The Running Thread

[MC Bodge]

RizzoTheRat said:

I marshaled near the finish of the surrey half last year. The bloke who won averaged 3min/km but was on his sprint finish when he came past me. I couldn't do that speed on a bicycle

Bracknell Forrest 5 tonight, potentially a bit hilly and my first run since my knee conked out at Endure on Saturday night so I shall be taking it easy and I'm holding off entering Sundays very hilly Feat for Feet 8km until I know the knee's ok.

It's also the Twilight Challenge 10k on Saturday on Farnborough airfield, you don're really appreciate how long an 8000ft runway is until you run the length of it

You are certainly doing a few events

[RizzoTheRat]

The Mrs keeps entering me in things

Knee's still not right, started aching after about 3 miles tonight

[The jiffle king]

Retrieved my fixie from work having fixed the issue and then cycled home in 35C heat, then went to the running club where it had cooled to 34C and we only did 4.4 miles in 30:54. That was enough as there was virtually no shade and I rehydrated with 4 pints of water and electrolytes and it took ages to stop sweating. It's fun learning about how to acclimatize and not go mad. Just cycling tomorrow and then a jog out Friday. If I can run and get fit in this heat, I can run in anything.

[tickious]

ocrx8 said:

26 - so at the stage of life where I can devote as much time as I like to training! I found making sure I did weekly, consistent long runs made the biggest difference.

70 to 80% zone 2

[andy_s]

Good luck to the 190 odd souls setting out on the 95 mile West Highland Way race tomorrow @ 1am, my wife included!

[MC Bodge]

andy_s said:

Good luck to the 190 odd souls setting out on the 95 mile West Highland Way race tomorrow @ 1am, my wife included!

Having ridden it on a mountain bike, it is a long way to run. Let's hope the weather is good for them.

[andy_s]

MC Bodge said:

Having ridden it on a mountain bike, it is a long way to run. Let's hope the weather is good for them.

It's mid-summer in Scotland, rain is a definite!

[ewenm]

Long day of travel to get to Chamonix today. Frustratingly our plane was delayed by 2h30m so we spent well over 4 hours at Bristol Airport - not much fun. Here now though and looking forward to seeing how a friend gets on in the Asics Beat the Sun event tomorrow http://beatthesun.asics.com/uk

Then on Saturday it's my 23km race in the Mont Blanc Marathon festival so I need to get some good training done here this week if I'm going to run well.

[The jiffle king]

Never heard of beat the sun, but it looks like a great challenge

A slow 6.4 miles for me this morning at an average of 7:42. I think it was the dirty great big hill at the beginning and the end which was the issue and the heat was not too bad at 25C

[ewenm]

If anyone is looking for a holiday location where they can combine family activities, bars, restaurants, etc with some great running, I can thoroughly recommend Chamonix. Amazing trails in the valley and up the sides, great outdoorsy atmosphere, and there are even trail running guides if you're not confident with the navigation.

We're here for 2 weeks (3 days in so far!) and I'm definitely booking my next training week here with runner-friends.

[MC Bodge]

ewenm said:

If anyone is looking for a holiday location where they can combine family activities, bars, restaurants, etc with some great running, I can thoroughly recommend Chamonix. Amazing trails in the valley and up the sides, great outdoorsy atmosphere, and there are even trail running guides if you're not confident with the navigation.

We're here for 2 weeks (3 days in so far!) and I'm definitely booking my next training week here with runner-friends.

Agreed. I've done similar in the past, mountain biking, running from the valley and family stuff. We stayed at Les Houches a few km down the valley.

[ewenm]

Today's run (up, down, UP, DOWN): https://www.strava.com/activities/332061855

[ewenm]

MC Bodge said:

Agreed. I've done similar in the past, mountain biking, running from the valley and family stuff. We stayed at Les Houches a few km down the valley.

There's a few UK trail runners out here for the summer who are living in Les Houches. Would be my pick if I was here long term.

[wiggy001]

wiggy001 said:

Thanks to you and others for the previous responses, since which I've managed several runs without issue, including my first of 5k. Main changes have been some stretches before a run and running a few different routes.

15 runs complete since starting this mission to get fitter - tonight's was 5.1km @ 5:34/km compared to my first 2 months ago which was 4.0km @ 6:36/km.

Happy with the progress so far and the commitment to average a couple of runs per week. Definitely feels easier with regards to aches and pains afterwards and it feels like I'm pushing just enough to improve modestly each run without killing myself. Hoping to find the time to join a Parkrun in the next few weeks just to mix it up a bit.

Almost as important as the physical fitness improvement is the mental improvement - 5k after a crappy 11 hours at a client really de-stresses my mood!

[markh1973]

ewenm said:

Today's run (up, down, UP, DOWN): https://www.strava.com/activities/332061855

That's a cracking amount of climbing for only 8 miles of running - makes my forays on the North Downs look flat!

[markh1973]

wiggy001 said:

wiggy001 said:

Thanks to you and others for the previous responses, since which I've managed several runs without issue, including my first of 5k. Main changes have been some stretches before a run and running a few different routes.

15 runs complete since starting this mission to get fitter - tonight's was 5.1km @ 5:34/km compared to my first 2 months ago which was 4.0km @ 6:36/km.

Happy with the progress so far and the commitment to average a couple of runs per week. Definitely feels easier with regards to aches and pains afterwards and it feels like I'm pushing just enough to improve modestly each run without killing myself. Hoping to find the time to join a Parkrun in the next few weeks just to mix it up a bit.

Almost as important as the physical fitness improvement is the mental improvement - 5k after a crappy 11 hours at a client really de-stresses my mood!

That's a great improvement - make sure that all your runs aren't at maximum effort though. I know it's tempting to just go flat out but your times are likely to improve more if you actually build up to longer distances at a slower pace.

[andy_s]

andy_s said:

Good luck to the 190 odd souls setting out on the 95 mile West Highland Way race tomorrow @ 1am, my wife included!

She did well, completer rather than competer [sic] and brought it home in just under 30 hours. Rough second half with poor weather for the second dawn. Great race...


Anyone tracking the Dragons Back Race this year?

[MC Bodge]

markh1973 said:

ewenm said:

Today's run (up, down, UP, DOWN): https://www.strava.com/activities/332061855

That's a cracking amount of climbing for only 8 miles of running - makes my forays on the North Downs look flat!

It is indeed. Back in the day, I managed a similar run from the Zermatt valley after almost a month of Alpine mountaineering (ah, student days....). When I came back to sea level in NW England I was running the fastest I will ever be ...well, for about 2 weeks...

[wiggy001]

markh1973 said:

That's a great improvement - make sure that all your runs aren't at maximum effort though. I know it's tempting to just go flat out but your times are likely to improve more if you actually build up to longer distances at a slower pace.

Thanks for the feedback.

And trust me, I'm not tempted to go flat out - the fear of not making it back is still there! I'm still learning how to balance my pace with the fatigue in my legs and the ability to breathe, but think I'm pretty good and knowing when to speed it up and little and when to back off.

Last night was the first run where by first 1k and last 1k were similar pace. Before then I seemed to be starting slow and speeding up as I got closer to home when I realised I still had a lot left in the tank so to speak. Really just trying to get a steady, sustainable, repeatable pace rather than looking to go quicker each time.

Not sure if I said previously but a car accident last year left my back a little "delicate" so I'm also keen not to put that out again, so another reason for keeping it steady.

[ewenm]

markh1973 said:

ewenm said:

Today's run (up, down, UP, DOWN): https://www.strava.com/activities/332061855

That's a cracking amount of climbing for only 8 miles of running - makes my forays on the North Downs look flat!

It was a great run. The race on Sat is 23km with 1600m of climb and 600 of descent on similar trails. I felt good on that run despite it being the day after my first session out here, so should be good for the race. The last 5k is predicted to take 30 mins for the fastest racers - technical single track with 300m of climb! Need to save something for that although not too much as overtaking will be tricky.