Running (4 Viewers)

speedie87

Well-Known Member
I’m running a brand new race this Sunday: Garrondon Gallop 10k. It’s the inaugural event, so I’m quite looking forward to it.

I was going to aim for a PB, but with it being the first game of the season the day before, I don’t think that’s going to happen.....!

I can’t find a race anywhere local (within an hour or so from Coventry) for the following weekend. Does anyone know of any?

There’s a 10k at draycote water week on Sunday morning , which I’m doing
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
Raced for Godiva today in the midland league, over by Wolves training ground.

First up was the steeplechase. I was rather nervous about this, having only gone over about 15 hurdles in training at a very gentle pace, and never even attempted a water jump until I came face-to-face with it in the race today. Did pretty well, taking the hurdles fairly smoothly, but struggled a little on the water jump as due to the colour of the track, I found it hard to judge the depth of the water I was landing in, and lost a lot of momentum.

Finished in 12:42 which for the parkrunners is approx 21 minute pace, although obviously there’s 4 hurdles and a water jump on each lap. But could certainly take masses of time off that with practice... the main aim today was to not hurt myself and I was not taking any risks.

An hour later I very stiffly lined up for the 1500m. Took this very easy, with a large gap in front and behind, and rather jogged it in. 5:42
 

Evo1883

Well-Known Member
Started running again yesterday, have t ran for years

Felt like the bottom of my back was going to fall out of my arsehole, so stopped went home and had a kebab.. Will try again another day lol
 
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Macca

Well-Known Member
Slowed down the pace and walked the Chiltern 100k the other weekend, enjoyed every aspect of it. 22 hours 55 mins. No time pressure like normal running and a real mental challenge
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
Last night was another club session. 5 x 1 mile reps with 90 seconds rest.

Our team manager, who was one of the top runners in the country in the 80's, swears by these "long" rep sessions for improving your ability to hold your speed over5km/10km/HM distance. But they are very tough to pace right, and it's easy to blow your load on the first couple, which I why I always recommend shorter reps (400mtrs) for people new to rep sessions.
 

LastGarrison

Well-Known Member
Haven’t been for just a run for a few years but three of us from work started our ‘running club’ tonight at the Memorial.

All three at vastly different levels but ran with my little Mexican marathon running colleague and quite comfortably did a full circuit before we waited for the other colleague to catch up who’d been puking his guts up.

Gonna do a few more and then do park run to gauge where I’m at. Was at my skinniest of my adult life when I was running alongside bootcamp so need to get back into it.

And as a plus I enjoyed it.
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
I remember doing 6 x 800m and trying to keep them 2m 30sec with the same time in between each one. Knackered

You were/are obviously a decent runner then...

We are doing 800m reps next week, but we do them with decreasing rest time between each rep. For example after the first rep we’ll have 2 mins rest, and decrease by 10 seconds each time. So between 7th and 8th rep I think we are down to a minute rest...

I won’t be doing them in 2:30 though... more like 2:45-2:50....
 

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
You were/are obviously a decent runner then...

We are doing 800m reps next week, but we do them with decreasing rest time between each rep. For example after the first rep we’ll have 2 mins rest, and decrease by 10 seconds each time. So between 7th and 8th rep I think we are down to a minute rest...

I won’t be doing them in 2:30 though... more like 2:45-2:50....
Were young and skinny
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
This thread inspired me to try some interval training.

Just finished my 800m x 6 reps. 2 min 50 seconds reps, with 2 min rest in between. Averaged 2 min 53. So pretty pleased. Knackered now though

That's good going! Have you done a 5km/parkrun...? If so, what sort of time can you do? 20mins?
 

CrawleySkyBlue

Well-Known Member
That's good going! Have you done a 5km/parkrun...? If so, what sort of time can you do? 20mins?

I do the Tilgate (Crawley) parkrun regularly. PB is 18:44, but usually very close to the 19min mark (being plus or minus 5 seconds).
I've done the Cov parkrun a few times, PB is about 18:40 but I expect I could get this down since the course is a bit easier than the Crawley course.

Edit - thinking of doing the Cov parkrun on 24th August as I'm home to see the parents that weekend. Heading to the Gillingham game after.
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
Decent. My pb is 18:34 (Bedworth) but I've also not been able to get under 18:40 yet at Cov.

I'm planning a few Cov parkruns during august as part of marathon training. Either a 6 or 9 mile run to the memorial park, depending on the route I take, knock out a reasonable parkrun (certainly not pb pace), and then 6 or 9 miles back.
 

CrawleySkyBlue

Well-Known Member
Decent. My pb is 18:34 (Bedworth) but I've also not been able to get under 18:40 yet at Cov.

I'm planning a few Cov parkruns during august as part of marathon training. Either a 6 or 9 mile run to the memorial park, depending on the route I take, knock out a reasonable parkrun (certainly not pb pace), and then 6 or 9 miles back.

You're mad!!
 

CrawleySkyBlue

Well-Known Member
Another interval session complete, pretty much identical timings (a few seconds quicker overall if anything). Calves were feeling heavy at the end
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
You’re brave knocking out two interval sessions on consecutive days...

With the speed you can go. You don’t need anyone here giving advice, but I wouldn’t go mad with the harsh sessions... I’d usually only do two a week, one if I’m racing...
 

Sky_Blue_Daz

Well-Known Member
Come back off holiday yesterday, my specialist has said my ankle is fully healed I won’t run on it for a while but am considering getting on a cross trainer on the lowest setting and also going to start swimming .
 

Gazolba

Well-Known Member
Assuming you are not running around a track, how do you measure/estimate the distance you've gone?
Is there some app for your mobile phone or a device you can strap onto your leg?
Hopefully it would work for walking as well as running since that's mostly what I do.
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
There are various apps, I don’t use them myself, but I’m sure you could google them.... strava, etc.

Various types of gps watches which measure distance, averse speed etc.

Or good old knowing your approx pace per mile and working it out in your head (not quite as accurate unless you’re experienced).

I use a combination of track/treadmill work.... knowing the distances of my regular runs, and for longer runs I carry a hand held gps which measures distance and climb very accurately (a bit overkill for the roads but very handy for training on the fells).
 

We'll_live_and_die

Super Moderator
Assuming you are not running around a track, how do you measure/estimate the distance you've gone?
Is there some app for your mobile phone or a device you can strap onto your leg?
Hopefully it would work for walking as well as running since that's mostly what I do.


Strava is about the best free mobile app
 

Great_Expectations

Well-Known Member
Anyone running the Atherstone 10k next Sunday?

It will be my sixth ever official run (including the marathon) and thus far I’ve just ran for ‘fun’ and the experience of running a new route (and the free technical t-shirt!). I also completed my 5th Park Run today.

However, the competitive side is starting to kick in a little and now I’ve ran a few for ‘fun’ I’d like to take them a little more seriously and try to improve my timings per race. At the minute I just turn up (usually hungover to be honest), run and go home.

Any recommendations on how? And also, how do you develop a race strategy e.g. some people may start slow and finish quickly or may prefer a consistent pace?
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
If you’re are new to “racing” I’d heartily recommend just finding your best constant pace that you can manage... and if you feel good, then give it some hammer in the last few miles.

Wouldn’t recommend any tactical running at this stage. Main improvements are made in training, and race tactics are just “fine tuning” (in my humble opinion).

marathon training run for me this morning. 20 miles up and down the scenic splendour of the Cov Canal.
 

Sky_Blue_Daz

Well-Known Member
Did my first gym session since breaking my ankle, managed 15 minutes on the cross trainer and 15 minutes on the exercise bike and swam for half an hour
 

Great_Expectations

Well-Known Member
If you’re are new to “racing” I’d heartily recommend just finding your best constant pace that you can manage... and if you feel good, then give it some hammer in the last few miles.

Wouldn’t recommend any tactical running at this stage. Main improvements are made in training, and race tactics are just “fine tuning” (in my humble opinion).

marathon training run for me this morning. 20 miles up and down the scenic splendour of the Cov Canal.

I used the canal for my marathon training runs too, much preferred it to any other locations. However I got nowhere near 20 miles, I ran 16 miles once, and I didn’t start training until February! My marathon prep certainly wasn’t structured, planned or intense - and that was by choice. Cliche as it sounds finding hours to run was difficult and I still ended up socialising way more than I thought I would in the months leading up to it.

Still I finished it in 4.5 hours, so I’m sure you’ll be under 3.....!
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
What time are you aiming for?

Well I’m actually doing the Snowdonia Marathon in October which has something over 3000ft of climbing, and part of it is off road. I think it has equivalent flat mileage of 29.3 miles.

Given that, and it’s my first ever “road” race over 10km, I’m hoping to hit around 3 and a half hours. If I can achieve this then it would give me some indication that I could go sub 3 hours in a flat marathon with some dedicated training.
 

CrawleySkyBlue

Well-Known Member
Well I’m actually doing the Snowdonia Marathon in October which has something over 3000ft of climbing, and part of it is off road. I think it has equivalent flat mileage of 29.3 miles.

Given that, and it’s my first ever “road” race over 10km, I’m hoping to hit around 3 and a half hours. If I can achieve this then it would give me some indication that I could go sub 3 hours in a flat marathon with some dedicated training.

That is some serious going, would be a very impressive achievement. Good luck!
 

Travs

Well-Known Member
Thank you. As I say, knocked out 20 miles at the weekend, at a fairly constant 3:24 marathon pace, although that was just going out and starting without a warmup or anything... and wearing a rucksack with a litre of water in it... oh yeah and (getting all my excuses in here) wearing very ungrippy road shoes down an often very slippery canal towpath!

So I need to speed up somewhat to take into account the climbing... I’ve undoubtedly got the legs to get round, no problem, but perhaps not enough specific road work to do myself justice with a faster time.
 

Great_Expectations

Well-Known Member
Thank you. As I say, knocked out 20 miles at the weekend, at a fairly constant 3:24 marathon pace, although that was just going out and starting without a warmup or anything... and wearing a rucksack with a litre of water in it... oh yeah and (getting all my excuses in here) wearing very ungrippy road shoes down an often very slippery canal towpath!

So I need to speed up somewhat to take into account the climbing... I’ve undoubtedly got the legs to get round, no problem, but perhaps not enough specific road work to do myself justice with a faster time.

Either way, it’s very impressive.

I’d definitely do another marathon but this time I’d actually properly train for it; both fitness and dietary wise.

I mentioned it earlier and I guess it’s a no, but is anyone doing the Atherstone 10k on Sunday? Voted one of the best in the country apparently!
 

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