runners united (burning up pavement, burning up threads)

[drivingmisscrazy]

calling all runners, veterans, newbies, fast, slow, anyone who likes to run to keen sane, keep things in perspective and to get out into the spring sunshine. We are a friendly bunch and all of us have things to learn from each other! Welcome. Please join us

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
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa
23/09/11 - Notting Half Marathon: cestlavie
24/09/11 - mooathon, donegal: drivingmisscrazy
25/09/11 - Edinburgh Urbanathlon: backwardpossom
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
30/10/11 - Great South Run: Wheely, squix
10/12/11 - Clonakilty Waterfront Marathon (half): drivingmisscrazy

driving I worry that race has scarred you for life You did great I think!

nah - I just like going on about it - doing a 5 miler next time, no way that can last more than an hour! Also I don't have to drive all the way back to Dublin in wet knickers!

DebiTheScot I was thinking of doing the Windsor 8K which I think is the day before the half marathon..I just fancy running in pretty surroundings :-)

Last long run done....if I did the half at the pace I did today then I think I would be about 2 hours 25 mins...would kind of like to be a wee bit faster but don't want to kill myself trying. Off out for a birthday meal (my birthday tomorrow but not doing anything for it so figure easier to go out now and do it) I have apparently burnt off 1100 calories doing the run this morning so that's my justification if I pig out (a wee bit!)

Driving - surley it should be IHMOID in internet world? With regards to losing a few kg - I had to make a serious choice - which was more important losing the weight or cakes and booze . Oh and did you not have spare pants?? An important lesson for us all.

Just back from a lovely 5 miler and managed to miss the rain. I have also signed up for a free session with Military Fitness - I think some of you guys do this - what can I expect?

I did have spare pants, but I was so cold and wet that it was a challenge to say the least to get them on in the back of the car without sitting back down on all my wet gear! should have taken child seat out...I had visions of being able to change in the field, but it was just too wet!

My booze consumption these days is pathetically modest - DP and I used to drink buckets a fair bit; the last time I went to the recycling place all I had was effing jam jars! As DP is out of action drink-wise, I tend to drink the occasional beer (good quality stuff, micro-brewery/small brewers) as otherwise (I can't believe I am writing this!) it takes me too long to get through a bottle of wine.

Cakes etc could take a hit - i love to bake, DP and DD have a sweet tooth, we are at home a lot so people drop round for tea...also I think 26 is somewhat more that a few kg

futurity - happy birthday for tomorrow. And something strange happens in a race. It must be a mixture of adrenelin kicking in and all the training and preparation coming together which gives you extra speed. Also your long run today will probably have come after a few weeks of hard training so your body will have been working hard. A weeks or two's taper allows your body to recover in preparation for the race. Of course it's different for us all but I was on average about 45secs a mile quicker in my race than I was in my last long run. Obviously things like different routes, hills and weather conditions come into play too.

We could make our own race handbook. Point 1 being - Always take clean pants

Squix I do Military fitness, I love it. I hold it fully responsible for getting me fit enough to be able to run further. There will be different ability groups so think about where you think you should go. They are not for the faint hearted. You might get wet, muddy and probably shouted at I was crawling on my hands and knees spitting into the grass after my first session....Enjoy!

Futurity shall we compare tapering plans for the next 2 weeks? I did 6 miles today and found it harder than my 11 on Saturday Bought some Lucozade jelly beans yesterday for my half. I am planning a speed sesh at running club tomorrow, rest WEds, 3 miles thursday,rest Fri, BMF on Sat, rest Sun. What about you?

Ok, OK - it was slightly more than cakes and booze - but they are the things that have been added back into my diet - in moderation of course . I have also been experimenting with wheat free baking - using soya flour or almond flour to make cakes and biscuits. I think it's wheat more than anything that has an effect on me. (Although I do get a yearning for wheat beer after a long run - not sure where that sits)

Also you are right Driving about running and eating - I have now come to the conclusion that being healthy is the most important thing and so long as diet and exercise are in balance, I will be fine.

I also have a DP and DD with a sweet tooth - I am making pancakes tonight as I am feeling guilty about being out for most of yesterday. Whenever we go on holiday the first thing we have to find is the best cake shop and an ice cream shop! In fact DH's favourite cake shop in the whole world is the Queen of Tarts in Dublin.

that is a very fine cake shop - someone who works there must live near me, because I pass the Queen of Tarts van quite often when out for my local runs

I am out pigging out eating at the moment ..will post my tapering later :)

squix I hope you are right in that I will be able to squeeze a few per seconds per mile...it all adds up. I am running with some friends from running club and they are super keen to run at 10 min miles...eek....think I will stick to 10min 30!

My training plan (made from smartcoach on runnersworld site) has the following for the next 2 weeks:

Today long run
Thursday easy run (2 miles) - this I will change as I am at running club so will be a fast 5 miles
Saturday tempo run 8 mile inc 6mil @ 10.29 (I will do less than this probably)
Sunday - Easy Run 2 miles
Tuesday Easy Run 2 miles
Thursday 5 mile tempo run inc 3mis @ 10.24

So I will fiddle around with this but generally keep to the idea of it as it seems straight forward.

garmin has been dispatched...now all I need is a training plan. Any tips? I've adapted Hal Higdon's intermediate half plan, revising some of the distances upwards to reflect my current mileage. But I'm now not doing a half again until early September - a 5 miler and 10 miler instead, so I'm not sure what to do between july and sept. I was planning on switching to a 3/4 marathon plan that factors in the 2 other races I'm doing, even though I'm only going to do a half.

Or, given that the Sept half is about 15 weeks away, should I go for a half marathon plan? Most of them seem to start off with low(ish) mileage at least for the first few weeks - but an élite runner I am not...

ps running, on average, about 28-30 miles a week

I'm not sure driving Hope someone with some knowledge will be along soon....I would be inclined to go straight for a half plan.....

I think it's important to make sure that each week you do a long run, a speed session and some hills. Also, I feel that plyometrics (sp?) have helped me BIG time.

driving I suppose it depends on what you want to do? Are you training towards a specific half marathon time, for example? My current goals are to run a sub-50 min 10k and a sub-2 hour half marathon, focusing particularly on the 10k time at the moment. I have a plan... it involves losing about a half a stone to a stone in weight and lots of intervals.

What about the rest of you? What are your current running goals?

Current goals - 55m 10k, 90min 10 miles and getting those pesky 70 seconds off my 1/2 marathon time. Not sure I'll do another half this year, that might have to wait.

squix - I am ex-military so I have LOTS of military fitness sessions behind me. There's nothing like being screamed at by a small, wiry psychotic Glaswegian to make you realise that you CAN do lots of proper press-ups and run faster than you thought! I refuse to pay for them now.....

I am inspired by all this talk of proper training and may need to revisit the Runners World website and develop one. My problem is time (not enough, obviously) and the fact that I don't want to switch to only running in my alloted exercise time, as I do like doing circuits/pilates as I think it really makes a difference to overall tone. I probably need a goal in mind as well. Having done a reasonable half marathon time last week, I was thinking of trying to find a half marathon race I can get to, and doing it in close to 1 hr 40. I probably need to be doing more efforts and hills - and also to work on going faster over shorter distances. I seem to run just under 8 minutes miles whether I am running 5 miles....or 13.2. I think it must be psychological, as I am sure I MUST be able to run faster for a short distance if I can keep going that pace for an 1 hr 44! I probably need to get a piece of kit to pace me better, rather than running by 'feel'.

Did a 5 miler yesterday in 38 1/2 mins. Felt good. Had done a hard circuits session with DH the previous day so wasn't sure how my legs would feel when I went out, but actually it was my shoulders that hurt the most!

I am off to be fitted for new trainers today. Happy running all!

what are plymotrics, drNo? I usually do something like
mon - rest
tues - 10-12k
weds - intervals or tempo
thurs - 8-10k
friday - pace run 6-7k (rising near race)
sat - rest
sun - long run

the easy runs usually incorporate some hills, but I don't do hill training as such (fear about recurrence of dodgy achilles), but some strengthening work would probably be good.

I think I could currently run a 2h10 half, a 58 min 10k, so like squix would like to get to sub-2 on the half (but probably more like 2h5)...need to think about what's realistic

Hi All

A heavy legged 10K for me yesterday, a combination of too much wine the night before/ it being hotter than i thought and feeling my legs from ym longer run on saturday. That said, my time wasn't too bad and I made myself run up the hill that I have avoided since I almost bought my lunch up on it about 6 months ago and i made it ok.

My aims at the mo, due to the races I have is a 23 min 5K (although suspec tit will be more like 24), a 1hr 20 10 mile, then in feb a sub 2 hr half (maybe 1 hr 45 when I'm feeling over confident).

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!

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 :)

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.

Read this

I was terrible at hopping when I started

June2009 - the ailments are usually a sign that you are over-stressing your body - or not taking enough recovery time and taking vitamins won't really help that much. I do take a multi-vit/omega 3 about 3 x a week - mainly because I have low levels of iron (this is just me, it doesn't affect me in any way).

DrNo - further to the bowel convo I'm not sure about 'explosive' :o - seriously, I think something like that would be good for me - I run and ride a bike, but don't do anything more varied. Not sure where I would find something like that here - there is boot-camp training in the park, but it's not cheap.

Just had a lovely run - added a bit to get to 200 (.1, actually) km for this month; sunny, cool breeze, deer grazing (there'll be fawns in a week or 2), easy stride, felt like I could run forever.

Oh, and my Garmin has dispatched!

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