New Mature Runners Thread

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  • Just popped in to say back from Covid and flu jabs which went ok.
    A WAVA for a 2 hour Half Marathon would be  71.93% for me and 63.73% for Sarah F. We haven't fixed a date yet, and will need to do more speed work first. 
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    edited October 2021
    JB - I read "An Officer and a Gentleman" by Robert Harris a few years ago so I hope "V2" is as good (the reviews and your own recommendation suggest it will be). What the 'ladies' make of it remains to be seen. I wouldn't normally tackle a 777 page book about a titled lady's trials and tribulations - but that's book groups for you. I used to be rubbsh at running down hills but someone suggested letting gravity help rather than fighting it and used the phrase "Brakes off, brain off" which I took to heart and thankfully never took a tumble as a result. If you looked at me you'd never think I'm a runner - I have video evidence of me doing the 10ml Ridgeway Run and seeing yourself plodding along brings you back to reality. I'm definitely carrying too much weight and my ambition is to lose a stone and get down to 13st 7lbs (which will be the lowest I've ever been since 2002 apart from my very much younger days). When I was running regularly, would often consider how much easier it would be (and how much faster I might be able to go) if I didn't have those imaginary 7 bags of sugar strapped to me.

    HS - as I said yesterday, good luck with that quest for a 2hr HM. That would be some WAVA score to achieve.

    No morning walk for me today. I think I must have overdone it with one of the strengthening exercises yesterday as my back was sore yesterday evening and when I woke up today. So I've been taking it easy and doing lots of stretching. I'm waiting to hear from Alan whether we're playing golf tomorrow. Based on how much better I'm feeling after the stretching, I think I'll be okay to play, even if it's only 9 holes.

    Which reminds me - I must phone the golf club to see if Jamie has finished repairing my two clubs ..
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    edited October 2021
    No call back from the golf club yet so maybe my clubs will be mended by the weekend? No contact from Alan either - so I don't know for certain if I'm playing golf tomorrow.

    Meantime .. I've spent a few hours today working out a way of backing up some online Office 365 files for the charity I support to a networked hard drive. I couldn't backup directly to the networked hard drive but I've managed to find a way by copying the online files to my computer using OneDrive and I'll have to manually copy the files from OneDrive to a staging area on my laptop from where some backup software I have will copy the files to a networked hard drive. Why do I lumber myself with these fiddly technical challenges??

    ** Edit: The copying of files to One Drive is now running - there's only 60,000 of them!! Hope my hard drive has room ** 
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    Aquarius, that was a good turn out for your cross country race. We have something similar in Hampshire exclusively for registered club runners. In the summer there are 10 off road races, named RR10's and in the Autumn/Winter 7 off road races, named CC6. There are actually 7 races now, but they've retained the title of CC6's. Each running club is responsible for hosting a race. They are really popular, but there are always problems with car parking. Distances are between 4.5 and 5 miles.

    The Covid booster and flu jabs went really well yesterday, but later in the evening, the left arm, which had the Covid jab, started to hurt. I hardly slept, as every time I moved my arm, it felt as if it was being punched. I felt quite rough this morning through lack of sleep, and the arm was still hurting. I had planned to get the bus into Southampton, but didn't feel up to it. I'm feeling much better now though, and intend to run tomorrow.

    We will find it very hard to run sub 2 hours for a half marathon, and will need to do a lot of speed work.

    You must be getting really fit now with the pilates, strength work, and interval sessions. We did our first structured training session on Wednesday comprising 4 sets of 4 x 40 seconds hill reps in the forest.


    WtnMel, I hope that you don't have to wait too long for your Covid and flu jabs. You will see my comments re mine above.

    You are spot on with the required pace for the 2 hour half marathon. It doesn't sound very fast, but it is at my age. I think that Sarah F has more chance of achieving it than me.

    I find it harder on the legs running down hill than up, that's why I prefer running off road.

    That sounds tricky backing up those files. I decided to see if there were any updates this morning and got a message advising that my computer was not yet ready for Windows11. I did all the updates and its still not ready. My Windows10 version is 21H1, which is the current version.


    JB, we haven't picked a date yet for our sub 2 hour attempt, as we are some way off the pace for that distance, so close to our recent marathon where we had been tapering and doing less speed work. It will probably be a virtual run, but depends on our progress.

    That was a bit of a cheek from your son saying that you didn't look like a runner. At just under 10 stone, I would say that you were at an ideal weight. I'm down to 9.5 stone which was my racing weight when I was in my forties.


    I haven't got much to report, as I've posted most of my activities above.
    I haven't run today, but will be back in the forest tomorrow.

    On the subject of books, I'm working my way through the Bronte's novels. They are hard going, but worth the effort. I've just started "Villette" by Charlotte Bronte. There are 14 pages of introduction analysing the characters. It would be an ideal book for GCE A level Literature. I had Jane Eyre, also by Charlotte, for GCE O level English Literature.
  • WtnMel: I think the diversity of members tastes, and therefore book suggestions, is why I doubt I could stick with a book club for very long. I’ve little enough time for reading as it is so when I can spare the time I’d rather read something that interests me. 
    Any news from Jamie on the golf clubs yet? Speaking of golf did you and Alan have your game today? I hope your back was better after your stretching and didn’t stop you from playing.
    I hate to see photos of myself running, I always look as if I’m frowning but I’m actually just squinting, trying to see the ground (I really must try to run in glasses). 
    Backing up those files sounded like a lot of hard work. I wouldn’t know where to begin, the charity are lucky to have you on board.

    HS: sorry to hear about the after effects of your Covid booster, I hope you’ll be fighting fit again for your run tomorrow.
    It’s good to hear that those off road races for Hampshire club members are so popular, but car parking is always a problem at these events. I suppose it’s inevitable as the clubs will be from a wide geographical area so travelling by car is often the only way to get there. We have the same problems at our XC events, there’s never enough spaces for the number of cars that turn up. Additionally you generally find the parking is in a field that a farmer has set aside for us, but as it’s winter and usually very wet it’s “interesting” negotiating the mud and potholes to get parked. We’re going to miss our Land Rover this year!
    On the subject of Charlotte Bronte novels have you read Shirley yet? I read it in my teens and remember enjoying it so much I went on to read the other Bronte novels (admittedly some were better than others, but nevertheless a very talented if rather unusual set of siblings).
    JB: Apology accepted regarding your under 40s jibe 🙂 
    I wouldn’t worry too much about your weight, it doesn’t seem to be affecting your times, quite the reverse I’d say. (I hope you told your son that it’s all muscle anyway).
    I’ve had various bits of advice on downhill running, mostly contradictory, so I think it’s best to go with whatever works for you. I remember Mo Farah complaining about losing time on the steep downhill section towards the end of the GNR because he’d taken Paula Radcliffe’s advice on how to tackle it - so if the elites can’t get it right what hope do we have?

    I decided against running today because my ankle was still a bit sore, so instead I did yoga and strength exercises for an hour or so. It was bitterly cold here this morning (frost on the cars) so I’m hoping Sunday morning will be a bit warmer. We have to arrive early because my son needs to collect his number from the organisers before 9.15 (race is at 10.00) as it didn’t arrive in the post. He thinks he forgot to advise the entry site of his change of address. :|  Lesson learned I hope.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Evening all,

    HS - sorry to hear you had a sore arm after your jabs which affected your sleep .. but glad to hear that has worn off now. I'm still waiting for the text inviting me to get mine. I've sussed out how to back up those files (see below). I checked my laptop last week and the chip inside isn't modern enough to be compatible with Windows 11 .. sounds like yours is in the same boat.

    Aquarius - I enjoy the challenge of tackling books I wouldn't normally pick to read from being in the book group. No news from Jamie yet regarding the golf clubs being repaired .. I hope I'll hear from him over the weekend. Re today's golf, see below for how I was and how the golf went. If you do run in glasses, you'll probably need to invest in a rubber strap to keep them from slipping off? Sorry to hear your ankle was still a bit sore but kudos for doing your strength exercises and yoga instead.

    I've managed to suss out how to backup those online files I mentioned. I remembered I had some other software on my laptop called SyncFolder. When I checked earlier I was able to see it could back the files directly from the OneDrive area to the networked hard drive. So I set up a copy job up earlier and set it running - that was over an hour ago and it has 68938 files to copy and has currently managed 2%!! So I shall leave it running overnight. The best thing is I'll be able to set it to run automatically in future. And it will be much quicker as it will only copy any files that are new or have changed.

    Alan and I did play golf after all today despite our respective sore backs. I wasn't sure I'd be okay but did plenty of stretching before I left home and it seemed okay. In the event, I was okay apart from when bending down to put the tee peg in - and again, when picking the ball out of the hole. We played the 9 hole course at Shipton twice and Alan beat me by 8 strokes - but using the scoring system, it was honours even after 18 holes. A few fluffed drives and other shots for me but the undoubted highlight was the 3rd hole (par 3). The first time, I did a good tee shot and hit the ball from just off the green and it popped into the hole for a birdie (1 under par). The second time, I'd fluffed my tee shot and hit my second shot to the edge of the green. I couldn't believe it when my third shot popped into the hole again for a par. The only other thing of note was on the 9th hole the second time around. Alan fluffed his drive to the right and it went into the rough. We didn't mange to find his ball but I did manage to find 5 other balls to replenish my stock.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    edited October 2021
    Postscript to yesterday's post .. when I stopped the overnight backup job this morning it had copied just over 6400 files or around 10% of the total. I can see it's going to take quite a few overnight runs of the job to get them all backed up after which, it should be far quicker with only a few new/changed files to deal with.

    My back was still stiff and sore this morning but now I've done my stretches, it's feeling better.
  • Mel, some good golf especially that birdie which shows you have the capability to (I guess) birdie every hole. That would make Allan sit up ad take notice! Looks like the stretching routine will become, er, routine.

    HS. we have a 'West Sussex Fun Run League' here. As with you, each club organises a race. They do let in non-members such as me; I guess this helps revenues. It seems to be still suspended so I'm assuming it won't pick-up until 2022 which is hurtling towards us at a rate of knots. 

    Aquarius, good luck for the race and I hope that the ankle doesn't give you problems. We've yet to have a frost -  or even single figure temperatures - down here on the Costa, but we've finally given and today turned on the central heating. The whole system is being ripped out this week - a level of disruption I'm dreading. On the weight thing, I won't take it too seriously. I was the 'class fatty' at school (you've seen the photo) so I'm not too despairing these days.

    Parkrun today: Lancing Beach. This is about 2 miles max. from my usual one and I only did it to see if I could chalk up good placing for the all-time VM65-69 category. 1st place was out of the question but 2nd was the target - and I missed it. The course is flat but not as fast as it might be - there a stretch of grass which today was waterlogged following a pre-race deluge. Plus the course is a tad overlong.

    So 21.24 @ 79.13% WAVA was a reasonable return. I nudged past a VW50 lady who beat me in the 10k last week. The WAVA was 2nd best in a small field of 81. I then checked all the Parkruns is West and East Sussex and discovered I was the fastest in my category. All the real quickies must have been having a lie-in.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    JB - I'll never have the capability to birdie each hole unless I'm able to drive the ball much further than I currently do (so just on short par 3 holes for now). We've yet to have a frost either. Well done re your parkrun.

    Back still a bit sore here but I did manage a pre-breakfast 3ml walk which appears to have helped loosen my tight muscles. Yesterday while doing some lumbar rotation exercises, there was a 'clunk' from within my hip area which I assume was a bone slightly out of line due to the muscle problems settling back in place. My back certainly felt freer afterwards anyway.

    *waves* to Aquarius and HS ..


  • Mel, thanks. Don't like the sound of that 'clunk' but it could have been some sort of 'release'.

    Domestic problems today. Having spent most of yesterday preparing for our central heating replacement, we found that the guy had double-booked. Well, we all make mistakes but...........! He's arranged another date but I have to say we were a tad miffed. But he's done us 'favours' in the past so we'll stick with him (better the devil....etc).
    So we treated ourselves to a morning out in one the the prettier villages around this area. Luckily I was wearing my tracksuit and trainers as I remember there was a bloody great big hill there and.......well, you can guess the rest.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    I figured the 'clunk' was something releasing .. no pain from it and my lumbar region felt freer as a result so I figured it was a good 'un. Shame about the plumber double-booking .. but as you say, better the devil you know (we have our own BTDYK plumber and don't use anyone else, even if we have to wait until he's free). And no, he's not called Mr Humphries. I'm not surprised you remembered that hill and presumably decided to run up it. Did Mrs JB wait for you at a local pub??
  • After all, 

    Sorry for lack of posts. Just got a new phone, a Galaxy Arts 5G. Hope to be back to normal tomorrow. Only problem at the moment is that the Garmin won't sync with the Garmin Connect app. I had that problem a few years when I had an Huawei. Will probably have to connect with the USB cable to the laptop, which is a bit of a pain. 
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    HS - hope you get the new phone sorted okay. I could never sync my Garmin with my Huawei but now I have a Samsung it seems okay when I do it occasionally (but I find it quicker to sync by plugging the Garmin into my laptop).

    My back is still stiff when I wake up so I'm continuing with the stretching to ease it. I didn't walk this morning as I was expecting to be out in the garden - but rain stopped play. I won't be doing an early walk tomorrow either as I'm doing a 5ml walk with the u3a rambling group tomorrow - there will be 6 stiles to negotiate so I shall need to do plenty of stretching beforehand. 
  • Good afternoon everyone, I've managed to get down at last to replying to your posts!

    Aquarius, thanks, I did feel ok on Saturday, and ran 5.2 miles on roads with Sarah F. We have started to gradually work on our pace again, after the tapering pre marathon. 

    I haven't heard of "Shirley" by Charlotte Bronte. I don't have it in my collection, so will have to borrow it from the Library some time. On the subject of Libraries, you probably haven't seen it on your local News, but a couple of days ago, a car crashed into our Hythe Library knocking down some of the wall. Luckily it was on a Sunday, so it was closed. Otherwise, customers may have been killed. The occupants of the car weren't badly hurt luckily. No details have been given for the reason for the accident, or the driver and passenger, but I presume it was a parking error. Probably the driver pressing the accelerator, instead of the brake. I believe this is more common with automatics, but don't really know.
    I'm reading Villette at the moment, and really enjoying it. It is supposedly based on Charlotte's experiences in France.

    I hope Sunday was warmer for you, and that your sore ankle was ok? How did you and your son get on?


    WtnMel, thanks, I was fine on Saturday, and my arm didn't hurt at all during our run. Have you got a date for your booster yet? I received a text this morning inviting me for mine! Good job I knew that I had already had mine😁

    I would be a bit peeved if the chip was the reason that I am currently unable to download Windows 11. I've only had the laptop for a few weeks. I understand though that it is being rolled out over the next few months.  Backing up all those online files sounds like a very time consuming undertaking. Good idea leaving the computer running al night, but still not completing the job.

    Well done to you and Alan playing golf with sore backs. Congratulations for the birdie!

    Good that you managed a pre breakfast walk on Sunday, which seemed to loosen your tight muscles. That clunk whilst doing lumbar rotation exercises may well have done the trick. I do the same with my right leg swinging it backwards and forwards until the knee clicks. I find that this enables me to keep running without the knee "letting me down."


    JB, I hope your West Sussex fun run league soon gets going again. Well done for your Lancing Beech parkrun. That's another very impressive time. Congratulations on being the fastest in your category.

    That must have been a real pain, the central heating guy double booking. I can understand though, that having used his services previously, and been pleased with the results, you didn't mind waiting until he was free again. I use the same plumber, as he is a club member, and usually comes to my aid very promptly. I guess that your morning out resulted in a hill run.


    I ran a solo 10k on my usual hilly road course on Sunday in 1.04.22. I'm probably running it again tomorrow with Karen. This should produce a quicker time.
    On Monday, I ran 13k in the forest, the first 3.5 k with Mike, who is recovering from a calf pull.

    Yesterday was "a big day out" for me. I caught the bus into Southampton, wearing a mask, most weren't☹. I bought a new phone, as mentioned in my previous post, as well as a few other odds and ends that I couldn't buy locally. I have fixed the syncing problem with Garmin Connect. The "help" didn't help, as it said to ensure that blue tooth was turned on on the watch, and I knew that it was, as it still synced with the old one. Sometime later, a number started spinning round on the watch, and "said" click to sync. I did this and it worked. Very strange. 

    This morning I ran 4 miles fartlek on roads in pouring rain.

    WtnMel, I've just seen your post pop up! Sorry to hear that your back is still stiff. Good luck with your walk with the rambling group tomorrow. I don't like the sound of 6 stiles to negotiate.
  • Afternoon all,

    I hope to post properly tomorrow, jut popping in now to say "hi" and explain I've been rather busy since the run on Sunday - poorly granddaughter, physio appointment, house viewing (what a dump :# ), trying to sort out our new electricity tariff which doesn't seem to be working properly, and switching bank accounts, all of which has put me behind with all my usual jobs. However I'm determined to do as little as possible tomorrow so I should have time to catch up on your posts and respond. (That's the intention anyway :) )
  • Good afternoon everyone, 

    Aquarius, gosh you have been busy since Sunday! I hope your granddaughter is getting better now!  House viewing, switching electricity tariffs and bank accounts, sounds very stressful to me. 
    Lloyd's Bank in the village is scheduled for closure in February, which will only leave HSBC that I am with. It's probably only a matter of time before that closes too. 

    It rained heavily during the night 🌙,  so I decided on a road run this morning. I ran 10k over a hilly course, struggling against a bitterly cold, strong wind on the return leg, especially whilst running parallel to Southampton Water.
    In case anyone was wondering 🤔 why I have been running 🏃‍♂️ solo, the Sarah's have both got coughs, so have had pcr tests which hopefully will be negative. Sara F is hoping to run on Saturday, and Sarah H on Monday. 

    I'm really pleased with my new phone 📱 which as you can see, inserts emoticons as I type. It's a bit of a novelty, and I will probably delete them in future. It also finishes sentences, which is usually inappropriate, so I just type over the wording. 
  • HS, funnily enough we just heard today that our local Lloyds is closing down, Definitely colder today. Sorry to hear about the Sarahs. That's not good news when they have events coming up. Fingers crossed.

    Aquarius, yes, you sound as if you have a lot on your plate just now.

    Mel, sorry to hear about the stiff back. With respect to observations about tradesmen (a rather condescending term perhaps - but I can't think of a better one), I think that the balance of power between them and the customer might have changed over the years. I now live in fear of upsetting them in case they ditch us and we can't find a replacement. Funny old world.

    No running for me since my run up the steep hill earlier in the week. I'm just a bit tired and might have been overdoing it. A rest is called for! (Although actually that means leaping on the rower.)

    I'm considering signing up for a 10k in a few weeks. I last did it in 1989 when the running bug really bit me. I quite like the idea of a run down memory lane.
  • Good afternoon everyone, 

    JB, coincidentally, my financial advisor from my Bank rang yesterday and left a message on my answer phone. I didn't notice until late evening, so I rang back this  afternoon and asked him to ring me back!

    Hopefully the Sarah's are ok, I'm due to run with Sarah F tomorrow and both on Monday. 

    I like your idea of a rest day being a session with the rower. Good luck for the 10k race if you decide to do it.


    Today is a rest day for me and I've been to the pumpkin festival with Karen and the twins. Around about 2 hours walking,  pushing a wheel barrow, with 2 large pumpkins aboard. 

  • Afternoon all (better late than never)

    I’ve had a quick read back over your posts over the last week and I’m sorry to see that both the Sarahs are unwell, I hope both their Covid tests come back negative. 

    HS: A new phone - how exciting. I always find it takes a few days to find your way around new gadgets, it’s funny the way yours keeps inserting emojis - its as if it wants to be included in the conversation. :):smile:
    Glad to hear that the Garmin syncing problem has resolved itself.
    It is a bit worrying when banks close more and more of their branches, but when I think about it I haven’t actually gone into a bank for at least a couple of years, probably even longer. I think the last time was when I tried to pay in a cheque, but instead of paying in over the counter I was shown how to use the bank’s app to scan the cheque and pay it in myself. How times have changed. I see you have been busy running, despite the nasty weather. I hope you will be back running with Sarah F on Saturday and Sarah H on Monday. I laughed at the thought of you pushing a wheelbarrow around with pumpkins in it, two hours of that must be a more than adequate cross training session!

    WtnMel: I’ve just been reading your golf report from last Friday, and despite your back still being a bit dodgy it sounds like your game is improving and resulted in honours even with the scoring system, not to mention the added bonus of finding 5 abandoned balls. I see your back was a bit stiff the following morning, and again on Monday, but that you feel your exercises seem to have loosened something around your hip. It’s possible the noise you heard was caused by tendons moving across the joint, or even by bubbles of gas “popping” in the synovial fluid around your joint. In case you’re wondering I only know this because I once asked the doctor why my knees make cracking noises so frequently. How did your u3a walk go yesterday? Those stiles will have been a good test for your back. (Is there a golf report this week?)

    JB: You picked a good time of the year for getting a new central heating system installed! Sorry to hear your tradesman managed to double book himself, I hope you don’t have too long to wait to get the job done. Well done on last week’s parkrun, especially on beating the VW50 who beat you in the 10k, great result in being the fastest in your age category across all West and East Sussex parkruns.
    What a coincidence you were wearing your tracksuit and trainers when you and Mrs JB treated yourselves to a day out on Monday. I expect you didn’t fool Mrs JB for a moment. I hope you have fully recovered now and your tiredness was only temporary. (“A rest is called for” - who are you kidding? I bet you’ve already signed up and are in training for that 10k)

    Sunday’s 10k was ok, not particularly good and not particularly bad. It was chilly to start with but got out rather warm towards the end. A short steep incline about half way immediately followed by a long hill tired the legs a bit and started my ankle aching, but not enough to cause a problem fortunately. The heat made me feel a bit weary around 4.5 miles, and I slowed a little but then picked it up for the last half mile. Chip time was 1.04.03, a bit slower than I would have liked but I really didn’t have the energy to achieve any better. I went to the physio on Tuesday and told her about my ankle, which was still rather sore. As it wasn’t swollen at all, and I had a good range of movement in it she feels the problem is probably in my shin. I forget the name of the muscle she mentioned, but it runs down the outside of the shin and into the foot. It seems it could well have been injured when I went over on my ankle at XC a couple of weeks ago. I have to self massage the area using my body weight, by positioning my shin on a tennis ball (which is excruciating) and maintaining the pressure at the most tight (i.e. painful) area until I feel it ease off. I’d like to say I’m assiduously doing this, but try it yourself and you’ll see what torture it is. I tried a slow jog on Wednesday to see if my ankle was improving, but It was no better so I cut it short at about 2.5 miles. I haven’t run since but if it feels okay on Sunday I might try again.

    In other news - Granddaughter slowly recovering from her virus, bank switches completed, still problems with the new electricity tariff.

    (Just seen your photo HS - those witches are enough to give children nightmares :D )
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all (is 5pm, when I'm starting to type this, still afternoon? It's not dark yet anyway!),

    A general "Well done" for the training that has gone on lately ..

    HS - the library being hit by a car in Hythe didn't feature in any news stories I've seen .. glad to hear no-one was hurt. No news yet re my jabs (but see below). I wouldn't worry too much if you can't run Win 11 on your new laptop - Win 10 will be supported until 2025 and I doubt there's anything too important in version 11 we'll be missing. I don't have clicky knees like you - mind you, I've not tried running for ten months! I see you were 'out out' in Southampton and got that new phone - and glad to hear you've got the sync'ing problem sorted (or it has resolved itself). I may have mentioned before but although our LLoyds branch closed, the mobile bank does come once a week. Our Natwest branch closed some time ago so nowadays I wait until I am making a trip into Cheltenham - but more often, pay in cheques via the local post office. Having auto-fill (and auto-correct) coming up with inappropriate suggestions is something lots of people suffer from, especially when they fail to correct it! Hope the Sarah's both feel better soon.

    Aquarius - I see you've been busy with poorly grand-daughters, house viewing and sorting out electricity tariffs and switching bank accounts. I won't be installing my bank's app - don't like the idea of linking my phone with my bank account. When I do visit the branch with a cheque to pay in, the assistants try to point me towards the machine to do so. I politely refuse as I've tried several times and it always seems to fail - so I wander to the back of the branch and speak to a real-life person instead. I think the 'clunk' I mentioned was a tendon moving across a joint as there wasn't any 'pop' like I sometimes hear when my ankles click. See below for details of yesterdays' walk and the lack of golf. Glad to hear the 10k went okay. Hope the niggle with your shin muscles (extensor hallucis longus & extensor digitorum longus according to my Anatomy & Physiology manual from my massage course days) clear up - don't envy you with that painful exercise with the tennis ball. Glad to hear the bank switch is done .. hope the same can be said for your electricity tariff before too long.

    JB - a 'rest' equated to using the rower instead .. I'd never have guessed! :) Good luck with that 10k if you decide to do it (although you've probably already signed up for it!).

    In no particular order ..

    Margaret is having her covid booster and flu jabs on Monday. I just checked and didn't have my 2nd jab until 29th Apr which I think is the reason they've not been in contact with me yet.

    I've not tried re-running that backup job of almost 69000 files. But I've also not yet contacted the charity to ask about whether a clean-up project might not be a bad idea.

    No golf this week as Alan was supposed to have been playing on Mon & Wed and I have my 'Player Development Day' tomorrow (5hrs from 10am to 3pm). I collected my clubs as I had a call to let me know they had been mended and new shafts fitted. I'm obviously hoping this player development day (advertised as an MOT for your game) will nip any bad habits in the bud and result in further improvements (watch out Alan!).

    My back has improved, helped no doubt by me doing my stretching/strengthening exercises most days.

    Had a nice (if very s-l-o-w) ramble with the U3A group yesterday morning. My back didn't cause any problems, even with the tall stiles we had to negotiate. Several others struggled with them causing some hilarity with comments about old people having trouble getting their leg over these days. Chatting to one lady, she's put me on to Cheltenham Rambling Club who she walks with regularly and she assures me they walk a bit quicker. And feeling a bit brave, I stopped for lunch at the pub after the walk with 12 others.
  • WtnMel - I forgot that it was your Player Development Day tomorrow, good luck with that.
    Thanks for the information re the shin muscles. Glad your back is improving.
  • Afternoon all,

    I decided to go for a run today after all. My ankle didn’t feel too bad this morning and the weather was ok (tomorrow is forecast to rain) so I trotted out for a gentle 30 min run to test the ankle. It was a bit sore, but not as much as it was on Wednesday’s run. It will be interesting to see what it feels like tomorrow. I went out a lot later than usual, and paid the penalty of having to dodge dogs, bikes and other runners. 
    I was just about to post this when youngest son and grandsons turned up, youngest grandson (2 yr old) decided he wanted to stay and read a book with me while son and the other grandson went for a walk. We had a nice half hour together looking at books and playing (with our granddaughter’s dolls house - good job she was at her mother’s).
  • Aquarius, that sounds like reasonably optimistic news on the ankle, although I guess you'll know more (for better or worse) after tomorrow. That treatment with the tennis ball was painful - and that was just for me! 

    Mel, glad to hear that the back has eased. I hear good things about our local rambling group but if there's a 'leg-over' requirement the local swingers might be a better choice!

    HS, nice photo. I'm trying to visualise you pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with pumpkins. Aerobic training of an unusual kind? Any hills?

    Same old/same old for me today. Back to my local Parkrun (and how nice to see some regulars for a quick chat). Perfect conditions. 20.44 for me and I feel I 'missed out' as I was but a few seconds off my SB. Had a ding dong battle with the woman vet who I edged out on another course last week and this time she just claimed the honours - and thanked me afterwards for pacing her. My 81.67% WAVA was only the 8th best today - which shows the standard of the field/quickness of the course. Mrs JB would have done an SB had she not have to stop and tie her laces up. 'Junior JB' beat me by a few seconds.

    Granddaugher Lily smashed her PB last week in the JPR and managed to get below 16 minutes - thus putting the rest of the tribe to shame!
  • Here's me with the wheelbarrow and the twins. 
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Evening all,

    Aquarius - glad to hear your ankle seems to be on the mend .. hope it feels better tomorrow.

    JB - must be nice to be back at parkrun and seeing some of the regulars again. I had a similar problem in a race a few years back where some ladies sailed past me towards the end and thanked me for pacing them over the last mile or two. Mrs JB obviously needs to either do a double knot on her shoes - or learn to do the fell-runner's knot which will stop the laces coming undone. Well done to Lily for smashing her PB.

    HS - nice photo of you with the twins (and wheelbarrow).

    The player development day at the golf club was good. We started off on the driving range where they filmed me and were able to point out a couple of things I was doing wrong (allowing my left foot to lift and my right leg to straighten for instance). We moved to the putting green and again, I was filmed and had it explained what wasn't right (using my wrists to hit the ball - they should be kept locked out and you should use the arms instead). After lunch, we went onto the course and had a playing lesson where we practised driving, pitching and bunker shots. I was having a few problems with some shots and they explained what was going wrong (again, all to do with my head and/or legs moving or using my wrists to 'flick' the ball into the air). So I've come away with a list of things I've been doing that have caused my issues. I'm playing Alan again next Fri so I'll go to the driving range next week and will take my notes with me and will try to iron out these problems - hopefully, that will mean lower scores.
  • Good afternoon everyone, a lot to catch up with again. I've read back and will try to summarise.

    Aquarius, thanks, both Sarah's are ok now and intend to run in the morning.
    My financial advisor from my Bank rang on Friday for a chat, and I advised him that Lloyds were closing in February. He was pleased as "our bank" will be the only one left, and therefore get more customers.
    It took a while to get used to pushing the wheelbarrow. 
    That was a good time for your 10k, especially with a sore ankle. Sounds very painful, pressing your shin onto a tennis ball.
    Good to hear that your granddaughter is slowly recovering from her virus.
    Good to hear that the bank switches are complete, but that you are still having problems with the new electricity tariff.
    There were a lot of witches at the Festival.

    WtnMel, it was very lucky that no-one was hurt when the car crashed through the library wall.
    I'm not bothered about Windows 11, because as you say, Windows 10 will be supported until 2025.  I can't believe that it is 10 months since you last ran. Where has the time gone? Yes I did manage to sync the new phone with my Garmin. It took me a while to get the hang of the camera, but I think I have it sussed now!
    I won't install my Bank's app either. 
    I hope the player development day will result in improvements to your game to enable you to beat Alan.
    Glad that your back has improved.
    Your ramble with the U3A group sounded good, and I hope you didn't have any problems getting your leg over. Nice to finish the walk with a pub lunch.


    JB, glad you liked the photo, there is another one above. We took a few, and Karen posted them on the club's Facebook page. Thankfully, there were no hills to push the wheelbarrow up, but the ground was very uneven, making it difficult to manage at times.
    Well done for another excellent parkrun time. The standard certainly appears to be very high among the runners, and the course to be runner friendly. A shame Mrs JB just missed out on a sb, due to a shoe lace coming undone.
    Well done to Lilly smashing her pb. She is going from strength to strength!

    Nothing much exciting to report apart from the Southampton trip and Fridays Pumpkin Festival.
    I ran a very easy pace 6.56 miles in the forest with Mike on Saturday, who is recovering from a calf strain. Sarah F decided not to run, but will do on Monday. Garmin Connect, after the very slow run advised that I was "over reaching" and recommended an easy few days. Absolutely ridiculous and I usually ignore all the data, except for distance, pace etc. I did, however, decide to play it at its own game, and today, I walked 5k as hard as I could in 47.04, an average pace of 15.08 minute miling. The comment was "unproductive and continue training as usual."
    It will be interesting to see tomorrows comments on the run. It should be the Sarah's and Jane.
  • john bateman 6john bateman 6 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2021
    HS, your conversation with the Garmin remind me of HAL, the computer in film '2001'. And that was a pretty respectable 5k time for a walk. (Would beat me hands down.)

    Mel, love the technical stuff on your golf stroke. I'm a cricket nerd and love it when the experts deconstruct a batsman's* technique in minute detail. I hope the coaching pays off although it must be VERY difficult to correct ('bad') habits.

    Looking forward to hearing Aqua's race report.

    A Sunday morning run for me. This was notable not so much for the run itself (250 metre intervals at sub 4 minute pace) but because of (another!) interaction with a dog. I was running along the pavement and saw a chap coming the other way with 2 dogs  one each side of him, on leads. I went as far over as I could to give his (bloody) dog enough space and the thing leapt at me, snarling. No contact was made but I think it was close and it certainly threw me off my stride. I had no wish for an encounter with the owner, so limited myself to a very loud 'f*ck off' as I continued at a safe distance! He must have known that the dog had 'previous' with runners, so why did he have that dog on 'my' side of him and why didn't he just pull over? Sometimes these events are 50/50 in terms of who was at fault but this was 99% his fault. I'm giving myself 1% for merely existing!

    So that's 2 dog encounters in a couple of months after years and years of none.

    PS Lily down to sub 15 minutes. World record beckons.............

    *apologies: I mean 'batter's'. Note to self: must use correct terminology!


  • Looking forward to hearing Aqua's race report.
    I'm assuming you saw my "Pre race workout" on Strava JB, I don't like to disappoint you, but it was the Garmin 5k coaching plan that designated it as such. I should have been doing my 5k race today (according to the plan) but I never had any intentions of running a 5k today, it just happened to be the last day of that plan. Instead I decided to try a gentle hill repeat session to see if my ankle and foot will be okay for Saturday's XC (and our club 5k GP on Tuesday). I'm afraid the answer is it's doubtful. I thought the ankle and foot both felt a lot better yesterday when I did an hour and a half of yoga, but it seems I must have done too much in the way of downward dog and warrior poses as I had a rather painful run this morning. It wasn't too bad when I started out, but by the end it was impossible to ignore. I think a few day's rest is called for now in the hopes that will undo the damage.
    Sorry to hear about your encounter with that dog (and selfish owner), I think the best way to look at it is to be grateful you have only had two such encounters in the last couple of months. I honestly believe the problem is getting worse with people buying dogs and either not knowing how to train them, or not wanting to make the effort to train them. Either way it can be quite daunting approaching dogs when out running because you have no idea of how they are going to react when you pass by.
    Well done for your parkrun result, although a bit frustrating to be just short of your SB, and annoying to be thanked by someone who beat you for pacing them, pity about Mrs JB's laces. Excellent news re Lily, what a star!

    HS: Nice photo of you and the twins, I imagine the Pumpkin Festival was a nice day out (apart from the wheelbarrow pushing bits). Pleased to hear the Sarahs are much better, did they manage to get out for a run this morning? 
    I laughed at Garmin's inaccurate assessment of your run, and even more so of your walk. What will today's run assessment be I wonder?

    WtnMel: It sounds like your golf player development day was worthwhile as you have got a few pointers from it to help improve your technique. I should imagine it is much more useful to be filmed, rather than just hearing the coach's opinions. They say the camera never lies, you can see for yourself what is going wrong, and why. I hope your practice session this week sets you up for a victory on Friday!

    Well, I'd better be off now to compose yet another email to Octopus about our electricity tariff.  :(
  • Forgot to mention I went on Strava this morning and put in requests to "follow" JB and HS (HS I've just gone back on and see you ran this morning with Jane and Sarah F  :) )
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