The Running Thread Vol 2

[y2blade]

fiatpower said:

11 years of applying for London and i'm fully expecting another "Sorry you didn't get a place" email come October

Yeah. This is my third time in the LDN ballot (2017 and 2019) so I’m hoping third time lucky lol.

I’ve already booked for Brighton’ marathon next year so that’s the aim to be back to proper running by early April.

[Rosscow]

fiatpower said:

11 years of applying for London and i'm fully expecting another "Sorry you didn't get a place" email come October

You'll know in July this year.

[markh1973]

Rosscow said:

fiatpower said:

11 years of applying for London and i'm fully expecting another "Sorry you didn't get a place" email come October

You'll know in July this year.

Good to know that we have to wait less time to be rejected!

Think I'm probably on 8 rejections but I haven't counted.

[Muzzer79]

y2blade said:

fiatpower said:

11 years of applying for London and i'm fully expecting another "Sorry you didn't get a place" email come October

Yeah. This is my third time in the LDN ballot (2017 and 2019) so I’m hoping third time lucky lol.

I've applied every year since 2017 and never got an entry through the ballot.

Here's hoping for 8th time lucky.

[extraT]

I’m in the market for some new shoes… I’ve always worn Asics GT series. Last pair was GT2000-9, which have served me well.

Is there something else I should look at or should I just stick to what I know? Not a fan of Nike. I also noticed some cheaper no brand shoes on Amazon which seem to have fantastic reviews. Are these worth trying or a waste of time?

[Birdster]

smn159 said:

fiatpower said:

11 years of applying for London and i'm fully expecting another "Sorry you didn't get a place" email come October

There are ways in if you really want to do it. Mate of mine got a last minute charity return place last year, organised a quiz night which raised a few hundred quid and job done.

I’ve tried for the ballot for a number of years. The last few years I’ve tried a charity place too and only make it on the reservation lists. On the charity applications I also state that I’ll make the minimum (knowing I’m prepared to make up the shortfall if that happens) and it’s only the charities that mean something to me.

I’ve heard friends and colleagues saying they’ll apply and walk it, or ‘I guess better start training when they get in’ and barely do it. I know it’s meant to be open to all but it’s frustrating hearing that from people who never run normally. Anyway I’ll stop moaning as it’s the same for all who’ve tried a number of times and I do Brighton marathon every year and that seems to getting busier.

I actually wanted to post to ask how the last minute charity place worked for your friend? Is there a list published or did they message charities asking for a place in the weeks coming up to the marathon?

[TeaNoSugar]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask but I need a bit of help with Garmin Connect courses.
I’ve found a good route on Connect that I want to run. It passes really close to my house so I’d like to start and finish there. The (admittedly minor) problem is that whoever did the route started and finished about 5 miles away so if I do the route and pass that point the watch will tell me I’ve finished the course, and then I have to stop, reset it and start a new run which will start from 0 miles again, which splits the thing into two separate runs. I know this isn’t a major issue, but it would be neater and less of a faff if I could edit the course so I could move the start and finish points to where I want them. I can see the edit options as below:



And then trying the “add course point” option just brings up loads of different categories of points:




None of these actually do anything to set the start or end points though, and neither do any of the other options in the initial edit menu. I’m just wondering if it’s possible to edit/modify a course like this using Garmin Connect?

[ToNyC1]

extraT said:

I’m in the market for some new shoes… I’ve always worn Asics GT series. Last pair was GT2000-9, which have served me well.

Is there something else I should look at or should I just stick to what I know? Not a fan of Nike. I also noticed some cheaper no brand shoes on Amazon which seem to have fantastic reviews. Are these worth trying or a waste of time?

Watch a few YouTube videos, Fordy Runs or Eddbud are really good. They also focus on the cheaper end or watch last years models that will be on offer! Eddbud in particular will call out shoes that are on offer every few weeks.

[tim jb]

Purchased a pair of Nimbus 25's but left feeling underwhelmed after reading the reviews. They feel somewhat heavy and the sensation of moving in them is feels.. different. I will persevere with them.

[joshcowin]

tim jb said:

Purchased a pair of Nimbus 25's but left feeling underwhelmed after reading the reviews. They feel somewhat heavy and the sensation of moving in them is feels.. different. I will persevere with them.

I often find reviews misleading! I have a pair of adi boston 11's many reviews slated them I think they are decent shoes, new balance dailies good reviews I find them really underwhelming most boring shoe I have.

I have taken the recommends of a few people on here and have been happy with my purchases.

[andy_s]

Smitters said:

I have signed up to the annual ballot of disappointment.

I also "ran" 46km in Snowdonia on Saturday. Just the 2550m of climbing. First km was under 6 mins, as was the last. Many inbetween were not.

Brutal.....that ballot.

--

As we're on to shoes, and given the above, I'd like to report good results from the latest Inov-8 shoe that [I think] replaces the 210 lightweight x-talon and the Mudclaw, the Mudtalon Speed. Inov8 have had a revamp and blended the range. Even though it's about 260 in weight it doesn't feel it, even though stack is higher you still get good ground feel, even though you can detect stud lines after a few miles on tarmac it's very comfy [precision fit is wider than old precision fit imo], the new last is bigger than the old one so only half a size up rather than a full one for my long narrow feets, water shedding is good. For longer distance on hill terrain esp. x-country it felt spot on, the 212s you could feel after about ten miles, these haven't ached at all yet. [Result of that wider precision fit, extra stack and wider toe box obvs.]

Anyway, for interest.

[ben5575]

+1

I have the mud talon speeds in wide fit and they are fantastic. Really comfortable on soft stuff although I find them (unsurprisingly) uncomfortable on hard stuff. They really inspire a lot of confidence. Do you still use their laces or have you swapped them out, if so what for?

I’ve just bought a pair of their new (non speed) trailflys for trail, drier fell running and training. I opted for the extra padding (over the speed version). Will report back once they been given to me for my birthday!

[Pete102]

I ran the Red Bull Wings For Life event over the weekend, interesting concept whereby the finish line is a catcher car that starts 30 minutes after you set off and gets progressively faster until everyone in the race is caught.

In the end I finished up with 25.2km in 2hrs 9min and an average pace of 5:08/km and a couple of Personal Bests:

Half Marathon - 1:47:06 (5:05/km)
20k - 1:41:07 (5:03/km)
15k - 1:12:08 (4:49/km)

As you can see I blew up somewhat in the final 10k, further evidenced by a 22:11 5k (4:26/km) and 46:01 10k (4:36/km) which are only 2 minutes or so above my Personal Bests.

Needless to say, it was very well organized and support from communities along the route was fantastic. My only slight complaint is that there was a section between 15 and 20k with no aid stations, this also happened to be in a countryside section with no shade!.

Oh, and just to really put things in perspective, the global winner managed 70k before being caught! Insane!

[RizzoTheRat]

Pete102 said:

I ran the Red Bull Wings For Life event over the weekend,

I got loads of adverts for the virtual/"app race" of that, but can't really see the point of virtual races. I didn't realise they were doing it "live" as well again.

I did the Cambridge one years ago, managed 10k with 3 of us pushing a friend in a wheelchair, and David Coulthard driving the chase car, Agree it was a great event.

[andy_s]

ben5575 said:

+1

I have the mud talon speeds in wide fit and they are fantastic. Really comfortable on soft stuff although I find them (unsurprisingly) uncomfortable on hard stuff. They really inspire a lot of confidence. Do you still use their laces or have you swapped them out, if so what for?

I’ve just bought a pair of their new (non speed) trailflys for trail, drier fell running and training. I opted for the extra padding (over the speed version). Will report back once they been given to me for my birthday!

Thinking of the same, to get the standard Trailfly for those longer, ploddier days [when I'm back up there....horrible being off for 6 mths and climbing back up the metaphorical and literal hill...] - and no, haven't swapped laces!

[Pete102]

RizzoTheRat said:

I got loads of adverts for the virtual/"app race" of that, but can't really see the point of virtual races. I didn't realise they were doing it "live" as well again.

I did the Cambridge one years ago, managed 10k with 3 of us pushing a friend in a wheelchair, and David Coulthard driving the chase car, Agree it was a great event.

I agree with you, the virtual race does not appeal to me, luckily there was a flagship city run only an hour from me.

[irish boy]

irish boy said:

A place has popped up in Belfast marathon next Sunday. Never done a marathon and very tempted to jump on the place. Has anyone attempted one with no training? My longest is 2x 13 mile runs this year but generally pretty fit and won’t be going for a time just 9 min miles.

Well i decided to give it a shot. Made sure to keep my speed in the 9’s. Felt totally fine till mile 20. 20-23 were tough. 23-26 the lack of energy really hit (no gels etc with me) and had to slow it down a bit. But got round.

Going to take a few days off this week and let the legs recover. Definitely not my distance but at least it’s a box ticked.

[The jiffle king]

irish boy said:

irish boy said:

A place has popped up in Belfast marathon next Sunday. Never done a marathon and very tempted to jump on the place. Has anyone attempted one with no training? My longest is 2x 13 mile runs this year but generally pretty fit and won’t be going for a time just 9 min miles.

Well i decided to give it a shot. Made sure to keep my speed in the 9’s. Felt totally fine till mile 20. 20-23 were tough. 23-26 the lack of energy really hit (no gels etc with me) and had to slow it down a bit. But got round.

Going to take a few days off this week and let the legs recover. Definitely not my distance but at least it’s a box ticked.

Well done! Getting round a marathon is an achievement for anyone. Many people say that 20 miles is halfway in a marathon

[smn159]

The jiffle king said:

Well done! Getting round a marathon is an achievement for anyone. Many people say that 20 miles is halfway in a marathon

Yeah my last one was a glorious procession of effortless gliding by, high fiving the kids, for 20 miles followed by 10k of hell on earth

[Waitforme]

I’d like to get to 4:11/ k or better to dip below 21mins for 5k.
I’m currently hovering around the 4:18 to 4:20 mark for 5k, I do a couple of 5 milers a week and the park run. This week I did 6 x 500m intervals at 4.00 pace with 1 min recoveries instead of one of the 5 milers. I’m wondering if I should continue with them and try and do 7 then 8 , 9 etc as my fitness improves or if I would be better doing 3 or 4 1k intervals at maybe 4:10 ?
I also do maybe 7 or so hours cycling a week.