runner united (we talk almost as fast as we run)

[drivingmisscrazy]

a thread for runners to chat, debate, share tips, triumphs (and the occasional disaster!) - new runners particularly welcome, the only thing that's required is enthusiasm (and a pair of running shoes)

29/05/11 - Stirling R4L: squix
29/05/11 - Plymouth Half Marathon: sungirltan
30/05/11 - BUPA 10K: MoshiMoshi
01/06/11 - BHF Canary Wharf 10K jog: june2009
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
06/07/11- Yately 10k (not actually booked yet): DebiTheScot
10/07/11 - RFL 5K, Kingston & Kempton Park: Wheelybug
10/07/11 - Felsted 10K: bonkers20
16/07/11 - Phoenix park 5 miler - drivingmisscrazy
17/07/11 - RFL St Albans - Pawsnclaws
17/07/11 - Dundee Half marathon - TheChewyToffeeMum
17/07/11- Chichester (Sprint) Triathlon: DebiTheScot
20/08/11 - Frank Duffy 10 mile, Dublin - drivingmisscrazy
03/09/11 - Dingle Half-Marathon - drivingmisscrazy
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon - thetasigmamum
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa
23/09/11 - Notting Half Marathon: cestlavie
25/09/11 - Edinburgh Urbanathlon: backwardpossom
25/09/11 - Windsor Half Marathon: Doyouthinktheysaurus
02/10/11 - Standalone 10K: Futurity
02/10/11 - Bradford Half Marathon - MrsWednesday
02/10/11 - Baxter's River Ness 10k - backwardpossom
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
30/10/11 - Great South Run: Wheely, squix
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely

I so shouldn't be allowed to participate in parent's sports days partly because of, ahem, slightly competitive nature.

Plus of course DS would be absolutely devastated if I didn't win. Whenever I come back from a race, we have a conversation along the lines of

DS> "Did you win, daddy? Did you? Did you win?"
Me> "Um, well I got a medal" (for finishing obviously, rather than beating the bloke who ran it in about half the time I took)
DS> "Oh yay, I'm going to tell everyone at school!" (who by now presumably think I'm an Olympic athlete or DS is a pathological lier)

It's never quite the right time to tell him that middle of the field can be a very good result...

There were quite a few competitive Dads there in proper trainers! Thank god DH wasn't there or he would been warming up or something obvious .

our sports day is coming up I never participate in the races, some people both men and women take it very very seriously, trainers running gear, the works, I am surprised not sports drinks in hand or maybe I just did not notice

thanks for the info on weight loss and running. im taking a look!

driving I'm at my limit. There is just not enough energy time left in my day.

Last night went like this:
7.30 committee meeting (was forced to drink half a bottle of wine)
10.45 bed
12.30 torrential rain
01.00 dd has rain dripping onto her bed, move her to another bed
01.30 ds2 wakes with raging fever, give him calpol
03.00 ds 2 wakes for a drink of water
03.15 ds 1 thinks it is morning what with all the movements going on despite the fact it is PITCH BLACK outside
03.30 next doors generator kicks in
04.00 the rain finally stops
05.30 my alarm goes off
06.15 I'm at work

I was supposed to go an do intervals tonight, but you know, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Talking of bras, I [embarassed] bought my first proper sports bra last month. Before that I ran in an M&S padded uplift bra.

We really are quite a competitive bunch aren't we? I really rather like sports day. However in that PC kind of a way to prevent parents from punching each others lights out, at ds2's kindergarten we have parents dressing up race and at the big school we have parents tug of war. Very amusing, but no chance to show off run.

Hee hee. The Mums race made me chuckle. Am pretty sure had you donned your running shoes you would have won it hands down

No parents races at ds's school, in fact his school do the crappy 'non competitive' sports day thing. It's no fun.

I am running tomorrow and back to BMF on Sat. Running Club and long runs again from next week when normal service will resume Off to MIL's now as it's her birthday and we are taking cake. It would be rude to not eat any right?

A girl from work is doing the toughest half marathon at the weekend. It's full now but anyone fancy it for next year?......check out those gradients......

Found this that has a table at the bottom showing improvement based on weight loss

www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304--11903-0,00.html

it also has a link to this but I couldn't quite work out what it meant!:

academic.udayton.edu/PaulVanderburgh/weight_age_grading_calculator.htm

I'd have said it was more like; running will make you lose weight and get fit and therefore you'll run faster. But only to a certain point. I took up running because I wanted to lose weight (only about a stone) and I think it's the best exercise for that.

My running shoes are about 4 years old. Should I have new ones?

Dr No makes mine look like a walk in the proverbial...the descents are often worse than the climbs - and very sore on the quads the day after.

Debi it depends on how many miles are on your shoes.

I think that weight loss will improve performance up to a point, but there's a cross over where its effects are adverse rather than positive - I hasten to add that I am not at this point, having made no conscious effort to lose weight through controlling food intake for a very long time (I do occasionally drop my alcohol consumption, although that's pretty meagre these days anyway)

Debi - yes, you should (unless you are doing about 2 miles a week.)

Oh, can I remind you all to wack on the high factor SPF when running? A friend of mine has had to have a chunk of his ear (a large chunk) removed in an effort to remove a cancerous growth. The doctor said he sees skin cancer a lot in runners, who have been v healthy in other aspects of their life, and put on sun protection on holiday....but dont think about the culmnative effects of running outdoors in the uk for hours a week.

DrNo - yes count me in!
debi - get thee to the running shop.
notyummy - well done on 2nd place in the mums' race . Pacing looks good generally on your training runs but are you varying your paces at all? You may find you can go faster on certain runs if you do drop the pace on the easier runs.
sciencebint - post-operative delirium apparently. Bit scary when Googling it.

My 9 miles with 4 at HM pace turned into a 9 mile progressive run as my legs felt a bit heavy from my 14 miles on Monday. Ended up at 6m15s pace although how on earth I used to manage that as HM pace on the treadmill I don't know as my legs were not turning over very quickly!

Off out to dinner with DH who I complain never wheels me out. Instead of the usual mad panic to cook for kids, tidy up, bath and read stories, I had my lovely housekeeper cooking and tidying up so I just did the rest which meant I had plenty of time to shower, wash hair, apply make-up, look in mirror to check appearance (never used to have time to do this) and am now checking up on you lot before the babysitter arrives. I am very lucky.

notyummy the sunscreen thing is a really good point; I like to try and run in the mornings, partly for this reason. As I've got older I burn more easily too, and I'm quite fair-skinned to start with. I wouldn't sit out in the sun for 2 hours (unless working on the allotment, where the same issue arises) but I would run for that time. Even when overcast, in the summer, you can get burned. I don't much like it as sweat makes me spotty, let alone when combined with suncream, but spots are better than skin cancer for sure.

M&M that sounds like an unenviable night to be sure; we've had tricky bedtimes with DD the last few days because of stuff throwing out the routine, but gritted our teeth and let her cry herself to sleep tonight :( needs must...

oh I can't wait for mums races :D (dd still only 2...) will remember to eat some pasta the day before and bring my trainers and lucozade gels ;)
You could probably make money selling the other mums some protein bars at the entrance .
Quite competitve here too, especially with myself, I'm trying to find an excuse to show off my chin ups at the playground ;)

Training tomorrow morning bright and early with personal trainer, can't wait, it has been a whole week! Still not sure I can do the running club tomorrow evening, dh is trying to stop smoking and I've got a feeling bedtime on his own might be too much!

weight loss: over the past year I have lost a load of weight and I'm definitely going faster and running longer than even before pregnancy. I do think that it is more to do with the amount of training I do than the amount of weight I lost.

Trainers and bras: I definitely change these around every 6 months. shock absorbers are really good. I find it hard to get fitted properly though, I don't know why the bra shops round here are not friendly.
I went to canary wharf in london to "sweaty betty" and they were great there. Didn't measure me but had a look at what size I was wearing and went from there, tried a few on and ended up buying two different ones, different sizes, both fit perfectly.
I had to buy some shoes quickly today so got some cheap reeboks from sportsdirect but next proper running trainers I get I will get measured, I want to do that before the half marathon in setember I think, maybe 4 weeks before?

driving sorry to hear about your mum wanting you there more often. sometimes you end up manipulated with emotional blackmail and it's very frustrating. I would be delighted if someone from here was doing the same race as me.

Found a 10 miler on runnersworld website, need to check it out better, battersea park I think, flat and on road, it looks well organised with car park and showers.

right gotta go for now, thanks to the people who have added me on fb, now I need to figure out who is who :D who added me?

moshi enjoy your evening with dh you deserve some R&R

sunscreen definitely and I don't even burn much, also don't go out between 11-3/4 in high Summer, big no no
when I was growing up we could tell who the tourists were partly from the radioactive/ skin peeling look of those who stay out at the wrong time

regarding sleep of little ones, I was helping out at school on my usual day this week and I did notice how most of them looked sleepy, including mine, and it really is from the longer days, so much harder to get them to settle/stay longer in bed

run today, only 4 miles but pushed a bit harder than I had done for a while, it felt good, hopefully gym tomorrow

Can I ask a question to people with a garmin 205. I am thinking of ordering one tonight on amazon but whats worrying me in I have very slim wrists ( the only part that is slim) so does it have lots of holes will it do up quite small please

According to runkeeper I've run about 300 miles in the last year. Although my shoes are 4ish years old I didn't run for about 2 years and the 1st year I had them they probably only did 100 miles. I still need a new pair though don't I?

I think someone should hand out jelly babies at the sports day mum's race

sciencebint - I'll PM you my details to start you off, then you should be able to pick up the others.

Hope you enjoyed your evening out Moshi !

LOL at sports day - we have a non-competitve sports day in infants where they move round a number of races but no note is taken of who wins or not. Most of them, they do then get the parents to do them so there is a sprint - 20m or so.... I did this last year, but it was 'parents' not mums and I have 25/6 inch inside leg - I'm not made to sprint . This year I might try my luck at the sack race or egg and spoon.

Hadn't thought of Swetty Betty for sports bra measuring - we have one of those in Kingston so easyish. Also the stuff comes in nice bags (shallow - yup).

drNo - that race is about 20 mins from me....

Good point on the sunscreen - I do more runs inside or night time at the moment but that will change so will take note (that's more expense ).

debi - sounds like it is time for new trainers. I ran for, ahem, years in a ten year old pair of cheap trainers but have now changed them 3 times in the last 18 months. I think I need to change mine on the early side as I am very heavy footed - which my 2 year old seems to have inherited from me... stomp stomp stomp. You wouldn't believe to see us... midgets that we are.

Moshi- my problem is I dont seem to vary much at all. I run roughly 8 minutes miles regardless of distance (up to HM distance.) I know I can run faster when I put my mind to it as I ran 3 miles in 21.30 on a treadmill a few months ago. Mostly I just go out and run though..,,

Master- that night sound pretty hellish!

I didn't get any jelly babies, but I got two stickers! One was 'well done for trying' one and one was the 'Second Place' one. I will put them with my medal collection (like C'est they are all for taking part, but 4 year old dd loves them.)

Oh, and I am both shocked and strangely interested at the thought of running in a push-up bra . I only have 32 As so perhaps a little 'boost' may be no bad thing!

Oh and 6.15 min miles!!!!!!!!! I couldn't sprint 100m at that pace!!!!

I got 2 medals for the relay on Sunday. Great as it means ds1 and 2 don't need to fight over 1!

6.15 min miles

I can also recommend Sweaty Betty for sports bra, I got a shock absorber there.

Moshi hope you have a brilliant night out, you deserve it. Great news that your mum is recovering well, and your new housekeeper sounds like an angel!

Am at in-laws and very nice it is too, being waited on hand and foot! DD's cousin staying here tonight too and they started off in the same room. This was DD's first try at a "big girl's bed". She spent 45 minutes getting out, coming downstairs, playing with toys, and keeping Dnephew awake and then asked if she could go in the cot. Hopefully just to excited, as will need to get her out of her cot by time DC2 arrives. Hmmm

at Master running around Africa in push up bra. Classic.

I went out for my run tonight and got soaked. It was nice when I left but the heavens opened after 5 minutes, I couldn't see very well and I had to cut it short, only by about half a mile. I actually felt disappointed .

I am so in awe of the speed of some of you guys, and the miles you put in. One day Badger, one day....

Anyway, I have finally got round to adding my races,

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 - RFL 5K Luton - YeahThatsTheBadger
26/06/11 - Stortford 10 miles - thecoo
26/06/11 - Colworth half marathon - cestlavie
06/07/11- Yately 10k (not actually booked yet): DebiTheScot
10/07/11 - RFL 5K, Kingston & Kempton Park: Wheelybug
10/07/11 - Felsted 10K: bonkers20
16/07/11 - Phoenix park 5 miler - drivingmisscrazy
17/07/11 - RFL St Albans - Pawsnclaws
17/07/11 - Dundee Half marathon - TheChewyToffeeMum
17/07/11- Chichester (Sprint) Triathlon: DebiTheScot
20/08/11 - Frank Duffy 10 mile, Dublin - drivingmisscrazy
03/09/11 - Dingle Half-Marathon - drivingmisscrazy
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon - thetasigmamum
11/09/11- Bristol Half- Marathon- N4nny
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa
23/09/11 - Notting Half Marathon: cestlavie
25/09/11 - Edinburgh Urbanathlon: backwardpossom
25/09/11 - Windsor Half Marathon: Doyouthinktheysaurus
25/09/11 - London Half Marathon Run to the beat: June2009
02/10/11 - Standalone 10K: Futurity
02/10/11 - Bradford Half Marathon - MrsWednesday
02/10/11 - Baxter's River Ness 10k - backwardpossom
02/10/11 - The Run, Northampton - YeahThatsTheBadger
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
30/10/11 - Great South Run: Wheely, squix
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
27/05/12 - London Bupa 10K - Futurity