Running goals, motivation and chat 2025 - Part 2!

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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.

Well done to everyone who raced or just got out and ran at the weekend!

I was away the weekend watch my daughter compete in uni cheerleading, so no major long runs for me. I stayed at my sister’s house as she lives close to where they were competing (3 hours from me) and did a lovely little just over 10k on a path that goes across country from her town to a uni campus. It was really nice and I am now second on the route segment on Strava. Always like to leave my mark 😂.

dd2s 18th birthday today so no running for me today either. I will have a busy week of many miles after today so giving my aching body a little rest 😂.

hope everyone has a good running week.

I did, no jeffing!

Feeling ok today too. Used, but I'm not making too many sound effects when I move 😂

Oh well done everyone! Lots of great running and racing, and kudos in that hilly 18 miler @OhOneOhTwoOhThree
I only ran 5 miles Sunday as it started to rain and OH/DS had both finished their runs and we're sat in the car waiting for me. So feel a bit under trained for this weekends HM, however it should be very scenic (trail) but with good solid paths and hopefully nice weather so I am just going to enjoy it. I am getting OH to drive me there so I can maybe push a bit towards the end and not worry about being too tired to drive home. Does anyone else fret about that?! He will enjoy having a change of running scene anyway and he can run further up the course to cheer me on.
I don't blame anyone for not wanting to run in that wind on Friday, it was horrific! Glad when Saturday turned out to be a lovely day.

@BogRollBOGOF haha im the same, although my sounds are usually before I move! Well done on the no jeffing, excellent run!

I did a 3 lap trial tonight, learned alot from it, I need to slow down mainly! Was aiming for 48 min laps but coming in at 42 mins.
Oh well plenty of time to practice over the next 10 weeks.

@Jumbojem enjoy the half, I have one this weekend, its a new one that there has been much speculation online about its legitimacy which is a shame, everything seems to be going ahead smoothly so I hope its a good event and they can shove it all in all the nay sayers faces.
I think I might get the train to this one to avoid driving but I won't be pushing hard. Just out to have a good run

So lovely to be running in the sunshine, no rain and blue sky, nice fast for me 5k this morning perfect temperature.
I’ve Been listening to Sophie Power GB ultra runner on RunPod really good one this week as she was chatting about removing barriers to women running.

Glad you got out in the sunshine today @RunningInto it makes such a difference!!

I might give that pod cast a go!

20 mile solo long run for me today in the beautiful sunshine. Off for a spa day with dd2 tomorrow so needed to get my long run in today and no one was around for company. Still, it was lovely outside and I had some good tunes to keep me company. I also saw some others from the running club out doing a similar route for their long run, but they run at quite a different pace to me so I didn’t join them, but nice to pass some friendly faces from time to time (we all tend to run laps in the villages near a local naval base for our longest marathon training runs).

my towns half marathon next weekend. It’ll be my first race this year! It’s felt weird not racing but I’m glad I’ve held out as my leg held up ok today on the long run and I don’t think it would have if I had gone back to racing too soon.

how everyone else has enjoyed some sunny runs this week!

@RunningInto oh that podcast sounds good, ill add it to my play list, thanks for mentioning!

@Whataninterestinglookingpotato enjoy the spa!

I did the half marathon today. Was a great race. Annnnnd I got a PB, aaaaaaannnnd I smashed my goal of getting a sub 2hr half marathon this year (with 30 seconds to spare too!)
Love seeing the progress, although im not working on speed im working on distance it still shows its all paying off and im getting better and stronger.

10 mile race for me today, weather was good miles 7-10 felt horrific,
i developed a stitch that I just couldn’t get rid of. Despite that and it feeling awful
i came in at 1.29;50 and i was aiming for under 1.30 so I am very happy

Fantastic time and achievement!

Hate it when you develop a stitch mud race, buy you did very well.

Well done @tinks3110 and @SFRSmum on your racing achievements, great times all round!!

I had a lovely sunny walk with the dog this morning and then a lovely afternoon at the spa with dd2. On annual leave this week so will try and get at least one 10 miler in to try and practice my fuelling strategy for the marathon. Gonna bite the bullet and get some gels as though I do like the voom bars I’m not sure I can eat them when moving. I might still stash a packet of energy bytes too as they do work for me and are so easy to eat, I’m just not sure that caffeine gummies are the healthiest thing to fuel a whole marathon on. They’ll be fine for the half at the weekend though.

Well done @SFRSmum great run hope the legs aren’t too sore today.
oh stitches are crap well done for powering through @tinks3110
wow 20m @Whataninterestinglookingpotato i just don’t think my body could handle that mileage anymore. I have walked that in my 20s but my hips just hurt too much these days.

Had a good weekend of shorter running & longer dog walk on trail with DH plus a chilly 2-3c but sunny trail run with dog early this morning. That with some weekend gardening left me very stiff so tried to stretch it out with some yoga too.

Gorgeous morning so I have done a gentle 7km run admiring lots of daffodils and the first of the tulips

Congratulations @SFRSmum and @tinks3110 on your events and hitting goal times!
I did my trail half marathon yesterday. The weather was perfect and it was a brilliantly organised event, Great course, easy access/parking, plenty of reasonable food/drink afterwards. I just wanted to do under 2.30, 2.15 would have been the dream. On the day I did 2.22 so I'm happy with that.
Just fuelling... I thought I'd done it better, had energy drink and a gel. Was great until mile 11 then the last 2 were hard. At the end I had to cling onto a fence, couldn't speak to my friends who were chatting and my vision went all fuzzy. Think I was close to fainting. So, I have a hilly 15 miler in 3 weeks so I need more options. Gels are too fussy/sticky, make me thirsty. The energy drink was fine so I might take two bottles of that but make them weaker. Plus get some veloforte energy chews or similar to try instead of gels, I'm choosing these as they have ginger or minty flavours rather than sickly sweet gel flavours. Any other suggestions? I can't stomach actual food, bars as it just gives me tummy ache.

Have you tried voom bars @Jumbojem I like them alot, they are easy to eat and i can feel the almost instant boost from them.

Ive actually found real food fuelling to be better for me.

Do you think you pushed too hard to keep up with friends? Or did it feel easy?

I also had more than you in my half yesterday, I had 3 gels and 2 sets of salt chew electrolytes (can not stand the drinks so use tabs)

I have a trail half in 2 weeks, its very hilly (850m!) Looking forward to it but going to take it super slow, hoping to finish in under 3 hours and will be solely fueling with food (pretzels, sweets, banana) Just to see the difference

Well done @Jumbojem mumsnet seems to have hidden my reply about fuelling. I don’t know why? I’m also trying to figure out how best to manage it for the marathon. I do like energy bytes gummies, they’re very easy o eat and give you an instant hit of entertainment but I don’t know if it’s just to mo much caffeine with the amount your eat over a marathon and I did feel quite weird after my last one. Trying to avoid that this time.

I really like voom bars and used them on my 20 Mike training run. But because I was running laps I left my fuel in a spot and would stop have some after each lap. I don’t know if I could eat them very easily when running at pace. I don’t like gels but I have ordered a few different types and I’m trying to see if I can make make any of the work.

I did have an orange SIS one on my trail run today which was just about palatable but I don’t know if I could get one down every 30-45 mins like you’re meant to. I wouldn’t normally fuel the sort of run I did today, well, maybe with some sweets, but thought I better experiment.

lovely sunny almost 9 miles out on the trails with the dog. Tired her right out!! Lovely way to start my annual leave.

Just posting this so test whether mumsnet has something against me as it’s hidden my next reply too!

@Whataninterestinglookingpotato I can see your last 2 posts, just not the one from last night x

Thanks @SFRSmum i contacted mumsnet HQ and they unhid them for me as there really wasn’t anything controversial on them!!

whole lot of typos though. Sorry about that 😂

@Whataninterestinglookingpotato my marathon training friend is having similar issues, she struggles to get gels open when running at pace and can't have caffeine. We have seen high5 sell a small soft bottle which holds the equivalent of several gels, and you can buy a bottle of their energy gel to refill the bottle which might make using it easier. It won't do anything for the icky texture and flavours though!
@SFRSmum not tried voom bars, I tried a high5 bar when I did the 25k trail run, I only managed half of it and had a terrible tummy ache the rest of the run. I struggle to chew and run so I've not tried bars since.
The dizziness was after I finished, my friends are faster than me so they'd already finished!

Fabulous work runners - well done @SFRSmum, @Jumbojem and @tinks3110 on your race results!

Enjoy your a/l @Whataninterestinglookingpotato

I can't really help on fuelling, as I rely on flapjack bites and crisps. Yesterday I was feeling really tired but a fast white and a maple pecan plait sorted me out at the 10 mile point and I mangled another 5.4 afterwards. That's the joy of slow jeffing, you can keep going with food on board. In my old faster days I used to use the non caffeine gels as I'd get too wired with the caffeine ones.

I have had a decent week of running - 5 miles on Tuesday, 7 miles on Thursday, parkrun and a couple of extra laps on Saturday and 15.4 yesterday. I also got a swim in which was nice.

Happy running everyone!

Looks like we're ready for a new thread!

I like nakd bars for on the run, and kendal mint cake for near the end for the fresh mintyness and instant sugar.

Just as I was getting recovered from my race, I've been struck by a bloody head cold. At least I should feel human by the school holidays.

You mentioned the gu m m y word @Whataninterestinglookingpotato it triggers a hidden message

Oh, I see. 😂. Did wonder tbh.

Yeah I’ve had it happen before too as I have a child with disabilities and was asking about sleep medication of which there is a gu m m y you can use and I got deleted for asking on a send topic.
Interesting chat about fuelling and listening to that RunPod episode with Sophie I mentioned above she collapsed during an ultra despite drinking a lot fluids due to the lack of salt and the same thing happened with my DH he ended up in the medic tent. You need more salt that I think people realise if exercising and sweating. So if you can’t stomach food definitely try have some salt in your fluids.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/exercise/5507936-running-goals-motivation-and-chat-2026-part-3?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Post 1000 and a link to the next thread.
If only I could time my runs so neatly