runners united (burning up pavement, burning up threads)

Enjoy your garmin Driving ! I'm getting garmin envy now and thinking whether I need to change my foot pod garmin for a gps... maybe christmas !!

moshi - glad things are happening for your mum and I hope the heart murmur comes to nothing.

M&M - yes I do think you plateau with running/weight loss. Since I've been running I've noticed it gets moving again when I up my mileage and then will stagnate for a while. And I sometimes think there's a water retention issue with running too - I find I 'put on' weight over the weekend even though I am still careful and do my longest run. Often something like 3lbs which I really don't think can be all calorie related. SO, my latest theory is that its because I drink wine at the weekends and run a long run therefore dehydrating myself and therefore I retain water... I am terribly about drinking fluids (other than wine ). By weds/thurs its usually dropped off again.

Off to the seaside tomorrow to stayat my parents who are looking after my neice and nephew so hoping to get out and do some seaside running to escape the mayhem. BTW, my Mum is now running 7.33 KM ! I set her a new challenge of an 8K run in Sept and she is rising to it .

Sorry for not being around but from a quick read back it seems the thread is thriving which is fantastic to see. Thanks for asking after my mum, cestlavie. We were at the John Radcliffe Hospital today for her pre-operative assessment. All seems fine except a Jr Dr decided she may have a heart murmur which requires an eco-gram before she can undergo surgery next Tuesday. And she needs to try put on a bit more weight than the 1lb she managed since her last appointment. I am glad I went with her though - you could tell that she was so relieved both my sister and I were with her, especially when she burst into tears in front of the nurse.

I am sorry not to mention anybody specifically but on the topic of goals I agree it is important to have time goals. Everybody, the competitive and uncompetitive, wants to improve on their last effort. And consistent running should bring this about naturally as you get fitter, more efficient and faster. Having a time goal is a way of focusing yourself and allowing yourself to reach higher than you might dare to in other situations where your aspirations might be construed as being arrogant. Having running goals is such a personal thing that you are completely free to set them and dream them. Reach high and you might surprise yourselves.

Happy injury-free running everyone.

Debi - +1 for what DrNo says about cherishing that time with your dad. I too lost mine suddenly and life has changed so dramatically I cannot help feel how stupidly frivolous I was wasting such a valuable commodity as time spent together with loved ones.

Debi cherish that time with your Dad, it sounds lovely. Mine is no longer with us and what i would give for a bike ride with him right now

I don't know what my goals are timewise. My next tri is 10k longer on the bike, on the last one I took 24mins to do 10k so I hope my time is less than 24 mins more than the last one. But it's a much hillier route so that might be ambitious.
And I need to decide exactly what else I want to run.

Did a nice hillyish 25 mile cycle with my dad today, all the way round Dundee.
No running till I get home.

driving if you want splits, you have to set up the lap distance before you go out, as I discovered too late...

master I see no rhyme nor reason to running and weight loss. I have upped my mileage recently and upped my calorie intake and the weight is falling off me....although I do eat well, not a lot of rubbish.

I am however addicted to peanut butter crunchy, it;s like Mothers Milk to me!

Running club tonight, the email from the coach says we are off to Birk Cragg for some refreshing intervals and a few hills! this is Birk Cragg How lucky am I to have this 5 mins from my house?

I hope you will be going out first thing tomorrow driving to test out the Garmin, we shall need a report, splits, heart rate, the works.

The sore throat, cold bug thingy you all had last week has caught up with us here and dh and I are both suffering so I couldn't go out and run today. But we have a public holiday tomorrow so I am heading out, I think I will do 15k. Can you tell I have a structured training plan? With 3.5 weeks to go what should I be doing exactly?

I love all these goals, you've inspired me to set some. Try and get to 53 for my 10k route and get round this hm in 2.10 with my easier October hm in sub 2 hours.

There are some amazing weight loss stories here. Do you think that you reach a sort of plateau where your body is used to using up a certain amount of calories per week if you run regularly and your diet matches it, so that you never really lose weight? I don't eat that much rubbish but I don't hold back either and my weight stays the same.

hello busy thread as usual

badger I have not run 5k sub 30min in a while but that is ok, my current goal is to get fit again and increase the distance, just because it suits the recovery better, but having pushed harder at the weekend I could feel the satisfaction of being out of breath and the feeling of stepping out just outside the comfort zone

I expect half term will put a damper on the running, and this is birthday week for dd, there are a few days of celebration, but that is ok
weight has been a side effect of lack of fitness but I expect it will be back to normal by the Summer

the poor whale I recall the one on the Thames a few years back, it is sad

hope everyone is well and gadgets are received safely
happy running

ibbydibby I have yet to run 5k since having dc as i'm doing run/walk intervals because my knee was so sore and i'm very slowly increasing my distance to avoid a repeat injury. At the mo it's 10min run, 1min30s walk, 10min run, 2min walk and 10min run. That's currently taking 33mins for 5.2k so that's what I'm basing my goal on. I'm running every other day and have just under 4weeks until my 5k so i'm hoping it's achieveable!

Apologies for dreadful typing. I am rushing as at work and MNetting when I really shouldn't be here.....

Oh totally agree, the only person we should race is ourself! Whatever time/distance we acheive is always a huge achiemvemnet, regardless of hat others manage to do.

The coach at our club insists on giving the loudest claps to the last finishers in a race, as he says, they have been on their feet for longer.

Great to see cestlavie again.

driving just youtobe plyometrics and perhaps yoou could do a session yourself at home? End with some sit ups/plank/side plank etc.

I am excited about the imminent arrval of your Garmin. It's like a new child! Have you thought about names?......

Incidentally, mine keeps going blank. Even if I plug it in to charge, nothing. Then all of a sudden it works again. It better not conk out before my HM as I simply can not run without it

As an aside, Redcar (where I am doing my half) is in teh new today. A whale washed up on the beach this morning and sadly died

badger!!! i can't run 5 under 30 - i average 38 - i'll happily join you in that goal :)

Badger, I am in a running club, and the coaches there are often impressing upon us the point that we are running against ourselves. ie we shouldn't get distracted by other peoples' goals, but focus on our own improvement. What is your current 5k time? Whenever I am moaning and groaning about PB's (or lack of), my DH reminds me that there are many people out there who would love my PB at whatever distance.

Am also interested in a Garmin, what sort are you getting Driving? Think I would like one primarily to measure distance covered, but have recently been getting interested in pace.

Not lame at all Badger - a sub-30 5k was my goal earlier this year (and had been since my 1st 5K in 1998!). I finally did it this year (27m 40s) and it felt so good.

I know there are a fair few 'natural' runners who can do a sub 30 5K with no training but I also know how hard I worked for it.

Speedwork has made such a difference for me. Last night I did a 6 mile club run at average 9.28 min miles - this would have been totally unthinkable 6 months ago.

Driving will you be able to restrain yourself and wait for the delivery driver to leave before you break into the package?

My current goal is to run 5k in under 30mins, which seems a bit lame compared to everyone elses goals but I feel happy with my pace right now as my knee is pain free and that was my initial aim. After that I just want to increase my distance.

driving you're getting a garmin? Don't think you've mentioned it before.

Hi all,

Apologies for being a bit elusive of late. Had an absolutely hellish couple of weeks at work which have left very little time for anything else, including running or indeed talking about running! More the pity as a first subscription copy of Runners World (anniversary present from DW bless her!) turned up to taunt me in the middle of it all.

So many messages to catch up on as always and haven't had a chance to go through them all but very well done to all those who've completed races over the last week or two. Sounds like there were some absolutely fantastic performances - suntangirl, MrsWed, squix and possum (apologies for anyone I've missed...).

I'm still due to do my HM on 26/6 but training plan has gone a bit awry over last couple of weeks. Only managed four runs in the last two and a half weeks and not had time for any longer runs.

Notyummy am also going for about your time.. was aiming for sub 1.45 with a current PB of 1.49. Had been doing quite a bit of speedwork/ interval training because like you it got to the point where every run I was doing was 12kph almost regardless of length. Moshi has a good training plan but I've got a few that have/ had been working for me on individual runs (e.g. 12k run with 2k 'sprints' and 1k recoveries for building sprint stamina, or pyramid runs over shorter distances to build speed and cardio). Personally, I've never really got on with the RW training plans - far too structured to fit around my life! Sounds like DrNo has some good advice as well from her running club.

drivingmiss - can you work an HM plan around your races? A lot of them incorporate shorter distance races as part of the training plan.

How's Moshi (or rather Moshi's mum) doing by the way? Anyone know?

Happy running all

Read this

I was terrible at hopping when I started

Yeah thats exactly what I mean notyummy. I do 1 drill class echa week, led by one of the elite runners from our club. He has loads of eqiopment - hurdles, speed ladders etc and we do jumps, hops, hurdles (striding over notrunning!) Lunges, squats and laods of funny running type exercises (think Monty Python!) Apparantly, it will make yuo more explosive and widen your stride naturally.

hey squix I've been on a ver similar journey to yours. This last year has been very significant for me in terms of weight loss as well (35kg) and I really feel like I have been on such a journey. (and I neeeeed a holiday!)

I also don't think I have time to train for a half marathon unless I drop the other exercises I do and I enjoy them too much to drop them at the moment.

What do you guys eat/drink after a long run? I'm thinking of taking a protein shake with me for after the race.
I've notice whenever I run more/longer distances as well as usual (intense) training I often come down with cold sores, sore throats etc.
Do you guys supplement your diet specifically? (I take advanced nutrition complex which s vitamins and minerals daily.)

My 10k jog is tomorrow, resting today :)

Driving - my understanding of plyometrics is things like jumping lunges and squats; bunny hops; jumping over a bench etc. Not pleasant, which means they must be effective! Hope that is want you meant DrNo? Feel free to tell me to wind my neck in otherwise!