runners united: the newly garminified thread for people who love running

[rhetorician]

all welcome: young, old, fast, slow, running for a week or 20 years, on-road, off-road, racing. Add yourself to the list, or just post!

20/08/11 - Frank Duffy 10 mile, Dublin - rhetorician
29/08/11 - Spofforth 10k Trail Race - DrNortherner
03/09/11 - Dingle Half-Marathon - rhetorician
04/09/11 - Great Scottish Run Half-Marathon: EmmaBemma
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon - thetasigmamum
11/09/11 - Bristol Half- Marathon- N4nny
11/09/11 - Addidas 5K: MoshiMoshi
18/09/11 - GNR: Hamster, Run for fun, popsycal, LaLa, SLF, Fannybanjo
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
25/09/11 - New Forest Half Marathon: MoshiMoshi
02/10/11 - Standalone 10K: Futurity, Quenelle
02/10/11 - Bradford Half Marathon - MrsWednesday
02/10/11 - Baxter's River Ness 10k - backwardpossom
02/10/11 - The Run, Northampton - YeahThatsTheBadger
09/10/11 - Great Eastern Run, Peterborough - Futurity
09/10/11 - Herts 10k - WishIwasCherryMenlove
16/10/11 - Abingdon Marathon: MoshiMoshi
30/10/11 - Great South Run: Wheely, squix
30/10/11 - Nairobi Standard Chartered Half Marathon - M&M
05/11/11 - Glendalough Trail Run - rhetorician
19/11/11 - Maasai Mara Half Marathon - M&M
20/11/11 - Leeds Abbey Dash (10k) - DrNortherner
27/11/11 - City of Norwich half marathon: ibbydibby
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
22/04/12 - VLM: MoshiMoshi, ibbydibby
27/05/12 - London Bupa 10K - Futurity

encyclo in reply to what you've asked re weight - each time after having my DDs' I had at least a stone to lose. I fluctuate between 8.5 and 9 stone and am 5ft 6 however after having kids I was over 10 stone. I've never been "big" but have a small frame and cannot carry excess weight well - it goes right on my legs and arse... . However I am careful of what I eat - i find if I lose control of what I'm eating I gain quickly and no matter how much I'm running, it's the calories I eat which matter. if your running 24 miles a week that's 2400 cals you're burning. To be honest divided by 7 that's only around 350 cals a day that you can spare and most definitely you couldn't eat what you want and not gain. 350 cals is a dessert or a sandwich - not much really! I find just cutting out crap and lowering portion sizes works well.

Is that all I'm burning Fanny? Mother of God, I thought I was burning that per run! It was all I could do the other night not to stop for a bag of chips on the way home.

Kind of sobering that. I've lost squat since I started running, and I confess I did expect this lot of weight to magically disappear.

Here's the thing though. I wasn't bothered about this stone until I started running. I get away with it in my clothes. Running just makes me aware that I'm lugging it around on a daily basis. Maybe that's a good thing?

From Monday (note that I won't start this over the weekend) I plan to eat my main meal at lunchtime and a smaller meal in the evening. I think/hope I can control my intake better that way.

To put it in laymans terms - no!! running helps keep me trim and more toned but it's not how I keep slim....!!! You'd have to be doing an athletes training plan to be able to scoff what you want!!

I get a lot of mums from school and friends always asking what I eat etc as they think because I run a lot I can eat what I choose - it's the complete opposite! I find porridge, weetabix or shreddies good for breakfast. Then ryvita with cream cheese and ham and tomato for lunch with fruit, Cereal bar and fruit for snack and then a good healthy tea and a treat at night. I'm never hungry as I'll always eat a good snack too. I make majority of food from scratch - then I know what's gone into it. If I want pasta I have it with crab, garlic, chilli, herbs and bit of olive oil then stir it into spaghetti. I don't drink a lot of alcohol but enjoy a glass of wine or a Corona a couple times a week. Most people fail at the weekend.... Just making yourself aware of what's in food calories wise makes the difference. I may sound obsessive (and I am!) but it works! running actually makes me eat less

rhet I recjon your goals are all achievable, and debi You will smash 2hours30 for a half with such good 10k and 5 k times.

I did my first race last year (a 10k) and my time was 1hour 15, I am doing the same race again on Aug BH so I am excited to see my improvement. My PB for 10k is 56 mins and I am hoping to beat that. I am doing a flat and fast 10k in Nov so hat is where I hope to knock a bit off my time, the Aug one is a trail race. I did my first half in June and did it it 1hour 58 and was delighted.

Rest day for me today but I have done 2 x hour long dog walks by the river today.

Re weight loss, I have actually trimmed down a bit since upping my mileage. I run between 20-25 miles a week and dropped a dress size.

This is excellent advice Fanny thank you! I think running might eventually make me eat less too. I definitely felt very bleugh the other day when I went out having eaten a very high fat lunch.

I always have porridge for breakfast, but my slippery slope kicks in around lunchtime. Time to review all of that.

It would be nice to ditch a few of these pounds for sure.

Dear me I can tell I'm not well and bores today - my posts are bloody long and boring...! Apologies everyone

encyclo - for me the difference was cutting out the empty calories - the cakes and biscuits and stuff. Not a conscious effort for me to lose weight, just reading about running nutrition made me realise a slice of wholemeal toast with peanut butter would be much better fuel than a slab of cake or 42 biscuits!

Cheese was a big problem of mine. I once weighed the piece of cheese I was putting on a sandwich - it was 250 calories then add the bread, butter, branstons, crisps - my lunch was 700 calories. Bear in mind for me to maintain the weight I am I only need 1500 cals, it didn't take long to put weight on. Again I once counted cals in a healthy stir fry I'd made. 950 cals - I was shocked. You'd be surprised if you completed a diary for the week. I put an app called myfitnesspal on my iPhone and put in everything I ate - one Sat night of pizza, crisps and wine amounted to 3500 cals (was Dominos).

So encyclo I'd have to run 35 miles that week just to burn off a sat night takeaway and bottle of wine!!!

DrNo - have been very impressed by your running updates over the last few weeks/ months. You've been absolutely flying, especially on the sub 2hr HM and have seemed much happier with your training than others (like me!). Will be hopefully pretty exciting to see how much faster you are over the same 10K...

May be um, atypical on here in terms of perspectives about food but I pretty much view food as fuel as far as running goes so am always conscious that I need to be taking in enough calories to run (not just the next run but more generally). It's probably complete bollocks nowadays scientifically but I've also always though that the calorie burn from running goes beyond the actual run itself into a short period post run and in terms of increasing (slightly) your metabolic rate?

Do eat healthily (low fat, low sugar) but eat a lot of protein, vegetables and wholegrain carbohydrates. Especially after longer runs tend to have high calorie protein bars to restore glycogen depleted on the run and help repair the hammering your muscles have taken.

cestlavie obviously there's a science to food and fuelling your body with healthy and nutritious foods is superior but calories are calories and if you eat too many whether it be healthy or not, you'll gain weight (obviously I'm not being patronising here!!). I have friends who eat like pigs and are tiny and some who don't and have weight issues. It's finding what works for you and you sound like you have. .

True enough fanny, true enough

Have a good weekend all, and happy running!

encylco - I love that phrase, 'mother of god', always makes me smile...

I can't say I think that much about running and fuel; I more or less eat what I want, especially when I do a lot of miles. I could probably use losing a little bit (I'm 5'3" - when the wind is in the right direction - and about 9st10lbs - but I have a big frame and am quite muscular); at 9st I'm pretty skinny. I keep meaning to do as Dr No says and cut out empty calories, but there's almost always cake/choc in the house (MIL's fault, and DP is pg, so needs such things ). I do notice weight creeping up when I don't run much though, and I don't much like it.

I can feel that I am a bit thinner since starting the running streak (11 days, 60 miles) and do try to keep my intake under control. I don't weigh myself much, or count calories (eating disorder in my teens/twenties, terrified of going to that horrible dark place again).

10 miler tomorrow! not sure how I feel about it, other than I know I'll get round....

Happy running weekend y'all and good luck Rhet tomorrow .

I need a kick up jacksy to start up my schedule on Monday. I was planning to go out this afternoon especially as its jolly chilly just now (19 degrees) however a rather large hangover has put paid to that.

C'est I looked at RW schedules and they were just too unrealistic. I think I may just simply make up my own, one day of intervals/speed work, one tempo run and one long run a week, starting at 12k for 2 weeks/15k for 2 weeks/17k for 3 wks/20k for 2 wks, with the odd 4th run a week thrown in when I can. How does that sound?

Peachy good to hear that you are doing well, didn't you move house as well?

Does anyone else get a lot of trouble with tight calves? I am not sure if it is running related or not. I am spending quality time with my foam roller tonight trying to loosen them, but nt sure if it will work!

I hit a new personal best tonight. 5 km in 33.15 minutes. Not as fast as most of you but I am very pleased! Oe day I will get under 30 minutes.

hi, yes I have - but only my left calf, bizarrely - I must have had a weird running style! For me it stopped as my legs got stronger - it hasn't been a problem for a good while, now. I went to a physio at the time, and she could only suggest I stretch out and she did some deep tissue massage (ooowwww!!). My personal favourite stretch is the one where you go into a press up position, pull up one leg (like you were about to be "ready" for a sprint) and then push your weight back on to the stretched out leg. Heavenly!!

Good luck tomorrow Rhet

thank you; i am sure that the jammy dodgers I've just eaten will stand me in good stead...should be home by lunchtime :)

jammy dodgers are to distance runners what chicken nuggets are to sprinters. It's scientifically proven ;)

Have a good time!

When I took up running again last summer it was because weight had crept back on (stopping breastfeeding but kept eating the extra food) and I realised I hadn't done any exercise for a long time. So for a couple of months I counted calories, wrote down everything I ate & kept the calories under 1500 (I think) while running every other day. I lost half a stone v quickly then another half in a couple of months. I did it that way as I knew if I didn't see results quickly I'd get disheartened.
After that I ate 'properly' and allowed myself a treat in the evening if I'd done exercise. Recently tho I've pretty much eaten what I want and the only thing I watch is portion size at teatime. I weigh myself occasionally and as long as I'm about 10 stone I'm happy. But if the fat % starts creeping up again I try and watch the snacks. I'm lucky tho in that I've always been able to eat just 1 biscuit.

Oh yes, good luck tomorrow rhet!

Good luck tomorrow Rhet, you cannae go wrong with a tummy full of Dodgers!!! They were my favourite biscuit as a child. Am slightly aghast at the new chocolate ones. Just wrong...

That schedule sounds fair enough Master. make sure you wear a puffa jacket and thermals though. 19 degrees. Brrrrr Yes we did just move house. Been here two weeks now and it's starting to feel more like home.

As to food/fuel, when I was running a lot, I found I did lose weight but it was a combination of the exercise and watching what I ate. Basically running allows me to have treats, though nit tons of them. Also, I find that if I am exercising a lot I am inspired to eat a more healthy diet, but have never gone too far down the fuel route, in a scientific way. Might do if I ever get back to supersonic fitness

Good luck rhet

Did Parkrun again this morning. I timed it as 26:34 but my official time is 26:30 which is a pb (by 1 second) so I'll go with their time

Then when I got back I took ds1 (5) out for his first proper run. He was desperate to go when I said he could wear the garmin! He did just over a mile without stopping or walking at all in 13 mins. I'm very impressed

I was 2nd in my age group!!! Very chuffed. Shame I can't do it the next 2 weeks as we'll be on holiday again.