runners united (burning up pavement, burning up threads)

Well done possum. Sounds like everyone?s struggling to find decent race conditions ? where are the flat courses, run on cool, bright, windless days?! Hot and windy are two of my worst possible running conditions so well done you for finishing with some left in the tank. And good training for your HM as well.

theta worth having a look at Runners World website as well for speed and interval training schedules. They get a little complex over the course of their sessions to use in practice I think (especially if you?re training out on the road rather than a on a treadmill) but they?ve got some good things to work with. As an aside, one new addition to my routine which seems to be working for me at the mo is longer ?sprints? through a run to boost endurance and cardio, e.g. this morning splitting my usual 12k into 2x2k sprints + 2x1.5k + 1x1k sprints with 1k recoveries in between. Feels like it should be beneficial for HM distance. (I?m using the word ?sprint? very loosely here by the way to mean a bit faster!)

Very jealous of you running with your DS DrNo. DS only 5 and DD even younger so not sure when they?ll be able to come but certainly wouldn?t mind going slower to accommodate them. Just as a sense, how old was your DS before he could run say, a mile, without stopping all the time? DS is full of beans and loves running but tends to run in flat out sprints of about 100 yards a time followed by a period of getting his breath back.

thecoo was up in Stortford this weekend looking around. Lovely place. Would you mind if I messaged you as I?ve got some fairly dull questions about living there that I don?t want to clog the thread up with?

MrsWed thanks for advice re what helped with your achilles. I will keep icing until I get an appointment - nervous to stretch until I know what the physio says though, in case I make something worse! It's good to hear that you could run after 4 weeks too.

The physio I was referred to hasn't worked at the practice for 7 years! So think GP records are a bit out of date... also not recognised by BUPA so I'm trying to get hold of doctor to get new referral so I can set up appt - been on hold for about half an hour, so given up and will try again later.

Laughing at paws running with hangover!

Well done backwardpossum on completing race. Great that you felt good during it, even if you didn't run as fast as you'd have liked. Should bode well for your half!

Thanks sfxmum. :)

Could somebody repost Moshi's speed programme? I am determined to do proper speed work this time round.

Hi guys! Backwardpossum great time! Bummer you didn't set up your laps on your garmin....next time hey

Not much running today, ds who is 9 has been begging to come with me for ages so promised we would run together today. But, this morning he played in a football tournament, and as a mid fielder who played 4 x 5 aside games it was not the best day as he was knackered. We did just over 4 miles but we were out for 56 minutes! He kept anting to walk, then we had to pop into MIL's so he could get a drink and eat a biscuit, his laces kept coming undone....I feel robbed! But, we had a great chat about anything and everything which was nice. Did 2 more miles alone after dropping him home.

Loads of races coming up soon looking at that list. I must say, I am loving being part of this little community. You are all fab

there you go sigma

wheely he did ok thanks just on the 2hr given that his training was far from consistent and that he hurt his ankle last Sunday

01/05/11 - Great West Run (Half Marathon) Thetasigmamum
02/05/11 - Ashdon 10K: bonkers20
07/05/11 - Forres (Benromach) 10k: backwardpossom
10/05/11 - Burbage Skyline 5.75 miles: Hatwoman
14/05/11 - Chester Half Marathon: IreadthereforeIam
15/05/11 - Oxford Town and Gown 10k: Goldberry
21/05/11 - Clare Burren Marathon Challenge - drivingmisscrazy
22/05/11 - Edinburgh Marathon: MrsWednesday
22/05/11 - Merchant Taylors' Triathlon: MoshiMoshi
22/05/11 - Edinburgh Half Marathon: backwardpossom, squix
29/05/11 - Stirling R4L: squix
29/05/11 - Plymouth Half Marathon: sungirltan
30/05/11 - BUPA 10K: MoshiMoshi
05/06/11 - Seaford Half Marathon: Doyouthinktheysaurus
05/06/11 - Tilty Hilly 5(mile): bonkers20
05/06/11 - RFL 10k: LaLa
08/06/11 - Claver Peak 5 miles: hatwoman
11/06/11 - Clumber Park R4L 10k Hamster
12/06/11 - Bath R4L 5k Dillinger
12/06/11 - Redcar half marathon - DrNortherner
12/06/11 - The Heroes half marathon - Futurity
19/06/11 - Dash for Dads - Pawsnclaws
19/06/11 - Half Ironman UK 70.3 - Twink, MoshiMoshi
25/06/11 - Lewa half marathon Kenya - Masterandmargaritas
26/06/11 - Stortford 10 miles - thecoo
26/06/11 - Colworth half marathon - cestlavie
10/07/11 - RFL 5K, Kingston & Kempton Park: Wheelybug
10/07/11 - Felsted 10K: bonkers20
17/07/11 - RFL St Albans - Pawsnclaws
17/07/11 - Dublin Mountain Plod (HM) - drivingmisscrazy
20/08/11 - Frank Duffy 10 mile, Dublin - drivingmisscrazy
03/09/11 - Dingle Half-Marathon
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon - thetasigmamum
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa
23/09/11 - Notting Half Marathon: cestlavie
25/09/11 - Edinburgh Urbanathlon: backwardpossom
25/09/11 - Edinburgh Urbanathlon: backwardpossom
02/10/11 - Standalone 10K: Futurity
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
30/10/11 - Great South Run: Wheely, squix

So I must be a mad women because I've entered the Bristol Half, which is on 11/9/11. I can't add it to the list though right now cos cutting and pasting etc in a text box is a bit tricky on an iPad.

Well done backward - especially in not great conditions ! hope you get the garmin sorted - I only have a footpod garmin but had to ghet my bro to set it all up for me . I use garmin connect to look at the data.

SFX well done to your DH on his first half - how did he do ? You next year ???

squx/PAws - glad you enjoyed your first park runs. Fancy it myself but are at 9am here on a saturday and dd1's swimming lesson is at 930 - I changed them to a satrday so I didn't have to take dd2 with me and DH could take dd1. Given my reasoning it wouldn't be fair to expect dh to take them both .

Hope the ITB prob sort out Doyou

I missed my long run today - seem to have some sort of throat/feel crap virus. Am v. grumpy at having missed it though when I had got my mileage up.

backwardpossum well done, especially as it was a training run and not a distance you have been training for.

paws did my first park run too, was v impressed with the whole thing. V well organised. I did 26 1/2 mins which is a pb for me, not had a timed 5k for about 6 years though. I had nothing left in my legs at the end - i had to remind myself that it came at the end of a 30 mile week. Was very impressed with my friends - 1 who only started running in Jan and finished in sub 35.

10 1/2 soggy miles this morning. Started to pour down at about 4 miles. The end of my route is a stately home where they were doing a race for life. I really felt for them - they were likely to get soaked and as some of it would have been off road, I think, it might have been v slippy underfoot. Rain did ease of a bit but my kit was really heavy when I got home and I had squelchy shoes. Also lots of muttering and swearing under my breath as I kept getting splashed by passing cars.

That's me officially on my taper now, 2 weeks to go!

Well done on your 10k time, backward you did really well

Re: the Garmin, you have to set Autolap on the watch. I use Garmin Connect to download my run stats.

I tried a 4 mile run yesterday which was very painful toward the end. Think I have ITB problems!! I will contact a physio for an appt tommorrow and lay off the running for a bit. I will get out on my bike more which doesn't seem to cause me any pain and keep everything crossed I will be back running again soon.

backwardpossum well done, sounds good to me, am sorry I missed it previously

robino great effort and enthusiasm keep going

we went to see dh do his first half marathon, I felt horribly envious, hopefully will manage a 10K before the end of Summer

happy running all

I've done some googling and used the connection centre thing. But no splits. So I did some more googling and discovered I probably need to turn auto lap on. Bums, I wanted my splits for today! Not to worry... Thanks for the help x

Thanks! So is that different to the Training Centre that came with the watch theta?

backwardpossum That's really good. Well done. :)

To get the data off your Garmin, if it's like mine (and my mate Dave who has a 350) you need to download the free Garmin software from their website. Think it's called connection centre or connect or something like that. Once the software is on your computer, just connect the Garmin with the USB cable and the software will open automatically. All the data like splits, average speed, max speed etc will be right there. You can export it to a pcx file or you can upload it to garmins website. I'm not bothering with the Garmin website since I've got a whole years worth of data on runkeeper so I'm basically cmmitted to that.

That weird symbol bit after the 22 was a degree symbol before I posted!

I should also have said that the course was very flat and boring. Not enough hills for my liking!

Hi all, thanks for all the good wishes. The race was not much fun, to be honest. It was 22˚ (unheard of in this wee corner of Scotland!) and it was very windy with strong gusts - I almost lost my cap on a few occasions! And even the wind was hot. So the conditions were horrid. My time was 57'43" according to the Garmin which I was happy enough with as I went out to just run, rather than going for any speed. In fact, I did the first mile in about 8'30" so decided to slow down as I'm terrified of getting injured before the half after all the training I've done.

The good news is that despite feeling niggly before the race, I felt brilliant during it. My left foot is a bit sore now, but am happy enough. :)

Trying to work out how to get my mile splits... Does anyone know how to get them on the Garmin, or would I have had to set up 1 mile laps beforehand?

Hi everyone, well done Robino, I bet you feel very chuffed with yourself!

I ended yesterday in a very bad mood as I didn't get out to do my planned longer run because DH was stuck at work til it was too late. That means I only managed 1 run and one swim all week, no wonder I am feeling "meh". Back to normal life in London tomorrow though so lots of gym visits and some runs around Regents Park and Primrose Hill planned for the week.

I tackled the planned 6m today (in a gap between downpours, I have to admit that so far I am guilty of being one of those fair-weather runners you hate ). I found it super tough, mainly because I didn't realise quite how hilly the route was. I also missed a turn and so went about half a mile in the wrong direction and had to double back (mostly country lanes) so I ended up taking a slight short cut back rather than the way i planned. Distance ended up being 5.6m which took an hour, including about 3 minutes asking directions! I had to walk up bits of the last few hills too as I was shattered. Still, a beautiful route and it was enjoyable overall. There were some fantastic views from the high bits! Will try it again next weekend and aim to keep going for entire run .

Good luck tomorrow backwardpossum

Paws - how on earth did you manage to run at all?! I'm
sure I would be incapable.

Well, in the light of training for half marathons, park runs, 10k runs etc my offering is very paltry but I'm pleased! DH got back late last night and I managed to feed DD3, stick her in his arms and get out for a run this morning. I ran a whole 2.14 miles without stopping! I shall attempt to do the same or similar tomorrow and then next weekend I'm going to go for 5k.

And peach - belated thank you for the link to the stretches, am going to have a proper look tonight.

Hi all, did my first parkrun today. I enjoyed it despite having had a very heavy night out last night - so much so I had to struggle not to throw up on the first lap up the hill. I think it was somewhere around 32 minutes, which was a pathetic effort but gives me something to work with I guess.

Last time I did a proper 5k before I had ds3 I did it in 23 minutes something - wish I could do that now! Also bumped into my son's old deputy head, lovely guy who is clearly a bit of a secret speedmeister! I had to try and make small talk with him afterwards whilst hoping I wouldn't either knock him out with alcohol fumes or collapse.

I just realised this morning that I missed wishing backwardpossom all the best, I thought the race was tomorrow - looking forward to the race report.

MrsWeds are you looking forward to the marathon?

Much love to you and your mum Moshi. You always seem like a very strong person, and I imagine you will be a brilliant support for your mum - we are here when you need to share your load. Hopefully you will be able to get out and run to clear your head, even if you can't do the triathlon.x

I've done my last long run before the marathon - 16 tedious and somewhat heavy-legged miles along the canal. Then straight to help at the school fair where I'd been allocated the craft stall (someone was having a laugh as I'm the least crafty creative type ever). I'm knackered now, I think the craft stall was actually more exhausting than the running...

Good luck tomorrow backwardpossom.

Cestlavie, I feel the same when I see the fairweather runners out which is a bit unfair but also allowed I think, as long as nothing is verbalised . They are usually overtaking me too, as I'm plodding along at the end of my LSR, having been up since the crack of bloody dawn

Thecoo, have had achilles problems this year (tendonitis) - resting and icing helped, but stretching has made the most difference, loads of different calf stretches with the foot at various angles, as well as heel dips on the stairs. It took about 6 weeks to heal but I did run again after about 4. I still stretch my calves and ice my achilles every day, regardless of whether I'm running that day or not.

Hope all the other injuries are fast to heal and nothing serious, it's so frustrating isn't it?

Happy weekend running.x

Sorry to hear about your mum moshi.

I did a hilly 7 miles this morning in the drizzle. Probably did it a bit fast though and had my first experience of tummy trouble while running - not nice.

Good luck tomorrow backwardpossom !

Rain here today, but I managed 8 miles by the river with my dog and loved every mile. Used cestlavies pointers and kept thinking about my core, posture and leg lift. Felt good today. If only that were the case with every run hey?