Running

Not just the Manchester Marathon for those 3 years but a load of NW races were short too:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/36259171

"
Courses are measured using a bicycle fitted with a counter to calculate distance by the turning of the wheels.

However, the course used to calibrate the bicycle wheel was short by 0.5%.
"

They obviously need a marathon length piece of platinum-iridium stored somewhere safely in France to do the proper calibration.

As others said 30 mpw not a bad place to end up, was where I was at when I last ran a Marathon.

I think Hackney was too long by about 800m. @HatBeard did you get the same from your Garmin?

Has anyone ever experience foot size change from running. I've been running almost consistently since January. My current runners used to have a Cinderella fit but they feel really tight now. I bought another pair (in the next year's model but same series) thinking that they may just be old and they were as tight.

I've been reading contrasting views on the subject online some people saying they definitely grew half a size, others saying they shrunk and a few saying nothing happened. What do you guys reckon?

My feet are smaller than they used to be. Not sure if it's specifically running that's made the difference or being several stone lighter, but I always used to be a size 10, now I wear a 9.

I got 13.1 on the dot.

When you start running, foot size may go down as your feet get less fat but then up again as your foot muscles expand. It generally evens out to the same size.

GPSes aren't very accurate for recording distance covered. The accuracy errors don't even themselves out, they generally accumulate.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-running-blog/2016/apr/15/course-accuracy-why-your-gps-watch-isnt-infallible

Very long shot:
Does anyone out there have some Brooks T7 Racers in UK9.5 that they would like to sell me?

I think this is what I'm going to try. Get some podcasts lined up, pockets full of snacks and then set off for a long day. Then at least I won't be so scared of the mileage and can be scared of other things instead.

Running is a very personal thing- so my opinion/ advice should be taking with a massive pinch of salt.
I'd ditch the tech completely- when I used to run with music/ audiobook/ podcasts- I found that if they got too interesting/ boring/ slow I fell out of my natural running rhythm. And though its difficult weaning yourself off them for the initial few runs- the reward in headspace is amazing. I reckon this was one of the 3 or 4 things that made me enjoy running.

Half agree half disagree - I found podcasts for long slow runs a great help to distract, especially if the distance is the thing you're having trouble with. Couldn't listen to them for intervals or hard runs though. And never music but that's just because I find it has an artificial effect on my pace.

Cricket or football commentary on the radio is about all I can listen to when running. Most of the time there are no matches on when I want to go for a run so I go headphone free.

Need to go to a running shop and try some of the bone conduction headphones, they should be good for cycling too.

Wimbledon Common Half on Sunday. Haven't done much running since Brighton and kicked someone's foot at 5-a-side last night. Will probably end up treating it as a long slow training run (which is no bad thing in itself).

Running home yesterday I felt absolutely empty, happened to be passing a bus-stop at the same time that a 185 pulled in, and literally ran onto the bus (around the 6k mark on a 12k run home).

I feel a moderate amount of guilt today, and will run home (virtually) ironing my hands.

Come the weekend I am thinking of running the first part of the South Downs Way, which if it's sunny will hopefully be glorious.

The key thing is not to get dependent on headphones, as you won't be able to use them in races (yay for DQs!)

It's all horses for courses. I use music when running in town, nothing when running in the countryside. I find that hard, driving, rhythmic music (metal, rock, hip hop) is great for keeping you pushing for hours on end - it's just drippy stuff that makes the pace drop (trying to push up a hill to one of Nick Drake's more sensitive moments doesn't really work).

Never tried podcasts, but may give them a go for longer runs. Feel I'm getting stupider these days, wouldn't mind a bit of learning while I'm running.

Is it worth doing leg weights at the gym to help with hill running, or will that Just add unnecessary weight?

I find that doing strength work at the gym along with running makes me shed weight - start of the year I was 82kg with a 36" waist, I'm 76kg with a 31" waist now, ~3 strength sessions in the gym/week, and trying to do a number of 10k+ runs/week.

Damn man! That's some good weight shedding. What sort of weight do you do in the gym?
This time last year I was 93kilos, a bit of it was muscle, now I'm 79 kilos.
This was with a lot of gym work, HIIT and watching what I eat. I've actually gained another kilo in the last 3 weeks, but hey, it was my birthday.

Not enough it would seem- commute-fail again today, at 4km when legs became inoperable. I shall take tomorrow off running.

Woke up yesterday morning with a stiff and very sore knee, presumably from martial artsing on Tuesday night. Ran 11.5 mile fast run last night like an idiot and woke up with a much more sore and much stiffer knee.

Racing at the weekend. FANTASTIC.

11.5k run commute two days after giving blood; that felt sluggish. But, having survived, it means I should be fine to plod round the HM at the weekend.

Rode a bike today, it's much, much easier than running.

I might take tomorrow as a bike day as well, then Park-Run on Saturday morning and HM on Sunday, does that sound like enough time for my treacherous legs to recover?

Have fun weekend racers.

Met some cows on this morning run, they're hard to get past.

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