Running

I'm OK at running with a hangover, so I can probably run Thursday morning - just not so keen on running the morning after a long evening run. I have a vague recollection that you're supposed to run the day after your long run for some technical reason I've forgotten...

I think I now have 3, I can't find two though. The one I do have did for 10 of them but two just wouldn't shift.

There're plenty of times it's no fun being a skinny rake, e.g. the windchill yesterday had me racing in merino ls + a gillet under my club vest. It was that or hypothermia, I warmed up after about 35mins but never got uncomfortably hot. #noinsulation

It depends how conditioned you are to long runs surely? Is 16 "normal" at this point or a big stepup in distance?

e.g. the windchill yesterday had me racing in merino ls + a gillet under my club vest.

#whatwouldklsay

I'm meant to be doing a 10k at the end of January. I haven't run for years and my base level of fitness is pretty poor due to far too much time travelling with work in the past six months (no exercise and eating out every night isn't a good combination).

Any tips on the best way to train for this? I'm not expecting anything too impressive,, just attempting to avoid it being too embarrassing at the end of Jan.

Personally, I'd build* to comfortably be able to run 8km distance continuously.
Do an interval session once a week to work on speed.

*various theories on this, but I would class this as your longest weekly run being no more than 10% more than previous week. Other use weekly total distance instead of long

I know. At least my lower half was almost appropriate with shorts, ruined by using ankle socks though.

@tricitybendix how long is your ultra and how far through your training cycle are you?

When I was training for ultras I did back to back long days at the weekend as I felt it was less damaging than doing a single mega-run and I was still carrying the fatigue between days.

If you have a good base then don't worry about missing the odd day. There is more to life than running, enjoy some Christmas stuff and missing a run or two won't make much difference to your training.

What @Pifko said, or try following a training plan. There are loads online, I used a Bupa one when I went from no running to 10k. I tweaked it a bit around my schedule but stuck to the distances/times and it was fairly straightforward.

Cheers, so the suggestions are generally to build up the distance then.

After years of trying to run half marathons but never actually succeeding due to repeated knee injuries, my GF has found the Hal Higdon 10k plans to be good so far.

Again tweaked to fit around her schedule and she swapped one of the runs for an extra ride but they seem well explained and decent.

http://halhigdon.com/training/51121/10K-Training-Guide

Hal Higdon plans are very good I think. I used the "Intermediate 2" plan for my first marathon. Fairly straightforward for when you're building up mileage, nothing too complicated so you can use it as a template, and spice it up with the odd tempo or interval session once you've got some fitness going.

I'm 4 races into a period of 6 cross country races in 7 weeks. Fourth in the Kent County Vets (over-40) on Saturday, so just outside the medals (81 runners) but we romped away with team gold (four-to-score). The wind was epic.

Thanks, the Hal Higdon one looks straightforward enough and I conveniently have 8 weeks until the 10k. Not sure how it will tie in with a week of drinking and eating over Christmas though!

Just had a read and I'm quite tempted by the 'Marathon 3' plan on there as it includes in some cross training. Having done as much swimming as running this year, and 4x more time on the bike than swimming and running combined then that's quite appealing.
Last month the longer runs have been 13, 10, 13, 13 milers so I should be able to slot in to the plan...

for 10k training you can bang out the sessions before breakfast over christmas, there's nothing like being the only person at the dinner table who went running that morning when it comes to asking for extra cake at the end.

13Miles scheduled for Xmas am and a Boxing Day 10 TT the next day for me. I get all the food.

Thanks for this and other replies. It's occurred to me that jumping straight into an ultra training plan when I haven't really been doing much (/any) running recently may not be that sensible so I've decided to wait till after Christmas for anything longer than 20km. Otherwise it's going to eat into time when I could be stuffing my face with wine and mince pies.

Would still like to hit 200km during December though.

Yes, the plan will be some early morning runs during Christmas. Although being at my parents' house which is 2 miles up a 6 mile hill will make it a bit more painful.

I decided on a training plan for London Marathon yesterday, it's an 18 week plan which means I start on the week commencing 21 Dec! Fortunately Friday (xmas day) is rest day but it's going to be difficult to get up and go running on Boxing day.

Early mornings are normally taken up by nappies, clothes, breakfast* and the days are all going to be various family things... Might have to just slink off at lunch when everyone's focussing on food!

* Cue "and then the baby wakes up" jokes

I picked a 16 week plan but then extended it back to mid November taking into account current weekly distances. Holidays running plan goes something like the attached. Will need to be inventive as going to my parents for the new year and don't know many obvious places to run around there (most roads have no pavements) but staring at OS maps should solve that, there are some quiet farm roads I can bash up and down a few times if all else fails.

Most of the tempo/interval stuff disappears for a couple of weeks, but I can still put in the miles to keep the legs ticking over.

Cols are: Date, comments, weeks to go (Brighton Marathon), what, how fast for intervals, distance, weekly distance in km (Mon-Sun).

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I always run on Christmas morning, thinking 20k should cover it this year, leaves me feeling chilled and guilt free all day, I plan to have the day off on Boxing Day though!

Christmas Eve is usually more messy than Christmas Day for me, so I've been more inclined to run on Boxing Day than the day itself. However, I may have committed to doing a Xmas day parkrun at Hilly Fields this year. Not sure it will be a PB somehow.

Started using spotify on my commute runs- totally decimated my PB's. I thoroughly recommend it if you have reached a performance plateau.

Running feels good at present so thinking ahead for events, with a view to doing something a bit different.

Have ruled out:

http://www.marsdentoedale.co.uk way too soon.

http://www.dpfr.org.uk/pages/view/skyline not got enough nav / AL experience.

http://www.ultrarunningltd.co.uk/green-man-ultra.html too early in year

http://www.hillrunner.org.uk/info2.cfm?info_id=218855 been told too expensive 'if you got ill and missed it'. still tempted though, maybe 1 of the 5 as a taster.

Lots more to consider, looking at ending 2015 with Bow Stones 11km Fell Run in/above/around Poynton. Beer at finish for all finishers.