My Last Run

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  • Q W233Q W233 ✭✭✭
    Hey all, I started posting on here around this time last year when I was due to run the South Downs half. I ended up stopping running yet again during the winter months due to the all too old excuses of it being too dark/wet/concentrating on football. Decided not to have this slump this year and purchased a treadmill! Anyhow I have been back running for the last month or so and am again doing the South Downs half in less than 2 weeks. My stamina is still there but my pace has suffered quite a bit from the break. 

    My last 2 runs were 18k in 1:55 last Thursday and (a new pb for me) 5k in 24:38 on Saturday. Felt like a king then went and injured my foot on Sunday at football! Nothing serious but annoyingly I'm now having to rest it to be able to run the half.

    Anyone else got any upcoming races?
  • Cal JonesCal Jones ✭✭✭
    I'm still in recovery mode right now, (from Liverpool marathon) so my next race isn't until July. I'm doing the Harry Hawkes 10, which is a great race. Ran it for the first time last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. There aren't too many 10 milers around.
  • Nessie73Nessie73 ✭✭✭
    ten miles is my favourite distance too Cal.
    Yes, Saturday's race was the Forest Five. There are three of them throughout the summer, on the first Saturday of June, July and August.  Fancy one? Or two?
    I did a 4 miles recovery run on Sunday and then this morning's 6 am intervals was 5 x 1k in driving rain, and pretty rubbish pacing.  But I suppose at least I got out...
  • Nessie73Nessie73 ✭✭✭
    Re- races- I do some of the club league ones in the summer, which vary from 5k-10k, but am not much of a summer runner. So my next big one is a half in the autumn. In other sports, I have a 10k OW relay swim on Sunday, and aquathlon the following weekend, and some other tri / aquathlon / OW events coming up.
  • HazelnutCHHazelnutCH ✭✭✭
    Nice watery plans Nessie

    jtced - tough combination! 

    hi to Q W233 - well done for getting back into running again - hope your foot improves quickly

    Sounds like you are recovering well Cal

    Standard 10 and a bit km Tuesday trot for me yesterday evening with my group.  Legs still a bit tired from Sunday's efforts (probably shouldn't have gone out on the mtb on Monday as well) but coped well with the hillier bits (which worked the thighs rather than the grumpy calves).  Two guys were talking about the Medoc marathon in France - apparently it involves drinking (lots of) wine (?? ).  Lovely evening - that awful humidity has been blown to I don't know where.

    Next race for me on Saturday: 20km as part of a team running 100km.  My start time is approx. 3:30 am  :o
  • Cal JonesCal Jones ✭✭✭
    Tempting, Nessie. :) Which half/halves are you doing? I'm down for Richmond (one of my favourites - this is the one that starts in Kew Gardens), Royal Parks and River Thames so far. I may or may not can the last one depending on whether I do another marathon. I'll have to see. I'm a little tempted by Maidenhead half though - I hear it's a great race and fast. A bit of a faff to get to for me but that's never stopped me before.
    Hazelnut - yeah, Medoc is known as the world's slowest marathon because the "aid" stations have wine and also stuff like cheese and pate and god knows what else. Folks tend to do it in fancy dress. One of my former colleagues did it and it's about as much fun as you can have whilst suffering the marathon distance.
    I don't envy you running at that time of the morning but it shouldn't be too dark at this time of the year at least.
    My hamstring is angrier today. I didn't run yesterday but I did do my first Bikram yoga class in a couple of weeks. I now strongly suspect that it, and not so much the running, is to blame. There are a lot of poses that directly stress the hamstrings. After all, if a whole marathon didn't make it worse, but one Bikram class did, then it's a fairly logical conclusion.
    Anyway, I did 6.2 miles with 3 miles at MP. Hammy was grumbly but my speed seems to be coming back at least.
    I'll have a day off tomorrow as I'm seeing Wonder Woman and may walk to the cinema if it's not raining (it's about 5 miles).
  • jtcedjtced ✭✭✭
    Last night: 6.5K in horrible rain, leaping around puddles, wind in the face, soaked through. Not a fast time (I might have been better running in wellies) but at least I got out there.... even my faithful running buddy (my dog) wasn't enjoying it much, looking distinctly miserable by the end.... weather's better today, might try a cheeky 10K :)
  • Been holed up for over a week now with some virus or other. Missing my runs, but glad to see plenty of you are getting out and on it. Hopefully, I'll be back in my runners by the weekend.
    I run, therefore I am.
  • Nessie73Nessie73 ✭✭✭
    Hazel- 3.30  :o  Blimey!! That is commitment!!
    Cal, I'm signed up for Pleshey Half in September, then I'm a 2.10 pacer for the Race for Life HM in early October, which will act as a training run for my target sub 1.50, which will be late October / November. I'm currently eyeing up the Grand Union and the Water of Life. I need flat, fast, and not too far. Any ideas?
    In more watery news, I got my first every black eye last night when swimming in the lake. A very large and young bloke hit me at the start of an intervals session. Occupational hazard of OW swimming, and I've been hit elsewhere but never in the eye before. It stung.  Off for a 4 mile run now. May try it as a progression, but I've got a cold so I'll see how it goes.
    ****swittle- where are you???*****
  • HazelnutCHHazelnutCH ✭✭✭
    I was thinking of swittle too, hope he is ok.  And JT141 also.

    Jtced you could also run through the puddles - it's fun!

    Cal I first thought you were talking about going to see a really good physio.  I remember watching the TV series as a kid.

    Hope you get over your viruses soon Will and Nessie - and the black eye.

    Just short of 8.5 km for me this evening with around 6 at tempo pace  to make sure the legs still know what to do. Lovely sunshine and warm rather than hot. 
  • Cal JonesCal Jones ✭✭✭
    Ha ha, no my physio is a man. The movie was good. I liked that they used actual athletes as most of the amazons.
    Nessie, there's also Thames Meander. It is flat and it's a nice race (the fact you can hang out inside the YMCA at the start is quite civilised), but I've never had a very good time there. I've done the November race twice and the spring and summer races once each. The first time I did the November race it was pouring and horrendously muddy. People were falling over and running numbers were disintigrating (which is kind of a problem since the timing chip is there). Probably the worst race I've ever done in terms of conditions. But the second one was perfect - no mud, no rain and cool but not freezing weather. However, it was my fourth of four halves that Autumn and only 6 days after River Thames half, so I was too tired for a sub-2.
    One thing to note is that it's a fairly late start (10:30 for the half - not so bad in November but a bit awful in August when you end up running in the hottest part of the day) and that aid stations are a bit haphazard in so far as you have to get the drinks yourself. I remember once grabbing an empty cup and then having to go back, and another time accidentally getting sports drink instead of water. I've taken to wearing my bottle belt to that race as a result.
    I may not be selling it but it is a nice race if the weather behaves.
    However, if River Thames is probably a better race for a good time. It's the last weekend in October. Walton-on-Thames is the nearest station but I'd advise driving if you can as there's a good walk from the race venue to the station and not a lot of time between the earliest train and the race start (you have to pick your number up there, since they don't post them). There's a big multi-storey in town to park in.
    It has the potential to be muddy but it's been fine the last two years and most people get a good time there. I've not managed a PB in two tries but I've managed to get my second fastest time of the year both times.

    Gorgeous morning (I've just been watching a vixen with two cubs in the downstairs garden). I did 4 easy today. I could feel my hamstring but it wasn't awful. However, I was quite tired towards the end. I think that 6 miler I did on Wednesday tired me out more than I thought it would. Does anyone else find that, after doing a marathon, even fairly trivial distances suddenly seem like a long way?
  • Nessie73Nessie73 ✭✭✭
    Thanks Cal! That's a definite maybe and I've done a fair few races in that part of the world, so I know it's flat and quite pretty.
    Hazel- I'm still snotty but running is clearing it. black eye is still very much in evidence.. 7.5 miles in muddy beautiful forest with friends this morning with some exciting conversations about last night's shock
  • Nessie73Nessie73 ✭✭✭
    4 miles fartlek today and a struggle due to profuse snot and heat
  • Cal JonesCal Jones ✭✭✭
    One thing I don't miss about teaching is the constant colds. Ugh.
    No run today but I was RD at parkrun again. I'm at 22 volunteering stints now so I'll qualify for the purple shirt soon!
  • HazelnutCHHazelnutCH ✭✭✭
     20.65 km in 1:42:16.  Ran as the fourth member of a five strong team running the 100km in Biel, Switzerland.  We finished in 8:47:15.  A second team running for the same club came in in 9:29:31. 

    First time for me running in a relay and also running at night.  Interesting experience on both counts.  No starting line nerves as I didn't know exactly when I would be setting off, just fun working out which of the approaching headtorches was my teammate. 

    Start for me was at 3:50 am, initially the course wasn't that easy in the dark under the trees beside the river on tracks, I stumbled a few times.  It was full daylight by the time I handed over to teammate number 5 but I didn't really notice the dawn as I was tired and it was quite cloudy.

    10 slightly downhill kms were followed by 10 and a bit with a gradual incline and one nasty hill at 19km.    I definitely set off too fast and paid for it at the end.  The scent of baking bread about 3 km before the end was almost too much!

    The team logistics worked well, getting 10 people to the right place at more or less the right time in the middle of the night with changes of clothes for everyone and gathering everyone back up for the teams to run over the finish line together takes a bit of coordination. 

    Massive respect for those running the full 100km as individuals. 
  • HazlenutCH, wow - that sounds like ace fun and a logistical masterstroke!
    After 11 days without a run due to lurgy, I got out for a muggy 3 miler tonight. I was amazed at how tough the run was, even though I expected it to be a bit of of challenge. Didn't get comfy until almost 2 miles and felt like a I should have been wearing L plates! Knees were achey, lungs on fire and certainly a few bits more wobbly than they should have been. Ended feeling like I'd done 10 miles fast, not 3 steady! Back on it though and now relaxing with a mega-shake.
    I run, therefore I am.
  • Well done all.
    Glad you are on the mend, Will.
  • Cal JonesCal Jones ✭✭✭
    Well done, Hazelnut!
    Will - time off will do that to you. I've been like this since Liverpool (I took a week off after) - slow and terrible. :lol:
    I did manage 8 miles today but it's taking me longer to get up to even my easy pace at the moment (first two miles were over 11 min/mi). It was very warm and humid even at 6am, though, so that's always going to make things harder.
  • Thanks for the welcome. I've been running for just over a year - after many failed attempts at becoming a runner. I've done a couple of 10k's but started to fall out of love with running because I was constantly trying to run every route faster than last time. So, I've had a rethink and am enjoying running at a slower pace (by removing the pace field from my watch). The benefits are that I'm not absolutely knackered and nursing a headache when I get back from a run and my niggling injuries are gone. I feel great after a run now which is surely how it's meant to be, though I hate catching sight of my strava and garmin app pace. I'm trying to focus on my aerobic effect and getting my miles up.

    So yesterday morning I enjoyed a 5 mile run taking in my surroundings and enjoying the run, smiling and saying good morning to people.

    There is a very popular half marathon in my area today, I'll be waiting at the finish to congratulate my club mates.
  • Cal JonesCal Jones ✭✭✭
    Cooler today. I did a 4 miles (2 miles warming-up, 2 miles fairly easy and 1 mile with some strides in it). Not sure how the hamstring will react to the strides but my lungs enjoyed them.
  • jtcedjtced ✭✭✭
    Last two runs:

    Saturday late afternoon: 10 miles with my younger son.
    He's 8: he was on his bike, and I ran alongside. A steady, slow-ish run punctuated by chocolate animal stops (his) and at one point I had to run uphill whilst giving him a push. Still, he enjoyed it, and he wants to do it again next weekend!

    Sunday morning: 14 miles on my lonesome.
    Wanted to get in a long-ish run on moderately tired legs (after the Saturday medium run). Somehow managed to get around the back-roads of rural Kinross-shire (starting and finishing at Crook of Devon) whilst avoiding the heavy rainfall (luck). Felt pretty good, though despite trying to do this at a real easy pace, I always end up running a tad faster than planned (in my case ~5m40s/K average, although I had intended this to be slower - maybe ~6m30s/K average. Not sure what this means....
  • HazelnutCHHazelnutCH ✭✭✭
    Around 6km in 38 minutes at 07:30.  Weather forecast is predicting thunderstorms and up to 30 degrees later so went out early(ish) for once.  Ridiculously humid already, was soaked from doing a jogging pace.  Calves still a bit grumpy from Saturday but improved as I went along.  Met a young fox trotting along the middle of the road (it is currently closed due to roadworks).   It took off into the undergrowth once I got close though.  Also saw a stork with something huge in its beak - not sure what - and listened to various rustlings in the undergrowth.
  • jtcedjtced ✭✭✭
    > @HazelnutCH said:
    > ...Met a young fox trotting along the middle of the road (it is currently closed due to roadworks).   It took off into the undergrowth once I got close though.  Also saw a stork with something huge in its beak - not sure what - and listened to various rustlings in the undergrowth.

    Isn't that one of the great things about running? The chance to see wildlife? On my long run yesterday, maybe a few miles in, the biggest hare I'd ever seen was just sitting in the middle of the country lane, watching me. It hopped off but stayed in the adjacent field as I passed by. Beautiful creature. Also saw various birds of prey and something that might have been a stoat or weasel running across at around the 8 mile mark.

    Over the previous few weeks I've seen a fox, wild deer and lots of interesting birds and so on. Looking forward to seeing more over the summer months...
  • Another steady 5 miles tonight in warm weather. Same slow pace but heart rate stayed lower too - maybe that's my focus for a few weeks.
  • Just enjoyed a really nice 6 miles steady at 9:30mi. Still getting back in the swing after a bit of lurgy, but it all felt good tonight. Breathing was fine straight from the off, legs felt strong and was happy with my form/posture. Very warm but kept a nice pace up and managed the hills well. Now to build more pace and stamina for the two halfs I'm doing in September (King's Forest, Suffolk) and October (Norfolk Coastal). Enjoy your runs!
    I run, therefore I am.
  • Cal JonesCal Jones ✭✭✭
    Nice one, Will. I can't say I've run in that part of the country - I'm guessing it's quite flat?
    I have a 50th birthday parkrun on Saturday, so thought I'd test my speed today with a couple of mile intervals during my 5 mile run today. My fast miles were 8:34 and 8:40 and I was breathing pretty hard, so it looks as though I'm a long way off PB form at the moment. Not surprising given the marathon two and a half weeks ago, not to mention my hamstring woes, but never mind. I'll have an age group PB either way.
  • HazelnutCHHazelnutCH ✭✭✭
    thisgirlruns:  I like your approach.  

    jtced:  that is what I like about this thread - sometimes its about distances, pace, racing etc. and sometimes about wildlife watching or whatever - it doesn't matter.

    Standard Tuesday trot for me yesterday evening with my group (10.5 in 01:00).  Still surprisingly tired but it might also have been due to the heat / humidity.  We run past one member's house: her OH had setup a water station complete with individual water cups - which was very nice.  Afterwards quick meeting to sort out various events: BBQing, cycling etc.
  • jtcedjtced ✭✭✭
    Last night: a faster-paced 6.5KM with the dog. Pace definitely improving, as is recovery time. All good :)
  • Early morning 5k run before the heat (or family) rose :p .
  • Nessie73Nessie73 ✭✭✭
    Catching up... not been around much, nor doing much running for a while. I did the Jubilee river 10k swim in a relay team on Sunday, which was a fantastic experience, but I still had a horrid cold and I felt pretty shocking afterwards so gave swimming a miss on the Monday. Tuesday I also gave intervals a miss but did a 5k tempo run instead. The relative break did me good as I was out tonight with the club for a 6 mile run through the forest, and feeling much better again.  Will have to catch up on MLRers now- looks like there's been some ace running going on!
    Has swittle turned up yet?
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