Running

Bit of a distasteful question - when running at threshold I find that my mouth gradually fills with saliva, and that I have to clear this by swallowing. During the swallow I breathe through my nose, but find that (when absolutely flat out) this is enough of a drop in oxygen intake to have an impact.

I don't really want to gob on the floor - partially because it's uncouth, and partly because as I've never done it before I might end up wearing it.

Any other solution?

accidentally bought some x-talon 212s for £65

I hate it when that happens!

The money just fell out my wallet, honest guvnor!

Considering how common the snot missile is, I wouldn’t worry. I mean. It’s minging. We all feel guilty doing it. But come race day, it’s a common occurrence. Admittedly it’s a lot less of an issue on the Fell vs in the city.

The thought of snotting/gobbing on a stranger by accident makes me shiver though!

Spit, I regularly come back from runs covered in dribble. I usually try not to actually spit on people, but I live in the countryside so spitting on the floor or myself is probably ok.

Calves are really tight this morning - slow 10k with some music, or rest day?

+1 You have to spit and snot-rocket as a runner.

I'd say slow 5k with some music. If you're having to ask, I'd say that's usually a sign.
Also, in response to your speed question, have you tried interval training?
I used to do it years ago before I got in to running, then I took up running, and stopped the treadmill interval training. Now I've combined them both in the last 3 months, and my speed and fitness is getting better and better.

If you're having to ask, I'd say that's usually a sign.

Last night I couldn't walk, this morning I'm ok - hence wondering.

I'll try a sloooooow run out, I've got a route that I can run either 5 or 10 on, both loops, so will do that.

I noticed on my run yesterday that the 4th Km was the slowest, the 5th the fastest - guessing that's fatigue building and then the excitement of pushing to the finish?

Spitting and snorting and snotting at races / football / sports are fine. Direct it accordingly.

Today: just go for a walk.

What’s your approach to intervals on the treadmill? Pace, incline, repeats etc.

Asking as I’ve just joined a gym and i’d like to work on my form and fitness and this feels like a good use of my time in there.

Ouch, that was tough. Went through the first half faster than my HM pb then negative split for the second half.

Very lethargic yesterday but I chained vit C + zinc followed by a bedtime lemsip. This morning popped anoth vitc tab in my energy drink (disgusting). Tummy was REALLY bad before the start and uncomfortable throughout but was running well and felt relaxed.

At 10k a club mate caught up with me and we stuck together for the next 20k. At half way our club captain caught us prompting a slight pick up in pace and so we had a good little group going on. With 10k to go our group fragmented and I decided the pace was a bit rich so let our captain go on ahead and slowed by 5secs/km. I just about held a consistent 4:20/km for the final 10k and began recatching my captain with 5km to go and passed him with 3km. 2km to go I got terrible tummy cramps but just about held on.

I don’t know the official results, but Garmin time is 3:03:09... almost an 8min PB, maybe 12mins faster than last year.

Conditions gloriously cold in the morning and lovely sunshine towards the end. Pretty happy with that.

10 minute warm up at casual pace, then 15x30 second intervals, 30 second sprint, 30 second stopped, at max on treadmill (20kmph) or whatever you can manage, at an incline of 3.5%. Play around with incline to whatever suits.
It took me a good month of going every couple of days to finally manage a full 15 intervals. Heart rate shoots way up and it's an absolute sweat box. I thought I was fit before intervals, as I ran 15km every 2 days, but nothing compared to intervals.
Body fat has dropped, VO2 Max has improved loads, my hill climbing on long runs has improved, overall base speed has increased, and I feel fitter than I ever have in my life.
Basically, improvements all round. It's hard work, you'll sweat like fuck, but you'll run better because of it. Worth it

Half term next week which means an easy week (parenting and family visits take over from the usual routine).

Have nicely ramped up running in the last 4 weeks (30 mins extra each week) and parked the swimming for a bit as I've no more big events until next year. Cycling more in order to help lose the weight.

Running intervals will be my reward for getting under 90kg (mid/late December).

(On top of this is 1h40 - 2h20 of 5-a-side football a week. Not even I Strava this.)

So 30 seconds flat out to standstill for 30, back to flat out, standstill/repeat?

Ah I didn't realise anyone else from here was out there. I was on leg 3 acting as a lead weight for our nav expert. Got a bad lumbar pain last week so switched off our leg 2 thinking we'd be moving slower on the nav but apparently not.

Think we were 30-somethingth on our leg and 40-something overall, not bad for a southern team.

Yeh, or reduce speed for 30 and up again for 30 and repeat for 15. 15 sprints, 15 stops.
I stop for 30 so I don't have to constantly fiddle with the treadmill and wait for it to speed up or slow down.

Running the race to the stones next year (100km trail run).

Need some new shoes for training which will mostly be long towpath runs.

My current shoes are saucony guide 8s that are knackered but have seved me well.

Any suggestions for something that won’t break the bank but will give me a comfortable and supportive shoe for runs up to 50k?

My recommendation;

Saucony Xodus Iso 2.

The Saucony Xodus Iso 3 is not long out now, so the Iso 2 will be reduced in most places.

I've had 3 pairs with a set of Hoka speedgoats in between, and went straight back to the saucony.
Done a lot of running on trails and roads in each pair. Pretty supportive and cushioned for a trail shoe. A bit on the heavier side, but unless you're racing, that might not matter.

I did the Ridgeway in Nike Peg 33s, got them for about £38 from a Nike outlet - road shoe but with a bit of tread to shed mud, perfect for towpaths.

The outlet store in Hackney? They’re not cheap online as far as I can see.

Look like a good shoe though.

I like the idea of sticking with saucony as their fit seems to work for me.

Guess it might be difficult to find them in shops if they’re discontinued. Would like to be able to try them on.

If you have a Run and Become anywhere near you check them out.
The store in Edinburgh still carries them with a discount.

Just had a look at the splits for the Fell relays. Looks like I gained 30 places while descending - that's more than 10% of the field!

In other news, I need to go uphill faster.

You'd love this. A mate informed me of a big marathon PB achieved this weekend.

No fucking shit you got a PB: