Runners united (come join us if you are addicted to running!)

[MoshiMoshi]

This is a continuation of the thread "Happy When We Are Running" for those of us who are committed to running in order to preserve a sense of ourselves and maintain a degree of sanity in our lives which are otherwise taken over by family and work-related matters.

All runners are welcome, experienced and newbies, if you are a keen runner. We promise to support you in your efforts and have a running (excuse the pun!) list of races (see below) which various of us have entered in order to provide advice and support along the way.

So what are you waiting for? Spring is here and there is no better time to enter those races you have been wondering about entering and lose those winter pounds, and all for free (well, as long as you have a decent pair of trainers suitable for your running gait ). Alternatively, if you don't want to race you can just join us to enjoy the racing vicariously and learn about training and what (not) to do along the way.

27/03/11 - Kingston Breakfast Run 8.2m wheely
02/04/11 - Miles for Missing People 10K: MoshiMoshi
10/04/11 - Brighton Marathon: Pawsnclaws
17/04/11 - VLM: MoshiMoshi/ Passmyglass/ Doyouthinktheysaurus
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
22/05/11 - Edinburgh Marathon: MrsWednesday
30/05/11 - BUPA 10K: MoshiMoshi
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
25/06/11 - Lewa half marathon Kenya - Masterandmargaritas
10/07/11 - RFL 5K, Kingston & Kempton Park: Wheelybug
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal
23/09/11 - Notting Half Marathon: cestlavie

Thanks for the good luck wishes, I'm off out for a wee 3 or 4 miles as soon as my DH gets back from work (he's late again grr) then hoping for another sub 1 hr on Sunday :)

Good luck Wheely!

Oooh I'd missed you on the list possum, good luck for that too.

Doyou hope the knee feels a bit better, and good luck for your 20 mile run tomorrow.

Good luck backwardpossum and wheely, will be rooting for you both!

Thanks for all the good luck wishes ! Not sure how I'm feeling - partly excited as its the next step in distance for me so will feel like a great achievement but very nervous, not as prepared as I'd hoped. Was hoping to do something like 1 hr 5 mins but think I'll downgrade to under 1 hr 10. Weather looks quite good at the moment !

Good luck Possum !

Paws - hope your ankle is ok and your knee stiffness improves doyouthink ! And hope throats feeling better Sfxmum and Moshi. Enjoy the riding Moshi and how exciting about the puppy !

Well done on getting out Hamster - glad you're feeling better and pleased you made it out too drivingmisscrazy - I rreally sympathise with the sleep deprivation (and with you cestlavie and anyone else who suffers !). DD2 has now added 6 am starts to her being up once or twice a night. So, at least she'll have me up in time for the 8 am start on Sunday ... weak .

Enjoy your meal out tonight DrNortherner. I am technically supposed to beo ut for drinks but have no will power where wine and pubs are concerned and would end up drinking too much and being hungover tomorrow which probably isn't the best race preparation so am going to be good and stay in!!

Just had an email with sign up to the Brighton half next Feb. Am tempted but thinking Brighton, february could be very bleak....

Wheely best of luck and enjoy

doyou - define 'plodder'. I even look like a plodder at first - kind of flat footed, somehow. However, I did see a woman really plodding round the track as I looked out the window during my meetings - she was dead slow. But I thought fair play to you for getting out there (this is in a uni setting, so she was being multiply lapped by the young athletes...) - it takes a certain steel to be a slow runner and not get discouraged...

I do keep telling myself that if it wasn't for DD I'd be running 6.30 min miles instead of 6.30 min kilometers...yeah, right

DrNortherner, if you do fancy signing up for any local races, let me know. As soon as I've done the Edinburgh marathon (assuming I can get up to speed with my training) I shall be back to doing more pleasant distances in Yorkshire! The Bradford half is in October and that's particularly mountainous enjoyable.

Forcing myself out of the door for an 11 mile run this morning, I'm sure I'll enjoy it when I get going, but I'm reading a good book at the mo and am tempted to stay in bed reading instead.

All the very best of luck for tomorrow Wheely and Possom.

Mrs Weds that would be great. However, Redcar is my first half in June, so don't want to commit to any more halfs till I know how I get on at this one. Moving up a distance is a little scary I feel.

I went out for dinner last night with about 20 people I used to work with, some haven't seen me for over a year and everyone said I was looking fab with a real glow. I can only put it down to my running so that made me

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Just popping in quickly to say GOOD LUCK to you both Wheelybug and backwardpossum!

Woohoo!! My final 20 miler is done and dusted....it really hurt towards the end!

The plan was originally to do 10 easy and 10 at marathon pace. Then I had digestive problems before I went which never bodes well! First 10 miles passes quite comfortably at an easy pace, then I struggled to pick up the pace. Not helped by the first 3 miles back being off road and a bit stony. My pace gradually increased and got back in 3.34, overall, did the last mile quicker than marathon pace!

I am so glad it's done now, the last couple of miles out of the route I take are really tedious, very flat and you can see right along the path but have to look down alot as it's stony. Anyway I won't have to run that far out now until next year if I do another marathon!

Knees felt ok, my feet are sore despite copious amounts of vaseline. Now for a restful afternoon.

Hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend.

Hope your 11 miler went ok MrsWed, 8 weeks now till Edinburgh isn't it?!

Once again, good luck to wheely and possum, hope all goes well tommorrow

I'm doing the Bristol 10k on 15/5/11 and R4L in weston Super Mare in june

I need a fab time for the 10k though as newly ex-Dboyf is also running and want to leave him in my dust show I'm a happy and healthy new me and he's really missing out by then.

Problem is I don't know how quick he's likely to do it (he had an injury and hasn't been running for ages so not while we were dating) I managed 68mins for my last attempt, but think if I can beat the hour I'll be ok for me, but the quicker the better really.

Also trying to get back on the diet and lose 2 stone by then (although not being on the pill any more should help with that!!)

Any tips?

Just a very quick one to say good luck to Wheely and possum, hope you both enjoy your races!!!

3.34?! Sorry Doyou but I have to disqualify you from your perceived plodder status! Well done on getting all the tough training done, now just the long wait ....

Good luck wheely and possum for tomorrow

Hoping to get out again tomorrow and take DD with me.... Gives me a good excuse for being slow

Where has the sun gone???? It's cold and dull again now ..... better for running but so unpleasant after the last few days....

Good luck wheely and possum for tomorrow

Hoping to get out again tomorrow and take DD with me.... Gives me a good excuse for being slow

Where has the sun gone???? It's cold and dull again now ..... better for running but so unpleasant after the last few days....

Ooops.... Not sure what happened there.... Posting from my phone and it has posted twice ....

Thanks all again - you're all lovely ! Feeling a bit nervous now. Going to trough some pasta and get an early night ready for an early start !

Well done doyouthink on doing your last long run ! All the hard work's done now... Hope the 11 miles went well MrsW !

Welcome Jennie - good luck with your training, its awlays good to have something to motivate you .

Good luck getting out running tomorrow Hamster.

Right, next time I write hopefully I will be telling you all about it. Gulp. Pathetic I know !!

Good luck wheely.

I can't find the time to keep up with you all, it's the end of term here so even less time than normal due to swimming galas, concerts etc.

I went out for a 10k this morning, about 22 degrees and humid. I'm looking forward to the day i can run in the UK at a low altitude and cold.

herecomes - what do you mean by 'junk miles'? I've heard this before, but not sure what it means. I'm thinking of streamlining my running week a bit with the lighter nights and wonder what you lot think:

Mon - rest (bike to work - 12 miles)
Tues - 10k
Weds - 5k tempo OR hills OR intervals - after work
Thurs 12k
Friday 10k
Sat - rest
Sun - long run - 15k and rising

That gives weekly mileage of 50k+ per week - I'm currently doing about 46-7, but haven't had the best month what with work and trips away. I feel like I don't get much return on my mileage - I'm still plodding away at an average 6.30min km (10 min 30 sec mile) and feel that I should be getting a bit better than that given the amount I run. Or maybe I am just congenitally slow and am never going to improve?

Good luck to tomorrow's racers :)

I think junk miles is just the term for running without a specific training purpose in mind - so just running at the same pace or maybe even distance so it doesn't particularly add to fitness because your body just adapts to the training and every run becomes easy. If you're doing a long run though and then an interval or hill session, that isn't junk miles as they will improve your speed/stamina in different ways.

drivingmisscrazy that's a lot of miles! I'll leave it those better placed to advise on a training schedule!

I think I do lots of junk miles too then - the tempo/intervals/hills will be a new workout - other than the long run, all my running is easy easy easy. I am still in base building mode, I guess - after having run only about 10 miles a week I really just need to focus on getting up to some consistent distance. And maybe I'm just expecting too much to get faster after (realistically) only a couple of months of decent distance - March hasn't been great between work and DD being ill - disappointing, really.

I'm no expert, but I think it's about doing different things in your running sessions - so your one of your 10ks could be done as intervals for example, or doing a shorter distance at a faster pace, then just having a long slow run at the weekend that increases in distance over time.

My 11 miles was lovely, only minimal twinges afterwards which I'm really pleased about. Am now going to try and work out how I'm going to add another 16 miles to my distance in April. Eek. Marathon training people, do you think I would be ok to stop at 20 miles for my longest training runs?

Quick question - does anyone wear compression socks when running? Have got some but they are horribly tight on my calves, so I've been rolling them down around my ankles which obviously defeats the purpose!

Hope all has gone well today Wheely and Possom.

Morning all, had a lovely 8 mile run, nice and relaxed. Only two weeks to go!

MrsWeds I've only gone to 20 miles, which I've done twice. My strategy is just to get round though so I guess it depends on what your training objective is! The friend I ran with this morning never did more than 16 in her training when she ran a marathon. Psychologically I would feel uncomfortable at only 16, but again, it got her round.

Have never tried compression socks, they remind me of the big white stockings you get after surgery!