My Last Run

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  • John, I looked up a 10k I ran in February which is known as a flat and fast course and attracts a good field of fast runners from more or less all over Switzerland.  42 minutes would have given you an overall 303rd place out of 784.  Winner was 30:00.4 (bet he loved that .4 of a second).  My 43:56 left me 61st / of 346 ladies.  Most races are of a more regional / local nature however with just a handful of very quick runners and you whizz up the results appropriately. Swift 3 miles, think you are allowed to be knackered after that.

    Seems you were lucky with the lurgy there Cal.  Good soak in the bath sounds good for an aching back. 

    Oh shame about the mucky shoes LTT.  That is a great result considering the conditions.

    Nasty when a niggle keeps you awake at night MalMal.  Wise to cut off your run if you were struggling but you are not too far off your old paces.  How much off road running do you do - might help the shins a bit to stay off tarmac if you can - also be careful on the (down)hills - don't slam you heel into the ground.

    Recovery 4 miles yesterday evening - trotted around quite happily - was expecting to feel more tired after Sunday's progressive run.    

    This afternoon a spontaneous outing with one of the other ladies from my Tuesday evening group - she wanted to enjoy the afternoon sun rather than wait to run in the dark and I decided that it was a good idea and was struggling to get to grips with some new work software anyway.  We agreed on a meeting point and a rough time at a location between the two of us and that worked out perfectly.  Pace was a bit quicker than I had reckoned with but plenty of chat stopped her from upping it any more.  We both know the local fields and woods very well but seem to run different routes so it was quite fun to put together a joint route as we went along.  8 and a bit miles in 1:13:30.  Some paths were a bit soggy after yesterday's downpour but we could mostly tiptoe around the worst of the puddles. 
  • Hazelnut, thanks for the research. Yes, I would say that the event was a very decent standard indeed. And well done by the way. Were I living in Switzerland, I’d target the local races! My niggle on this is that most events treat the 60-69s as a single category but TBH a freshly minted 60 year old has a huge advantage over a 69 year old. Or to declare an interest, a nearly 66 year old, come to that.
  • I'm with you on the mental age, Cal. I'm not sure I've developed since I was 18, although probably slightly less opiniated now. Ever so slightly  ;)

    It's obviously my youthful looks that have fooled you, Hazelnut  :D . With regards the Indian accent I think it depends on the individual. I've worked with people who have spoken exceptional English and then others who I really do struggle to understand. But then I've worked with English people who have been the same. My oldest friend has a very strong Sussex accent which even after 45 years I sometimes find difficult. And we were born in the same town.

    Welcome back Will. Fingers crossed for the ultra.

    Good time on the 3 miler, john, puts me to shame. And Mr Millen is a very good club man, currently club secretary although I think he's looking to pass that particular baton on in the near future. Hopefully your achilles isn't suffering too much.

    Considering the conditions, LTT, that is a great time. Just think what it would have been if it had been held in anything like perfect conditions. And sorry to hear about the soggy runners. I've done a few league races where people have tried to avoid the puddles at the start and by the end have been wading through them like it was the Somme. Hopefully the ankle has improved.

    Don't feel too bad about the pace, MM. It will take a little while to get back where you were and it sounds as if you've got other injury issues that are affecting you. Taking it nice and steady will be better in the long run.

    So a few issues since Friday had curtailed my ability to post. My work ID was deactivated on Friday evening. I'm what's known as a complimentary worker and although the Statement of Work is until June next year the system had me ending on the 23rd and so all my access was lost, which meant I couldn't log on to the laptop I use. I've spent two days trying to get it sorted.

    Decided on a drop down weekend, so only did a 5K on Saturday, which still felt hard even when not fully going for it. Jogged it round in 25 mins, but didn't really enjoy it.

    The Sunday we ran along the Adur as it's flat and relatively sheltered. Again we shortened from the 11miler down to 7 miles, running from Shoreham to Botolphs and back. It felt a lot easier than the Saturday run, so much so that we sped up on the return loop, although I think that had more to do with the rain that had set in. At least my new water resistant jacket got a decent try out. We were passed on the way back by two club mates who were doing the Dublin half.

    Last night was a 'bubble' run. Meeting again at Hove Park we did a different route that headed west and then diverted up towards the A27, which meant a long drag up a rather naughty hill. Pleased to have been able to make it all the way up and also keep up with the run leader who was setting quite a challenging pace. The rest of the run was fairly undulatory not helped by the state of the pavements in some places. Difficult to see humps or hollows in the diminished light, even with a headtorch on.

    There was discussion about the Goodwood Half in December, so may have a look into that. I think we're both missing having some event to aim for. And it struck me that it will have been nearly a year since my last half. 
  • Linton, that sounds rather testing - you can always give the new shoes a bit of a scrub, I suppose.
    Malteser, shin pain is often linked to tight calves so I guess if you work on the calves it'll help your shins. As Hazelnut suggests, downhills can be worse for them than uphills - I often feel my achilles more after a steep descent.
    Hazelnut, it's definitely getting a bit wet and slippery isn't it?
    John, I definitely understand that...a lot of events have me in the 45-54 age cat, and as a post-menopausal 53, I'm competing with pre-menopausal women who have a big advantage, hormonally speaking. (Having said that, I'm definitely happier that I don't have to deal with the increasinly erratic ups and downs of a menstrual cycle). I don't know why they don't do it as 50-60. Or in 5 year age bands, like parkrun.

    Lovely morning this morning, although a bit chilly, so I went out around 6.30ish and got a 10 miler done. Pace was a lot slower at that time of the morning - it's amazing how much slower I am before 7am versus after 9am. It's all down to stride length - clearly I am a lot stiffer early on.
    Pretty happy with the run as hammy wasn't too bad, but QL was niggling and while my pace was easy, HR was a bit higher than I'd like. I guess I'm still getting over my mini-cold at the weekend. Hopefully I'll be fully sorted by Saturday.
  • G’dog, your reference to Goodwood reminds me of my most embarrassing incident. This is the old motor circuit. It’s a great venue. A couple of years I did a few duathlons, run/bike/run. 
    After doing OK in my age category despite not being much of a cyclist and rocking up on my £250 Halford cheapo bike, I entered for one at Goodwood. For anyone who doesn’t know the area, Goodwood is incredibly posh and it was no surprise when all the Range Rovers turned up and disgorged 
    their passenger complete with space helmets and 5 grand machines.
    I was a bit intimated and the old football chant of what’s it like to be outclassed seemed highly appropriate.
    But the competitive juices flowed and I was doing quite well on the first run. The adrenaline was pumping when I located my bike and helmet which I’d left in a numbered bay in the pit stop., and off I sped.
    After about 250 or so metres I realised there was something not quite right with my bike. The something was that it was not my bike or my helmet. I’d taken the wrong bike.
    I ran back to the pits wheeling the wrong bike. It was total chaos, including a poor woman running up and down screaming that someone had taken her bike!
    For some reason, she didn’t kill me and the marshals didn’t disqualify me, and I got to finish the event.
    it was my last duathlon. I put so much effort in that I could hardly move for 3 days.
  • Oh that's quite a mistake, John - poor woman!
  • Good weekend of running GD.  Boo to the IT problems.  Wish I had a race to look forward - off for the foreseeable future as all events are now restricted to 50 max for an unlimited period of time.  Don't see anyone wanting to put on anything under those circumstances even if some were sending out mails for next year in the last days. 

    Age group bands for races do make a big difference Cal and John - I am now heading towards the middle of the 5 year band 45-49 and the upper end of 40-50 so will start slipping down the AG results. 

    Cal I'm not looking to that time of life either...  Good 10 miler to prepare for Saturday.

    Lol to the wrong bike John.  Did you fancy a free upgrade?  The potential expense puts me off of cycle events and I'm pretty crap at it anyway - like running I would probably improve with training. 

    Short and sharp speedwork yesterday.  I had been on tenterhooks all day waiting for the "drastic new Covid measures" the govt had been threatening us with for days and was almost expecting it to be my last run literally.  I set out shortly before the related press conference and tried to forget about it.  More or less successfully fortunately.  Cycled down to a flat route, then 4.4 miles warm up on slightly muddy field tracks.  Then 2 x 5 x 200m with 4 mins jog between the 2 sets and jogging between each 200.  I strolled out a 200m stretch and dumped my armsleeves as markers.  No fancy track for me.  Maybe not entirely accurate but likely doesn't matter.  Having done this workout a few times I have got used to the short and sharp nature of the 200m and got in a good consistent set which left me mildly tired at the end but with more or less instant recovery.  Cycled up the hill again in the gathering dusk (lights still work well) and nearly fell over due to catching my laces in the chain - oops.  Managed to stop and get my free foot down rather than fall over.  Idiot - prompt tucking in of the lace ends fixed that problem. 

    New measures fortunately only contain wearing a mask in outdoor spaces when social distancing isn't possible so running should not be a problem - don't plan to do it through any city centres.  We'll see if that doesn't get changed next week already though as the numbers are not dropping or flattening off in any way.
  • I hope that won't change, Hazelnut... I think the chances of catching it outdoors are very slim, anyway. But the increase is worrying.

    Busy day for me - slow 5 miler first thing (it was intended to be slow but I had to slow down even more due to lots of wet leaves, and I wasn't keen on skating on them and tearing my groin or something). Then gym - upper body stuff. I avoided power cleans today as I didn't want to exhaust myself too much before my race. Tomorrow will be a rest day but I'll have a bit of a walk to keep things ticking over.
  • HazelnutCHHazelnutCH ✭✭✭
    edited October 2020
    Wet leaves can cover all sorts of nasties for turning your ankle on too so you are right to be careful.  Good luck with your race tomorrow - looking forward to hearing about it.  Ah - power cleans?  Does this mean vigorous cleaning of your flat?  I have one here which needs attention if you are bored.. :D

    11.x miles yesterday evening.  Haven't got used to the lack of daylight yet and it felt a lot later than 5-7pm as a consequence.  Wasn't overly tired legswise but could mentally have happily turned for home on a shorter route.  Stuck it out though with various wanderings around the local fields.  I did run out of ideas for the last 3 miles and simply looped around the same bit a few times.  With it being dark I wouldn't have found anywhere else with a better view anyway and I am very familiar with the spots where goo and puddles tend to be.  Not always easy to spot despite the head torch.   Home for a nice fish pie which I had prepared earlier. 
  • Ha ha no, it's this, although I do them in a rack from about knee height rather than off the floor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjGvwQl8tis
    Also I don't use much weight at the moment - working my technique before I go heavier. (As for cleaning...uh...no, don't do a lot of that, honestly. I'm lazy).
    Feeling a bit ropey again today so hope it passes.

    Well done on the 11. I do not enjoy running in the dark, so kudos for that.

  • Velopark 10 mile was, well, not my fastest (not that I expected it to be but actually, my official 10 mile PB is a bit of a low bar, and it was well outside that).
    The course itself is undulating, and while there aren't any very steep bits, the inclines do start to tell after a few laps.
    Weather was grey but warm, and gusty, with wind at a couple of points on the course, but at first I didn't mind it too much as it kept me from getting too hot.
    5 miles in and it started to rain, and it was hard rain - the kind that stings a bit. The biggest problem for me was when I was running into it and it was going into my eyes and making them sting like hell. I spent some time half blind and furiously rubbing my eyes, which didn't help.
    I'd set what I thought was a manageable early pace - not too fast - but I still managed to get slower and slower until I wasn't even doing HM pace. I guess the lack of race fitness made more difference than the actual conditions, if I'm being honest.
    But at least hammy wasn't too bad. Left calf was tight, but the worst discomfort I faced was the stinging eyes.
    I actually didn't mind the laps - the course is varied enough that it's not as monotonous as some other lapped races I've done, and there was another Chaser who was around half a lap behind me so we waved to each other every lap, which was nice.
    Anyway, official time was 1:31:01, which isn't great, but given my recent issues I guess I'll take it. In the small field (there were several distances on offer with different start times) it was good enough for 5th woman, though that was out of 17 - I was also the only one in my age cat, though I did finish in front of all but one V35 and two V40s. least).
    Time to relax and eat food.
  • I see with the power cleans Cal.  Haven't ever done any gym work so no clue.  Good top third of the field result for your 10 miler in nasty conditions.  Horrible to have eye issues like that.  How many laps did you have to do? - it looked like quite a few on strava and all those corners might have stopped you from keeping up your pace.    Relaxation and food afterwards well earned.

    Tough run yesterday - 8.6 miles with a warm-up then 33 minutes of tempo running at around 7 min miling and a short cool-down.  I haven't done a long tempo run in quite a while - just some intervals and it was hard to keep the effort up over the duration.  Adding up the km splits and working out how long I had to run helped.  As did the lovely rising moon in one direction - large and pink/orange and a similarly coloured sunset on the way back.  Cycled to and from my run (about 5 miles in total) so additional warm-up/cool-down with an emphasis on cool in shorts.  Not too many dog or other walkers on my fast running stretch fortunately and no break for crossing the minor roads either.  

    Just a short run of around 3 miles in total today - restart of our winter training with some strength, coordination and running form exercices mixed in with a bit of running and a bit of stretching.   Decent replacement for a standard recovery run, wouldn't have fancied any intervals today after yesterday's run.   
  • Ten laps, Hazel...glad I didn't go for the half marathon option!
    Well done on your tough run. Unfortunately we're back into lockdown so gym will be closed again (grr).
  • Hi running folks, I hope this post finds you well.

    Two decent runs, 6.5 and 8 miles, both at a reasonable pace. My achilles is sore but hopefully on the mend.  Wow! after last sunday's race in flat shoes my calfs were like iron! must switch up the low/high drop shoes more as I couldn't run until wednesday.

    Hope you're still on the mend Malteser. You'll get back there.  Keep at it!

    John B.  Canterbury is very pleasant!, I lived there for many years before meeting my other half in a Cuban bar (in Canterbury) and moving to Sandwich, which is lovely, but a pain in the arse to get to anywhere.  I too, love Folkstone, great for fishing and nice since it's improvement.  Folkstone half marathon and 10k are both good events too.  I too love a visit to Hastings Old Town, I love the fishing boats and an unidentifiable fish fillet in a bun.

    GD, sounds like it's all going well running wise, I've had a week off work this week coinciding withe the expiration of my log in, annoying.  Agreed, it is hard to remain focused without an event to aim at.

     That sounds a good day out and a recent event Cal, well done. my two "10s" are cancelled and the new one on the 21st November (Bettshanger) I'm guessing will now be cancelled too. ( Opinions?)

    Solid running Hazlenut, that tempo run sounds good.  I must go easy after tempo running myself to injury last lockdown.  Fish pie sound ace! I got fish box straight off the boats sent up from Newlyn last lockdown. Superb. And a pasty box from Philps in Hayle sent up. Also superb but not good for runners!!

    There is a virtual Half with a Bonfire themed medal I may do next weekend, something to do in the absence of any real races I guess.

    Few drinks in town tonight before lockdown, kind of sad. If all hold will start marathon training programme next week.

    Stay well all.
  • Well done Cal. If you were running around a velodrome, you did really well. My own experience of doing so was a disaster. I think the Torbay park run is in a velopark. As a sufferer from dry eye syndrome, I sympathise with the eye discomfort. I use a sweat band on my wrist which helps, but it’s not easy to mop when you wear glasses.
    My weekend was decent with a 22.47 3 mile with a brutal cross wind on Saturday and some speed work on Sunday, speed being a relative concept.

    I note the upper body work that’s been going  on, so I’ll throw in my own rather random attempt on Sunday. I did 1000 press ups, distributed through the day. No after effects as yet detected.This was following reading about a guy who did this of thing whilst in prison. He went on to break world records on the rowing machine and is now a top Iron Man contender. I was inspired, but don’t fancy the prison bit.
  • It is going to be hard to keep up the motivation to train without events to aim for at the moment.  I'm working my way through a training plan and will try a solo time trial at the end just to show myself I can still do it but I'm not sure I could do that with a marathon one. 

    Nice MLR yesterday afternoon - it was foggy and then rainy in the morning so I postponed it despite the risk of everywhere being busy with Sunday afternoon walkers.  Seems I picked a good route though as I didn't meet too many people and at the same time had nice woods to run through in stretches.  After Friday's tempo run I decided to not think about a standard out easy and hard back but instead went for a hillier route and tried to keep the effort more or less steady.  Happy with the results: 14.6 miles in 02:09 with a couple of brief breaks for water.  Hungry by the time I got back.   
  • John - it's not in the velodrome itself (not sure banked walls would be good to run on) but the Velopark which is outdoors - it's a one mile, undulating circuit for, I guess, road bike racing.
    1000 press ups is hardcore!
    Linton, yeah, that'll be cancelled, unfortunately - no racing until lockdown ends. Then it'll be like it was in August when stuff was slowly reintroduced. Time to knuckle down and train, I guess.
  • H’nut, that’s a fine run on what sounds like a challenging course. I totally agree with your point re the lack of events being a bit of a downer. It’s like being all dressed up with nowhere to go.

    Cal, switching to pull ups today with a goal of 200. My body won’t allow me to run every day so I need other goals.






  • Uff to the press-ups and pull-ups.  I think I will stick to the running every day bit.  No, really I should do some core work as well.

    5.2 mile recovery run yesterday - combined it with a necessary shopping trip so was able to do a flat route.  Some of the fields I ran past were really smelly.  I'm not generally bothered by it but was a bit throat choaking.  Took a few minutes to get into an amble as I had heavy legs but they feel fine today so must have done them so good.
  • Guess they were muck spreading then, Hazelnut. Not nice. Worst I have to contend with here is bin day, but it always seems to be bin day somewhere!

    Five for me too, after a couple of days off (walked and did gym yesterday). I knew it was going to rain but wasn't prepared for quite how much. It was light rain when I left the house just after 6, but by the time I'd reached the end of my road, it had turned into a thunderstorm and deluge. I got properly soaked. A car even sprayed me going through a puddle and it made no difference to how wet I was.
    After a couple of miles it eased off and became quite pleasant, so I really should have gone out half an hour later. But I was mindful I needed to get it done as I have the gym later on. Ah well. I didn't get struck by lightning at least.
  • Well done on the 10 mile race, Cal, and your finishing position. Seems like you managed to get that in just in time in light of the imminent lockdown.

    Nice running as well, Hazelnut. As always you put me to shame. Hopefully you've recovered from the smell.

    Have your calfs recovered, LTT? And are you enjoying your week off? Getting access back is such a pain. I've only just got back most of what I lost, although I have lost the excuse that I can't do things now.

    Excellent 3 mile, john, and also well done on the press-ups. Have to say that a 1000 in a day would be quite a challenge. How did the 200 pull-ups go?

    I have to say I'm on a bit of a downer at the moment. The news of lockdown came just after we entered the Goodwood Half for the beginning of December, so we're now unsure if that will go ahead. And the only things that have really been keeping me from going up the wall has been getting to the gym and having a daily visit to Nero's for coffee. I'm really going to miss that and need to think of something else that will break up the day.

    Running hasn't been great. Only did a 10K on Saturday and struggled with every step. I think I'm not really enjoying running round Hove Park at the moment. Certainly not running round it clockwise. The wind did us no favours and the only saving grace was that the wind held off until we'd finished. We did go out for a meal in the evening, booked a week before, but thankful as it's likely to be the last chance for 4 weeks. Had planned on a 12 miler on the Sunday, but the discussion during the meal was that if it was raining and windy we'd give it a miss. And it was. Out this evening for the last 'bubble' run for the foreseeable future. A route has been devised that will hopefully look like a witches hat when viewed on Garmin afterwards. And Halloween themed coffee and walnut cakes will be offered afterwards.
  • G’dog, Hove Park is a nice place but I wouldn’t fancy running around it too many times. It was the first Park Run course in Sussex, I think. At first it was a little short of the full 5k. I’m assuming it’s your club’s circuit? If you run around Portslade itself, there’s no shortage of hills!

    A 3 miler for me in 22.27 today. Checked the AG and it just crept over the 70% threshold, which is a relief.

    Glued to CNN following the ups and downs of the Presidential race. Nerve wracking.

    On the gym training front, today is dips, 250 the goal.


  • GD, let's hope lockdown is only a month and racing can resume in December. Not sure it will, but fingers crossed.
    One thing that got me through the first lockdown was exploring new routes - sounds like you could do with the same. Doing the same routes over and over will inevitably lead to boredom and loss of motivation.

    john - back when I was in full gym beastmode I used to do dips with one of those belts with a chain on it so I could attach plates to it (usually 10kg). But dips are really rough on the rotator cuff so I don't do them any more (my left one is buggered).

    I was going to go out early for an MLR this morning, but then I changed my mind and went out a bit later for a speedier run (my reasoning being that the MLR would be better tomorrow as the roads are likely going to be quieter due to the lockdown, so it opens up a few more interesting routes). I ran six miles total - fourish around the common at an easy/steady pace, then a loop of the block behind my house going fast down one road and recovering up the one next to it. I racked up a Strava local legend doing that, but was 5 seconds off my fastest time down that road so clearly I have detrained quite a bit since Dorney (or perhaps even before than as I tapered hard). While I don't usually pay much attention to HR as wrist based is not so accurate, it has been consistently higher on runs since I returned to running post-hamstring. So I guess I have lost a fair bit of fitness.
    One of my clubmates said she was going to use lockdown to work on her 5K pace and was anyone else in? So I decided I was - going by the two 10Ks I did and the 10 mile, my race pace is way down on where it should be.
    The good thing here is that hammy wasn't too bothered by the intervals - it's still a bit grumpy but did not get worse, so I am happy I can continue.

    Went to the gym at lunchtime for my last session for a while - upper body stuff. It's annoying as I'm just starting to regain my muscles so I'm going to have to figure out how to maintain that at home.
  • john bateman 6john bateman 6 ✭✭✭
    edited November 2020
    Cal, weighted dips: respect. I too once wrecked my shoulder and it was ‘frozen’. Horrible injury as I could hardly raise my arm. Eventually managed to mobilise it but the memory inclines towards caution.
    As you are clearly a gym bunny, have you ever heard of a CrossFit routine called a Murph? It might be, or have been, right up your street. And can be done at home.
  • Glad you didn't get hit by lightning then Cal - I like a good thunderstorm but from a safe place - couple of bad storms in the mountains have made me wary.  Working on your shorter distance speed could be a good plan for a few weeks to help keep up motivation.  If I remember right you have a good 5k route (the shark fin one?) - maybe aim for achieving a good time on that?  Shame about the gym - can imagine that being available again a long time before racing will be.

    Will be a tough time ahead GD and I don't see it ending soon.  Running, the odd walk or cycle and essential shopping are the only things that get me out of the door at the moment.  Got up yesterday faced with a day's work and could happily have gone back to bed again.  Agree with Cal on working out some new routes to help keep up the running mojo.  One to start is to run every street and path in your local area - depending on how that looks you can gather a good bit of distance without actually going far and are very likely to see some bits you haven't before.  It's quite fun planning out a route avoiding running the same bit twice as well.  Yumm to coffee and walnut cake.

    Ouch to the shoulder injury JB - can imagine it took some time to get over that.

    Bit of CNBA yesterday evening - had to drag myself out to my group run and didn't bother with any solo miles beforehand so 6 and a bit miles.  Comfy chatty pace and some company (including my OH - a rare guest) did me good and I felt especially mentally refreshed on getting back.

    Took me a while again to get out this evening - the weather wasn't overly inviting with a cold NE wind and drizzle - was in shorts on Monday and tights and gloves today.  Decent 10 and a bit miles with 2 sets of 4 x long strides (around 150 rather than 100m) with 250m jogs in between and 4 mins between the 2 sets.  Very few people out, did see 4 deer so the hunters didn't get them all yet.  I did hear some gunshots so I guess they are still at it though.  Got well splattered with mud, my shoes are all getting to their standard autumn brown colour again.  Don't think I should get out the more or less white ones for a while.  
  • John - I had a brief flirtation with Crossfit about 12 or 13 years ago. I didn't go to a Crossfit gym so I just followed the Workout of the Day as best I could at my local gym. So yeah, I did a rather modified version of Murph using a tready for the runs and an assisted pull-up machine (the best I ever managed on my own was one pull-up, so obviously I needed a little help to do the reps needed). It's a tough workout - I used to break it down to 10 pull-ups, 20 push-ups, 20 squats and repeat ten times with the run at either end. I wouldn't be able to all those push-ups now.
    I could probably do a bastardised version now with body rows instead of pull-ups and modified push-ups. I have to be very careful of the shoulder though, I don't have a full ROM in it any more.

    Well done on your run. I don't buy pale coloured shoes for a reason - even in summer I run some dirt paths on my routes so they get dirty quickly. I remember having some of the first Zoom Flys and they were ice blue. Wore 'em for the first Big Half just after Beast from the East and the filthy snow meltwater ruined them (well the look of them, anyway). Couldn't get it out even with scrubbing.
  • Cal, I suspected you might be no stranger to CrossFit. I’m not into it but last year I was reading Runners World and specially the feature where they interview a celeb who runs. This one was a guy who was in Steps. He mentioned the Murph and I thought it looked impossible to do in one session. For the uninitiated (who understandably will have nodded off by this time) the Murph is named after a US war hero and consists of
    1 mile run (the easy bit)
    300 squats
    200 press ups
    100 pull ups
    1 mile run.

    Unbelievably the pros do this in a 10kg weighted vest (8kg for women) and can knock it out in well under 40 minutes.

    My chosen format is the one for softies without the vest and consists of the runs and then 20 sets of 15 squats, 10 press ups and 5 pull ups. And I finally discovered in my Mid 60s a routine that played to my strengths and managed it in 38 mins. (I tried the weighted vest version later and did a half Murph and it nearly killed me.)

    Anyway, the takeaway from this shameless piece of self promotion is that a weighted vest is a good investment for home workouts, as is a pull up bar.
  • I have a pull-up bar but I mostly use it to dry wet kit over. :D Sometimes I hang from it to stretch my back. I do have a couple of gymnastic rings hanging from it that I've used for body rows so I will have to revisit those in the absence of the gym.

    Very misty and cold this morning - had to get the jacket and gloves out.
    I ran a slow 10, starting at 6.45am and was a bit disappointed to find the roads still busy. I actually diverted my route several times to avoid stopping at roads and covered some new territory that way - one of my diversions took me up a steep hill in Wimbledon I'd not really intended to run but oh well!
    I found a nice path off the Wandle that lead to a park with a quarter mile circular tarmac path that could be good for some speed work in the future.
    Hamstring was mildly grumpy but then I jarred it on an invisible road hump and it was definitely grumpier after that, but it's not aching now so I guess it's OK. I know when it's bad because it hurts when I sit at my PC, and that's not the case.
    My groin was also twinging a bit during the night - not sure if that was from the fast stuff yesterday or some of the more explosive movements I did in the gym...or possibly yoga which I've slowly reintroduced the last couple of days. It wasn't an issue on the run, though. I often find stuff hurts a lot more when I'm lying in bed than when I'm running - odd that. Had an Epsom salt bath after to make sure stuff stays loose.
  • Hove Park is the closest PR to us, john, and we often see others from the club there. But they're a spread out group so I think they go all over the place. It's just case of familiarity breeding a bit of contempt, if I'm honest and I think Cal and Hazelnut's point about finding new routes is what I need to do. Well done on the 70+% AG. And also the Murph exercises. I'm not sure I'll be attempting that one soon.

    Know how you feel with the potential for losing muscle gain, Cal. I've been able to get 3 visits a week in since they reopened and have definitely noticed the difference. Going to sort out some resistance bands and give those a go. Well done on the 10 miles and for getting out early. It is certainly feeling a bit more nippy.

    Sounds like the weather has changed over in Switzerland, Hazelnut, especially if you're in the tights now. And I wouldn't wear white runners just yet.

    Witches hat 'bubble' run on Tuesday. Strange confrontation at the beginning as we walked along the darkened path towards where we'd arrange to meet, a chap coming the other way commented on the head torches we were wearing. He then proceeded to have a go at us for wearing them. I just told him it was a case of seeing and being seen as well, but he didn't seem happy for some reason and my partner had to hurry me away.

    Anyway, the run itself was good. My partner had done a great job working it out, although I don't think she appreciated how many hills would be involved. We ran up one hill to Five Ways which formed the tip of the hat, then down the other side. Then along the London road and back to create the brim before then going back up the hill and turning onto the side streets that linked the two roads to create a striped affect. All in all 6 miles.

    Had the day off yesterday to go and visit my mother, so before that made a last trip to the gym. I had to borrow my partner's car as I need to get the tyre sorted on mine. I also made the most of a last chance for sitting down with a coffee, but when I got back to the car I'd got a parking ticket!! That sent me searching on my phone in rightful indignation for the receipt for the parking that I'd paid for and ready to get in touch with the council to give them a piece of my mind. When I realised that the app I use for parking has my car registered and not hers. D'oh!!!!
  • Cal, that’s quite a range of aches and pains you’ve got there. What with the running, the explosive gym stuff and the stretching the old song comes into mind: something’s got to give. The standing joke with my workmates used to be my limp on a Monday morning. In fact I think, well know, that the unfit often relish the discomforts of the very fit. (I probably would too!)

    Gdog, perhaps the above partly explains the hostility shown to you by the guy in the park. One of my pals, a serious sub 3 hour marathon runner, once got badly beaten up by a group of yobs. Bad luck re the parking ticket.  Great run. It sounds as though you were running into the hard core student area of the city, although most of them would be enjoying their last night for a while in the city centre.

    Just a bit of rowing for me today, to give the Achilles a rest.
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