Runners United - Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

[MoshiMoshi]

All ye fine runners who wish to get together to discuss running-related topics, or otherwise, come and join us here. We are a friendly and incredibly supportive group of runners, varying in ability, but all bonded together by a common theme of loving running, committed to squeezing it into our busy lives and wanting to improve our own PBs. So whether you are a full-time mum, part-time working mum, full-time working mum, working from home mum, mum who is studying, or even a dad , add your race to the list so you can be sure of some moral support and advice along the way. And if you aren't racing, don't worry as you can enjoy the race reports and race vicariously.

03/12/11 - Jingle Bells 5k Phoenix Park - rhetorician
11/12/11 - Stockport 10 (mealworm one) -orangehead
01/01/11 - Morpeth 11k Road Race - AngeChica
07/01/12 - Bupa Great Winter Run 5k Holyrood park - bumply
08/01/12 - Southwest Road Runners First Chance 10k - RunningAllDay
22/01/12 - Four Villages Half Marathon (Helsby) - Fannybanjo
19/02/12 - Brighton Half marathon - Wheely
04/03/12 - Milton Keynes Half Marathon - pawsnclaws
04/03/12 - Duchy Marathon - RunningAllDay
10/03/12 - Blackpool Half Marathon - DrNortherner, Fannybanjo
11/03/12 - Cambridge Half Marathon - Futurity, Runnerstipple, Cherry (what have I done??), Bonkers20
25/03/12 - Edale Skyline - (21 miles. 4,500 ft climb) Hatwoman
25/03/12 - Fleet Half Marathon- DebitheScot
25/03/11 - Run Northumberland HM - AngeChica
31/03/12 - Olympic Park Run - wiifitmama, runerstipple
01/04/12 - Reading Half-Marathon - RunningAllDay, Tulip27
15/04/12 - Cambourne 10K - Futurity
22/04/12 - VLM: ibbydibby, AngeChica
28&29/04/12 - Wye Forest 50 (miles!) - RunningAllDay
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

wheely bet your DH feels a right knobhead!

rhet ah bless, I've missed you these past few days.... . Glad all well with the girls. DD1 will forget soon enough she was an only and long may DD2 stay an angel. It's ace when they're good babies! Hopefully you'll get out tomorrow.

I've missed you guys too, and my running even more - but I've only not run for 3 days...and one of those would probably have been a rest day anyway.

rhet I need you more than ever cos I'm going HRM crazy. Had it on while testing, it's been 55bpm. Where should I go now to work out what levels I should be running at??

hello

orange when it comes to fertility issues I think you just have to keep bothering them for answers I remember in my day they said I could only be referred after 3 successive miscarriages then I had dd and a couple more miscarriages, and the problem had been diagnosed just not really dealt with by a specialist, for them you are just a number with a 'common' problem

Wheely poor DH!

rhet good to know things are ok
peach yeah to K putting on weight

hi to everybody else too

dd is fine thanks she is 6 and normally holds her own pretty well, she is constantly covered in bruises and scraped knees and likes bouncing around, this time wasn't really hitting but the girl threw a handful of salty gravel stuff close range at her face, dd turned away and it hit on the side some in her ear but not inner ear from what the nurse said. Anyway the parents called us tonight to apologise.
Problem is she is very possessive and screams when dd plays with other children and sometimes holds her too tight or grabs her face or some other, not very appropriate way of holding attention.

sorry for the me rant

and the girl wanted to talk to dd on the phone too, dd said oh you are not going to apologise again are you? just don't be an idiot again it is boring

Already checked I'm on the list, but must of missed that, thanks fanny
Already doing that rhet, dh always joking that I could poisioning him every day when I present him with all these tablets. Glad dd2 doing ok. DD1 sounds like a star. Did she like her scooter?

Your not ranting sfx. They said the same after my second mc. But I was so upset they agreed to test after two.

Awww Rhet, lovely to hear things are going so well. Glad the feeding less stressful, that must make a massive difference to the whole thing.

Lol at monkey's bruv, the dirty devil!!! Speaking of which, after one of last night's feedings, DP tried to get amorous! Of course my resonse was "You've got to be f*cking joking!!!"

Pass him the tummy wipes peach. Back to my relocation tasks.... [boring emoticon]

Oh men are so funny peach

peach !

Tell him that's his Christmas present - just don't tell him which Christmas !

Haha peach, I'd have given him a slap!
Your dd sounds funny sfx. 'Friends' like that are not much fun, I have a friend who's daughter has a friend like that too, she's despairing over them too.

Circuits was good tonight. We were in pairs and 1 had to do the exercises while the other ran round the outside for 1 or 2 minutes. We had to count how many squats, sit-ups, weight lifting things etc we did, then swap and the loser in each pair had to do 10 press-ups. We did 8 sets and I won 4 and lost 4. Some were so hard and it was the first time I'd used proper weights on a bar.
What made me feel good though was that the running bits were easy. Other people were walking round (esp towards the end) but I found it easy every time. I've not had the best couple of months with running so that really made me feel good

fanny since rhet is clearly v busy, I hope you don't mind me answering the question you had. According to the Parker Bible:

1. Work out resting rate (preferably by lying in bed in the morning with your HRM on and snoozing a bit)

1. Work out max rate. His method is basically a hill session: find a 200-300m hill, warm up first then run up the hill 5 times, jogging down. On the last rep, continue running until you feel like you can't continue. Measure your HR (it may cary on climbing for a few secs after you stop). This should be a good approx to your max.

1. Work out your % levels by working out Max-RHR, multiply that by 0.7, then add RHR back on. This gives you your 70% rate which is the max rate at which your easy/recovery/LSR running should be done at. Do the same but with 0.85 to work out your 85% rate which is the lower limit for your hard training (hills, ints, tempo).

That's basically it. There's plenty more in the book about suitable rates for racing, the physiology behind why it works, and case studies of people for whom it has worked.

FWIW, my RHR is 49 and max 173, which means I am running at less than 137 on my easy runs. Finding it tricky as soon as I hit a hill, and my pace has taken a battering, but I no longer get migraines, don't have to rehydrate like a desperate camel and really really enjoy being out! In theory, one should get faster for the same HR after about a month, whilst the hard runs become really hard to achieve as you get fitter and the max HR becomes hard to achieve.

Phew, I'm sure you've had enough of me. HTH.

running thank you very much, very good of you to write all that down. . So I probably did my testing heart rate at wrong time cos I wasn't truly rested? I'm not sure I could cope with being so strict with it though, it would probably turn all my training on its head. Can I just use it and make sure I stay in aerobic state for long runs and easy runs or is this basically the same as what you're doing anyway? Reason I bought it was because I know I need to slow myself down on certain runs.

Yes, that is basically how he suggests using it - stay low on the long runs and recovery runs. You can go as hard as you like on the others. I forgot to mention his Golden Rule though - alternate easy and hard days RELIGIOUSLY. And if you do, you don't need rest days, well not necessarily, anyway.

Have just done a hill run and found it difficult to get to 170, which is a first for me. So aerobic fitness is improving, even though I feel like I have turned into a snail. Am giving it a try - I don't have a great deal to lose! Yes, it is hard to be strict with it but having no migraines is quite an incentive!

That's pretty much how I run anyway running - I didn't at first, I used to go full velocity every run but now, I've learned after burning out that I needed to slow down my long runs. Plus I always alternate. So even if I do a 20 mile run, as long as I do it easy, my next run can be hard?

No, I think a 20 mile run counts as hard because of the distance. But a 3 or 5 mile easy the next day, then go for it the day after that.

The basis behind it is about glycogen use. So if you use up a lot of muscle glycogen (hard runs) then you need a day where you are using very little to build it up again. Long runs use up muscle gycogen too, although they should use up less at lower HRs than they otherwise would - but you still need muscle glycogen to access fat stores which is ideally what you want to be burning in your long runs. Not sure I'm being desperately clear - you might be better to get a copy of the book - or maybe rhet can better explain!

Anyway, the joy of the HRM is that if you are tired, more tired than you feel or feel you should be (because you have accidentally overtrained, or because you had a bad night or are coming down with flu) your HR will tell you and you will be correspondingly slower for the same HR, allowing you to not overdo it, even though you think you feel fine. Its just an extra window into your body. No more burnout. That's the theory anyway!

One thing that surprised me about the book was his emphasis on LOTS of miles. Even if they are slow, short or easy. I previously thought these were 'junk' miles and preferred to have a day off, but he debunks that. I do a lot more gentle pootling about than I used to, but my weekly totals have soared. I am now limited by lack of clean running clothing rather than lack of energy!

Have just said good bye to DH for another month and have to rush to take DD1 to singing exam. Good luck! And apologies for not addressing anyone else on the thread today - I do read you all and silently wish the best for you all!

"Bonkers I hope you don't think I was being snotty about your Christmas lunches (they don't have a nervous smile emoticon?), I was just amused by your litany of lunches"

Not all all sticky. I was a bit grumpy yesterday anyway!

I have been for a run today. 6.2 miles in 49 mins. Got a day off today. DS2 was meant to be going to nursery so DH and I could have sex get stuff done and have a nice lunch together, but neither of us can be bothered with the 40 mile round trip x 2 to take him there, so he's here.

We'll go to town this afternoon so I can find a strapless bra for when I am a bridesmaid. Wish me luck!

Glad all is well with little Ana Rhet. I would love to have a newborn again - and just to sit and BF and watch Sky True Movies all day.

bonkers she seems to be doing fine - feeding every 2-3 hours, sleeping in between...we are waiting for the other shoe to drop, but at the moment it's good.

And I did 5 miles in the sunshine today, although there was a biting cold wind - and not having a full night's sleep does really impact your heart rate FWIW. Just setting up pram in the hope that A might agree to be put down (she did sleep for about an hour last night in moses basket :o)...lunch and then to work for a couple of hours. It's busy!

running apparently it's the resting heart rate that truly measures aerobic fitness, but finding it hard to reach the high heart rates is a good sign. More later!

That's really interesting, running .

Belated congratulations to Rhet and I'm glad dd2 sounds like she's settling in .

Thinking of you and your Dad today, Peach.

Sorry for lack of personals. No running today, did hill sprints yesterday and was going to go to the gym but have a funny pain on the inside of one calf so opted for scrubbing the utility room floor instead . Am really paranoid about injury but have figured it's better to rest any niggles as ignoring them is what got me into trouble before.

I will run tonight. I will run tonight. I will run tonight. I will run tonight.

I haven't been out since last Tuesday. That's 8 days. Total crap. Pavements still lethal here. :(