The Annual Running thread – beginners/ultras/whatever

I just use my Garmin 1000 and the HRM.

I was Run Director for Oldham parkrun this morning. Which consisted of getting out of bed early, and heading to the park to confirm that it was, infact, far too icy to be able to go ahead. My running plan for the weekend is head out for a slow 10 mile or so plod tomorrow along the canal.

Seeing a proper [Sports] Physio is definitely the right approach I reckon.

I had this doing a Winter season on the snow in Canada:- Foam Roller, Lacrosse Ball, wobble board, stretching and strengthening exercises sorted it.

Cheers!
I’m back running!! Started doing some yoga and gone down in intensity,seems to have setteled down now.

Ajf – yeah right Marcus, number 155. How addicted to the dot watching did you get ? I’ve not long got in from the trip home and being allowed to sit with my feet up for a bit. Certainly a brutal event and not one to be underestimated. I’ve never feared for my life and / or fellow competitors in any other ‘ultra’. Just trying to make sense of all the emotions at he moment.

Congratulations. Incredible effort. I’m sure it will take several weeks to process the memories.

Congratulations! To do that distance in winter is out of this world!

And all my running plans for this weekend came to naught, thanks to a stinking cold. And I’d just got back into the rhythm after Christmas 🙁

That race looked, and probably was, bonkers. Seriously I think you have to be a little mad to do it. So well done all who did it (and those that failed to finish, which being the nature of the event in winter it totally understandable)

Makes my 43k over the weekend (2 days) in Yoikshires snow and gloom seem rather insignificant 😆

Well. I tried to run the Ashton Court parkrun course this morning, which basically involved walking up the hill, and then running back down it again 😆

Bloody well done! Yep I was enthralled by it all. You all looked a bit unhinged and kind of worried when I saw the competitors on the Sunday.

Some great races within races going on. The pointy end was a really interesting one and would love to see Jim Mann come back for another shot.

Some really tough conditions for you all! Cold, but seems to just get worse when you all got near Cross fell.

Thankfully its not on strava as that would really mess with our strava running club and make our weeks running seem a bit insignificant.

Would be really interested to hear your thoughts on it, once you have managed to gather them all.

I had thoughts about a ‘winging it’ Bob last year, ie not rehearsing it to death. But then I did a half distance/height thing with my intended partner and realised how far apart we were in fitness. I’d be in the 23:55 category on a good day and he just had too much in hand over me, to make it less fun for both of us. Did a leg on his attempt and stayed bang on schedule …he dropped me 🙂

Hello. My name is Matt. I’m 43.

Today I went to my first ever fitness class.

PiYo to be precise.

I thought it was a nice gentle combination of yoga and Pilates.
Transpires it’s a ‘pretty high intensity’ class, with lots of stretches. I’ve discovered what a squat feels like x100, how to try and get my leg past my ear, and what a downward dog is too. 😳

I’ve stretched places I didn’t know needed stretching.

I’ve even swallowed my pride and been only bloke there. Sorry about the sweating ladies.

A hint for anyone else – overconfidence leading to you running 4k there as a warm up is not to be encouraged.

😆

@stever – After last nights ‘discussion’ with the wife about weekends away to recce and train I was thinking if I could ‘wing’ a Bob. I winged a Fellsman in just over 14 hours last year but I think its the amount of hills thats the issue for me.

Will probably in spring take enough food stuff to do in one, plus a bivi bag and sleeping bag and see how far I get solo before resorting to sleep. That should give me confidence to have a proper go in Summer with a bit of proper planning/training.

Today I have just agreed to do the Marmot Dark Mountains race this weekend as a friends partner dropped out today. In the elite category it seems and thats another winging it affair. Should be good for it but 30+ miles in the dark around the peaty lumps of Bowland will be slow going.

@Matt – I used to be the only bloke at my yoga class apart from the teacher. I used to come out of that a wreck! Used to wake up the next day feeling like I had been hit by a bus. Its not easy!

Well I plan on going more – there’s a class twice a week at home and twice at workplace with same lady, so I I’ve choice and flexibility about when.

I’m only doing one a week though….you can’t make me…

Out of interest, how are you guys cleaning your trainers after running?

Just been out this afternoon and it’s been pouring down so mine are currently soaking wet and muddy. Is it worth just chucking them in a bucket of water to soak then drying them in the airing cupboard?

I normally just let them dry out, stick some paper inside and leave overnight then use a hard nail brush to get rid of excess mud..

If they’re filthy then i wash them under a tap with washing up liquid, then dry them over night.

Don’t think I do anything that others don’t do..

@ajf – I guess ours was as much a ‘piggybag’ attempt as a ‘wing it’ – we’d got 3 of the legs down between us and had support lined up that knew the rest well enough, but neither of us had covered the entire ground. I’d imagine it’d be frustrating to have the fitness in hand but be denied by slow nav. I’m happy enough winging it up to a point, eg Welsh 3k, but this was a wing too far for me! You’re way faster than me I think and stand a much better chance 🙂

Re: shoes. I’ve got 3 pairs on slow rotation loitering by the kitchen radiator. Used to just ignore them but now rinse through under the tap occasionally – the winter slop here does seem a bit corrosive.

Just got back from a trip over to Llanberis to run a couple of laps of the run course for the Brutal Triathlon (not including Snowdon, I’ll work up to that…). 10 slow miles done enjoying some surprisingly mild weather. Shoes are in a bit of a state but as far as cleaning them goes, I’ll let them dry out and then the mud will fall off next time I wear them…

did a 7km round that London earlier and got a helluva soaking in the process. I found the worse the rain got the more I enjoyed it 🙂

Will try the newspaper in the shoes tonight to see if that works as I’m hoping to pop out tomorrow for another little run….

I’m just groaning like an old man when I stand up or sit down today…

I am training for a 40 mile race at the end of June. Waiting for the route to be confirmed.
I am only running for 40 minutes comfortably so far so have quite a lot of work to do. I have been struggling to find a decent pair of shoes too. I bought some xtalons but they were so narrow I could not possible wear them for a long run. I would imagine they would cause injuries too.
It really is a lovely time of year to be running.

Hello. My name is Matt. I’m 43.

Today I went to my first ever fitness class.

PiYo to be precise.

Tried Pilates once, was basically an hour of trying to not to fart whilst being in positions that made my body want to get rid of excess air…

Richmond Park 10k for me on Saturday, Started running again on 30th of December with a 5km which left me in pain for a week. Did a 7k Saturday with only mild ill effects. Aiming for sub 55 min which I know is slow, would be delighted with anything sub 53.

Did the first of my ‘Half marathon or further’ races. I’ll be doing one each month for the year.

14th Jan Brass Monkey Half – York.

Got a PB so very pleased with that.
Ultimate goal is the Boston (Lincolnshire) Marathon in April.
I’ve got the Liversedge half and Retford half in Feb/Mar to contend with first.
I doubt there’ll be more PBs in those as they are not flat like York.

I only really started running in October of last year as I’d been advised not to ride after herniating a disc but my physio and GP agreed that running would OK and had been running 3 times a week since.

Come January I started a charity event called RED (Run Every Day) January to raise money and awareness for the mental health charity MIND averaging 5km a day for the first 16 days until exam stress from uni took its toll and I fell of the wagon.

Exams are over now which has afforded me a bit more time to get back out again which is great as I’ve been rather enjoying it and have plans to do a few more events over the year to continue fundraising.

Hopefully this isn’t too cheeky but please feel free to have a look at my Just Giving page and if you like leave a small donation 🙂

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/carlrichmond77

Good stuff stayhigh, well done.

Managed to take  80 secs off my previous 5k PB yesterday, down to a (still slow!) 22.56! I know it’s going to be tough, but I’m more confident now of getting down to a sub 20 at some point this year.

Go me! First sub 30min 5k today. In the p*SS*ng rain, dark, wind…

Off to QECP at lunchtime for a 20k hack, anyone fancy it?

awful weather, I could feel the rain running down my back…euurgh.

What watches are folk using?I just updated my FR10 with a new Garmin 235, and I have to say, I’m not massively impressed with it, same route it’s lost (or gained half a mile!) the screen’s too dark, the menu is un-intuative, and complex, the writing on the watch too small, and it wan’t reliably sync with the still crappy Garmin Connect!

balls

I had my longest run on thursday at 12.2km and today I got my first sub 30 5km at 27:19 😀  Tomorrow will be a gentle pootle as my legs feel like lumps of lead now.

There is a local half marathon coming up in March which would give me around 7 weeks to train for it.  Too short notice or crack on?

Well I managed a 30 minute walk yesterday just. My 15 year old dog was having to wait for me and I collapsed with exhaustion when I got home. I’m still eating pretty much everything I see and fall asleep whenever I sit down for more than 30 mins. I think it’s gonna be a good 8 weeks before I run even gently again. Glad the rest of you are still getting out. What’s all this cleaning trainers about ??

The big question is what next ?

Well duathlon training is leaving me tired, but in a good way.

Rode to park run (only 4 miles) do the run, ride back attacking the hills and keep high(ish for me) speed on the flat, home the run another 4k.

Last run was awfull, got home and ate for 20mins 🙂

Have trained pretty hard this week with 5k’s imediatley followed by turbo trainer intervals. Cant wait for the rest day.

Anyone do the QECP trail run this morning?

It was rather busy 🙂

stayhigh, 7 weeks should be plenty of time if you work on increasing your run length, add 2km each week and you’ll soon be there.

Did my first long marathon pace workout today, went ok though it’s always difficult both to choose and to hit a pace this far out from race day (10 weeks to Manchester marathon). But a useful long hard effort anyway.

The big question is what next?

Keep going by making it interesting…

I’m currently deliberately running different routes in different bits of town and fields.
Trying to pluck up courage to do a park run thingy.
Making note that my belly *is* shrinking.
Planning on riding my bike more.

Completed the elite course at the Marmot Dark Mountains race this weekend. 37 miles of bogs, heather and hills. I think I totaled about 2500m of ascent. To make matters worse, you start at 7pm at night and run through the night. Not bad considering I only knew about running in it on Tuesday.

Its gps tracked and will be given my trace soon so will get that on strava (or it never happened) but in meantime http://live.opentracking.co.uk/darkmount18/

[quiote]<span style=”background-color: #eeeeee; color: #444444; font-size: 12.8px;”>Trying to pluck up courage to do a park run thingy.[/quote]</span>

There really is nothing to be scared of, a more inclusive atmosphere would be hard to imagine!

In my case, another weekend wasted. Last weekend was manflu, this weekend I’ve been busy throwing up. Getting bored of this now 🙁

There really is nothing to be scared of, a more inclusive atmosphere would be hard to imagine!

This!
You’ll find people there who are twice as quick and who are twice as slow. You’ll be unlucky to find anyone who isn’t welcoming and supportive.

10 miles on Saturday morning in the wind and rain at 8:45ish pace, felt pretty good and is my longest run of the year so far. Legs felt a little heavy yesterday but oddly 25 miles on the road bike helped clear them a little.

Got a 10 mile muddy off road run this Sunday, couple of 5k’s in the week will hopefully prepare me for the fun, that and a heavy session on the beer on Saturday night…

Been making use of the treadmill while away with work. Doing different interval sessions, both speed and hill based. Will try get some proper hill runs in when Home.

Just joined the waiting list for the ring of steall race too. Giving a target for the year.