Running goals, motivation and chat 2026 - Part 3!

[BogRollBOGOF]

Hello runners!

Continuing on with our general running chit chat...

@OhOneOhTwoOhThree probably either Finsbury Park or Highbury fields as theyre the closest to where we’re staying. Any experience with either of these?

Thanks everyone, for the welcomes!

I did some short runs (6-7km) on holiday with DSis but back as of last night and got up at 6 today and did 17.5km. For me, I want to be doing at least one 16-20km run a week to build comfort at that kind of distance.

Appreciate that'll be short to many here, but it's where I'm at - for now!

I am experimenting with fuelling too. I am finding jelly babies good. I tried them for a sprint distance triathlon I trained for years ago and found them horribly sickly, but right now they seem to be helping if used sparingly.

Apologies, I didn't see this in time. My London parkrun experience is mainly south of the river. I hope you had a good time!

I went to a local (on holiday) parkrun and ran and volunteered. There was about double the usual number too people thanks to a combination of a nearby parkrun being off and lots of tourists. I managed to fall full length on the first lap, so was delighted with my course PB

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff I'm just building up again to longer distances after a bit of a break. Gone are the days when I could just pop out a ten miler/HM with no training.

No worries @OhOneOhTwoOhThree hope you’re ok after falling over. Well done on a course PB.

I did enjoy my London parkrun. There were lots of tourists there and it was a fast if very crowded course. Despite all the weaving in and out of people I managed a 5k PB and broke the 21 min barrier than I have been aiming for for ages!! I was first in my age group and 6th female over all. I was really shocked. We ran there which was nearly 3 miles and I think the warm up helped me as it felt much easier than usual. If it wasn’t for how crowded the course was I felt I could have gone quicker! Which is mad as I usually struggle with a fast 5k. Maybe the answer is to run a few miles first 😂😂

Fantastic! Great work @Whataninterestinglookingpotato !

Wow @Whataninterestinglookingpotato I don't think I will ever be that fast!!! Good for you.

I also love your username, it reminds me of my then-toddler DD2 digging up crocus bulbs and murmuring 'come to me through the soil, my interesting little potatoes!'

@OhOneOhTwoOhThree what kinds of distances are you currently running? I can do HM but want to get to the point as you say, that I can just bang one out without worrying about it.

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff I’m back at the start of a HM training plan, so today’s “long” run is only 5 miles. I don’t know why I do this to myself, I build up to a marathon or a 50k every year, run really consistently 4 times a week when I’m training and then give myself a few weeks off afterwards (which means only doing parkrun) and end up starting from scratch again as the “couple of weeks” turn into a couple of months. My base fitness is fine, I also swim and cycle and walk a lot but as I’m in my late 50’s I guess I don’t have the same energy levels or physical resilience I used to have. Ten years ago I’d be able to sign up to a HM on a Saturday based in a post-parkrun coffee chat with a couple of friends and run it on the Sunday (true story, which happened more than once) but not any more!

I will be gingerly jeffing today to try out my poor bashed up knee.

Happy Sunday all!

@OhOneOhTwoOhThree sounds like you have great base fitness though! Do you find it hardest to regain pace or distance after time off?

I had to work today (boo) so just did 4.5mi. Felt good though.

I typically lift once a wk and do 2 lots of circuits. Right now am getting in 1-2 short runs of 4-5mi and 1 longer, of 10-12mi.

Feel like I should do more but with kids and work and needing a rest day, don't have time!!

I hope your knees ok @OhOneOhTwoOhThree

glad your run felt good today @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff. I like to keep myself half marathon fit to be honest. It’s hard with littler kids though. I didnt really run at all when mine were small. But they’re older now and so I have a lot more time to myself. I would try and increase the distance of one of your mid week runs to 10k easy pace and then make the other an intervals or hill season and see how that goes if you’re able to. At the moment I’m trying keep myself marathon/50k fit which is much more effort but I have signed up for an unnecessary number of them lately!

training half with the gang today. It’s technically my taper week before next Sunday marathon and so I wasn’t going to do the whole route, but then I got talked into it. Then I was going to run it at easy pace but I ended up being dragged along by the faster half of the group. So my taper long run ended up being a half marathon at a comfortable pace, but not the gentle easy run I probably should have done if I was going further than planned 🤦‍♀️😂. I never learn. 😂

Thanks @Whataninterestinglookingpotato I strongly suspect you are right! I have built back to running after years off as you say so think I need to increase slowly to avoid injury. But I think what you describe is an ideal running pattern for someone looking to be HM fit.

Hello all! I’ve been out for a 10 Mile ‘race’ on the canal with a few of our run club members this morning. I was using it more as a training run than a race but still managed to finish within 5 mins of my 10 mile PB and finished feeling like I could’ve run further which is what I wanted. And we finished before the sun came out, also a bonus and there was a medal which always makes me happy!
Hope everyone enjoys their runs this weekend x

I think I'm getting progress on the injury front. It's now generally making itself known because I've used it rather than whinging around like a bored teenager on holiday. A couple of weeks ago I somewhat belatedly realised that putting a pillow on either side of me at night helped it relax more while side sleeping. I was then expecting camping to aggravate it, but our camp beds were very supportive.

Last week's parkrun was hilly, slow and mostly walked but a gorgeous bit of touristing.
This week I managed to run most with one or two walk breaks per km, but not structured jeffing. My quickest one for a while.

@BogRollBOGOF forgive me- what exactly is your injury again?

It is really mentally hard having an injury to train around (have been doing it for years, it's shit!).

I did a 21km today which was slow (2.20) and accidental - meant to do 17km and then finished that and thought "I'll just add a bit on..." was happy with it though, as generally trying to build to HM fitness. Feeling it in ITBs now though!

Well done on your 10 miler @tinks3110 its good when you don’t feel you’re going all out but still do well.

well done on your half distance today @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff

glad your injury is feeling better @BogRollBOGOF. Annoyingly my long standing one was feeling the worse it’s felt for a while earlier in the week. I haven’t had to tape for anything since I ran the ultra at the start of July and wasn’t going to for tomorrows marathon but I think I will now as a precaution even though it felt ok at parkrun today. I don’t want to risk it.

dd1 and I were up in the midlands helping my youngest sister move. We went to her new local parkrun. I was meant to be using it as a shake out run but did end up being a little fast. Not all out, but sub 22 mins, 4th female and 1st in category. Dd1 got a PB and my sister was pleased that she made it round running the whole thing as she hasn’t run for about a year. Dd1 and I jogged the last lap with her and chatted once we had finished. She saw a friend from work there so I think she’s going to try and make it a regular thing.

i had a nearly 5 hour drive home from my sisters today due to the traffic and so ima. Bit tired, but I’ve been crab loading for tomorrow’s marathon. It’s not a PB effort as really it’s meant to be a training run for Septembers ultra. We shall see how it goes.

I've got tendonitis where my hamstring/ glute meet, so basically everything irritates it. It's one of those annoying background niggles that's not been awful when I've overdone it (and I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary to trigger it) it's just been whingy. Awkwardly the pressure of prolonged sitting/ hard seating also irritates it.

The most annoying bit is how much cross-training has been knocked out too.

I've had achilles tendonitis before and did manage to gradually phase running back in when it stopped inhibiting non-exercise movement, but did feel it while I built back up.

I won the marathon today!! So happy about it as it was pretty tough as you were trying to keep up a more or less road pace on gravel tow paths and up and down loads of steps!! It was two laps with two tunnels to run through on each lap. I actually ran the first lap with a couple of people I met along the way, one male and one female and we chatted through most of it. For the second lap the other female dropped back and the guy pushed on ahead of me as I told him I needed to just lock in and get on with it as I was finding it a bit tough with the heat and terrain. In the end I caught him up and only finished about 13 seconds behind him!

I finished in 3:31 and was 1st female and 10th over all male and female!! Really happy as I don’t think I’ve ever come top 10 overall before!! Yay!! Another free race for me! That was the aim as this was my 3rd race with the company that puts these races on and as I have placed on each and got a free race I only had to pay for my first one!! 😁

happy running all!!

Wow @Whataninterestinglookingpotato well done! Many congratulations!

That's fantastic @Whataninterestinglookingpotato , well done. You're absolutely rocking it with your race game!

Oh that is really crappy!!

At the risk of giving unsolicited advice, have you tried Shockwave for it?

I think results vary but for me personally, I am quite prone to tendony stuff and it's been a game changer.

@Whataninterestinglookingpotato that is completely amazing and I'm in awe 💫

My osteopath has previously used it on my ankle when the achilles played up a few years back, but hasn't on this occasion.

I saw him again today and there's a definite improvement, but still clearly not right.

I've started on C25k to carefully get a bit of volume back in. I've just stuck with walking/ running at parkrun to feel so have a base of 5k per week and feel ready to go back to basics.

I had signed up to a 10k for next month a while back but have transferred my place to DH to take the pressure off.

That's incredible! Well done! 🏆

Well done @Whataninterestinglookingpotato! thats amazing!

Amazing running @Whataninterestinglookingpotato superb time on both the London park run and the marathon, enjoy the free race!!

I'm getting back into a training plan, not really hitting my pace targets and it doesn't really help than I'm not really interested in pace so I'm not motivated to push. AI tells me I'm still recovering from the ultra so it's to be expected, I've got a 10k in a fortnight and my daughter is doing the kids fun run too, so we shall see then how things are looking.
I don't seem to be able to run a long run without stopping every 7 or 8km and I'm pretty sure it's mental rather than physical, but again AI tells me it's normal post a massive run.

Thanks all ☺️.

@SFRSmum 100 miles is a really long way!! I imagine it’ll take a little while to feel back to your normal energy levels after that!

the 10k race might give you the extra oomf you need though. It’s amazing what race day can do.