The Running Thread Vol 2

[Smitters]

First week, first deviations from plan. Took the opportunity to steal a visit to parkrun on Saturday, meaning I would run three days in a row, so I've bumped today's 60 mins easy and drills to tomorrow. I had truly forgotten the difference between running and training. That deep seated tiredness that creeps up on you after a big session - how I haven't missed you. I'm going to have to develop some self control. A course pb on Saturday probably didn't help matters!

On the flip side, it is so nice to have a focus! I really can't wait to check some numbers in six weeks or so and see how I'm getting on. The long run was 16km of flat and easy path at 6.06/km and an HR ave of 127. Looking forward to seeing the first number rise and the second number fall.

Got three easy runs this week just ticking over before a half marathon on Sunday.

Also, does anyone have any run-commute tips?

[Cybertronian]

Smitters said:

Also, does anyone have any run-commute tips?

I'm a regular run-commuter, doing it three out of five weekdays, but only have experience running home from the office. Will brain dump what I have for you...

I commute via public transport, so you may need to adjust your own strategy if you drive normally. Perhaps park at a train station that's partway if you cannot cover the entire commute distance on foot.

A comfortable and appropriate bag is a must, especially if you're looking to do progressively longer run-commutes. What works for some will not work for others, try to see the bag in person if at all possible. If you can at all, try and borrow one to test from friends or club mates, or buy from somewhere with a very good returns policy. Identify a bag that's right for your needs. I used to own one that was physically more than my needs, and so became a bit too cumbersome. I switched to a much smaller bag, forcing me to do more planning (more on this next...)

Planning and organisation makes things a lot simpler. I take a big hold-all into work on Mondays with all of my running kit I'll need for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday when run-commuting home. I then take said hold-all home with me on Friday, containing all of my changed out of work-wear etc. Try and leave as much at the office as possible, taking only the truly essential items home with you in the bag. If the run-commute requires work at pace, I've even ditched the bag and simply worn a Flipbelt on my waist to carry a phone, some keys and a bank card for cash if necessary.

Pros: you unlock so much more training time that's otherwise spent travelling to or from home anyway. On my longest 14 mile run-commutes, I was typically home by 18:45, leaving the office at 17:00 sharp.

Cons: it takes some effort and discipline to plan and be organised. For some, run-commuting presents a logistical nightmare, due to too many factors at play.

Edited by Cybertronian on Monday 16th October 10:42

[Smitters]

Cybertronian said:

Run-commute stuff

Cheers for that - makes a lot of sense. I can only do one day, and have to go both ways (childcare and other logistics prevent more), so it looks like I should be able to prep on the Monday and recover any kit by car on Wednesday. Just a matter of being organised on the weekend so I have workclothes ready to take in to the office. I'm trying to train smarter to minimise family impact.

[Cybertronian]

Welcome!

One thing I forgot to add is ensuring you eat enough throughout the day at work to ensure you have enough fuel to get back home. I've ballsed it up in the past, either not eating enough, or leaving it too late/skipping a mid-afternoon snack due to meetings etc, making the final miles quite hard work. Worth having a stash of gels and carrying at least one for those just in case situations.

Edited by Cybertronian on Monday 16th October 11:43

[RizzoTheRat]

I usually have a mid afternoon banana to hep with the run home.

Re bags, if you're running to work as well as home you should be able to get away without really carrying anything except your house keys. It'll probably be shoes that catch you out if you're leaving all your work clothes at the office on Monday nights.

I keep a pair of work shoes in the office and carry everything else as I walk or get the bus in (wearing my running trainers) and run home, so have a 25 litre OMM Classic rucksack that I find very comfortable, and is big enough to carry my work clothes plus a compressed down jacket on cold days, or my trainers on warm days when I want to run barefoot down the beach. I'm only running between 3.5 and 7km home though.

[feef]

With the nights getting darker, earlier, I've stopped running trails in the evening and have come up with a couple of routes around town which are well lit enough that I can see what I'm doing.

After having done those routs a couple of times, I started getting a pain just below and to the left side of my left knee. I noticed it was more painful or came on quicker when running on surfaces that are cambered from left down to right. Interestingly, I don't get the same pain on my right leg when running on surfaces cambered the other direction.

I suspect that running trails all summer means with the inherent unevenness means that i'm not used to a consistent camber and it's pulling something as a result. I'm guessing it's increasing supination from the angle my foot is striking.

As an experiment, I went out with my 5Fingers the other night, instead of my normal shoes, and ran the same route at the same pace but with zero discomfort.

I started running on the 5 fingers but moved to my Salomons for trails as I got fed up with twigs and sticks getting stuck between my toes, but I'm thinking I might stick to the 5Fingers for town work and keep the salomons solely for the muddier trails.

In other news, it's now just over a month until my half marathon. I should really make a point of running a full half distance before then. I've been close numerous times, just not actually done the full distance yet.

[RizzoTheRat]

Pan on the outside of the knee is often ITB related. I used to quite often get it but it stopped once I started making sure I stretched my ITB properly.

[feef]

RizzoTheRat said:

Pan on the outside of the knee is often ITB related. I used to quite often get it but it stopped once I started making sure I stretched my ITB properly.

This is between 7 and 10 cm below the knee. When doing ITB stretches, I don't notice any effect on the pain in this area which I'd expect if the stretch was exercising the affected area

[Flibble]

feef said:

With the nights getting darker, earlier, I've stopped running trails in the evening and have come up with a couple of routes around town which are well lit enough that I can see what I'm doing.

Maybe time to get a really bright running light?

[feef]

Flibble said:

feef said:

With the nights getting darker, earlier, I've stopped running trails in the evening and have come up with a couple of routes around town which are well lit enough that I can see what I'm doing.

Maybe time to get a really bright running light?

I've got a Petzl LED head torch and have considered going out with that.

[egor110]

feef said:

Flibble said:

feef said:

With the nights getting darker, earlier, I've stopped running trails in the evening and have come up with a couple of routes around town which are well lit enough that I can see what I'm doing.

Maybe time to get a really bright running light?

I've got a Petzl LED head torch and have considered going out with that.

I've got a head light from decathlon for £19.99 works fine in the pitch black up on the quantocks/exmoor

[anonymous-user]

Quite difficult to get a light that shows you where you are going + where your foot is about to go.
I have an 8 mile xc route to work & not yet got the ideal light for this. Maybe 2 is the answer,
Don’t fancy perishing in a ditch miles from anywhere !

[egor110]

Jimboka said:

Quite difficult to get a light that shows you where you are going + where your foot is about to go.
I have an 8 mile xc route to work & not yet got the ideal light for this. Maybe 2 is the answer,
Don’t fancy perishing in a ditch miles from anywhere !

Your foots going where you light was shining .

You can get like a harness with the light on the front maybe try that plus a head light , but i've found my £19 decathlon job fine up on exmoor or on the way up to the moor where it's either big rocks to trip over or roots in the forest , just need to slow down a bit and take a shorter higher stride.

[tenohfive]

Jimboka said:

Quite difficult to get a light that shows you where you are going + where your foot is about to go.
I have an 8 mile xc route to work & not yet got the ideal light for this. Maybe 2 is the answer,
Don’t fancy perishing in a ditch miles from anywhere !

Nitecore HC30 is my normal training headtorch, enough throw to pick out well ahead and enough flood to see where my feet are.
https://www.gearbest.com/headlights/pp_610097.html...

On the odd occasion I want 250m of throw for picking out landmarks I'll carry a Manker T01 as well, but I can't remember the last time I took that out too.

ETA:
I should probably add for context that I use that HT for mostly off-road stuff. Muddy hills reps at 5am in winter, slick descents - countryside running basically.

Edited by tenohfive on Monday 16th October 21:54

[fiatpower]

Cybertronian said:

Spectated and supported at the inaugual Birmingham International Marathon yesterday. Congratulations to anybody that ran it.

Probably some of the shoddiest organisation I've seen from the Great Run company, who clearly lack the logistical know-how for marathons (half marathons and below, and they're pros).

For a £55 entry fee, there were no energy drink/isotonic stations on the route, only Gu gels at two points with not enough volunteers handing them out. 2 lap course in the middle to cover 12 miles or so, so faster wave runners were colliding with slower wave runners, and there was even lapping going on within waves! I even had to tell security to move a cheer bus as it was parked in the wrong place, slap bang across the route...

I ran it yesterday. Have to agree that it was poorly organised, it was chaos at times particularly when the half marathon front leaders started to reach the finish line.

It was a tough course and I didn't like the two loop aspect. There were two large hills which on their own would have been challenging enough but knowing you'd have to do it again in 9 miles time was just demoralising. Think I'll stick to the half marathon next year.

[Cybertronian]

Jimboka said:

Quite difficult to get a light that shows you where you are going + where your foot is about to go.
I have an 8 mile xc route to work & not yet got the ideal light for this. Maybe 2 is the answer,
Don’t fancy perishing in a ditch miles from anywhere !

I've got a Petzl Tika RXP which does both flood for the immediate vicinity and long beam reach for further ahead. Has a proximity sensor, so when looking at something close, it dims slightly and goes into flood mode to fill the immediate space with light; when looking further ahead, it adjusts to a longer beam.

Rechargeable with adjustable power profiles to either prolong battery life, or burn brighter. Very comfortable headband.

[The jiffle king]

On the run to work question, I agree with all that has been said so far. You need to be well planned (particularly around food requirements as I eat a lot on running days.

I have a tresspass backpack which I think you can get for about £30. IT has a waist and chest strap and 2 litre water pouch for the summer which in the winter I don't bother with. Holds a laptop, notebook and food and is very comfortable.

Being planful is the key, the right amount of underwear, shoes and run kit in the right place at the right time is not as easy as it should be but after a couple of weeks, it's a routine

[johnwilliams77]

I live about 2.5 miles from work. In the morning it takes 5-10mins to drive and slightly longer to get home if I leave early (before 4). I have cycled in, walked in and ran but found I don't really like running first thing in the morning and it is a lot of organisation and messing around with bags/clothes/showers at work for the distance. However, I tried to get into it and bought an OMN bag as the others would jump up and down and still suffered for chaffing because the fit wasn't great - so my number 1 tip: wear a buff to stop skin contact!

[AbzST64]

Jimboka said:

Quite difficult to get a light that shows you where you are going + where your foot is about to go.
I have an 8 mile xc route to work & not yet got the ideal light for this. Maybe 2 is the answer,
Don’t fancy perishing in a ditch miles from anywhere !

You shouldn't need 2 head torches at all, have actually never heard of someone mentioning wearing 2 head torches before! haha!

Im out on the trails every night and the more you run in the dark with a head torch the more you'll get used to it!

You should know where your stepping 4-6 steps ahead of where you are. I learnt this from when being up in the mountains with Greg Vollet (Salomon Team Manager), takes training to get used to it but once you do you will hardly ever look at your feet and where they are going! There's a good video by Kilian on this he did lately...!

[mon the fish]

johnwilliams77 said:

For what it's worth, I did a half marathon during my training for a marathon of 1hr 39 (warm conditions) 4 weeks before the marathon, park run PB about 20:45 during my training block.

My marathon time was 3:31 a few weeks ago and was 20mins quicker than my marathon a few months prior. Training averaged about 40-45miles a week in the 8 weeks prior to the marathon and slightly less prior. Happy to provide more detail on training if it might help you.

These are very similar times to me, so I hope you can help! In terms of speed and hill work, what sort of pace are you running at? I don't currently do any targeted training like that, I generally run set distances although I am aware that speed work would help. But I've got no idea what pace to do speed work at - 5k pace? Faster?