I know it is Olympic year and all, and the Olympics will be coming back to Aus, if we can decide where and what stadium to build, but it seems that running is fashionable again with a lot more female participation especially at high levels.

 

Athletics is a minority sport here but there were an unusual number (six) of ladies who posted qualifying times for the marathon and unfortunately only three could go to Paris. It meant there was some controversy over the selections in the press.

 

Like the British press, ours tend to be nationalistic and were a bit over enthusiastic over the qualifying numbers but the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp) did bring some perspective to their cover of the story with the fact that Ethiopia had 79 female and 93 male runners achieving their respective qualifying times. Of course, only three of each could go to Paris.

 

I mean .......wow, how bad would your self-esteem suffer at one of their Parkruns???

Decades before the current popularity of non-alcoholic beverages (beer, wine) there was an Australian non-alcoholic wine called Claytons with the advertising line "The drink you have when you are not having a drink". It meant the name became an Australian reference to something that is not quite what it appears, or an inferior product.

 

I have often set myself what I would call my 'Clayton' (none binding) sporting objectives. I'd do the training preparation but was not really worried if I didn't compete in the 'target' event (bike, run, or triathlon).

However late last year I set myself a realistic 'Clayton' objective of running 10 km on or close to my 70th birthday in January this year.

It seemed a fairly achievable target until real life (and medical issues) got in the way of any running, much less regular training. In the past, not competing in an event did not bother me, but at least I was capable if I had really wanted to, this time, however, it actually looked like this was one target I would not be capable of doing and it might slip away.

Well today, a bit later than anticipated and a quite a bit slower, I eventually achieved my target distance. 

Feeling pretty chuffed about it really.

Edited 28 June, 20241 yr by Gerrycan

On 28/06/2024 at 15:11, Gerrycan said:

Decades before the current popularity of non-alcoholic beverages (beer, wine) there was an Australian non-alcoholic wine called Claytons with the advertising line "The drink you have when you are not having a drink". It meant the name became an Australian reference to something that is not quite what it appears, or an inferior product.

 

I have often set myself what I would call my 'Clayton' (none binding) sporting objectives. I'd do the training preparation but was not really worried if I didn't compete in the 'target' event (bike, run, or triathlon).

However late last year I set myself a realistic 'Clayton' objective of running 10 km on or close to my 70th birthday in January this year.

It seemed a fairly achievable target until real life (and medical issues) got in the way of any running, much less regular training. In the past, not competing in an event did not bother me, but at least I was capable if I had really wanted to, this time, however, it actually looked like this was one target I would not be capable of doing and it might slip away.

Well today, a bit later than anticipated and a quite a bit slower, I eventually achieved my target distance. 

Feeling pretty chuffed about it really.

Fantastic! Well done. 

On 02/06/2024 at 13:56, Hilly81 said:

Broke my Parkrun PB yesterday running 16:56 at Widnes (previous PB 17:55 at Ellesmere Port). Also ran a track mile a week ago and finished in 6th place with 5:02.2. Should have broke 5 minutes really. Next time. 

Smashed my 10k PB running 35:40 at the Wilmslow Summer 10k a couple of weeks ago. Rolled the dice going through 5k in 17:33 (slightly downhill 1st 5k) and then just dug in for the 2nd half of the race. Extremely happy to go sub 36 at 42 years old and the time ranks me 389th over 10k in my age group in all of Great Britain. 

We are on holiday in New Zealand and I attended a Christchurch Parkrun at Hagley Park.

Good conditions and reasonably happy with a 26:30 run. Lots of people there including some visitors from the UK. 

The volunteers were brilliant as usual and I was sorry  I had to rush off at the end before I could thank them as we had to pick our hire car.

I attended a local athletic meet recently and watched a junior athlete give a seasoned Olympic finalist a surprise in the sprint finish to a middle-distance race forcing the more experienced athlete to rally again to win. 

Who doesn't love precocious talent, especially when the backstory includes coming from limited Australian country facilities (a good grass oval) and the nearest proper running track a couple of hours drive away. 

I was also blown away by his likability and maturity at just 17 years old when I spoke to him later. I find youngsters like that really uplifting.

Getting older does not make anything easier and I have found myself putting off running due to current high daytime temps/working/health/any excuse really, and then dreading the likely deterioration and pain of resumption after an extended break.

I've also been slack regarding my diet and increased my mealtime wine consumption, so I should not be surprised (but I was) that a couple of recent impromptu blood pressure tests have indicated it has risen above ideal levels. Not dangerous but not a trend I want to worsen.

I was obviously too complacent that my regular casual and mostly physical taxing work, plus walking two dogs we are looking after twice a day, would be enough to maintain my fitness.

So, I have resumed running, just 4 km to start with and by gosh is it slow and has it hurt!

However, I can take some solace from the fact that when I started running, about 35 years ago, and did 2km for a short triathlon that I remember it hurt a lot more.

It will be interesting to monitor my blood pressure if I manage to maintain about 3 runs a week.

Edited 30 April, 20251 yr by Gerrycan

I'm quite pleased with how things are progressing since being able to string together a few runs in our now cooler weather.

My distances covered and speed are slowly improving, but I am not putting too much pressure on myself so that I can enjoy the run more.

I have had to correct a previous mentioned running posture problem (stooping and looking at the ground in front of me) and now a new issue with my breathing.

Seems stupid, but I actually have had to concentrate quite hard on breathing by using less chest expansion and using more diaphragm breathing. I think both issues were what made my first 'comeback' run a few weeks ago so hard.

No wonder I prefer running by myself, it is taking most of my brain power to keep putting one foot in front of the other, conversation is way beyond me.

Not sure if it inspirational or just plain daunting when you read headlines like:

Canadian ultrarunner Stephanie Case just won the 100-kilometre Ultra-Trail Snowdonia ultramarathon in Wales — six months postpartum, without an elite bib, and while stopping to breastfeed her baby at aid stations.

She took 3 years off running to have her baby and just entered the event to test where she was before a more challenging event in July.

Incredible!!

Me, well I have decided my target this year will again be a 10km run on the flat, and hopefully in under an hour.

Edited 27 May, 20251 yr by Gerrycan
grammar, I don't use Chatbot

Our winter weather/work/social/laziness have contributed to a less consistent recent training phase.

However, a social media post by my daughter-in-law (full-time work, with a two and half year old) showing her improved running times and fitness over the last year spurred me into venturing out for a twighlight run tonight.

After my involuntary tapering I decided to extend my distance to 8km.

Went out too fast for the first km so spent the next three recovering and then was able to settle into an even pace.

Very happy with 5:36 km averages, which is the best I have been achieving recently for shorter runs.

Calves hurt...a lot. Must walk out the lactic acid tomorrow, but my knees handled it comfortably despite the cool conditions.

Edited 29 June, 202529 Jun by Gerrycan

A mixed bag over the six weeks or so:

A couple of days after the above 8km run I came down with a cold, not a bad one, but sufficient to deter me from running for a bit.

Resumed with a light load of short, slow distances and built up to 7km again and then I was delighted to have, a good (for me), 7km at 5:34 averages. Then immediately came down with another cold, this time a proper cold, the worst kind, A REAL MAN COLD! First time off work since covid.

So, I question whether the effort put into the relatively fast runs lowered my resistance to infection? OR, whether I already had been infected and my immune system had already stepped up resulting in improved times?? Or it was all just a coincidence?

Eventually resumed running again with really slow (not for want of trying) 4km run on the weekend, then had a fun pneumonia vaccination on Monday (they are free at my age so why not), eventually felt good enough today to run another 4km today with surprisingly fast 5:32 averages. Maybe that immune system thing again?

I'd like to string together a couple of uninterrupted months of progressive training to get to my 10km target but might have to try before my prostate biopsy in September, which will likely cause another two-week training interruption.

Just achieved my sub hour 10km target, 10.1km in 58m 28sec.

Did not set out to do it, but went out slowly trying to keep my heartrate down (another story), felt good, the weather was really nice, and I thought why not?

Probably not as much preparation as I would have liked, so I did find the last 2km quite hard to push through.

I won't aim for greater distances, but I will try to make it an occasional target with the hope of making the effort easier and/or a little faster.

Yesterday's 7km run with 5':30" /km averages, which means I managed to knock off at least 4 seconds per kilometre from recent bests.

Didn't think I'd really be able to get back to where I was a year ago so pretty rapt with this.

Calves are hurting now which suggests it was achieved with a bit more rebound and less plodding.

Annnnd then I get a bronchial infection that took me out of running action during the four weeks break I had from work.🤧

Resumed running yesterday and back to 6 minute kms but no ambition to improve for the moment with a small medical procedure due.

Annnnnd then after only two runs I contracted another respiratory virus.

Had to have a clinical PCR test to find out, this time, I had 'Human pneumovirus' and the planned medical procedure deferred.

Pretty fed up with just coughing and not running this year, to be honest.

No current lung infection - tick

Recovered from medical procedure - tick

Run out of excuses - tick

So out for some light morning runs before the sun gets up and temperature gets too unbearable.

I can't work out whether I was shamed or inspired to run again by my daughter in law getting up at 4 am on Christmas morning for a 25 km run and my uk great nephew participating in a Christmas morning parkrun in near zero temps.

Spoke to someone recently who describes himself as 'semi-retired from running' as he only (lol) currently does about 120km a week!

He is tossing up whether to increase his training to try to get to the next Olympics!

He works for a living, married and his wife is expecting their first.

Puts a different perspective on the attitudes of some very entitled and overpaid professional athletes.

I have to mention the incredible London Marathon results.

The winner Sawe in 1:59:30 and Kejelcha only 11 seconds behind.

The breakdown of the results is almost beyond belief

Averaging a smidge over 21 kph, the 2nd 21km in 59 minutes, the last 5km a couple of seconds faster that the fastest Parkrun registered (allowing that Parkruns are 'for fun' so distance and timing accuracy can be very 'iffy').

Apparently Sawe has been drug tested once every 3 days on average over the last few months at his own request since a few African based athletes have recently been detected taking either performance enhancing drugs or masking agents.