If I knew there was going to be a bin maybe 500m after the water station then that would surely satisfy a large majority of runners. That gives 2-3 mins drinking time, and still only a short carry if you don’t need that long.

But as I said, for an event that size they are sweeping the whole course anyway, perhaps it just isn’t a big deal for them.

I dont often listen to running podcasts I find almost all of them inane, repetitive or just silly (even though I am an enthusisastic runner…) but this one is excellent and its not just because Tony is a clubmate and friend of mine. I can really recommend this episode (not listened to any other episodes)

Masters of running

A month down and how’s everyone’s running going?

I’ve steadily upped my distances and slowly getting to the point of comfortable.
Now my average weekly distance (50-60km) is more than my entire 2022 distance!

Hastily entered Glentress 1/2 trail marathon for later this month, and awaiting entries to the Ben Nevis Ultra (part of Glencoe Skyline weekend) to open tomorrow alongside some scottish fell races.

I’m slow. Piling up decent miles, but wondering if I’m going to manage a decent time in the marathon. Did manage a half-decent parkrun last weekend and I’ve got a list of possible races over the next few weeks (10k/HMs) to test myself.

Will be looking to WAVA tables rather than absolute time to gauge myself!

Set myself a target to run at least 3 miles every day in Jan. Carried on into Feb and am on a 36 day streak with 175 miles ran. Just trying to create good habits.

I ran a PB on Sunday! My  first at any distance since, believe it or not, December 2015.

10km in 33m2Xs.

I have another roll of the dice coming up at Trafford 10km on March 5th. I am going to go for sub 33m.

@finbar Great running, well done!

Thanks @surfer!

Sub 33m is a full on stretch goal but Trafford 10km is supposed to be lightning fast (I think nearly 10 people went under 30m last year, and over 100 under 33m) so it’s probably the best chance I’ll get.

That is rapid @finbar.

All good here, albeit it a little directionless. No real events of note in the diary until October bar the odd 10k and half. Debating a few late spring/summer events but not sure what to enter. Still doing 60+ miles per week and running every day.

A mild rant, related to not entering any events, is the compulsory kit lists for some of the things I’m looking at. A summer trail marathon around an area that is not in any way remote and I need taped seam waterproof trousers and top along with first aid kits and all kinds of other stuff. This means spending probably £250 on new kit before I’ve paid for entry or travelled to the venue. A similar event I did last year needed only the ability to carry 1ltr of water and a space blanket.

So if anyone can recommend a scenic trail marathon or short ultra that’s vaguely in the Midlands and surrounding that I don’t need to spend loads on kit for (I did this last year for reference, Dukeries 30 / 40 – HOBO Pace – Register for the race in Sherwood Forest) then I’d like to hear about it.

That’s a great time @finbar!

Slightly by accident I seem to have signed myself up to 4 ultras (so far) this year… oops. I won’t be doing them at finbar’s pace 🙂

Great running! If you’re local, the pace and depth of the Salford 10k in early April is great too. I ran it in 35:30 a few years ago and wasn’t in the top 70. I knew there were some upsides to Manchester being flat

Thanks and thanks 🙂 .

@mcfly, good tip, I’m not that local (Sheffield) but I see Salford 10km is on Good Friday which might be a good use of a bank holiday…

“I need taped seam waterproof trousers and top along with first aid kits and all kinds of other stuff. This means spending probably £250”

I always took the view that if I had to stop to pull on waterproof pants I had probably stopped racing so a cheap but seam sealed pair were good enough. Probably similar with a jacket although I suppose its possible to still be racing I suppose. I sweat quite a lot so even the most expensive jackets are a “boil in the bag” so I avoid them if I can.

@surfer, the issue with the cheap ones is they generally don’t fold up small…which means I might end up needing to buy a bigger pack.

Which then begs the question, what pack that carries circa 10 – 15l but crucially, holds the front bottles low on the chest?

@finbar – you wouldn’t happen to have been a Dewsbury on Sunday would you? Well done on your pb

Funnily enough I was also there and also running a pb and also starting with 33.

Dewsbury is a pretty quick field and it was great conditions on Sunday.

I did Salford last year and that was also a pb, well until last Sunday at least. I did only better it by 7 seconds bu they all count.

Salford is 2 laps and is pretty flat, ever so slightly up hill to the finish, which is harder than it should be after hammering round there twice!

Which then begs the question, what pack that carries circa 10 – 15l but crucially, holds the front bottles low on the chest?

Raidlight have some decent packs, the one I have is a few years old but the bottles are fairly low.

@lunge – probably a bit far but the wife does lots of Punk Panther events and rates them. Not sure on the kit lists though. They are mainly in North/West Yorks though so may not suit your midlands requirement.

@lunge, the Settle Saunter might be worth looking at? “Only” 23 miles but a lot tougher than the road marathon I’m aiming at 🙂

So if anyone can recommend a scenic trail marathon or short ultra that’s vaguely in the Midlands and surrounding that I don’t need to spend loads on kit for

There’s the silver trail. Very scenic (and hilly). https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?elid=Y&event_id=10957 but it’s only a half.

What does everyone recommend in the way of running packs?

I’m not after something huge, just big enough for possibly a gilet, a hat, a small hydration bladder and phone/keys etc.

@crossed – I’ve got an Ultimate Direction vest – pretty sure it’s the smallest they do. It’s getting on a bit now but big enough for what you mention (soft bottles on the straps rather than bladder but think it can take a bladder too). I use it 3 or 4 times a week for carrying phone, car keys, windproof and foil bag (most of my running is across Peak District moors before there are many folk about so I’d like a fighting chance of getting off without hypothermia if I bust an ankle!)

@crossed. Mrs S bought me a UD vest thing as above. Does enough for some of my longer runs, especially as I’m usually solo.

A Zone 2 question if I may.

Lots of chat in the bike forum about Z2 training and I’ve seen similar recommendations for running. However, my HR pops into Z2 with as much as a fast walk. Is it just that my zones are set wrong?

Still a relative newbie to running, but I find it impossible (and boring as hell) to stay in zone 2 vs bike.

On Zone 2 and strictly aerobic training, this is a really interesting read and is worth half an hour of your life! <edit: scroll down to the table of contents> One Approach to Distance Training (hadd.run) The core message is that by building your aerobic engine by running <70% max heart rate you can make significant differences to your ability to run faster for longer.

That said, I’m not sure if the benefits really kick in until you’re doing a high volume of running.

I think the perceived wisdom is, like cycling, do easy days easy (easier than you think!), hard days hard, and 80% of your days should be easy.

@crossed, look at the Harrier packs, they’re really good and well priced too. Trail Running Gear For Beginners To Ultra Marathon – Harrier Trail Running (harrierrunfree.co.uk)

If you don’t need to carry much, the CamelBack Ultra Pro is really goood, very comfy and lightweight too. Ultra™ Pro Vest 7L with 2 x 500ml Quick Stow™ Flasks – Packs from CamelBak UK

I’ve never really bothered thinking of or calculating “zones” for HR, I just run at a steady sustainable pace where I can go on basically forever, gradually fatiguing towards 3h or so which is the longest I do. Typically comes out around 110-120 bpm. Threshold stuff gets to upper 140s or low 150s, a real race I might reach 160 or so.

I don’t find it boring, I listen to podcasts, admire the lovely views, daydream a bit. It’s a sort of mobile meditation.

Thanks for the suggestions for packs, there’s a running shop in Oxford so Ii’ll take a look tomorrow when I’m passing.

I decided to run home after an appointment today, I guessed it was going to be about 15-17km. Turns out it was a smidge over 20km so I added a couple of laps of the village to get it up to 21km for my first half marathon distance.

Turns out it’s entirely possible to run a 2:17 half with absolutely no training for it and on the back of having only managed two 5k runs so far this year ad a previous longest run of about 15km. It was slowed down by a couple of detours due to poor planning and not helped by the claggy mud along the last couple of km of footpaths which must have added at least half a kilo to each shoe.

I reckon I’ll be aching in the morning!

Off that back of this, I’m now eyeing up a local trail half marathon on 21st May and wondering whether or not I could get a time closer to 2h with some proper prep and training.

Lunge’s occasional shoe bargain post.
Just picked up a pair of Puma Deviate Nitro Elite’s for £76 with a discount code at Start Fitness. A ridiculous price for a carbon plated racer that won bronze at the last Olympics in the marathon.
Couple of runs in and I’m really impressed. They make a great fast trainer and I can see my doing the odd race in then too.
Proper bargain.

So I had a look in the running shop and tried on a couple of their packs, a Salomon and a Camelbak.
They both felt pretty uncomfortable. The normal Camelbak hydration pack, however, felt spot on so I’ll probably try one of those instead.

Having looked at the local trail half that I fancy, it’s 99 days until the race. Due to knowing absolutely nothing about run training and being dire at pacing myself, I’m going to have a crack at following the Garmin Run Coach on my Fenix watch and follow the half marathon plan on there.
Fingers crossed it’ll work!

Today I did the local LDWA event the Anglezarke Amble 24 mile off road event as a run. Not done it for 2 years. Obviously I’m older now and plagued with various injuries so was pretty pleased to only be about 10 mins slower than last time. A tough day out but I’m chuffed to have completed it especially with my shonky training schedule. RED January including long runs of 8, 12, 18 and then 10 miles. Basically it was couch to 24 miles in just over a month! Which is why I hurt so much… 😉

Pleased to duck under 38 mins for a flat fast 10k race today. No longer hopeful of PBs (was v close to 37 mins in the same race 4 years ago) but in WAVA terms it’s a new best for me. The older I get the quicker I was 🙂

I’ve never really bothered thinking of or calculating “zones” for HR, I just run at a steady sustainable pace where I can go on basically forever, gradually fatiguing towards 3h or so which is the longest I do. Typically comes out around 110-120 bpm. Threshold stuff gets to upper 140s or low 150s, a real race I might reach 160 or so.

I don’t find it boring, I listen to podcasts, admire the lovely views, daydream a bit. It’s a sort of mobile meditation.

Interesting. I try and keep my HR down to what Garmin has suggested my aerobic rate is which is up to 140 but I have to  really try and keep it down there, ie no hills and it’s really hard. I’m never able to do it without lots of stopping to walk. Most of my ‘easy’ runs are therefore well into threshold pace. Bit crap but just can’t seem to improve my aerobic capacity

I did a 2:20 fell run yesterday and was gasping when I expected to be well into my comfort zone by now

II’ve got three peaks in April and heponstall in march, possibly duddon valley and wasdale in summer so  really need to  raise my game

Stamford valentines 30K for me yesterday. I did it last year in horrendous conditions, set off far too fast and paid the price in the second half. So this year, decided to set off sensibly and pick it up second half. It worked out much better in terms of my run and feeling stronger at the end. However, despite finishing further up the field, I was 2:40 slower than last year and the conditions were pretty good this year.  I suppose you can only go with whats in front of you. I can’t complain though as I’ve had a niggling foot injury for the last 6 months and at least I wasn’t crippled come the end.  If you want a particularly tough race around mid Feb which is surprisingly lumpy (no massive hills, just constantly rolling) and in the region of 30K, this is well worth a look. Fantastically organsed by Stamford Striders and a great test if you doing a spring marathon.

XC for me this weekend, with a parkrun to warm up.

Managed a parkrun PB in the morning and then averaged 6:12’s for 6 miles at the XC. Safe to say the course was very un-XC like, flat, fast and no mud at all.

Eek, just got a Jura place. Haven’t really done any running since first lockdown…

Are many of you actively running with a club vs solo?

It’s been abour 6 months since I started running again, and I’m ticking along quite comfortably now. But my main thing has been to not push it, and avoid begineers injuries – which now I’ve typed this I will of course get!! 😂 I don’t have any targets as such, other than to just enjoy the running. I’m past bothering with competetive side of things now, been there done that..

Wondering what others experiences of running with a club has been, did you benefit from it, progress? I’ve done years of cycling clubs, but apart from a couple of parkruns, always been running on my tod.

@barrysh1tpeas I’m in a club and it has helped my running no end, I can’t recommend it enough.

Running with people faster than yourself is always good to help you improve and a club will almost certainly provide that.
Above that, it’s also provided me with inspiration for events and loads of knowledge from experienced runners too. Plus, you get to race cross country. And most have a good social scene if you want it.

The only thing I’d say is to join the right club for you, and perhaps don’t be afraid to change clubs if needed. In my area we have a range of clubs, some really old skool “Harrier” type clubs who are purely concentrated on short shorts, racing and going fast, some at the other end of the spectrum that are more of a social club that runs occasionally, and some in the middle.

None are right or wrong in their approach, you just need to find one that works for you. Most will let you turn up for a few sessions to get a feel for things before joining properly.

If you let us know the area you’re in you might find some recommendations.

Thank you @lunge that’s great.

I’m in Salisbury, and as far as my Googling has got me I think there is only one club! So I’d better not upset them.

My preference is trail/cross country over road. But I will do tarmac over lunch just to get a run in.

What Lunge said. Plus you get loads of events for free such as xc league races, road relays and track events (also known as proper running :-)) if thats your thing. Membership also gets you a discount for other events such as road races etc.

I started as a teenager (58 now) and made life long friends.