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

OK, before you all start bowing in my presence, I should point out that my PB of 43min for 10K was when I was 18. I am now 40!

Right, I'm going to watch The Exorcist now, maybe I will get time tomorrow when I'm at work to catch up with all the posts and write about something other than myself!

quick intervals question when you have time, runners. I did 200/400/600/800/600/400/200 starting at 5m/k and gradually working up to about a 4 min/k (not for long!). Should I increase my speeds, or keep at those speeds and push up the distances? My sense is the latter now, as I mostly run 10ks/HM so I need endurance at the higher paces. Am seriously out of my depth now!

Still it was 3.2 km at (for me) a fast pace and I found the stipulated recovery periods too long so my basic fitness must be ok

ps have found a garmin 205 for ?99 (yes, euro) - should I buy it, do you think?

Love the idea of classifying cake against length of run to burn it off.... Should do the same with wine but I dread to think how many miles I should run to offset a typical weekend ;)

paws - just to add to the other info re asthma, peak flows are individual - best to compare your own over time rather than to other people, and also re predicted values - these may often not be accurate, particularly for people who are fit / athletic or those who sing, play wind instruments - you may find your pf when well is higher than predicted....

If I recall, typically they look for a drop of >15% on exposure to a trigger - eg exercise - or an improvement of >15% in response to a bronchodilator ("blue" inhaler).....

Pollen can be an asthma trigger as well as causing hayfever symptoms too....

Hope you get some answers and it doesn't stop you running....

Fab time bonkers

My Garmin has arrived! Can't wait to use it tomorrow! :)

I was doing some research on resting heart rate earlier - did you know that Lance Armstrong's resting heart rate was 32bpm?! My jaw practically hit the floor when I read that!

Well, I braved to local bored teens last night to do some speed intervals on the football field. I ran the diagonals as fast as I could with jog recoveries between. Easy 1 mile jog there, did this for 1 mile (Nike+ so not remotely accurate on sprints!), easy jog home again. Feels sore in a good way today at the backs of my thighs.

Does anyone here do resistance training? I have been doing the EA Sports Active wii game with lots of lunges, squats and pylometrics. Tell me it will improve my running and not just wear out my living room rug!

I split up distance into chunks too - I just assumed everyone did it.

Chewy Resistance training will improve your running and not just wear out your living room rug.
There!

Aaarrrrggghhhhhh! I have sprained my ankle running along in my Fit Flops! Swollen ankle today. First race in less than 3 weeks. Eek!

Oh No Moshi!

Remember: Rest Ice Elevate - repeat ad nauseum. (And pray to the running Gods)

Thanks everyone for the sympathy - just what I needed! :)

Have made a doctors appt for tomorrow morning so will see what happens. It feels almost like a stiffness when I wake up, then just a twinge during the day, but sore when I ran. Ice does seem to help the soreness. I'm guessing I probably just need to rest until it heals completely, but that's soooooooo hard when I want to train for my race.

Doyou I am horrendously grumpy when not running! Have been doing weights, crunches, etc to try and get rid of some of the restlessness... my poor muscles don't know what's hit them.

Pavlov sorry you're feeling rotten - hope you recover soon.

Sounds like everyone on here will have a Garmin soon!

moshi just seen your post - you poor thing!!! Get that ice pack out pronto!

Lance Armstrong is a freak of nature, did you also read about how his body copes at altitude compared to most people's? Bizzarely he is almost unaffected, quite amazing.

Sympathies to thecoo and moshi, being forced out of action is horrible. thecoo could you swim instead until your achilles is better?

FWIW (I still don't class myself as a proper runner), I think resistance training definitely helps, I am a much better runner than I ever used to be and I can only attribute it to lots of squats/lunges and time on the stairmaster at the gym. I also think swimming helps, if you are doing it at a decent speed for reasonable distance, twenty lenghts breaststroke while keeping hair dry probably won't cut it. I think it has made it easier for me to regulate my breathing while running IYSWIM? Now all I need to start doing is getting on a road bike (DH's passion) and consider triathlon training...not actually doing one though, too scary!

sorry to hear about the injuries and enforced rests, just bear in mind it is all part of the sport, helps build a resilient and determined mind too or something

regarding Lance, respect to someone who beats cancer and goes back to the top of his sport, I am sure his metabolism and general fitness is extraordinary
I am just glad my doctor said my blood pressure was fantastic

happy running all

just slogged my way around 13k - time was ok but felt like shit the whole way - just feeling very nauseous - woke me in the night, too . And felt yesterday's 'speed' workout in my legs - that's 3 days in a row and I am feeling it...

Oh dear sorry to hear that some of you have injury woes. My legs were tired yesterday so I did some cross-training at the gym. I've signed up for a new pilates course starting next week, I can't help feeling that while running is great it definitely needs complementary stuff going on too.

I read in a book somewhere that Lance Armstrong said that running a marathon was the worst pain he'd ever endured despite his tremendous physical fitness - I guess running probably just stresses the body in a different way? Either way, I've decided I need to work on my otherwise weedy body and get some different training going.

Am doing my first parkrun with a friend first thing on Saturday - the morning after a night on the town with the same friend .... something tells me we may not be at our best?!

sleepwhenidie - 20 lengths with dry hair is exactly how I swim....I don't think a Triathlon is for me . I do find swimming the day after a long run a nice recovery activity though - I try and stretch out whilst plodding along and find it helps. Should have done it this week as I am still feeling Sunday's run in my legs today.

Driving - go for the Garmin (being the verteran of 2 runs with one!) - not sure what the difference is between the 205 and the 305 but my 305 has a calorie counter - just too tempting to offset calories burned against cake or torte if we are being posh . I got mine on ebay, I think it's new - had all the stuff in the box with it anyway. Re the nausea - are you making sure that you are having rest days? It's tricky isn't it when trying to juggle all the things that we need to - grabbing the opportunity to run when we can - I know I sometimes cram a weeks running into 3 or 4 days and then feel completley shattered.

moshi - oh no...hope it's sortable in time

paws - me too - doing first park run with some friends, think they start an hour later up here in Scotland though (9.30 rather than 8.30) something to do with the light.

With regards to the resitance training - I might try Body Pump classes over the summer - any one tried it? I am looking for something to strengthen my core and upper body. I've tried pilates before but only when I was pregnant and I remember thinking - this doesn't feel like proper exercise - I'm not sweaty and I'm not out of breath.

10k this morning at just a bit slower than my target pace for the half. I've found looking at my Garmin stats a real boost - whilst overall my average pace is slower, I know that my very slow hill climbs are playing a big part in that. On the flat I am pretty much spot on where I want to be - there's just the small matter of sustaining that for 13 miles!

Moshi you weren't running running were you? I mean, this wasn't a training run was it, or were you just running around the house?
I hope it gets better soon.

I have rolled over the side of my Burks more times than is healthy. There's something to be said for so-called healthy shoes!

squix How old are your children? I've found hauling my 2 year old around has done wonders for my upper body strength! Hauling myself into our ladderless loft is not as hard as it used to be.

How hilly is the Edinburgh 1/2?

cestlavie I section my runs. I wonder whether this explains why I find it hard to run them the other way round? When I do make myself, it's really interesting to see how different the route is.

I won't be getting a Garmin!

I bought a box of just past sell by date chocolate liqueurs yesterday and ate 7 of the 9. How much cake/torte is that then?

squix body pump sounds like it would be great for you, excellent resistance training and good if you are new to using weights as you are following instructions. It will definitely strengthen your upper body and also your core (which you will probably find isn't too bad as running is excellent for your core anyway) - you will feel like it is proper exercise! If you do it regularly for a while I'd be interested to hear if you think it improves your running.

Glad to hear that people are having problems even with "sensible" shoes, now I don't feel so bad about subjecting my knees to the Jimmy Choos on the weekend! I wonder if there is specific training I should be doing for them .....

Oh no Moshi, hope the ankle improves soon.

You must buy the Garmin driving it will change your life

I am officially on the injury bench I had to walk the last mile and a bit of my run today, knee pain got really bad and radiated down my whole lower leg, it became too painful to run!

I will have a few days of complete rest and then review and get a physio appointment next week if no improvement. Having said that though, I may try and cycle this weekend....see how my knee feels with that.

I keep telling myself that I got through the marathon injury free, better to get injured after than before and all that, but tbh at the moment I just feel miserable

About bodypump I think it depends on the trainer, before Christmas I used to double class one mostly aerobic stuff with loads of lunges and squats then adding all sorts of weights, the teacher was great but once she was sick and the sub was dire.

squix probably not enough rest days - but I want to get through my mileage for this week then step down a little next week and an easy week before the half on May 21st. I've been wondering about pilates and various other supplementary forms of training - I run and bike and that's it. Mind you, other than a sore bum, I seem to have survived that speed workout relatively unscathed...

perhaps I'll do something like this in the winter. Going to buy that Garmin, I think.

my neighbour has just starting a Running for Girls programme (couch to 5k, but in a group from the sounds of it). That's at least 4 runners on my street now, so my brainwashing efforts are clearly working.

I've been out in new shorts this week - a pair of these - very comfy, no chafing (I don't look like the model in them, needless to say). And a similar pair from Nike which are actually a bit big for me

Not you too Doyou! We'll have to start our own injury thread at this rate... We can all be self pitying together.

Sleep I don't really do swimming - I'm ok at it but wouldn't want to scare the children with my post twins bod, so not an option unless I win the lotto and get a private pool!

Driving I got a similar pair at an Aldi recently. They are really comfy and have a handy back zip - and were only £5 :) Wish I'd got a few now but wasn't sure how they'd look on.

bonkers how kind of you to save the last 2 liqueur chocs for me - how did you know they're my favourite?

oh dear sorry to hear about all the illness and injury... Hoping everyone is better soon !

sciencebint - even more respect then for a 5am run. Puts my 2 year old waking twice a night in perspective. I shan't use it as an excuse any more . Actually, I do find the running helps if i| have had a particularly bad night - presumably increases the adrenaline !

My '6 pack in 6 weeks' dvd has arrived today. Might put it off until tomorrow.... or maybe Monday just so I can easily guage when 6 weeks might be up . I'm guessing this will count as resistance training and just think how great I will look in my bikini in the summer (praying for a miracle may be more useful....)