Running

Ran the marathon route and spending miles with the chevin on the left was a bit daunting but the hill itself was enjoyable in a slog-it-out way. I'd mentally prepped for a cooler / wet day and the heat threw me off and a good first half gave way almost bang on 20km and slowed down and enjoyed the route coming in at 3hr48 which I'm very pleased with. Did it after a night shift and I would not recommend doing that.

Good stuff, I can’t imagine doing that on no sleep !

The atmosphere and support was certainly a motivator.. In the past when I’ve done Leeds HM it’s basically cars filing past you on the half-closed ring road then the parade of chicken shops on kirkstall road. Not quite as inspiring.

Who's doing Hackney on Sunday?

I'll be the one keeping up with the 1:40 pacers until sometime after 10k, then hoping I don't get overtaken by the 1:45s towards then end.

Recently been doing 10k @4:40-ish pace 'reasonably' comfortably, but pretty sure I don't have the endurance to be close to that over double the distance.

Did run 17.5k last Sunday so confident enough I can manage the rest, but that ended up being a relatively pedestrian 5:07 average. It was however in the middle of the afternoon and as hot as it's been recently. Am hoping it counted as resistance training.

Will be my first half marthon in 10 years after being diagnosed with foot arthritis in 2015 and told 'no more running'. Decided 'fuck it' and started again last summer, so it feels like an achievement just to make the start line.

First midweek fell race since 2019. Managed to flog myself round Alderman’s Ascent in Saddleworth, 8km/400m. Absolutely blowing from start to finish and 20 seconds faster than 2018 despite no training. Made some places up on the necky descent off the top, and had a good run back in general. Honestly what a buzz.

1 Attachment

It's photos like this that tempt me into the idea of competitive events.

10 quid, entry on the day, no kit requirement as the weather was nice, free soup or a bowl of curry afterwards for four quid - tonight has genuinely reminded me of why I love fell racing.

How much was the Guinness though? We have an entire thread devoted to this now.

I can’t remember if it came from here but I try to stick with the following to help my pacing and not blow up..

1st 3rd .. run with your head (don’t let yourself get carried-away even if you feel strong, stick to the plan)
Middle 3rd .. run with your legs (open it up a bit if you’re feeling good)
Final 3rd .. run with your heart (or stomach.. I just try to stay the right side of puking up)

Having said all that, it’s likely all out the window as soon as the gun goes.. just try to enjoy it.

£4.50, very reasonable but an arguable average at best pint of the black stuff.

Done halfs before so well aware of the tendency to go out a bit quick.

I'm just gonna try and set off at my target pace of ~4:45 (about to do a last 5k at that now) which I know will feel slow but hopefully I'll get the benefit in the latter half.

I've got a couple of mates pacing 1.40 on Sunday. Simon and George. Say hi from me

Anyone want my place for hackney half? Booked a year ago as motivation to train... didnt train. Testing my legs out this morning and have a hurty knee, so not going to run it. :(

My pack was posted to my old address so of anyone wants it will need to collect in Hackney tomorrow.

Send me a message if you're interested.

I’d be interested if still going

Impressive:

Well done Andy Berry on setting a new Lake District 24-Hour Fell Record!!! 78 peaks in 23hrs 23mins.

Well my morning didn't go to plan.

Managed about 8k all good and then stomach started feeling wrong. Made it to half way but decided there was no chance of finishing and abandoned. Had been reasonably close to target pace but lost almost a minute in the previous 2k.

Didn't have phone and mashalls weren't much use at helping me get directly back to the start, but after making use of a portaloo felt much better and joined in again. Missed out a couple of miles of the route, fraudulently crossed finish line and collected medal.

At least now you know of a good shortcut for next year! 🥇

Hackney half was awesome ! Thanks @QueSeraSara for the spot loved it 😊

It turns out, for me, the best training for the Hackney Half is to completely abandon any kind of structured running two months prior, get cataclysmically wasted the Thursday the week of the race, experience the worst hangover of my life, to feel invincible on the day and smash my PB. It was also the most perfect progression run I've ever done.

Official time was 1:41 but Strava said my HM time was 1:37, since it reckoned I ran 21.8k in 1:41...someone said the extra distance might be because of all the weaving you end up doing between people. Not sure if that's utter crap or has some truth to it?

Not sure if that's utter crap or has some truth to it?

There will be some extra due to not running a perfect line for the entire event. And there will be some extra due to GPS jitter, but that's not the point. You don't get to count any extra bits for a measured course. You can count chip time over gun time, but that's about it.

I'm not sure there's a way to tell Strava to ignore that and just count it as a HM.

Extra distance is more likely due to GPS inaccuracy - does strava look more more 'zig-zaggy' than it should at any points?

Great official time regardless, congrats. Whatever prep I did clearly didn't work, might take inspiration from yours next time.

Good work @Scoot ! Did you end up cleaning your trainers?

It was party pace for me today - mostly focussing on giving out some good vibes and soaking in the atmosphere. 1.39 including a trip to the toilet 💩 and was much more enjoyable that the solo 10 miler I’d have done otherwise

No more wibbly than usual, but @Greenbank is right I suppose - it's a measured course and the time between start/finish is the time it took. Just gives me an excuse to do another HM to officially break 1:40 now, right?

@Tenderloin I gave them a half-hearted scrub but they still looked gross. Given that I've had them since 2019 they're well overdue retirement, so I should probably get rid of them now. They've had a good run (pun intended)!

Victoria Park Harriers - thinking of joining up to hopefully improve times and a bit of a social aspect as well and they are my most local. Anyone heard good/bad things?

I've barely done any running since finishing Paris Marathon 2022 (as in I crossed the finish line and that was it for the last year and a bit)... but have signed up for a half in September so need to get back to training.

I'm determined to try and improve this time around as Paris was a very poor effort, a good effort insofar as I, a fairly unenthusiastic runner with questionable fitness, finished it but I did it in 5hr42min which is nothing to write home about!

My mate who finished this years Paris in 2hrs57min reckons the trick is to just focus on volume and the pace will naturally build...

General thoughts, advice, recommended training guides etc?

I'd first focus on building a consistent base of easy miles per week, just to get back in the groove and feel comfortable with regular running. Then after a month + start to look at beginner half plans (Higdon or whatever).