I done the Buff winter trails (half) event yesterday at Coed Y Brenin.

My third go at it, and I love it. 2:43 and generally never seem to get much faster.

Still… I see it as a training run- doing my first Ultra this year – Lakeland Trails 55k in June so just getting miles in now .

Good stuff Si!

Ended up doing half of my 10k on Hampstead Heath today – man it’s hillier than I remember! Was supposed to be relatively easy today, but my calves were burning. Really plodded up the hills to keep HR down.
Also ordered some new shoes as I don’t think my £30 New Balance jobbies are going to cut it.

Having completed a couple of events recently, I wanted something healthy and nutritious to eat afterwards that wasn’t going to undo my physical efforts. I’ve made the below and thought I would share. It is very tasty and I think ticks the healthy box even if a little calorific. I would be interested to hear what others have post event to see you through until meal time. Really quick and easy to make.

Walnut and banana bread.

Oil for greasing
2 ripe bananas
3 eggs
110g almond flour
1 and half tablespoons honey
70g walnuts roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 200c
Mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork
In another bowl whisk the eggs, add the flour and honey. Stir in walnuts and banana.

Put into 20×12.5cm loaf tin.
Bake for twenty minutes.
Remove, allow to cool and turn onto wire rack.

Nice with your favourite jam and brew after dinner too.

Sounds nice, though I crave savoury food post events tbh.

That sounds great, might have to give it a go some time. Might be good post ride too.

NoFearOnTheBridge, what were those NB trail shoes you’d almost convinced me to buy before?

I went out for a run today, ran across a bridge and thought “oooh, I’m sure there’s a trail that runs by the river back towards home down there” so off I went. Probably not a great idea to run it in the pissing rain in road shoes. I was slip-sliding all over the shop and had to use grass and branches to get me up some of the steeper sections. Coming down another long steep grassy bit, a chap at the bottom walking his dog said, “you looked like you were skiing down there mate…” 😂

My first properly muddy trail run in ages. Absolutely bloody loved it. Really nice change from pounding the roads, albeit getting used to seeing slower min/km times popping up on the watch. But never mind – it really was fun if a little “whoah – don’t go twisting an ankle out here…” My training partners and I are on the verge of signing up for a 23 mile off-roader in Cornwall in July (Man Vs Coast) so I need to be doing a bit more off road stuff heading into spring.

I’ve been using Brooks Pure Grit shoes for my trail runs – they’re quite low drop, 4mm, which I prefer. Nice and grippy but feel very firm on tarmac so for me not that good for 50/50 tarmac/trail runs.

It’s nice to mix it up with a few off road runs though.

Phew.

It’s been over a week since I last ran as I put my back out (pulling my sock on no less. Yeah, I’m a wreck) and with impending baby I don’t want to take any chances with incapacitating myself, so I waited ’till it felt healed then gave it a few more days to be on the safe side.

Anyway, I managed to get my socks on this morning with no untoward effects, and apart from it being very chilly (round about 0 – 1* according to the forecast) managed to have a pleasant, if unremarkable run. Which was pretty much what I was hoping for.

I consciously took it fairly steady for the first half mile or so, then eased up the effort a little bit as I got more into my stride. Overall pace was 9:48/mile which is not where I was before I stopped but it’s not a million miles off. Hopefully subsequent runs this week (assuming Mrs Monkey doesn’t go into labour) should be able to up the pace and maybe distance if I can be bothered to get up early one morning.

I set off for a 10km yesterday and ended up doing 10 miles at just under 9 minute mile pace. Nothing special but my target for the GNR in September is sub-2 hours so pleased with progress this year.

I am at the end of a block of training pretty much every day for the last month so wondered what my approach should be until September. Fewer runs but better quality? i.e. a Parkrun, one interval and a longer one thrown in now and then? I need to get some bike miles in the legs before an event in April so I need to juggle things a little.

By the way, that was my first run with headphones and it was a bit of a revelation. I need to curate a better playlist though. Struggled to keep cadence consistent.

Darcy, the NB have been relegated to fashion duties, struggled in the slidey stuff, got a pair of asics fujitrabuco which are decent on tarmac too.

I set off for a 10km yesterday and ended up doing 10 miles at just under 9 minute mile pace. Nothing special but my target for the GNR in September is sub-2 hours so pleased with progress this year.

I am at the end of a block of training pretty much every day for the last month so wondered what my approach should be until September. Fewer runs but better quality? i.e. a Parkrun, one interval and a longer one thrown in now and then? I need to get some bike miles in the legs before an event in April so I need to juggle things a little.

By the way, that was my first run with headphones and it was a bit of a revelation. I need to curate a better playlist though. Struggled to keep cadence consistent.

Honestly, just being able to run 10 miles (or 10k!) is pretty special when 4 miles is a struggle. And let’s be honest, there are a lot of folk to whom the idea of running 40 meters is anathema, so just by getting out and running you’re already doing pretty well.

That’s what I’m loving the most about this thread – some of the stuff people in here are doing is just way beyond what I can imagine doing, but running 10 miles in an hour and a half feels like something that might maybe happen one day if I keep putting the miles in.

On headphones, I think I’d struggle to run without (though I do have a really, really dull local loop). I tend to listen to podcasts rather than music though today was the end of Mayo and Kermode’s film review show.

I went for a bike ride last Monday. It wasn’t particularly cold wet or windy but the barren landscape and leaden skies threw the switch in my brain that says ‘enough’ so I’ve started running again. It happens every year around this time.

I’m a big unit and usually run 10-11 min/miles in full ‘Rocky’ mode. This winter I’m not going to measure anything I’m just going to plod round according to how I feel and keep telling myself one day it’ll be warmer. Good luck everyone

FMC: Thanks. 6 month ago I was doing 30 min 5ks and to be honest, yesterday was the first time I’d actually felt like a ‘runner’. My background in more in football, then MTB and road biking so not what you call a typical runner in terms of physiology. Shifting nearly a stone has helped me no end.

I need tunes for running though I think. Is air guitar frowned upon whilst running?

By the way, that was my first run with headphones and it was a bit of a revelation. I need to curate a better playlist though. Struggled to keep cadence consistent.

I love running to a musical beat. If you need to do a better playlist, you’ll need to know what cadence you want to run at first. This will be equivalent to a BPM for a song. If you use a bit of google-fu, you can find looooonnnnnggg lists of songs at certain cadences – say, 150-160, 160-170, 170-180 etc. At this point you just have to start going through the list and picking songs you like then setting up a Spotify (or whatever) playlist.

If there’s a song you heard while running and thought, “yeah, that was perfect for me” then download a BPM counter app. Play the song, tap your fingers on the screen to the beat and after 15 secs or so it’ll settle on an accurate BPM count.

IIRC, Spotify also has a bit where you can start runnning and it senses your cadence and plays you songs roughly relates to your other followed artists and/or library. I found with this that I just ended up ff-ing through most songs but occasionally it threw up a song I really liked.

So, it’s a bit of work, but it’s possible to set yourself up a playlist of songs you like at a BPM you run at. I’ve found it a big help to getting my n”natural” cadence up into the mid 170s. On the downside, I’ve become a little dependent on it.

Is air guitar frowned upon whilst running?

I’ve been caught hand-dancing to The Pointer Sisters “I’m So Wxcited” by some walkers who appeared around a bend. 😂

Any runners here visited a podiatrist? I’ve got a couple of pain points on my feet and figured they may be the people to see rather than a normal physio. Wondered if anyone else had needed to visit, and if so, was it any good and what should I be asking?

Is air guitar frowned upon whilst running?

I’ve been caught hand-dancing to The Pointer Sisters “I’m So Wxcited” by some walkers who appeared around a bend. 😂

I have definitely indulged in air drumming whilst running.

I like the idea of setting up a BPM related playlist, might be an interesting way to set up intervals as well. A few folk on here have said once you’ve put a few miles in and running becomes more natural it gets a bit easier – at the moment I get really bored running, and need something to listen to to take my mind of the relentless plodding, hopefully I might reach a point where I can daydream a bit more and maybe then music will work better.

Biggest ever week of running (173km) followed by running quite a bit on snow in Paris for a few days and I have a bit of a sore left Achilles. Was supposed to be racing the Southern XC Champs at Parliament Hill on the 26th, but wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea. Warmed up, then thought I’d start and drop out if I was in pain. Started really steadily, and on the 3rd lap was in my stride and making progress through the field. Unfortunately I lost a sprint finish with a Ugandan Olympic 800m runner, finishing 49th. Not necessarily unhappy with that given how conservatively I raced, and much higher up the field than I’ve ever finished in this race before. Hoping that I can work through a sore tendon without dropping too much mileage. 13 weeks until London!

(173km)

Are you Forrest?

I have a bit of a sore left Achilles

Jeez, if any normal person had run over 100 miles in a week, they’d be a throbbing, broken wreck. RICE and a massage I guess. Well done on the result. Sounds like you were in good company.

My training partners and I are on the verge of signing up for a 23 mile off-roader in Cornwall in July (Man Vs Coast) so I need to be doing a bit more off road stuff heading into spring

From what I’ve heard of this race .. Hills lots and lots of shortish, very sharp hills should be in your training program.

Good luck

Top work TF – I often find a conservative approach plays to my strengths and I get stronger (maybe I just maintain and others drop off) towards the end.
Only a meagre 68.5 miles for me this week, I doubt I’ll get to 100 mile weeks but hoping to get into the 80s and see how I fair.

Good luck

Cheers man. Never run more than a half-marathon before so it’ll be a test of endurance for me. However, got the best part of 5 and a bit months to prepare so no excuses if I go into it unready. It does seem a lot of it will be short sharp semi-scrambles and some cliff-jumps. Should be good fun and a tough test at the same time.

I did a bit of the North Cornish Coastal path last year. Just run up and down steps. Lots of steps… It’s beautiful but has no flat.

In terms of music, I can highly recommend Trekz Titanium bone-conduction earphones – you can still hear ambient noise.

Lunge – another option rather than spending £££ on bespoke insoles, if you haven’t got any biomechanical issues, try some maximal padded shoes like Hoka One One – I now run with far less muscle pain since switching.

DD – having run a fair bit of the Cornish Coastpath – if you can’t run steep off-road, then running up and down lots of steps as it’s lots of small steps, elevation and working on having ‘fast feet’.

5 weeks into my programme and managed 23 miles of trails in 3:30 with a fair bit of climbing yesterday – encouragingly, no lasting pains considering I haven’t run this far since 1992. Seriously looking at some trail ultras to enter. We’ve just rescued a 14 month-old Labrador who is full of beans and I’ve just found myself a new training partner

Did my first couch to 5 K session yesterday evening despite bitter icy wind on the ridge I was run/walking on. Managed it OK. been for a swim today to loosen up a bit.

Not run for years.

Well done burko73 mate, good job.

been meaning to do it for ages but just got on it yesterday. felt ok. will see how it goes. not had time for the bike much as 4 yr old and 8 week old are keeping us busy! been doing a bit of swimming, 1K a couple of times a week but could do with kittening up and losing a bit of weight.

Nice one @burko73, keep it up and let us know how it goes. If nothing else the cold weather is good for making you go faster to keep warm!

Burko, nice one. Let us know how you get on.

Stick at it. As I’ve said earlier in this thread, I could barely do the end of the road when I started c25k.

I’m now running 3-4x a week, usually about 5k with upto 10k on a nice day…

It’s worth the hard work, it really is.

Nice work burko. Stick at it – it gets easier.

It’s weirdly addictive too.

On a side note, do any of you guys use Sweatcoin?

Another vote for Aftershokz Trekz bone-conduction headphones. I have the Air as they were about 6g lighter than the titanium 😀

Certainly didn’t sweat much on my gentle run this morning!

Well that was mental!.

Had a 2 hour window after work, wee yin at brass band, wife out with friends, decided to go for an easy paced half marathon.

I’ve never seen as much ice in one place. Got to what I thought was gonna be my bail out option, the pavement by the A77, it was flippin mental, couldn’t walk on it, never mind run. That was 6.6 miles in, so I was forced to turn back, and ended up doing the half anyway, at a very slow pace!
Character building. 😊

Ha! Sounds like a proper adventure.

I’m debating whether to go out tomorrow morning for much the same reason. Normally I’d just chance it but I can’t really risk borking myself at the moment.

Biblical rain here in Basque. My usual 10km mountain loop is pure clag, the Walshes are getting some use.
Touch wood, I’ve turned a corner on the constant bloody sore, swollen ankle & Achilles tendons. Even thought I had shin splints at one point, but after hammering the ankle strength exercises and resting more than running, I’ve had a couple of pain free runs. Though, having hung up the bike since Boxing Day, I’ve lost a bunch of fitness and might have put a few kilos on. Very steep learning curve, this running lark.

I’ve never seen as much ice in one place.

I’ve had to use microspikes on my local trail run the last few days. I’ve never felt the need for them anywhere else ever but they’ll pay for themselves this week!

It was nuts Spin, I literally couldn’t go any faster than about 10 minute miles, at best!

I’ve been meaning to do some longer threshold runs tbh, had no choice today!.

Sometimes you’ve just got to concede to the weather!