Running goals, motivation and chat 2026 - Part 3!

That’s very impressive @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff it sounds like you have great all round strength!! Glad your running is feeling better.

Eeek!! Not long now @tinks3110! you’ll smash your marathon.

rest day for me today. Hopefully I’ll be up to club run tomorrow. It won’t be as long as usual as our group leader has a marathon on Sunday and he’ll be tapering so I should be ok.

Wow that is a great time 😁 @Whataninterestinglookingpotato

Good for you!

Sliiiiightly more modestly...
I had my lifting session today at the gym coupled with short treadmill form run which felt great despite legs being knackered. I am really hoping I am near the end of the "jeffing phase " of rehab and can progress to continuous running.

I also upped my dumbbell bench press to 32kg which felt quite do-able and I should probably push harder, but had previously been sitting at 28kg so felt like a progression.

@Whataninterestinglookingpotato that is an amazing time well done!
I did my last long run today 8.5 miles now 1 more run until
marathon day next Sunday. I am absolutely hating the taper, today felt heavy and hard and I wonder how I’m going to manage next week. I have read that this is typical taper paranoia but feel a bit sick thinking about next Sunday/
on the plus side I’ve raised £450 for my charity so far and hoping for a bit more in the next week

Thanks for asking @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff

it actually went better than I could have possibly imagined! I taped up as my hip was as still sore this morning and I didn’t have a brilliant nights sleep, which I was quite anxious about after more of less loosing the plot on my last ultra due to lack of sleep, but I think I managed just enough to be ok!

it’s a flat tarmac out and back along the Bristol to bath cycle path and I’ve never done a race over a marathon distance like that before, was I was a bit nervous about the relentless tarmac and my hip, but I taped up and it held up ok. If anything it feels better now than it did this morning! 🤷‍♀️.

I managed to do a time of 4:05 which is so much faster than I expected and I think I was second female. The only female ahead of me was literally a professional ultra runner!! So actually, super pleased!!

Hope everyone else has had a good Sunday.

How did it go @Whataninterestinglookingpotato ? Was that today?

Well done @TyneFilth 840m is a lot for a half even where I live!!

well down on the run and the bargain super blasts @runnerducky

some idiot signed up for the 50k I was considering and then discounted as it would be too much as a late entry a few days ago. I wonder what sort of idiot would do that?! My hip was a bit dodgy which is why I didn’t sign up. Then it felt fine so I signed up and now it feels a bit dodgy again!! We shall see how it goes tomorrow! I’ll report back if I survive 😂.

Good grief that’s some elevation! I live in a rolling area and a 10k for me is usually around 100-130m but that is next level! Well done you!

14k on the trails today and I picked up some barely used Superblasts, my favourite shoe, for £50 on eBay. It’s a good day!

840m of elevation is epic! I live in Hampshire and my avg elevation for a half near me is generally about 100m 😆

Well I've done my trail half - omg that was A Lot. Must have forgotten to look at the expected elevation, but I've ended up doing 844m between the 4k warm up plus the 21"ish" km of the race (not marketed as a half, much more as a "you might get lost and do extra" sort of thing - oh what japes!). I made a friend on the course and we chatted most of the way round. She was going to do the extra with me to make it up to 30k but in the end I decided I don't need it. I'll do a dog walk later.

Post shower, I am currently pretending to have a nap while avoiding the very messy kitchen. Hopefully one of my dear non-runner children will bring me a coffee soon...

@TyneFilth that's super interesting, I never knew that about hypermobility!

I had a strength session on Thurs and probably pushed it a bit hard, feeling impatient to be doing proper stuff. 8km jeffing this morning. The old injured left side is definitely firing differently now and I am often, not always, feeling that "windlass mechanism" which I think is the sign of a good running stride. But that side definitely gets tired easier than the right, too.

I have got 8yo twins on my own this weekend so baking chocolate cupcakes and lots of Pokemon, inevitably!

I’m the same as you, @TyneFilth! I think I have quite poor proprioception generally, I was useless at Pilates! I couldn’t get the directions at all. The instructor was always over helping me! And I’ve no idea about running form, I just run! I’d love to be able to troubleshoot to that extent but I think for me it’s a case of I’m just going to run like I run and hopefully my body accepts it!

Quite a casual week, did a 13k and a 12k earlier in the week and planning a 14k tomorrow but all just easy runs. I skipped any temp stuff this week, we are doing home renovations so I just wanted to vibe and chill!

Not got anything in calendar race wise till the end of Nov.

Good luck with the trail race!

I'm amazed at anyone who can actually isolate a muscle and know they're doing it @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff - I'm hypermobile and there's a bit of a flurry of stuff on my insta feed (I know, I know) about proprioception being minimal or absent, it's not just being bendy. I have always always struggled with PT directions like "engage your core" - no idea what that feels like!!! A bit like the utterly useless direction from a midwife to "bear down" - wtf does that mean, like a poo?

I've had a mini taper this week as I'm doing a local trail half tomorrow, and adding some on to make it 30k - in the lead up to my trail marathon in 2 weeks. But I've also had an immensely stressful and long hours week at work, missed my strength session on Wednesday and my intervals swim yesterday.

Hope everyone doing well!

I did a heavy- ish gym session plus short treadmill run and 6km jeffing this morning. I am definitely baking the improved posterior chain engagement into my stride, and when I run, I now don't feel like I'm nursing an injury in my L leg, or like it's distinctly weaker. I feel much more like I'm " running with both legs", and less like I have a good side and a problem child side.

Course, problem with that is, that's just during short run/walk sessions. I now need to keep that going throughout a proper run - and that really does feel like a mountain to climb :/ going from confidently running 21km in late August to being happy with a 8km jeffing session still feels like a big fall- off.

That is such a great effort @tinks3110 ! Good for you!

half marathon for me this morning, so close to a PB which I’m really pleased with in what was a marathon training run. 5 lap course, absolutely disgusting with a massive hill up to the finish 🙈 into the taper now 2 weeks to
go

That’s fantastic @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff im impressed with how much thought you’re putting into this. Hopefully it’ll help prevent future injuries.

I went out yesterday and did a solo 18.3 mile long run as we had friends over yesterday afternoon and they were staying the night so wouldn’t have made any of the Sunday group long runs.

I actually really enjoyed running around the countryside by myself and it meant I was able to run it how I wanted. I have a marathon fairly early in November and haven’t actually done a long continuous road run for quite a while so thought I better put myself though my paces a bit. I did 3 miles easy, then 2 miles at target marathon pace (London target not this next marathon), 2 miles easyish alternating. I was pleased I could hold the pace despite the route being hilly. As I say, I’m not planning to run Novembers marathon as fast as that but it felt good.

today was a slightly hungover recovery few miles plod with the dog after friends had left.

hope everyone else has had a good weekend of running.

I did my jeffing 8km this morning and actually had a real breakthrough, which was finally engaging the whole left posterior chain - which has been the root source, I think, of my longstanding injury.

I've been focusing on glute engagement but I watched a video by Barefoot Strength (running/ fitness influencer) who said that if you're engaging the upper glutes, you need to do that by "shortening" the foot - i.e. pressing through the big toe on impact, thus bracing up the arch of the foot. Today, that really clicked for me and I could suddenly feel that my left leg was doing a proper powerful stride.

I know I'll now need to bake that into my everyday running, but it was like, for the first time I could "feel what good looked like" if that makes sense.

I am weirdly exhausted now! I feel like neuromuscular reprogramming stuff really takes it out of you

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff i am in awe of your press up ability, I can do about 6 proper ones 😂

A quiet week for me recovering after my 20 miles on Sunday, have done 2 x easy 5ks. My lower back and knees have been hurting so instead of a workout this morning I had an ice bath and sauna session and they feel so much better now.

Got a slow half marathon planned for Sunday and then properly into the taper and 2 weeks of what I like to call Phantom Injury Fortnight, where I convince myself everyday that a different part of my body hurts and I'm going to DNF my race 😱

I am fundraising as well for the Polycystic kidney disease charity and this is going well, no pressure to raise a certain amount as I paid for my own place.

Have a good weekend of running everyone whatever you've got planned

Being able to do weighted press ups is pretty impressive @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff i can probably do about 10 unweighted! 😂.

I should probably use strength training as more than just injury prevention for running! 😂

Morning everyone! Was back in the gym today doing my physio, so shedloads of crab walking, box steps ups, and lunges....

I'm keeping myself motivated with weighted press ups atm. Even if I can't run more than 8km, I can still do proper press ups. I feel like I need to be doing something that feels "real", and not just remedial!

Today I upped the weights plate on my back to 15kg (was previously 10kg) and I was able to execute several sets of 5 press ups with clean form - I didn't push further today but I definitely had more in the tank, so feel like there's clear room for progression.

Welcome to the thread @WorstPaceScenario. We’ll own on Loch Ness marathon! That one’s in my list of marathons I would like to do one day! Bet it was amazing!!

I took my dog for a recovery plod around the fields tonight. Making the most of the light evenings while they last. It was lovely. No bulls in the fields this evening, so that was a win 😂😂.

good for age entries for London open tomorrow. They haven’t changed the times since last year so I’ve got quite a good buffer. Fingers crossed. They’ve also announced that good for age women will be on the Sunday, so if I get a place I’ll be running on the same day as dd1 meaning we can go to the expo early on the Saturday when hopefully it won’t be as bad as the Friday. Maybe 🤔😂

Hi all! I thought I'd joined in on this thread before but can't find anything I've poste, so hello!

I'm still recovering today form Sunday's Loch Ness marathon, yesterday was definitely my achiest day but I'm still not 100% today. No running for me until at least the weekend, and then stepping back into my plan because I have a 50k in 5 weeks.

I'm weirdly excited about head torch/chest light mornings and evenings arriving!

No I ended up with one off Amazon as a friend recommended, but I will heed your warning. Ouch! It’s arriving today but don’t think I will get a chance to wear it for a few days.

@runnerducky did you get the Proviz chest light?

If so, learn from an idiot (me) and don't look directly at it when you turn it on. It is BRIGHT. I was hunched over in the dark at like 5am thinking, huh hope this thing works... press the "on" button... retinas instantly vaporised!! I genuinely had to go back inside and delay my run for 5 mins as I couldn't see for the spots.

I used it all last winter and really like it though. It's very lightweight. Also bright....