runners united: the newly garminified thread for people who love running

[rhetorician]

all welcome: young, old, fast, slow, running for a week or 20 years, on-road, off-road, racing. Add yourself to the list, or just post!

20/08/11 - Frank Duffy 10 mile, Dublin - rhetorician
29/08/11 - Spofforth 10k Trail Race - DrNortherner
03/09/11 - Dingle Half-Marathon - rhetorician
04/09/11 - Great Scottish Run Half-Marathon: EmmaBemma
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon - thetasigmamum
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon- N4nny
11/09/11 - Addidas 5K: MoshiMoshi
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa, SLF, Fannybanjo
23/09/11 - Notting Half Marathon: cestlavie
25/09/11 - Edinburgh Urbanathlon: backwardpossom
25/09/11 - Windsor Half Marathon: Doyouthinktheysaurus
25/09/11 - London Half Marathon Run to the beat: June2009
25/09/11 - New Forest Half Marathon: MoshiMoshi
02/10/11 - Standalone 10K: Futurity, Quenelle
02/10/11 - Bradford Half Marathon - MrsWednesday
02/10/11 - Baxter's River Ness 10k - backwardpossom
02/10/11 - The Run, Northampton - YeahThatsTheBadger
09/10/11 - Great Eastern Run, Peterborough - Futurity
09/10/11 - Herts 10k - WishIwasCherryMenlove
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
30/10/11 - Great South Run: Wheely, squix
30/10/11 - Nairobi Standard Chartered Half Marathon - M&M
05/11/11 - Glendalough Trail Run - rhetorician
19/11/11 - Maasai Mara Half Marathon - M&M
20/11/11 - Leeds Abbey Dash (10k) - DrNortherner
27/11/11 - City of Norwich half marathon: ibbydibby
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
22/04/12 - VLM: MoshiMoshi, ibbydibby
27/05/12 - London Bupa 10K - Futurity

[backwardpossom]

20/08/11 - Frank Duffy 10 mile, Dublin - rhetorician
29/08/11 - Spofforth 10k Trail Race - DrNortherner
03/09/11 - Dingle Half-Marathon - rhetorician
04/09/11 - Great Scottish Run Half-Marathon: EmmaBemma
04/09/11 - Moray 10k road race
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon - thetasigmamum
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon- N4nny
11/09/11 - Adidas 5K: MoshiMoshi
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa, SLF, Fannybanjo
23/09/11 - Notting Half Marathon: cestlavie
25/09/11 - Windsor Half Marathon: Doyouthinktheysaurus
25/09/11 - London Half Marathon Run to the beat: June2009
25/09/11 - New Forest Half Marathon: MoshiMoshi
02/10/11 - Standalone 10K: Futurity, Quenelle
02/10/11 - Bradford Half Marathon - MrsWednesday
02/10/11 - Baxter's River Ness 10k - backwardpossom
02/10/11 - The Run, Northampton - YeahThatsTheBadger
09/10/11 - Great Eastern Run, Peterborough - Futurity
09/10/11 - Herts 10k - WishIwasCherryMenlove
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
30/10/11 - Great South Run: Wheely, squix
30/10/11 - Nairobi Standard Chartered Half Marathon - M&M
05/11/11 - Glendalough Trail Run - rhetorician
19/11/11 - Maasai Mara Half Marathon - M&M
20/11/11 - Leeds Abbey Dash (10k) - DrNortherner
27/11/11 - City of Norwich half marathon: ibbydibby
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
22/04/12 - VLM: MoshiMoshi, ibbydibby
27/05/12 - London Bupa 10K - Futurity

Just adding a 10k race and taking off the Urbanathlon - not doing it anymore. :(

[DrNortherner]

Marking my place. Love that we have created a new verb with Garminified

[rhetorician]

Dr No I think the credit for that goes to you, actually. Shall we write and tell them? try and get free stuff :o?

[encyclogirl]

Parking up also.

I asked about what folks listen to while running in the old thread. Just in case you missed it, any recs? Are you an audio free runner? I think the sound of my rhino-like breathing while I run would put me off!

[DebiTheScot]

I generally just put my iphone on shuffle when I run. Last night I went out without it for the first time in ages and it was quite nice actually. When I start doing proper long runs I think I'll look for some podcasts to listen to too.

I had 2 hours without children this morning so went for a cycle. 25 miles in 1hr 40. Slightly frustrated that my average speed isn't higher than on the mountain bike but hopefully that'll change once I'm used to it. It is a lot easier to ride.

[cestlavie]

I used to be audio-free encyclogirl which was great as it was a bit of kit you didn't need to carry round. Now, unfortunately I'm audio all the time by virtue of "needing" my iPhone/ Runmeter app with me to tell me about speeds, times and distances.

Usually listen to albums rather than playlists or podcasts and type of album depends on what sort of run I'm doing. LSR's tend to feature best of albums by likes of St Etienne, Suede, Beloved, Primal Scream etc. (basically music from my uni days!) cos they have play times of +60 mins and they just sit happily in the background whilst I'm running.

On shorter, faster runs I tend to listen to more recent upbeat albums either indie-ish like Vaccines, Mystery Jets, Foals, Black Kids, Noah & The Whale etc. or dance/ hip-hop cross over stuff like MGMT, Broken Bells, Empire of the Sun, Roots, Jay-Z etc.

Hope that helps with a few ideas!

[backwardpossom]

I don't tend to listen to music anymore. I used to, but have now discovered the peace of just listening to your own feet plodding along the road/trail/whatever. I tend to run in the country. :)

[putthehamsterbackinitscage]

Hi all - Just popping into new thread during a quiet moment in the office

Got my GNR race pack yesterday and had to face the reality there's less than 5 weeks to go... and I am pretty much resigned to deferring my GNR place....

I've not been on the thread for a while as not really done much running due to a foot injury... Dr and physio haven't said PF as such but it is something along those lines... and being realistic, I'm not running 3.1 miles at the moment let alone 13.1...

Good luck to everyone else... I'll drop in from time to time, and try to post again once I get back out running properly...

[futurity]

New thread

I run listening to music..mostly Glee as it is cheesy and easy listening! Also Take That, Lady Ga Ga...I create playlists depending on my mood.

I always thought I couldn't run without music but since joining club I know I can do it ...I count to myself in my head to keep to a pace and to take my mind off the torture!

[Themasterandmargaritas]

That's it, I've got to garminify, I'm feeling that can't join in it would really help.

[backwardpossom]

Hope you have a quick recovery, Hamster x

[DrNortherner]

hamster hope you recover soon. It's frustrating, but you need time out to recover properly. You'll get it back.

encyclogirl I used to take my ipod shuffle on runs, but I got so annoyed by those inner ear ear phones which keep falling out I gave up. Now I would find it weird to run with music.

futurity If I did run with music my choices would be same cheesy stuff as yours

[rhetorician]

I think we are going to have to synchronise our bleeping...

hamster that sounds rotten - can you do other exercise in the meantime? How long do you think you'll be off your feet (literally :()?

I am a cranky sod today - no reserves of patience for the fact that it takes at least 5 requests to get DD to do anything...I have been unduly snappy with her today, resulting in her asking to put the car shelf back in 'the bloody car, mummy' - had flat tyre and multiple other minor irritations too.

On the plus side finally took the old bike in the shed to the repair shop so that I can get back to taking DD to nursery on it - she still remembers her old bike seat (which was nicked last October ) and paraded around the house in her helmet today...

Oh and I ran too - it was hot and the park jam-packed with cars and families - but run wasn't bad considering

[DrNortherner]

rhet I hate days like that, where it's just one thing after another. Not good, but tomorrow is another day!

It was muggy here today, rest day for me, had to go to MIL's after work and assist her with her new sky broadband as she is a total technophobe.

I just finished reading Paula Radclife's How to run if anyone wants to borrow it I can post it on? Some basic stuff I already knew but some interesting stuff too. My fave is Runners World guide to running that I constantly keep referring too, highly reccommend that one. I know born to run is raved about on here but I just didn't enjoy it.......any more you guys can reccomend?

[rhetorician]

I rather liked Brad Hudson's Run Faster, although it is more of a training guide than a good read - although he writes well. He's a bit fan of hill sprints and strength training and has plans that run over 20 weeks for all races and levels (even though he starts by saying that you should make your own plan). Hasn't made me faster though.

Mind you if I had managed to master all the skills I've read about, I'd be laughing...

[BeeGrylls]

Garminify? This refers to having a satnav watch right? I really want one. Does anyone know where I can get a good refurbished (or whatever the term for a re-done-up second hand) one from?

[rhetorician]

beegrylls yes - big gps brick watch that sits on your wrist and either bleeps at you because you are going too slowly or flashes up a depressingly large number at every km/mile marker...

don't know about secondhand - you can get them on ebay and the 205 model is pretty cheap new as they've newer models out

[fannybanjo]

I am going to kill the lot of you Garmin junkies - I was out running before and spent my entire run thinking how wonderful a Garmin must be and how professional I'd look with one on my arm and how it would be a far better GPS signal than my Runmeter blah blah blah..... SO TELL ME LADIES - ARE THEY REALLY REALLY REALLY WORTH THE MONEY!?! HONESTLY!

Rhet i feel your pain, I have been a sod today - I have had enough of school holidays. Kids were shattered. I'm cranky. Cat's are meowing. Ironing needs doing. Decorator pissed off halfway through painting house. Need big time tonight.

Hamster sorry to hear that. I hope you get back to your usual running soon.

Encyclo Wow your DH is so lovely, how nice to do that for you as a surprise. Was it an early Birthday present? Re running tracks - I am a bit of an eclectic bird, can swap from early 1990's dance music to Fleetwood Mac to Jay Z to Bob Marley to Paul Weller then back to the 1980's! If I like a song, new or old, it goes on my Ipod and I just shuffle through them. Need a change though, bored of same songs. Favourite one to get me going is Dizzee Rascal "Holiday". Good tempo in it! I'm usually bouncing along the road when that comes on.

Everyone talking about Autumn - it's made me realise how near Christmas is... Last year I was running through snow on Christmas Eve and the looks on peoples faces was ace! I love running in the winter, my times are far better.

This week have done recovery run of 4 miles on Monday so slow 9.3 min miles. Rest day yesterday. Today 5 miles started off slower then finished faster 43 mins. Not too bad but very tired today. I've ran 25 miles since Saturday and that's a lot for me and can really feel it today. I walked the last mile home, I just knew my body couldn't carry on.

I wish I had the guts to post a photo of my poor toenails.... They are HORRENDOUS. Bruised and totally messed up. Does anyone else suffer like this with theirs? DH is like Eddie Murphy in the film Boomerang - he lifts the duvet at night with a look of disgust on his face! Cheeky bugger.

[rhetorician]

fanny don't say that! DD2 will be here by then and we have had the sense to realise that we have to do all our Christmas shopping early this year...(if you are new, it's my DP who is pregnant, I'm not doing a running streak at 6 months pg!!).

You do recovery runs at 9.3m/m ?? that's race pace for me...but I am, on the other hand, at 38 miles for the last 7 days and feeling fairly ok.

I run audio free - I just find it bothers me, can never quite find the right thing, headphones fall out...and I like to listen to what's going on around me. I've started counting when it gets tough too futurity, very slowly to 100.

My toenails are OK(ish) but I have terrible hard skin on my heels which no amount of pumice and peppermint footcreams will shift. Thinking of getting a pedicure...this is quite a shocking thought for me!

[fannybanjo]

rhet I find it impossible to go any slower. Even running at 9.3 feels like I am crawling. Funny how we are all different however if I could get under 8 min miles I'd be ecstatic but there's no way over long distance. Good lord, you really have upped your mileage Well done though, fitting it in is bloody hard. Before though when I was out my bloody Runmeter pisses me off, it's so sporadic - I can be legging it and it will tell me I am doing a 12 min mile - would a Garmin be more precise.....

[rhetorician]

a garmin would be more precise (this is both good and bad); it's about as accurate as you can get without Rolex sponsorship...

[fannybanjo]

How do you find it's bad...? In that you're a slave to it? We probably get too caught up in our technology and should free ourselves of it but it's psychological - we NEED to know how we're performing. It's like driving without a speedo when I don't know my mileage and speed - it just doesn't feel quite right.

[rhetorician]

only in that with accurate pacing information I realised that I was even slower than I thought I was...as time has gone on I've got better at using it to target my running - so making sure that easy miles really are easy miles (although as you demonstrate so well, these things are all relative!); routes can end up being slightly shorter etc, but it's only an adjustment period. We are living up to our thread title rather nicely!

[johnnycomelurky]

Hi all, a newbie here. I've been running on and off for around 7 years but got derailed a few years ago by PF. Had my son in January and started running again in April and did a Race for Life in July. I am VERY slow now but mostly I'm running to lose some baby weight and get some 'me' time, so speed can come later (er, much later). I own a Garmin!!! Sadly it's a 105(?) and I haven't used it for years as it is quite unreliable.

Not got any races planned at the moment but will keep my eye out. I go back to finishing my doctorate soon so not sure how much time I'll have to dedicate to running but I know that if I don't have a race to train for, I may lapse again

I lurked on the last thread and there was someone asking about 10km races with toilets en route- the Great Manchester Run had them around halfway, or did a few years ago anyway. Embarrassingly, I weed in the bushes about 50 feet prior to the bank of toilets as hadn't seen them

[fannybanjo]

rhet I'd be gutted if I was slower than previously thought - did you use a form of Runmeter before the Garmin?

I'm off to check eBay!! thanks rhet

Welcome johnny - You'll fit right in here then with your garminifiability!!! well
done on your doctorate - It'll probably do you good to have a breather and get your running shoes on.