Running

My hot parkrun pacing tip: never follow the enthusiastic 14 year old lining up at the front. He'll go off at sub-5 minute mile pace. He's either a typical kid and you'll reel him in after he blows up on the first lap, or he's the local athlete and he'll carry on at the same pace for a sub-15. It's pretty much impossible to tell which way it'll go.

5k for me this weekend, but on the track. 5,000m British Masters' champs (over-40) in Birmingham on Sunday. Just hope this niggly cold clears up.

Update to my ankle issue - it's now painful to the point that I didn't sleep much last night and I can't walk properly. Maybe I should go and see someone about it...

Amputate before it's too late!

Just shy of 23 miles this morning, now to eat all the things and watch the Tour.

I hate being injured, had to drive my wife to Tenby for a 10k this morning. Over an hours drive to stand in the wind and rain for 40 minutes, trying to look cheery watching everyone running one of my favourite races in my favourite conditions.

She got £20 for 2nd V45, so i'll have to put up with her crowing about it for days on end now as well. :D

Trying to follow Hanson's Half Marathon training plan, but struggling a little bit. My legs are feeling a little trashed and find myself running five days a week instead of the recommended six.

This could be due to me struggling a bit with the extra intensity and distance. However I'm also doing 45miles a week cycle communting on top of this (I've dropped one of my cycle commutes for a run commute). Should I bin the cycling altogether while I'm training ? Or can the two happily exist together ? I try to keep it easy when I'm cycling.

Commuting miles by bike will add to your fatigue and not much to your fitness.

Either ditch the bike, or ditch she of the runs.

I reckon Hanson's has too many sessions a week as it is, and just leads to fatigue and injury, without the commensurate benefit. YMMV.

A lot of training plans have too many runs per week for me. If you're active and have other sports you enjoy then I think the recovery runs are less important as you'll get everything moving when you do your other sports. I can't be running 5 or 6 times a week. I cycle most days, keeping it easy stops me getting tired but helps with loosening everything up and getting the blood flowing. I do yoga a couple of times a week which again gets the blood flowing and the stretches help loosen everything up even more.

If I tried to follow a 5 or 6 run a week training plan I'd just be trashed so I go for 3 runs a week (one of LSD, tempo, intervals) as my "training schedule".

I think a lot of training plans are designed for people who are only running and some recommend that if you're doing other activities then you can drop the recovery runs and do that instead.

Parkrun on Saturday was good. I came 20th out of a field of about 350 with a time of 20:54, and 5th in my age category. For someone who doesn't really think of themselves as a runner, or especially fit, this is pleasantly suprising. 1st place was a sickeningly fast 15 min something!

A sub 20 min 5k is something that I consider really fit people/good runners able to do, so to come within 1 min of that after a heavy week (legs were definately nowhere near fresh at the start line) has made me think "maybe I'm alright at this running lark".

Obviously I now want to go sub 20 min, but I think I'll have to limit my parkrunning because running an all out 5k every week will probably not help too much with marathon training. Maybe run to parkrun, around course, off into distance and back home will help though?

My girlfriend and son came along and she said she'd happily go to another as the atmosphere was really friendly and inclusive, double win!

I go for 3 runs a week (one of LSD, tempo, intervals) as my "training schedule".

Same here.

Also, I would probably get really bored of running if I was running an easy run every other day.

When I was training last year, I did something surprisingly similar- run four miles to local club nice and steady, six miles flat out with the group, two pints of beer, and a very happy, if wandering, four miles back. Then eat everything.

I tried again. read the Tough Mudder chapter, moderately interesting, would make a decent magazine article. the next chapter has started with an over-written description of the countryside.

Does anyone want this book: Running Free by Richard Askwith? send me your address and it's yours.

@Arducius

Parkrun on Saturday was good. I came 20th out of a field of about 350 with a time of 20:54, and 5th in my age category. For someone who doesn't really think of themselves as a runner, or especially fit, this is pleasantly suprising. 1st place was a sickeningly fast 15 min something!

That's an excellent time Andy. Sub-20 is definitely within reach. From previous rides I've been on with you it's obvious you have a great base fitness and your interval sessions seem to be paying off. How lumpy/muddy is your parkrun course? On a pan-flat road course you could probably scrub a minute off that time.

Thanks. On the bike fitness isn't anywhere near where it was (just don't have time to go out for 4-5 hour rides anymore), but running fitness is way above where it used to be*. The course at Newbury is pretty flat, and all on gravel paths. There are a two fairly short uphill sections (not actual hills) about two 3rds of the way around but apart from that it's all flat and fairly straight too.

* I seem to have come back stronger after my undiagnosed knee pain, interval sessions are definately making a difference. I've been doing 2k warm up then 1k on 0.5k recovery over 10-12k total (including warm up) which seems about the right balance of knackered-ness whilst still being able to go at a good pace over the last couple of intervals.

I'll give it a go if no one else has claimed it yet?

@Arducius

I've been doing 2k warm up then 1k on 0.5k recovery over 10-12k total (including warm up)

What kind of pace do you aim for on your 1km intervals?

It's not very sophisticated, generally go on how it feels (legs/heart/breathing) as I don't have a posh running watch or anything like that to tell me how fast I'm going (and phone app is a bit rubbish/erratic for current pace) and aim for a faster-than-cruising pace that I feel I can maintain. They normally end up being somewhere around 4:15-4:30 per km.

If interested I can send you a Garmin FR50 that i'm not using anymore? Not exaclty posh, but better than lugging a phone around.

That would be awesome!

Askwith books are great

@Pifko go running in your lidl flyknits and give the running massive a review

Slowest parkrun ever.

48.22

But one happy 5 year old.

First run since Etape & alpine silliness. Calves tightened up about 4km out of 10, agony running up hill. Never happened before. Proper slow but finished the run.

Is it normal for your hands to swell up while running? My right hand keeps ballooning.

Minor hamstring strain (properly diagnosed thanks to free physio consultation), right at back of the knee.

Prognosis: Amputation, or if lucky, just two weeks off, 30 mins stretching a night, 30 mins a day contrabathing (fancy term for alternating warm/cold packs) and head to the gym for hamstring strengthening.

Luckily this (almost) coincides with a 2 week holiday, so I will have a 13 day gap between 5-a-side games and gets me out of doing any runs whilst in the Wall of Corn. Just have to get through another week and a bit (and 4 more games of 5-a-side which doesn't seem to aggravate it at all).

Also an excuse to use the work gym to help with hamstring strength. Any specific exercises recommended for hamstring strength? Gym has a reasonably comprehensive machine plus free weights and squat rack. Also suggestions for exercises (stretching) that can be done with no equipment (when on holiday, no foam rollers, etc) if that's possible.