Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
New Mature Runners Thread
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
When and if Parkruns resume, Mrs JB will have had 2 birthdays and be in a new category (65-69), so should see some real improvements.
Noticed that a bungalow nearby is up for sale and we always keep our eye out for such. Walked past it (lovely garden) and checked it out on Rightmove - needs too much work. It would be more sensible to spend the money eaten up by moving on our current place. (Mrs JB's mother stayed in her house too long and couldn't use the stairs for the last few years of her life - hence the bungalow attraction. Having said that we have a 98 year old opposite who quite happily is up and down her stairs all day long!)
JB, I live in Dartford, Kent. Plenty of running options and a varied terrain around here and several Parkruns to choose from when they return, hopefully in June. I decided to retire in August last year so now have more time and flexibility on when and where I run and I feel reinvigorated by it. I’m now helping my wife get into running as she wants to shed some lockdown pounds
HS, I hope my legs hold out as long as yours have, it’s great that you are still churning out the miles. I’ve learned, painfully the hard way, to now spend more time stretching before a run. Calves and hamstrings aren’t what they used to be! I envy you, having the New Forest nearby, it must be wonderful.
Another grey day here I'm afraid. Will stick to rowing today.
Just completed a 10 miler, my longest run in about 5 years so a bit knackered now. Feet up!
Not been able to get along here for a few days - thought I'd better try and catch up!
JB - I think it horses for courses re Line Of Duty. I don't mind the dry, humourless, procedural aspects of it. I share your aversion to Strictly and anything with celebs in it - but unlike you, I wouldn't dream of even attempting to watch those programmes. I see you did a HM on the rower - I know which part of me would ache after a session like that. We're recording The Terror but I'd imagine its more something Margaret will watch than both of us. When I eventually sell the house my son lives in at present, I will need to spend some money on it to make it marketable - it's a bit of a time-warp in there as it hasn't had much in the way of any modernising for 20 years or so. Margaret and I aren't quite at the 'bungalow' stage of life just yet - but one advantage of being on a bungalow estate would not being overlooked (our current house is surrounded by other houses).
Aquarius - I don't watch it myself but Margaret is sharing your love of the original series of "All Creatures ..". However, we've both been looking forward to the return of Gardener's World. To answer your questions - yes, it was a walk on Cleeve Hill that was strenuous because I took us on a different route that included more climbing and several high stiles. And yes, the wall squat is the one where you keep your back against the wall and slide down into a squat. Thanks for letting us know Running Fox had passed away - I'd missed that news. We seem to have similar numbers of roadworks at every turn so that any prospective short-cuts or diversions tend to be just as slow as the original route. Margaret suffers from 'dry eye' and has something she uses regularly each day to counteract that. Like JB, I suffer from my eyes watering when there's any wind around.
DRR Mike - welcome to the thread .. hope you decide to stick around. If 'mature' in this thread refers to outlook on life, I'm in trouble .. but I do qualify by age. As JB said, we chat about most things here and as far as speed goes, I'm one of the ones towards the back. I'm not running at the moment (haven't been since mid-Dec so it will be C25K for me when I re-start, hopefully in April. I retired back in 2015 and it certainly makes it much easier to fit in the running. I currently have a routine of stretching and strengthening exercises to strengthen my leg muscles - the cause of the right knee problem according to the physio - where weak muscles meant my right knee was moving inwards towards the left knee when I ran.
HS - seeing you mention driving glasses while running .. I mentioned my eye watering in wind and have sometimes toyed with the idea of having plain lenses put in an old glasses frame to protect my eyes. Shame those new shorts don't have any pockets. My shorts have a small fob pocket for my keys. But to prevent any accidents and losing my keys, I tie them to the draw-cord cord of my shorts or tracksters to ensure I don't lose them.
I take my hat off (or would if I was wearing one) to anyone who does that horrible wall squat. I don’t mind ordinary squats but when I do that wall squat it seems to find all my weak areas and makes them ache, consequently I rarely do it although I know I should. All these exercises you are doing mean you should be in good condition when you start your C to 5k in the next few weeks.
Aquarius, I wear normal specs so I can't really use wrap arounds. Well done on getting out for you run. My son has just emailed me to inform me that he's done a PB for the 10K. Mrs JB also clocked her best 5k today for a while at 35 mins.
And I'm just posting this to do the same. Well, not quite, but I did run my fastest 10K since 2019. I've been challenged to a 10K 'old git' race in the Worthing 10K in June (assuming it happens). As the challenger is a 61 year old youngster, we'll do it on age grade. He starts as favourite and I'm not sure what time/AG I'd need to do - I'd guess around the 46.30 mark which is a heck of an improvement on my 48.11 of today. I just don't do enough long runs to really perform at 10k, but I've got a couple of months.
PS Aquarius - how many Englishmen would make the Lions starting XV? Woeful performance against the Irish. Where do we go from here?
Well, what a horrible day. Grey, cold and very windy. The weatherman mentioned possible hail later in the week and it wouldn't surprise me. Steve went out to work in the garden this morning and gave up after a quarter of an hour as it was so cold. No running today, but did my usual zoom Pilates class which was good.
JB: congratulations all round to your family for some excellent running, particularly to you for your fastest 10k since 2019. You must be delighted with that. Presumably your knee has much improved, but take care not to overdo it.
I know you are a tad competitive, but a 10k in 46.30 by June is quite a target to be aiming for. Good luck to you though.
It was a very disappointing performance by England. Where do they go from here, or more to the point where does Eddie Jones go? I see the England players are to be asked to give their views on whether he should remain as head coach. Whilst he bears the majority of the responsibility for their performance they also need to look closely at themselves. It's hard to believe that less than 2 years ago they were in a World Cup final. (At least we didn't get the wooden spoon).
Yesterday was the March virtual CC6 5 mile off road challenge, which I ran in 45.48 with Sarah F. This was 4 minutes quicker than February's, and 14 minutes quicker that January's.
Aquarius, thanks for the kind words. I'm not sure that English rugby has really recovered form the Sarries (or 'Salaries' as I've heard them called) debacle yet. I don't think we can look towards Eddie for anything by way of moral leadership. I wonder if it's a case that every coach has a shelf-life and his has expired. Sorry to make him sound like an out of date yogurt.
A lazy rest day for me today. My weakness is to equate 'rest' with 'lazy' but I really just feel sluggish, and even opted out of an allotment trip with Mrs JB (not many men would do that, I can tell you!)
Anyway, the anniversary of lockdown today and our leader is just about to speak, so I'll pop down and see what he's got to say................
Aquarius, your tale of the kit without pockets reminded me of a run I had in January. I always put my phone and door key in a waist belt, on this occasion I took my phone out at some point during the run for some reason and discovered at the end of the run my key was missing, my wife (who was none too pleased as you might expect!) suggested we retrace my steps (5 miles worth) after about an hour of looking we incredibly found the key which some kind soul had hung on a tree branch. It has restored my faith in the human race! By the way, wifey is a reluctant runner, she wants to lose weight and has missed her regular swims in the current lockdown. Once the pool re-opens I'll be left to run alone again!
JB, congrats on your speedy 10k and good luck with your sub 45 min training
HS, great time for your off road 5, well done.
Watched ep. 1 of Line of Duty last night, this series might be a slow burner I think. If any of you listen to podcasts on the run, there is a good one that will be on each week called Obsessed with...LOD, hosted by Craig Parkinson (who played "Dot" Cotton, the caddie) where he discusses the plot with a guest celeb, it's very amusing. Of course, if like WtnMel you are waiting to binge watch the series you might want to avoid.
Aquarius - I use a shoelace from one of my previous pairs of running shoes to loop through the keyring and tie the keys onto the draw-cord of my shorts/tracksters. I was hoping the 65-69 category category which I'm in now would be more forgiving because there might be less men that age still running - that didn't happen. Never mind, its only another year or so before I move up into the 70+ category (assuming I AM still running in 2022!). Good that the GNR organisers have rolled your son's entry over to this year - but I agree, I think September may still be too early for big organised events. Margaret and I are still not sure if we'll be dipping at Druridge in September - but I've booked a room at the Premier Inn in Ashington just in case. I don't 'enjoy' the wall squats exactly (or the shoulder bridge or plank etc.) But I know they're doing me good so persevere with them. I dearly hope when I try a walk/run next week my knee doesn't play up - I'd miss running if I had to give it up! Good to hear you managed a 2.5ml run without any after-effects from the yoga.
JB - I'll appreciate no spoilers from LOD .. I'll have to try and stay off Facebook too because there's always one numpty who will blurt something out. Well done to your son for his PB .. and for your own. Re your question to Aquarius - I'd imagine the Lions will be Wales-heavy rather than full of Englishmen. I see Aquarius mentioning Eddie Jones's future .. I expect he'll maintain he's still in a re-building phase heading towards the World Cup. Boris is going to make a speech on the anniversary of lockdown is he? I can't take him seriously when he puts on his 'serious' face as it always comes across as so insincere.
HS - I did wonder why there was a blank post until I scrolled down a bit further. I've said it before and will say it again .. do as I do and create your post in Wordpad or something similar and then copy/paste into the website to avoid all that frustration. Well done re that faster off-road challenge.
DRRMike - I have a waist belt I used to use on the Thursday club runs we did until lockdown stopped them. Being the other side of town I used to want to have a phone with me, plus water bottle, buff, money (for the post-run coffees). I've seen one of our lady members has some sort of thing that fits over her shoulders and around her chest - but I think all it has room for is a phone. Given she always seems to take a photo to post on Strava every time she runs, I presume it's essential kit for her!
Margaret and I went for a walk early(ish) this morning. It was quite windy up on the top so I was glad of my wrap-around sunglasses to protect my eyes. We did a loop around Cleeve Common heading to the masts first, then on to the memorial tree and up and over Cleeve Hill itself on the way back to the car. Only 3mls but plenty of 'lumpy' bits to give our legs a workout.
I obviously didn't tire myself out too much though - had enough energy to give the lawns another cut this afternoon.
JB, thanks. Sarah said after this mornings interval session that I seem to have gone up by two layers! My pace is definitely returning, and I'm looking forward to Saturdays 5k and another attempt to go sub 26 minutes.
It was really frustrating losing my post as I had put a lot of time into it, and covered all the aspects except the TV programmes, which I don't watch.
Rest isn't being lazy, but is essential to help prevent injury.
Mike, its always been my nightmare scenario, losing my door key and having to retrace my steps, hoping to retrieve it. During a forest run a couple of years ago, when there was no limit on running numbers, we came across a bunch of keys hanging on a gate. We decided to leave them, in the hope that the loser would return and find them.
Thanks, that 5 miler went really well, which is why, I think, this mornings interval session went so well.
WtnMel, I once tried attaching my keys to my running vest for a race with a safety pin. It was successful, but made a heck of a rattle, so didn't try it again.
I don't really think that successive age categories get any easier. There are definitely fewer runners in the older categories, but the odds are that they are experienced runners, otherwise they probably wouldn't still be racing. I haven't been tested yet in the 75 to 80 category, as there haven't been any actual races.
I don't do wall squats, but do 20 squats where the buttocks just graze the seat of a chair. I'm sure that they are helping me to run stronger. I hope your knee is improving, so that you will soon be up and running again.
I do remember you advising to use word pad or similar, but I haven't been doing that, hence the lost post, slap on the wrist💀 The only reason I haven't is that I had to keep changing back to the thread to see what I was replying too. I don't have a photographic memory😁
I have a back pack, similar to a camelbak, which I wear in the summer for longer runs, which has a water bag with a tube to drink from, pockets for water bottles, a waterproof pocket for my mobile phone, and space for a lightweight top folded up. It's actually called "Kalenji."
Good that you are still going for regular works, which will probably help your knee.
This mornings Independent training session in accordance with the club's training schedule was 2 sets of :- 2 minutes x 1 with 2 minutes recovery, 30 seconds x 3 with 1 minute recoveries.
I don't know whether I have mentioned it before, but Sarah F has got a London Marathon place, so we will be adapting our training accordingly, and I am intending to do a virtual marathon in the forest on the same day.
Do you have a club that you follow? I'm a (non-attending) Brighton supporter, but I do turn out to watch my local non league side who play at level 7. They would have been promoted to the National League South last season had the season not been declared null and void. So unlucky! I'm also a cricket nut (Sussex - and England of course) and the less said about that the better right now.
Mel and Aquarius, I see the Lions tour dates are now 'official'. For me a Lions tour is about as good as it gets. Fantastic. Even if the team has 15 Welshmen, I'll still be rooting for them. Good luck to both of you as you get back to fitness. I'm a fair weather wimp so from now on is my fave time to get out there.
Talking of which. My target 10K race is 10 weeks or so away. What better time to start with a long steady run? That was the plan: 14K @ 5.30. Not a great start, but I did deliver the 5.30 part; and we wont talk about the 14k that turned into 7k. I need to give myself a good talking to.
HS - good to hear your speed is returning. I think you're right about the older runners get, the more likely they are to be experienced ones. But let's be honest, I'm never going to worry the speed merchants! That exercise you mentioned is one of the ones I do as well as the wall squats. I don't have a photographic memory either! I just shrink the browser window to fill half my screen and have the word-pad window alongside it taking up the other half. I see you'll be helping Sarah F with training for the London Marathon - hope that all goes well over the coming months.
JB - I'm not old school but I don't run with music (or anything) because I'd rather be aware of the sounds around me. Shame that planned run didn't work out.
Mentioning to Aquarius about the exercises I've been doing for my knee .. there's a forum thread on Fetcheveryone I've been chatting on and there's a lady on there who has also had knee problems. She tried a run/walk recently but it didn't work out. But she's since discovered Nordic Walking and is doing that instead. I had a quick look at a video and it looks like I can use my walking poles to try it - same poles use, but the technique is different. That may be what I end up doing too if my knee plays up again but we'll just have to see what next week brings.
I don't know if anyone remembers the large fig tree I had cut back and was attempting to dig up? This afternoon I finally managed it. I'd been using my pickaxe to dig around the roots but it was slow progress and wasn't moving. I remembered I had a large (4') crowbar in the garage - with a bit of poking around the roots and jigging it with the crowbar, it eventually came free. I want to break it up on the bit of spare ground at the end of the garden but it was too big to lift into the wheelbarrow. But with a bit of lateral thinking, I eventually got it there by rolling it onto one of those one-tonne bags builders merchants use and slid it up the garden path and onto the spare ground.
While I was out in the garden I moved our nest box to what I hope is a more suitable position on the tree - just hope the birds approve and I haven't missed the boat regarding them looking for suitable nesting places.
Aquarius, nice little run despite the curry/wine combo. I know there's a lot of talk about alcohol consumption soaring in the lockdown. We've keep pretty constant (albeit at a higher level the ideal). Our principle is never to open a bottle before 9.00. (That's pm BTW!) We're simply not posh enough to have wine with a meal.
Mr JB dragged me (not quite kicking and screaming) to the allotment today. It's a smallish allotment (many folk have doubles) and we've sort of tamed it. But the grass lies in wait ready to invade a raised bed and this s what I was clearing today. My digging is like my running - I conk out after about 45 minutes much to the bemusement (and amusement) of Mrs JB who, coming from faming stock ( a couple of generations ago I should add) could plod away all day.
Not so sure I like hard work and can't see me changing much at my time of life.
JB 7k at 5.30 min/km is good going!
I would certainly classify digging as cross training.
WtnMel, I hope that twinge in your knee is ok today?
Could you please advise me how to shrink the browser window so that you can have the word pad screen along side.
Thanks re the marathon training. We have a few months to build up the mileage.
I haven't bothered about running with music since my shuffle ipod gave up the ghost months ago.
On the subject of walking poles; before the closure of the Leisure Centre because of covid restrictions, I used to see 4 or 5 walkers warming up outside before their walk. I can't really see the point, unless on trails etc.
Well done completing the digging up of the large fig tree. I was almost expecting you to say that you had discovered ancient artefacts during your digging😁. I've been watching that programme, "digging in peoples gardens."
Hope the birds appreciate you moving the nest box!
Aquarius, thanks, I will be doing my best on Saturday to break the 26 minute barrier.
I've also got a waist belt, in which I can put my phone, keys etc. but seldom wear it. It's actually a bit too loose, and there is no way to tighten it.
I think the drawback running with music is that it is easy to lose concentration, and thus slow down. It's not that important on a recovery run, but can become addictive.
Well done running 3.4 miles the morning after eating a curry, a bit risky I would think. I won't mention any names, but one of my running friends ate a whole box of dates a few weeks ago, and needed 4 urgent pit stops during her run.
I did a solo hilly 5 miles recovery run on roads this morning, after yesterdays interval session.
Aquarius - I didn't used to find my waist belt too distracting although it would sometimes slide around a bit despite being tightened up before I set off. Needing to be aware of the traffic/other people is the reason I never wear headphones when running outside. I'm quietly pleased to have finally uprooted that fig tree - it took some doing but I'm glad I persevered (as is Margaret!). I saw you had managed a slightly longer run when I was on Strava and left a 'well done' comment.
JB - I've recently joined MyFitnessPal as I'm trying to identify where all the 'extra' calories are coming from by keeping a food diary. MFP connects with Garmin Connect so you get calories knocked off your daily total for any exercise you do. But you can manually log exercise too and the hour's worth of heavy-duty gardening removing that tree was allegedly 372 calories burnt so I'll take that. As I understand it (from some very brief Google-ing) the Nordic Walking is supposed to help the knees by using the upper body and burns more calories because you can go faster by pushing yourself along with the poles. That's because the main difference appears to be that you have the poles at 45 degrees behind you and push yourself forward - when doing 'normal' walking I use the poles for balance and have them upright. We've tried to limit our wine consumption but it can be very tempting to have a glass with our evening meal - we try to limit it to a couple of evenings a week. Our wine is so posh it comes with a screw top - so there's never a worry about not opening a bottle. I like beer too but most of the time, I'll only have a can with my Sunday roast (which I'll have cooked - so it's my weekend treat). Being from farming stock would be useful for gardening - I just know I have to 'pace' myself these days and approach it steadily (a bit like my running!).
HS - my knee seems okay but as you'll see below, I did a walk/run today so I'm waiting to see how the knee reacts. As I mentioned to JB, the main purpose of the poles for Nordic Walking seems to be to propel yourself forward (someone likened it to the technique cross-country skiers use). If you want to shrink a window, you should move the cursor over the edge of it and the cursor (an upright line or arrow in my case) will change to a double-headed arrow. You should then left-click and 'drag' the edge of the window to make it narrower. You can do the same thing to make the window taller or shorter. Or if you position the cursor at the bottom-right, you can do both at the same time. Also, each window has at top-right a dash, square & cross (X) - these will respectively minimise, maximise or close the window. Hope that helps! Oh dear - eating a box of dates before a run sounds even more like living dangerously the having had a curry - I'm not surprised your nameless friend had to make some emergency pit-stops! Well done re the 5ml run.
Went for a walk earlier this afternoon and (gasp!) broke into a run between lampposts in the middle of the walk. The running felt a bit 'clunky' when I began so I was concentrating on trying to 'run' smoothly. A couple of little 'twinges' during the run .. hopefully that's just my legs getting used to running again. Anyway, I'll see how my knee feels tomorrow and will report back.
I heard some scrabbling from the roof when I woke up and while I was getting dressed, saw some starlings flying back and forth with nesting material. When I went into the back garden I saw they were disappearing under the tiles on our neighbours house. I've warned him in case they've got into his loft.
Mel, thanks for the explanation of the Nordic pole technique. I can see the logic but I don't think I'll be taking them up. The food (and drink!) diary is a really good idea. Have you got a target weight by a certain date? As I was the fat lad at school, I've kept an eye on my weight all my life. In fact I've written in my diary that I want to be at or under 10st on the day I do the 10k in June. Mind you, I'm only 10st 3lbs now, so I should manage.
Mike, I went to The Valley once. Funnily enough it was when I did the VLM as I was staying over on the Saturday and needed to kill some time. It is a very big ground and a little bigger than needed these days I guess. Do you remember Garry Nelson who played for them (and Brighton)? I taught him and I have to say he was a good lad. (He wrote a couple of books that were a cut above the normal sporting blogs.) Glad you don't support Kent as I always thought of them as our local rivals.
I watched the GB Olympic trials today (live on the BBC website). These guys are running at 15 mins per 5k! The were running around Kew Gardens - a 3,300 metre lap. That's even big than Mel's garden!
WtnMel, a few years ago, I got interested in tracing my family history and went back several generations on my fathers side. It appears that I come from a background of farm labourers. I presume that is because they lived on the Isle of Wight, which as you know, is where I was born.
Thanks for the info re shrinking etc. I'll give it a try.
Your walk/run yesterday sounded positive, and I hope todays went well?
Hopefully those starlings haven't started nest building in your neighbours loft!
Mike, I used to live in Surbiton, so the Oval wasn't too far away. I used to go with my Dad. Peter May was Surrey's captain and also England. We saw one Test Match when Gary Sobers was playing. I kept a score card of all the matches we watched, but unfortunately, don't have them now.
JB, I wasn't much of a runner during my school days, and never came first in the 100 yards, as it was then. I was better in the cross country, but the best I ever managed was 3rd.
Good luck with the training for the June 10k, I'm sure that you will lose those 3 lbs.
I watched clips of the trials this morning, and it's amazing how relaxed they look whilst running at 15 minutes per 5k.
Today was a rest day, but tomorrow I will be having another bash at the sub 26 minute barrier.
I can just see a 12 year old Hillstrider faithfully recording a day's play in his book.
I would also hypothesise that were you to challenge your school chums to a race tomorrow, you'd beat the lot of them over any distance.
I was so inspired by Chris Thompson (who is so old he could almost be on this thread!) winning that Olympic trial, that I went for a run. Unfortunately the digging at the allotment seemed to tweak my back and the run made it worse. I bet Chris Thompson wasn't digging his allotment yesterday.
Mike - I'm not a lapsed football supporter .. just never been interested. Same story with cricket. With motorsport. F1 bores me senseless - but I enjoy watching the touring cars and more recently, Formula-E. When I thought about it a few years back, it was mainly solo sports (triathlon, athletics etc.) that seemed to appeal to me rather than team ones. Although in recent years, I've begun watching Premiership rugby union - the one team sport I do seem to like. The only time I've been to the Oval was for a concert - can't remember when but a quick search online indicates it was probably in the early 70's.
JB - I've searched online for anyone who teaches Nordic walking. There seems to be someone in nearby Gloucester who has a 'try before you buy' approach so I may contact him post-lockdown to see if I can have a 'taster' session. My current goal is to get back to 13st 10lb which is the lowest weight I've ever been since starting to record my weight in 2002 - that would entail losing 12lb. Then longer-term, my aim is to get closer to 13st. As for a target date, not got one in mind but just hoping I can get the weight going down rather than creeping up which it's been doing lately.
HS - hope you can sort out the shrinking of windows okay. Bad news re the walk/run attempt (see below) - suffice to say, my right knee is playing up again. The starlings were busy nest-building so I hope for my neighbour's sake he can get rid of them sooner rather than later.
Aquarius - I started using Strava because you could see what other running friends had been up to and the fly-by function was good to see what other runners routes were. But since they nailed down the security, hardly anyone seems to allow other to see where they've been, even clubmates. And tbh, I've been getting really fed up seeing the running other club members have been doing while I've been restricted to walking only. I've already left the two Strava groups I belonged to (the general club one - and the Thu morning group) and sometimes wonder why I still bother giving 'kudos' when some other people I follow on there hardly ever bother. I honestly don't think I'd miss Strava of I deleted my account as the interesting features all seem to be 'premium' ones and I'm not going to pay for it. My knee isn't good - see below.
My right knee is playing up after my walk/run. This time it felt skeletal as the pain is at the top of the tibia, just underneath the patella (kneecap) - exactly where the pressure would be from running. I have my doubts I'm going to be able to run again. But a friend who has been studying massage and sports injuries, asked about the symptoms and said it sounded like my quads, hamstrings, glutes are still not strong enough and the current knee pain is down to that. I'm currently planning to carry on the stretching/strengthening exercises from the physio for another month and try a walk/run in May - my friend warned me off trying to do any more squats until my knee pain subsides. But if I do get the same problem next month despite more strengthening work, I may have to admit my running days are over and take up Nordic walking or cycling - basically, anything that gives me the aerobic exercise without the stresses on joints you get from running.
I noticed (as Aquarius has) there is some 'Arena' triathlon on the BBC red button this afternoon (triathlon in an indoor pool with exercise bikes and treadmills on the side all linked up to Zwift) so I've set up the recorder for it. I've seen it before - it's fast and furious and should be worth a watch.