Thanks for the gift ideas.

Any books that might be relevant?

The Running Man?

Google’s only giving me young, handsome Arnie. Was that a gag?

Clearly a bad attempt at one, yes 🙂

Arnie wasn’t sure either.

😀

@chakaping

Vassos Alexander’s books are good easy reading.
Bella Mackie’s is good too, though it more running for people who aren’t runners.

Nearly December folks

That means marcothon.

Good motivation for cold winter nights.

Hoping my foot heals in time…..not overly confident in it but here’s hoping.

Vassos Alexander’s books are good easy reading.

Yep, second that recommendation. A simple guy out for a run…

@turboferret Good going for 10th with a buggy though. Wish I could do that sort of time without a buggy!

Here’s a controversial question. I’ve got a charity Santa dash next week. 5k run then I’m joining the family for a 1.2k walk afterwards. Now, do I “race” the 5k in my full Santa suite? I reckon there might be a few competitive dads taking part. I’m figuring if it’s 300 people, then 75 will be Runners and the mums will probably stay with the kids, leaving about 35 dads. I tend to always be slightly above average in most sporting events (unless it’s football) so would be looking at maybe a top 10 finish. Sad, I know, but it’s for charity and we have a fair bit of sponsorship, so got to make the most of it.

You can never tell who’ll turn up at a race, even a Santa dash!

Today’s race was great fun – I’ve done it 6 years in a row now, and there’s nothing like playing at home… The promised mudfest didn’t happen, it was blowing a gale but never rained, perfect temperature and the sun even came out at one point! A fun 16km race, with some great downhills and tough climbs: a perfect start to the weekend 🙂

NOt heard or Marcothon – I might try that!

New mud shoes were great yesterday. For the first time I could run downhill, uphill and around corners without fear of crashing out. Could really lean on them and just run. It was V muddy. A revelation they were.

XC race was brutal as I was feeling rough with a cold, but pushed through and came fourth for team, albeit 4 minutes down on 3rd place man! One fast guy didn’t turn up. Faded in last half lap probably due to feeling ill. 36:53 for 7.84km so happy with that in the mud.

Did Harrogate parkrun on Saturday – it was miserable weather again and it’s rapidly churning up yet more of the Stray which has been battered with the Worlds and more recently the big Bonfire Night event. It was sketchy to say the least especially on a couple of corners (which can normally taken at speed but were almost walking pace to carefully navigate them) and a couple of sections where it was so boggy the suction of the mud almost had my shoes a couple of times. There’s going to be little hope of getting a decent time this side of next spring now and the rain forecast for later this week is going to make things even worse.

QECP was “squelchy” quite a few MTB’ers out in the drizzle on Sat, very quiet today in the torrential downpour earlier..

Inov-8 X-Talon 200 recommended. I was taking sloppy corners at normal speed with little or no slide. Straight through ankle deep mud without a worry about the heel slipping. Feel like proper mtb winter tyres strapped to your feet.

Inov-8 X-Talon 200 recommended.

As I was running in the gloop on Saturday I was thinking I need trail shoes but I don’t really do enough distance off-road in the winter to justify the outlay. I might just avoid the parkrun until we get a spell of drier weather and just stick to road routes.

Been looking at that elevate App and there’s loads of lines that I think i’ve got the hang of. Just wondered what others fitness score is coming in at? I’m currently on 13.1, up from 4 in August. Not that it means much but it’s good geeky data.

Had a near miss this morning like the bloke who left some of his scalp on the bridge a few pages back.
Came flying down a hill, thick gloop at the bottom, slipped and just missed the corner of a wall with my forehead. Now in pain as I threw my arms out to counterbalance and felt something stretch in a bad way!
What helmet for trail running…

Checked Strava and noticed 2000km all off road have just ticked over for the year, and a hair off 80k of climbing. Not bad for one’s first year (with about 2 months nursing injuries…)

Any exciting weekend plans?

Unexpected parkrun tomorrow for me as missus has flu and we’ve had to cancel a weekend away. THere’s a new one just started about 400m from our house so I’ll go along and show my support I reckon. Won’t be breaking any records after a filthy cold all week though.
Then prob a club run on sunday morning.

Any exciting weekend plans?

parkrun tomorrow so it’ll be 4 miles up there either way then the run. Helping out afterward doing some barcode scanning as well.
Not sure on Sunday, could help at Juniors but not sure yet.

Flying to Milan very early for a Christmas thing with our staff so no running for me until Monday. Hope you all enjoy.

Flying to Milan very early for a Christmas thing with our staff so no running for me until Monday. Hope you all enjoy.

Might have heard that mentioned on another thread 🙂

Run with a couple of mates up a mountain tomorrow, nothing serious though. Should be fun.

Did the Harmeny AC7 half yesterday. Quite simply the most enjoyable race I have ever taken part in. Colder than a witches tit and as icy as anything but stunning. And to my shame; there were a lot of proper fell runners there( vest top and shorts so small a testicle was dangling) but one fellow member of the 100kg ish club had turned up. To quote a couple of pages ago “ he was in a race without realising it.”

Hmmmm…

Entries opened for Arran Skyline and the smaller Tarsuinn races yesterday. Fancied the bigger race but it’s a very early start, meaning staying the night before in a BnB – I’m not up for camping any more.

With entry costs and accom, talking 200 quid really, mibbe just stick with the shorter race again.

These views will soften the blow somewhat…

If you’re mad enough to want to do the Arran Skyline, Greg, I’m sure we can put you up for the night so you can get that early start.

Any exciting weekend plans?

Went windsurfing on Sat, QECP yesterday… and almost hurled.

It was hard going.

Has anyone had any experience with the trainasone app, I have entered the Bungay Marathon (April 2020), and I am considering using this app as a training program.

I am reasonably fit, having run a 10k race last weekend (46mins) and I did an easy 20k yesterday without to many issues, so I should hopefully be ok for a 42k by April.

I ran my first “ultra” just over a week ago. Loved it! Well i’ve forgotten the pain and discomfort now so not sure I loved it at the time or not…. I’ve got my eye on some more for next year though.

It was a pretty small low key event, only 30 participants running from Marsden to Edale in the Peak District. The route went over Black Hill, Bleaklow then Kinder Scout and came in at 44km with 1300+ meters of ascent (so just over regular marathon distance).

My longest trail run before this was about 30km so the plan was to finish and not come last…. Somehow I managed to rock up 4th overall with a time of 5hr 48min. Well chuffed! I had no idea what position I was in until I got to the last aid station, I was 5th at that point and fully expected someone to appear from the mist behind at any point. Fortunately they didn’t and I spotted the guy in 4th up ahead on the last descent down Jacobs ladder. I managed to catch him at the bottom where he told me he was feeling it! I decided to deploy some mind games at that point as I too was ruddy knackered and didn’t fancy a sprint for the line. He asked how feeling and I was and I was like “yea i’m pretty good actually….” (I really wasnt). I managed to open a gap of about 100 meters quite quickly on him. That gap then remained in place for the final few km on what felt like the slowest race on earth to the finish.

If you’re mad enough to want to do the Arran Skyline, Greg, I’m sure we can put you up for the night so you can get that early start.

Lol, cheers Marko!

My (perhaps skewed!) logic is that the Tarsuinn this year wasn’t too bad, so Skyline should be doable. Also worked out on Tarsuinn and a couple of other races this year that runners who are faster than me normally perhaps don’t fare as well in the mountains, tbh I think hillwalking is great training for the likes of this.

Hmmmmm…

Nobeer,

Did you get an invite to enter the Arran races at a reduced rate?

I got an email from SI Entries offering me an ‘invitation’ to enter at a 34% discount. I wondered if everybody got one or whether it was just me as compensation for dicking me about last year!

Cheers.

tbh I think hillwalking is great training for the likes of this.

If completion rather than a fast time is your goal that is spot on.

No Spin, twas only those that did the longer route that got the discount sadly.

Ah right, so everyone who did the longer race got a discount, wonder if it was because they cut the route last year?

They’re not getting any more of my money anyway!

Some great runs going soon here. Most of my running seems to be struggling up and down the A217 with the occasional foray into a muddy field – living the dream!

First time on a bike this Saturday gone – a lap of Swinley on a retro bike with a load of retro blokes. Here’s what I thought would happen:

1. Legs would feel it as bike muscles not been used for a while.
2. Backside would hurt the day after.
3. I’d feel sprightly on the hills due to losing nearly a stone since the summer and doing running intervals and XC. V02 max has gone up and I can push myself further than only three months ago.

So, off I went, keeping pace with the 2 fast guys up front, blast up the first hill, and here’s what happened:

1. Legs felt it as expected – the burn!
2. Yes, my backside hurts today – no suspension, 26″ wheels and anti brakes make for a lively ride.
3. Felt like absolute crap, lungs burning, gasping for breath, felt like I was going to die after one hill that I used to zip up on the single speed – proper oxygen debt, almost scared at one point Felt like an unfit old man and by the end I was pooped – a full 21Km of riding on what isn’t the most demanding of terrain. Maybe I was expecting too much?

To be fair, I did keep up with the middle of the group and wasn’t the slowest, but I was expecting to feel fit and sprightly. The wind has been taken out of my sails a bit and I get the feeling old age is coming at me head-on, and I’ve got nowhere to hide. If I can’t hide, I’ll just have to keep running!

XC racing always hurts IME. Was it an official retro race or a mates’ event? Sounds fun anyway.

Back to running, I have decided to enter the Wigan Half Marathon in March – which means I have a little over three months to train for it.

Currently running 5km once a week or so, and have done a couple of 10km runs – though the last one caused some knee pain. So I’m thinking to do two or three 5km runs a week over the next month or so – then increase the distance again. This seems to be in alignment with a training plan I found on Runners World.

Any thoughts? And also with regard to integrating training with cycling?

Long slow runs, forget your pace and times, time on your feet without bursting yourself will help the knee IME and will give you confidence to do the distance.

Variation, get some trail runs in, some hills, tempo runs, intervals etc.

A half marathon can be winged, a marathon less so, you’ll be fine.

Thanks, one of my workmates is signed up to a (different) half marathon in March and we were discussing pace yesterday.

I feel like I only have one speed (which feels slow-ish) and Strava says my runs are mostly 5.30 to 5.50 (mins per km).

I can’t really do trail running from the door this time of year (too sloppy) but another running pal did suggest heading up the local hill (much better surfaced), does that have benefits beside being less boring? Will it strengthen my legs better, for example?

Definitely will help, both up and down. Up for obvious reasons, but learning to run downhill on the hill races I’ve done more efficiently has definitely helped me in road races too.

As for your pace, that’ll come the more you run.

I do 90% trail running on pretty hilly terrain (Peak District) and whilst I find I’m getting quicker up and down the hills it hasn’t done much to my overall pace on the flat.

Keeping it simple I think you need to do a lot of what you want to do faster in order to go faster.

I think strength from hill running does translate into the ability to turn a hard gear on the bike up steep hills and vice versa though