Running

Or hedge your bets and do 7.5 today and 7.5 tomorrow?

^
@smithchild yeah, try today, if legs are fucked try again tomorrow

If you don't squat often then may be day 2 DOMS are worse. either way, legs should loosen up a bit as you get moving. Though it may be somewhat amusing to spectate first as you waddle out the house

Bought this Soar running hat in the sales - it is an absolute piece of crap and it rrp is £38
I’ve never bought any of their gear before but after this I don’t think I would

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No experience with soar but have always been put off by their pricing.
https://www.teamvaga.com/ - Vaga hats are routinely superb quality and affordable IMO.

Yeah similarly - they felt like a premium priced product but pretty average design/materials. Was doing an order already so just added this to it but it’s getting sent straight back!
Thanks for the vega tip. I got an Iffley road cap for £16 which is all black and decent so I’m set for now

The update you’re all waiting for — I limped around approx 11km yesterday … legs SIGNIFICANTLY worse today (I have to lower myself into a chair delicately) … still 4km to round-out the year which I’m hoping I can manage later in the day.

Happy New Year.. I just scraped 1,200km for the year which is significantly up on previous years.

I’ve got a Parkrun today to kick-off the year.. I’m hoping to get 1,500km in 2022 but the return to work-travel may scupper this.

I’d also like to get the ever-elusive sub 20 5km ..

Anyone got any targets for 2022?

I have (and love) my vaga hat.

Compared to my ciele hat the fabric has not weathered so well through multiple washes (bobbling) however my ciele hat still looks new.

On a slight side note my ciele hat fits slightly deeper and pushes on my ears a bit, but I got a new one for Christmas and it’s a little shallower which I’m very happy about

I would like to run a marathon. If not this year then training up towards it so I can run one next year.

I just missed 1000km this year. I think I’d like to hit that.

More than that I’d like to run injury free for the year, having this year suffered from runners knee, and shin splints, and am currently laid up with a ligament strain in lower back (sedentary Christmas related rather than running related.)

Funnily enough I scraped the sub 20 5k last year AFTER picking up shin splints and basically taking a month off. The splints happened just before I was due to start tapering towards the 5k race so probably the best time it could’ve happened and I guess I was really well rested!

In an ideal world my long term goal i'd still really like to make the AG podium at a national duathlon race my current best is 5th. In the medium term I'd like to work up to 25 maybe 30k at the pace Joe Skipper just did that 50k i did a 10 miler at that pace last year so i reckon it's doable. In the short term just maintain some consistent ideal still 6 days a week training as we have a 7 week old baby and I've massively underestimated how time consuming she is. I rarely struggle for motivation but I'm going to have to be more organised than ever before to reach any of those goals without destroying myself or pushing my luck to much with my wife.

I have twin boys just approaching 3. If you can still manage 6 days a week training I’ll be very jealous of you.

I very much doubt I'd be able to do it with twins time or energy wise. Friends of ours have just had twin boys and it sounds tough. I've managed 90 mins training most days since Pippa came home a month ago. Christmas social commitments have actually been more disruptive for training. I invested in a decent home gym set up during first lockdown and quite a few workouts have been indoors with Pippa sleeping in her moses basket in the corner and when I'm back to work I'll have to integrate most of my training into my commute. Racing will be my biggest sacrifice I'll probably only be able to do 4-5 races where I've always done 15-20. My wife allows time to let me train because I'm either irritable because I've not been able to train or just annoying because I've got too much surplus energy and doing cardio makes me a bit more normal and slightly easier to live with my wife will be working from home after her maternity which will make life easier. I'm well aware that all my plans may go to shit at any moment but as a newborn her routine is fairly predictable and consists on mostly sleeping.

My twins are now 7.

Good luck

In fairness my boys were about 18 months when I had my most consistent training. That’s when I picked up shin splints though!

Double nap days meant I could get out every day because my wife was also WFH so would keep an eye on them.

Now as a rule they don’t nap. Wake up anytime from 6-7:30 and don’t go to bed until 7:15/7:30 by which point I’m knackered and can’t see much past cooking dinner and vegging out for an hour.

I don’t think I’m as driven as you though. And single babies are defo easier in the beginning.

And they look after themselves now right? You basically just do whatever you want?

Yes. That is 100% true and accurate.
It definitely gets easier as they get older.

*Some of the above may not be 100% true or accurate

Wait till they start having their own activities in the evening and you take them to those as well and you start planning "well, they're at the pool, I need to use the gym there or else it's wasted time"

In an ideal world my long term goal i'd still really like to make the AG podium at a national duathlon race my current best is 5th.

Nice target! I scraped 10th at the National in 2013 but mainly off the back of marathon training. I'd need to put a lot more time and effort into getting my cycling closer to my running form. I'm 50 next year and thought some time ago I'd celebrate by having a proper go at a big AG duathlon race but I'm not sure I can see that happening.

As it is I decided the other day that my main target for 2022 is to "race" two marathons; one running, one indoor rowing. Just found out my next door neighbour is a keen rower and was part of an all-female crew that rowed the channel. Took longer than they'd planned because they had to fix a rudder half way across. Machine! My birthday's in June so I've got a while to build up the distance; longest I've rowed so far is a half marathon (1:24, hard but not flat-out), so I'm not worried about endurance generally but not sure whether blisters or arse-ache might become an issue. If I can keep it together, anything sub-3 would make for a decent age ranking. (I appreciate it's a pretty niche competition!)

Then there's London Marathon in October. I'm still dreaming about sub-2:30, but B target would be beating this year's time (2:34:59) which again should be worth a decent ranking.

And congrats on the new arrival! My little one's coming up to six months, and I have managed to squeeze out 2x sub-2:40 marathons since she got here. :-)

Good work 💪 you still being able to do that with a baby is a reminder that I'm sure I'll need at times that it can all be done. Luckily like you i guess i was already fit when our little one arrived as i was building for a xc 10 miler at the beginning of December but couldn't make it as she arrived 8 weeks early. I'm the opposite of you for my duathlon strengths as I'm a strong cyclist and just a solid runner so i definitely need to work on my second run strength to do better in a big race. Just more run speed endurance i guess which is why i thought 25-30k at 6 min mile pace in the interim should set me up well for that. Because your such a strong runner especially over the longer distances have you looked at something like the power man races? They could suit you. Good luck with your training and goals for this year and i may see you at the AG champs but I'll be in the v40-45 cat Olympic distance i think unless i can find a middle distance equivalent both non drafting as i can make up time on the bike in a TT effort. I guess you did the draft legal OD?

i may see you at the AG champs but I'll be in the v40-45 cat

Qualified a few times for AG tri and duathlon but yet to race. If I get my act together then may well see you at the start line now I've tripped into M40 too. Podium aspirations may take a little while though

I may see you there then as well 👍 hopefully restrictions should allow a fullish race calendar for the organisers this year. I've qualified for European cross duathlon champs a couple of times but covid fucked it. Won't be able to take my deferred place this year with the little one but in still like to do a European or worlds if in the future if they're somewhere nice but not too hot. Is here the best place for duathlon training chat? The tri thread on here is pretty quiet.

Picked up a pair of the Nike Zoomx Invincible’a in the sale. They are ugly and feel quite big but wanted to see what the first zoomx training shoe was like (just not at full price). I’m not sure I love big bouncy shoes like this or from likes of hoka/adidas/NB etc. I loved the Peg turbo (no idea why Nike pulled it). But these are so far the best versions of this type of trainer I’ve worn. They feel stable rather than running on a bowl of jelly.

Love them for easy days

Marathon training cycle begins. 35 runs until April, feeling pretty positive about it.

I know I am a broken record but Saucony Endorphin Shift are the king of cush. Obviously they look terrible, but great in every other way.