Running thread number 14

[emummy]

This is a thread to talk about all things running and support each other through the highs and lows. All are welcome, from absolute beginners to experts!
We keep a running total of everyone's miles for the month, so feel free to add yours on. Current total for March is:

204.3

Hilly run in a different forest today, good fun and saw a deer.

65.3

Thanks emummy is it pretty flat? I’ve looked at the elevation but find sometimes it ‘feels’ different when you’re out there.

Steady 6 from me last night, wanted to quit at mile one, but ended up being quite a good run.

71.3

It is fairly flat Busyer; the main hills I remember are one going up a flyover type thing and a couple of tunnels that are uphill coming out. They are short & not very steep but felt steep at the time! There is one near the end, on the Embankment I think, but the wall of noise that greets you when you come out of the tunnel totally carries you along.

That’s good to know, thank you!

Easy 3 from me, too lazy for park run.

74.3

You'd all fallen off my radar.
I had my first pain free runs this week since January. I had a good rest after my HM and that seemed to do the trick. I can't believe how unfit and slow I am even though I did have a bit of a bug.
80.4

Next race is a 10 k next month if I'm up to it, I won't get a chance to run this week.

Pain free sounds good kitten, hope that continues.
Easy run this morning, ran part of our parkrun course and spotted a sign we forgot to take home! I'll get it later, I didn't think I could run 4 miles carrying a 'caution runners ' sign!

86.8

Hello all. Been a bit quiet on the running front - I think mainly due to the holidays. I am starting to feel my energy coming back and managed a comfortable 5 today.
I hope you manage to make London Buster.
You will soon build back up to where you were Badkitten It must feel nice to be back out there.
You should have tied it round your waist emummy
94.9

May I join you? I’m 44 and did a half last year and then...not a lot. Started back up as I’ve stupidly signed up for a charity one may 19th. Got up to 8.2 miles Friday but it’s been oh so hard and slow? Oh my goodness. So so slow. I’d be tempted to drop out if I hadn’t a charity place. Can anyone talk me round and tell me I can do it? 4 weeks left. I’d beenaiming for 11 miles then wing the last couple. But I’m knackered. Only did 5k tonight and nothing in tank by end but recovered fast. All encouragement would be welcome

Tempo run today, first seed work for 2 weeks so a bit tough!
Welcome Whoops! 8 miles is great, I would say try and get to at least 10, you've got plenty of time. If it's feeling hard, a few things to check would be your nutrition, hydration and whether you might need some fuel while running. When you did your half last year did you use gels or anything like that? Taking something from about 5 miles onwards might give you more energy. You can definitely do it! You could also look at doing a run walk strategy, many people find they can do that faster than purely running. Good luck!
Yes IRun, I would have looked brilliant with a 2 foot wide bright yellow sign hanging off me! I have collected it since, took the car though!

100.9

Hi everyone. I've had a very off on relationship with running for years. I want to be good at it and enjoy it, but I'm just not very good at it.

I've recently started running again and I'm very very slow. I don't know if I should work on increasing my speed or distance first, any advice?

When I have tried to go a bit faster, I tend to give up, so recently I have decided to do slow but keep running, but I don't know if I should push through with the faster running?

hello everyone and welcome Whoops and Luaa.

Whoops as far as I can see you still have 2 long runs and then 2 weeks taper till your Half, so why don't aim to just build up over those two long runs to 10 miles (say aim for 9miles this Sunday and 10miles the next?) If you manage to get to 10miles that only leaves an extra 3 to go on the day, which is a ParkRun, and everyone can jog round a Parkrun (yes that's the sort of nonsense I fool myself with out running

emummy and others on here are far, FAR more experienced than me but the other thing I would add is that make sure you are getting plenty of rest in between your workouts, so that your body can recover.

Luaa I found (and again, there are others on here far more knowledgeable than me) that the best way to improve your speed is to first improve your stamina. You want to be in the position when you are running that you know you can do the distance comfortably, it's just the clock you are running against. So for instance if the distance you want to get "good" at is 5km, I personally would be building my weekly long run up to 10km over a period of time, so that the 5km distance is well within yourself. Also build different sorts of workouts into your weekly programme - a long run, perhaps a hill session, and a shorter, faster run. Your body definitely responds best when you challenge it in different ways.

So much for the theory! My back is better 3 and a bit weeks later, but I've still got a nasty chest infection and have just started on antibiotics. Not sure when I will be running again but i hope its SOON!

Aw thank you for having me.
I’ve been dabbling with low carb hoping to lose weight and be lighter and therefore faster but maybe playing with fire, with 4 weeks to go. I’ll do 9 Sunday and 10 next week and see how I go. Not going to beat records but I’ve done it before and can again right?! Breathe...

And get well soon Daisy

Hello!
I'd love to join you on the thread. I started running with the Jeff Galloway run walk run approach in January 2018 and have just signed up for my first ever half marathon - Bedford - in September.

I have lots and lots to work on. I'm reasonably comfortable 'Jeffing' up to 10K but have only done three or four runs longer than that, with one 16k/10m one that suddenly tipped me over into thinking a half was a possibility rather than a ridiculous idea.

My technique and overall core fitness is a bit crap though - I'm coming back from several weeks off before Xmas with runner's knee, for which the sports physio holds my lazy arse muscles responsible.

So my challenges are to do my knee strengthening exercises, to do proper warm up and stretch down after runs and to find a plan with some tempo stuff to build up my overall store of running experience over the spring and summer.

Looking forward to training with you all. Xx

Thank you Daisy that was kind of what I'd thought, but wasnt sure if it was right or not. 5k is the distance I'd like to run most often and improve my speed at, bit I do have a personal goal to run 10k by mid June too, so your plan would help me with both 😁

My half marathon bib arrived today, and brought with it a feeling of impending doom....

Hello all new people!

I’m doing Bedford too Auntie, looks like a fun one. I’m can’t stress enough how important it is to engage your glutes / quads more if you know they are lazy. I’ve been injured since Dec with the same issue, although I’m on my way back, it’s been a slow and painful journey! If you can incorporate strength work as well as stretching it’ll really help you

17 miles on sun, 7.5 at club run last night and 4 from intervals today. First attempt at intervals since bad injury, found it pretty tough today!

129.4

Thanks Buster - I was attracted by the 'no cut off time'! My aim is for somewhere in the 2.15-2.30 bracket but I want to cover the distance and enjoy the experience rather than going out too hard and then regretting it! (Other than parkrun I've only done 2 'races'.)

Have you done the event before? It sounds like you've a lot of experience.

Thenewaveragebear - which event are you doing? Is it a first half for you?

Auntie I'm doing Stratford upon Avon, it's on 28th April. It's my first one, and my 2nd ever race (I did a 15km in February)

Good luck bear don’t get the fear, your be fine you have done lots of training, enjoy the atmosphere.

I’ve managed to get out on a couple of runs this week but it’s harder in school hols finding time without kids when I’m not working. Going to try do a longer run Friday but equally I really need to get out on my bike as I have a Tri in 4wks time and I have serious fear for that as I’ve not been out at all on my bike and done zero “brick” sessions where I’ve cycled then gone for a run straight after so I may have to use my Friday morn to get that ticked off and then make a decision if I pull out the Tri.

I haven’t done it before auntiebulgaria I haven’t done too much racing either, the only running races I’ve entered have been in the past 12 months. I am in a running club though which really helps with knowing what’s on and where!

3 miles from me early this morning, it should have been 5, but I remembered just how much I hate first thing in the morning runs!

132.4

Lovely sunny run today, very hilly though! There's a new 10k in my town in June that I've signed up for so I ran part of the route today, including a very long hill. I did over 500 feet of climbing in 5 miles. The biggest hill is tough, think I will need a lot of practice on that!
Welcome new people! Luaa I would also get used to a distance first before trying to speed up. It is good to feel confident that you can run, say 5k, and then start doing bits of speed work to get faster. Although of course it's up to you if going faster is a goal, the lovely thing about running is that you can do it in the way that you enjoy.
Good luck with your training Auntie, good to see stretching and strengthening exercises in the plan! I really think that doing regular core and strength exercises at home have made a big difference to my stamina and reduced injury.

137.6

Morning all, beautiful day for a run but I'm resting today. Did a quick (for me!) 5k on Monday and will do my long run (18k) tomorrow. It'll make a nice change to run in the sun, and hopefully feel like July which is when I'm doing my half .

Emummy - wow that's a lot of elevation. I run around Cambridge, the most uphill I get is running over cycle bridges.

I went out with a running group last night for the first time. Because I 'Jeff' (run walk run) I've always thought I'd not fit in well but I took a jeffing friend with me and by the end there were at least two other women thinking about giving it a try. And we weren't far behind the main pack either.

So that was a sunny 6 miles.

137.6 + 6 = 143.6