Our office did today – three of us in running kit sat having a cuppa rather than going out on that ice.

Yip. How’s training going anyway Spin, On plan?.

2nd c25k tonight. all good again. weather horrible and pretty much dark as I got out of the woods. should have taken a head torch.

parked at the pool we use and ran from there straight into the woods. finished me run and straight into the outdoor hot tub. what a luxury. sat there listening to the scrum v rugby podcast. kids at home with the missus. bliss.

seemed to be less stiff after my run than before it?

Well, I had a bit of a hissy fit last Thursday after attempting my ‘normal’ 6km loop and getting a really sore IT band/knee after only 2km in. Cut it short and came home in a grump.
2nd shortish run in a row where it flared up after only a short distance..

Also ran both times in compression tights I got for Christmas so wonder if there’s a link there.

Decided to redeem myself on Saturday and headed out on a short local loop that I could easily cut short if needed.
My IT band was loads better, there were times it started aching and then it would go, come back, go etc. but it never got to be actually painful, so I just kept going.
I ended up doing 14km at around 5:15/km pace, which I was pretty pleased with.
I had a very achy IT band/knee for 2 days afterwards but have just carried on stretching it out.

I’m going to see a local bloke on Thursday who is supposedly good with sports injuries. It’s only £40 for a session, so I thought it was worth it to see if he came up with any new ideas about how to sort my IT band/knee out. Stupid bloody thing!

So after two weeks off on physio advice due to possible shin splints I can run tomorrow! I need to be sensible about this and take things easy for another couple of weeks and have been thinking walk 5mins, run 10, walk 5 for my next 3 runs and if pain free run for 15 mins the following week. Anything different I should be doing or a better way to build back up?

Sound good, only you will know when you’re going too hard, best of luck.

@stayhigh similar here, physio has me doing ankle strength work which feels like it’s made a difference quite rapidly. Balancing on one leg with a tennis ball under ball of foot. Repeat with ball in different positions, under heel, instep… Meanwhile I did similar to you, alternating walking and running. I can walk to work (10km cross country), mixed that with some mountain trails where some sections are unrunnable (for me anyway) so forced to walk.
Early days yet but certainly felt a lot more confident on Sunday with foot placement, fairly techy trail, lots of step downs, jumps etc.

Our office did today – three of us in running kit sat having a cuppa rather than going out on that ice.

I bottled it this morning, and I’m quite pleased I did. Lots of patchy ice on the pavements, and the streetlighting round us isn’t brilliant so I’d have struggled to pick out where it was. Had a long walk into work instead and still nearly managed to go arse over tit crossing a road!

2nd c25k tonight. all good again. weather horrible and pretty much dark as I got out of the woods. should have taken a head torch.

parked at the pool we use and ran from there straight into the woods. finished me run and straight into the outdoor hot tub. what a luxury. sat there listening to the scrum v rugby podcast. kids at home with the missus. bliss.

seemed to be less stiff after my run than before it?

Good job! Can’t beat running in the woods at night.

On another note, I think somebody a while back mentioned Hoka shoes – SportPursuit have a few different styles on offer, seem to be quite well priced and a good range of sizes. Not sure how I feel about the ultra-cushioned style, but I’m tempted to give them a go – my current shoes must be 9 years old, although they’ve not done a vast amount of mileage.

Signed up for a half marathon last night, down by the coast near Alicante in March so the weather should be reasonable. Rashly put the 1:15-1:30 start box on the entry form, so I suppose that’s something to aim for 🙂

Had a glorious run last night. It’s pretty snowy in East Lancs at the moment so ran over to the pub to lead the club run. 8 of us out for the headtorch run. Chose a route that I knew would give us chance to charge down long snowy fields, screaming like little kids. Loads of fun. A couple of pints and a chinwag after and then ran back on my own via the scenic route over the moor. It was wonderful. I ran with my headtorch off for a while just to savour it more. It’s just so satisfying running in deepish, untouched snow.
https://i.postimg.cc/63n79prJ/snow.jpg

my current shoes must be 9 years old

Bin mate, they won’t be doing you any favours, you’ll notice an incredible difference in a new pair, get on sportshoes.com, you’ll get a very good pair for £50.

Yeah I probably should do – but every time I look there’s such a baffling array of technology and styles to choose from, plus sizing I get all stressed out and think ‘these’ll do for a few more miles’ – which they probably will, I’ve only run maybe a couple of hundred miles in them over the years, if even that.

At least buying a bike I know what I like!

Nice and refreshing this morning – plenty of ice about, but not cold enough to be properly frozen. A thin crust of ice before dropping through to mud/water wasn’t great for some of my route…

A tempo run on slushy snow in Paris last week was quite interesting!

I did buy some Saucony Razor Ice shoes recently which have some magic vibram bits on the sole which are supposed to be great, not tried them yet, hopefully get the chance soon 🙂

I got a pair of Inov8 Arctic claws for £50 in Pete Bland’s sale at the end of 2017 thinking I might get the odd run out in them. We had snow on the ground near us for a month and I used ’em about 3 or 4 times a week! Just the job on ice. Very confidence inspiring. Not used them so far this year as it’s not been icy enough yet. (Kiss of death).

Yeah I probably should do – but every time I look there’s such a baffling array of technology and styles to choose from, plus sizing I get all stressed out and think ‘these’ll do for a few more miles’ – which they probably will, I’ve only run maybe a couple of hundred miles in them over the years, if even that.

If in doubt, buy a pair of Nike Pegasus. They’re not 100% perfect for everyone, but they are a damn fine shoe that suit a heck of a lot of people. If you think you need a bit more support then the same applies to Nike Structure. In time, you’ll develop preferences and know what does and doesn’t work for you. But until then, a pair of Peg’s will likely be fine and certainly a lot better than a 9 year old pair.

Cool, I’ll have a look for some of those. I just worked it out and I’m pretty sure I had these shoes when I trained for a 10k in 2011, so yeah. About 9 years old. I should probably treat myself.

And try on a few sizes, not just what you think you are.
I need about a size bigger for running shoes than normal shoes.

Currently wearing Pegasus one size bigger.

If you have one of the shopping outlet villages near you, most have a Nike store, some Adidas and ASICS too.
You can try loads on and get about fifty to sixty percent off last year’s model.

And if you do go for Nike, they do a “shield” Pegasus that s a bit like winter tyres for your feet. Bit deeper tread, more reflective, bit warmer, and water repellant.
Got some for 40 at the outlet and should have got 2 pairs.

Well, shit just got a bit more real. Entered Man v Coast. Bye bye roads (not really). Hello trails. 😀

Guid stuff Ciaran!

And try on a few sizes, not just what you think you are.
I need about a size bigger for running shoes than normal shoes.

Currently wearing Pegasus one size bigger.

If you have one of the shopping outlet villages near you, most have a Nike store, some Adidas and ASICS too.
You can try loads on and get about fifty to sixty percent off last year’s model.

And if you do go for Nike, they do a “shield” Pegasus that s a bit like winter tyres for your feet. Bit deeper tread, more reflective, bit warmer, and water repellant.
Got some for 40 at the outlet and should have got 2 pairs.

I agree with every word of this. I wear 46 in normal shoes and 47.5 (12’s) in Nike runners. I also agree that the Shield model is a revelation, though I don’t like the 35’s as much as the 34’s.

Either way, if you can’t get to a shop, a pair a Pegasus, perhaps a size or a half size up, will likely sort you out.

Aye, half a size up for me, for the feet swelling.

We don’t have a big outlet that close to us, but I’ve a day out in York in April and there’s one there so I might leave it till then.

How’s training going anyway Spin, On plan?

I’m ready to go, just waiting for the weather / conditions to play ball. I decided pretty early on in preparing for this that I was only really interested if sub24 was a realistic possibility. I think it physically is but looking at the other 3 sub24 winter rounds it will need really specific conditions. Jim Mann and Donnie Campbell did it with pretty much zero snow and John Gay did it with good cover of hard snow. Anything else is going to result in either more than 24hrs or a dnf.

If it doesn’t come together in the official time slot (by end of February) I’ll either ‘just’ do a winter Tranter round or wait for good conditions and do a ‘winter condition but not officially winter’ Ramsay Round.

Cap doffed sir, Best of luck.

Cheers. Fingers crossed! Either way I’ve done some great training and had some brilliant days out.

I got on sports shoes.com and picked up some Salomon sense ride non goretex for £66 or something. Had to size up a whole size which surprised me a bit as I usually size up half a size only in Salomon walking shoes.

Sportshoes are excellent, only downside is they use my bastard Hermes.

Daft Q maybe, probably overthinking but at what temperature do you get the tights out?
I am going to visit my dad tomorrow where there forecast is -5º, a good 10º colder than I’ve run in before. Wanting to get a run in on Saturday morning but I only own porn shorts.
I could use my bibtights (like running in a nappy) or legwarmers (fall down) I suppose, or just HTFU? Got plenty of upper layers.

For me around 3-5 degrees I reckon, but my knees seem to suffer when it’s cold so I err on the side of caution.

Daft Q maybe, probably overthinking but at what temperature do you get the tights out?

I have a set of compression leggings – yeah, I know, they do **** all etc – but I wear them pretty much all through late autumn into winter. I don’t like proper running leggings so the thin compression layer works well under my normal running shorts.

Depends, high tempo runs, I don’t bother, longer slower runs, if it’s very cold, then I will.

Ooft.

Finally took the plunge and joined a running club!. I assumed, wrongly, that it’d be kinda elitist, but been taking my daughter along for a couple if weeks, and it’s great!.

Yours, Nobeer of Seaforth harriers. 😂

Glorious winter weather for us on Saturday. A mate and I did an 11km’s of a well used fell run route a few miles from home. Felt the benefit of losing 5kg’s and properly enjoyed running on crisp and powdery snow. The boggy section was of course frozen which helped a lot but even so, I reckon I was 7% quicker than when I last ran the same route in June. Awesome views of the Lakes massif. Loved it.

Nobeer, as the Chairman of a running club can I say – you’ve done the right thing!

Aye, really looking fwd to it sparkles, particularly getting some track work in. We’re getting a new facility next year too, so good time to join I reckon.

Run the blades ultra (50k) looking like Mrs and I are gonna go for it. 😁

What Mr Sparkle said. Been a club member for over 40yrs. The support they provide particularly for younger athletes is worth the subs alone. I am actually a member of 2 clubs (4 if you count the FRA and NVAC) but the local “harrier” tradition is what its all about.

First commute of 2019 this morning, in fact, first cycle of 2019! Further confirmation of the power of running fitness, I only ever go sub 30 mins if I have a big tailwind and put a decent effort in (it’s 8.5 miles, but lots of furniture and a fair few crossings/junctions) but was sub 29 this morning, and never above threshold heart rate either.

Happy days. 🙂

Yeah doesn’t work well for 24 hour training though. Running up to 20km prior

Did 14.5 hours at top end of Z2 .

Mangled my back.

Still can’t beat time on bike for time on bike.

Just getting back to the grind now after letting my back muscles recover.

Just got the email to say I haven’t got a ballot place in the Great North Run 🙁
And neither has my wife! She has a charity place application in as well so that may come good, but raising enough sponsorship for two places seems like a bit of a stetch.

Same here:( Hopeful of getting in on a charity place though. Last time I did it was 13 years ago!