My Last Run

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  • That sounds nice, Hazel.
    I am in Manchester at the moment so opted for the new Peel parkrun, which is bordered by the River Irwell. A lovely two lap course, though it did cross a field at one point and that part was rather muddy. Still, I managed my fastest time this year, at 26:47...still well down on where I was but after all the injuries I'm happy to be moving in the right direction.
  • Alton Towers went better than expected and, all in all, it was a top day. I ran 2:04:23 official - actually very OK with that given I only crawled off the injury bench two weeks ago and wasn't sure I'd even make it. Took it a bit easier, enjoyed the atmosphere, chatted to the people I ended up running with, high fived the kids, thanked the marshals and interacted with the entertainers. Wasn't too tired after to enjoy the park for the rest of the day, and got lots of riding done (the park was only open to runners, their friends and families and the volunteers, so pretty much everything was a walk on). Win.
  • Well done Cal.  Glad you had a good run and day out.  I went to AT about errm 30 years ago and chickened out of a ride which involved going backwards down a big hill and around a loop..  

    10 miler for me yesterday - good to be back to double figures in miles.  I also cycled down to my run and back up again - just 7 and a bit miles but with a dirty great hill on the way back.  Highlight of the run - a group going walkies with a young cat (harness and lead).  They do it regularly as it is dodgy for it out on its own where they live.  Does anything up to 5 miles. 
  • Hazel, that sounds like Thunderlooper - it was an old shuttle loop (shoots you forward through the loop, up a spike, then back down through the loop backwards). Not many of those rides left as they've been superseded by faster, more exciting rides, but they were really thrilling at the time. Thunderlooper was removed mid-90s as it was visible over the treetops. As Alton's a heritage site, they have strict rules about rides not being visible above tree height, which is why most of the rollercoasters are half-buried in the ground.
    Amazing a cat will walk 5 miles on a harness. I've a couple of Norwegian friends who walk their cats on harnesses but they don't take them far.
  • Quick update. There's been some good running going on. Nothing from me, other than hammering away on the rower. I did do a marshal's stint on Saturday at my local PR and enjoyed that.
    Foot is gradually improving. Should be back by Xmas and hopefully much sooner. Not putting on any weight.
    Happy running to all.
  • That sounds encouraging, John. Yeah, I did a lot of volunteering during my downtime. It's good to be involved even if you can't run.

    Four miles recovery this morning - got some sore bits after the half (especially as it was a bit hilly) but it was far too nice a morning to spend indoors.
  • Good to hear from you JB.  Also that you are occupied with cross training and resting that foot.

    Hope the recovery run helped the sore bits Cal. 

    Group run yesterday evening - we are getting quite rebellious and met earlier and did a different route.  If it helps to keep things going over the winter why not even if it is mostly me doing the coordination work.  The group founder is more or less MIA at the moment.  He has had a lot of niggles over the last couple of years, has retired and I'm not sure that he will come back to it.   I selected yesterday's route with a plan to do 10k and we got back to our man runner's front door in 10.03k so I was quite pleased about that (us ladies needed another k to get back to our wheels).  It was quite funny how worried the guy was getting about having to run further than he wanted to - trust me!
  • Bit over 5 miles yesterday late afternoon at an easy effort with a bunch of strides along a convenient stretch of smooth tarmac added in.  I got stuck at the level crossing for what felt like an age. The line is pretty busy at that time of day anyway with extra trains during rush hour but with cargo trains and random solo engines whizzing along the barrier just didn't want to open. 
  • Been a bit quiet...

    Since Parkrun last week I've had mammoth manflu, still suffering. I managed the local club run last night which may have been a mistake. Seem to have set me back today. Have some soreness in my left hamstring from yesterday but sure that will pass. Need (want!) to pick up my mileage but life getting in the way

    Barrier must have been annoying Hazel, get the same waiting on busy roads here. I like the saying you are a jogger if you run to a road and need to stop and continue jogging on the spot, you are a runner if you run to a road and need to stop and get annoyed you had to stop

    Cal you seem to be much happier with your running situation these days

    John good to hear the foot is getting better, albeit slowly 
  • Cal, good to hear you are back running. Parkrun this Saturday?

    Hazel, are you now preparing for a specific event? I know you have unfinished business with the marathon distance but I assume that you'll tackle some shorter races soon?

    Hamster, sorry to hear about the man-flu; something you could do without. Plenty of time to get back to your accumulation of miles once you feel better. Perhaps there should be a dedicated Man-flu jab for male runners!

    My 3 week layoff seems to have sorted my foot problems (touch wood). So today I did a 5k time trial to see how much fitness I've lost. Obviously the rowing has helped maintained fitness as have bouts on the exercise bike. But they're not the same. In the event I managed 22.03 for 5k which was about 'right'. All being well I'll be 'back on the Parkrun horse' on Sat  and drop below 22.

    Talking of PR. This year Xmas Day and (of course) NY day both fall on Saturdays. So no 'bonus' PRs over the Festive Season. Moreover it seems like the custom and practice of different events starting at different times - thus allowing folk to run 2 local PRs - hasn't yet been confirmed (?). So it looks to me as there'll be 'just' one PR slot (9.00, as per) on these two Saturdays. If I'm right, then that's a bit of shame. Also, some of course will be cancelled for Xmas Day and/or NY's Day.

    Having waffled on about this, I'm reminded that 

    a) I've hardly ever taken advantage of the 2 PRs in one day and

    b) on one of the few occasions that I did, I ended up with the one and only hamstring pull I've ever had!

  • Sorry to hear you are not well DH - would take a couple of days off still to recover.  Might help that hammie too.

    I have a 10k race next Sunday JB - a twisty und undulating one so not a PB race but one I like to do every now and then.  Maybe a flat race of just under 5 miles on New Year's Eve (if it takes place).  That is good news on your 5k - you could have run 3 seconds slower though - I did a hard 5k in the middle of my run yesterday and came up with 22:05!
    Two parkruns in a day sounds tough to me.

    8.8 miles yesterday afternoon with a 5k warm-up then straight into 5k hard but not full-out effort and the rest cool-down.  The 5k were 4 at around or a bit faster than HM PB pace and the last at 10k PB pace.  It was about what I was looking for / expecting.  Good to get the legs moving faster again after a few weeks and I will start building up a bit of speedwork again. 
  • John, the new year double was canned after 2020 NYD due to increasingly large numbers rocking up at some parkruns and overwhelming them. So yeah, we'll have fewer parkruns going forward. Shame, but understandable. Also sad we won't get an extra two this year to make up for Christmas and NYD being on a Saturday, but there we are.
  • Cal, ah - thanks for the clarification. I can see the rationale.

    Back to parkrun today. 21.06/80.25% age grade. Really very pleased with this in the circumstances. Lots of really good runners there today: 11 over the 80% which is unusual.
  • Reigate Priory parkrun for me today - it's a cross country-style one and I thought I'd better get it done before the mud set in as it's a mix of grass and trail. The grass bit was fine but the trail section through the woods was tricky - partly because it's like a rollercoaster and partly because there are a lot of tree roots that have been cunningly hidden by piles of leaves. I ended up taking it very cautiously so my time (30:10) was nothing to write home about. But never mind, it's another one ticked off.
  • Just been out for a 14 miler...my longest for a while (and while I did the half last weekend, this was slower so another 25 minutes of time on feet). Started in the dark and ran over to Brockwell Park, where I did most of my long runs while training for my second marathon. Three laps of that then home, by which time the sun was out (there was still a cold breeze, but my hands warmed up after a couple of miles). 
    It was a pretty slow start with the first six miles in the 11 minute ballpark, but I made an effort to increase the cadence a bit and brought the pace up a little before making a push for home. Nothing too fast but just wanted to see how I coped and the answer was, pretty well. I guess that's not surprising as I'd run faster than that for 13 miles last weekend, but races and training runs are different beasts.
    Anyway, pretty content with that...hamstring didn't even grumble too loudly.
  • Cal, I did Reigate as race 1 of a New Year's Day parkrun double. Never got to race 2 as the hamstrings went. You are spot on about the course and it's even worse after rain. Well done on the 14 miler.

    Today, and on a whim, I entered a 10k/5k event in Crowborough, a race I last did in 1989! Then it was the 10k; today the 5k for me. The 10k is two of the 5k laps. I remembered the course as undulating, but they've changed it and this one was a beast - basically 3k downhill and then 2k uphill. Having done the Parkrun yesterday, and had then to cycle 10 hilly miles to get a lift at 7 this morning and virtually with no hill work (or much else!) for over a month, I was not optimistic. However I managed 23.11 (the first 3k were around 4 minute pace) on a slightly overlong course and was delighted that this gave me 3rd place in the men's race. I think this is the first non-age related prize I've ever got, other than a team event.

    The trick is to choose your event. It' s almost always the case that when there are two events, the better runners will choose the longer one, making the 5k relatively easy pickings.

    I did look at the 10k times and here's the thing: in 1989 my 40 minute finish gave me 77th place (i.e. nothing special); today it would have been top ten. I'd have struggled to finish it today, so it was a no-brainer to go for the 5k anyway.
  • That does sound tough, John...I guess you mash your quads in the first half and then your hamstrings in the second. Well done though, good time.
  • You would have left me behind on that parkrun then JB and almost certainly on Sunday's race too - congratulations on the overall 3rd place! Great result.  Good point about picking the right distance if you are looking to pick up something.  My age group is currently very competitive, I need to move up (or speed up quite a lot).

    Good weekend of running Cal - that parkrun course sounds tricky.  Are you looking to get back into marathon training with the longer run?  Can't remember what you have next...

    Day off running on Friday - just a (cold) cycle.  11.2 strongly undulating miles on Saturday with a running buddy - we were rewarded by some sunshine for our efforts up the hill - the rest of the region being blanketed in thick fog.  Sunday I went hiking in the sunshine for around 4 hours and did a 6.9 mile recovery in the fog afterwards.   
  • Monday off - short walk in the cold wind and a trundle on the turbo.

    Group run yesterday - four of us out which is a decent enough number at the moment.  6.5 miles in 1:02. 
  • Hazel...that's the idea but as I'm still undergoing heart investigations and have some anxiety related to that, I am going to have to take things as they come.
    I wasn't feeling good Monday or yesterday but I did do a very gentle 4 mile recovery run. Decided to stop being a puss today and went out and did 9 miles. Quite slow but at this point I just want to get the distance done. Felt better after.
  • Hazel,  thanks. Yes, the possibility of wins is directly related to the number and quality of opponents. Plus a prudent choice of type of course and length of race come into the calculation too. Rather counter-intuitively Mrs JB has discovered that there are more VW65s the VM65s at our local parkrun. Not that there's many of either! There's something that seems to happen to runners in their mid 60s that really impacts on times. Any success I've had is due simply to 'keeping on keeping on' (Bob Dylan's lyric) and slowing up less than most in my age category.
    Good cross training from you, BTW. Do you cycle competitively? My running was at it's very best when I was training for duathlons.

    Cal, well done for doing that morale boosting 9 miler. You were right about the physical effects of my rather brutal hilly 5k race. I did an interval session yesterday and my hamstrings played up. This is most unusual for me (my hamstrings being about the only part of my body that don't give me problems!) and it could well have been the run. I daresay the hilly bike ride did help either.  Hope to be back in action for Saturday's parkrun - although the forecast isn't great.
  • Hello all think the man flu is subsiding, I've not run at all recently but needed to drop the car off for a service so ran the 11k back home. It was a struggle - seems my lack of running this month plus being ill has properly caught up with me. I do better following plans I feel...

    11k back to the car tomorrow morning planned, park run Saturday and maybe a light run Sunday before I think I should get back into some sort of training coaching plan before all my hard work disappears !
  • A cold can make your feel really ill, DH, so take it easy eh? You'll bounce back though.
    John, yeah, looks cold as a witch's tit.

    Yesterday was 5 miles with strides in the last mile. Didn't die so guess I'm OK for parkrun.
  • Understand Cal - not easy to deal with.  Good luck with your parkrun tomorrow.

    Certainly no competitive cycling for me JB - I'm pretty useless on a bike speedwise and would have to train for months.  I wouldn't want to have to invest in a decent bike either - I have a passable racer (on the turbo at the moment) but certainly nothing fancy.  Hope your hammies calm down in time for tomorrow's parkrun, there is always another one next week.

    I like to have a plan to tick boxes off as well DH but it is also good to have a break from it every now and then to take the pressure off from having to do a certain run on a certain day.  Take care tomorrow if you are not over that manflu yet.

    I swopped my last two runs around as I was out too late on Wednesday to do speed work.  Well it wasn't that late but the visibility was bad and I was worried about running into someone / something despite my headtorch.  Just short of 9 miles in 1:16.  Caught up with a speed session yesterday - 5k warm-up with 4 strides, then 5k hard effort (21:48) and 3k cool down.  The 5k were a bit faster than last week but on an easier route.  Breathing was a bit off - I think due to the cold air - need to get accostomed to that again.  Couple of easy days now prior to a race on Sunday - could be interesting depending on how much snow we get. 

    Have a good weekend.
  • Hamster, good to hear that you are back running. A virus like you've and can really drain you so don't overdo it.................

    Cal, are you doing another new (to you) Parkrun? I'm planning to cycle to ours and that should be an effective warm-up (which I'll definitely need).

    Hazel, agree - the cost of a really decent bike is scary. When I did my duathlons, folk were turning up on things that looked like they were designed by NASA. It made overtaking them on the run sections feel even better!
  • Defiantly seeing the back end of it now. Run back to fetch the car was way better and back to the usual pace for an easy run. Felt easier too although I'm sure it's the downhill effect although pretty flat. Still enjoyed that run over the other days... 

    Parkrun tomorrow looks like it's going to be a chilly one ! Good luck to all running one, no doubt Cal will have a tale around a new circuit...
  • So far I’m succeeding in keeping up the running during the working week (new runner here).
    I tried intervals on Tuesday before work, then did 5k on Thursday before work. I’d hoped to run today but I think the wind will rule that out. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more inviting, tomorrow is my last opportunity to complete the 8k Strava challenge I signed up for.

    Any hints and tips for running midweek when there is limited daylight? No streetlights out here in the sticks.
  • Cal/Hamster- looking forward to your parkrun reports.

    Critter - welcome.  Good luck with your Strava challenge. Could you fit in a run at lunchtimes in the week?

    Quite a small crowd at my local Parkrun today (but still 240). The wind was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be - until I cycled home. Really just a cross-wind during the run.
    21.26 was about right in the conditions. 23rd place was high for me. Won my age cat and my 79.00% age grade was 4th best in the field. Cold but pleased.
  • John, I was planning on another new one, but my first choice had a rail replacement bus service and second choice was cancelled, so what with it being cold and horrible, I decided to do Brockwell again (it's my third closest but I'd only run the parkrun once, even though I've done a lot of marathon training there. Given all the times I volunteered at juniors there in October, I figured I was owed another run). 
    I felt like I was running quite quickly but my time was a disappointing 27:45 (just under two minutes slower than my previous time there). While I wasn't expecting to beat the previous time, I did rather hope to be sub-27, so I wasn't too pleased. 
    On the plus side, I didn't drop dead, so there's that.
    Well done on yours though.
    little-critter, if you have to run in the dark (for work reasons, or whatnot) then get yourself a head torch and obviously some reflective gear so you're not mown down by a car. A better option is to try and run at lunchtime, but don't know if that's an option for you.
  • My usual Tredegar Park Parkrun was cancelled unsurprisingly as it's more a trail course and after the wind would have been littered with tree litter. So first time visit to the other Riverfront in town. Flat fast course but the wind was horrific ! The final 1.5k home was all string headwind pace dropped from 4.30 - 6+, felt like running uphill... Still 21st position with 23.18, please enough with that

    Critter, as Cal said torch is a must ! I use a chest mounted torch rather than a head torch, £20 from Amazon and is a great tool. For colder weather as well get some running compression tights. I'm ok for the most part in t-shirts but my legs get proper cold and they help...
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