The Annual Running thread – beginners/ultras/whatever

The above shoe advice just shows how important it is to try shoes on if you can.
I got my shoes from Advanced Performance in Peterborough who unfortunately are no longer there, but they used to do a gait analysis/treadmill type thing when buying new shoes.
I tried on a variety of shoes – Asics, Brooks, Saucony & Mizuno. Asics too narrow, but otherwise OK. Saucony & Mizuno just felt flat & uncomfortable – like they were already worn out, while the Brooks were like putting on comfy slippers and felt ‘right’ immediately.
My Wife got some shoes from the same place before they closed down & ended up with Saucony.

Good effort, pocpoc!

I did a 10k on Sunday. First time doing any running against the clock in years.
My legs aren’t really running fit at the moment, so I was unsure what to expect.
My expectation was 55mins would be achievable & anything under that would be a bonus. I ended up doing an official time of 52:13, which I was quite pleased with. Legs struggled with DOMS for a couple of days afterwards and felt tired from 6km onwards.
Get some more regular miles in my legs & I think 50mins should be achievable in the next couple of months.

I’ve got half an eye on training for the Great Eastern Run (Peterborough Half) in October. Last time I trained for it in 2019 it was cancelled as we all stood on the start line due to suspicious activity on the course, which turned out to be a false alarm 🤣

I think the shop in Cheltenham may still be there, but rarely go that way nowadays. Might be worth a trip tho to get some expert advice on ‘if you liked these, then…’ – those brooks I had did seem very comfortable, but everything I’d had before was nowhere near as expensive.

My only ‘other’ pair of running shoes are some cheap deeply ‘lugged’ higher state muddy something that are like a Maxxis Shorty for your feet. Amazing in the forest mud, useless anywhere else!

My legs are still tired from running downhill on Monday!

As a counter, I’ve had much better experiences buying shoes based on what strangers on the internet think than any running shop I’ve been to.

3 times I’ve gone for gait analysis and 3 times the shoes have been expensive and not very good. Brook Launch, ASICS Kayano and some kind of horrible Hoka thing.

I personally think there are betters ways.
One is that some manufacturers (Brooks, Hoka, maybe ASICS too) offer free returns on their shoes even if they’ve been used. So try some and send some back.

If not, do some research and pick up a 2nd hand pair or 3 on Vinted or eBay. If you like then you can buy a new pair and resell the old ones.

There are loads of tools online that you can use to work out what kind of gait you have. Combine this with some research on what shape foot you have and then go read some reviews.

Completed my first Ultra yesterday. The Kintyre Way 50k in very un Scottish like heat.

A deeply unspectacular time of 8hr 27, at least in part due to cramping pretty badly from half way onwards, and having to walk a good bit of the last 20km. The first 15km along the beach, with hard sand, soft sand, shingle, grass and rocky bits was a tough way to start.

Half my brain is now going ‘never again’ whilst the other half is trying to decide what to do differently next time.

Really nice friendly event, with lots of the proceeds going back into maintaining the trails.

I did get a prize for being the oldest finisher though, and I wasn’t last 😁

Bravo crewlie!!

had you run marathons before going for the extra distance?

Nope, well I did run a training hilly 42km 3weeks ago. That was probably a mistake 🤣.

Before I started training for this only really 5s and the occasional 10ks.

I had a rough time doing Leeds marathon today. I was on track to beat my time last year, felt much stronger, kept my heart rate in check despite mega start line nerves, and didn’t go out too fast. Coming up to mile 19 and started to get serious stomach cramp which scuppered things for me.

Never had cramps like that before. Still finished and didn’t stop moving (apart from having a piss and stopping to kiss my partner. These were separate stops)

@alex sorry only just seen this. I find them true to size.

3 times I’ve gone for gait analysis and 3 times the shoes have been expensive and not very good. Brook Launch, ASICS Kayano and some kind of horrible Hoka thing.

That pretty much mirrors my experience. The last couple of times I bought shoes at a shop they were great when I was walking / trotting around the shop, then absolute nightmares out on the trail. Cue the next 12 months just using them for short runs near home, ‘cos I paid a fortune for them and I’m not just going to throw them out 🙂  These days I’m sticking to Decathlon (Evadict) or La Sportiva Akyras if I’m feeling wealthy…

31km race today – harder than expected, as it was pretty hot and the uphills were pretty brutal. Great race, though, with some fun downhills and some stunning views. Definitely one I’m planning on doing again next year.

@spawnofyorkshire, that crap but sometimes it just isn’t your day. Did you change your nutrition strategy or anything like that for the day?

Well, I have been officially / unofficially signed off bike riding for the time being by medical professionals…or at least to avoid spending time sitting in a saddle. This is actually for a good reason as my SO and I are getting ready to start our first round of IVF treatment. The link is pretty debated between cycling and fertility in males I think, but as that’s what the doctor ordered I want to make sure I do not bugger ANYTHING up as we only get 3 free goes at it.

Obviously riding has been great for my mental health and a bit of an escape over the past few months of appointments etc, but I must admit I didn’t even think about that side of things!

So I will be running henceforth. I’ve always liked how faff-free it is but never really done it often enough to not feel like my legs aren’t going to shatter into pieces.

I am relatively fit cardio/lungs wise, it is just my legs that I am not fit. The first few runs I am always sore with actual niggly pain rather than DOMS and have to take it slow…haven’t quite figured out my warm up strategy just yet. I often feel best if I just start jogging rather than taking ages to warm up.

Do any of you follow Hironori Nakajima (Fitness trainer) on social media? He’s not specifically a runner, mainly, his thing seems to be using his body like a spring. But anyway, he does lots of stuff with stride length from very short to very long such as in this, I like this sort of stuff, I can’t do distance (time, lack of desire/dedication/commitment), so find experimenting with things like this quite fun (I stop somewhat short of going to the extremes that he does).

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6_LKz0ydPX

@elray69, you could do worse than start with Couch25k. It’ll feel slow to begin with but it allows your joints and muscles to catch up with your cardio fitness.

Having fallen out if the habit, I’m getting weight/strength training back into my weekly routine. Partly on the instructions of my physio.

I can obviously google and refer back to what I was doing up to early last year. I’ve a decent space and a pile of dumbbells up to 20kg (40kg for the pair).

I’m curious as to what other people are doing in the real world and if there something I should be doing I’ve not thought of?

Let me say straight away I am not a runner of distance. I used to be a decent sprinter but 400m was as far as I was interested in.

Today I’m doing my first half marathon (well second but that was by accident). At 54 I’m looking at about 2 hours but have riding the course I’m not so sure.

Manchester half tomorrow looking very rainy anyone else running it? 1st organised half in 12 years (have done 3 or 4 just while out running on a nice day). Thought my pb was from Rivington half 12 years ago but turns out I accidentally beat it during COVID so not sure I’ll beat that but all good fun I think.

Has anyone here raced any track?
I seem to have accidentally signed myself up to a couple track races, a 5000m and a 1500m, and wondered if anyone had any advice?
I have barely set foot on a track since 1995, but am, obviously, already looking at spikes on eBay!

I don’t race track, but train on one twice a week (and have done so off/on for about 10 years now). The only thing I can say is that it’ll hurt 🙂

Never used spikes BTW, and never really felt I’ve been lacking for traction. For those distances as a non-elite runner I find it hard to believe they’d make much difference. But then you are Mr. Shoes, so obviously you need some 🙂

@mogrim, one of the events is being run under proper rules so whilst I don’t need spikes I do need shoes with a stack of less than 25mm which rules out every pair of shoes I own bar my XC spikes. So yeah, new shoes!

Any recommendations for a decent knee brace? I’m getting a lot of pain on steep descents and with something coming up in a few weeks time I’d like to play safe with some protection.  Ta.

I think you’d be best speaking to a a good sports injury physio about the form that any knee support takes.  It’s impossible to recommend anything without knowing the nature of the problem and then how much support is wise.  Or even if any support is wise..

Has anyone here raced any track?

Yes lots but not for over 30 years…. I used to run anything from 800m to 10,000m even occasionally 400m relay legs. For 5000m I would just wear flats, dont worry about spikes you arent going to be cornering that quickly but it is good to be low down and not wearing a very cushioned road shoe if you can help it, tracks are naturally bouncy. Probably the same for 1500m unless you hope to be very close or under 4 mins.

Not posted on here in a while, but still running! Been dealing with a niggling hip flexor injury since May that’s been intermittently junking my lower back, but physio and sports massages have helped, along with downtime and a lot of yoga. Had a very mixed few adventures recently, including a 36 mile lapped Ultra (3 miles on the hour, every hour for 12 hours) a few weeks ago, and then at completely the other end of the spectrum, a 1 mile race last night.

Plodded steadily around the Ultra since it was just laps of Hyde Park in Leeds, only intended to get some distance in the legs. The Summer Mile last night was a bit more pressure since I did well at it last year, happy to say I knocked 30s off my mile PB to get 6:12.4 and second in my heat. They run the heats slowest to fastest based on your own predicted time, so it’s great to do a heat then grab food and watch the properly quick people race, think the overall winner did something like 4:38.

Surely we’ve all got bicycles to avoid the indignity and pain of running.

Not been here for ages. Hope everyone well and still getting out there.

I completed the Lakeland 100 2 weeks ago. 39 hours and 15 minutes. No sleep, two sunsets and two dawns. It was an incredible experience and I’m still in orbit. I didn’t think I could do it but people had belief in me and I did. Believe in yourself and anything is possible. Keep at it.

My 100km went to ratshit, missed the time cut at 65km because I hadn’t realised that was disproportionately tight compared to the subsequent cut offs which I was using to judge pace.

I was particularly annoyed because I was feeling absolutely fine and had most of the climbing done and dusted so was certain I’d have finished.

So now I have to try it again next year.

eek. that sucks. bad luck!

It’s that time of year again where I start thinking about my local 10km trail run in early November.

I was already trying to work some running into my week with one or two very steady 6km loops, but typical me/cyclist I managed to overdo it resulting in some tendon issues in my right knee.

Am doing some more strength work (all the usual stuff inc. wall sits as a precursor to body weight squats), and once I’ve cleared an annoying dose of (maybe) Lyme disease am hoping to pick up None-to-Run again as a ‘safe’ way to restrain myself until the legs are used to it.

Is a very frustrating experience to know you’re actually fit enough to enjoy the running you want to do but you’re too soft to do the runs you want straight away!

It’s that time of year again, the start of everyone’s favourite time of year…

So, who’s doing XC this year? And who will be at (last years) nationals in 2 weeks?

Not been in here for a while but thought I’d pop in since I’ve just done my first run in about six weeks… A mighty ten minutes, half running and half walking.

This is following physio after a severe ankle roll at the end of July (it looks like I’ve completely ripped off the ligament that connects the fibia to the heel on my left ankle, yay!)

Just a bit of jogging here still, one or two 10k fun runs to tell me how unfit I am. Still no plans going forward but I’m going on holiday where I should at least get a bit more exercise. Not sure about the durability of my knee, might be time to think about the long term.

Quick injury question, I’ve always been fit’ish, 19:58 5k time, steady 3rd CAT road racer etc, I pick up running off and in now mixed with the gym, I’ll not do anything daft but distances 5-20k I’d jog around fine – went out for a 5k slow jog a few months ago, pulled a calf muscle, fair enough, 4-6 weeks to recover building up to slow 5ks, then the other one went?? Same issue, I’ve barely ran in the 3 months since.

Strength work on the calf raiser in the gym needed? Maybe the gym stairs machine?

Just seems odd both have gone in quick succession

@lunge – I’ve not done XC since school.  Fancy giving it a bash this year.

Do you have to be part of a club to enter?

@scatch, I do calf raises and drops every day as about the only S&C I do. I started doing them as like you, I pulled a calf a few times and didn’t like it. No idea if it’s the answer for you, but it’s definitely worked for me.

@ChunkMorris, certainly for the league races you need to be a club member. XC is ridiculous fun, and part of that is running as a team.

Do you have to be part of a club to enter?

Its better as part of a club as @lunge says above but you dont always have to be. You can sometimes enter as a guest, look for your local leagues and just contact the organiser. If you are on the podium however you will not get the medal…

Thanks Lunge!

New to this thread – any tips for converting cycling legs into running legs?

My fitness is pretty good (I have run a sub 1h30 half) but I am struggling to run fast (sub 4min/km pace). I have identified a couple of possible problems – low cadence (I find it physically challenging to run above 165spm, even whilst at slower pace) probably as a result of overstriding, which is a result of using my quads to pull myself forwards rather than pushing with my glutes/hams. And secondly, tight hip flexors – again limiting my ability to push off and drive from an extended rear leg.

A lot of the running training plans are geared towards building fitness (eg lots of endurance work) but I don’t really need this, and running slowly doesn’t challenge my current form. I suppose what I really need is a combination of faster paced interval sessions with stretching and possibly some glute strengthening work too?

Any thoughts would be welcomed. And particular workouts/stretches/exercises that have helped you convert from cycling to running?

Good luck to anyone doing the GNR tomorrow. Have no fear if you are, I’ll be slower!! <wink emoji…cos, you know, it’s STW, so emojis…Shrug emoji>

Jamz, you can get your cadence up with a metronome (my garmin watch does that but back in the old days I bought a cheap mini one off eBay). Just one beat at a time.

I wouldn’t advise faster intervals etc until you are running with good form at slower paces. That’s like working with heavy weights before you’ve got the movements sorted.

@jamz ime by trying to run quicker you will engage the necessary muscles, i wouldnt overthink the form aspect. Set yourself the task of running a series of flat out sprints between say a couple of lamposts aiming to accelerate, reach max speed then hold for a few seconds before decelerating, do this a number of times until you feel you can’t hit a high speed. Do them on a slight downhill if you can.  Do them a couple of times per week and that should help.