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The runners' thread... (part II)

Did my local 10K loop, which is fairly flat, in 49 mins last night, went through 5K in 23 min, then came round corner on to exposed section and hit head wind, and legs told me I had gone out far too fast. Demeaning slog then followed.

Remember, if you feel good, and seem to be going well, it is probably an unnoticed tail wind and the feeling will soon pass.
 
Still a great time though! I’d love a sub 50, mind you I can’t do one round here without involving some horrible hills. Wind is the work of the devil though when you’re running.
 
Great time PD!

Have had that same feeling at a Parkrun last year when I actually found myself very surprised and leading for a while on the first straight leg out along the seafront, only to turn at the end and find myself almost blown away across the beach by the wind... I could hardly walk into it let alone run. Ended up as a very slow one, and very, very tiring.
 
errr...Groundhog day. :)

Another half this morning.
Back to my normal route for the slightly 'gentler' inclines, though it's just over 1000' of climbing either way.
Very muggy and close, but felt good.
I must take a look at a map and find another route, time for a change.
 
I'm a bit late to this party. A year ago I joined our local running club's 5k beginners group. I could barely run a minute without stopping. I had just got into double figure Parkruns when the C19 lockdown put pay to that - we were about to go to Amsterdam in late March and run their 4th ever Parkrun in the Amsterdamse Bos. It's my 50th in October and I wanted to get 50 Parkruns under my belt by the end of the year. Sadly that's not going to happen now. Having said that, not commuting 3 hours a day and having more energy from working from home has given ample opportunity to explore the local area without trying to wedge some exercise in.

Back in early March every run was a 5k, anything less would have been cheating and anything further was fearful. I had signed up for a 10k race in May (Now October) and started to see if I could improve. Sometimes you've just got to go out and see how far you can go. I aimed for 8k a couple of months ago and did 10. That was quite a feeling. Yesterday I did 14k5 (9 miles) for the first time and I'm thinking about half-Marathon next.

I'm getting bored of the local runs which all involve hills but there's something immensely satisfying about beating your Strava segments and getting new PBs on every run. Current 10k PB is 55 mins. I'll be aiming for a sub 25 min 5k on the next Parkrun - I'm getting there.
 
10 miler today, building some long runs up again, just in case the autumn half marathons are on. Warm one today, not a spot of shade on the canal.

Good work MJS, I’ve not been doing this as long as some of the others, but I’ve found a love for all the distances I’ve done. A Parkrun pb is so satisfying, but it’s a real lung busting effort. Not done a 10k for a while, but, I always enjoy them. The half is where my efforts have been, good fun, and far enough to know you’ve really had to work. My first one was the GNR last year. The route is nothing special, but what an experience.
 
4.4 miles, 450ft of height change Saturday, 8.6 miles, 1100ft of height change Sunday. Still very slow, but felt comfortable on both!

Plan is to try ramping distance back up, and see what races are on offer in the Autumn. I have my eye on https://www.endurancelife.com/suffolk, whih I did a few years ago, and is late enough that that there is just time to prepare for it. Not sure which distance, if any, I would enter.
 
I bought a couple of kettlebells just after lockdown . A 30 and a 12. They help but missing the gym and my buddies there
 
MJS.. I remember my days as a raw beginner, I used to run round the block of my village and realised how unfit I was! The main thing I remember was not to give in, stick at it and your body/legs gradually adjust. You have made good progress so just keep on keeping on. :)

Piglet.. good effort on the solo time trial, always harder without a number on.

lordsummit.. decent half-maras up here are the Vale of York half (Sept) & the Brass Monkey (Jan). The latter is very hard to get into - 1800 places go in an hour. Both are very quick courses.

My nerve affected right leg (glute to back of knee) has begun to improve! It didn't budge at all for 3 months and I could'n't run more than 6-8 miles. In the last 2 weeks it has definitely become less painful, it is still there but I can now run without grimacing. It will probably still take another month or two to clear up altogether but I'm just glad to see some sign of relief. 7m yesterday & 5m today, very warm & muggy.
 
Very muggy 6.5k today. Just a post meetings-all-morning-at-work. Wasn't aiming for any specific time but still managed 2nd best time on the 1/2 mile uphill slog into my village. I'm happy with that.
 
lordsummit.. decent half-maras up here are the Vale of York half (Sept) & the Brass Monkey (Jan). The latter is very hard to get into - 1800 places go in an hour. Both are very quick courses.

Can’t see the Vale of York happening, the Brass Monkey’s one looks interesting, I may be doing the Mad Dog 10k in Southport that day though. It was cancelled due to foul weather. I did a Grim Running half last year, I might do another in January, I’ve started a 10k plan with a rather optimistic goal of 53 minutes. I’ve got a 5k pb of 25:56 right now. Hopefully I can get that under 25 at the same time.
 
My goodness speed and endurance improvement comes slowly when you're 60!

Lockdown and the good weather prompted me to start some running about 12 weeks ago since all the badminton and golf was out of bounds. I hadn't run regularly for about 35 years but always stayed active with plenty other sports. I started an easy flat loop on the local golf course of about 3.5k and did it every 2nd day pretty religiously. Took about 8 weeks before I could manage it without stopping. I have long had trouble with calf adhesions but they seem to have worked loose now I've been running regularly. Since the golf course is now full of golfers I have a new route which is almost exactly 5k but again I struggle to get round at any kind of pace without a few walking sections.

I did a bit of general jogging along with lots of other sports in my 20s, and had a 5k time of about 22-ish minutes so the 34 mins I'm taking right now after 12 weeks is very frustrating. I know I'm now a 'veteran' but surely that can't be the best I can do. I've started doing some intervals to get used to running at a faster pace which I quite enjoy. Maybe I need a different mix of runs, or extra rest days in between, or find some hills to run up.

I'm definitely much fitter than when I started but progress has been much slower than I expected. It occurred to me that just like cuts and scrapes heal only slowly as you get older, so lung and muscle capacity also no doubt build equally gradually in an older person.

Not sure what the purpose of this post is but if any fishies have any tips to help an old man along they'd be gratefully received.

Ian
 
Tip #1 (and more important than any others) - take it easy and gently, but keep doing it regularly.

You've already said it yourself, it takes time to 'improve', and the older you get, the more time it takes.
The worst thing would be to push it too far and get injured.

Do you have a goal or target as such, or just general fitness? If the latter then back to tip #1, just go out and enjoy the countryside and fresh air and forget about times and pace. Who cares if you have to walk a bit?!
 
I bought a couple of kettlebells just after lockdown . A 30 and a 12. They help but missing the gym and my buddies there

Don't think I could move a 30Kg! It is strange not being able to catch up with those you exercise with. I'm really missing the Parkrun chats, even though I'm not particularly sociable and not close friends. Just missing having a face to face chat with someone of the same mindset I guess.
 
My nerve affected right leg (glute to back of knee) has begun to improve!

Good news - we all need a bit of that these days!

I'm all set for an early outing tomorrow, new route planned, but just looked at the forecast and it says it's going to rain...hmmm..
 
Don't think I could move a 30Kg! It is strange not being able to catch up with those you exercise with. I'm really missing the Parkrun chats, even though I'm not particularly sociable and not close friends. Just missing having a face to face chat with someone of the same mindset I guess.
I really wanted a 24 but they were scarce around lock down. I can swing the 30 ok but do feel the weight of it. I’ve been using the same gym for a decade. It has a track and a decent running club attached. But outside of that the facilities are old school . And this helps to ensure that We have very few of the idiots that use the gyms elsewhere in the borough. We have a great atmos , Great local cross section and more than our fair share of pro athletes doing their thing. Miss it
 


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