New Mature Runners Thread

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Comments

  • Aquarius and HS, you were both to some extent thwarted by the wind! My theory is that lighter runners are disproportionately affected by the wind. Bigger, stronger runners seem to be able to batter their way through it. On our very windy parkrun course I try to find one or two to hide behind, which is a bit sneaky.
    So I think the wind is a legit reason for HS not dipping below his target time.

    Rest day for me, although I’ll get on my rower later. I’m at the stage where I’m still shaving the odd second or two off my PBs across various distances as my body adjusts to the demands of the exercise. 

    Will get out for a run tomorrow.
  • AquariusAquarius ✭✭✭
    edited August 2020
    HS: Sorry to hear you didn’t break the 26 minutes barrier, but I agree with John that the wind would most likely account for that. Well done to Sarah though. I don’t blame you finding an out and back route on a straight road to be boring, I hate to run looking ahead at a long straight road, it seems demotivating in some way and I’m sure it makes me run slower. I prefer a run with some twists and turns in it, and preferably off-road. Hopefully if you run in the forest next Saturday it should be better suited to your style of running. What model of Garmin are you thinking of getting?

    John: I’m the living proof of your theory regarding lighter runners. I’ve often been blown a few steps off course at windy XC events (much to my embarrassment) but at 5ft and just under 7 stone (no idea what those stats are in new money) a draught of wind from a closing door would be enough to make me wobble. That’s partly the reason why I’ve been doing circuit training lately. I took advantage of the lockdown to work on my strength in the hopes of coming into the 2019/20 XC season stronger. However I doubt I’ll get a chance to see if all this hard work has paid off as our local harrier league don’t think they’ll be able to stage any events this winter, unless the Coronavirus situation improves, which is unlikely. I hope you manage a new PB on your rower today.

    No running for me today,  but we have been out for a 6 mile walk along the country lanes. It really felt like autumn as there was a nip in the air and some of the trees were starting to change colour. The farmer had started on the harvest and summer felt like a distant memory, even though it’s still August (just).
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    JB,  I didn't have anyone to shield behind yesterday, as the others were way ahead of me. The strong winds don't seem to bother Jane, who is quite tiny.

    Working out on the rowing machine is probably helpful for your fitness for running. Hope you have a good run tomorrow.

    Aquarius, I agree 100% with your description of out and back straight roads being boring. I'm definitely running next Saturdays 5k in the forest. Sarah is going to pace one of our slower runners to sub 30 minutes, and Mike is going to attempt to pace me to sub 26 minutes. I did a recovery 10k run with Sarah this morning in the forest, round the route we will use on Saturday.

    I'm thinking about the forerunner 245 which Jane has. She has the music version, but you need expensive blue tooth earphones for the music, so I would go for the plain 245, as I've got used to running without music.

    That sounded nice, a 6 mile walk down country lanes. It's definitely getting colder, as my central heating came on this morning.

    Tomorrow, we are doing the last recce for the Hardley-a-Road challenge. Last week we ran 14 miles, unprepared for that distance as we didn't take any water etc. We hope to do less mileage this time.

    I'm thinking of walking down to the local park shortly, to see if the local cricket club are playing.  
  • Aquarius, wow you make my 5ft 6inch, 10stone 3lb frame seem like a colossus!
    No wonder you get blown around by the gusts of wind. I’m sure the circuit training will help build up you strength. I remember reading years ago that circuit training was the best all round fitness regime....but I guess much depends on the nature of the circuits!
    Rowing also makes that claim as they say that it uses 80% of the muscles in the body. Well, perhaps! I did manage to shave a second off my 2k PB and my goodness it was hard work.

    HS, it sounds as though you have and contribute to a very supportive network of runners. Do you have club handicap events as per Mel’s?

    13k today at 6.02 per km. very slow but better than last week. This is a long run by my standards and shatters me!
  • Good evening all,

    JB, we have something similar to Mel's handicap, which has been in operation since the lock down of parkruns. Dan, one of our club members has set up a league table for not a parkrun 5k's based on percentage improvements since the 2020 pb before the lockdown. This table shows some of the higher positions are held by slower runners, that have improved their WAVA's by the highest percentage.

    Well done for your 13k today. 6.02 per km is good for that distance. I've only recently converted to km running, and reckon that 6.0 is ideal for steady runs.

    I ran this morning with the Monday club runners, there were 5 of us, and we ran 8.15 miles. Garmin connect and strava convert the ks to miles, and I didn't check how many k's this was before conversion.
  • john bateman 6john bateman 6 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2020
    I find now that I think in kms not miles. I think that the the km being shorter than the mile is easier to 'monitor' in term of pace. 

    Also since I've started rowing, the rower is set up in kms - probably because all the Olympic events are over 2k distance. The timer gives you your 500 metre pace (eg 2 minutes over 500) and this is brilliant to ensure a really constant (and most efficient) pace. The downside is that you can't take your eyes off the damn thing as invariably if you do (not that there's much else to look at anyway!) your pace drops. This monitoring is far better than that available to runners, but it is horrible.

    In terms of my own timings (just to illustrate) my 500m rate over 2k is 2.06.7 (= 8.26.9) and over 5k is 2.14.6 (= 22.21.0). I hasten to add that both these times are thoroughly mediocre but not too far from my running times. 

    Compared to running, there is nothing like the comparative data available. There is one site that gives a league table and this is then divided into age (60-69in my case), weight (lightweight v  heavyweight with 12 stone as the heavies) and sex. There's no age grading and the the numbers in each category are tiny - eg less than 250 in the world in my category and about 100 in the UK (compare that to Parkruns!).

    I think the current leader in my category the UK is18.50 for the 5k. - slower  the leading 5k running time for a 60-60 year old I would guess. But it puts my 22 min plus time into perspective!

    PS there is a Concept 2 forum which is similar to this one. But the hard core guys are obsessed with technique, much of which goes over my head. I'm sure mine is shocking. Most of the rowers - where bulk (and height) is best - would struggle in a foot race.






  • JB, if I can manage 26 minutes for 5k on Saturday, this will give me a WAVA of 71.67%.  The top time for a 74 year year old is 18.38!!

    The reason for my conversion to k's is that it is easier to know when 5k is reached, than having to keep looking at the Garmin to see when 3.1 miles has been covered.

    Today is a rest day.
  • Afternoon everyone - just catching up after a few days away from the computer.

    JB - shame being edged out by your training partner in your 5K race but kudos to Mrs JB for her PB. Being 'old school' I still think in miles. I can cope with kms and know 6min per km would be a very good pace for me. But when I hear people on tv talking about hectares etc. I don't have a clue (although in fairness, I don't know how big an acre is either!!)

    Aquarius - yes, I really ought to get round to deciding about private health cover before we actually need it. When I looked before, Saga were the best option - there were others who were more expensive and the cheaper quote was full of caveats and exemptions and would have ended up more expensive in the event of a claim. No doubt the company who provided the cheaper quote don't expect people to read the small print - but I do and could see it was just 'window dressing'. Don't know what those white maggoty creatures you found were - I expect they were larvae of some nasty bug or other. Well done re the flow yoga, circuits and plates.

    HS - with my anti-clockwise run, I just wanted a change of scenery and to stop myself doing the same old route again. Shame you didn't manage to beat your 5K PB. I never did sort out my bluetooth connection between my Garmin and phone and concluded it was impossible with my particular phone model (Huawei Y2016). If I was in the market for a new Garmin I couldn't see me going for anything 'fancy' as I've never needed music while I'm running or felt the need to see any phone messages (and I don't carry my phone with me and think wearing headphones while running outside is positively dangerous).

    Re wind and it affecting lighter runners, I noticed how different we all are. Aquarius - 5ft & 7 stone; JB - 5ft 6in & 10st 3lb; Me - 5ft 9in & 14st. I'd imagine some clever person has looked into power/weight ratios and plotted a distribution curve of how it affects performance. I'd imagine there's a point where extra weight (that I carry!) counteracts the ability to buffet through wind so I'm sure I'd be on the outside of any performance distribution curve rather than in the middle bit.

    The final results of the club's handicap race have been published and predictably, that woman who posted a far worse target time than she's capable of won. She had lots of congratulations - not from me though! A 33% performance improvement in a few weeks is just plain ridiculous.

    Had a 30min golf lesson earlier and explained to Richard my game has been a bit rubbish lately. He quickly identified two things that needed correcting .. my grip wasn't quite right and I was bringing my driver around my body too much (it needs to be more up and down). Having tried correcting those two things I was hitting the ball a bit better so will go and practise again on Thu ready for my game with Alan on Fri.

    We managed a SD'd family meal at the weekend for Margaret's younger son Ed - we had a table and chairs out on the back lawn and it stayed dry and the sun even came out for a while. Even more important from Margaret's point of view - I took some 'candid' photos of Ed while he wasn't looking so got some decent natural shots of him (he usually glares at the camera and doesn't like having his photo taken).
  • Mel, yes I agree that extra bulk is almost wholly disadvantageous to running performance in every respect other than the wind issue. Indeed I recall that in the USA they had a category called Clydesdales just for heavier runners. I’m not sure what the qualifying weight was...........

    As for golf I played a few times and put it into the category of sports that I’ll never be any good at. A good walk spoiled as the old saying goes.

    PS I’d call for a drug test on that lady!
  • Morning everyone,

    JB - hopefully I don't qualify as a Clydesdale ;) I'm not sure I'll ever be 'good' at golf and able to get close to par on each hole. But being a nerd I have been tracking my scores since retiring and starting to play golf regularly. Despite the ups and downs of my scores from week to week, I can see from a the graph in my golf score spreadsheet that there's a definite downward trend. Just hope that trend doesn't flatten out anytime soon. That lady doesn't need a drug test - she just needs to be more honest in future about what she's capable of and not spoil it for the rest of us.

    5ml run done and dusted earlier this morning at 10:30mm avg pace - hopefully that's the 'new normal'
  • Postscript to this morning's run ..

    My left hamstring is slightly sore. I think that's because in the last mile there was a guy on the opposite pavement who had overtaken me on an uphill section and as I'd caught him up on the flat part of the road, I was doing my best to stay abreast of him and see if I could get ahead again. Never did find out if I could though as he turned left 😆
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    WtnMel, my previous phone was an Huawai and they don't sync with Garmin Connect, that's why I got my current Samsung Galaxy S8, which synced instantly with my Garmin 365, until somehow last week, it turned the bluetooth off. I've tried everything to turn it back on, and Mike who is quite an expert in these matters has also failed. I'm thinking of getting a Garmin 645, which is available from Argos at present for £199.99. The market price is £299. I've had the 235 for over 3 years, so it is probably clapped out! I don't run with music either, at least not since my ipod "died" a couple of years ago. The 645 is available with or without music, so I would go without. The blue tooth earphones needed are nearly as expensive as the Garmin, so a non starter.

    Sounds like a bit of a farce, that lady who won. It was obviously under false pretensions.

    Good to hear that you are hitting the ball better now after your last lesson. I hope that after more practice on Thursday, you will be able to beat Alan on Friday.

    Your family meal at the weekend in the back garden sounded good, especially as the sun came out.

    A nice consistent pace for your 5 miler this morning. Really good, especially as you say that you are 14 stone. I think I'm 5'9" but not sure. I'm down to my racing weight, as in my forties, of 9.5 stone. 

    JB, I've never got beyond pitch and put, but am an expert at crazy golf🤣

    I ran 5.6 miles this morning in the forest including 5 x 800 metres with 90 seconds recoveries. The 5th was the quickest in 3.56, which I was really pleased with, as my target was 4 minutes. My speed is returning😁
  • WtnMel, our posts crossed again! Sorry to hear about your sore hamstring, and the reason for it. That must have been very frustrating. I often find that most runners are running towards me, and those ahead turn off before I can catch them.

    I'm having a rest days today and tomorrow, to give me a better chance of going sub 26 minutes in Saturdays 5k.

    I've ordered a Garmin 645 from Argos and it will be delivered between 2 and 6 pm this afternoon. It is the music model which I didn't really want, but that was the model on offer. I probably won't bother with the music, as bluetooth ear pieces are nearly as expensive as the garmin.

  • Afternoon everyone,

    HS - when I was in my thirties I weighed around 11.5 stone (and could run HM's in 1h 45m!) but never weighed less than that. I wasn't clear if you are having problems with bluetooth on your phone or your Garmin .. I've put some info I found online at the end of this post which may help? (and it will save everyone else having to wade through it here). I'm not sure if I would get another ipod if my 'classic' one ever conked out. I use it in the car and could put music on a memory stick instead - or quite possibly on my phone? Well done re your forest run with speedy bits. I forgot to mention the guy I was 'racing' down the road yesterday had headphones on and was doing bursts of speed now and then - I think he might have been listening to a personal trainer or similar? Having searched re bluetooth I've just seen your later post where you said you've now ordered a Garmin 645 .. I'll leave the info about bluetooth below in case its still relevant.

    Turns out I only just scrape into not being classed as a Clydesdale ;) That starts at 200lbs (I'm currently 197lbs) and apparently there's a class called Athena for heavier women (145 - 160lbs). These classes of runner were introduced so heavier runners could 'place' in their own category (a bit like handicapping in golf maybe?).

    My hamstring seems fine today - it was obviously just a short-term thing.

    Been to the driving range this morning and I was hitting the ball much better after my lesson on Tue. Hope that means I'll play better tomorrow against Alan.

    ===== 

    HS - as mentioned above, when I googled "Samsung Galaxy S8 switch bluetooth on and off" I got this response ..

    From the Home screen on your phone, slide up to get to the Apps screen. ...
    Flick or pan to the Settings icon and tap it. ...
    Tap the Connections icon. ...
    Tap the Bluetooth icon. ...
    Put the phone in to Pairing mode by turning on Bluetooth or by turning Bluetooth off and on again.

    .
    .

    When I did a similar search for Garmin 235 I got this ..

    Press the top right button on the watch.
    Press the bottom left button to select Menu.
    Scroll and select Settings.
    Scroll and select Bluetooth.
    Select Pair Mobile Device.
  • Mel, good research on the weight issue. Just for comparison, men’s rowing has a very rigid division between heavyweight and lightweight, with 12 stone being the divider. I did note that one guy who was well in excess of this weight put himself in the light category and consequently was rather high up the ladder. Could have been a simple error or he might be related to the lady in your club handicap.
    I think at my lightest I was under 9 stone, but I wasn’t running then. 

    HS good luck with your run tomorrow. I’ll have my weekly time trial but I’m not optimistic that I’ll break 23 mins.

    On the bright side I knocked a mighty 7 seconds off my 5k rowing PB yesterday.
  • Afternoon all

    WtnMel: re health insurance, having researched the various providers we decided to go with SAGA. It’s not too expensive and seems to cover everything we thought we might need. However, as we haven’t had to use them yet I don’t know how good or otherwise their service is. Glad to see you are managing to maintain your “new normal” 10.30 pace, and keeping fingers crossed for you in your golf match today. It must have been nice to have a SD’d family meal last weekend, and clever of you to get some photos of Ed without him realising it . Now your club’s handicap competition is over do you know if they have any plans for something similar? Good that your hamstring twinge has cleared up.

    HS: You’ve got a new Garmin! I hope it is more reliable than my new watch (see below). Enjoy your rest day today and remember the wings for tomorrow’s 5k.  

    JB: As there are special categories for heavier runners (Clydesdale and Athena) are you aware of any for skinny weeds like me? Well done for a 7 second improvement on your 5k rowing PB yesterday, and good luck in your 5k time trial.

    This morning I did another hill session, 6 times around my local park, and would you believe it my new Garmin couldn’t locate the satellites! Normally whenI turn it on and select the run option it advises “waiting for GPS” then within about a minute the screen changes, the red indicator turns green to show it has GPS, and the screen showing distance, pace and timer pops up meaning I’m ready to press start. However today I ran for about half a mile and the screen still showed “waiting for GPS” so I turned it off, then back on again and tried again. No luck, so I decided to start recording the run anyway as I was sure it must be a mistake. I noticed the distance indicator was working so felt pretty confident it was working okay, but after about a couple of hundred yards the watch bleeped and appeared to indicate it had no GPS and displayed the completed stats for that “run". So I switched it off, then back on again another two or three times, still no GPS. I decided to leave it on the screen showing “waiting for GPS” for however long it took to actually find those elusive satellites, but in the end it just powered down and switched itself off. So yet again I turned it on and this time I just started recording to see what it would show. It appeared to record properly, although I was on my last couple of laps by this time. Then I ran back home, running fairly fast as I usually do for the last mile or so. When I downloaded the sessions at home it was obvious it hadn’t been working properly as despite the fact it had been a hill session it showed elevation as 0, and my pace and lap distances were incorrect too.  When I was back home I tried again, and every time it powered down I just turned it back on. Eventually (after about half an hour?) the screen indicated it had GPS, but then immediately changed back to waiting for GPS, and then kept flashing between the two. I’m going for a walk this afternoon, so will wear the watch and see if the GPS works. Although we’ve been for a few walks this week I’ve kept forgetting to wear my Garmin, and haven’t run with it since last weekend, do you think this may account for it having difficulty locating the satellites? 
  • Good afternoon all,

    WtnMel, those were good half marathon times when you were lighter!

    Thank you for the links, the blue tooth problem was with the Garmin. I've followed those steps several times without success, that's why I decided to replace it with a later model. It arrived yesterday afternoon and I started by charging it up. When I went to switch it off with the usual light on off button, it wouldn't switch off. On reading the start up guide, it explained that you had to press and hold the on button, which would produce the menu. The off icon would be in the menu. I haven't attempted to programme it yet, as Mike, who has the same model said that he would do it for me. It looks quite straight forward to pair it to my phone and add to Garmin Connect, but I'll leave it all to Mike. In the meantime, I can still use my 235 for running, but "without the bells and whistles!"

    JB, a few years ago, I was unable to spare much time for running in the lunch break, where I was working at the time, so on occasions, I worked out in the gym with machine and free weights, and also the cross trainer. The result was that I bulked up and went up to about 11 stone. This really slowed down my running, and when I was able to revert to just running, I was "like a cart horse" for a while, until the weight came off. 

    Thanks, I will be trying very hard tomorrow to break the elusive 26 minutes. Good luck with your attempt to go sub 23. That is well beyond me now, but I do think that I could possibly get down to 25 minutes if I can continue injury free training. Well done for your your rowing 5k pb!

    Aquarius, thanks for reminding me to wear the wings tomorrow, I will certainly need them!

    Oh dear, you are having problems with your garmins not connecting with the satellites. Not using it for several days shouldn't make any difference at all. In the past, I turned my garmin off every night, and when I turned it on again, there were no connection problems. The earlier models did take longer to connect, and I used to put them in the garden whilst I got ready to run, and when I picked them up, they had connected. I'm afraid that I have no ideas at all what is causing the problem. I take it for granted that when I step out of the front door, it will connect within about 5 seconds. I hope it connected during your walk this afternoon.

    I had a nice lunch in the village today in one of the little cafe's with Karen and the twins. It's nice to see that the village is coming back to life again.
  • Afternoon everyone,

    JB - I'd love to lose weight. Not for vanity purposes - just because I know it would make my running easier/faster. Well done for improving your 5K rowing PB.

    Aquarius - it was nice to get together for the family meal and Margaret was thrilled I was able to get some photos of Ed. I've not seen if the club has any plans for similar competitions. Some club evening sessions have re-started (albeit with changes due to covid) but no sign yet of the Thu morning sessions beginning again. I'm sure we'll go with Saga for private health cover .. I just need to sit down with Margaret so we can decide what level of cover we want. Margaret uses Saga for car and house insurance and has no complaints. I was sorry to read you've been having more issues with getting satellite signals with your new watch - for what it's worth, I often switch mine on while I'm getting changed and putting on my shoes and it sometimes picks up the satellites before I venture outside. Not using it for  few days shouldn't affect it's ability to find the signals. As you know, we often venture up your way to do the NESD at the end of September. You won't be at all surprised to hear they've had to cancel it this year for safety reasons due to covid. We'd been expecting them to cancel it for a while now - I think the organiser Jax was hoping it might be possible but the situation hadn't improved so she had no option but to cancel and look forward to things being better in 2021.

    HS - ah, the glory days of running in my youth when I could run at 8:10mm pace and thought nothing of it (didn't realise at the time how 'fast' I was!). Glad to hear you'll have some help- setting up your new Garmin - will make life easier. Hope today's 5K attempt went (will go) well. Sounds nice to have a lunch in the village - I've seen people in our village sat outside the cafes having coffee but not been to any of them myself yet.

    Golf yesterday. I didn't win .. but I only lost by four strokes which in my book is a 'win' as I wasn't as erratic as usual. In fact, using the stableford system of scoring which I've mentioned which takes into account your handicap, Alan and I ended in a tie with 25 points each. I did manage four 'bogeys' yesterday (1 over par) but I also managed two 'worst ever' scores on a couple of holes - oops! We're playing again on Monday - I'll report back!

    I ran 4mls this morning. Slightly heavy-legged after yesterday's golf but I still managed 10:40mm pace and it was a lovely morning with no wind, slightly cool conditions and sunshine.
  • Good evening all,

    WtnMel, before I forget, I got 1143 circles last month. I think that is the first time that I have got over 1,000.

    Regarding the setting up of my new Garmin 645, Mike is "letting me" set it up myself, and if I mess it up, he will sort it out!

    The forest 5k went really well, but my Garmin only recorded 26.08. Mike ran with me from start to finish and his 645 recorded 25.52, so I'm claiming to have run sub 26 minutes😁 When I wear my 645, I'm hoping it will record faster times.

    It sounded like yesterdays golf went well, as with the handicap system you tied with Alan. Good luck for Mondays match!

    Well done for this mornings run, you are maintaining a good pace, and seem to be getting quicker.
  • Good afternoon all,

    HS: Well done on your sub 26 5k. Did the wings help? I'm sure you'll get faster times with your new watch - I am with mine :D.  I hope you'll have no problems setting up the 645, but nice of Mike to offer to help if needed. Can't wait to hear how it performs and whether you find it an improvement to your current model.
    We haven't entered a cafe, pub or restaurant since the virus arrived, having heard mixed reports of local people either respecting the social distancing rules, or completely ignoring them , so we're staying away until we feel it's safer. Glad to hear that you had a nice lunch with Karen and the twins though.

    WtnMel: I'm not surprised to hear that your skinny dip at Druridge Bay has been cancelled, most events in this area have been. A lot of organisers had initially postponed events until autumn in the hopes that the situation would have improved by then, but one by one they are now cancelling them and moving entrants to next year's event. Well done on your golf, not only a good result but as you say your performance was less erratic than usual, so improvements all round. Fingers crossed for a win on Monday. Well done also for your 4 mile run, a good pace for heavy legs.

    After the disappointment of my new Garmin not working properly on Friday morning we went for a short walk around the estate in the afternoon to see if it had any more luck finding GPS. It took a little while, and stuttered a bit between having GPS and not, but then started working properly. Steve's Garmin found the satellites straight away, but when downloaded his route was anything but accurate (I forgot to check mine before deleting the walk). So I was still in two minds about whether to persevere with the watch or return it. I decided to try it for my not-a-parkrun 5k attempt this morning and I'm pleased to say it performed perfectly, also on my recovery run back. I managed to get sub 10 min miling for the n-a-p, which I was really happy with, but the recovery run pace was 12 min miling. My legs were complaining a bit by this stage as the previous day I'd had a really busy day, plus we'd gone blackberrying after lunch then on return I did circuit training for 40 mins.  
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    Aquarius, thanks, the wings certainly helped. I haven't got the 645 quite right yet, but ran with it this morning, and my 235 on the other wrist. I've the 645 set in miles at present, which worked well as it bleeped on each mile, with distance. The problem was, that the 3 fields were incorrect. They were distance, time, distance, whereas the bottom screen should have been pace. Goodness knows why they have a set up like that. I'm going to try and sort it out this afternoon. It worked out ok as 235 was recording k's and pace minutes per k. At the end of the run at 10k on the 235, the 645 passed 6.25 miles at exactly the same moment. Doesn't seem as if the new garmin will make up the difference in time. My 235 was always about 20 seconds slower than Sarah's who also has a 235, even though we usually finished together, or me a bit ahead. The mystery remains unsolved.

    I was a bit apprehensive about meeting up in the cafe, but it was well organised, with glass between tables, and wiping down after customers left, before allowing anyone to take their place. They took our names and phone numbers, in case anyone there at the time proved to be positive. The twins are 4 and were well behaved.They start school at the end of September.

    Glad to hear that your new Garmin "behaved" for the not-a-parkrun, and well done for the sub 10 minute miling. Well done also for 40 minutes circuit training. That sounds very hard core.
  • Hello all. Dropped back to see you, and everyone seems to be well and running. Me, I'm doing the not-a-parkruns once a week (I see Aquarius is too), and have taken to going out with the running club on their Thursday evening sessions. I don't impose myself on them much because I get embarrassed that they keep having to wait for me; but Thursday evenings are "speed" sessions, done on the football/rugby pitch at the local leisure centre, and simply involve running "fast" across and back, a certain number of times, then a jog round the outside of the pitch before more fast bits. So it doesn't matter about keeping up with anyone; they are all running at different rates, and I just do less so we all finish more or less together.
    Also try to do a longer run each week. Alone, of course.
    The Welsh Assembly, in its wisdom, has not directed its citizens to wear masks in shops. Though we are supposed to wear them on public transport, but I haven't been using public transport. The supermarkets have 2m distances marked on the floor, and plastic screens at the checkouts. The small shops limit customers to 2 at a time in the shop. The post office, however, allows up to 5. The largest hotel in town has opened for socially-distanced meals, coffees etc., taking contact details. Strange times.
    Aquarius - the white maggots in your plant container could be vine weevil larvae. If you can tip out the compost onto a surface where you can spread it out and sift through it, you can probably pick them all out and slaughter them by whatever means you care to take.
    Flu jabs - no-one has invited me for one yet and I'm mid-70s, so I'd better chase up the surgery.  
  • Welcome back Columba, who like me also posts on the Over 60s thread. Means a bit of duplication.

    Ive had some problems with my password, but now fixed. I live in dread of passwords and the like. There is a kind of mutual intolerance between the two parties!

    On the various Garmin issues, I’m lucky that my training partner seems to record identical data as mine. As there was only 2 seconds between us on our weekly handicap this is just as well. 

    Talking of which, the 2 seconds were in his favour but I managed a 22.50 over the 5k so I was OK with that. Mrs JB prevailed over both of us yet again....and with a bigger margin.

    Yesterday we ran at a rather more gentle collaborative  pace over 13k of 5.46 which was a marked improvement on last week.

    Heard yesterday that our local 10k is definitely back on, since postponement in June. Numbers reduced and various other measures being deployed. I’ve not entered but my son has but has gone a hamstring problem. If he can’t do it, I might consider having a go, but looking unlikely. However, I might have it in mind when training over the next few weeks.........

    All the best.



  • Good news about Parkrun’s resumption next month!
  • Good morning all,

    Welcome back again Coumba! Good to hear that you are still running, and doing the not-a parkruns 5k's and also attending your running club's sessions.

    Everyone in my local shops has been wearing face coverings, and I wear my running buff.

    I've phoned my surgery twice now, requesting an appointment for a flu jab, and both times they have asked me to ring back in a weeks time. People in our age categories are supposed to be treated as priorities, so I suppose we must keep trying.

    JB, that's good that your training partner's Garmin is recording the same data as yours. 

    Very well done for your 22.50 5k, that is an excellent time! Well done also Mrs.B.

    5.46 minutes per k, is a good pace for a longer run.

    I'm still very cautious about races at present, and have opted to run the NF Half Marathon virtually. The organisers have had to move the venue from New Camp Brockenhurst, to St Giles house in Wimborne. I didn't fancy the long drive, and start time at 12 noon. The first runner would set off at 12 and then at 10 second intervals.

    The proposed bringing back of parkruns in October is good news, but our organiser of the Brockenhurst/Wilverley Inclosure parkrun has written  to the Forestry Commission, because the start and finish would have to be dramatically changed, and would need appropriate approval.

    Yesterday, Sara F and I ran the Hardley-a-Round Challenge,which took us 14 miles. We will be doing it again, with a few tweaks as others have done it in 13 or less miles. The challenge is to run to 8 check points, all off road, and without retracing any tracks. It is as much of a navigational challenge, as distance. We did a warm up before, and a warm down afterwards, and ran a total of 17 miles. That's the furthest I have run since my knee injury in June 2017.

    Needless to say, today is a rest day.
  • Afternoon everyone,

    HS - I checked Fetch for Aug and only got 443 circles last month. Trust by now you've managed to set up your new Garmin 645 as you want it, with or without help from Mike. Yes, always go for the lower time on a challenge so don't blame you claiming 25:52 for your 5K. I saw you and Sara F did an impromptu Hardley-a Round challenge and covered 17 miles in total .. that's more than I do on a 'good' week!. It sounds a bit like an orienteering event although with those, you are allowed to re-trace your steps

    Aquarius - Margaret and I are similar and avoiding all restaurants so far and for the time being (even with Rishi's £10 saving to entice us). It was inevitable the skinny-dip would be cancelled - Jax the organiser held off cancelling it as long as possible hoping the situation would improve but obviously that didn't happen. Glad to read you new Garmin has improved and now seems to be working better - hope that has continued to be the case.

    Columba - lovely to hear from you again and to hear you are running regularly and joining in with your club sessions .. my club's sessions have restarted, albeit with some changes, but the Thu morning sessions I used to go to hasn't restarted just yet. Yes, sounds like you'd better contact your surgery about a flu jab if they haven't already been in touch with you.

    JB - I don't know how 'busy' the over-60's thread is compared to this one .. I might take a peek at it? To keep track of my passwords, I have to have a password-protected Word document with some of them in it. As long as I never forget the 'master' password of the Word document I'll be fine! Well done to Mrs JB for prevailing over you and your partner again. I've not heard of any races local to me that are back on.

    I managed to crawl out of bed at 5:45am this morning and did a 4.5ml run. As I'd played 18 holes of golf yesterday, it was a bit of a heavy-legged 'plod' session. 

    Speaking of which, I didn't beat Alan at golf and ended up 9 shots adrift. We played the same 9 hole course twice and most of those extra shots were due to me ending up in the same ditch each time and fluffing a lot of my drives off the tee (took me two shots to get as far as Alan's one). So definitely room for improvement. As a bonus, when I looked for my ball in the ditch I found two extra balls and when we looked in some long grass for Alan's wayward drive, I found three more extra balls before we found his.
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    WtnMel, I believe that I have sorted the 645 out. When I press the "run" button, I first get the default screen, distance, time, distance, but when I then press the down button, I get the screen I want. Jane who has a 645, says "to add a data screen." I might try that, but as long as pressing the down button works, I might stick with it. It's setup in miles, so if I want to revert to k's, I may have to add a new data screen. I'll have to go on u tube, to see how to do it.

    You are right in saying that it is a bit like an orienteering event. Our navigation skills are not as good as some who have already done it. We did it in 14 miles, but some have done it in 13 or less. We will be doing it again, and have some ideas where we can tweak the route a bit. The difficulty is that it has to be all off road. Nevertheless, we were pleased with out efforts, and especially running 17 miles in all.

    Well done for another very early run.

    Keep up the golfing lessons and you will beat Alan. It was a bit of a bonus to find all those golf balls.  
  • Another evening of live athletics yesterday. Daley Thompson’s son did the javelin, Richard  Neuraker was on the mic and commentated on his daughter’s race, and Sally Gunnell was there watching her daughter compete. Quite an evening for the Sussex athletics aristocracy!

    My trip to the opticians was very reassuring. Having had my eyes being given the OK with some routine maintenance required, I then woke up in the night with tinnitus and total deafness in one ear.

    Conclusion: I’m getting old!



  • Afternoon everyone,

    HS - glad to read you've (almost) sorted out your new watch settings. I'll persevere with the golf lessons - I still have another hour's tuition left of the current package and will no doubt sign up for more until I don't need them!

    JB - glad to hear you enjoyed the athletics with the various Sussex Athletics aristocracy in attendance. Reminds me of the time I went to see a friend doing a triathlon in the Cotswold Water Park and suddenly noticed a familiar face off TV (Wendy Sly) in attendance, watching her husband taking part. Sorry to hear about your tinnitus and partial deafness (I have hearing aids these days to boost the high frequencies I naturally miss hearing normally). I occasionally get funny whistling noises in my ears but it soon goes away.

    Will do some gardening after lunch but have just had to spend a couple of hours doing housekeeping in Outlook Mail on my laptop. I installed Outlook on my mobile and when it synchronised with the laptop, most of the available internal storage got used up. So I've just had to delete loads (I mean loads!) of no longer needed emails on my laptop and lo and behold, I've recovered 2.75Gb of storage space on my mobile. That'll teach me to be lazy with the computer housekeeping - total own goal.
  • hillstriderhillstrider ✭✭✭
    edited September 2020
    Good afternoon everyone,

    JB, that sounds a bit like "down memory lane!" I remember when I was a youngster going to Motspur Park with my Dad, and watching the late, great, "puff puff" Gordon Pierey. I can't remember who else was in the race. That was back in the days of Vladimir Kuts, Emil Zatopek and Ron Clarke. 

    Glad that your eyesight was ok, but sorry to hear that you woke up with tinnitus and deafness in one ear.

    WtnMel, Mike has sorted my Garmin now; he adjusted it before we set off for our hill session, and when we got back to the Leisure Centre, we saw the Wednesday Wheelers, who are all our club runners. Mike was putting the final adjustments to my Garmin, when Chris, one of our Coaches, mentioned that she was having problems with hers. Mike very kindly sorted hers out as well. 

    Keep up the golf lessons and you will soon be beating Alan.

    I saw Jo Pavey being the first lady home in the Great South Run a few years ago. I was standing by the pier about a mile from the finish, and on the tv coverage, I can be heard shouting out "come on Jo!"

    Well done with your computer housekeeping, I bet your mobile works a lot quicker now with all that storage saved!

    This mornings session was 4 sets of 6 minute hills, with 2 minutes recovery between sets.


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