Running goals, motivation and chat 2026 - Part 3!

[BogRollBOGOF]

Hello runners!

Continuing on with our general running chit chat...

@Whataninterestinglookingpotato i am worried about attempting further than 20 and getting injured. My plan says 20 next week 13.1 week after and then 8.5 the Sunday before the marathon but it is also giving me a pace that I know i won’t maintain over 26.2.

will see how i feel think. Im a bit more confident I can finish the marathon now

@tinks3110 i have never done a training run of more than about 20 miles. The injury risk does go up. You just have to mentally prepare yourself that it will be harder and just sit with that. You’ve done the work and it really is a mental game from 20 miles plus. You have to just tell yourself you can do it and just get on with it. Our trail gang always uses Andy glaze the ultra runners saying when there’s 5k to go and we’re struggling a bit. “5k to go! Your mum can run a 5k” I told myself this at the last aid station on Saturday and for some reason it actually helped!! Good luck!

@Whataninterestinglookingpotato 4 weeks out and I am quietly confident of finishing which is what I want. Secretly and quietly hoping for around 4 hours 30 but we’ll see

You’ll do it @tinks3110 i wouldn’t even be surprised if you were a bit quicker.

Well done @Whataninterestinglookingpotato ! Super time for an ultra, especially doing it mostly alone. You look like you are flying to the finish!

Welcome to the thread @runnerducky

I haven't posted for aaaaages, but have mostly been toddling along apart from a week abroad where it was too hot to run.

Hope you are continuing to recover well @BogRollBOGOF

I jeffed a trail HM today. It was a small field of mainly club runners so I was determined not to be last, and I wasn't (quite). It was part of a long distance path which I've been walking in stages, so I thought it would be a good way of getting some miles in but I decided halfway through today that I prefer walking, taking photos and listening to the birds. DH has booked us both a road HM in 3 weeks.

Ha ha I've been heard to say that as well @Whataninterestinglookingpotato. Or, given my advanced age, "your gran can run a 5k" when talking to young people

I am totally looking forward to the day I get to come on here and tell you all I finished the marathon 4 weeks today

I've been known to sing "one parkrun to go" after 10mi during a half marathon when things are getting a bit crazeee

My marathon I treated as a 20mi run and a 10k race. Every step after the 20mi was a pb for distance. That won't logically work if I ever do another though!

Great marathon prep @tinks3110 ! Mine is 5 weeks away but I am only up to 22km this weekend and that was done at z2 pace in 3 hours - it's all on track though, I'm not panicking yet...

One of my friends doing the same race has said though that he's just seen that it features on something like "the UK's top ten most brutal marathons" or some other tempting click bait...!!

I've done 3 rounds of C25k week3 this week. I'm not feeling too bad while doing it, and each one has got easier. I seem to have a secondary niggle on my hip on the same side as my tendonitis which will be related to it and deconditioning in recent months. I think I'll stick at the week 3 run level a bit longer to get the hip more comfortable, because everything is so vulnerable to over-training at the moment.

At least it's some running!

I feel like you and me are in quite similar places @BogRollBOGOF with our rehab

Yesterday, I was doing weights and light treadmill jog. Then today my AI "coach" had me doing a form run of 6.5k in blocks of 4min run, 1 min walk. Yesterday and today, I could really feel my glutes firing strongly and I can see how my stride was previously very " quad dominant" which I think is the underlying cause of my ongoing niggles.

So, progress.....

Managed a 10k PB at a race this weekend, 56:40 and two mins off my previous PB earlier this year so delighted with that as I had felt a bit undertrained! Now taking a couple of days to rest up as feeling it a bit in my legs and then prep starts for a 10-mile trail race later in the year with a couple of 10-15ks peppered in along the way.

@tinks3110 you’ll be grand!

@runnerducky - well done on your PB!

I’m feeling remarkably OK after Sunday’s HM, thanks to enforced sitting on Monday in a long journey. I had a gentle run yesterday and a swim this morning.

Glad you’re feeling good after the half @OhOneOhTwoOhThree

well done on your PB @runnerducky

glad you both seem to be getting somewhere with your recover @BogRollBOGOF and @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff

im feeling surprisingly fine after the ultra tbh and managed 10 easy miles yesterday. 2.5 run to run club then 7.5 with them. I also did a nice 10k plod around the fields with the dog tonight as I haven’t taken her out for ages and it was such a nice evening.

I have a 10k race with dd1 on Sunday and can’t decide whether or not to actually race it or just run it as a tempo run. I’ll see how I feel on the day I think.

Good for you with your pb @runnerducky !

Also good for those all feeling buzzy after races 💓

I am up at 0530 tomorrow to hit the gym again (secretly weirdly love early morning gym sessions, it's full of dedicated gym geek type people with their own kit and specialised routines).

Thank you!

In awe of you ladies bashing out marathons and ultras on the regular! I have my eye on a 70k trail ultra in 2028, need that long to come to terms with it mentally let alone physically!

Easy 10k today, nice to get legs turning over after race weekend. Picked up some Vaporfly 4s for super cheap on Vinted, unworn, so need to find a 5k I can sign up for to give them a good test!

Why have I woken up with race butterflies? I'm going to marshal at Hever Castle today, not race. I had planned to do tomorrow's Olympic distance tri, with today marshalling, but it doesn't fit with the training block for my marathon so I postponed the trip entry to next year, and will still marshal (for a race credit). So why am I nervous? I'm camping overnight to cheer on friends who are still doing tomorrow's race, and I suppose I have a bit of a "forgetting important things for camping" fear. I also don't actually know how I'm going to fit in this weekend's long run. Argh

Is it pre marathon nerves getting going early @TyneFilth ? Any chance of getting to bed early, then getting up tomorrow for your long run?

I did a 6km yesterday. On the positive side, I can definitely feel how previously, my L hip was "dropping out" of the stride and how that is different now. Otoh, as my body is learning what is basically a new biomechanical pattern, and the hip is taking its share of the work, it's now getting fatigued. After only 6km 😬 am really hope the strength builds quickly. Am really missing my long runs.

I won't be testing the theory for a while yet, but I'm wondering if HRT might pep up my race enthusiasm...

I got in a funk when events started happening again in 2020-21 when everything was still very fragile and uncertain, and into 2022 I just didn't look forward to events and feel enthusuastic. Generally that wore off after life stabilised and became predictable again, but that pre-race excitement never returned, and as much as I love racing and having done it, getting to the start just feels like a stressy chore and I'm wondering if it is a hormonal shift that was masked by that phase of disruption. Getting more injury prone since also hasn't helped. My achilles issues arose from the 2021 race season congesting into the autumn, and 2022 was substantially spent on rehab. I had a trapped nerve in my neck around my big half marathon in 2024. The past year has been full of niggles and injuries.

I'm hoping that HRT boosts my physical resilience. My general mood and life energy has perked up since I started at the start of the month...

I had my half marathon today and got a PB - 1 hour 57 minutes. I was aiming for sub 2 so really pleased! I did this same race last year and got 2 hour 14 minutes. Been for a massive lunch out and currently resisting having a bath because I’ll then want to crawl to bed!!

Oh good for you Captain!!! That a great time.

When I finally finally get back to fitness that is the sort of time I am looking for. Enjoying it vicariously through you 💞

Thank you! I’ve definitely overindulged since completing if today!

Just been looking at what my next half might be 😂

I did 8km this morning and my stride is definitely freer. Now I know what I am looking for/ supposed to be paying attention to, I can clearly feel that the injured area starts off feeling a bit grouchy, then warms up and feels fluid, and then gets to get fatigued differentially from the rest of the musculature.

Which shows me what I need to work on, I think!

Well done everyone on your races and runs! Sounds like everyone has had a good week in one way or another!!

great half marathon PB from @captainbarnacles123 well done!

it was the last parkrun yesterday at our local course as the landowners pulled the plug with just a weeks notice! There was a massive turn out! 650 theres usually around 250! Many people (including me) dressed up. Sad to see it go! Of course I ran faster than I intended to seeing as I had a race the next day. But what did I expect of myself 😂. But I didn’t go flat out and didn’t intend to on Sundays race either, so all was fine.

dd1 and I ran the marwell zoo 10k today. We signed up for it ages ago, well before I entered last weeks ultra and I decided to do it just for fun.

we started really far back as it’s was compelled packed at the start with 1220 runners and I couldn’t be bothered to fight my way forward (we had arrived quite late due to traffic getting into the zoo and had to wait in a very long toilet queue so only just made the start in time!).

it was mostly uphill for the first half but as it was just for fun I didn’t rush. Lots of weaving around people. I maintained a steady pace and passed loads of people going up the steep hill. The second half was mostly downhill and because I hadn’t pushed hard at the start I flew down without it being too much effort. In the end I was 4th female out of 770 (3rd if you go by chip time rather than gun time) and I think I’ve won my category. Dd1 was 18th female.

it was a really enjoyable race and despite tired legs from last weeks ultra and quite a busy week of running my heart rate stayed low and I felt really strong. Which I was very pleased with.

happy running all.

I completed my longest training run yesterday before my marathon in 3 weeks. I did 20 miles, I actually can't believe I am typing that! I did the first 10 miles alone and then my friend from the gym joined me on her bike for 5 miles out and 5 miles back on the canal which really helped. My knees held out and my legs felt better than on my 17 miler last week.
I am now feeling quietly confident about actually finishing the marathon. Am into the taper now, plan wants 14 miles on Sunday so I have signed up for an organised half as am bored of solo runs

Well done everyone who ran this weekend.