Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
10 miles for me today. Initially felt tired and sluggish so I wasn't sure I'd do the whole thing, but I picked up a bit after three miles.
Saw a fox, who ran off once he spotted me, and heard a green woodpecker.
Talking of beautiful, Hazel I have a friend who does cycling tours in Switzerland and the scenery is as stunning as you'd expect, but you know that.
Cal, good to hear you perked up mid-run. It's so nice when it starts off hard but you get a boost. I usually get that after about 10 mins, but it's pace dependent. Is the parkrun going to be done at warm up pace? I bet you'll be tempted to blast out a pb!
JT, I don't even get on the tube without water, let alone go on a run! 10 miles in 1h16. Nice!
Just a 7.5k 'foundation' run for me. Will be trying to fit morning runs in after evenings out boozing for a few days now. Going to be tricky!
Absolutely gutted here. My trail half is this weekend and I've put a fair bit of training in for it, including 6 x 11-13 milers. Holiday season is in full swing in the office, and it has become a hotbed of nasty colds currently, presumably picked up from the recirculated air on flights. Yep, you've guessed it! Sat here with an absolutely streaming cold and ropey as hell.
I guess I shouldn't complain; I've entered 7 races and have done better than I thought I would in all, but I'm still pretty fed up. Never mind. Worse things happen I guess. There is another local hilly half (Canterbury) on 26th August.
Good luck with the double run Cal! It'll be a great warm up for the 10k if nothing else. The only time I've done similar was the Folkstone 10k, then a hilly 4 miles to make it 10 miles training. It did kind of work well actually!
I'm the same JT, now I've got used to leaving my bottle belt at home I just can't use it now, I feel it affects my (probably already questionable) form. You could try my patent Petrol station every 5 miles method? (Unsuitable for trail runs). Wicked pace by the way.
Great running as ever Hazlenut, sure you'll smash the half marathon. You're structured training inspires me to buy a book or learn more. I just run around between petrol stations. I must get more scientific and get some plan together that will benefit me!
Best of luck with the post boozing runs enrvuk. I found the couple of times I tried it didn't affect the run too much, but I needed to sleep on returned home!
Have a good week everyone.
Nice ten miles Cal,usually takes me a few miles to get going these days.Good luck with your races,don't know about London but it's going to be stormy up here from tomorrow.
Slick ten miles JT.I'm the same with water,just take fluids with me on very long runs.
It's a beautiful setting envruk but I'll be totally oblivious to it!
Really unlucky Linton,my youngest daughter has come down with a slight cold,so I've been an awful dad and keeping the snotty herbert at arms length.
Club interval session yesterday evening and a new one for me.200m flat out and then 300m recovery @ mp x 8.Legs felt ropey towards the end.Just over 8 easy miles tonight,going to rest my legs for Sunday's race now.
Out this morning on a bike ride with my girls,spotted two barn owls,perguin falcon,kestrel,fox,badger,weasel and a sea turtle,I think .Stopped outside the local taxidermist shop for a nose through the window 😀
However, it was really bloody windy in Victoria Park so a PB looked unlikely anyway. I was right, too. With all the stuff being blown around, I felt like I needed an eye bath afterwards. I was happy enough to run my third fastest 10K in 52:23. as once the wind picked up I just couldn't maintain PB pace and I got slower with each lap. Colourful medal and a nice goody bag, though. Would definitely do this one again - it's a fun event with a nice atmosphere.
Part 3 was my club's fun event, Sports Day, featuring various athletic events and some daft ones like egg and spoon. I decided to have a go at shot put, which I was shit at (I'm strong, but I have zero technique), the 100m (also shit - legs didn't want to work, which isn't surprising) and the egg and spoon (I was slow but at least I kept my egg on my spoon). I left the other events to my clubmates but it was fun watching them try to do the high jump, hurdles and discus.
Thoroughly bloody tired now.
Found out the friendly white and tabby cat I've been petting recently belongs to a clubmate of mine. I've offered to feed him (and her other cat) if she goes away, which will get me some quality cat time.
Great long run Hazelnut,can't remember when you did a short run.
10k Tatton park race this morning.Felt good at the start line but I couldn't get into my groove during the race,felt a struggle.Finished with a time of 42:52,54 seconds slower than my last 10k.Not sure what happened,maybe too many slow miles with Mara training.Finished 45 V45 5,which sounds better!
Never mind on to the next race.
Mind boggling miles Hazel. Are you sure you aren't gearing up towards ultras?
JD, impressive animal watching, I didn't realise taxidermy was still a thing! I hope your race went well, some nice prep miles.
Cal, I hope you're feeling 100%, you are up there in Hazel territory for mileage. Nice time at Hackney and 9 seconds ahead of my (PB) time there. To follow that with a 52:3x 10k shows just how good your fundamental fitness is.
A few runs to report. I ran 10x1 mins sprints on Friday. Running past walking commuters in the main. I realised I run at half the speed as I did when I was 16 and was quite pleased with it.
Saturday was the Parkrun at Gunpowder near Waltham Abbey. For the second week I got carried away and finished in 26:05, not super fast, but not the recovery run that was scheduled. The conditions were very blustery and quite a few runs were called off. Nice course and a very friendly bunch. I suffered for it a little today on my 'Long Run with Speed Play'. Essentially a warm up/down and 8x0.25 miles in HR Zone 3 and 0.75 miles in Zone 2. It was exceptionally busy in Regents Park with a race finishing and lots of visitors, including a very large group of Muslims, I assume from the local Mosque, enjoying the weather. I did quite weird route including a couple of reps on Primrose Hill running track. All good fun, but the first half was tough.
No real booze problems (abstained on Saturday), but today's run was delayed by 2 hours due to Bengali chilli!
50kms this week, for the first time.
22 miles this morning,felt good overall,cooler weather makes a big difference.
About 4 miles in I realised it was a mistake! but I did manage to get round.
The half marathon was organised out of Ashford Julie Rose stadium and called the Brett Owler, and was hilly road and maybe 50% trail sections, and a little over, at 13.5 mile. A small affair, 35 doing full marathon, 55 doing half (1 loop). I was so knackered by the end, the elevation was 800 plus feet which doesn't seem insanely big? Maybe it was the trail that did me, or the fact I wasn't 100%, but DAMN I was pleased when it finished!
After the big loop (which was very picaresque) you finished with a track lap in the stadium which was cool! I wasn't quick at 2:14 (2nd half marathon and PB) but it was awesome fun. I don't know why I can run 13 miles on my own and be OK, but in an event it knocks the stuffing out of me so much? Maybe I worry more and it affects me negatively?
Watching the first of the marathon runners come back was great! What a feeling it must be. How they managed 2 laps of that course I just don't know, incredible. 1st back was 3:23 which is crazy up all those hills.
It's 2 weeks to the Canterbury half which is harder still at 850 foot elevation (but no trail). I hope I'm fit for it as it's a real One To Do down this way.
Huge run JD1! Well done 22 miles off the cuff is awesome. Sharp 10k too. I really want to get sub 45, not quite there yet.
Nice running envruk! Running round london must be great. I haven't been up for a little while, must go again soon. Nottinghill perhaps. 50k is about 30 miles? Good work.
Nice day of running Cal! A park run and a 10k both with nice times. Good stuff.
Relentless mileage Hazlenut! A 50 mile week is a serious, comitted bit of running in my mind.
I'm walking funny, so no running today. I'm looking at Sunday's half as my "last long run" for the Canterbury half on the 26th. Not really sure what to do milage wise in the 2 weeks until then?
Have an adequate Monday.
Linton, well done - training and racing certainly don't feel the same because obviously you're going much faster during a race. And yes, terrain makes a huge amount of difference. When I did my trail "half" (actually 13.6 miles) in June it took me 2 and a half hours! There were bits I had to walk, lots of styles to climb and I did spend a while at the aid stations eating things.
When I finished it felt more like I'd run a marathon than a half. I'd gone in thinking I could take it easy by "just running at marathon pace" but I got schooled pretty quickly.
enrvuk - not done Gunpowder yet. I gather it's not the easiest get to (without a car) but I'll probably tick it off at some point. I'm planning on doing Cyclopark next weekend - it's a new one near Gravesend (event #5). Looks jogable from the station.
JD, 22 miles on a Monday! Well done.
12 for me this morning. Legs felt a lot better than on Sunday but knee hurt afterwards - I think my calves are very tight.
A green woodpecker flew overhead, yaffling away. Makes a change from parakeets.
Well done Linton.Trail running is totally different,you're running against the elements and time goes out off the window.Keep your mileage ticking over but not excessively,keep your legs fresh for Canterbury.
Welcome Kevin,keep up the exploring.
Nice 12 miles Cal,I can feel my calves tightening up as well,I'll rest tomorrow.
8.08 - did the first four miles fairly fast, HMP,then gentle 4 miles home.
Foxes spotted: 2 (one inspecting an empty fast food box).
Times left ankle rolled: 2 (no harm done)
Sore quads from Sunday, saw some wrens (I think) never seen another person on this route, unusual for the South east.
Cal; My half marathon training pace and event pace (I can't say race pace) are actually the same 10 min miles, but I would like to lower that one day!😂.
Nice running Cal and JD
LTT, brave decision to do the run, but great job on finishing. Are you a trail runner first now!?
Cal, how do you hear about new Parkruns? Cyclopark sounds fun. Gravesend has improved a lot since I used to live near by. Interested to hear your thoughts. How close are you to Cowell Club now? Great mileage btw.
Welcome Kevin. Hope you find your way back.
Hazel, good double up! How was the rest of the bbq, runners can't live on cake alone! Ours is Sunday week, not sure if I'll be there yet.
I did my first recovery run on Monday and last night I did my Mornington Chasers club run. Slow paced over the heath up to Kenwood, but it's a beautiful location so I really enjoyed it. Something like 16k between the two runs. No silent disco last time, but I saw a kids athletics meeting on the Heath track and it took me back to summers as a teenager. 100/200m plus either long or triple jump in school or club events. Great days, but I kinda wished I'd been allowed to play more cricket.
I'm at half-Cowell - Hackney was my 50th different event.
Hazelnut,the 22 miles after the race were great,legs felt fine.I deliberately did the long run after the race just to make things tougher,hopefully it will do me some good in the mara.Good luck with the hill race tomorrow.
Nice club run enrvuk,I wasn't very good at 100/200m when a kid but did ok at 800/1500m.
6 easy miles this afternoon.
I won't ever do a half marathon with a cold again as I've felt battered all week. life lesson learned.
Great running as always JD.
Great running Hazlenut, good luck in your hill race.
Good recovery run envruk. We did cricket, athletics and tennis during the summer at school. The only one I was half-decent at was tennis.
50 different Parkruns is awesome Cal! I've tacho'd my local one and it's 4.5 miles. So I aim to jog there, volunteer and jog back, next time they're short.
Have a happy and fast weekend.
Linton, sensible. I got a cold right before Valencia Marathon and ended up bailing. It cost me a good amount of money as I couldn't cancel the flights and it was too late to get a refund for the race, but I felt way too unwell to travel, let alone run.
Are you reading Running with the Kenyans? Ugali is mentioned a lot in that. I'd like to know how you made it!
Which is your local? Mine is Tooting Common but I only go there to volunteer these days - it's too congested for a decent run.
Made the parkrun with minutes to spare.
It's a double out and back down a straight path (not actually on the Cyclopark, but next to it) and the out is downhill but the back is, well, uphill. It isn't steep but it does make a lot of difference to pace. I ran what I think is my fastest mile in a parkrun - 7:46 for the first mile - but then came the turnaround and uphill so the next mile was 8:23. The final mile had both down and up and I did that one in 8:08, then kept pace for the finish (Garmin made it a shade long - 3.15 miles). Finish time was 25:32 which I think is a pretty decent time for a course with a climb. Still slightly annoyed to miss out on a top 10 ladies' position by one place, but I'd have had to have gone under 25 for that, and so far I've only done that on flat courses (and certainly not with a 2 mile jog on the way there). Only third in age group too - the two V50s in front of me were fast (one under 2 2 minutes and the other bang on 23).
Jogged back to the station and got my train home. Seven miles all told.