Running goals, motivation and chat 2025 - Part 2!

[Sparticle]

Hi all, just setting up a second thread - I hope you don’t mind @Jumbojem but the other one was getting a bit close to ending…

Sorry to keep harping on about the weather but it’s still raining up here so instead of running this morning I’m going to get back on my lovely water rowing machine which I’ve neglected totally since starting running back in Jan/Feb. I miss it (and I miss the muscle toning it gave me) so I’m going to get back on this morning for a change.

Might do parkrun tomorrow or a longer run, haven’t yet decided.

@SFRSmum glad you had a good holiday and well done on your long run. 2l of water is quite a lot to carry tbh! I hope that your hip feels better soon. I have quite weak hips and so have been working hard on strengthening them, trying my best not to neglect it now my mileage has ramped up again.

don’t let my tale put you off trying a club. This is the only time this has happened. I think it was more her saying go on without me, but the second leader stayed with her and made sure she was ok. The pace was a too fast though and when you have new people that have signed up for a particular pace it should really be stuck to. Does the one in you town have different paces? Ours has about 10 different pace groups and we’re the second fastest so there are plenty of options for a slower paced run.

I hope you get your mojo back @Cantbesure

well done on your early run @BogRollBOGOF nice that the mornings are starting to get lighter and glad you’re feeling better after seeing the osteopath.

hills last night. It was a fun session of snakes and ladders, which will maybe not the most beneficial from a training perspective was good fun. Added a few extra miles on as won’t be able to do as long a run as I should as I have other plans. Going to track tonight too but the weather looks horrible. Cold and wet!

Actually saw sunshine today whoop & had a dry early sunrise dog walk, then got a dry sunny fast lunchtime 5k in. More rain due later but it really makes a difference to my head to get that natural VitD.
Hopefully tomorrow will be nice for all those doing parkrun.

I waited until 4pm for it to stop raining, only it didn't so I've had a very wet and cold 5 miles.

Volunteering tomorrow at parkrun, I may try to get out in the afternoon.

Well done anyone who ran in this evenings rain! A very very wet and cold track session for me. My hands were so cold I could hardly turn the key to start my car after.

still, I definitely feel that I’m getting faster again and my vo2 max has gone back up. So maybe it was worth going out in the cold and rain, maybe 😂.

I don't like the look of the ice patterns already forming on the car... the ground is so wet if that freezes.

Finally a beautiful sunny day here, if a little cool. Although one lane I ran up was practically a stream and at one point a pond had burst it's banks so I had no choice but to get wet feet. Managed 9 miles, my half is in 5 weeks so hoping to get 10 miles in by next weekend.
The weather here yesterday eve @Whataninterestinglookingpotato was horrific, very windy, wet and cold so impressed you went to track. I was lucky enough to be off work so got a run in the morning when it was still dry and mild, changed completely by late afternoon!
@BogRollBOGOF did you make it out, or did the ice get too much?

Our parkrun was on and heaving as the only one in the area. It was pretty borderline though as a good chunk of the paths were frosted and other parts of the park like an ice rink.

A few of our juniors team were there and we agreed to call it off in the morning as the courses overlap and conditions have a strong chance of worsening overnight.

My watch run time was 32:08, walk (due to start lag and getting caught by ice/ puddle dodgers 0:58. It was a good tempo session though. I could tell numbers were high as it still felt relatively dense on lap 2.

It was amazing to run in sunshine though

Ahh, the bliss of sleeping in to 8am and not be standing in a rainy bog by 9am

I managed to get to 10am before feeling a bit lost in an abyss of time 😂

DH did his long run as a linear route so I met him for brunch and to pick him up. He may as well have taken the shampoo with him and saved the shower when he got home.

It's half term, so I'll defer my long run to tomorrow. There's not much in it on weather difference but hopefully my legs might feel fresher.

Had a good weekend running after the weeks not so good run!

Park run yesterday, ours was still on, little bit of heavy frost in places but ok, just had to take it slow on the turns. Im hoping to get a sub 25 time this year, and thought yesterday I may have been in with a chance, but not to be, I got a new 2nd best time though, 24 seconds slower than my PB, which is 25.07.

Managed to do my 20 miler today too. Did a 6 mile social run in the middle, which was a nice way of splitting it up. I was worried about not being fast enough but was with the front of the pack for the run so that was interesting. Got caught in the rain for about an hour and got splashed by a £@#%^ of a driver too but tbh i was already soaking by then!

Into taper weeks now, got a half next weekend and a 10k the following weekend, then a marathon the weekend after.

Well done on everyone who managed to get out this weekend in the frost, cold and rain!

Whoop sunny dry run this morning the weather gods were in my favour this morning as I went to walk the dog & it rained hard whilst I was in the car but then stopped. I then did a 5k and it was dry until I got home & then rained hard again. Happy Monday folks.

5.5km run done in dry weather as well this morning and clouds are brewing up now so not long before a downpour here.

it felt so good to get a short run done with dry clothes and trainers for a change. According to Runna plan this should be a easy week with shorter runs as part of my 10k plan

My upper body avoided a drenching. My trainers did not. So much mud and puddles!

It's been lovely to run in full-blown daylight and see snowdrops though.

Well done everyone on getting out and glad some got some nice weather to do it it.

well done on your 20 miler @SFRSmum and your sub 25 5k is in sight. Do any of your local park runs have pacers? A couple of ours do on the first Saturday of the month, they can be very helpful. I’ve been the 25 min pacer before and it’s nice to help people get their PBs.

solo 12 mile long run in the sunshine for my on Saturday morning, it was lovely to be dry and sunny the whole way. We didn’t have much ice either, there was a bit of a nip in the air but it felt so much nicer than it has done.
I went out for my sisters birthday on Saturday night and stayed up in the city with her. It’s always a wild one and so no fun for me on Sunday. I very hopefully packed my running stuff in case I had a few miles in me, but I did not 😂.

today I’m on leave so I took my dog out on the trails for a very very squelchy and slippery just under 4 miles. It was nice though. Kind of sunny and not raining, if a bit windy. So that was nice.

Happy Monday runners! Well done for getting out over the weekend.

I enjoyed parkrun volunteering on Saturday, everyone was so happy to be running in sunshine. We had lots of visitors as a few locals were cancelled.

I had a wettish but enjoyable 5 miles yesterday and it was faster than my recent pace.

Today I went to recce the trail HM I’m doing in 2 weeks. Plan A was to run the HM route and plan B was to run 2 x 7.5 mile loops from the start point. I got to the first trail and decided I’d give it a go despite the mud. Soon regretted it and turned back, only to go full length in the mud. Ended up just under 15 miles, which was the goal for today. I had fun paddling ankle deep through a stream and clambering over a fallen tree in the woods so I got my trail fix after all.

Managed a dry if very muddy trail run with ddog yesterday but was a chilly 2c and wished I’d had winter legging on instead of 3/4thin ones. Soon warmed up but the wind was bitting. May do parkrun tom if not raining… it’s now rained non stop every day here since Jan. hope everyone’s week has gone ok if your juggling kids on HT.

Evening! Been a good week of running here, decided to try copilot for running plan as OH been using it a while and found it useful. It's so positive and encouraging in it's feedback compared to Garmin! Also love how it adapts based on what I actually ran and how I say it felt. Ran a 5 mile tempo when I got back realised it was meant to be easy 🤣 but it has been a big motivation boost that I can run faster if I push myself out of the comfy bimble pace I've favoured for quite a while now. Afterwards Copilot said it was a great check in of where I'm at and downgraded the next few runs so I wasn't too fatigued.
I think I managed dry runs this week, even though it's still rainy, and in dusk rather than pitch black so things are looking up for evening runs.
I have even bought new road shoes this week, Adidas Evo SLs influenced by my teen and his running friends who all have them. They are pale blue though so hoping all the puddles dry up soon!

did a 11km slow long run yesterday as part of my 10k race training still used my old asics jadeite shoes though for that one. I used my new Brooks Ghosts for tempo 400 session on the track dry session earlier in the week. I am still fully wrapped up in multiple layers when running.

That's interesting re copilot- might give that a go. After completing C25K I'm now settled on 30mins runs every other day with a slightly longer Saturday morning run. After struggling with getting out of breath a couple of times I've made myself slow down and also tried to increase cadence. I've been looking at some YouTube videos for guidance - anyone have a recommendation?

also tried my first Pilates class to increase core strength. wow. my stomach muscles were sore for days!

I also do Pilates as I find it helps a lot with balance and all that additional stretching etc much help with injury prevention.

Hello runners!

Well done on some good running.

I've had 3 outings, 5 miles each this week. One of those was parkrun, with some extra miles afterwards. After my whinging about the pressure on parking I took my bike this morning, so that was 4 and a bit miles on wheels as well.

I don't do Pilates, but have been doing daily Yoga with Adriene since January 2025, which has transformed my core strength.

Rest day tomorrow and them I'm going to have a second attempt at the HM recce (race is next Sunday).

Hello all. Sounds like everyone has had some good runs this week!!

I have managed mostly dry runs this week so far, which makes a nice change! I’m aiming for at least 40 miles this week. I’m currently on 24.7 and have a 17 mile long run (probably in the rain) planned for tomorrow with a group of 5 guys, who will all drag me on probably faster than I want to! But it’ll do me good as I’ve been a bit lazy with pace since being injured and I need to pull my finger out if I have any chance of meeting my target marathon time!

i made the effort to go and do the fast steep hills session that I’ve not done since last autumn solo on Thursday morning as I was on leave and I got my fastest park run time since being injured today at 23:11. So it’s getting there but it’s now only 8 weeks until the marathon and I need to up my game!!

Pulled my hamstring 2 weeks ago. Have been re-habbing like my life depends upon it.

So going to try a 15 minute jog today. Fingers crossed.

Oh no @Nedsatomicdustbin i hope you’re feeling better son and your jog goes well today. Being injured really sucks!!

18 miles in the bag for me today. Went out with a group of 5 of us. I was the only female and two of the chaps are pretty speedy so I knew it would test me. I planned the route and it had over 1000ft of elevation. I was pleased that I could pretty much keep up (apart from the massive triple hill 15.5 miles in where I just told them to wait for me at the top). 2 of the guys had already peeled off and chosen the shorter route back, but I hung on to the end with the faster guys (one of which was def not pushing it to be kind to me). I’m glad I did as if I can keep that pace on a really hilly route the flat marathon route pace seems much more achievable again!!

Hope everyone has had a good running weekend in the dry for once!!

Hello all! I've also been upping my distance and challenge level as the weather has had a few lenient moments. Did parkrun plus a lengthened route home last week to just over 16km, and yesterday did 18.5km including a big gravel hill on the edge of some military ranges near here.

By the time I got home last week I was in agony on my arches because the insoles in the trainers I was wearing have a rather prominent inside edge and it was rubbing. I think I'll take them into my local running shop and try to get replacement insoles that don't shred me. But this weekend the problem was in my toes - I know I'm not hitting the ends of the shoes, but for some reason my toes are sore. So that needs diagnosis too.

Do any of you have prescription sports eyewear? I am long-sighted and increasingly finding that I don't see detail at the ground in front of me, or the phone screen if it's on my bike handlebars. I need sports sunglasses with a bifocal prescription I think, but I don't know where to go for it... Would really appreciate recommendations. I fully realise this is likely to be spendy.