2 hours and 29 seconds on the second attempt. It couldn't have just been half a minute quicker, could it?
I signed up for the Yorkshire marathon yesterday. It's not until October, so I've got plenty of time. Hopefully I can engineer a nice, strong, steady build up between now and then.
I've really let it go over the last 2 months. I did 10 miles last weekend and struggled. Still, a few weeks will have me back in okay shape at least. It helps that I have a half booked in February.
I'd like to beat my time in the same race from last year but I certainly won't be getting anywhere near a PB.
My kid is taking swimming lessons. You can view all the objectives online now and the teacher fills them out. 2nd lesson in and the only ones that aren't 'unable to complete skill' are:
Understanding of basic pool rules No running, diving or bombing. Shower and toilet before swimming
And
Jump safely into the pool from the poolside ensuring soft knees for landing Safe
Even they are only 'good progress but not consistent'.
Did the Snetterton 10k on Sunday, managed to finish with a 1:07:39, which isn't too bad considering Christmas took it's usual sugary toll.
I'm thinking of the Snetterton Half Marathon in November but I have problems actually increasing the distance past 10k. Considering I'm running between 6:30-7 per km, any slower and I'd basically be power walking. Any tips for increasing the distance?
@Lewis or anyone else who does a bit of lifting, any tips on how I can do pressing excercises without fucking my shoulder, which already seems a little fucked (AC joint, apparently)?
I'm not going far back with my elbows at all at the moment, but still can't shake this thing in my shoulder, and as soon as I try any chest or pressing exercises, it starts flaring up again the day after.
I have shoulder pains at the minute, which I think come from sleeping on one side, and I've helped it a little bit (still there) by pressing with a narrower grip. Not close grip, but where your elbows are more tucked in than they would be with a normal one.
Tried that too, and "reverse" pressing (palms facing upwards towards head so to speak), which is really awkward though, and doesn't feel like I'm activating my chest muscles at all, but instead I get quite a lot of front delts and triceps. Basically like any pressing, but without the chest activated. Which is the big problem.
Flys are a no-go as well, it seems.
Have you had the AC joint diagnosed?
I've hurt my shoulder a couple times (rotator cuff it seems like) and I had to just not press anything for about a month. Make sure you're doing enough pull work to offset the press stuff (face pulls help a lot) and try warming up the shoulder with some really light weight stuff (external/internal rotations, lateral raises) before you lift.
Yeah I have, went to some physiotherapists, did some physical checks and eventually did an ultrasound on it, all they said was it's a bit swollen (I'm able to pinpoint where it's sore), as well as a little bit of liquid (I think) having been gathered there. As a result, I got a cortisone shot in the shoulder, which seems to have helped a little bit, but I still feel it a bit.
I do do a lot of pulling exercises, mainly different varieties of Rowing (and I occasionally do that Face Pull, but didn't know it was called that) and Deadlifts.
But I'd like to be able to somehow train the chest without "involving" the shoulders too much, so to speak.
I guess I'll have to wait a bit more.
It's frustrating though as I'll do back one day, and then be sore to do it again next day (I only do legs max once per week as I train stuff like football or floorball maybe twice a week as well and go for the occasional run).
Playing football helps me when it comes to running. I find my runs easier if I play twice a week and run once, as opposed to not playing and just running three times. I suppose it's something to do with the high intensity. On Sunday I ran 8k in 34 minutes, and could have done 10k in about 43 if i felt like it. When I'm not playing football my times see to go up to around 47 minutes.
I ran 1.44.12 in the half yesterday. This was in line with my goal for the race but it also underlines how much work I have to do to get into shape for something like a sub 1.30 half - which I'd like this year.
I'm very envious of the 1:44 pace, if that makes you feel any better Henry.
How do you generally go about working on the speed? I've only ever focussed on the distance to be honest, and the miles have just naturally gotten a bit quicker over time as a result, but I'm not talking anything impressive here though. It's generally somewhere between 8:30 and 8:50 a mile now. I do feel like I almost subconsciously sort of settle into that pace though. Maybe I'm just not pushing myself enough.
My friend who I sometimes run with, who's done a lot of marathons and has been very into it for years, was suggesting something along the lines of mixing some shorter, faster runs into the routine. When I go on "long" runs with him (10/11 miles usually) we never set the world alight pace wise, and he never seems that bothered. Then I'll see him on Strava doing 5/10k's and he's absolutely hammering it.
As with everything , high intensity runs mixed in with your normal schedule helps to improve your speed. Try and sprint and you'll get faster.
The three important runs on your weekly schedule should be:
- Long slow run - for at least an hour and a half, to build endurance.
- Intervals to build speed - fast mixed with slow (there are various ways to do this depending on what level you're at but going as fast as you can for three minutes followed by two minutes jogging and repeating 8-10 times is a good guide).
- Tempo - a comfortably hard pace for 40 minutes.
You can do others too but always try to keep to those.
Started playing football again on a Sunday. First game was this Sunday, came on for the last 20 minutes up front and basically just ran around like a headless chicken. I could have scored a header at the near post but the ball was curling and I missed the fucking thing, which was a bit embarrassing.
All in all I did alright though, put myself about and showed I could do stuff with the ball. Everyone was knackered by this time and so we basically had no midfield, which made it tricky.
I've got the Fulham 10k in a few weeks so need to ramp up again. First ten k in a while last night helped and I'll do one a week for the next 6 to get my speed up.
I think I have something called Mortons Neuroma, at least the descriptions completely fit the bill for what my foot feels like. Anyone of you runners who have had it and have any tips on what to do?
Since I googled it now recently when it got a lot worse, I've realized this has probably come and gone a lot over the years so it's nothing new but it's a lot worse recently.
I've had piriformis syndrome, which has similar symptoms. Lots of stretching fixes it although it recurs intermittently.
Hmm, but this is in the foot. How does one stretch the foot? I stretch my large muscles quite regularly and well.
Not sure that you can, but it may be worth confirming that it is in fact what you think it is. Lots of things can can affect the nerve running down the leg and into the foot, and be relieved by stretching glutes, hamstrings and lower back.
Yeah I will, but I'm quite certain given where it seems to hurt exactly. Anyway, I'll try to find a time with someone to see if I can confirm it. I hope not, since it seems like a bit of a bitch and not easily sorted.
I ran 1.36.43 in an extremely hilly half yesterday with a headcold. My third fastest time, but I'm thinking that it's probably been my best "performance" yet. I was placed fairly high up, 17th out of 254 runners.
Hopefully I'm still on for sub 1.30 before the end of the year.
And now I enter four weeks of hell as marathon training peaks. Marathon is on 3rd June.
Last edited by Henry; 15-04-2018 at 10:16 AM.
That's really good Henry, impressive stuff. I'm doing the Leeds half marathon in about a month (which I've heard is also quite hilly) but I've got more modest goals, just hoping to crack 2 hours!
Which marathon are you doing? The idea of a summer marathon would scare me a little bit. I would end up fixating on the possibility of waking up that morning and it being blazing hot outside, which I can only imagine would make the whole experience very unpleasant.
I'm still on for the York one in October myself. I'm feeling quite good about it so far, I definitely feel like the training is well on track. I've been managing to pick up the pace a little bit over more extended distances lately too. My last two runs I broke my 10 mile PB on both occasions, and still felt like I had something in the tank at the end too.
I signed up for a ten miller in May in London which should be a nice half way house before I finally enter a half.
I'm doing Derry marathon. I suppose heat would be a problem but then so would cold, or rain.
I suppose. I would take the cold over the heat any day though, but then I am a bit of a fanny when it comes to hot weather. How far do you tend to push it, distance wise, when you're approaching the marathon Henry?
I've been having a look into it (by which I mean googling and reading random running forum/reddit threads) to get an idea of what to aim for in the run up to October and the two main schools of thought I've encountered so far seem to be that I should either make 20 miles my longest training run and not go further, or that I should go a bit further look to make the cumulative total of my five longest training runs add up to 100 miles. But obviously I suppose the actual answer depends a lot on how well you're running and/or how injury free you feel at the time.
I just got back from 10 miles and seemed to have equaled my PB of a few days ago to the exact second, which is a bit annoying.
I'm in absolutely appalling condition at the moment. I've always avoided cardio because it hate it and have gammy hamstrings but I fear it may have to be the solution.
Think I'm going to get one of those Garmin watches to find out just how much of a lazy shit I really am.
My longest training run will be 35K three weeks out from the marathon.
Although my advice is to only go above 20 miles (which is approx 32k) if you can do that in under 3 hours. Running longer than 3 hours in training won't do you good.
Last edited by Henry; 15-04-2018 at 09:30 PM.
Noted.
20 miles it is then.
Do you plan your route or just run until your app says you’ve done your distance? I do the latter but always find myself running round the block a few times because I turned back too soon. Are there any good route planning apps?
I generally have a plan for the route in advance, but I'm pretty much always running slightly different variations of the same four or five loops at this point, so there's minimal effort involved in in. If I'm feeling up for it I'll branch off for a few miles and then come back on at some point.
I've never used any sort of app that plans out specific routes for me, I'm sure they exist but I generally just map them out myself.
https://onthegomap.com/#/create
I find that to be a nice, easy to use website for messing around and gauging the distance. I still end up in the same spot as you occasionally though, just running around random residential estates to make it up to another mile or whatever.
I managed to crack 2 hours over the half marathon distance in training tonight, 1:57:00. Hopefully I can drop it again a bit on race day in a few weeks.
Last edited by Alex; 21-04-2018 at 12:13 AM.
1:56:45 in the Leeds half marathon. So a PB of a full 15 seconds!
I'll take it though, it was a lot more hilly than anything I've run in training. It was nice to finally run a proper race too.
April 20-something was my first ride this year. I'm so incredibly out of shape. Getting dropped on all my rides. I hope it doesn't take too long to get back in shape because this sucks.
EDIT: Couldn't even fit into one of my jerseys yesterday.
Last edited by Pepe; 13-05-2018 at 02:50 PM.
Anyone here done Race At Your Pace? You pick a target for the month (eg 25 Miles) pay £10 and then send proof (Runkeeper etc screenshot) and they send you a snazzy medal.
I'm a twit
No but I've seen it before and considered it.
@Alex Well done - a pb is always welcome. I ran a 10 mile this morning at Richmond Park and managed to hit my target of sub 1:30. 1:26:21 -longest distance I've run and it was pretty comfortable.
Manchester 10k next Sunday to close off my month of running.
Absolutely. Thanks mate, that was my thinking too.
I ended up in a bit of a weird spot where I was absolutely knackered and sure that I had blown it, and then looked at my watch with about .15 of a mile to go and realised than if I picked it up up I could break the PB. Which resulted in the most uncomfortable, minute long sprint of my life. I felt like I wanted to pass out at the finish line.
That's a great time for a first 10 mile run, by the way. A good minute and a bit faster than I've ever run it!
Yes! I did it in January. Somebody started a "January Running Challenge" group on WhatsApp amongst our friends, and everyone signed up on there for what they thought they could get to. There were loads of us, it was really fun.
I'm going to be skipping for 20-30 mins every night for at least 2 weeks. Hopefully I notice some positive results.
I finished my peak training week last week, and now I've begun tapering ahead of my marathon. I love tapering.
The nerve shit in my foot has gotten a little better from running with a pelotte or what it's called, and the weathers been stunning so been doing a lot more running than just hitting the Gym recently.
Also because my shoulder is still fucked it's pretty good to give it a bit of a rest.
I run usually around 6-7km per round, sometimes only about 5-6 though.
I don't feel like I run out of breath much, which is obviously because I keep a pretty low tempo mostly, but my limits seem more to come from just getting a little "worn" for lack of a better explanation after around 5-6Km or so, like my knee starts to hurt a bit and I sort of feel a bit stiff in my hip joints and what have you. Basically after a while of running I feel old(er).
Having had so much trouble with knee and foot I don't wanna try to increase the lenght as much as I should be increasing the pace really.
Still, 3 years ago I massively struggled to run anything over 5k so I'm much better at it now.
played footy once a week from september-novemberish, then twice a week until about january, and had built up solid stamina - could run around like a headless chicken for the full hour most evenings.
played for the first time since january last week and was blowing out of my fucking arse within 5 minutes. can't be arsed to start running yet, but i've started doing a somewhat pathetic 15 minutes a night on the exercise bike like an obese middle-aged woman trying to get back into shape, and i'm hoping it'll make a BIT of a difference. diet's fine, drinking is under control, and i get plenty of low-intensity exercise (i walk everywhere and i'm mostly on my feet at work, pedometer reckons easily 10,000 steps a day), so i reckon doing 15 mins on the bike every night and footy for an hour a week is good enough for now.
i do proper go for it on the bike for what it's worth
I played badminton the other day. It's well good. Might take it up properly.
Yeah Badminton is really fun. You gotta play against someone of about equal skill though for it to be a workout. If someone is better than you, you don't even get a chance to run around and try to make up for it.
I cracked 15 miles in the marathon training tonight, which is the longest distance I've run to date. It actually felt alright too, relatively comfortable. Although my legs fucking hurt now though, and I've got a headache! The latter is to probably something to do with lack of hydration during, I imagine.
Still, the thought of repeating that and then adding on another 11 miles on in ten weeks time is still a little bit disconcerting, I have to be honest.