My Last Run

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  • That sounds nasty, Hazel...hope your tailbone isn't too sore tomorrow. Close call with the dog, too.

    I was going to do my BA vets 10K today but my hamstring was particularly achey yesterday afternoon and I didn't want to risk it. I went out for an easy 7 instead and it wasn't too bad. I don't think I'm in the right mental place for pushing myself at the moment but I'll see how I feel tomorrow. I've until the 31st to log one if I do do it. If I don't, I've only wasted a pound.
  • Nothing much to loose then there Cal. If it isn't simple CNBA and by the sounds of it it isn't then why not just leave it indeed.

    Back is sore today, certain moves do hurt e.g. standing on one leg to pull on some trousers and picking things off the floor. The former is difficult to avoid, it being winter I need clothing and I should drop less in the first place. OH did find the lost juniper berry but I had more anyway.  Lunch stroll with OH felt reasonable so I set off on a tester run a couple of hours later. Cautiously as more snow has fallen. A bit of a thaw has set in so less icy now and the snow was nice and grippy to run on. Initial small loop with bail out option was ok so I added on another in the woods. Got sleeted on for a while. I treated myself to a new headtorch and wore it but was back in time so I didn't actually turn it on. Comfy enough though. 6.4 miles in total. 
  • H'nut, Ouch! Sorry to hear of your fall and consequent aches and pains. I'm a total wimp and simply wouldn't venture out for a run in snow, ice or even frost. We're very lucky here as if there's snow around we get protection from the South Downs. Even a frost (as today) tends not to last too long on the prom.

    Thus I was tempted out today - windless and sunny as it was. I was rewarded with a 10k time that's my best for the year - 48.33. Very pleased with this as I had a little bit left in the tank at the end.
  • Good recovery, Hazel...hope your back is less sore now.
    Excellent going, John - I wish I could say the same.

    I decided I would do the virtual Masters 10K, so I went out just before 10 (allowing frost to melt), ran the three miles down to Battersea Park, then did the three and a half laps that made 10K, then huffed and puffed three miles home again.
    Not to put too fine a point on it, it was awful and I hated every minute of it. The run there was fine so I figured I'd be able to manage a reasonable effort, if not one on a par with recent races. I decided not to look at my watch (other than to check distance) and just go on feel/breathing.
    Hamstring was noticeable but not horrible (I do think it doesn't like the cold, and it was 1 degree) but I also started getting a stitch and I was struggling mentally. I checked my watch during what I thought was the final mile to find it was only 4.5 miles and I had a bit of a sulk after that. Last mile was quite a bit slower than the others.
    I finished in 56:32 which is bad, for me...given I ran just over 50 in January, and even significantly worse than the 53:xx 10Ks I've done this Autumn.
    Garmin suggested my HR was very high (average 171/max 192) which might have been cadence lock, but it definitely felt tough.
    Then I had to pick myself up and run the 3 miles home again (which included a big hill) and for once I was glad I had to stop at roads on the way back as my legs had nothing in them and I did not feel good.

    Anyway, it's done. I now have just one mile left to do tomorrow to bring me up to 2020 miles for 2020. I'll probably just jog around the block or something.
  • Well it's done...as I woke early I dragged my sore butt outside and ran (well, jogged) a mile. I don't think I've ever run such a slow mile that didn't involve a big steep hill, but it was before 6am and I am quite sore and tired.
    Anyway, that is it...2020 miles for 2020. Feet up now. (Aside from grocery shopping, that is).
  • Great way to finish the year JB. Good idea to use the favourable conditions.

    Sorry your 10k didn't go well Cal. Well done though for getting it done, my sort of sulk would have included a DNF. Have a nice rest now you have also bagged the 2020.

    I met up with a guy from my Tuesday group yesterday afternoon for a local round (he drove to mine). With a decent depth of snow, plenty of chatting and absolutely no need to hurry things along we took around 1.15 for somewhere between 6 and 7 miles. Bits of the woods we were running through belong to him so we had the odd stop to admire things. Nice outing.

    Bit of a thaw after that and with less snow/ice to remove from my car I fancied flatter and snow free ground. I don't normally drive just to run though. Finished the year with around 11 miles in just under 1:34.

    All the best for 2021. Let's hope that it is at some point at least better than 2020..


  • Cal, that 10k sounds like a miserable experience. But, taking the positives, 2020 miles in the year is a solid achievement and lays a good base for 2021.

    H'nut, that run in the woods sounds idyllic. I don't think I ever have that sort of run! 

    Well 2021 started well for me - 5k in 22.27 with a 75.41% WAVA.  This was worth the freezing fingers. I might just have posted what will turn out to be my Season's Best for 2021!

    Happy running to all for 2021.
  • You're really rather fast, Hazel! The woodland run sounds lovely. No snow down here...though I'm thankful for that as, in London, it quickly turns into slush which then freezes and turns the pavements into an ice rink. No thanks.

    Fantastic start to the year, John - rapid!

    In the absence of parkrun, I decided to enter the notoriously hilly Knacker Cracker (which usually takes place around Box Hill though they'd relocated it across the road to Denbies due to Covid). Unfortunately Tier 4 put paid to that so I decided to go out and do some hills anyway, and took some of my favourite horrible hills in Streatham plus a couple of new ones I'd not done before. Fortunately there was no frost so I didn't have to worry about sliding around, but it was zero degrees. Still, I really enjoyed this run and ended up doing a cheeky half marathon. Seemed like a good way to start the year and burn off some of those Christmas calories.
    Garmin made it 373m of climb (Strava made it 1,333 feet, but it always seems to exagerrate a fair bit) and hamstring wasn't too bad at all. I think hammy dislikes speed more than hills.
  • I got myself out for a slow 4 mile recovery run this morning. I was quite surprised to see rain when I opened the door but luckily it stopped within the first mile. It was less cold than  yesterday but the rain was making it chilly. I soon warmed up after that.
    Legs aren't too bad but I actually have some minor quad DOMS from running downhill yesterday. I didn't do any steep downhills but there were a few long stretches.
  • Yes, not so cold down here and (thus) loads more folk running today. What with the gyms closed I guess there'll be a mini-running boom. Good stuff.
    Well another 5k for me, partly through Saturday morning habit. Also my running partner has set himself the goal of running a 5k every day in 2021 (I'm not sure why, but it means I'll always have company!). Today he acted as pace marker and took me through in 22.12 with a WAVA of 76.26%. This is a real case of early season form and the temptation is to cash in which might not be entirely sensible............
    Talking of pace-makers, I heard that Joe Wicks took his 5k time down from 21 something to 18 something with the aid of a pace-maker - a bloke called Mo Farah!
     
  • Great end to the year and great beginning to this one JB. Nice to have a pacemaker.

    Great mileage to start 2021 Cal. Like the idea of favourite horrible hills.

    Recovery 5 yesterday evening. Went out in the dark and met no-one. Nippy NE wind made my eyes water a bit but I was well wrapped up against the cold. Did three out and backs on reasonable ground, hope my yaktrax turn up soon. 
  • Village loops today (bit more than a mile).  Couple of such for a warm-up then 8 x up and down the uphill bit (around 300m) at around tempo to 10k effort.  The loop is about the only bit of ice-/snow free ground I have here at the moment without doing out- and backs and or driving elsewhere so I guess I will be running it quite a bit in the next few days.  Grey miserable sort of day so I was glad of the intervals as distraction, wouldn't have wanted to do a long run plod in it.  I did a couple of miles to warm-up but neglected to do any short speed bursts or strides so the first rep came as a bit of a shock to the legs but I settled in after that.  6.6 miles.
  • Hi folks! Happy new year, hope it was, well, as good as it could be!

    Some great running from you all.  Not a particularly prevalent week from me, but not too bad.

    I did a 5 mile on wednesday, just a nondescript run, but cold!
    I got home from work too late on NYE for a run.
    Didn't run on friday as OH wanted to go for a nice walk, which was actually really nice,(and made a new 5 mile loop for the summer, when it dries).
    Today, my 11.3 mile loop in 1:39, 8:50 pace.  Started off feeling awful, but felt OK after a few miles.  Tried to run it much easier today , and the difference was huge.  last time I ran it at 8:20 pace I was wiped out for the rest of the day, today at an extra 30 seconds a mile (8:50 pace) I felt fine on finishing, and was even able to assist with housework!

    Very unusually, I feel OK, with no real sore bits currently, my last three long runs a 11.3 mile @1:34, 11.3 mile@1:39, 15mile@2:15.  I wish there was a 10 mile or Half marathon to have a crack at, think I could improve my PBs quite substantially.  Not for a while I don't think.. 

    Overall 2020 was a garbage year running, with me injured jan-feb after trying to wing a marathon with no marathon training (self inflicted) completely injured to the point of no running at all for 3 months may-july after running multiple hard-effort runs back to back, when the pandemic arrived (also self inflicted).  And a two month injury heel/ankle injury september-october during a hilly 10k (less self inflicted).  I have really learned a lot about myself though, and what I can and can't get away with and still managed a reasonable yearly mileage.

      Really hoping I've passed the clueless, over-enthusiastic beginner phase, and now, 2 years in can really start to solidly improve now!  I got a book for Christmas; the Science of Running, which is awesome! So no excuse for poor training/physiology knowledge.

    That is some awesome 5k running John,  I hope Parkrun begins again in the spring. Bloody decent "non-race" 10k too.  I can't help notice you don't do a weekly 10-15 miler, but are clearly fit!  Do you put that down to so many consecutive years running? I guess your endurance is already there, where I still trying to up mine.

    Well done Cal! the sub par 10k, completely offset with that yearly mileage AND a New Years Half marathon, that is a great start to the year.

    Great mix of running Hazel, it really is hilly where you live!  Glad the fall injury wasn't too bad.  Grim and grey here too, but no snow yet!  At least the daylight will (slowly) increase now.

    Stay safe all, Happy New Year.




  • Linton, I can't help but think that my times have suffered from the lack of parkrun - I definitely think a fast weekly 5K effort has helped me improve. I would expect it to return in the summer but I guess we'll see how effective the vaccine is on the Covid numbers.

    I wanted to get a long run done today, but I could still feel a little DOMS from the hilly half on NYD so decided to just go out and see how it went.
    Started around 7:30 and ran down to Battersea Park (took a different road this time - nothing exciting but I like to vary things a bit to stave off boredom) then ran along the Thames to just past Putney. From there I took a path I'd not done before which cut through Barnes Common, then I circled back around to Putney, back along the river to Wandsworth then through King George's Park, up Magdalen Road (a hill...any time I go to the river, or any route other than Streatham and Crystal Palace, I always end up having to run up a hill on the way home), through Wandsworth Common and back home again.
    I did 16 miles in all which is the longest since September. I could feel my hamstrings but told myself it was all in my head and I actually perked up a bit after that.
    Very glad to get a 16 done, even though it was quite slow. That also brings me to 60 miles for the week, though that's purely because I'd taken the previous Sunday off so I'd done six runs rather than five...seven if you count the extra mile I did on NYE to get my total up to 2020.
    Whew.
    Tomorrow is definitely a rest day.
  • A slow 10k with the dog. Trail - mud, roots, sand and lots of gradients!

    First time in what has to be ten years that I've run that distance. I aimed for 75mins. Turned out to be 73mins. Kilometres 9 and 10 were a full minute faster than any of the first 8. Last two kilometres aside it was intended as an "easy long run".

    Very, very happy.
  • LTT, that's a very self critical (if realistic!) review of your 2020 running year, My own training is shockingly non-textbook - no long run, low weekly mileage, very rarely do much hill work etc. So, yes, I guess all the years pounding the pavements have given me a high level of residual fitness and muscle memory. Plus I keep an eye on my weight. Here's to a better year's running for you in 2021.

    Cal, to get your target mileages I  guess you have to break in down to weekly targets? How does this work out in practice? To me it sounds as though this puts quite a bit of pressure on you.

    J, well done! All the harder because of the terrain.

    Just a slow (and I mean slow) 8k today. Horrible. I find it very difficult to motivate myself for this sort of run. Rest day tomorrow.


  • John, yes that's more or less it. I knew I'd have to do 40+ mile weeks but factored in a couple of weeks of rest/lower mileage (I was assuming I'd have marathons to taper for/recover from). As it was, I needed those for the injury outtages and it got quite tight by the end. So yes, pressure.
    Good for getting through your run. We all have runs like that. It is what it is.

    Welcome, Jay. I often do the last couple of miles faster (if I have any juice left in the legs) as I'm keen to get back for breakfast. I call 'em breakfast miles. :D

  • lol @ breakfast miles

    Thanks, guys. Appreciate the encouragement!
  • Like your 2020 summary LTT.  Good that your slower long run went so well.  Ideally you should come back from most of your runs feeling like that. 

    Great long run and weekly mileage Cal have a good rest day today. I'm also guilty of speeding up on the last couple on slower runs to get them over and done with (also often motivated by thoughts of food..)

    Welcome Jay - Well done on the 10k.  Must be nice to have a dog to run with and an interesting sounding route too.

    Your training approach seems to work for you JB.  Agree slow runs can be annoying at times.

    More of those village loops yesterday - 12 in all and 13.7 miles in 1:58.  Bit of a daunting task setting off but I turned around a couple of times which broke it up into more manageable chunks and as of half-way I was happy to just keep ticking off each one.  Legs didn't appreciate the hill on each loop much but then again I had the downwrd slope to look forward to on each as well.  Black ice did get a bit dodgy on the last few laps but I got the hang of flat footing across it safely enough. 
  • Cal, I suspect you react pretty well to pressure!

    H'nut, don't like the sound of that black ice. Time to get the skates out?

    Rest day from running so back on the rower for 3k. Now that IS dull.
  • Happy New Year all - hope everyone had a good festive period. And welcome to the thread Jay.

    Lots to catch up on here, so will need to make time later.

    Happy belated birthday to john.

    Hope the back feels better after the slip, Hazelnut.

    Great mileage for the year, Cal, and hopefully once the vaccine is in place and PR starts up again we'll see you at Bevendean. 

    Good summary of the year, LTT, and hopefully all your injury problems are now behind you.

    After the issues at work I did end up having to do some pieces during the week before Christmas, which rather annoyingly curtailed my gym plans. As such I decided on a technology detox from the 24th. The runs did continue, highlights being Christmas Day laps around Hove Park in the reindeer onesie, 10K along the undercliff path from Saltdean on Boxing Day in a Santa hat, a stunning solo 10 miler on the undercliff path on NYE (stunning for the weather rather than for my performance) and a 4 day streak up to yesterday.
  • Fairly unpleasant run tonight. absolutely sheeting icy rain, that wasn't going to stop, so went out in it.

    So horrible! but worse luck, I forgot to "tape up" and ended up with the worst red elevens I've had to date. OUCH.  Didn't even get to Strava it as it would have cost me a new phone in that rain, but only 5 miles.

    Back in full lockdown, until probably March. I do feel that will really pile the pressure on a lot of the pub/restaurant/entertainment industry.  Really not good, but I guess totally necessary.  Feel sorry for kids too, indisputably the poorest ones learning will be the most at risk.

    16 miles is a great run Cal.  And 60 miles a week is huge!! Well done.

    Welcome Jay, great to start the year with a decent run.

    Well done Hazel! That is a great run and quick too.  Watch that ice, be careful!

    Some good (and very festively dressed) running there Guarddog! Glad you got out a bit.

    I posted a couple of times in the marathon thread, and was advised I'm training much too fast, so will be slowing down considerably.








  • Can imagine rowing is about as exciting as indoor cycling on the turbo JB..

    Good idea on the digital detox GD.  Nice running over the festive period - did you get some smiles for the reindeer onesie?

    Well done for getting out in those conditions LTT.  One advantage of training in all conditions is being able to race in all conditions.  And cold is much better than heat in my books.  Ouch indeed though.  Watch would do you better in the rain.  I lurk on the Shades thread - would agree on slowing it down.  I would recommend a good mix up of paces from recovery to race pace - just not very much of the latter and only off of a solid base. 

    Bad luck on the lockdown again (was it actually removed in the meantime?)  We are expecting more restrictions again as of Wednesday, likely schools closing as well.  Start of the vaccination program is very slow here in comparison to the UK - oh wonder the authorities haven't got an IT program sorted in time..

    More village tarmac yesterday evening as the ice is still awful around here and likely to stay that way as there is no sign of a thaw at the moment.  For amusement I trotted up and down the odd dead-end to vary the loops a bit.  5.x miles.  Also sat on my turbo for a while - I need to check the setup though as it feels much harder than it should - think the basic resistance is wrong. 
  • G'dog, some very good festive workouts. Despite being  a local I've never ever run or cycled on the under-cliff. Good to start the NY with a 4 day streak. I tried to do the same in terms of staying off the booze - but after last night's PM's broadcast I'm afraid I lapsed!

    LTT, have you a specific marathon tat you are training for? It does kind of take over your life, but in Lockdown that might not be a bad thing. Keep us abreast of progress - and good luck!

    H'nut, I note your observation about rowing and turbos. I reckon you are not far wrong. I guess we could also throw in the dreaded treadmill into the list as well? 

    Today I stayed local. There's a cemetery about 8 minutes run away and in it there's a 250 metre, tarmac, circular path which makes a great 'track'. This means 20x laps will give me a 5k. Horrendously dull but fast. In fact too fast as I'm sure it plays tricks on my Garmin. (Maybe it's the sprit world interfering?) So while I was dead (oops) chuffed with a 21.55 today, I don't quite trust it. This also gave me my first run in my new New Balance - bright salmon - trainers.

  • Hazelnut...not by much. In London there was a brief period when we could go to the gym, but then we went to Tier 4 which is pretty much the same as lockdown except full lockdown has no schools.

    GD, I will celebrate when we're able to parkrun again. Miss it so much.

    LTT...guess you won't make that mistake again. Ouch.

    john, Garmins will always get looped tracks wrong. I've done a couple of track 5Ks and the distance always comes in well over, so I'd imagine you'd be quite a bit short of the distance on an even smaller circuit. (Sorry).

    Rest day yesterday...then out for a 6 mile plod today. Cold, grey and not nice at all. It's also that time of year when (in my bit of London anyway) people chuck out their Christmas trees and going for a run is like the bloody Grand National.
  • LintonTravelTavernLintonTravelTavern ✭✭✭
    edited January 2021
    A meager 4 miles tonight, but I was happy with that as that's 3 runs in 4 days! Edging my way towards more running days per week.  Remembered tape tonight!

    Again the weather was awful, so no Strava-ing. Must get my watch!  Lots of other runners.  Saw a scary dog, it's owner appealing it to not attack me, plus many other more affable canines.

    Hi John, I'm signed up for an SVN running event called the Olympic Challenge on 27th February.  It's round an old colliery near me and is 4.37 mile loops. I ran a half marathon round there recently (3 loops) and found it quite a hard course.
    It wont go ahead now, but I wanted to get 4 loops so 17.5 miles.
    I then fancied a go at the Kent Spring marathon in April, a small, undulating but scenic local race.  That was the plan anyway..

    Nice running Hazlenut! assuming a Turbo is a training bike, it certainly doesn't need to be any harder it should be at this time of year!

    Nice running Cal, not sure what I'm going to do with the Christmas tree this year, may just abandon it at the bottom of the garden and set fire to it at some point.



  • Cal, thanks very much for the advice on Garmins. Someone else on another thread has advised me much the same.

    LTT, that sounds like a nice event. Shame that it won't happen. There used to be a Thanet marathon years ago? I wonder if it's still run. I did think about having a go but it was described as perhaps not the most scenic - but pretty flat. Talking of which, there was a 20 miler run locally for many years. It attracted a very high class field as it was a perfect pre-London event. But it consisted of 4x5 mile laps  mainly in bungalow territory in a place called Goring. Understandably it became known as the 'boring Goring' event.
  • Well done for getting out in the conditions, LTT. It's easy to get out when it's a nice sunny day, but I often think the run means more when you go out when it's unpleasant. And it does seem counter intuitive to go slower, but it does work. Although shame that it's now unlikely to go ahead.

    Did get a few smiles, Hazelnut, along with some good banter with a group who were running in various festive headgear. Is there any long term forecast in terms of the ice thawing? And lockdown was eased after we had a two week period back in November. The various regions in England were then placed in tiers in terms of what restrictions were in place, supposedly aligned with the infection rates. However there was confusion as places with higher infection rates were sometimes placed in a lower tier than others who had lower rates. Whilst frustrating I do think a national lockdown is necessary if just to ensure there's a consistent message. I'd better not get started on what I think of the government's performance in all of this, though  ;)

    Loads of Christmas trees being disposed of here, Cal. People appear to take them to specific collection points. Actually saw some being thrown out on Boxing Day.

    Well done on the cemetery circuits, john. Sounds as though your time has been 'buried'. Were the runners a festive present? I got a new pair of Vaporfly 3s - in orange 

    Out at 6:45 this yesterday for a rather chilly run along the seafront. Although I had to scrape the windscreen I hadn't realised quite how treacherous it was underfoot in places until we tried to push the pace and found our feet sliding around. In the end it was a truncated distance as due to our shuffling we didn't run as far as planned and I had to get back for an 8am meeting. A 6:30 meeting this morning meant there is no chance of being able to get out today.

    Whilst not quite going as far as Veganuary we have decided to cut out meat for the month. It's proving a challenge in terms of coming up with meal ideas, but it will be interesting to see if there's any impact in terms of how we feel. 
  • GD, nice. I think you'll find that's called mango. :D
    Good luck with your Veggieanuary. I thought I might cut out sugar but then I saw a really nice gluten free carrot cake in Sainsbury's and proceeded to eat it over the last three days. Next week, maybe, then.

    John, that does sound boring! My club organises the Thames Riverside 20 - I've marshalled the last few years. I daresay it's more scenic, although it does seem to be a bit muddy.

    I was thinking I would go to Battersea Park and do a 5 mile for the virtual road relays, but after that 10K I really didn't feel like I wanted to (especially since my time would not be fast enough to be counted).
    Then another club mate has come up with a virtual climbing challenge (running from today to the first Wednesday in Feb) where we're all in teams and logging our elevation from our runs. That sounded a lot more like something I'd want to do so I set out around 9:30am to do a hilly MLR. I did a very similar route to the one I did on NYD, but with a couple of extra reps of my favourite nasty hill, Hill Path. Some of the hills I took easy (just get to the top) but I pushed on a few others. I was enjoying myself so much I ended up doing 14 miles with well over 400m elevation (Garmin made it 438 while Strava made it around 480 - a bit of difference but not as much as usual).
    Hamstring was complaining towards the end but feels OK now after my customary dunk in Epsom salts.
    I won't be doing hills every day, but it's a good motivator. My team's in the lead on the basis of that run - let's see where we end up in a month.
  • Are salmon coloured shoes faster JB? Could well be that your GPS is not accurate on the short cemetry loop.  Whilst it might not be good for an accurate 5k you can at least compare efforts over time if you use that route for a regular speed blast.

    Christmas tree Grand National made me smile Cal but don't fall over one.  None of that here - official places for tree collection.  That is a great hilly run, even more so if you enjoyed it so much.

    Right to keep an extra day of running short LTT.  Hard to plan at the moment for anything - likely even virtual events.

    No sign of a break in the weather yet GD.  If I head for lower ground then I can find ice free routes.  Good luck with cutting out meat in January.   Cutting out sugar would be a much harder prospect for me. 

    Trot around with a Tuesday running pal on Tuesday evening.  Due to lack of interest from the others I headed to his place so it was nice to see something new (as far as I could as it was dark).  6 miles in 1:05 with a decent amount of up and down.

    Day off yesterday (public holiday).  I did some bits in my old flat and then drove another few miles to one of my old marathon training routes - i.e. flat.  I intended to run an HM in the classical gentle out and faster back style.  With running up and back down a river on both banks I was reliant upon bridges so a bit extra for 13.8 miles.  I struggled to keep my pace down on the outward leg and overpaced the return as well.  Ooops.  Nice at the time but I need to apply more discipline pacewise in order to do decent speedwork as well rather than do that on overtired legs. 
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