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

Thanks all for the advice and welcome newbies!

I'm pretty much permanently on antihistamines - I suffer quite badly with a dust allergy (so I spend a lot of time cleaning and unfortunately lots of hoovering too as we are almost fully carpeted) so I take one a day. I feel really bad as well that I seem to have passed on the whole eczema/hayfever gene on to two out of three of the boys, who are now coughing and sneezing and spluttering. All breastfed for aaaaaages as well, so that didn't seem to help at all. I seem fine in the mornings, but generally worse late evening/night so I'm sure it's pollen related - maybe not asthma at all?! Maybe I should try and brave a day without the anti-h and see what happens (not sure I dare .....).

I love cake - not so mad for chocolate, but I love cake. In fact one of the reasons I run is so I can justify my Starbucks cinammon swirl habit .

Times are in! I got 49:57!!!! Get me with my sub-50 10K! Dead chuffed as I'm still getting back into running after having DS2! I was the 10th woman.

DS(12YO) did is 3K in 11:48 and was the 9th child. It was an U16 race so hopefully he'll keep moving up the ranks each year.

Excellent news bonkers!!! that means you have to go for a sub 45 in your next one though

blimey...amazing time Bonkers...well done!

Wow - sub-50 is great.

Well done to your DS too - does he realise he beat you by coming 9th over your 10th? Probably best not to point that out to him; 12yrs old boys are terrible winners.

Bonkers - what a great time! And 10th Woman. That's brilliant! And DS looks like one to watch. Well done

paws - I think I am going to have to start on antihistamines as well - I am suffering again this year with a runny nose and have started to get real problems with my contact lenses too. During the summer I get a build up of protein on my lenses caused by swelling on the inside of my eye lids due to allergic reaction - don't know if antih's will help but I might give it a try.

DrNo - I've already made that mistake and 'declared' an ambitious (for me) time target - I'm taking the view that I'll aim for it and train for it but if part way through my 1/2 I really don't think I'll make it then I'll just enjoy finishing.

chewytoffee - hello - I see you are doing the Dundee half, hmm I am tempted by that too, I am in fife so that's another localish one. There is also a half marathon which is just up the road from me 5 weeks after the Edinburgh - it's actually on my birthday (which is a big '0' birthday) - I have been tempted but I think cake and wine might win me over.

I can do up to about 10 miles on little food, but anything longer I need to eat properly before hand. Only ever seem to do long runs in the morning so a bowl of porridge with some fruit in about 1 1/2 hours before I run seems to do the trick. Mind, you even before a shorter run I've started to have some fresh and dried fruit. I find I run faster on less food but can't run for as long. bonkers - I'm the same about evening time. The only time I run in the evening is if I am away on business when I have nothing else really to do. Oh and stop with the cakes......I am sooooo not looking at that torte link.......

I did my first run with my Garmin yesterday (305) and I loved it. It is quite big but very light and took very little time to get used to. Also very easy to use, the fact that it's big and has a large screen makes it easy to use. I used it for an interval session and whilst my overall time/ ave pace was just a tiny bit quicker, I really pushed the efforts and quickly became seduced by the pace I was setting. Couldn't sustain it though and my recovery jogs were probably slower than a walk. It did say my fastest time was 7 mins per mile - but that was on an effort and was going down hill and only lasted for a matter of seconds......do you think doing an effort going down hill is cheating .

I did become a bit obsessed when I came back looking at the stats and will probably bore DH to tears when I've built up a few sessions and can start to see a pattern. Will use it for a steady run tomorrow and see how I go.

Ooh squix v jealous of your new Garmin - glad you're enjoying it though :)

bonkers very well done on such a fab time!!! And 10th woman, wow!

Also welcome to all the newbies - this thread is growing so fast.

I need some sympathy please, as DH etc are bored of hearing me complain... my achilles seems to be getting worse. After trying to run last Sunday and only making a mile I rested for a full week and tried to run again this Sunday just gone, but after 2.5 miles was really sore and had to walk home (funny enough wasn't more than a niggle until about 2 miles then got bad v quickly). It's been very sore since then, even just sitting and walking :( so I obviously need to rest it for longer and let it heal completely before trying to run again.

I'm really bummed as I've already lost 2.5 weeks of training and am actually worse than before, so god knows when I'll be able to train properly again - and my 10 mile race is at the end of next month. Seems I did jinx myself by entering

Oh well, I suppose there are worse things... I'm going to make a doctor's appointment and see if I can get referred to a sports physio to get help sorting it out.

please stop talking about cake... or torte for the posh amongst you. I am trying to cut down on bad food at the same as increasing my mileage. I don't need to read about CAKE. . They do sound lovely though.

Bonkers - sub 50 mins - very well done. You must be over the moon - have a piece of cake .

Managed my odd lunchtime treadmill run. Went quite well actually - 8k with 2K at my fast speed. Actually felt quite strong - don't know if it was the pre run coffee that did it (no cake though).

Having lost motivation after the last race, it feels like its come back thankfully. Always good to have a plan and an aim I think !

sciencebint - Am v. impressed by the concept of a 5am run. I don't think I would be able to do that even if dd2 allowed me to sleep (do your dses sleep now ? I seem to recall DS1 was a bit of a nightmare in terms of sleep in the early days). I got my comeuppance after dd1 being such a good sleeper with dd2 so I hope, for you, it was the other way round !!

Another asthma sufferer here although have pretty much grown out of it I think. Although I do wonder if mine is not helped by sea air. Given I grew up on the coast and my asthma dramatically improved when I moved to Birmingham and then London... and nowadays I notice I am more short of breath when running by the sea (although that may be because I am either on hols or at my parents, both of which generally mean too much wine is consumed the night before running).

Right day off tomorrow as dd1 off school, then hopefully a short run Friday evening after DH gets home and then a long run over the weekend.

x-post thecoo. Sorry to hear about your achilles not getting any better. I hope you get a quick referal for physio and they can sort you out !

Oh and I thought of yuo all when DH took the family ipod so he could run home from work today and so I was resigned to the gym with no ipod.... I had to watch loose women. Its teh first time I have watched it (which I'm quite proud of given I've been home wiht kids for 6 years) and I can't say I'll be doing that again in a hurry. Although it made me realise I spend too much time on MN as I was thinking to myself 'the dress one of the presenters was wearing was recently linked to in Style and Beauty'.....

thecoo - its a bummer, isn't it? do you find that it's sore when you wake up? does it 'creak'? can you feel a lump anywhere along it? does it hurt more when you pinch it? if your answer to most of these is no, then it might be something else. I found that ice helped (a 500ml water bottle, almost full, in the freezer, roll it up and down the tendon after running...)

but it sounds like you really need professional advice to me

Great time bonkers - always very exciting to break major time barriers and 50 minutes always seem to be a key barrier for the 10K. Great field placing as well. Well done! (By the way, in answer to your earlier question, think I'm the only guy on here).

Sorry to hear about the injury thecoo. Very good place to moan about it on here as only other runners tend to realise how stressed you get not being able to run and losing fitness. Everyone else tends to get quite quickly bored with our witterings about it. I always rush back far to fast from any injury ("ooh, I think it feels okay to walk across the garden, perhaps I can try a quick 5K on it") - last time I was injured I was off for 3 weeks and only managed to stay off because of a very strict and sensible physio.

Sounds like asthma afflicted folks are struggling a bit at the mo. Hope you all are able to manage it successfully - felt for you as felt slightly hayfevery on the run in this morning. Quite a good run this morning surprisingly. 12K with 2x2k and 2x1.5k at about 13k with slow recoveries in between. Getting hot out there though already, even early May at 8am...!

Said I'd try to post the running sports psychology stuff that I was being told about by the ex Team GB psych who's coaching an Ironman friend of mine. Obviously, it is personal but there are certain key bits.

It sounds fairly simple but having tried bits of it is incredibly hard work mentally to stick to for a period of time especially when you're getting tired.

Basically, it?s all about staying in ?the now? (as it's called!).

1. Break up the distance into cycles, say 10 minutes or 1km, depending on what distance you're doing. Each cycle has something which defines the end of it for you personally (e.g. having a drink or changing pace might be sensible). Alternatively, I think Paula Radcliffe counts in her head through 500 second cycles so that at the end of each a mile has passed and is ticked off.

1. Once within each cycle (say midpoint), do a mental check of how you?re feeling (any aches, pains, tension) ? check through every part of your body from bottom to top (feet, ankles, calves, knees etc) and see how each part is feeling and note any bits that are aching.

1. After the mental check, do a technical check ? again check yourself from the feet up - is your gait right, strides the right length, upright enough, arms moving properly, breathing properly, head upright etc? Is anything that's hurting because of something that?s wrong with your technique. Focus on anything that?s wrong and fix it and make sure you?re doing it properly, for example, time it to the end of the cycle and make sure you?ve got that specific bit working properly.

1. If you feel yourself drifting out of the cycle (e.g. worrying about how far left, that it?s getting hot), pull yourself back to ?the now? and focus back in yourself again and do the mental and technical check again.

1. Never let yourself drift out too far. Keep completely focused internally.

Simple eh!

cestlavie Hello man person. Thanks for the congrats. 50mins was my personal target for this particular race. My PB for 10K is 43mins. That was back in the day though! I'll be looking for something inbetween when I do my next 10K which is more of a road race (yip yip!).

Bloody hell bonkers! 43 mins is uber-fast - that's an average 14kph...

bonkers well done! Thats a great time.

cestlavie some great pointers there, I read in PR's autobiog that she uses the counting technique, I have tried it on a few tough club runs and it got me up hills when I was struggling. I am aware I need to work on the mental side of things, as when things get tough I think about giving up. The mind always gives up before the body as they say!

thanks for posting that Cestlavie - I guess that's sort of what I do to get me through ... especially on the treadmill, I think in terms of 0.5K and K and change speed etc. I also have 5K as a big mental target and once I'm over that I then happily run the next 3 !

When I'm out I tend to break my runs down into sections so, I think just in terms of 'the section to the park', 'the bit in the park', 'the hill', 'the homeward stretch'.

I don't know if counting would help me. I might try it sometime - especially up a hill !!

Have just worked out, in the last week I've run 28 miles... which is a lot for me !!

43 minutes! I managed 14kph on the treadmill today for about 200m!! did a cut-down version of Moshiis intervals - 200, 400, 600, 800 and back down again; 12.5kph up to the 800 mark and then upped to 13, 13.5 and 14. Was quite pleased with it - I do find running on a t/mill quite hard - I tend to run in advance of the machine, IYSWIM rather than allowing my pace to match it (I think this is a short stride problem) - so I am actually working harder than I need to.

Those 'rules' are good, although I find sometimes that thinking about something other than running also helps get over those hard bits. But I'm like Dr No inclined to lose confidence in myself when things get hard.

Well done on your sub 50mins bonkers that's a time I can only manage in my dreams
Sympathies with the injury thecoo, so annoying. I have a pain behind my knee since the marathon. It was going and I had a couple of giggle free runs but it has been pretty painful last couple of runs. I can't not run, I get so grumpy!!

Interesting cestlavie. I've always broken my runs down, well the long ones anyway. Can't do the counting though, I have to count my breathing to 3, in and out, if I count higher than 3 I lose it

Well done Wheely 28 miles is a good solid week.

Damn phone!!

Niggle not giggle!

Thanks cestlavie. I do the breaking up thing in the same way as wheelybug but am going to have to rethink that for my race in few weeks time. I know the route, but have never run it.

thecoo sending sympathy to you.

bonkers 43 mins for 10k gulp - wow

Am doing a Park Run for the first time on Saturday - any tips?

bonkers wow that is fast! well done!

no running today. i am sick. sore throat, swollen glands, v v sore muscles, twingeing nerves. i thought at first it was because of the run yesterday but why it hurt so much did not make sense, and had the sore throat yesterday so might explain why i found the run harder than i thought i would. It has become difficult to know how much soreness is due to illness or running! I took my running stuff to work but just could not face it. life seems to get in the way of running!

I like the idea of drum n bass music to run to, a god steady hard rhythm, friend also said she runs to the Tron soundtrack which is excellent, and might be better as no words to distract me!

I am reconsidering the run to work rather than from, will mean less faffing with myself and the children hassling me for hours before i leave, will literally get up, dressed to run, coffee, chat with kids for 30 mins, leave. Then i can have time to myself to get ready at work!! this morning it took me over 1.5 hours to get ready and leave what with kids wanting feeding, cuddles, me to listen to reading, dh running around stressed due to broken car and needing to get the bus for school run, general chaos. I sat there thinking, i could just run in right now?!!!

Great post cestlavie, I think I will try that, if I ever do a long run again!

Wheely,massive sympathies on your Loose Women viewing, it is abominable eh. Bunch of ill informed folk sitting about regurgitating Daily Mail headlines. Am wound up just thinking about it. I need some torte.

Today's run thwarted by sheer exhaustion. Got exercise class tomorrow so let's see how that goes.

Absolutely peach ! BTW, I should clarify, having re-read my post - I didn't think of you all because I think of you all as loose women (after all one of you's a man !!) more to do with the fact we'd been discussing whether we ran with music etc...

pavlov - hope you're over the lurgy soon !

Hi everyone, congratulations Bonkers, great time!

I am very tonight, went out and did 5m and felt fantastic, my knees didn't hurt and 4 days rest seems to have improved my running, it was a gorgeous evening and I felt like I could have carried on going for ages, even on the uphill bits. Knees complaining slightly on stairs now but no worse than usual so I will start plotting that longer route, maybe 6m for Friday, will swim tomorrow.

Thanks for the psychology stuff cestlavie, interesting. I definitely "section" my runs between landmarks along the way and agree that trying to focus on your running at that moment makes it easier and more enjoyable than thinking about the total distance left to go.