New Mature Runners Thread

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  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Evening all,

    HS - I think being in the threshold was good enough rather than into the red. Not a bad idea to wait a bit and hope the conditions improved. I'd imagine the heart-rate readings will be based on percentages of MHR like the ones you described.

    JB - hope the extra child-care isn't too onerous. Hope you don't get too wet at tomorrow's parkrun.

    I didn't win at golf today - but the conditions underfoot weren't very good and as they weren't allowing trolleys we had to carry our bags so opted for a '3 club challenge' where we had a driver, rescue wood, 7 iron and a putter. I also carried my thing for retrieving balls from ditches which I'm afraid to say, got some use today. Anyway, the score wasn't awful and I only lost by the usual number of strokes - and as I managed a couple of pars amongst the bad shots, not all bad by any means. One other positive note - it didn't start raining until we'd finished and were sat under cover having a hot chocolate. And feeling very smug seeing the people out on the course getting wet.
  • Mel, well done on getting your golf game in, getting a couple of pars - and most of all avoiding the ran. 'Take away the positives' - as those who are responsible for the Ashes debacle keep telling us!  However: miracle! We might actually scrape a draw this time....

    HS, thanks for the technical explanation. I would think it would take you a great deal of time and effort to keep all those trophies clean! Serious question: of which one are you most proud? Well done for avoiding Parkrun.................

    Foul conditions today.  I was actually quite lucky to choose Bognor as the coastal parkruns were battered by strong winds and many of the park ones would have had a great deal of mud. Bognor had neither, although the course was a bit slippery in places. The best performance was by a guy who was pushing a double buggy (!) around a course with a very large number of twists and turns and where he would have needed to overtake quite a few slower runners on narrow paths. He sped off like a lunatic and pretty much kept it up.
    My own 22.00 was good enough to beat the other 65-69 VMs, all the 60-64s and all but one of the 55-59s. The WAVA was the 3rd best of the day. Quite pleased with this in tricky conditions.
  • Hello guys.
    I hope you all had a Happy Christmas and good new year.
    I am still running but since parkrun restarted I am about 3-4 mins slower now complete with shin splints.
    I ran this morning in the Fleetwood park run with just 37 runners in the rotten conditions.
    I got drenched it was horrible.
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    WtnMel, good that you think my assumptions re the heart rate readings are probably accurate. 

    Sorry to hear that you didn't win at golf, but at least you played in difficult conditions and achieved a couple of pars. It's always good to watch others out in the rain, when you are in the dry with a hot drink. 


    JB, there are 2 trophy's that I'm probably most proud of, both achieved in 2017 before my injury in June. They are the Ryde 10 mile and Southampton Marathon, both first MV70. 

    Well done for your 22.00 minutes in the Bognor parkrun, beating all the other 65-69s, 60-64s, and all but one of the 55-59s. The 3rd best WAVA is very impressive. The 5k is definitely your speciality!


    It rained heavily nearly all day yesterday and I ran a steady 6.37 miles on roads with Sarah H.
    This morning, the roads and pavements were icy, so I ran very cautiously. It was an interval session, but  a very slow one. It comprised 5 x 5 minutes with 3 minutes recoveries between.


    Welcome back Damien, glad to hear that you are still running, but sorry to hear that you have shin splints. Well done for running in the Fleetwood parkrun in rotten conditions.
  • Damien, welcome back, Shin splints ae miserable; sympathy extended. Hope you get it sorted ASAP.

    HS, noted that your 2 proudest achievements are both in longer events (10m and marathon) than I would feel comfortable in. 10k feels long for me and as you say, I'm wedded to the 5k. Partly this is because I love the whole parkrun concept and vibe (and convenience) but also because psychologically (low boredom threshold) and physiologically, the distance seem to suit me: I recover very quickly and am never really' spent'. 

    To further illustrate this point, I did a very hilly 8k today - and simply gave up (i.e. intended to do longer)!

    Anyway we have a new runner in the family. Lily (6) is now accompanied by her younger brother (4). He has previously shown no interest or inclination so it was a pleasant surprise.

    The good news: he got around.
    The not so good news: he probably set a new record for the slowest ever JPR. At one point I think the marshals feared being late home for lunch!  But being last is guaranteed to get you a lot of cheers and attention (aren't people nice?) so maybe he'll be back next week.

    And when they slip the gold medal around his neck at a future Olympics, I can say that I was there at the start!
  • Bit cross with myself because I’ve just written a long post then managed to lose it, so I’m afraid this one will be somewhat shorter.


    JB I hope the “other grandad” isn’t too unwell with Covid, must be worrying when you have an underlying health condition. Well done for your excellent Bognor parkrun result, despite the conditions. I feel the same way about people running at parkruns with buggies as I do abut running with dogs. It’s supposed to be a run for goodness sake, albeit a relaxed one, open to all the community, but is there really any reason to take your dog or your baby? Why not push your aged aunt in her wheelchair? Or participate on a scooter or roller skates? Rant over. Pleased to see the Bateman running genes are alive and well in Lily’s 4 year old brother, despite what I just said about parkrun I do think it’s great the way children are encouraged to take part. Without JPR they might not have any other opportunitiy to experience the joys of running with others.

    HS: I’m not surprised you are proud of those medals. They were hard earned and worthy of keeping, I’ll never have anything like that. I see you have had icy weather too, it’s not nice to run in is it. I think you are wise to give the Brockenhurst parkrun a miss if it is going to be very muddy (and no doubt busy if it is just starting up again). Sorry to hear you got drenched by an unexpected downpour, and sensible of you to run this morning’s interval session cautiously as the conditions were icy.

    WtnMel: That didn’t sound like a very enjoyable game of golf, but no doubt the hot chocolate at the end made up for that. Well done for getting a couple of pars. I hope your swimming session is a success today.

    Welcome back Damien, hope the shin splints get sorted out soon.

    I didn’t go to XC yesterday, but ran 4 miles on the Derwent Walk instead. I’ll post further details tomorrow, or Tuesday.
  • Aqua, I thought you might be particularly interested in the performance of one of the VWs at the Bognor run. She's a VW 75 and did 28.18 = 87.22%. And this on a slow course in pouring rain! Before Xmas she went over the 90% threshold on a faster course. Truly an inspirational lady! Well done on getting out for that 4 miles.

    Rest day for me but might sneak onto the rower.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    JB - always nice to get a par and one of them was on a par 4 rather than a short par 3 so even more satisfying. When I saw England had got a 'draw' I chuckled to myself - that would be like me and Mo Farah racing in a 10K and me claiming a 'draw' because we both crossed the finishing line! :) Can't quite believe the best performance at the Bognor parkrun was a guy with double buggy - did he have flashing blades fitted to the axles by any chance to nobble the opposition in front of him? ;) Well done re your own performance. I see Lily has a competitor in the shape of her younger brother .. let's hope (for the marshal's sake!) he speeds up a bit ;)

    HS - well done re your road run with Sarah H .. don't blame your caution with those icy conditions.

    Aquarius - take my advice .. prepare your post 'offline' (I use Notepad) than copy & paste it into the RW website .. save a lot of frustration. I have to say I'm with you re runners with pushchairs and dogs at parkrun .. but as I've only ever been a handful of times, probably not worth listening to me ;) The golf was enjoyable despite the conditions - I took the precaution of wearing two pairs of gloves so my hands were warm this time .. shame my feet decided to get cold as that doesn't usually happen. 

    Damien - glad to hear you're still running but sorry to hear you have shin splints.

    I did a 3ml run/walk this morning. I was 30mins later getting out than usual and was surprised exactly how much difference that made to the numbers of people out and about. Makes me determined to not laze around in bed for 'another 5 minutes' next time ;) I've started blogging on Fetch and one runner suggested it would be worth being a bit more structured with my run/walks. I didn't bother setting the Garmin or anything - just counted in my head. Today I walked for 5 minutes then ran (counted to 60) and walked (counted to 120). I'll do the same this week then maybe next week I can try 120/120 and gradually up the running time.

    Swim update - we had 36 at the swim last night - more than I had thought would turn up. And the new Sumup card reader behaved itself and worked perfectly - though around half of the members still paid by cash. So I'll still have to make a trip to the mobile bank to pay the takings in :)

    Severn Trent Water have turned up to replace our water meter. Apparently they're fitting a new one they can read remotely - nope, no idea either how they do that. So we've had to switch the washing machine off temporarily. Should only be 15-20 mins (said the man at the door).

    Postscript: In the time it took me to write what I'd been up to and reply to your own posts the STW guys have replaced the water meter and gone!
  • I ran this evening without calf compression supports and I did over 7ks with no pain.
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    JB, I think that I have always been more "comfortable" with longer races, although my 5 and 10k times in my forties were 80+ % WAVAS. 

    Good to hear that you have a new runner in the family. Lily's 4 year old brother. It's true that the last runner in usually gets the most applause. We have a 78 year old lady in our club, and she has been last in every race for several years now. She is a bit of a celebrity, and always "speeds up" when approaching the finish line🏃‍♀️


    Aquarius, I've had the same happen to me, when I've nearly finished a long post and it disappears. I've found that by closing the thread and coming back in, it reappears, as the draft is saved during the posting. 

    I'm very cautious about running in icy conditions, and yet years ago, it wouldn't bother me. Obviously an age thing!

    Did you give the x country a miss because of the conditions? I hope you enjoyed your 4 mile run on the Derwent Walk!


    WtnMel, I'm hoping that it won't be icy in the morning, as I'm hoping to attempt the 5 x 5 minutes with 3 minutes recoveries again. I'll be running with Sarah F and Giuliana. Sarah is running in the Stubbington 10k on Sunday. 

    My previous laptop had Notepad, but this one doesn't . Did you download it, or was it already on your laptop? I thought about downloading the app on my phone, but I don't think it is possible to copy and paste from the phone?

    On the subject of runners with dogs in parkruns, I believe I've mentioned before that whilst running in Waverley Inclosure, a dog suddenly stopped in front of me, and started crapping🤐

    I see that you are now becoming more technical with your run/walks, gradually increasing the time running

    Good that you had a higher than expected turnout for the swimming.

    On the subject of water, Southern Water advised us that they might have to turn the water off from time to time, or reduce the pressure. As a safeguard, they have provided all customers on the vulnerable people list with bottles of water. I'm on the list because of my age. I've been provided with 24 very large bottles, 6 in each plastic crate. The crates are so heavy, that most elderly people would be unable to lift them. They are taking up a lot of room, so I'm thinking of putting a couple of crates in the garage. So far there have been no problems with the water sappy, or pressure.


    That's good to hear Damien that you were able to run over 7k, pain free.

    Yesterdays run with the Monday Group went well, and there were 6 of us. We ran 15k in the forest. Today is a rest day.
  • Damien, good news.

    Mel, that sounds like a pretty good turnout for swimming. What sort of pool is it? Mostly they are 25 metres, I think. Our local one was - for some obscure reason 33 metres - but they knocked it down and put in a 25m one. I'm not a strong swimmer plus being very short sighted I can very disorientated in pools so tend to avoid them.

    HS, that water arrangement sounds a bit 3rd world. That dog owner did no-one any favours letting that happen. 

    Rest day today but had one of the bi-annual walks with ex colleagues. It was hard going in very cloying mud and none of us is getting any younger.  The main challenge was clambering over stiles with mud-caked wellies on. We covered about 5-6 miles I guess, but it seemed longer. Worked up a fair appetite but had an over-priced and rather boring pizza in an understaffed pub. (It must be very dispiriting running a pub in these tricky times.) However, as it was the people we'd turned out for, a good time was had by all.  
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Morning all,

    Damien - glad to hear you were able to run without any pain.

    HS - I saw on Strava you'd done that 5 x 5 with 3 min recoveries you had planned. As far as I'm aware, Notepad has always been built-in as part of Windows. If you click on the Windows logo and then 'All Apps' (four horizontal lines) you should find it listed as one of the 'Windows Accessories' (click on the down arrow) - hope that helps. I managed a more structured run/walk this morning - see below. Not done it yet but meant to have a look at the new water meter they've fitted - we've never had any warnings about water possibly being turned off or the pressure reduced. 

    JB - we have two pools at the leisure centre - a 25m main pool and a 17m training pool (that's only 4' deep). So with people able to spread out between the two, the main pool doesn't get too busy. That muddy walk sounded like hard work - shame the pizza was underwhelming but glad the company made up for it.

    We had a good book group discussion yesterday and for a change we all agreed - that we didn't enjoy the Victoria Wood biography. We all felt the biographer had just listed what she did and when she did it with, apart from a few general comments about her personality, no insights into what made her tick or anything by way of 'colour' to illustrate her life. She would have written a much better autobiography we thought.

    I went out before breakfast and was glad of my three layers, gloves and woolly hat as it was cold (but no frost). A more structured session this morning. I set my Garmin to 'buzz' after 1 min (run) and 2 mins (walk). I walked for 6 mins to warm up then ran/walked the remainder of the route. My left knee feels a bit 'iffy' after today's session - hopefully that's just down to the fact that with it being structured, I ran a bit more of the route than I normally would.

  • Afternoon all

    I’m hoping to get this written before our plumber arrives (not an emergency call out fortunately, just need some advice re the boiler and heating controls, and as he is working in the next street he was happy to fit us in this afternoon).

    WtnMel glad to hear your swimming session went off well, I think I could just about manage a few strokes in the smaller shallower pool, but I’d steer clear of the larger one. We have a similar set up at the coast with a large pool and a “learner” one. I didn’t learn to swim until I was in my fifties, and shortly after learning I got out of my depth in the large pool, collided with another swimmer, went under, struggled back to the surface in a panic then just forgot to swim and went under again. It was a lot harder to get back up to the surface the second time, mainly due to my panic I assume. The worrying thing was this happened just beside the lifeguard, and in a very busy pool, but no one noticed. That experience has put me off swimming. That biography of Victoria Wood sounds disappointing, as you say the writer could have made a better book if they’d concentrated more on the person than the career. That sounds like a very efficient bit of work by Severn Trent Water to fit your new meter so quickly. We’ve had a tale of woe regarding water usage, which I’ll have to save for another post as I haven’t time now to go into it. Good to see you are progressing well with your running.

    JB That sounds like another very talented veteran lady runner, a WAVA of 87.22 is something most people can only dream of, inspirational indeed. Well done for your muddy walk with your ex-colleagues, walking in mud is always difficult and wellies don’t make it any easier. Pity about the pizza.

    HS I usually draft my posts in my email drafts, then copy and paste. I had to come out of it quickly the other day and I think I accidentally clicked on “don’t save” instead of “save”. A case of more haste less speed. Yes, I did give XC a miss mainly because of the conditions. Also, we had a supermarket delivery due at the same time which I’d entirely forgotten about somehow, and it was too late to change the delivery slot. I’m quite glad I didn’t go as I’ve read the race reports and it sounded pretty grim. Lots of mud, which you would expect but also ice and some obstacles to negotiate. Not a good mixture. In addition, the “car park” (i.e. the farmers field) is notoriously boggy at the best  of times and once again a number of cars had to be pulled out by the farmer. So all in all I probably made the best decision to give it a miss and run on the Derwent Walk, although as it turned out that was also very muddy and icy. At one point, crossing a road (more of a track really) on the side of a hill I slid sideways down the ice for a few yards before I managed to stop, which amused a couple of dog walkers passing by. How did your run go today with the ladies? I hope you didn’t have any icy conditions to contend with. I hope you won’t need to use that bottled water, do you know why the pressure needs to be reduced, it sounds a bit odd?

    Today I resumed my Garmin 10k training plan with goal pace repeats. 3 x 8 mins with 3.5 min recoveries. I did them on the school track, but it wasn’t the best idea as it has a sandy surface, which was waterlogged today and so was hard going. I had to remove my shoes when I got back before even going on the drive as they were completely caked in mud.

    The plumber has just driven up, so I’ll go now and hopefully finish my post later
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    JB, I thought the bottles of water were a bit odd. The only use for them, I suppose is for drinking, boiling kettles, and filling saucepans, for cooking. Oh, and most important, for flushing the toilet! The water hasn't been turned off yet, and hopefully, won't be. 

    The dog owner did try to drag his dog off the trail, and he was very embarrassed. 

    I hate climbing over styles and gates, and it must be even worse when wearing mud clinging wellies. That was a long walk wearing wellies, and I'm not surprised that you built up an appetite. A shame that the pizza was overpriced and boring, but I suppose they have to try to recoup their loss of earnings due to Covid. Good that you enjoyed the walk though with your ex colleagues, which as you said was the main object of the exercise.

    WtnMel, yes, the interval session went very well. 5 minutes seems a really long time when trying to run as hard as possible. That's why the recovery is 3 minutes walking in between; a bit like Jeffing, I suppose. 

    Thanks for the tips on how to get notepad, I'll give it a go.

    Your run/walk was a sort of interval session. I see that you set your garmin up for the run/walk. By way of coincidence, earlier this afternoon, I was experimenting with my garmin,and had a look at the "Intervals screen." I've set it up for 400 metres x 5 with 90 second recoveries. I'll try it out on Saturday, as I will probably be running solo, as Sarah F is running the Stubbington 10k on Sunday, so will be resting on the Saturday. Sorry to hear that your left knee felt a bit iffy after the session. Hope it soon feels better.

    A shame that your book discussion group didn't enjoy the Victoria Wood biography. Do you know what the next book will be? I've just finished reading "Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen. I'm now reading "Lady Susan," also by Jane Austen. 


    It didn't seem as cold this morning, but the air hurt my lungs during the first two efforts, which made me run slower than I wanted. Thankfully, I wasn't affected during the last three, probably because I had got used to it. I was also wearing a woolly hat and gloves which helped to keep me warm.
  • Mel, Victoria Wood was a hugely talented lady; so  shame the biography didn't seem to do justice to it. I'm reading a novel by Jonathon Franzen. My son bought it for me for my birthday. It's nearly 600 pages which I initially found a bit daunting. But it's brilliant and would qualify as one of the Great American Novels (according to the reviewers, not me!) of recent years. I love getting 'lost' in a book.

    Aqua, crikey that swimming (or drowning) experience sounds horrible. I suspect that like many runners you are very lean, and that doesn't help with swimming. (I recall that at school some of the best swimmers were the fat lads. I was fat but a useless swimmer!)
    Hope the plumber helps. Is your local track 400 metres? How good to have one so handy - and you get full access too?

    HS, funny you should mention intervals...........

    Absolutely lovely weather here. No wind, clear sky, warm sun (for a while anyway). Perfect running weather, so I though I'd try a new (to me) interval session. I saw this one on-line and it was one that was the subject of some research which indicated that a group of runners who tried it not only improved their 5k by 4% but cut their weekly mileage and reduced blood pressure too.  

    It's '30/20/10' - 30 seconds jog/20 seconds normal training pace/10 seconds sprint. This to be done for 5 times (i.e. 5 minutes) followed by a 2 minute jog and then repeat twice.

    I found it rather underwhelming! This sounds a bit arrogant, but it was too 'easy'. I think this is simply because I do quite a bit of interval work already (perhaps the guinea pig runners didn't?) and this wasn't as hard - so I can't quite believe it will yield (me) significant benefits. But it was worth a try, although it did get me some funny looks on a crowded prom. We live and learn!

    I've checked out the weather forecast for Sat. and it looks good with light winds. So I'll have a crack at our local Parkrun.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    My 'iffy' knee seems fine btw - I think it was a case of having run, I sat down to log the run and when I stood up and went to walk downstairs, my legs didn't really want to work properly for a few seconds.

    And the reason I've popped back is to mention it was such a lovely day, Margaret and I decided to go for a walk. I said I'd drive us to Croome Court (NT) as they have miles of parkland to walk around. The paths through the parkland were very muddy and very water-logged though - so you can imagine my little legs were aching a bit by the end (just 3mls) after having run this morning. Needless to say, we treated ourselves to one of their delicious cheese & onion pasties after the walk - well, it would have been rude not to :)

    Aquarius - hope the plumber was able to make it round to give you the advice. I only learnt to swim in my forties. I'm fine most of the time but occasionally have a mild panic attack that I'm not making any progress and am going to sink under the water and sort of scramble to the side as quick as possible (it's all in the mind). Worrying that the lifeguard didn't notice you when you were having your problems with going under the water. It does sound like blessing in disguise that you gave that XC a miss if there were cars getting stuck in the mud as well as the nasty conditions.

    HS - yes, your intervals sounds a bit like jeffing .. but probably 'advanced jeffing' compared to mine! Hope you manage to find Notepad okay. I think you can probably set up more advanced interval sessions on the laptop and transfer them to the Garmin - but if you can do it directly on the Garmin, so much the better. Our next book is going to be "The Bookshop" by Penelope Fitzgerald which I'm 'borrowing' from the local library as an electronic resource (well, that's the plan as long as I can get to grips with the library's app and website). Glad to hear your lungs got used to the cold air after just a couple of the efforts.

    JB - I'm not familiar with Jonathan Franzen - is it his latest - "Crossroads" - by any chance? It seems to get good reviews. If so, I'll add it to my list of 'possibles' for our book group. It sounds like maybe you need to adapt that intervals session to your own ability if it felt too 'easy'.

    I mentioned to HS the next title our book group is reading. We were quite pleased with ourselves as we have selected some titles to read to take us through to June. We'll be reading "The Garden of Evening Mists" (Booker short-list 2012) for March; "The Long Call" (Ann Cleeves) for Apr; "Exit West" (Booker short-list 2017) for May; and "Once Upon A River" (Diane Setterfield) in Jun. And Val has already asked for a marker to be put down to read "A Christmas Carol" in December :)
  • Mel, nice walk, nice day and nice pastie. Why can't winter's days always be like these (silly bloody question!)?  
    Yes, the Franzen one is 'Crossroads'. I can't speak highly enough of it...BUT it is very long and you need a couple of weeks to get through it. Well I did anyway. That's a very impressive list of books you've got there. Mrs JB's club just do one at a time.

    I did my bike/run interval session today. The bike ride is about 5 x 2 minutes of tough (for me) climbing and the run is about 6 x 1 min of a tough uphill, zigzag path  The nice thing is that I don't need to 'contrive' this - the ride takes me to the run. With all the rests and downhill it's about a 40 minute workout. I feel great after it, but not so great during it.
  • hillstriderhillstrider ✭✭✭
    edited January 2022
    Good afternoon everyone,

    Aquarius, our posts crossed again! That must have been very scary going under the water in the pool twice, and no one noticing. You had a very lucky escape. I remember a very similar thing happening to me, during a swimming session when I was in Primary School. I was in the shallow end and standing up, when my right foot somehow  slid forward on the tiles, and I fell backwards under the water. I can vividly remember frantically trying to regain my balance and stand up again.

    It seems that things worked out well for you, by not doing the cross country race.

    I hope you didn't hurt yourself whilst sliding sideways down a hill on the ice?

    Yesterdays interval session with the ladies went well, and was ice free, see my post above.

    The problem with the water supply is only a local problem and I believe it is because of the low level of water in the reservoir. The bottles of water were only given out to customers on the "vulnerable list" I'm on it because of my age.

    Doing an interval session on a track is good, but a shame about the surface. That must have slowed you down a bit! Did you programme it into your garmin in advance, or just time the efforts and recoveries by looking ,it? I've programmed a session into mine, which I will try out on Saturday, to see if it works. It will be the first time I have tried setting a session on it, see my post above.


    JB, that's a rather unusual interval session, and not one I've come across before. It appears to be an HIIT session, similar to what we used to do at spin training. They are supposed to really work you hard, so perhaps you weren't putting enough effort in😅  Well done for your bike/run session today. I hope your parkrun goes well on Saturday. Our local parkrun is in danger of "folding" as 5 run Directors have advised that they can no longer carry out the duties. They are asking for volunteers, but I'm not interested. I've done my fair share of volunteering over the years. 


    WtnMel, glad your iffy knee seems to be ok now. 

    Thanks, I've found Notepad. I remembered how I used to do it, following your directions.

    I've never heard of the next book you are going to review. I hope you get to grips with the library's app and website.


    This morning was the coldest yet, and it was foggy and icy. I set out for my run later than usual in the hope that conditions would improve, but they didn't. I ran very slowly, but was so cold that I cut my run short, and only ran 3.86 miles.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    edited January 2022
    JB - we surprised ourselves getting four books in a row organised as we only usually manage to pick one at a time! :) Thanks for confirming that book is "Crossroads" .. I've added it to my list of suggestions for later in the year. Well done for doing that bike/run session.

    Margaret and I walked into town this morning - she needed to go to Boots and I wanted to pay in cash to LLoyds as the mobile bank now only calls once a fortnight. By 'walked into town' I mean I drove to Pittville Park and then we walked from there - not the whole way 3-4mls. No pasties this time though ..

    Been out this afternoon to the u3a 'Social Cards' group - just a couple of hours playing easy games like Newmarket and Plonk. 14 of us today so the group is growing. Some I know as they belong to my book group - and I'll be seeing them again on Mon at the WACAC group (walk and coffee and chat).

    And Margaret has just popped her head round the door to say someone phoned for some IT assistance. I volunteered to be a 'computer buddy' a couple of months ago - my first 'customer' :)
  • JB The track I use was once used by a school that was knocked down some years ago. Why the track was left there is unclear, but until recently the surface was too damaged to run on safely. About a year ago the council levelled it and gave it a layer of sand and at the same time levelled the infield area and reseeded it with grass. I assumed they would come back and give a proper surface to the track, but that’s never happened. As a result the track gets waterlogged easily and is often flooded (there doesn’t appear to be any proper drainage), also the grass seeds must have scattered in the wind as they have taken root on the track, so apart from the waterlogged conditions you also have to contend with clumps of grass (not to mention the fallen branches and twigs after high winds from the trees surrounding the track). This tends to result in me zig zagging from side to side as I seek the best bit of track. Otherwise it is a great facility! :) The main plus point is that the track is hidden away behind a cricket club’s grounds on one side, and is only accessible on the other side by climbing a steep grassy hill, so I usually find I am the only person there, apart from the inevitable dog walker or two.
    Your interval session on Wednesday sounds a bit like (in reverse) one my Garmin plan calls supersets - which comprise x repeats of the following - run 200m flat out, then 600m almost as fast, then a mile at goal pace, recover with a 4 minute jog. Start and finish the session with one mile easy pace. I find that session very hard, so maybe if you increase the number of repeats of the session you did, or make them longer (perhaps 1 min, 40 seconds and 20 seconds?), you would get more benefit from it. Your bike/run session yesterday sounded much more challenging. 

    HS We are experts at post crossing! :) I see you have been having some very cold weather down your way recently. It definitely makes running feel more difficult, particularly the breathing. Sorry to hear how cold your run was yesterday, a good idea to cut it short. I hope you have better weather tomorrow for your interval session. I haven’t tried programming my Garmin with intervals, or anything else, up to now I’ve just stuck with the training plan that Garmin has put on my watch. It’s a shame that your local parkrun may close down due to lack of RDs, but getting volunteers always a problem. I wouldn’t feel guilty about not volunteering yourself, I’m sure you’ve done more than your fair share of volunteering over the years.

    WtnMel Your book group sounds very organised, with four books lined up to read. Do you find the members have similar tastes, or are they quite different? You seem to have quite a sociable bunch of people where you live, what with your book group, coffee and chat group and your social cards group. Well done for volunteering to be an IT buddy, but how on earth do you manage to fit all your activities in? Your retirement sounds busier than most peoples working lives.

    Our plumber called as promised and was very helpful. The house builder had installed two wall mounted programmers, one for the central heating and one for the hot water, but the user booklet for the hot water one incorrectly said it was a programmer for the heating system. No wonder we couldn’t get it to work properly. 
    Yesterday I did a (Garmin training plan) hill repeat session. 4 x 400m uphill with downhill recoveries, but only to be done on a slight incline so it felt relatively easy. I think I’d prefer to try it on a steeper incline if I can find somewhere suitable for that distance. Tomorrow is a Steady State Run as Garmin calls it, of 6 miles. Fingers crossed for some decent weather.
  • Aqua, that 'private' track is (if not perfect) a great resource. Can you take it with you when you move? Regarding intervals, I must admit that my approach is rather eccentric. I'm up for trying new ones and today did some on the rower:30 seconds fast/30 seconds easy for 2 x 10 minutes. I suppose I'm a bit of a free spirit (= lacks discipline). 

    Mel, I can only echo Aqua's comments: you must need a full time diary secretary. Do you live in a village? It sounds as though the same group of folk tend to get involved in various activities. Whatever: you must be  highly valued member of that community.
    Talking of books, I've just started one by Ben Elton. I've never been keen on his comedic persona,  but he is a talented writer.

    HS, shame if that Parkrun folds. I live in permanent guilt that I've taken far more out of parkrun than I've put in. Well done for your volunteering in the past.

    My son has done his ankle in playing 5-a-side football. Not sure how badly yet. I used to play loads of 5-a-side (we had a pitch at work). I don't recall ever getting crocked. This is down to 2 factors

    1. luck
    2. I'm such a wimp I tended to avoid tackling (and being tackled).


  • Good afternoon everyone,

    I was going to post earlier, but made the mistake of looking for updates first. It was updating for about a couple of hours, so I'm not in the mood now😉 Hopefully will catch up tomorrow, and report on my interval session, which I hope my Garmin will operate to my settings. 
  • Parkrun went well on my local course which Athletics Week rates as the17th fastest in the country (so no excuses).
    20.42/WAVA 82.53% which is my best ever.
    Really pleased as I edged out a West Sussex rival (the best in the county in my age category) by 3 seconds and 1 place. I lined him up in the first 3k and overtook him with 2  to go, and then simply hung on. Just.
  • Fantastic John 👏👏
  • Excellent time and WAVA JB, well done! You are on a roll at the moment - it must be all that interval work. I don't know what I'd be feeling more proud of - the great WAVA and time, or edging out that age category rival who is best in the county (or rather was best in the county, looks like that title belongs to you now :) ). 
    My own effort this morning was rather more modest, a gentle 6 mile run. I delayed going out for a couple of hours until the frost had melted, but it was still painfully cold when breathing. I did think briefly about cutting the run short, but in the end managed to do the 6 miles called for on my Garmin plan. Although the pace was nothing to write home about I was nevertheless pleased that I'm finally managing to improve my pace slightly on the return (slightly upward) section which is where I normally struggle. So, in a way, it was a good run for me.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    Aquarius - even though that unused track has seen better days, it sounds like a useful facility to have as long as you watch out for the various clumps of grass etc. As I mentioned to JB, having four books lined up for our book group is VERY organised for us. We do have different tastes which means we have interesting discussions - once we get round to actually discussing the book. Being a crowd who see each other socially for coffee and chat, cards (and rambles when they happen) we're often to be found chatting about all sorts!  Glad to hear the plumber was able to sort out what your problem is (was?). Well done re that hill repeat session and well done for finishing strongly on the slightly uphill section at the end.
     
    JB - it may sound like I'm busy but I'm not really. Where I live (Bishops Cleeve) is described as an 'urbanised village' .. it was small once, but various estates built around it have put paid to that. I've not read anything by Ben Elton myself. Glad to hear parkrun went well with your best-ever result and beating your rival.

    HS - hope those updates have finished now (I had a few a couple of days ago which also took an hour or so to download and install).

    I managed to sort out the u3a lady's IT problem. I took longer to understand what she was trying to do than to fix it. It turned out she just needed pointing in the right direction to access her emails via the website (she uses a BT address but had changed computers so lost whatever setting she had before).

    Golf yesterday was a bit hit and miss .. though mostly miss in my case. A case of highs and lows - I managed a par on a par 3 hole thanks to a brilliant (if I say so myself) drive off the tee. Contrast that with an 11 on a long hole which is only 1 less than my worst ever score on that hole. And to add insult to injury, I hit my ball onto a muddy area of ground that was under repair and it was only when I started walking on it to retrieve my ball (ground under repair means you get a free drop) I realised exactly how muddy it was. I came back onto the grass two inches taller thanks to all the mud on the bottom of the shoes. To further embarrass myself, I then hit the ball into a ditch a bit further on. We only played 13 holes as holes 14-18 were closed due to waterlogged ground. So we've had to use our 'average' scores from the last 5 rounds we've played there to give us an idea of what the final score might have been. Needless to say, with all the missed/fluffed shots, Alan beat me soundly.
  • Blessed by another mostly sunny, windless day, I ventured onto the prom and was amazed by the numbers of runners, including many in groups. I ran without much off a plan, but ended up doing 10k in 49 minutes. This was probably unwise after emptying the tank at yesterday's parkrun.

    Mel, golf: oh dear, But surely you can't have played in many worse underfoot (underclub?) conditions as those? 

    Aqua, a negative split on an uphill section sounds very encouraging.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Evening all,

    JB - well done for getting out and doing 10K. You're right - the conditions for golf were about as bad as it gets (the ball buries itself in the mud rather than bouncing). We prefer frozen ground this time of year - you get the ball bouncing/rolling on far further ;)

    Not done a lot today apart from cleaning those muddy golf shoes. I did my walking boots at the same time and Mrs WM's walking boots too - glutton for punishment me. Mrs WM's walking boots are fabric/goretex - no idea what my golf shoes are made of but some sort of synthetic anyway. However, my walking boots are 'old school' and brown leather. So tomorrow I'll put some NIkwax on them and a coat of polish on Tuesday.

    We've decided to go to Charlecote Park (NT) on Wed as the weather looks like it will be okay. And as Beefeater sent me a "50% off mains" voucher, we'll call in to our local restaurant on the way home and that will save Mrs WM cooking.

    Just the one u3a group this week - WACAC tomorrow morning - but I saw the lady who runs the rambling group has emailed and is asking for help leading walks. So I'll volunteer my services for some of the walks over the coming months.
  • I’ll come into this one
  • Ok - this might be a good one for this thread - and apologies for a bit of a long thread

    Any advice for someone who used to run about an 18 minute 5k/42 minute 10k about 10 years ago (I didn’t really train properly then). I’ve done fast paced field sports since…. Never really enjoyed putting one front in front of another since doing field sports until this January until my sports club put a 5k challenge out there. So from the first week I huffed and I puffed and I plodded from a 10 minute run to 20 minutes… I knew 25 minutes should be an easy 5k, but I had plodded the rest (with the HB almost going tally ho - get with me). Anyhow today I kicked my heels and ran a 25 min 5k without much effort.I’ve figured that previously I’ve not enjoyed it because I just wasn’t running at a fast enough pace, I’ve been on endorphins all day & finally it’s been the old high. Anyone else similar & will I ever get back to a sub-20 5k? I have just turned 50.
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