Running

Quite enjoying the parkrun thing. Not easy getting out of bed this morning, felt like I had a bit of cold, nowt serious but didn't feel that up for it. Didn't feel that fast either, was surprised to cross that line at around 23 mins. Official time was 22:57, a whole 20 secs quicker than my first proper attempt last week.

Tempted to give Finsbury Park a shot sometime to see how much faster I am without the fecking hills.

Hills are good for you. So people keep telling me :-).

I'm off to do a meagre 2 miles today. It's part of my training for a 10 miler in October.

I actually ran 3.03 miles in just over 29 mins. I'll have to up my game a tad if I want to do better than currently expected in October.

Having already gotten wet on the ride home I changed into running gear and went back out to run up and down Covington Way. I managed 3 before my lungs threatened to shut down, then I jogged home. Pizza and guinness make great recovery food, right?

Alternating normal and extra cold Guinness will have the best effect.

I'll bear that in mind this week as I expect to get rained on. Again.

I’m trying to find a 10k to sign up for, as unless I have something in the diary to train for I find it impossible to get out of bed in the mornings and go running. I’m really struggling though – every race wants loads of sponsorship! I just want to turn up, run and then slope off home. I don’t want to pester people for money for doing a really slow and short run.

I saw one at London Zoo that looked amazing, as you run through the zoo (I think it would help take my mind off things) but you have to raise 50 quid on top of the entry fee. You do get free entry to the zoo afterwards though, hmmmmmm...

^ Same here, wouldn't mind trying a race but really don't see why every single one has to be charity fuelled.

The runners world website has a good resource of races to do I think you have to register.

There’s one at the end of Sept that’s a charity race but you don’t have to raise any money. But the website doesn’t work and the email address listed bounces back. I’ve looked outside of London too but the few that have been in locations I could feasibly get to are on dates that I can’t do. So annoying.

Ed, that's where I've been looking.

Runners world has a reasonable race calendar:
10ks in August

There are the Sri Chinmoy races in Battersea Park which are fairly cheap:
http://uk.srichinmoyraces.org/races/london/

could have been mentioned before, but there are a couple of 10ks in regents park which look quite good. Not very big event but reasonable £13 i think entry fee

Has anyone done one of the Battersea Park ones? I get a bit put off by the transcendence name.

Ideally I want to do one at the end of September but I think I need to stop being fussy and sign up for the Regents Park one on the 2nd Sept.

It just seems that there isn’t much of a selection when it comes to 10k’s, especially when you’re being demanding like I am :)

Right!! Signed up for Regents Park. Better go for a run sometime soon I suppose...

First session with the running club at the track in weeks. The session was 10x 400m with 200m recovery. It was a warm evening and whilst I truly love the heat, running without the inhaler was a stupid mistake I won't repeat. I could never sneak up on anyone due to my breathing, so I managed 4 laps before calling it quits and did a recovery run home.

Despite the lung-busting, I really enjoyed it and know my lungs will get better with the track and hill sessions, despite my bitching each time.

I expect to feel a little stiff tomorrow......... and tired.

The Sri chinmoy lot are a bit of a cult, but you won't really get that from the races. Low key, small events. You only get a cup of squash when you finish, but what else would you need? It is only 10k. Mostly club runners doing it, average finishing time prob about 45mins.

Knee pain. Balls.

Just to put all the proper runners into perspective, today I went running in my lunch with two girls from work, we did 2 miles in 25 mins!

They are going to up it to 2.5 next week!

It's obviously still to far/fast for one of them who was heavy breathing for the whole of the second mile!

Well, it's a start, isnt it?

^^ chapeau for taking them out. At that starting level sounds like a run/walk programme would be good approach, esp if one is struggling for 25 mins.

Maybe get them looking at a couch to 5k Run England Led group for other gentle structured sessions, there's plenty around.

Knee pain. Balls.

If you get tighter shorts, they'll stop banging into your knees so much.

The Sri chinmoy lot are a bit of a cult, but you won't really get that from the races. Low key, small events. You only get a cup of squash when you finish, but what else would you need? It is only 10k. Mostly club runners doing it, average finishing time prob about 45mins.

Ah thanks, that's good to know. Cup of squash sounds fine, I can always go to the pub on the way home if I need more hydration than that. I like the idea of low key after my last 10k, which was the least low key thing I have ever done.

Just to put all the proper runners into perspective, today I went running in my lunch with two girls from work, we did 2 miles in 25 mins!

They are going to up it to 2.5 next week!

It's obviously still to far/fast for one of them who was heavy breathing for the whole of the second mile!

This sounds very familiar - I go running with some people from work every now and then. Sady it sounds familiar as in that I'm the slow, complaining one...

Good on you for taking them out. I have huge respect for my colleague who very rarely leaves me behind in disgust and occasionally even makes sympathetic noises in my direction.

I've just entered the last of the Regent's Park summer series 10ks on Sept 2nd. Not done one before, looking forward to it.

Bit of a discrepancy between Garmin and google maps from last night's quick run before North Drinks - 3.0 miles and 3.2 miles respectively. Obviously I'm inclined to believe the latter cos it's further, however 5k is slap bang in the middle of the two and my time was 21:45. Pretty pleased with that as it suggests a sub-45 10k should be doable.

Have decided to take the week off everything other than cycling to work and stretching.

Have been running slower and slower, feeling tired all of the time having a lot of pain whilst running in my back and feeling constantly hungry, so cam to the conclusion over the weekend that I've been over training.

Hopefully a week will sort it and will come back fresher next week.

So far appetite has reduced, and I've lost about a kilo. Not seen any noticeable effects in