New Mature Runners Thread

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  • WtnMel - poor Margaret getting knocked over in the waves. I hope she’s none the worse for that mishap. What a lovely way to celebrate her birthday though, a champagne tea in Betty’s tearooms, then a walk around the Minster. 

    HS I did manage to pick up my award last night, it was a rather large cup (I’ll post a photo of it later), but I’m still not sure why I won it. It has a lot of previous winners names on it, and they are all female, so I’ve narrowed it down to being something in a ladies category at least. I’ve contacted a previous winner to see if she can shed any light on it, if not I’ll just have to be patient a bit longer until the list of recipients is posted on our club website.

    Damien congratulations on your 45th birthday, I wasn’t a runner when I was 45, I didn’t take up running until I was in my mid 50’s and now as a 65 year old I find that my form fluctuates quite a bit. I think the main thing to focus on is to never give up, despite the inevitable injuries and periods when you just can’t seem to run as fast as you want. As long as you are enjoying your running, and taking the good times with the bad, then that’s the main thing. I’m not saying don’t be competitive (I think we’re all competitive on here) but don’t beat yourself up if an injury sets you back a bit, or you can’t get the times you want. In the meantime it all sounds pretty positive with your improved times, fingers crossed that you will beat your running friend when you next run together.
  • Afternoon all,

    Aquarius, sounds impressive, being awarded a rather large cup.Looking forward to seeing a photo of it.

    Ran 9 miles in the forest this morning with a number of club mates. It was a social run, with lots of chatting and friendly banter.
  • Aquarius, that's a very impressive cup, do you get to keep it, or have to return it after a year?

    Ran a good pace 8 mile forest run this morning. It was very wet and muddy, with a very strong wind and occasional heavy rain.
    I've got my flu jab tomorrow morning.
  • Afternoon everyone,

    HS - I realised after I'd posted I appeared to be recommending knocking Margaret over :)

    Aquarius - the waves were huge on Sunday and another lady nearby got knocked over too. Margaret was fine and laughing about it once she was back on her feet. That's quite a striking cup.

    I ran 5mls with the club yesterday. Strava seemed to think it was easier than usual - but I found it hard work as I've not been running regularly lately. I started off towards the front of the group but by the time we got towards the end of the run I was tail-end Charlie by quite a long way.
  • HS I hope your flu jab this morning hasn’t left you with a sore arm. You are certainly knocking out some very consistent mileage on your training runs. Very impressive. 
    As regards the cup, judging by the names and dates engraved prior to mine it’s obvious one that gets handed back after a year.

    WtnMel glad to hear Margaret was fine after she found her feet again. We sometimes have a training session where we run along the sea shore, knee deep in waves, and I really don’t enjoy it, I’m always worried I’m going to be swept off my feet. Well done to you for making the effort to get out with the club the day after arriving back from your holiday, a lot of people would have given it a miss. 

    I’m just getting ready to set off for our first cross country of the season. We’ve had torrential rain for the last two days so no doubt there’ll be plenty mud!

    Enjoy your running this weekend everyone.

  • Aquarius - I can imagine running on the seashore in the shallows would be hard work (and good for building up your stamina). Yes - I think you're right about there being plenty of mud in evidence at your cross-country today. Do let us know how it was ..

    We've just been for a walk in town from Pittville Park to the coffee shop opposite Cheltenham Spa station. We usually walk back after a coffee but as Margaret's family are here tomorrow, and she needed to get back to start preparing some of the food, we had lunch there and caught the bus back to save time. There were plenty of signs out in town re road closures as tomorrow is the Cheltenham HM. I would have gone along to cheer on clubmates but will be on 'family duties' instead :)

    <rant mode>
    Next week's Radio Times arrived a few days ago and going through it I was disappointed to see there are no highlight programmes covering the World Athletic Championships - just endless hours of live coverage. As I've mentioned before, despite being retired and (supposedly) with plenty of time on my hands, I still have no intention of sitting in front of the tv for hours listening to Messrs Cram and Co wittering on about what might happen, what is happening and what just happened. Why the BBC can't find time for athletics highlights when they seem to find time to discuss who can cook best, who can't dance as well as others and which high-flyer has been fired (yes, MasterChef, Strictly & Apprentice I mean you) is beyond me. And don't get me started on the dubious decision to hold the championships in Doha in the first place - where it's so hot, they have to hold the ladies marathon at midnight. Money obviously talks and someone's palms were greased for that decision to have been made.
    <end rant mode>
  • I turned out for the Fleetwood prom park run this morning.It was very windy but at least the rain held off.Poor turn out too with only 44 runners.

  • Evening all,

    WtnMel, I find strava to be very erratic. Sometimes when I have done an easy pace recovery run, it states that the run was harder than usual.
    I don't watch any of the programmes you mentioned, although I did in the past. There are so many cooking and baking programmes on these days, it makes me wonder whether anyone actually copies the dishes etc. It amazes me when the judges drool over a plate with a lettuce leaf, half a tomato, a couple of slices of cucumber etc and they think it is wonderful. Not enough to keep a flea alive.

    Aquarius,I had my flu jab yesterday and went straight in, no queuing. My arm did feel a bit achy in the afternoon, but is fine today.
    I used to run along the sea front at Southsea, when I worked in the Naval Base. It was usually on the stony beach, as the tide was usually out.
    Hope your cross country race went well yesterday, and your trail shoes were up to the job!

    Damien, hope you did well in the parkrun? A pity there was such a poor turn out. I like the picture!

    The weather wasn't as bad today as forecast and I ran 6.25 miles on the roads.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon everyone,

    Damien - looked very wet in that photo. My running friend has a holiday home in Sidmouth and posted a photo of huge waves coming over the sea wall of the prom there (to explain why she hadn't run along the prom as per usual).

    HS - I just use Strava as an add-on, to keep track of what clubmates are doing and to amuse me. Fetcheveryone is my main (and more accurate) place for recording training. I've had a text from the doctor's about flu jabs but haven't followed it up yet.

    I went for a run this morning and managed to dodge any showers. I felt quite lethargic so didn't do the various add-ons of that route and in fact, stopped and walked for 2 minutes. So a very slow plod of just over 3 mls. I've taken over as Treasurer of my swim club - decided I didn't have the energy to walk to the mobile bank and was wondering about whether it would rain. Glad I drove as the heavens opened as I walked back to the car.

    Postscript to my rant (which I did write a more measured version of to the Radio Times 'Feedback' column). I had a reply from the RT editor apologizing on behalf of the BBC schedulers .. but letting me know he'd discovered a 'Daily Doha' programme on BBC IPlayer which I'll use for the remainder of the championships (shame I didn't see anything about that from the BBC itself).
  • Damien, that was a good parkrun time. A shame that there was such a low turn  out.

    WtnMel, my Garmin Connect syncs with fetcheveryone and strava, so I get the benefits from both.
    You were lucky to have dodged the showers. It rained on and off during my mornings 7.1 miles on roads.
    Good luck with your duties as Treasurer of your swim club.
    The I Player is very useful, but I don't use it very often.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    HS - my Garmin Connect also sync's with Fetch & Strava. Let's just say I'd miss Fetch if it wasn't available but wouldn't miss Strava as much.

    Aquarius - haven't heard from you for a few days .. hope all is well.

    Played 9 holes of golf by myself this morning. Managed my 2nd best ever score (44) so just my luck I played well when my mate Alan wasn't there!

    Right .. going to get off the computer and go and do some diy as I need to get the shelf brackets up in the bedroom cupboard (the one that was made smaller as a result of the bathroom re-furb).
  • WtnMel, well done for your score of 44. Hopefully, you will maintain that level when you next play Alan.

    It was very cold this morning and I wore a thermal top under my t shirt. Ran 8 miles in a very wet and muddy forest following yesterdays heavy rain.
                                  
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    HS - it was 'one of those days' when I couldn't do a lot wrong on the golf course. My next match with Alan is on Tuesday. He's been playing with his Uni mates today (they have regular get-togethers) and tells me he was 'badly consistent' :) Well done re your muddy 8 mile run. I shall be heading out for the 5ml club run tomorrow which has been named "June's route" as it goes by our Treasurer's house. Last week she was in her bedroom window as we passed so needless to say we all waved!
  • I am doing the Royal Parks Half Marathon Sunday 13th October. Any one else? My training has been almost all treadmill a couple of 10Ks a 14K and an 18K. My one outdoor train was 10 miles in wind and rain, my time was 105 minutes. I was aiming for 90 mins which posssibly might have meant under 2 hours for the half marathon might have been achievable. My best HM was a couple of years agon 2hrs 16 mins. That was a very evil hilly one though, whereas the Royal Parks allegedly is very flat
  • Good afternoon all,

    WtnMel - everything is fine here, thanks for your concern, I’ve just been very busy with grandchildren, showing prospective buyers around our house, and just life in general.
    To score 44 must be a good omen for your next golf match with Alan, particularly as he has said on his last outing he was “badly consistent” - but can you believe him, could he be trying to give you a false sense of security for Tuesday? Anyway we’ve all got faith in you so on Tuesday think positive thoughts, and remember yesterday’s 9 holes and that score of 44 and I bet you’ll wipe the floor with him! ;)
    I saw your earlier post about the athletics and meant to tell you about the Daily Doha on iPlayer, but I never got around to it, so I’m glad you’ve come across it anyway in the meantime. I record the live programmes and just fast forward when the commentators have their chats. I notice the BBC have introduced another element this time to try to appeal to a younger audience - ridiculous interviews where athletes are told to scroll through their photos on their phone and stop when the interviewer tells them, then talk about the photo they’ve stopped at, or they are asked “when did you last take a selfie” and other suchlike pointless questions. I suppose it’s marginally better than when Gabby Logan was asking all the athletes (at a previous athletics event Olympics / Commonwealth Games? I can’t remember) whether their favourite dessert was sticky toffee pudding or some other pudding. I hate this dumbing down attitude that the BBC has these days. The only decent commentator in my opinion who talks sense (most of the time anyway) is Steve Cram. Hope your club run today was more enjoyable than Tuesday’s run.

    HS I’ve noticed the change in temperature too, it’s a good idea to wear a thermal top under your t shirt now the weather has taken a turn for the worse. I had leggings on for a hill session this morning, although I probably could have managed with just shorts, but I’d been for a walk to the shops beforehand and found it pretty nippy so didn’t want to risk shorts. It must be heavy running in the forest at the moment after all the rain there has been, but on the plus side I suppose it’s good strength work for your legs.

    Anthony, Good luck in your HM on 13th. I don’t know anything about the Royal Parks, having only done the GNR in the past (and Edinburgh once) but now my furthest distance is 10k. The only advice I would give is to get as many long runs in as you can, and outdoors if possible, but still leave time to taper, however as you are pretty close to your run date you’ll need to start tapering soon.

    Damien well done on your parkrun time, particularly as it was windy.

    My Cross Country (4 miles) last Saturday was a bit disappointing in that I was over 3 minutes slower than when I last did this course two years ago. I think the main problem was that I got a stitch after 1.5 miles and it was a particularly painful one that I couldn’t run through so I had to walk for a bit and stretch out my side. It eased enough for me to start running again but I was cautious and paid more attention to my breathing and posture, but luckily still managed a sprint at the end. I get a lot of stitches lately, I know I have a posture problem as my right hip is marginally lower than my left, so I am prone to getting a stitch on my right side. It’s difficult to know what to do to minimise the chance of one occurring in races, other than to be aware of my posture and try to keep my breathing even (easier said than done in a XC race!) I went for another run (4.5 miles) on Monday but this time I took it easy, then today was 3.5 miles, half of which was of hill repeats, so apart from some yoga and strength work I will rest now until Sunday when my next XC race takes place (at Druridge Bay WtnMel, but I won’t be doing any skinny dipping).
  • Afternoon all,

    WtnMel, good luck on Tuesday when you play Alan again. I've a feeling that you will beat him :grin: Hope you enjoy your club run today.

    Anthony, good luck with your half marathon on the 13th October. If you had managed to run 10 miles in 90 minutes in your outdoor run, then I'm sure that you would have managed 2 hours for your half. I agree with Aquarius that to achieve a sub 2 hours, you need to do more long runs, and outdoors if possible. I was wondering why you do the majority of your training on a treadmill. I can't get on with them.

    Aquarius, glad to hear that all is ok with you and your family. I also find the scrolling on the mobile phones to be trivial and pathetic, embarrassing really. I think Michael Johnson is an excellent pundit who really knows what he is talking about.
    It was probably prudent for you to wear leggings for hill reps, as it's easier to pull muscles with cold legs.
    Running in the forest through mud and water is definitely good for strengthening the legs and building endurance.
    Sorry to hear that you got a stitch during your cross country race. I don't think that there is any medical evidence to explain the causes of getting a stitch, but a common remedy is to land heavier on the leg opposite to the one the same side as the stitch. Also to breath harder at the same time. Good luck for Sundays cross country race, and hoping that you don't get another stitch.

    Another cold morning and I ran 6 miles in the forest. It was a long warm up, then 4 x 2 minutes hard with 1 minute recoveries and then 1 minute maximum effort. The run back was fartleking.
    I'm going for a meal with Alice this evening, at one of our Italian restaurants.  
  • Sounds like that was a good session today HS, enjoy your meal this evening. 
  • Thanks Aquarius,  we had a lovely meal, but unusually the restaurant was nearly empty. Quiet music in the background including "Take 5" by Dave Brubeck. That was one of my favourites when I was a modern jazz fan. 
    I believe you mentioned once that you had visited Lymington? I was there on Monday and it was high tide. The water was coming in through the flood gates. I took a photo of a swan which I attach.
    The road was flooded when we drove back through Beaulie  :o
  • HS, what a good memory you have! Yes we did visit Lymington, it’s over three years ago now. It was when we stopped off at the New Forest on our way to the Isle of Wight. I enjoyed that holiday, we’ll have to do it again sometime. The clouds look rather threatening in your photo, as if it’s getting ready to pour.
    I’m glad your meal was nice, we ate out last night too. Our meal was at a local Greek/Italian restaurant but as it was a steak and chips night special we opted for that rather than Greek or Italian cuisine. The food is always very good there, and last night was no exception.
    I was rather disappointed to hear today that our XC has been cancelled on Sunday due to flooding. I was really looking forward to it, but I suppose the organisers had no choice, particularly as a lot more rain is forecast. So instead I’ve decided to do the Gibside parkrun again. I did it a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it. It’s all off-road, more of a hilly trail run really and quite tough, so I’m not expecting a good time but I think it will be a suitable substitute for my cancelled XC.🙂

  • A rather misty morning here, but it cleared up a bit for the parkrun. I managed to knock 1 min 26 off my time from a fortnight ago, but I still need to find another 35 seconds to improve on my PB at this course. I think that may be a bit ambitious as I set that PB over four years ago, when I was a lot fitter. Still, I suppose it’s a target to aim for.

    On Tuesday we have the first 5k distance race in our GP series, I’ve been given a very generous handicap so I hope to be amongst the first finishers. It’s an evening session and part of the course is on an unlit part of the promenade, so hi viz and chest lights will be the order of the day I think. Some lighting is usually provided by the organisers but inevitably there are dark sections where the lights can't reach.

    I hope everything is ok with Red, it’s a while since she’s posted on here and she hasn’t updated her extreme knitting blog since August. 
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon everyone,

    Antony - good luck with the Royal Parks HM .. not one I've ever done or am likely to do. I never use my treadmill which is in my garage - it was given to me by a friend for occasions when it's icy outside but it gets so little use, I'm considering getting rid of it as I could do with room for more shelves.

    Aquarius - glad to hear you're well, just busy. I hope I can beat Alan on Tuesday at golf - we'll see. I used to fast forward through the live commentary but got fed up doing that. I have to agree that the 'dumbing down' (asking about selfies and the like) would irritate me too. To be honest, even the Daily Doha has been cringeworthy at times - one of the guests (sorry, no idea who she is) has a vocabulary that doesn't extend much beyond "yeh .. brilliant .. ama-a-a-zing". Sorry to hear you were disappointed with your cross-country. I also have a tight hip on one side so my posture could be improved if only I stretched it regularly. I always thought (understood) stitch was caused by not enough blood getting to the muscles in question (as a child the rule seemed to be, not to exercise to soon after eating?). I don't think anyone will be skinny-dipping at Druridge now that Autumn has finally arrived! Yes, an off-road, hilly trail run does sound like an adequate substitute for your cancelled XC.

    HS - to beat Alan I just need to concentrate and remember the three things Richard taught me. Legs locked into position and not moved, head over the ball and kept still, left arm long on the backswing .. right arm long on the downswing and follow-through. Makes it sound easy doesn't it! Wow, that water at Lymington really was high wasn't it. 

    Had a good run with the club on Thursday. Ran steadily for most of it, including some run-backs to collect the slower runners. Then 'let go' in the last quarter-mile and put on a spurt and was pleased (shocked) to see afterwards I had been running at 8:58mm pace. Wouldn't be able to keep that pace up for very long though!
       
    Did a 4.5ml run this morning. Forgot that Anna McNuff (www.annamcnuff.com), a lady running barefoot the distance of 100 marathons across the country, was running through Bishops Cleeve this morning. Found myself running North along the bypass while Anna and her entourage were heading South towards Gloucester.

  • AquariusAquarius ✭✭✭
    edited October 2019
    WtnMel you make this golf business sound so easy I might take it up myself (joke, I’ve no intentions). Well done on your speedy club run on Thursday.
    As regards the stitch, I find it tends to happen when it is particularly cold (especially if I’ve been hanging around waiting in the cold for a race to start) or after a hill, in the latter case I put it down to poor running form. 
    We’ve had solid grey skies and incessant rain for ages now. I’m quite pleased the XC was cancelled as the start time of the individual races is always delayed until the course is clear of the previous group of runners, and as there are a number of age group races before ours the cumulative effect of the delays in the preceding events means our race is usually delayed by quite a bit, so it means a long shivery wait, which can be particularly unpleasant if it’s also raining.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Aquarius - when I was out running on Sat it had felt like I was doing a reasonable pace. When I checked on Fetch afterwards, it informed me that had been my 18th fastest of 18 attempts on that route. In my defence :) .. I did stop for a quick chat with a lady who is often out the same time as me and we usually pass heading in opposite directions. She often looks uncomfortable as she carries her arms very high and swings her elbows from side to side a lot and I've often thought she must just be doing short runs. But after I said I was doing 5 miles, she told me she was doing 11-2 miles so I have a new found respect for her.

    Just had the plumber out as the radiator in the back bedroom wasn't working. It appears to have just been a sticky needle in the thermostatic valve (he showed me what to do to loosen it) but if it re-occurs it'll mean replacing the valve which will entail draining the whole system - his comment was 2 hrs work for a 2 minute job so fingers crossed that won't be needed.

    Heading into town to see my financial adviser at lunchtime. I know I'm still solvent ;) .. but it will be interesting to get his take on current events and how that's likely to affect my investments. All being well, I'll manage to get out for a run when I get back home this afternoon.
  • Afternoon all,

    I haven't posted since Friday, so a bit of catching up is required!

    Aquarius, your meal sounded nice, but I've been vegetarian now for several months, so wouldn't have opted for the steak and chips. 
    A pity your cross country race was cancelled on Sunday, but well done for the improvement in your parkrun time from 2 weeks earlier. It's always good to have a target.
    Good luck with your handicap race on Sunday. They are always competitive with the faster runners trying to catch the slower runners that started ahead if them.

    I'm also worried about Red and her husband, who hasn't enjoyed good health for a long time.

    WtnMel, those golfing instructions sound too technical for me. Pitch and putt is about my limit. :bawling:

    You running pace is definitely improving. Barefoot running does seem to be gaining in popularity, but it's not for me. The only times I have run barefoot is in soft sand at the beach. Having said that though, I do enjoy running in my trail shoes which have virtually no cushioning or stabilisation.

    Good luck with your meeting with your financial advisor. I have regular meetings with mine which ensures as far as possible, that my wealth, as they refer to it, is doing as well as possible.

    Hope you managed to run this afternoon. It's been raining hard all day today.

    I ran 7.26 miles in a very soggy and muddy forest this morning with Sarah H. Before we set of we saw my spinning instructor. I hadn't attended for a couple of weeks, so I said that I would see her tomorrow. She is also a runner and sometimes runs 5 miles before taking her class.
  • I took some photos during Saturdays long run in the forest of some donkeys. I am attaching one and hope you like it. 

  • Good afternoon all,

    HS nice photo.  I didn’t realise there were donkeys in the New Forest, but they look like they are quite at home there and content.  Did you manage to get to your spinning class yesterday? 

    WtnMel I hope your financial advisor gave you some good news :) . It must be a risky time for investments at the moment. It’s funny you should say that Fetch showed your Saturday run as somewhat slower than you thought it would be. I sometimes feel I’m running quite fast, but Garmin tells me otherwise when I get home and download my run! (Fingers crossed for your radiator btw)

    I was a bit disappointed with my 5k GP race last night. I had been given a generous handicap time and therefore was one of the first to set off.  I was feeling ok, maintaining a good pace, and overtaking a few people, but then I felt myself losing energy in the last half mile and it was then that a number of faster runners flew past me. Overall I was two minutes slower than the last time I ran this course, so I think I’ve a bit of work to do before the next GP in November. I’m not sure why my energy deserted me, perhaps I hadn’t fully recovered from yesterday’s yoga session and Saturday’s hilly parkrun. I’m still feeling pretty tired today, but not sure if that is as a result of my 2yr old grandson’s visit today or last night’s run!

  • Afternoon all,

    Aquarius, there are quite a lot of donkeys in the New Forest, and they like standing in the middle of the roads. They stand quite still, and traffic just has to wait until they move. Yes I did manage to get to the spin class yesterday. It's always a good session as we are made to work really hard.
    I find Strava to be very controversial regarding effort, often stating that an easy run was harder than usual and visa versa. It's all calculated using algorithms, so I  tend to ignore it.
    Your recent cold may have had something to do with your energy deserting you. Hope that you are cold free for Novembers GP.

    I ran a very good pace hilly 6 mile road run this morning. 
  • Thank you for my good luck messages regarding the Royal Parks HM
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