Happy when we are running!

[MoshiMoshi]

Hear ye! Hear ye! All those who want to liberate themselves from the shackles of their domestic and work lives, join us here in our continued bid to run and be happy and feel free !

Thanks MoshiMoshi, I have to say I don't feel very resilient at the moment - I feel a bit run down. Despite the iron tablets I can feel my anaemia creeping back again - something I often struggle with. Have started some liquid iron now which is usually more effective. Managed my speed training just now and felt a bit better .... though got home to find ds2 had been sick (ds1 had it earlier in the week and I think I had it at the weekend). Wish I'd started this running lark earlier in life!

DrNortherner is the tempo run all at one pace - slightly faster than usual? I think I would benefit from that (whether I would do it all at that pace would be another matter). I feel a quivering wreck after speed sessions.

I've got a running session with my charity lined up next week, looking forward to it as I need the motivation!

Hi Paws, yes it's not a sprint, but faster than your steady pace and longer circuits than a sprint. I was not gasping for breath but could not converse only 1 word answers
But yes, felt great afterwards, like you I am a wreck after speed sessions.

Not a great run for me this morning. Was meant to be 11 miles with 7 at half marathon pace which is anything from 6:20m/m to 6:50m/m for me. My tempo pace is about 6:20m/m on a treadmill so I allowed another 30 seconds per mile for the slippery outdoors as I was running along the towpaths but I struggled to run consistent 7 minute miles as it was. Total average pace including the warm up and warm down miles ended up around 7:30m/m. So not a great day at the office .

Cheered myself up by heading straight to Bootcamp afterwards for some conditioning work which put it all into perspective. It is funny how a bad run can seem like everything is off track at the time until you look back on it in the bigger picture. For me, running is a great way for me to draw parallels in life and helps me to keep a wider perspective on things.

Good luck with you half Masters!

paws I will be doing 2 x 20 milers. I've got 18,18,20,15,20 and then taper which I think goes 15,10, race day. I don't think my boy could cope with any more 20 milers at this point and given how slow I am, I suspect they wouldn't add much

Moshi really good to keep perspective on the bad runs, I am guilty of allowing them to get me down sometimes but they happen to us all.

I did hill repeats the other day I wanted to stop after the fist one, it was hard Stuck with it though, did 10 x 200m approx and 2 short ones as I mucked up my garmin again, pressed stop instead of lap button

A nice easy paced 10 miles today, went up into the Downs again. There was a cow in the road!! Me and cows seem to have an uneasy relationship, they scare the hell out of me and they know it Thankfully this one was more interested in eating the bushes than chasing me, so all was well I di cross cattle grids so the cows are meant to be there but I've done that route lots on my bike and never seen cos before, apart from tucked safely behind fences!

18 on saturday

Happy running everyone

Paws agree with Moshi that advice seems to do as much longer distances as possible. I?d definitely be fitting in another 20 mile run before the event ? personally it?s also psychological, knowing that you?ve run that distance close to the event itself. A 3 week taper feels absolutely fine as well, whereas 4 feels maybe a little long but again that?s personal. I?d be probably aiming for two 16 ? 18 mile runs over the next couple of weeks, then another 20 mile, then taper. On the other hand what you definitely don?t want to do is push yourself, deplete your immune system and end up feeling like crap and not being able to train for a week...

Doyou your run through the Downs sounds gorgeous, notwithstanding scary cows. Makes me realise I should find a way to run outside of London more!

Moshi know exactly what you mean about tempo runs not working sometimes. Did a 5 mile tempo this morning at a target time of 34 mins and ended up coming in at 36 mins and still feeling utterly shattered Like your perspective on bad runs but hard to always put into practice... Nice 12 mile slower run tomorrow which I?m looking forward to a lot more.

Would love to know incidentally, what makes you feel good or bad when running. Have tried keeping a (vague) diary but some days I?ll struggle on a morning run having had decent sleep, no alcohol and a big pasta dinner the night before. Other times I?ll absolutely fly on very little sleep, crap food and booze the night before. And vice versa. Anyone found any things that help them figure out how well they?ll be running?

I wish I Knew cestlavie, it seems very hot and miss to me.

I do make an effort to eat carbs the night before a long run, no wine until after my long run, that kind of thing. I still suffer from digestive problems though!

A day off before my long run works for me too, as does speedwork being early in the week. No idea what I Can do to sort out my toilet problems though, I have trief most things

Cutting out wheat completely cured my tummy troubles - you have to cut it out completely though as even a small amount stays in your system for days. The substitutes are ok, but you'll end up not bothering most of the time. I do find it hard to find replacement carbs, but for me it's worth it to avoid the cramps I used to get running for more than an hour.

DrNorthener I don't know what it is exactly. It is a sharp pain on the bottom outside edge of my foot, below the ankle bone. It happened in September after doing my first 10k, but it was much worse then - I could hardly walk for days. This time it's in exactly the same place but not as bad. It doesn't hurt at all at rest, or even if I walk on it for quite a while. Last time it got better just by resting, but it must have left a weak point which flared up when I increased my mileage recently. Really frustrating as I really felt I was making some progress with my running.

sorry to hear about bad runs (of the 'one foot in front of the other' sort and the tummy sort ). A friend of mine who has dodgy runners tum cuts out wheat and dairy. Doesn't leave much mind you.

goldberry - sorry your injury is still playing up. Have you seen anyone about it (ignores cries of 'hypocrite').

Well tonight I ran 5 miles in 40 minutes which is fast for me. I had a bit of crappy news yesterday (another seriously ill friend) and needed to get out and clear my head. Shame it took that to do it but the running felt good.

Hi, I am being a pathetically sporadic poster on this thread. Had a great run last night - longest that I have done continually since before I got pregnant with DS2. Only 3k but was very doable and could easily have gone further. Didn't want to overdo it and put myself off. It was dark and raining and I really loved it!

Am I right in thinking that I can keep increasing by 10% each time? And then think about speed?

I am a bit in awe of everyone else on this thread! I will get there though

Wheelybug - sorry you had bad news. I hope your friend is ok.

Bloomingnora - you're not the only sporadic poster! I'm with you there!
Well, half term has thrown a spanner in the works of my training - I haven't been out since Monday evening. So I'm going to try and go out when dh gets in from his Tri-club tonight - so a dark run on my own (don't like them!!), but on main roads - so I should be ok! Hopefully it'll set me up for my first 7 mile run tomorrow (or Sunday - depending on when I can fit it in with everyone else in this house!!). I'm not a big fun of holidays at this time of year! At least in the spring/ summer, it doesn't matter that I go out late!
Well here's hoping that I get 2 runs in before Monday

nora -no more than 10% eachweek! And that is a rough guide to the max. I would increase every 2-3 weeks to make sure your body is absorbing the extra load before upping the distance again. Better to undertrain, than overtrain and end up back at square one after injuring yourself.

wheely - sorry to hear your bad news. Hope there is light at the end of the tunnel.

12 mile slow one today which I reduced to 10.5 as I was so tired from yesterday's effort. I think doing Sunday's LSR on Monday has really put my whole week out of kilt. I shall not listen to DH moaning about me going out running next time and shall stick to my programme as the days are set in a way that works and when I move them something goes a bit wrong.

Hoping injuries subside and no new ones appear. Happy running and have a good weekend everyone!

GOOD LUCK, Master!

Bollocks. Can't see myself managing the 10k then! Never mind - there's another one a month later. Does it count at all that I used to be able to do 10k easily? but not for ages

I need to add it up and see how many weeks until the race day. I promise not to overdo it!

How should I find my starting point though? It feels like the 3k on wednesday was not enough, no aching at all even two days later and had energy to spare. Should I just run until I can't run any more and then use that as a starting point? Help!

hello all lovely to see thread busy and moving along swiftly as it were, surgery over and done with, hope to get back to some jogging in about a week or so, see how it goes

will catch up with thread hope everyone is well and staying motivated through the gloom

1.1 bloomingnora I think the 10% is a good rule of thumb though I guess it's not an absolute and also needs to be taken in context of what other running/ training you?re doing in between the longest run. The Runners World 10K training guide is probably a good place to start ? it has an 8 week build up from a long run starting point of circa 3 ? 4k. At the risk of stating the obvious, the long run is only one bit of the training schedule ? speed sessions, shorter runs etc. are also important in helping build up your overall running fitness. Why not have a look and see what you think?

Just as an aside, I?d definitely not be trying to push yourself as far as you possibly can on the long run. Just makes you more likely to injure yourself ? personally, when I?ve pushed myself too hard I often end up getting colds and feeling quite rough for a few days afterwards.

Thanks for the link cestlavie - I shall peruse in a mo. I am doing cycling/fitness DVD/swimming etc as well so I do need to look at the big picture as you say. I won't push myself too far. I am just impatient and VERY motivated at the moment

Hi all, hope everyone is OK - thanks for all the advice. Sorry to hear of injury news, I know when I'm injured or ill I feel desperately twitchy and want to just get out there. It's truly a dreadful feeling.

20 for me tomorrow, and while I'm still not feeling fantastic - still shaking off a bit of a bug - one of my friends has very kindly agreed to do the second 10 with me. So pleased to have some company. DH reckons 26 miles on marathon day will be so much easier than these long runs on my own!

Iread all the best with your big run. Report back when it's over!

nora - have a look as cestlavie says. I always used to come back from pregnancy starting off with 5K as a minimum distance as I figured my residual fitness was decent enough so it is possible 3K is a bit low for you to be aiming at. How long does 3K take you? As long as you don't try and do speed sessions the same week as building endurance you should be fine. That rule is the same whether you are coming back to fitness or already pretty fit. The idea is to bake the running cake first (ie build the base endurance) and then work on the icing after that (ie add some speed training).

Welcome back, sfx and pleased all sounds well with you.

Good luck with your 20, paws. Remember it is the distance and time on feet you are concerned about so speed and pace is irrelevant. I am going to try 20-22 on Sunday and aim to be out for 3h15m, ie roughly the time I am aiming to run VLM in. Hopefully that will give me the confidence come race day knowing I can run for that amount of time, but it is important to keep the pace down to avoid injuries from running fast and long. As my book says, don't leave your races out on the training runs and save the fast stuff for race day.

Erm, Moshi, I have to confess that DS2 is 13 months old

I am definitely the slowest runner on earth. So slow in fact that I rarely time it. Because it is depressing....

5k on a treadmill was about 35+ minutes at my fittest and I can't remember 10k time. Also can't remember my pace on the road. Or quite possibly I am blanking it out

I make up for all this with enthusiasm....

I am wrong, just checked and it was 30'30" for a 5k.

nora - GET OUT THERE AND START FROM 5K THEN! Time is irrelevant and anyway, 10:10m/m is not slow. If you feel up to it see how it goes from there.

Morning all. The sun is shining here, just got back from a very muddy armed forces sesh and today we got a real beasting. Bloody. Hard. Work.

Nice steady 7 miler planned for tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

And Nora that time for your 5k is so NOT SLOW! Start with a 5k training plan, you will be fine I reckon.

18.17 miles done and dusted! The weather was pretty good, dry and sunny at time, but the ground is very wet, loads of big puddles and the bits I do off road were like a quagmire, really horrid.

All went well, although I felt really negative before I set out and the first 9 miles were harder than the last 9 although I picked up the pace for the second half It's such a mental battle, as soon as I know I'm more than half way done the time seems to go quicker and I feel stronger. Averaged 11mm for the first 9, 10.15mm for the second half. Legs ache, but pleased with my effort.

Nora I agree, that time is not slow! See if you can comfortably do 5k and then increase slowly.

Hope everyones weekend runs go well.

Hurray, 20 miles done - first 10 in very heavy rain and wind, but the second 10 the sun came out and it felt good, though very muddy off-road. Was so lovely to have company for the second half, massively grateful for my friend turning out in grotty weather.

Going to flop in front of the telly now with some food and do absolutely nothing!

Enjoy your weekend runs all.