Oh and I note rocket!

 

Years ago when they began, I ordered a test winter jacket, think colour options were rocket or black. They didn't have colour swatches on the pages and these were cheap... So I went for rocket.

 

Imagine my horror when the green jacket arrived and not the rocket red one. SWMBO pointed out rocket is green... to this day, which is like 8years ago, rocket is still red to me.

 

If I don't lead the audience, a large number of males over 45 also say red. Healthly youthful ones do tend to say green, but rockets are red, and rocket yes, is green :(

i would cinsider rocket to be a red colour also, so it being green is a bit weird. i got a blue one too, so i can wear for a few runs, then wash and have a second waiting in the drawer

 

i was gonna get the get vayper ones, but they has none in stock in  size. i went small after measuring myself again a couple of more times, and im glad, id say the med wouldve been baggy so less effective 

 

jaysus havent updated for a while..

 

29th sept

 

1st Oct

 

crackin the goal is hard.. 

weather bern a mixed bag of horrible isnt helpin...

also fitbit not distance made it a disappointing effort

 

 

Edited 6 October, 20205 yr by mac11irl

so then a couple of more runs..

 

being tired was a bit cruel...

 

but last night...

 

i was calving when i hit stop! i felt over the first 2k it was a good pace, but i didnt look at it until i was hitting the last 200m.

 

 

 

side note, that was 5 runs in the same gear. no sweaty stink off them and my tshirts are less sweaty taking them off after the run too. so yes,  Alpkit gear is worth the investment!

just double checked... last night was a new PB!

 

Change of Tactic Alert!!

 

im due my run today. but, i decided last night before bed  -

If one of the boys wakes up and has resettled before 630am, ill go for my run in the morning. 

542am - spud sr starts his dawn chorus.. "are you ok?" "i need a wee" "come on so"

he was asleep again by 555am.

so, i stayed up, got geared uo and left the house at 615. Target- if i dont have ti stop and walk ilbe happy as ive never done early morning running. also, id left my headphones in the study, which has a quite loud door handle,  so i was going au naturale sound scape..

 

 

5seconds slower than Mondays PB...

shocked is an under statement

morning...

bit slower today, but thats alright.

 

Sunday morning, 655am.

darkness into light, was lovely.

 

the time above made it even better.

 

 

today was earlier start, still dark when i got home.

 

 

problem though....

when i get up, swmbo wakes up also, and cant get back sleep, which isnt ideal, given the still not 100% health situation. That and any time from 530am either or both of the Spuds are liable to wake up too. but night running has the problem of me ending up on the endorphine rush at 11pm and so cant sleep... 

 

so i may have to look at splitting the programme... into sma set day routine rather than the current "every second day" which is a fortnightly cycle to - 

6am runs Tue and thur

9pm run Fri and Sun

 

ibthink i can work, gives the possibility of a lie in to happen at the weekend..

right, i cant run at night. i dont sleep. dont even feel tired until after 1am. and when small people have a habit of waking you around 630am and you dont even have caffeine to keep you going... its just unpleasant and makes me narky. 

 

so its gonna just have to be mornings, and hope swmbo gets used to me sneaking out and can go back asleep.

 

anyway,

15 Oct, second fastest all time at 25m 18secs.

 

ended up missing a run due to the floor removal weekend.. 19th oct.

 

21st oct. this one was hard for some reason.

 

 

24th Oct, back to mornings..

 

and today 26th oct

 

 

 

im happily keeping under 26mins, and i know i can crack 25. todays headwind on the return leg definitely cost me time.

 

this morning, 655am start...

 

 

annoyed, as im not sure its correct..

i ws passing my end point at 24m56 but.... fit bit app didnt go to 5km for another 100m! 

oh yeah, bonus ..

 

 

apple tree spud sr planted a few weeks ago in the park i go through on my route. i can see it in the morning light now, and i remembered to take snap on my way through today

 

 

dubious result last as fitbit made me run about 150m further than the last 3 weeks on the same route... fk you fitbit..

I thought that you said you were only using an app on your phone?

 

In which case its rubbish in = rubbish out, you cant blame the app for the innacuracy of your phones GPS tracking.

 

Why dont you just set your stopwatch when you set out and when you get back? You may not be doing exactly 5km in any case, its only an improvement that you are looking for and I find looking at the results while I am running can be counter productive, I prefer to listen to my body.

Edited 1 November, 20205 yr by J.R.

its the fitbit app, on my phone, in my pocket while running. you can use it without a wearable. and, no, its not my phones gps, as that has always had me pretty much exactly where im standing. 

and, as i have said in the other thread... fitbit not recording distance properly has been an issue for a couple of yrs now - on literally the same run giving vastly different measurements to other apps...

 

using strava tomorrow, so will see what it does

 

strava... measures during run to 2 decimals, fitbit only does to 1.

exact same route.... 5.01km about 100m earlier than fitbit had been telling me... screenshot below.

 

 

under 25mins. behind thrilled..

 

yesterday morning..

 

 

same start point, same finish point, same route. 10m variance...

 

strava has my vote! the mapping is also alot more accurate, i can see see where i drift wide to make the turn at the lamp post at the farthest point of the run, and the line is on the footpath (aerial layer turned on) for the vast vast bulk of the way. 

 

much happier than fitbit..

okay, i like strava, its accurate!!

 

Friday morning.

 

Monday

 

and today....

 

 

 

Progress Update -

i just went back and checked...

my first attempt at running what turned out to be an almost 5k took me...

over 35mins, probably closer to 36..

 

my time today is a new Personal best at 24m 31s. so, i have shaved 12mins, ish, off my time over the past nearly 4 months of running, and im able to carry on and function for the day like im looking for where both my lungs fell out...

 

Im a happy bunny!

 

 

also. i have new routine plan in my head -

mornings only, leaving before 7am.

Mon. Tue, Thur, Fri.

it gives me the weekend off so a shot a lie in... 

and it gains a run per fortnight compared to the current every second day plan.  dounle gain

 

given the flood defences are in place, and the river has over topped the bank in a few places, i didnt risk getting stuck or having to turn back and adjusted my route a bit. 

 

managed to still be done in 24m 31sec, despite there being a nastier hill to go up and over on todays circuit. 

 

missed the river section though, its peaceful

friday morning, just jogged it out, had been a long week.

 

straight out, it was nice having a lie in for the weekend. neither of the kids woke up early, neither did I, or swmbo.. was in bed until after 8am for the first time in... years!

paid for the lovely lie in today though... spud jr woke up at 4am, firat time in a couple of months that happened. wouldnt re settle, had to do a bottle for him... got back into bed at 5. got 10mins sleep between then and the 635am alarm..

 

i really really was tempted to say screw this im stayin put. but, reality was i knew i wasnt going to magically go back to sleep if i hadnt in the previous 90+ minutes so i got up.

 

left the house and really didnt feel like it at all. but... i managed a new personal best

this morning was the most odd run i've done. 

 

it was warm, humid, drizzly and just icky. 

so i left the house with a wooly hat on, which intook off and stuffed in my pocket. (do this when its cold too, until im up and going nicely). but 300m later it fell out! so i had to double back 20ft to retrieve it.. lost a bit time, annoying.

i carried on, but went up the steep hill instead of around the other way, so that i wouldnt have to double back, its a minor route alteration. tgen i decided to chance coming up by the river. stung. flood barriers still closed, i couldve hopped it but i couldnt remember if the gate at the other end is climb overable,  so... i took the right, and headed out by an access path beside a shop. 

 

i climbed up and over the fence rail and when hopped down to carry on running my knee just decided nah, your not jumping now your stumbling... and i ended up executing a beautiful forward roll (martial arts breakfall style) and then carried on running through the carpark.  i hope the shop staff got to see it for a decent laugh on the cctv...

That happened to me last year when I tripped at full pelt on a tarmacked section of the Somme Canal towpath, the roots of a tree had raised a trip hazard that I did  not see with my compromised vision, I still cant believe that I pulled it off by chance and not instinctively because I have never done martial arts in my life nor that I ended up on my feet again and running, I think the velocity & momentum turning into inertia made that happen, the most dangerous part was remaining upright & continuing to run when my head did not have a clue even what planet I was on let alone what had happened.

 

A very weird experience which could have turned out very badly & probably will the next time.

Hey all

 

Infrequent poster here, but stumbled across this thread and thought I'd chip in.

 

I'd always hated running.

 

Not through lack of fitness....I can walk in the hills all day...or go on an all-day epic mountain bike ride....but running ? I'd tried once or twice in the past, but I'd just get maybe 1/4 of a mile and be so out of breath and in so much discomfort that I'd give up, loathing it, and have no inclination to ever, ever try again.

So for several years, I've firmly been a mountain biker (as are several of my mates in our village), while my wife has been a keen fell runner (as are quite a few people in our village, several of whom are my mates' wives).

I'd had a partial meniscectomy (sp?) a few years ago which saw around a 1/3rd of the cartilage removed from my right knee, and I'd used that as a reason (excuse) not to run because I thought the impact could cause damage.

I started to feel a bit bad though, that my wife would occasionally come out for a ride with me, yet I wouldn't entertain the idea of returning the favour and running with her.

There was also an element of wanting to achieve something that had always beaten me.

So right at the start of 2020, I decided to have another go. But this time, more gradually. I decided I'd follow the Couch to 5k, as a means of getting into it in a more controlled manner.

First, I went to a local running shop and had a proper shoe fit, done on a treadmill with slo-mo video analysis of running style etc, so I gave myself the best chance of not injuring my knee.

To start with, I didn't want anyone else to know I was trying to run, apart from my wife.

Most times you walk down the road in our village, someone drives past who knows you....so I'd wait till late evening, drive 1/2 mile to a car park on a nearby trail, and do my deeds in the cold, wet, lonely darkness with a headtorch.

I carefully followed the C25K guidance for the first 2 or 3 weeks. Run for so long, walk for so long....and repeat.

Kept all my running activities private on Strava.

About 3 or 4 weeks in I felt like I could run for a bit longer at a time than the plan suggested.

So I gave it a go, and after about 4 weeks I managed to run 5k without any walking.

After all these years (I'm 46) of thinking I couldn't run - it felt like a great achievement.

It was time to "come out".

But to add a bit of excitement I decided to do a Parkrun as my first "public" run and go public on Strava to see the surprise of my riding & running mates.

My wife said she'd pace me, promising not to go too fast. I should have realised that was a complete and utter lie, and that she'd already decided what time I was going to run it in, and that time was quite a bit faster than I'd ever done. Also, she knew most of the pacers, and each time I went past one of the slower pacers, she'd tell them it was my first Parkrun, and they'd start shouting "support" from behind me, so I felt I couldn't slow down even though I felt like I was about to collapse and die.

Ended up doing my first Parkrun 5k in 23:39, which was way faster than I'd ever run, and was the reason I ended up leaning over a fence at the end trying not to vomit.

 

I felt elated though !

 

Since then, maybe once a week, I've been keeping it up. Now we're both WFH, I sometimes go out for lunchtime runs with my wife.

I've found I much prefer cross-country now, much prefer exploring offroad and getting plastered in mud (probably the same reasons I prefer offroad mountain biking than road riding).

There's less pressure on times - as it's all hilly, muddy terrain, it's naturally slower yet very challenging.

Have even bought a second pair of running shoes now, for more offroad terrain. Never thought that would ever happen. Still a way off the 10+ pairs my wife has though....

 

I can now run 10k XC and still be able to function relatively normally at the end and without several days of aching afterwards, and with hardly any walking on the hilly bits too.

 

I'll always prefer bikes to running, and I don't think I've fully got to the "enjoying it" stage of running yet, but it's a great feeling to conquer something that you always hated with a passion.

 

Edited 19 November, 20205 yr by muddyboots

@muddyboots

 

yes! this is the kind of bio i want to people to feel happy to share. 

at the moment im still working my to consistent pace on the 5k route, im trying to decide between stretching the distance oe making the 5k more difficult (adding weight for example) its a bit of a conundrum, as with a 6yr old and 9month old, and tryin to work full time (mostly from home) there isnt a lot of time left day to day to add more run time. im gettin up at 630am as it is to get it done before everyone gets up for the day! ( not fun when the 9month old decides hes waking at 4am until 530 )

 

i think im into the "liking it" phase now, esp as i am getting up regarsless of weather..