Running

Top work! Cross country makes you stronger.

100%.

Few more weeks on the road, knock out this marathon then I can get back to the fun stuff!

Did my 3 hour long run, it's all downhill from here.. Got a bit emotional at 2 hours and changed the route to avoid a third lap of Richmond Park, came back along the river instead. Glad it's done. Two more weeks then taper.

@nauls hope you got your refuelling right. I went for the water only option. could have done with some sugar in the final hour.

@nauls I use a small hydration bag camelback circuit, with enough room for a phone and gels, and carry about 750ml for 20 miles, usually have a bit left over but would prefer to carry a little extra rather than run out.

Did the Surrey half marathon today, more conservative pacing plan, resulted in less of a wheels falling off situation, so pleased to do a 1:24:44, so a 36 second pb, would have liked to be a little quicker but no complaints this time and a good threshold session as I keep building for another couple of weeks for London!

Good running folks. Will be headed out once the dog walkers have p1ssed off.

Just announced a 5th Aug trail Marathon starting by my house and route on my training trails. Might be rude not to, esp at <£1 per mile.

http://www.itrailrun.co.uk/chorlton--sale-water-park-trail-races.html

2x 30k done this weekend for a 95k week. Ankle a bit stiff on gnarly terrain but fine on the flat.

Left me with mixed feelings... I felt pretty comfortable with 2x30k, but under no illusions that 50miles/80k will be a completely different game, especially on the south downs.

If all goes well I'll do 40/20k next weekend but I'm a bit nervous about going into a 50miler having not run over a marathon in over 2 years.

On the other hand, it'll have been a 13week build from recreational running to 50miles, and I'm pleased the body is holding up with only minor niggles... I definitely couldn't have ramped things up any quicker!

Cheers, and everyone who answered. I ended up doing what Ed does pretty much exactly, had enough left over for a good drink when I was finished. Think it definitely helped but I crashed so hard in the last half an hour, nearly pulled a whitey at one point. Have to work out my food intake next time.

18.3 miles in 2:30.

Also, a 3:05 marathon in training is insanity! good effort

The Full Moon, a Bat, Frogs, Foxes and a Badger made for a very pleasant long slow headtorch run.

Nice to see some proper mara training going on. Unfortunately I think my London plans have been scuppered by injury. Achilles has been on/off for a few weeks, saw a physio on Friday to see if I could get a short-term fix prior to the Bath HM today, and a test run yesterday seemed perfectly fine, but there's clearly a big difference between 7-8m/m and 5:30-5:40m/m, and I decided roughly 1.5 miles into the race that my already compromised running gait wouldn't be getting any better, and called it a day.

The physio diagnosed tendinopathy, which to me means there is some damage that needs undoing, which means I might as well lay off running till that repair has obviously occurred. So twice-daily heel drops, purple spiky ball (ouch!) massage on specific areas of foot/calf, and lots of x-training in the shape of cycling, indoor rowing and elliptical trainer. Maybe I'll enter the indoor rowing champs again, I'm quite good at that when I put my back into it.

(Ar$e!)

Sorry to hear, sounds like sensible decision though. Hope you're back on it soon.

Cheers, it's sort of a relief having a definite Plan B rather than guessing whether a compromised Plan A is worth trying to blag through. Reassuringly, after some time away from the rowing erg and just a few shorter sessions last week, it appears as though I can still manage a 45 minute session without it feeling mind-numbingly tedious. 4/5 of those a week and some decent cycling mileage should keep me in trim.

I could only ever dream. Well done

without trudging downthread - any forum favourites for a lightweight waistpack with a couple of bottles (and space for phone etc.) was thinking around 750ml total.

the salomon s-lab vest thingy with soft flasks is 100x more comfortable to run with than a waistpack.

https://www.ultramarathonrunningstore.com/Salomon-S-LAB-ADV-SKIN3-5-SET-Backpack-p/slabadvskin35set.htm

That's bad news. I assume it is the same injury that kept you out of the Nationals? Sounds wise to rest up. Autumn marathon then?

Same one, yeah. I think future target race plans will depend on recovery and what my mojo is saying when I get there. That might be an Autumn marathon, or I'm also eyeing up duathlon possibilities to take advantage of my upcoming V45 status. This largely depends on whether the 2018 European age group champs will be held somewhere I can justify as a holiday destination! (Qualifying races include one in October at the Bedford Autodrome.)

Thanks - will see if I can try one on somewhere. Got a marathon coming up and my hydration strategy at the moment involves carrying a pound coin and hoping to pass a newsagents at just the right moment.

I thought I'd ask in here, I'm after a cheapish backpack for running in and out of work. Mainly to carry my keys, phone, wallet, pants, and lunch.
I've got a small rucksack but the straps rub a bit and it bounces around.
Any recommends? Any one getting rid of one?

As always, i don't want to spend LOADS because I'm tight and because I'm only using it for work it doesn't need loads of features.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/camelbak-circuit-hydration-system/

I've just bought one of these, and you'd probably get all that stuff in there especially if you took the bladder out.

I haven't run in it yet, so only recommending it on the basis of it being a bargain and being the right size....

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/omm-ultra-8-marathon-pack

Edit (trigger happy), else try Decathlon for similar but cheaper.

thanks!

I use the Karrimor 15L (i think) bag. It's cheap. It's comfortable. It carries my lunch as well, which the smaller Camelbacks don't.

http://www.sportsdirect.com/karrimor-x-lite-running-backpack-765255?colcode=76525503&src=google&gclid=CjwKEAjwqZ7GBRC1srKSv9TV_iwSJADKTjaDmELlh_nh2VKFF2s7mWD1_QzKjG94qjEkdlLLeinCthoCVqfw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

(but yeah, sports direct grumble grumble)

Bluetooth running headphones that don't fall out, sound ok (I mainly only listen to podcasts when I run) and are under £60. Any recommendations.

Yeah, that looks about what I'm after I think. I'll go and have a look and compare it to what I'm using at the moment.

I have Plantronics Backbeat Fit
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plantronics-BackBeat-Wireless-Headphones-Smartphone/dp/B00N95OZOK

Sound's fine and they don't fall out.

I lent them to Greg @ Runhead though and he didn't get on with them. So, not sure if that helps much. I like em, he didn't.
If I finally make it to the social run this evening I'll bring them and Leonie or Greg can point you out.