Running

Cheers, there's some much speedier runners post here, am about as fast as i'll ever be though as the v40+ burden will eventually start to drag me backwards!

Last night's winner was 14.29. V40 winner was 15.29 - bumped into him today and had a brief chat, he said that his run was slow as he used to run 14.40 on that course.

Love my XTalon 190 for x-country and proper off-road. Might need something a little more substantial for hardcore fell running but I'm not hard enough for proper races that potentially involve hypothermia and getting lost.

Running mileage is slowly creeping up but still feeling a little unfit. Going in the right direction this morning, combining a longish run (15.5 miles total) with Dulwich parkrun, 16:37 by my watch which would equal the V45 course record, but they've made a bit of a hash of the results (guy thought my barcode had scanned but didn't seem convinced) so not sure if that will ever be official. Will have to go back some time soon! MsP kept my pace honest, running close behind for her first ever sub-17 parkrun, 16:56. Nice.

Fingers crossed I should have boxes ticked between my Walsh Pb's and my Xclaws - essentially one with support/cushioning and the somewhat spartan walsh's.

5km is a funny distance, the difference between good and really good is so massive.
Running's like that I guess.

I'll do 6 min miles downhill on the fell (on a good day/descent). Never mind for 5km on the flat.

All this talk has definitely piqued my interest for finding a flat 5km and giving it a go!

Wish i could descend that quick on the fells, another bambi on the descents here.

Let us know how the 5km goes!

Solid 3.50 pace run over 26.2 today, only 16 started saw 3rd ahead with 2 miles to go so put in some effort to pass them for 3.47 chip time. Won some wine and apparently due some cash too. Front 2 both ran sub 3 times. Beers and bbq in the park now, struggled to eat much since but have drunk 1l of chocomilk and starting to regain hunger...

Not read this thread before, bit overawed by the numbers, frankly. Takes me about an hour to stumble a 12km x-country loop, but am back up to 60km a week now. Just.
Today was fun, mind; ran through a thunderstorm which I'd hoped might have moved a bit quicker than me. Met up in the last 3km, so plenty drenched.

Is anyone watching this women's 10000m? woah

yes. unbelievable.

Now for an hour of Bolt... Hope Prescod does something amazing.

Prescod looks the real deal.

I'm down there on Thursday night so gutted that Bolt isn't doubling up this time.

I'm there on Monday and the final Sunday: women's 1500 and men's 1500. It's going to be good.

Oh that will be good!

For every major champs in uk I always curse my lack of planning in getting tickets. No different this time!

In other news, interesting reading, repost?

https://philmaffetone.com/dangers-of-stretching/

I'm terrible at stretching...

So many people stretch in the completely wrong way, at the wrong times.
Stretching cold as part of a warm up - big no.
Stretching cold to try and relieve pain from doms- big no.

Stretching cold to try and relieve pain from doms- big no.

Guilty.

So I am now two months after my initial foray into running. My first run was 2.5km, I am now doing 10km three times a week. Feeling pretty wiped out the day after, but slowly improving. Legs are ok, but generally fatigued, sleepy by mid afternoon. Takes me just under an hour to do the 10km, but pace is very slowly improving.

Obviously I'm nowhere in the same league as some people here, but I'm reasonably happy with my progress, given I'm 40, never ran before, and generally ran on heavy fuel for most of my twenties and thirties...

Do people think a half marathon would be achievable in the new year?

Do people think a half marathon would be achievable in the new year?

Yes. Definitely if you're already running 10k in under an hour 3 times a week.

I was going 10km in an hour or so 3 times a week (and had been for a month or so) plus the occasional 5km parkrun.
Next week was: 10, 10, 15 (i.e. coalesce the parkrun at 3rd 10km run into one)
Week after: 10, 10, 15 (ditto)
Week after: 10, HM, rest

Here's an example training plan for a marathon that assumes you can run 10km: https://www.bupa.co.uk/~/media/Images/HealthManagement/PDFs/Intermediate%20marathon_FINAL.ashx

That'd have you doing a HM (at long run pace not race pace) after just 5 weeks (long runs going 13, 14, 16, 19, 21km).

Thanks for the advice and info. That does seem wildly optimistic though about the weekly increases. I'm not sure I could bump it up so much in a short space of time, without collapsing.

You'l probably cope, but try little weekly increase to one run to make it your weekly "long" session. Only needs extra 5 mins more a week and before you know it you'll be covering 10miles in the time spent running. Cut back occasionally then build again and be sensible in general if it isn't working don't force it. Enjoy!

Can't get out running because of painful blister.
Best way to deal with a blister? Let it get aired?

So I made it through the Round Reading Ultra Marathon 50k. My Final time was 8:24:06 which was only good for 83/93 runners but at this point my focus is on covering the distance, as my weight goes down and my training goes up I will focus on knocking hours off my current times.

Most importantly though I had an absolute blast. The organisation while a little sparse was very well handled and covered all the necessary bases, the course was a fantastic mix of every kind of terrain (except mountain and sand) you could think to run on. Minor points knocked off for the recycliing plant (they refused to take my spare tyre off my hands) and the dairy farm (was an eye opener for me that obviously dairy farms full of cows will stink of cow shit). there was a stretch just after white swan and black swan lake that was super narrow and the recent rain had turned the top layer of mud into a slick wet-clay like consistency, with a rock hard layer underneath, so there was enough mud to gum up the tread in your trainers and stop you getting any purchase on the ground underneath, the entire stretch was covered in slide marks that showed no one had managed to keep their feet underneath them, at the 38ish kilometre mark this was enough to have me swearing like a trooper. beyond that point my feet were getting sore and I wanted to finish quickly but any further running was out of the question but i somehow managed to march my way to the finish at over 4mph walking speed and even finished with some running once I could see the finish line.

a quick clothes change and my first ever post-race sports massage I was feeling surprisingly human again, so I set about waiting for my friend to finish his 100km 'any time now' given his target goal.

3.5 instant coffee fuelled hours later I get word from the final checkpoint he just made his way through as last man and had been suffering from nausea and unable to keep any liquids or food down for the past 30km and was slowly making his way along the final 6km of the course with the slightly concerned blessing of the medics.

finally 4.5 hours after I had finished myself, the race organizers and I clapped him home and I even found enough in the legs to jog him in for the final 100m. he collapsed into a chair a hollow shell of his usual self. we got him into a semblance of composure then I helped him to his car to go sleep until he felt capable of driving back to london. then I walked back into town (taking a much longer route avoiding the canal as I was limping along in my post race sliders and didn't fancy hanging out with the ne'erdowells i'd seen hanging about the night before when I went to pick up my race bib.

having left the hotel at 7am, I made it back at 10.30pm was finally able to have my first (and only celebratory pint) too tired to even stop off to get a kebab I ended up eating the chicken caesar wrap I'd bought over 24 hours before that had been sitting in my room and then getting to bed.

now have 7 weeks to get myself in shape to be able to finish an extra 10km plus 2000m in climb within an extra 3.5hrs. it feels more doable now but i definitely need to get as much time in on the hills as possible.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1118651948/overview#

Now signed on for The Richmond Ultra leg of The Thames Challenge this Sunday (28 Miles).

Cutoff is based on 15min/mile so will have to shift myself a tiny bit faster than Reading (avg 15:49) but I think on a super flat course like this I can power my way through ok.

Good effort!

Looking at your Reading splits you were closer to 5mph than 4mph for first 12 miles as hr climbs from 150's upto max of 180. This includes the biggest climb too by looks of profile, tho hr max is after then. There's then big drop off in pace and hr.

The starting speed looks promising for you, as your endurance improves that will indeed knock hours off. For now maybe hold the effort back earlier so it's a steadier sustained pace for longer? Should still allow you some leaway for hitting the cutoffs and be quicker overall?

Best way to deal with a blister?

Huge fan of Compeed here.

When I saw I was over 17obpm around 20k mark I made the decision to drop off and walk from that point.

I wasted a lot of time at the 23km checkpoint (was chatting to the volunteers and took a relaxed toilet break in the fancy office block they were using as their base),

then I stopped again at 26km to sit down and apply sunscreen because of the roasting sun,

so of course at 29km a thunderstorm rolled in and I had to stop to unpack my waterproof jacket,

at third checkpoint at 36km I again stopped to chat to the checkpoint volunteers and dawdled while refilling my bottles. deciding not to remove rain jacket even though sun was out again fully and no clouds.

by 38km was over heating so stopped to take off jacket and have a sly piss.

of course as i'd taken my jacket off at 40km it started pissing down again with rain clouds from out of nowhere, so another stop to put it back on (and it stayed on beyond that even though it got roasting hot again at the end).

I then started trying to push the pace again a little but ran into the really bad mud conditions I mentioned from 42km-45km which dropped my pace massively and took a lot more effort to make progress in general.

i think on the flat thames path I wont redline my HR so much so planning on trying to stick to 12min/mile 5mph for first 20k (checkpoint 1) then walk run next 10k to try and maintain about 13:30min/mile avg for next 10, then power walk final 16k and try to keep it as close to 15:00min/mile as poss running where I feel capable.