runners united: no speed limits (LFDT), all running all out for fun/glory etc

[rhetorician]

12/11/11 - Ashton Court 10K - N4NNY
13/11/11 - Stebbing 10 Mile - bonkers20
19/11/11 - Maasai Mara Half Marathon - M&M
20.11.11- Gosport Half-Marathon- Tulip27
20/11/11 - Leeds Abbey Dash (10k) - DrNortherner
27/11/11 - City of Norwich half marathon: ibbydibby, MoshiMoshi
27/11/11 - Bicton Blister (10M) - RunningAllDay
27/11/11 - RNLI Reindeer Run Stirling Uni 10K - Squix
03/12/11 - Jingle Bells 5k Phoenix Park - rhetorician
07/01/12 - Bupa Great Winter Run 5k Holyrood park - bumply
22/01/12 - Four Villages Half Marathon (Helsby) - Fannybanjo
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
04/03/12 - Milton Keynes Half Marathon - pawsnclaws
10/03/12 - Blackpool Half Marathon - DrNortherner, Fannybanjo
11/03/12 - Cambridge Half Marathon - Futurity, Runnerstipple, Cherry (what have I done??)
25/03/12 - Edale Skyline - (21 miles. 4,500 ft climb) Hatwoman
25/03/12- Fleet Half Marathon- DebitheScot
31/03/12 - Olympic Park Run - wiifitmama, runerstipple
01/04/12 - Reading Half-Marathon - RunningAllDay, Tulip27
22/04/12 - VLM: ibbydibby
29/04/12 - Shakespeare Half Marathon - FairyBasslet
27/05/12 - London Bupa 10K - Futurity
09/06/12 - Blenheim Sprint Triathlon - Cherry
29/06/12 - San Francisco Marathon - MoshiMoshi

new thread, peeps; all welcome to chat - new, old, fast, slow, etc

excellent DrNo I'll be holding my thumbs for you. I wish i could come and eat your bacon buttie for you (and your mate's!).

Hi again, I?ve scanned the thread now so a few bits and pieces:

Kids? reactions to running ? the first time I entered a race (Kingston 8 miles) dd2 said ?Are you going to win??. I told her that no, I would not be winning. She was very perplexed as to why I was entering.

Similar theme ? bit of shock news that I suspect will come to nothing though I?ll be delighted if I?m proved wrong ? dd1 (y7) did cross country at school ? trials for house teams ? and she came 4th girl (not sure how many out of). She?s long professed a hatred of sport but, thinking about it, she has a running figure ? she?s a complete whippet (140 cm tall and her school skirt is age 8) and has long legs. I?d love it if she got into running.

debi you were on mn in class? . Hope your shins get better soon.

Pmsl at the F in PTFA. The whole thing has completely blown over. Tbh it wasn?t the ptfa people (which includes me!) that got my back up ? they are a friendly and quite chilled out bunch. It was criticism and play ground whispering. The problem with being active in the ptfa is that you can?t please everyone. Anyway there have been apologies and the toys have been gathered up and everything is back to normal.

I did 4.5 miles today with a slight undulation ? at 8.50 m/m pace. I can?t believe how much a bit of effort (fartleks and hill reps instead of plodding) is making. Having spent years resigned to being a slow plodder I?m starting to realise it ain?t necessarily so.

oh - I found a new potential running mate today - a mum at school - we chatted for a bit and before I knew it i was suggesting a run together. She did the London marathon in 3.30 ish. what was I thinking of?

Enjoying seeing all the goals! I achieved my one and only goal this year - to do the half in under 2:10 (did it in 2:06:59). I should add my marathon one is a lifelong goal, not just for 2012!!

Last night I decided that I need to lose a few pounds. I'm not large at all - in fact am 5'7" and weigh about 10 stone 5lb. BUT I feel like I'm carrying a little too much weight to get faster and some of my jeans don't fit as well as they ought to. SO I would like to get down to 9 stone 7lb and I've been watching the calories today. I was using MyFitnessPal which is an app which helps you work out your calories etc and it says to lose 1lb a week, I need to use roughly 1400 calories a day. I'd had 1200 by the end of lunch. sigh I'm going to running club tonight so that'll give me an extra 600 or so for the day, but it's pretty easy to see how the lbs were creeping back on! Who knew a tuna mayo roll would contain so many calories. And I usually have 2...

possum, you don't sound big at all, but you know in yourself if you would feel more comfortable a few pounds lighter. I used a similar thing, Food Focus, and I found it brilliant. You're still bf aren't you? I was too, though not a great deal and I think I got a 100 calories a day allowance for that. If it's just the food then I agree 1400 calories is not a lot to get by on, but I found because of all the running and walking I was doing that I never really found it a problem sticking too and could still have treats because of the exercise. Good luck!

Glad the furore has settled down Hat. 3.30 marathon

Quick scan but wanted to drop in to say HELLO! After just one viewing we have found a tenant for our house who seems suitable. So, we have a tenant for our London house and a house to move to, given notice to London schools and accepted places in San Francisco schools. It seems we are moving to San Francisco (gulp!)

Other comments:

futurity - I am a shorty. 5'2.5" (half inch of utmost importance)
Weight to power ratio is more relevant than absolute height. I currently weigh in at just under 8 stone but think my racing weight will be somewhere around half a stone to 10 lbs less. It is a fine balance between losing the fat and maintaining the muscle which will happen over time. Too fast a weight loss is not good. The easiest way to lose weight is to (a) stop boozing so much (at all) and (b) cut out butter/excess dairy. They both account for a lorra lorra calories which go unnoticed.

Can DrNo please correct her previous statement about her marathon plans? She has entered the Runners World 26.2 Asics Challenge and we must all vote for her! I think she is an absolutely perfect candidate for the competition that selects runners at different levels to train for the Paris Marathon in 2012. She shows dedication and great promise and is an all round babe and good poster which is of utmost importance for the competition as the winners must all post regularly about their progress. DrNo - you should post a link to the site here so we can all have a looksee.

My 2012 goals are quite lofty but I am 39 next year and want to achieve certain things before I reach 40:

5K - 18.XX
10K - sub-38
HM - sub-1:25
Marathon - sub-3 (I will be planning on two with the first one in June and the second on December)

I actually think all of you are easily capable of a sub-2 hour HM. You are all dedicated runners and understand the principles behind the training which goes a long way towards progressing your training to make the leap from casual runner to serious runner. fanny should adjust her longer distance targets which are quite soft in comparison to her shorter distance times to give herself a real challenge. rhet should stop thinking she is slow and tie in some more tempo runs and intervals to accustom her legs to turning over quickly and surprise herself.

moshi thanks for your ever so kind words. I have indeed entered the ASICS competition, but they had about 1600 enteries so I am not hopeful. Plus. if I were selected I think I would poo myself ever so slightly as it would mean running a marathon next April. Eek! Anyway, first of all they produce a longlist of applicants who attend a boot camp style selection day, then then the shortlisted candidates go online for the public vote. So if it comes to that I will be begging for you all to vote for me

I think we are all a great bunch of people. Funny, encouraging and supportive. Although we don't run together I think this is a great virtual running club

I entered the Asics competition too! Completely forgot about that... err, had no idea people vote for you. Would you ladies also vote for me if I get to that stage?

Futurity I am 5ft 5(and a half!) - I don't think being small affects your speediness at all, have you seen that Irish girl (can't remember her name) - she is super fast at HM and it absolutely tiny. Plus from what I gather on here Moshi is petite as well. I do however, think weight has a huge factor to speed. The lighter I am, the faster I become and my friend is over a stone heavier than me but exactly the same height. She wants to lose half a stone and I reckon she would be one hell of a fast runner if she was lighter.

Doing posts in sections as got a lot to catch up on...

June I mean, Paris marathon is in June.

We will definitely all vote for both you and DrNo, fanny! In fact I was planning on doing a separate thread on MN to garner support at the public voting stage. Don't underestimate the babe factor, guys, and you two have it in spades !

Up against fanny in Blackpool half and in the ASICS competition. Jeez Louise are you stalking me?

Moshi The thought of killing myself doing a HM terrifies me - I agree that my long distances (especially Marathon) seem soft but it is just something I need to work on, my nerves the last mile or so of a HM really hold me back and I intend to work on this on Sunday. Thank you though for believing in me! I know you will fulfil your running dreams. Fantastic that the move looks more complete and sounds like you are now ready for it.

possum you are talking to the Queen of low calorie meals and lunches here. When I needed to lose weight I split meals into calories so aimed for 250 for breakfast, 350 for lunch, 500 for dinner and around 200 for snacks. It seemed to work well and I would have maybe porridge and grated apple for breakfast, 4 Ryvita with maybe tuna (light) mayo and sweetcorn and grapes for lunch, tea would be homemade tuna burgers or fish with large salad and small amount of carbs. it doesn't sound a lot but it filled me up. Ate as much fruit as I wanted and never counted calories for them. On days I did good runs then I would let myself have more. I am not a big alcohol drinker nor keep cakes or too many biscuits or crisps in the house. However I do find the one thing is that I am so busy with the kids that the day goes so quick - if I was sat at a desk all day I would be permanently starving.

I entered a while ago as I kept getting emails for it, had couple of wines one night and thought I'd go for it, I'd completely forgot until Moshi just mentioned it! There's no way I will get through, think it was a garbled entry - they will wonder who the lunatic is! DrNo I need to know whether you are worth stalking.... Post a photo please!

I will obviously vote for you both, but what if you end up against each other?

Hmm .... I like fanny and I like DrN but which do I like best? There's only one way to find out ....................... FIIIIIIIIIGGGHHHHT!!!!!

fanny you need to get on facebook! Then you can stalk away to your heart's content!

I can tell you that DrN is a vision of glossy-haired loveliness though, so watch yer back, lady!

Blimey this is becoming good for the soul and the ego It's enough to make you randomly post pictures of yourself on random threads..... ha ha ha !!!

Oh no, what if you both get to the voting stage and we're only allowed one vote???

I wasn't on mn while teaching. Had quickly checked in first thing then just hadn't closed the window as I forgot the kids were about to use my laptop & wouldn't have expected them to be online anyway.
I don't teach yr5 sorry (can't remember who asked, am on mn app & can't scroll to look), yrs 7-11.

We've just been to ds1's parents evening and he's a super star The teacher loves him and says he's wonderful

I also think all of us are capable of sub 2hr HM and I haven't even done one. I'm nowhere near fast compared to some of you and I think I can do it (but didn't want to admit that out loud!)

peach yes it was my friend's first baby. I hope she's ok.

Can't do Facebook in this house, it's banned! Another thread that story but after a general nightmare stalking from an old school chum (male) who repeatedly messaged me, I came off it. . I actually think FB is a nightmare.

g'awn DrNo - put a photo on here for 5 mins so I can see - I hate not knowing what you all look like and I wanna see your swishy glossy hair and gorgeousness!

Actually I'm doubting whether I entered now, I remember having problems with photo and put wrong one on and then dithered about it. Can't see an email to confirm I entered either! Oh well!

thanks moshi for that vote of confidence - I am feeling much more upbeat because my times are improving at low heart rates and I am looking forward to starting to explore the higher rates. I'm not sure that I've ever really done a proper tempo run, for example

I know I could use being a bit lighter, too - I'm 5'2" and around 10 stone - I know that sounds a lot (right at top end of bmi), but I am quite stocky and fairly muscular. Whilst I am not lean as a whippet I wouldn't consider myself to be fat in any way. I eat what I want, and I probably eat too much - I love food and cooking and nice booze and I have a bad history with the calorie control and exercise combo. OTOH I would like to lose about half a stone - but am planning on doing this with DP in the spring when she tackles her baby weight - so then all the baking will go by the board. Speaking of which, just polished off butternut squash risotto with leeks and sage, with a nice glass of St Emilion. I no longer drink very much (about a unit a day, tops, and not every day) so quality matters to me.

I was at the allotment today, but it started to piss with rain almost as soon as we got there. I really want to have a couple of days to myself to lick it into shape for the winter - DD ran around and found worms and then had her first al fresco wee :) - I've always thought it was a key life skill for a girl, to be able to pee discreetly without pissing on either knickers or shoes :) (thinks of drunken youth, where my friend had a pee outside the admin building, not realising that the whole thing was captured on cctv...)

didn't run today, but really wanted to - but did lots of dashing about and jumping up and down with dd. I am dying to get out there again tomorrow.

DP feeling much better than the past few days - she had a cold and it knocked her for 6. Sorry, long post

hello very quick browse

happy to vote for one or both of you, can always ask friends to cast extra vote if only one allowed

goals funnily enough really on my mind today, need time to settle down and actually write them up and structure some kind of plan for the next few months

take it no baby news?

will attempt to catch up

Thanks, fanny - I should be ok today, I've just been for a mad run and Garmin and the app reckons I've clawed back about 550 calories! Dinnertime!! Yes, that sounds very sensible. Ryvita and low-fat philly for lunch tomorrow, I reckon. Salad, blah blah. Yes, no bother

peach no, not anymore. We stopped when DS was 15 months and he's now 27 months. Jings -just realised that means we stopped a year ago! Time flies...

our baby messing about, but on the inside!

oh and PTA I am on it, but only as general bod no specific job, just mucking in when needed, they all seem reasonably sensible and welcoming, meetings are open to all of course, might go for school governor in a couple of years.

Your dd is doing really well rhet, sounds like she's well and truly got it. Dd2 shut herself in the bathroom last night to do a poo standing by the toilet (in nappy). I guess she'll get there before she's a teenager....

I too am of stocky muscley build. I tell myself its better to be stocky and toned than stocky and flabby but I would quite like thin, long legs. Neither of those is ever going to happen though sadly, the more i run the bulkier they get.

Glad the pta stuff sorted out hat