The Annual Running thread – beginners/ultras/whatever

I did a 21 min parkrun on Sat morning before it got too hot, and that was plenty hard enough 🙂

(Three times up a mahoosive hill and I finished 2nd overall, so not quite as pedestrian as it sounds, but who am I kidding, it was still terribly slow.)

Anyone have any top tips for nipple chafe? Got home from a steady trail 10k (quite a long distance for me) and my white vest looked like I’d been shot. No wonder I was getting some funny looks. I had put some vaseline on, but I guess it all just sweated off.

Had a Google and there are about a million suggestions. I figure a top with a soft liner is probably a good idea?

Surely plasters are the solution? Applied beforehand.

Anyone have any top tips for nipple chafe?

I’ve found plasters fall off, so not that.
Ron Hill make a product called Nip Guard which works really well indeed.
I friend who runs ultras swears by clear nail varnish on his nips. He’s adamant it’s the only solution that lasts.

KT tape.

I have been using it for a year on my nips for all runs and have had no issues.

Top tip, remove the tape when you are still sweaty after the run 😝😝

I use 3M transpore tape, it rips easily into little squares and also comes off fine (when you want it to). Just a dot on each nip, it works a treat.

Track session last night with the club. We were running 400m reps with 2.5min recoveries. Hit 70s a lap for 6 consecutive reps before the legs mired in treacle on rep 7 when someone upped the pace and I followed.  Haven’t experienced that before; such total shut down. Fun evening.

Had a look on a pace chart. 70s/400m is equivalent to a 2.03 marathon. The mind boggles!

Yeah I thought plasters, but I’m a sweaty, hairy man so not entirely sure how well they’ll work. Planning on going out later on so I’ll give ’em a try, but I’ll have a look at the other options too. Cheers!

School sports day… Dads race… felt confident going in, wasn’t expecting to win, but looking at the competition though I’d do alright… Felt my energy drain seconds into starting, almost fell over. Came second from last!

My excuses being, went for a run yesterday in middle of the afternoon sun, and today, had been standing in sun for nearly two hours (but so had the other dads).

But mainly, I was reminded to never judge a book by it’s cover, and has nothing changed since I was at school.

Also, son was too busy throwing pom poms into the roof of the gazebo he was under to even notice his mum & dad racing lol.

Squirrel nut butter for chafing 🙂

I’ve got some of those NipEAZE things I use for longer runs. Don’t come off when sweaty and work a treat for me.

Round Sheffield Run for me on Saturday. Hardly run since Covid a month ago and chest really quite tight still so I was in survival mode not race mode – it’s 24km with about 20ish of that on timed stages (a few breaks to cross roads and walk between stages). Bugger, was that hot and humid. I had a really bad low point in the back half of it and was on the verge of cramping for the last few stages. I had been meaning to pick up some isotonic stuff all week and never got around to it – wish I had!! Nipped in just under the 2hr mark which I was reasonably happy with under the circumstances!

Just arrived from Lancashire Shoe Repairs. They took their time but have done a great job. Looking forward to trying them at some local 10k trail races soon  

Are there any London runners in this thread? I’m up in London next week for work and would like to do two runs, I’m going to be on Tottenham Court Rd close to Regents Park. I was thinking of just looping Regents park one morning which should be around 5-6km.

The other run I was wondering if anyone had a route which took in a few landmarks? a friend mentioned something about starting at buckingham palace (or a tube stop near it) going down birdcage walk, see big ben, cross the river and run along the river, cross back up and head to trafalgar square and then up the mall. This sounds good but looking at a map not sure when on the other side of the river if to pick up a road or path and then which bridge to come back across! a GPX or some pointers would be appreciated!

Past couple of nights have been the opposite of my normal running – short and fast rather than long and slow!

Post Hill Relays in Pudsey on Tuesday night – 3.8km per lap and hilly trail relay, running as leg one for a Male Vets team, so pretty much balls out from the start and gasping through to the handover. Just under 21mins and handed over to my teammates not in last place, so happy enough with that.

Hyde Park Summer Mile on Wednesday night – 1 mile race, set off in ranked heats of 30-40 people based on your estimated time. I was in Heat 4 of 13 going off a 7:15 estimate, started 2/3 of the way back in the group, worked my way forward through the first lap, caught the leader with 400m to go and managed to pass and hang on for the win. Knocked 30 seconds off my estimate – 6:42 at the finish – so properly chuffed. Then got to kick back with pizza and coffee while the later heats of properly fast people showed us all how it should be done!

Especially coming off the back of a 50km Ultra a few weeks back and 100 miles on the bike for Ride to the Sun at the weekend, I’m really happy with how I’m running at the moment.

The other run I was wondering if anyone had a route which took in a few landmarks? a friend mentioned something about starting at buckingham palace (or a tube stop near it) going down birdcage walk, see big ben, cross the river and run along the river, cross back up and head to trafalgar square and then up the mall. This sounds good but looking at a map not sure when on the other side of the river if to pick up a road or path and then which bridge to come back across!

That’ll work. The Southbank is mostly pedestrianised from Houses of Parliament to Tower Bridge. Plenty of room and lots of bridges to cross back, depends how far you want to go. You can do extra bits in green park and st James park if you like too. Did a very similar run last time we stayed.

Has anyone heard anything from the London Marathon ballot for next year?

They said in the emails that you’d hear back before the end of June but I’ve not seen it mentioned anywhere online.

Edit: Ignore me, the website is now saying 6th July.

Still doddering along, not doing as much as I would like but we had family issues back in May so, you know, priorities. And it’s been far too hot, IMO.  Did manage to bag a pair of Adidas Ultraboost for £62 last week, but they are so very very white, I need this pesky drizzly weather to move along so they don’t get soiled first time out.

50km trail-ultra done,

No running up till Oct when I agreed to the event, longest run was a treadmill half-marathon in Feb and since then I’ve got by on a 10km trail run, hills session and one or occasionally two 4 milers a week. Little and often seems to be better on my joints than long sessions and that seems to be a bigger factor in durability.

Time was a very comfortable 8 hrs, process goals went to ratshit as soon as we started but outcome goals were pretty much achieved.

Very tempted to go for the 100km alternative next year.

To paraphrase Capt Jack Sparrow “I might be the shittest ultra-runner you’ve ever heard of, but I am an ultra-runner.” (apparently)

Great effort @IvanDobski – most essential part of being an Ultra runner is finishing, regardless of time!

I followed up the mile race above with a 5km PB at our Club Handicap yesterday evening. Slightly convoluted rules: you submit your own estimated time, slowest estimates start first, so in theory everyone should finish at roughly the same time, and the winner is the person who gets closest to their estimated time minus 30s. Anyone who runs more than 30s faster than their estimate is disqualified, presumably for lying about their estimate to get an earlier start time.

Turns out, you definitely get disqualified if you run a PB time 2:30 faster than your estimate 😂

In my defence, my estimate was based on being maybe a minute quicker than my last Parkrun. Hadn’t factored in that my last Parkrun was December, though…

Having set myself the goal of completing a 50km ultra next May on the South Downs, and now having got my cycling goals out of the way for 2023 I have shifted my focus more on to running, I did my longest run to date yesterday, 30km which I finished in just under 3 hours, and that wasn’t easy! With 10 months or so to go though I’m feeling that it is still within reach, just need to start adding some hills into the training now.

@lunge – nice Zegama sole – that’s the exact custom setup I had for my first 100 mile race and did the job 👍

For nipples I bought a job lot of the smallest circular plasters for a couple of pennies per plaster, and they work well.  Small enough not to extend much into the hairy area.

Not much running for me at the moment, I’ve cleared my diary of races for the year while I sort out some niggles.  However I’m so bad at actually doing any strength work that I’m not actually addressing the issues 😐

Did anyone get a London place? Our club seem to have done OK, 2 in on the ballot and 1 club place, the latter of which is mine.
Plan is to try for a fast marathon a couple of weeks before (suggestions for fast, flat marathons 2 weeks before London that aren’t Manchester or Brighton gratefully received) and then go and enjoy London rather than thrash myself there.

No place for me this year. Enjoy Lunge.

No London place here. It must be about nine or ten times I’ve not got in now.

I mentioned to my wife that I was thinking of trying to run The Ridgeway over a few days next year if I didn’t get a place for London. I might mention it again this weekend and see what she says as she’ll be my support team!

I’m trying to start running but I’m too heavy and injuring myself. Currently 98kg and my shins and hip are feeling it. I’ve lost 13kg already from the start of this year but I want to make the most of the summer before dropping the final 8kg off to my target but at the minute even running for 20 minutes twice a week is taking a toll on me.

It’s a tricky one! Sometimes when it gets difficult every run then giving it a break, or lowering intensity and/or lowering volume works. Other times you’ve got to just be determined to work through it. Most people on here seem to value volume over speed but I’ve seen on social media people saying the opposite, start with speed but less volume. I started running during lockdown but the other year suddenly found it difficult again. Gave it a break for a week or two then did a 10 minute run once a day for 2 or 3 days then had a couple of days off & repeat. Over a month that seemed to work to get back into it. Earlier this year decided I didn’t care for distance, as running not my focus. So set myself goal of 5k run once a week and enjoyed that for a few weeks, and now I’m doing 1-2 runs per week, and the 5k seems to have become 5 miles. I also like running fast (I’m not fast though, and not every run is fast) and have been trying out fast/slow cadence & long/short stride length and enjoying mixing things up.

Thanks. I do struggle not to run at a fast pace (for me) because I feel like I can at the time but then feel it afterwards. Running fast is more fun! But I need to get to that point first so I’ll try lower intensity but more consistent.

Run/walk is probably best to start with. About 20-30 mins total, start with plenty of walking and gradually cut it down.

suggestions for fast, flat marathons 2 weeks before London

yeah, that’s easy…

that aren’t Manchester or Brighton gratefully received

Oh 🙂

Manchester is 1 week before London, if it was 2 it’d be perfect. I just don’t fancy Brighton after some reviews from people I know.
I could do Edinburgh has my fast race, but Mrs Lunge ran that a few years ago and hated the course.

Damn went for my first run in a long time the other day and got a place in London yesterday doh… Best I get my finger out and do something

Thanks. I do struggle not to run at a fast pace (for me) because I feel like I can at the time but then feel it afterwards. Running fast is more fun! But I need to get to that point first so I’ll try lower intensity but more consistent.

I’ve always struggled with this in the past as I found slow runs to be boring. The problem was that when I tried anything fast or hilly I’d end up injured.
Over the past year I’ve increased my distance and pace slowly by following the Garmin coach plan on my watch.

I’ve gone from a 28 minute 5k down to 22 minutes and my 10k has gone from 62 minutes down to 52 minutes, I don’t suffer with the injuries I’ve had in the past and can run back to back days which I’d never have managed before. It’s gone from being dull to being enjoyable.
It seems that all of things people say about building up slowly appear to be true!

Getting to the point at which you can enjoy a steady paced-run seems to be key. I hated running for about 40 years, did the occasional 20-30 mins and got DOMS, didn’t try again for a few months. Then I made more of a concerted effort to get into it with 2-3 runs per week. I think it might have been about another year before I entered my first 10k race on a whim – which was further than I’d ever run up to then – blistered and sore at the end, but a year later I did my first half (again the furthest I’d run in one go) and then 6mo later a marathon. 10y later and 10k is an easy run, I average close to 15km per day when I’m training through the winter and really enjoy the solitude, the views, the feeling. Sort of like cycling but not as cold and miserable when it rains.

Going out with other people helps slow runs. We have a Sunday Long Slow Run group that goes out every week. Good, fast runners but we make sure we go at slow pace with lots of chat and calling others out if they push it. And by slow, I mean really slow. My 10k pace is 6 minute miles, Sunday runs are 9’s.

Shave off any hairs that cover your nipples and use body glide(pink one).

London route : I used to get the train from home in Greenwich to London bridge then run west to vauxhall bridge then either turn back or work my way over towards Trafalgar Square.

Shoe question – I used Sauconoy Jazz for 10 years but that range was discontinued so I swapped to Hoka Clifton 8 and Hoka Speedgoat for trail.

The Hokas fit great and feel lovely, but cause hotspots and blisters on the inside of the arch. Interestingly on opposite feet (Clifton right, Speedgoat left).

I messaged Hoka who recommended breaking them in for longer (I’ve already done this) or trying different soles.

Anyone else experienced this? Any tips? Where to look if different soles is the solution?

@lunge – have you tried the Vaporflys on any trails yet?

The Hokas fit great and feel lovely, but cause hotspots and blisters on the inside of the arch. Interestingly on opposite feet (Clifton right, Speedgoat left).

That’s interesting as, according to my local running shop, the Clifton and Speedgoat are essentially the same upper shoe but with different soles.

It would make sense as they rub in the exact same spot, just on the opposite foot.

I bought the Speedgoats from a local shop so I can have a chat with them.

I had high hopes for my Speedgoats, but they were clearly incompatible with my foot shape. If I laced them tight enough to avoid my foot moving around they would kill my uppers. Loosen them up to avoid this problem, and I’d be smacking my toes against the front on anything but the most gentle of downhills.And not for lack of trying, I put at least 250km into them in the mountains.

I’ve relegated the hateful things to easy local  runs only, and they’ll be going in the bin as soon as they hit 800k.

Now back to La Sportivas, and happy to report I did a 100 miler just over a week ago, and all toenails present and correct 🙂