The Annual Running thread – beginners/ultras/whatever

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

Yes, yes I have.
They’re certainly an interesting ride. The additional weight has removed some of the pop, but also seem to have added some more stability. I feel the lockdown isn’t quite as good as before and can’t really explain why.
I did a 10k trail race in them and unsurprisingly they felt great going fast. I’ve also done a couple of longer, 18 milers much slower and they felt good for those too.
Overall, a success I’d say.

Brilliant stuff.  You’ve effectively created the Ultrafly.

When does it get easier? I’ve been building up by following run plans over last couple of months. Currently running 5-7kms three or four times per week. The plan mixes up jogging, running and walking with varying times for each and one long, steady run at weekend. Its still slow, hard going. Is there a point in time or distance when things click and running becomes more enjoyable?

Is there hoe or will I always feel like I am dragging a dead carcass around my local route.

I started running in January.

I’ve gone from complete non runner to very amateur runner. Aiming for ~40 miles a month.

I “train” once a week with a running club and I think the best advice I’ve been given is the key to longstanding success an injury mitigation is patience.

So far, so good but I’ve hit a bit of a mental wall and progress is plateauing but I’m trusting in the “patience” approach!

🤞🏻

There’s the sarky response of “it never gets easier, you just get faster”.

But the truthful answer is that it’ll click one day. Take yourself off somewhere nice, don’t look at your gps if you’re recording it, don’t have any music or anything else on. Just run at an easy pace and enjoy it for what it is

I find following training plans can suck the fun out of doing it. They have their use, but every so often just go F*** it and do a run you fancy doing

Started in lock down, 48 now. There’s been phases of consistency, the most recent lead me to a 5k pb which I was pleased with. Was curious about how I fared against others my age and this chart put me between intermediate and advanced. Pinch of salt though because Strava/GPS. Further down page is explanation of the categories: intermediate – faster then 50% of runners and been running 2+ years,  advanced – faster than 80% of runners and has run for over five years.

In answer to the question, for me, it’s about 3 and a bit years. For the past few months I’ve started experiencing feeling strong in my legs when I run, not every run, and maybe not right away, but its good. A few months before it was nearly always still difficult, sometimes feel like I needed to run 5k just just to warm up. Last year or the year before went through a regressive phase where even just two miles was a real struggle with discomfort.

@franksinatra – I always find the first 2-3km to be rubbish. I feel all sort of pains and tightness and it’s just not comfortable. Then there’s the bit towards the end of any long run when I’m just fatigued and want it to be over. The trick is to extend that “golden” bit in the middle when things are just clicking and you’re drifting along. I’m currently feeling that for 10-15km, sometimes more, as I’ve upped my distance quite a bit this year. I do suffer from lack of patience a bit though and maybe rushed into things a bit too early, so I’m now carrying a couple of niggles. As @letmetalktomark says, don’t follow my example!

Bit of a PSA for those with a shoe habit.
ASICS Novablast 3’s are currently cheap on SportsShoes, and there’s a few discount codes flying around too to make them even cheaper. Cracking shoe, and very versatile too.

Thought I would post this in here as it might be of interest to a few

A mate of mine is attempting the SDW double tonight. Raising money for Neuroblastoma UK.

I used to train with Billy in my bootcamps and short (far far shorter!) runs. He’s an incredibly tough guy who doesnt know when to quit! Billy is a pretty accomplished ultra runner and has completed the Arc of Attrition in Cornwall a couple of times – thats hard enough at 20,000ft climbing in 100miles. He’s now doing the SDW there and back, starting in Winchester. In one go. Thats 200miles and around 22,000ft ascent! How he can run for that long I have no idea. I’m wishing him all the best and would love to help, but am away this weekend. However, if anyone would like to sponsor him, please use his just giving page:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/billypricesouthdownswaydouble?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fbillypricesouthdownswaydouble&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

Some guys and girls are completely nuts!

Thanks all

Winter is coming and thoughts turn to XC season, and as it’s me, XC shoes.
Anyone who races got any shoe recommendations? Not 100% I’m quick enough to spend £160 on a pair of Dragonfly XC’s, much as I want to…
Or is it simply as case of just buying what is cheap at Start Fitness?

Well, knee rehab V3.0 has been going quite well. I think next week I will start with some jogging/walking to see how the knee holds up with running loads on hard ground.

I can only imagine what my running fitness is like…..

Some guys and girls are completely nuts!

I won’t mention I’m off to the Tor des Geants next week, then 😀

@lunge – I’d just get some decent spikes of a brand you get along with (I know this could be almost any for you with your shoe fetish).  When the ground is soft and muddy I don’t think extra cush is going to do much and they will be brown by the end anyway so what they look like is even less relevant. For reference I have some Adidas (I get on with Adidas road shoes)  XC something or other in a blue/yellow colourway. They were cheap as I recall.

Or is it simply as case of just buying what is cheap at Start Fitness?

IMO yes. Anything that has a spike plate. Avoid field event shoes they are different but almost any spike will do.

Ben Nevis race today. More miles in the legs than last year but still miles from my best so I’m just going to go and ‘enjoy’ it!

XC shoe update – Bought a pair of Brooks Draft for £20 on Vinted. They’re more than good enough for me.

But, more importantly, and please excuse the self congratulatory post, but I ran a 90 second 10k PB yesterday. Same event as I PBed last year so I was confident of going quick, what I didn’t expect was how quick. 35:57. Bosh.

I am now broken.

@Spin how did you get on? I’m presuming it still went ahead, which it wouldn’t have if it had been Sunday.

It was a good day for it. Why do you think it would have been cancelled were it on Sunday? Wind?

It takes a lot for the Ben race to be cancelled, its only happened once to my knowledge and that was due to snow.

Evening all. It’s been ages since I posted here. Well done on all the running people.

I have been busy and doing a fair bit of running. I did the Lakeland 50 in July. I loved it and have just heard I have got into the Lakeland 100 for next year. Terrified. Anyone elsE doing it?

Not done the L50 or 100 – the numbers running put me off a bit! Next year’s biggie will be The Lap, though.

I’m coming back from a month off running after a small-ish calf tear, which was a bugger as I’d been running pretty well up till then. Did a leg of the Leeds Country Way relay on Sunday, about 10 miles of trail, paired with a guy from our club who’s a bit quicker than me. Suffered in the second half because of the pace, the heat and the lack of prep, should have asked him to rein it in a bit more in the first half. Got there in the end, 1:57 for 15-and-a-bit km was about as fast as I was capable of anyway!

The Glenmore24 took place at the weekend, with new course records for the men on both 12 & 24 hour events; 79 & 147 miles respectively by Billy Gibson and Paulius Peciura.  No new distance records for the women this time around,  although two, Fiona Rennie & Lorna McLean used this event to complete their 100th ultras.

Conditions were mostly hot, dry and windy; the latter so much that 4 event shelters/gazebos were demolished, although that’s a fairly common occurrence up there.  Happy days…

That’s amazing lunge you must be well pleased with yourself.

Sort of looking forward to the autumn/winter running season though I do wonder if it’s getting to be a bit of a chore. I’ve run Manchester marathon something like 6 years on the trot other than the pandemic cancellations. And I’m only going to get slower from here…

@root-n-5th Well done on the Lakeland 50. I probably saw you at some point, I did the 100, my first one. Thouroughly enjoyed it and got round in 30 hours, so pleased to complete on my first go. The completion rate for the 100 was just over 50%…

The atmosphere and support along the route was amazing, by far the best event I’ve done. The whole of Ambleside was out to cheer you on. And the checkpoints, highlight was being served a chocolate milkshake in the dark at Buttermere by Freddie Mercury. Also smoothies at the Kentmere checkpoint run by Montane team.

The start line with the opera singer (Nessum Dorma?) and then AC/DC Thunderstruck was immense, getting goosebumps just thinking about it. Worth having a look on YT.

I’ve just had confirmation I’ve got a place for the 100 for next year : )

I need something to enter, have pretty much stopped going to the running club and now I’m only doing the odd 5k local loop to keep my eye in. Trouble is most things seem like entering for the sake of it rather than because I actually want to do it at the minute.

I’m most tempted to aim for the 100km version of the 50km I did but then that’s 9 months away so no real sense of urgency to start training for it!

I have still not managed to run (in well over a year) partially because I am worried my knee injury which doesn’t seem to have fully cleared up will flair up again and partly because I have now found other things to do to keep fit. A change in circumstance means I should now be able to do Saturday morning parkruns again, and my daughter has decided to start running before school (about to start a PE GCSE so wants to get her fitness levels up further) so I think it’s about time that I at least try it again – it will be nice to have something to do with her 🙂

Sort of looking forward to the autumn/winter running season though I do wonder if it’s getting to be a bit of a chore

I like the autumn/winter part of the year, but then I kind of like the cycles of the running calendar.
Autumn is marathons, Snowdonia for me with a half thrown in as prep.
Winter is XC, hopefully in good form off the marathon training.
Then into spring and it’s marathon season again. London this time.
And that leaves you fit for a summer of 10k’s and trail races.

All require different kinds of work and are different kinds of events so it keeps it fresh. Just as you’re getting tired of the longer stuff you can start going fast again.

Good morning all,

I need some advice please. I have the Great North Run this Sunday and I’m currently suffering with pain in my left knee.

Bit of background. 38 years old, 82kg and generally fit from a cycling perspective and do quite a bit of resistance work. I have NEVER liked or done much running at all my entire life.. never done a race before and all training has been solo.

Training started in earnest maybe 5 months ago with purely 5k runs nothing more. After a few months I managed to get this down to the 25 min mark and then started longer runs with a few 10ks and then a 15k and then finally last Thursday a full 21km distance. In hindsight this was a MASSIVE error and I should have capped things at 15km this close to the race. Hindsight is wonderful isn’t it!? My thinking was that I wanted to prove to myself I could actually run the full distance at least once before the day. Anyway it’s done now and I can’t change it..

The day after wasn’t too bad.. I mean I was hurting and getting up and down the stairs was tricky but I was by no means immobile. On Sunday morning I felt like I could have went for a run but my left knee felt weak and some pain. It’s still hurting now, nothing bad but just a present dull pain which is worse after walking (did 10,000 steps yesterday with work, kids, etc. and was a bit painful but maybe a 2-3 out of 10).

My plan now is nothing more than generally staying active, walking, school run, some stretching, eating well etc. and just hope it feels ok on Sunday. I’ve been to the local running shop and bought a fairly robust knee brace, and also invested in some foam rollers. I’m seeing physio on Thurs (went for 1st time last week for bad back which is now fine!) but would really welcome any thoughts on what I should be doing between now and Sunday? Short of pulling out of the race (which I would be upset about as I’ve already raised a chunk of money for charity) my backup plan is to just head to the last wave at the start line and walk the thing.. reckon I could walk 21km in 4 hours ish..

Any thoughts and advice welcome.

Thank you

I don’t think going up from 15k to 21k was a mistake as such as the jump wasn’t massive (although you don’t really need to do a full race distance beforehand) – I think it was just bad luck that you have got an injury this close to the event.

Unfortunately, the chance of a physio being much help this close to the event will be small, but I would take the brace along with you and get their advice as to whether it is suitable for the injury you have.

Personally, based on your description of the pain level, I’d be tempted to just go for it and deal with the fallout after.

Finally – you should really do a taper run before the event – just a short 5k on Wednesday should be fine and that way you will get to see how the knee is holding up.

Good luck!

Why do you think it would have been cancelled were it on Sunday? Wind?

Yeah. I was just aware of how windy it was over here on Sunday.

Thank you @johndoh that’s really helpful. Good shout on focusing on suitability of the brace for the injury with the physio this Thursday.

Yeah I don’t think you’ve really done much wrong @nickewen, stepping up to the long run last week was probably a bit of a risk but it really should have been ok and you’re probably just unlucky it wasn’t. It sounds like you are basically doing things right, if you really aren’t bothered about the time but just want to complete, then take it nice and steady and perhaps put in a few walk breaks before you need to (eg at water stations, especially if it stays this hot). Better to pull out than suffer long-term damage though.

Good luck!

Oh, and watch out, you might find this running this grows on you. At your age I’d not run a 10k and didn’t imagine I ever would 🙂

Thank you @thecaptain that’s made me feel better that I wasn’t doing something too outrageous last week.. just moderately risky. Don’t think there is much chance of running growing on me.. I **** hate it.. said to my wife last night “never ever again”

<span style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-family: Roboto, ‘Helvetica Neue’, Arial, ‘Noto Sans’, sans-serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, ‘Apple Color Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Symbol’, ‘Noto Color Emoji’; background-color: #eeeeee;”>I like the autumn/winter part of the year, but then I kind of like the cycles of the running calendar.</span>

So do I, though for me it’s more 6 mo running, 6 mo off/cycling/jogging. Yesterday was a fantastic MTB ride round Ribblesdale. Glad I wasn’t slogging along with a run in this heat.

But still, after this many years, the winter is getting a bit samey, and I’m a bit more tired and slow. My most ambitious goal is “marginally quicker than last year, if that’s possible” and that will still be some way off my PB of 2019. OTOH a long run on a bright Sunday morning can be really enjoyable.

@doom_mountain. That’s a stunning time for the 100. A friend of mine who I consider to be much stronger and faster than me did it in 33 and that is a strong finish. I did the 50 in 14:26 which qualified me for the 100 so I probably didn’t catch you. Came in around 2:15AM I think.

What an event though! The goose-bumpage at the start of the 100 is massive and it’s like the UTMB! What a feeling. The 50 start was quite good but not quite the same. If people are worried about the numbers, I get it, but there is quite a lot of Lake District to spread people out. Some sections are on your own, others with groups. It does make navigation easier though as there is usually a light or someone to follow.

I’m very daunted by the 100, but I know my weaknesses after doing the 50. It’s mainly the hills! I’m just not used to climbing for an hour – coming out of Howtown up Fuesdale, my legs were destroyed and I thought my race was run after 10 miles. But, a minute over the top and I was running again. It’s those climbing muscles I need to work on to power me up the mountains. Nutrition too – I ate too much at the banquets and the stomach had a few issues. Felt very nauseous when I went into Chapel Style but got over it.

Usually average at most things, I discovered I was quite good downhill! Happily flying past people who were plodding down. It helps my cousin is a fell runner (who incidentally was one of the three people that designed the 100 course) and I’ve followed him on some runs – brakes off, brain off. Short, skippy steps, minimise ground contact, glide down. Love it. The last descent into Coniston is evil though – super sharp rocks and very steep on tired legs.

I need to get me some big hills.

Unseasonably warm in the Cairngorms so I got out early doors. First time I’ve done what I consider to be a “proper” mountain run. I say run, there was a lot of walking going on 😂

Littlehampton 10k for me and a couple of buddies tomorrow… not looking forward to the heat 🥵

Even cycling’s hard enough in this weather. Mind you it’s great to have a bit of summer at last.

not looking forward to the heat 🥵

Great North Run tomorrow and I’m no runner 🥵🥵🥵😬

Well, to all you runners, I tip my hat. Bugger me. GNR done. Very slowly, but done. It hurts. A lot. I am overweight; under-fit; and more than moderately broken with crap physical health, but I did it. It was ridiculously hot for the first 6 miles. Purgatory for the next 7 miles. And an extreme thunderstorm after the finish. What I really wanted to say, though, was, I was absolutely blown away by the generosity of complete strangers who’d spent their own money and time to provide sweets, oranges, ice pops (even beer – I would have collapsed taking one of those). The sheer volume of people cheering for, encouraging, willing on other complete strangers is something I’ve never experienced before. Amazing. I’ll be honest, I’m still a bit overwhelmed by it.

I’m glad I’ve done it. Albeit 30 years after @nobbingsford and I talked about it in the Brierdene pub whilst drunk. (He’s a ‘runnist’ BTW 😉). Hope anyone else on here who did it got on OK.

Yes , I did it yesterday . I struggled with the heat despite training really well for it . The encouragement and generosity of the public is overwhelming every single time . Yesterday was my 3rd GNR and fingers crossed I’ll be back next year . I’ve never seen so many people needing first aid ( including defibs ) on a race before . I’m guessing it was mainly heat related and I hope they’re all ok . We got back to the cars luckily just before the heavens opened but spent nearly 2 hours trying to get away from the area after the flash floods closed the metro and lots of roads