actually do my core exercises in conjunction with some gentle running…

C25K Week 7, run 1 completed at lunch today.

Went nice and steady, had plenty left in the tank and could have run for another 5 mins without too much issue.

2.87miles / 4.63km
25:03 moving time
8:42 /mile / 5:25 /km average pace

5:30 /km seems to be a good steady pace for me, that would mean a 27:30 5k.

ran last night .

have been bunged up with the cold the last week.

Was fighting with my watch to hold 6min/km thinking jesus next weeks marathons gonna be hellish if this is my pace.

got to the furthest point and my watch said “gps found” ….. running on the accelerometer shows much slower running speeds than actual.

turned out id been running at 4.20min/km pace which is why i was finding it tough

Doh

Did a 10k race last weekend, felt fine. Stopped after, leg locked up with pain (side of leg in line with knee). Couple of days later I was back running no problem. Yesterday, had run 10k, stopped to eat for 2 mins before setting off for the second half, same pain again. Any ideas?

Lol @ TR! 😂

Finally a dry, cold and sunny day, and first pre work Munro of the year. Narnain (plus Cobbler) in truly stunning conditions (this was Friday)

Sunday turned into a long run out to the Kilpatricks from West End, which was actually a lot drier than the forecast suggested.

Already looking forward to the weekend, and two days up north.

Awesome pics will!

I’ve been pretty lazy recently, still doing as many runs, but just been doing shorter distances, and it showed at last week’s ultra.

Been doing plenty gym work, feel strong, just need to up the mileage again, some decent weather would be good too mind.

Carnethy this weekend, I’ll be suffering I reckon. Then a 12.5k on Sunday with OH in kirkintilloch.

Anyone else finding it really hard to get out there at the moment?
It’s cold, it’s windy and it’s often wet and I’m finding it really hard to get the mileage up at the moment. Was meant to be doing a reasonably long run today but just looking out of the window is putting me off.

Aye, just keeping it short and gym sessions lunge.

Came across a full body dumbbell workout that’s a killer, 45 mins of pain.

Really been enjoying the MTB again, after almost 2 weeks of sprain life. I can walk OK, bit of pain – swelling’s gone down around the heel, just a fairly big tender hump over the outside ankle bone/knobble. Been keeping it mobile, going to start with the propioception exercises this week. Other than that, fingers crossed – hoping for a return to racing around easter but not counting on it.

Aye, just keeping it short and gym sessions lunge.

I’m doing a couple of spin classes per week, a couple of circuits classes and will still do 30 or so miles but I wanted to be at 45 plus by now.

It’s just annoying when you want feel like you should go out but can’t quite motivate yourself to do so.

I find that planning a run in advance depending on expected weather conditions usually does me OK.
If it’s been pretty wet then I will avoid the really soggy paths and mud traps and stick to road or less saturated off road routes.
Forget what the weathers doing currently and just get wrapped up appropriately for the conditions.
I’ve been out over lunch and did 14 which I’d planned. I had hail, wind, snow, sun and rain.
I’m glad I’m back now though.
It’s the first 5 minutes that are the killer, once your through that it’s easy.
This running game is mainly in the head anyway.

Here’s a pic from Saturday’s outing, 41km up and down the local mountains – very slow but good training for upcoming ultras 🙂

Forecast rain more or less held off, a bit of drizzle at one point then a bit of snow but nothing too serious. A good day out!

So another newbie runner here. I’ve never enjoyed running, but kids mean time is limited for riding and I live next to Lyme Park so figured I should get out on the trails and it might be more interesting than pounding the tarmac which I’ve tried in the past.

I did a run in Oct and then two or three in Nov last year but started running regularly on NYE and managed about 39 miles in Jan, running two or three times a week (3 miles night runs and some longer 4.5m runs). In Feb I’m trying to keep this up and have done 13 miles in 3 runs.

It’s actually started to become enjoyable and I’ve a number of trail routes or canal routes with very limited road sections at the start/end.

However, I have discomfort in my left calf, outer edge. Only seems to be present when running and isn’t painful enough to stop, but there’s definite pain/discomfort. Any ideas what this could be? It’s roughly 2/3rds of the way up from my ankle (or 1/3 way down from my knee). I did fracture my left Fibia about 7 years ago in a similar position and have wondered if it’s somehow connected to that as searching calf injuries online isn’t really directing me anywhere. I’ve bought new Asics trail trainers for this so don’t think its connected to shoe cushioning.

I’d like to keep running to maintain the routine I’ve started but I’m assuming I should be resting it for a week or two?

I’d like to keep running to maintain the routine I’ve started but I’m assuming I should be resting it for a week or two?

Hard part when you kick off the running for me was knowing what to rest and what to run through.

I’d be tempted to keep going with that, unless it gets much worse. IANAD though. 😊

First off road club run last night. I’ve done a few road sessions but have always struggled to make the mid-week fell side of the club. All good, muddy fun and wasn’t back of the group so I guess I chose the right pace / distance. 12k by head torch around the hills around Lyme Park.

Tricky question though – what’s the etiquette with farting when running with groups of strangers? I often find running makes me need a good fart, which was compounded last night by the big bowl of dhal I’d had lunch.

@dooosuk, Sounds like a classic new runners tweak to me. A few things to try:
Massage. Rub your calf up and down to warm it up and find the point where there’s some pain. Them really get your thumbs in and rub that point. It may well release the problem.
Stretch lots. Straight after each run, then an hour or so later. And frankly, at any other point you have 2 minutes spare. If you have a foam roller this can be useful too.
Calf raises and lowers, there a piuc in this link, they helped me a lot.

But from what you’ve said, it’s not a huge amount to worry about, if it starts heading to over 7 out of 10 in the discomfort levels then think about having a few days off.

I did my first club run last night and it was bloody brilliant.
I’m not a huge fan of clubs generally, and have had some less than great experiences with cycling clubs particularly, but the lovely people of Stourbridge Running club were just great.
A sharp 8 mile run, harder than I would have done on my own which is what I wanted, some good chat and the offer of a pint afterward, you can ask for much more than that I don’t think.
Turns out my prejudices about clubs may be wrong, and I’ll definitely be back next week.

@lunge/@NoBeer Thanks, I’ll just carry on then and see how it goes. Certainly not painful enough to stop getting out at the moment.

lunge, that could’ve read as a post I’d have typed, comparing running club to my cycling club experiences!.

Does anybody know of anywhere that makes custom lasted running shoes for the general public?

I know a few big companies do this for their sponsored athletes. A few years ago salomon and brooks were demonstrating prototype systems which allowed them to scan a runners foot and 3d print a shoe. It all seems to have gone a bit silent recently though.

I went to the podiatrist today as have developed a niggling problem with my big toe joint which is now bigger than it should be. Basically caused by exercising on hard surfaces in shoes that don’t fit. Have been prescribed orthotics, but doesn’t resolve the basic problem that the back of my foot is very narrow, with a fairly short arch, but my fore foot and big toes are huge, so off the shelf running shoes just don’t fit.

Most of my shoes don’t have enough height in the toe box to accommodate the orthotics I’ve been prescribed either.

the basic problem that the back of my foot is very narrow, with a fairly short arch, but my fore foot and big toes are huge, so off the shelf running shoes just don’t fit.

Try some Altras, they have a huge forefoot. Zero drop though, so you might need a while to adjust to them.

Altra don’t work for me.

Older models were generally too loose. Tried the timp2 recently and the fit is generally good but the toe box is too low and I really didn’t like the way they felt to run in.

Would a normal shoe in a wide fit work? I know Nike and ASICS do wide versions, and Brooks do wide and extra wide, the latter of which I’d imagine will be huge as the normal fitting wide ones are big anyway.

Thinking more @wardee, there are some places that will modify running shoes. Solution4Feet in Bicester are a ski boot fitter primarily but mod running shoes too and are very good at it.
Might be worth thinking about if a normal wide shoe won’t work.

The bicester place appears to be just a podiatry place, making standard orthotics.

It’s not as simple as just getting a wide shoe unfortunately.

@wardee, they’re a bit more than that (for the record, I have no relationship with them bar me having odd feet and a penchant for close fitting ski boots, something they have sorted many times for me). They don’t do custom shoes but they do modify footwear and can stretch shoes to make space for orthotics and for “odd” bits of foot.
The owner Colin is a lovely, if somewhat grumpy Scotsman who seems to know everyone in the footwear world, he may be worth speaking to as if he can’t sort it, he’ll know someone who can.

Apologies for any offence Lunge, was just the impression I got from the website.

Bicesters a bit of a trek from edinburgh, but I’ll bear them in mind if I’m ever down that way. I’ve asked more local shoe repair places about modifying running shoes in the past, but they generally don’t want to know.

Getting custom fit ski boots and cycling shoes is a lot easier. Maybe I should just change sports.

Tried my new orthotics for the first time today.today. Managed just 6 km at an easy pace on the flat.before I started getting a tight calf and hotspots on my feet. Early days yet, but not a great start.

Get Brant to design you/modify some? Sure he’s got a running shoe designing thing going on on the side.

I have arthritis in one big toe joint which causes all kinds of issues and found hoka shoes helped with the large and stiff forefoot. Being a forefoot striker I found them good but bulky and hard to get up any speed. Just bought a pair of Nike (my favourite brand when I was more competitive) which have the carbon plate so nice and stiff but nothing large in the toe box.
I have been prescribed orthotics a few times over the years. Never once got them in my running shoes nor my normal shoes. It’s only my opinion but I would never wear a pair as I just don’t think they work. Maybe more extreme cases where they are useful but I am sceptical that you can alter biomechanics this way, nor through control shoes. Never met a runner who wore anti pronation shoes for example that benefited

!Haha, none taken @wardee. His website is crap, but he knows feet! Ignore at your leisure!

Well spent the last 2 weeks Ill so not even run close to the plan.

If nothing else I’ll be proper rested for tomorrows trail marathon in storm Dennis.

Yay. At least skins waterproof

After a few unpleasant runs, gasping and feeling crap, I did a nice 10km this morning – feeling strong and stable (copyright Theresa May). Glad it must have just been the lurgy rather than losing the ability to run.

Still seem to be pegged at a pace of 5.30 to 5.50/km though. 56mins for the 10km.

I’m not that fussed TBH, but if I wanted to get a bit faster, how would I go about it?