Running

Goals for 2021:

• recover from various knee & calf injuries,
  
• regain cardio that has dropped off a cliff,
  
• get back down to a 21 minute 5k / 45 minute 10k, and
  
• knock out a Thames run of 50+ miles
  

Yeah, I switched from Tri club to Chorlton Runners. Are you with a local club?

Think someone on here knew about a charity along those lines, but being 8 months ago, I can’t really remember!

Edit: found the link!
https://microcosm.app/out/Kfvci

Goals for 2021:

• Focus on running for a year to see how good I can get at it if I really try
  
• Don't overtrain and get injured like I usually do
  
• Improve my time at the Hackney Half in May
  
• London Marathon or another marathon sometime in autumn
  
  

On another note, does anyone know if it's easy/a good idea to sneak into the running track at Finsbury Park? I need somewhere flat to do some speed runs and it seems like the best option but its always closed.

I believe that @BringMeMyFix sometimes trains there, so he'll possibly know.

@andyp @Scoot It’s not a good idea to sneak in. All our club’s formal training there has been curtailed again, barring small organised groups for the juniors; and we (the club) are working hard with other stakeholders to keep things COVID-secure and prepare for reopening as soon as is practicable.

For flat/measured training, alternatives regularly used by club mates are the cinder tracks at Regent’s & Victoria Park, or quiet residential pseudo-tracks like this one (AKA the Corbynator): https://strava.app.link/8O3A7eYzFcb

And also some 2020 highlights:
National xc
Crib Goch and Snowdon in August
An early Sunday run up Skiddaw in October
Unofficial road 5k pb in virtual national road relays

I'm technically a member of Chorlton Runners too.. although moving to Levenshulme / birth of second child / pandemic means I have been more or less completely inactive for a good while now.

You don't have kids at Oswald Road Primary School by any chance?!

Has anyone come back strong from sciatica?

This time last year I was training for an ultra and the plan I was following called for 5x5 minute intervals at 90-95% effort. I was near a track so I thought this would be ideal, it was my first time on one. Toward the end of the session I felt something go in my left leg (my inside leg on the track). After about two hours I could barely walk without tears, it was awful.

I didn't run for 6 weeks then managed to ease back into it and ran a decent marathon (for me) during 1st lockdown. I was so fed up of nursing it that I threw in the towel after that.

I miss it though so I did 5k a few weeks back but even with all this rest I could still feel it. Paying for physio will be a struggle at the minute (covid/furlough etc). Has anyone got any advice?

Thanks – thought that might be the case but wanted to ask in case informal visits were a thing during lockdown. Guess I'll go check out the Regent's Park track then, thanks for the tips.

I’m happy to report that after a fairly long off road run this afternoon the higher state soil shaker performed really well. They hardly collected any mud on the sole keeping the grip to the max. Really comfy too.

My only gripe is that these are a purely trail shoe. They’re fine running between trails. But I wouldn’t want to do a lot of running on the road in them as there’s not loads of bounce in the sole.

Ahaha I'm so sorry for suggesting the ridiculous July accumulator. Looking back I can't believe I did it. I was so broken by the end!!
I'm, erm, thinking of doing it again in February when it a) won't be 40 degrees, b) won't be 90% humidity, c) it's only 28 days and d) I have a week off work..........

Not sure I have advice as such but I had it many years ago. I wasn't running at the time but doing lots of martial arts. I saw an osteopath for a few months after but I think mine mainly healed up by itself. I think it was triggered by a crap mattress as much as anything. Generally stretching and doing core strength exercises seemed to help. As for medication I was given dicloflenac/voltarol (prescription only then) to help me to actually move. It took quite a few months to go away.

Edit: exercises 1 - 4 on this link worked for me: https://www.prevention.com/fitness/a20506161/5-stretches-to-ease-your-lower-back-pain/

Sorry to hear that. All injuries get you down. Is it definitely sciatica? I managed to induce something similar a couple of years ago. When you describe it everyone says sounds like sciatica but after a full assessment by a physio it turned out to be piriformis syndrome caused by a switched off glute and a friend of mine has been diagnosed with the same recently caused by a dropped hip and shortened muscle in his lower back on the opposite side and he was initially diagnosed with sciatica as well apparently they get confused often and and treatment depends on the cause. Once you've found the cause self treatment is ok on your own as it's mainly stretching and strength/activation work so no need for physio apart from the initial diagnosis. In the meantime strengthening and stretching exercises won't hurt and if your running maybe do loops so if it flares up you can stop straight away and avoid the long limp home.
Good luck with it 💪

2021 goals for me..

1,000km
10km PB
Run in a group again.
Keep my shoes clean/dry

Is it definitely sciatica?

Isn't Sciatica just a symptom? As in the root cause could be anything that causes back / leg pain.

Having a physio identify the cause & provide self-treatment is a sound approach though.

I'm can't see trying to diagnose it over the internet having much potential for success though, unfortunately.

Yeah of course all you'll get is suggestions on possible avenues to explore based on peoples own experience which will likely be totally different to the problems the OP is experiencing so unfortunately only a good physio can really help but tier 4 restrictions have put a stop to that for the time being so potentially useless advice from strangers on the Internet may be as good as it gets for a while but ultimately you may as well just Google why does my leg hurt?

My goals

1. Try and stay injury free
   
2. Consistently run five days a week
   
3. First half marathon
   

Goal for 2021:
Try and actually run again. I lost my mojo this year for obvious reasons.
Fingers crossed there’ll be some fell races to enter!

Your fell race reports are one of the highlights of this thread.

Watch out for the tight, off camber bends. It’s a ~400yd track, so lane 3 or 4 to make it metric. I only ever use it for doing strides on the straights. This time of year you probably only need a bit of tempo work anyway, if HM is your goal. Good luck!

If Finsbury Park is convenient laps around the emirates stadium is pretty much ideal.

I’m sure there’s something dodgy with the GPS signal round there though, times seem too quick

Understandable, maybe 2021 will enable things to get going again. I made it to 1 club run when they first restarted then was back at work every Tues eves so that was it for this year.

No kids at Oswald Rd, am t'other end of Chorlton by the Water Park.

I'm hoping the Sunday early runs get going at some point, that was going to be my social session around work 'n family.

Cheers man, appreciate it. I feel like I definitely discovered this year that I like racing more than running, or that I don't enjoy running without racing holding the whole thing together.

Fingers crossed for 2021!

This guys looks great, I'll reach out to him in the next few weeks!