Running

I'll be running along the river from Twickenham to Barnes Bridge and back.

@juanito I swear by Torq gels, but I've never tried them for higher intensity stuff.

@TW delay and come back to Dorney on the 28th

I use the GU gels. I like them but the consistency changes based on temperature so they're either runny or chewy, not ideal for everyone.

Viper gels work for me. The energy release seems to be slower and lasts longer. The lime/lemon one also tastes like ice popsicles that I used to have when I was a child, which is a bonus!

Possibly - I'm looking at the F3 event the week before. I did a 10k with them, and may ask them to set up a start point for people wanting to run a 21.1km rather than a 20k.

I suspect they are doing 20k for a reason - human race probably have the right to run the first one there each year.

Either way I've had confirmation that in doing both the 7 minute mile group for both that and the breakfast run, although I suspect the half marathon will be more like 6:52 to go round in 1.30...

Will try not to do what the guy did at reading last year which was to be on for 1.28 pace and then give up and start walking at mile 11.5!

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31095384

Only 4/18 of my runs this year have been below death pace.

Better to burn out than to fade away...

statistics can be used to prove anythung, 76% of all people know that

today
yes I ran

Population level studies >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'll stick with the "my gran smoked 80 a day and lived happily and healthily until she was 104" interpretation of statistics.

Can't reply to my own post but 10:37 tonight, a head wind and being so cold my nose seemed to freeze are my excuses - improvement but not as much as I'd like - it does take my half marathon race prediction below 1hr 25min as well, which is positive.

Need to get a 1/2 race in the calendar to be honest would be nice to take another bite off my pb, and I feel that a 1.25 is achievable this year.

But then I'm supposed to be a slvlss so unless I've got wet and been for a bike ride it doesn't really count.

Well done!

I've got one tomorrow. If I want to see an improvement on previous tests then I need sub 11:40 for a 2mile (3.2km) test.

Honestly, I doubt I'll hit that - I only tested a month ago (I'm not really sure why I'm testing again so soon) and Jan was a pretty disrupted month as far as training goes, and I felt that this weekend's cross country was my worst this season.

I did 11:50 last time and so even if I don't dip under 11:40, I hope I haven't gone backwards. Fingers crossed.

did 8 mile tempo last night with 2 miles warmup & 2 miles cooldown but tacked on a bit to make it a half-distance run.

had a very nasty blister from sundays 10k which had burst so ran the whole time with shooting pains in my second smallest toe.

when I got home my toes were covered in blood and the front of my shoe looked like this

still managed to almost hit my target pace so not too displeased. tonights recovery run is going to suck balls though as i'm limping like i'm in a hip hop music video.

*the sensor in my phone camera is fucked so excuse the vaseline soft focus effect.

on that topic does anyone know of any good ways to cover a torn blister that will let it still heal? there's a good 1cm diameter hole with no skin on it.

A combination of cotton wool/bandaging and gaffa tape? Sudocrem too.

It's a recycled story of the same (statistically flawed) study. A good explanation here;

http://www.runnersworld.com/health/the-supposed-dangers-of-running-too-much

No running.

Leg pain is apparently the same old back problem, and possibly due to a very subtle misalignment (literally 5mm) in posture, which translates into inflammation when I'm running for 2 hours.

Good news - it's not a muscle / tendon / ligament injury, and unlikely a stress fracture or cartilage problem.

Bad news - it's probably not going to get better while I continue running, but I may be able to mitigate it by teaching myself to stand and squat slightly more symmetrically.

Or all of the above could be woo, but fuck it, I've nothing else at this stage.

not that practical a solution but try to leave it as long as possible before running again while allowing lots of fresh air to it, to allow the skin to harden, and then chuck a compeed on it at the last minute before you head out if it still isn't looking that robust, I seem to remember they used to do special little ones for corns - which may be a bit more convenient than a great big fnckoff one..

Is that the running equivalent of a spokecard?

+1 to Compeed

will pop in boots and see what options they have though my experience with compeed stuff in the past is it doesn't stay stuck. maybe some micropore tape will help that though.

if it doesnt stop hurting i guess i can swap a few runs for a cycle commute for a day or two, though i'm 2 months out from paris now so want to stick to my plan as much as possible.

@rhb yeah basically

.

Bummer... 11:52 which is a step back (albeit small). Still, January was a weak month WRT training and I ended up working until 0300 last night so hardly the most conducive conditions for a good test.

Also gives me a bit to discuss with my coach.

Date	time	pace	Vdot
31/07/13	11:46.1	03:40.7	53
02/05/14	12:18.0	03:50.6	51
14/10/14	12:08.0	03:47.5	52
07/01/15	11:50.0	03:41.9	53
04/02/15	11:52.5	03:42.7	52

6k at 4:57/km (finally a sub 5k/min run!)

Pushed it from the start. HR avg up on normal and only 7bpm lower than the max (max during the run, can get HR up another 15bpm at least when playing 5-a-side but don't want to knock on the door of the vomitorium for too long).

The 5k section time (a new record too) gives me a VDOT of 38.9 (my BMI is still up around 28), which fellrnr tells me could* be ~42.5 if I get down to my target (max) weight and 46.2 if I managed to lose a further 6kg than that (70kg).

More importantly (for a numbers geek like me) I did my first 5k in 29:48 back in late September and I've just done this 6k run in 29:49. 20% improvement.

• yes, yes, I'm aware that it's just a guide...
  

Bummer, but as you say a month isn't long enough to leave between tests especially if you aren't manage to train as much as you'd like...

I'm sure a consistent approach will reap rewards..