Running discussion - experiences, tips, equipment, motivation, etc

[J.R.]

No talent, just reckless optimism, I didn't expect to finish and just did it for the experience, in hindsight starting off really slowly as one of the very last runners was a good strategy, by half way I was overtaking lots of people which gave me a real boost, several years later experienced and overconfident and wanting to break the 2 hour barrier again (its a very hilly semi marathon) I started too fast and had everyone pass me later which was really demoralising.

 

When you start from nothing the initial gains are impressive and very rewarding, within a couple of weeks I felt I could do the local 5km race, then after a while I thought the 10k might be achievable, then decided what the hell, I'll enter the semi in case i am capable of doing more than 10K.

 

I trained for the Lille marathon for my 60th birthday but injured my knee then my hip through continuing to train, I had reached 31.55km in training but had to retire on the day at 26km and get on the minibus with all the other invalids.

 

I'm looking forward to the initial gains when I start again but at my age you get slower even with high levels of training, i will never get back to where I had got to 3 years ago and I doubt I will even be able to do 5k initially.

[Gerrycan]

Unknown to myself and several others last week's local Parkrun was cancelled due to the Queen's sad demise so we ran our own impromptu event without marshalls....as you do.

This week was a normal event with over 200 attendees and fine but cool weather. I woke up just 20 minutes before the event after a long pleasant get together with old friends the night before and had to run to the start as well. 

Getting a small improvement with each run so happy with that and the Parkrun is providing the incentive I need to get out while on holiday especially with all the socialising and touring driving we are doing.

I am pleased to find that a couple of my great nephews and nieces are doing half and full marathons which, as previously mentioned, is way beyond my ambitions but it is great to see young folk active and not just stuck behind a screen as so many are.

Edited 17 September, 2022 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

What with one thing and another I have to admit that running has been a very low priority for me over the last three months. I'm thankful that the UK Parkruns gave me an incentive to at least get out some weekends while there, but it was no surprise that today's run was yet another example to me that you either use it or lose it, and I had definitely lost it 😞 . Hey ho let's see if I can get back in the groove and improve.

 

It is fun seeing the variety of runners who get involved in Parkruns. Those storming round determined to set a new course record but missing out by a just a few elusive seconds (better luck next week), the skinny very young boys and girls who bounce along effortlessly like antelopes, all tendon rebound and the all the others out there like me doing their best and it does create a great atmosphere.

In amongst the runners there was a genuine talent who set two course age graded records on successive weeks I was there and I would have been interested to see her style but regrettably I was never going to be fast enough to see her or slow enough for her to lap me. 

Parkrun measure (and publish) your effort against the best theoretical speed for the distance achieved in your age group and sex and express it as a percentage of age group world record times.

For instance in the male 65-70 year age group I'm currently achieving a circa 62% score but the person in question achieved a 94% rating in theirs, which is really up there as even the person who finished the course fastest is 'only' rated at ~70% for age/sex.

Ok the next bit is a bit creepy; you can click on a person in the parkrun website and view their running history. What is really interesting is this runner had been doing parkruns for some years and typically quickly achieved improvements until they reached a particular time which was good age group rating. 

Here is the thing, over the next few years she was consistently able to maintain that time and as she entered each new age group her age rating improved to the exceptional one it is now.

I find it quite a remarkable and different achievement and a demonstration of the use it or lose it mantra.

 

Edited 24 October, 2022 by Gerrycan

[Slick2097]

Love parkrun, its the best thing about the weekend for me.  It sets you up for your Saturday.

 

I'm currently making my way through the A - Z of parkruns for the Alphabeteer achievement (i#m aiming for one each month rather than trying to fit them all in as soon as possible), for this you need to take part in a parkrun whose name starts with every letter of the alphabet, A - Alderley Park, B - Birkenhead, C - Chester etc etc

A week or two back I travelled up to Spennymoor (closest one) to take part in the Jubilee ParkRun to bag the J.  There are only 4 parkruns in the UK starting with a J, Jubilee in Spennymoor, Jesmond Dene in Newcastle, Jersey Farm daaarn Saarth and the parkrun on the actual island of Jersey.

 

K is next in a few weeks time, which my closest one is going to be "Kew Woods" in Southport.

 

If you use parkrun, and you haven't already, I highly recommend the "5K" app (in your local app store), you put in your parkrun number and it will grab all your stats and show your details for all your parkruns and then you can also keep an eye on your achievements (there are lots).

[Gerrycan]

@Slick2097 I'm in awe of your ambition and enthusiasm!

There has to be a lot travelling and also overnight stays to achieve your target.

It would be interesting to see whether an equivalent  A to Z is even possible in Australia, and if so I dread to think how many kilometres that may involve. It is a big place.

I know of retired Australians who have doing the great tour around Australia in caravans and motorhomes (they are known as "grey nomads") and some include as many different parkruns in their itinerary as they can. I am far too busy (haha ok, let's be honest, lazy) to aspire to any real level of commitment. Even my nearest local course 5 km away with our 8am start time has proven to be too much of a challenge for me so far.

For me Parkrun is a holiday opportunity thing, to do something different from my usual local coastal jogs, which I still enjoy very much.

The Uk was great because the course was very near where we stayed and started at 9am so it was all much easier for me.

[Gerrycan]

Christmas is coming when this runner's mind turns to the many sock presents I usually receive.

I have a nominal UK foot size ten which means I find  that the 7 to 9 size sock range are a little too small and the 10 to 13 are a little too big.....and the small ones always shrink in the wash while the larger sizes always stretch with use and washing. Does not seem to matter the price paid for them either.

I do not remember it being a problem when socks were made in the UK.

Edited 18 December, 2022 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

My half-marathon running great nephew from the UK arrived to visit us over Christmas and we have now done a few local runs including my first local Parkrun (yay!)

A forecast 41 degree day means we diversified to water activities, but a cool change tomorrow means we are looking for another run in the morning. Quite enjoying the experience of running with someone.

Edited 27 December, 2022 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

After a pretty hectic couple of months of work and social activities things will subside enough for the next three weeks for me to catch up with things including exercise.

 

The plan got off to a really good start with an 'early' morning 5km run last week, then went and got a whooping cough/diphtheria/tetanus vaccination (to protect my first and brand new  grand-child) which made me disinclined to do anything for a few days, and then resumed running this morning followed by a relaxing paddle along the seashore.

Of course I say running, but that is what I used to do before it slowed to jogging and I am not quite sure what to call it now....so 'running ' it is.

 

Doctors appointment this afternoon for a precautionary checkup to make sure I'm ok to continue with my regimen, and since my last checkup was before Covid I have my fingers crossed for no  surprises.

 

Edited 30 January, 2023 by Gerrycan

[mac11irl]

congratulations new Grandad Gerry

 

[Gerrycan]

4 hours ago, mac11irl said:

congratulations new Grandad Gerry

 

And I am proud to say I aced the baby shower's prediction competition over 50 other entrants!

Got the sex (girl), birth date and height spot on, and was only 20 minutes out on birth time and 200 grams out on weight.

Parents were a bit spooked out by the accuracy and the fact it was me,  and my daughter thinks it is hilarious

 

She is, of course, drop dead gorgeous but I may be a bit biased  

 

[Gerrycan]

Having a couple of weeks off and some relatively cool weather for us, has enabled me to get in three runs a week.  It just makes so much difference, the endorphins are flowing, and the enjoyment is back. Getting back a few seconds per km also contributes to the vibe  . 

 

My daughter's dog has been helping me with some additional 'sprint' training. I throw the ball away from her and she gives me a (really big) head start and then times her run in to pip me by about a metre, every... single..... time! Cracks my wife up.

 

My motivational (and also intimidating) story for this week is about a 90 year old who can run 5km in under 30 minutes. 

Perth man David Carr rewriting the running record books at age 90 - ABC News

 

Edited 12 February, 2023 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

That two week break soon passed and I returned to a heavy work schedule so back to averaging running only every five days or so.

It is better than nothing, but I am hoping that some negotiated reduction of working days may allow more regular exercise in future.

 

I eventually accessed my recent medical check-up and blood test results on-line and with figures in the expected ranges I assume that, since I had no follow up request from my GP, there was nothing to discuss. Good news and a tick for the benefits of sensible exercise and diet although I have always regarded it as 'significantly improving the odds' rather than any sort of guarantee of health or longevity.

 

[Gerrycan]

I consider myself a fairly grounded person, not superstitious (touch wood), pragmatic and a believer in scientific principles.... and then something happens that seems at odds to expectations.

 

My balls of my feet had been increasingly painful after a several high step count days at work interspersed with runs on my days off.

I was not sure if it was a fracture, a neuroma, or my plantar fasciitis playing up but I was worried about whether I would actually make it to work the next day as I could barely hobble.

 

The wife suggested I bathed my feet in a bowl of warm water with Epson Salts and had set it up before I could register my disbelief in its efficacy.

So twenty minutes later I dried my feet and stood up.... and they felt a hell of lot better, and by the next morning were feeling completely normal.

 

I do know it is an accepted treatment, or recovery procedure for some but since it is not proven that magnesium can be absorbed through skin I was quite sceptical. I still am but somehow it worked incredibly well on this occasion.

I guess if it happens again I should just bathe the feet without the salts, for science  

[Gaz]

2 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

I do know it is an accepted treatment, or recovery procedure.....

 

Don't 'ya just hate it when something you want to be sceptical about works 🙄

 

Many years ago I had a particularly nasty ingrown toenail.  My osteopath at the time wanted to treat it with acupuncture.  My response was nope, as there was no way on god's green earth acupuncture made any sense in treating something as physical an injury.  A couple of weeks later, with it getting worse, I yielded.  Six treatments and just over a fortnight later it had completely recovered.  Still doesn't compute to me.  He said I could've expedited the recovery if I'd soaked it in urine, as he recommended, but I declined to do, even though I could understand the science behind that bit.

 

Gaz

 

[Gerrycan]

The Samsung Smart Watch given to me a couple of years back has died from mysteriously incurred injuries. The glass covered heart rate monitor on the back has broken and I have no idea how it happened especially considering it was the high end model with the better constructed case and it was only taken off for charging.

My only real complaint was the unit was a bit too big for my small wrist so the heart rate function was intermittent unless done up uncomfortably tight.

 

A brief but intensive internet search brought me up to date with current tech and prices and I settled on a Fitbit Versa 3 as a very cheap replacement. 

Pros: cheap price (A$196), GPS, heartrate, clear AMOLED display, lots of other Smart Watch functions, lightweight and a good fit on wrist, good battery life, made in Taiwan.

Cons: My fourth brand so my exercise stats are spread across four different internet sites. Inconvenient but not a big issue really as I rarely look back at them.

 

Only one run with it so far but getting heart rate stats for a full run is really interesting and vastly different from the Smart Watch. 

Previously my Smart Watch average would report somewhere between 135-155 but the Versa 3 reported 162 bpm average which I thought I had left behind some 20 years back. It might be due to running after a hard day at work, which I don't normally do, but yeah, had to try the watch out.

Not sure how I can verify the accuracy really unless I borrow someone else's (more expensive) unit and wear both at the same time.

 

Winter is here now in Aus and this particular 'adapted-to-the-heat' Pom needs the extra 'technical' incentive the new toy offers to get out there and just run.

Edited 19 May, 2023 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

The new smart watch is great for recording runs my now infrequent runs but I am getting a bit fed up with all the over-congratulatory and encouraging messages I'm getting for the paces I routinely do at work. Actually like most watch based systems it does not record paces when the wrist is stabilised such as when pushing a trolley or work flatbed.

Not been able to turn them off yet despite disabling heaps of notification stuff in the setup app.

Might just cancel my 6 months free Premium Fitbit membership and see if that makes a difference? I think the Premium (A$113 pa after free membership expires) membership is probably useful if you have to achieve weight goals for your health but I'm lucky not to have that problem so it is not really going to be a loss.

[Gerrycan]

A series of 'unfortunate events' has severely affected any training continuity over the last two or three months so it seemed a bit hypocritical to be posting here but an on-line article piqued my interest.

 

Pat Farmer, a former Australian politician, is literally running around Australia in support of an upcoming referendum for a change to the constitution.

The stats are quite mind blowing:

The 61 year old had covered about 10,000 km (as of  the end of August) of the intended 14,000+ km, running between 65 and 80km daily he is going through a pair of shoes every thousand km or so.

I'd say he has shoe sponsorship since he has 30 pairs available but thinks that 15 pairs will be used when he finally ends up at Uluru (formerly Ayres Rock)

 

Obviously a man of immense stamina, natural running talent and belief in his cause. Is it wrong I'd like to know more about the shoes he has elected to wear?

 

The referendum date of the 14th October was announced yesterday so by my calculations he may have to increase his daily mileage to 90+ km daily to stand any chance of getting to the finish before the event.

Ultramarathon runner Pat Farmer clocking up 14,400 kilometres for Voice to Parliament - ABC News

 

As far as I can see the only similarity between us is that I also find that a pair of running shoes is good for about 1000 km (about 1.5 years) before they are relegated to less arduous duties

 

Edited 1 September, 2023 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

A lull at work has allowed me more time to engage in a more regular running schedule, and I'm trying to address some bad habits I've developed.

 

Before I recently threw a couple of old pairs of running shoes away I noticed how much wear there was on the outer edges compared to previous pairs which had displayed most wear on the ball of the foot.

I have got arthritic big toes on each foot (from old injuries) and I was obviously compensating for the pain I can experience during the toe flexing, I think this was causing a misalignment in my gait that was also causing increased knee pains.

For the first few runs I had to force myself to run through the toe joint pain of running on balls of my feet but it was worth it as the flexibility of my large toe joints has improved, and the associated pains in the toe joints and the knees has reduced to incidental levels without having to resort to medication. I have regained some of my running speed and it has even had a beneficial effect on just walking.

 

A relief in more ways than one as I was beginning to think I might have cut back or even give up running.

 

Ran along the beach today in wind and drizzle but I had the whole beach to myself for the 5km run. Quite wonderful and amazing on a metropolitan beach that, during the previous weekends hot weather, had tens of thousands of people on it .

Edited 5 October, 2023 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

The year started quite well for me with preparation for a loose goal of running 10km in hour or even 12km in 70 minutes around the time of 70th birthday in late January.

Then the metaphorical wheels fell off with a small medical intervention, a knee damaging fall while walking my daughter's somewhat excitable and sturdy dog, increased casual paid work combined with a period of intense internal house painting in preparation for the installation of new carpets. Oh, and throw in a bad back, the first in over 25 years and I am going to blame that on the lack of running.

 

So today I laced up for the first time in about eight weeks and did a slow and steady 4 km in abnormally high temps for this time of year.

Everything hurts! But it's a start and we will see how it goes from here.

Edited 15 March by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

There is a thing called 'runner's high' which is associated with the release of endorphins (to control pain) and dopamine (which give a feeling of euphoria or enjoyment) and it is known to be addictive to some extent.

Over the years I have noticed that exercise has been largely beneficial for most adverse conditions I have experienced at different times. I have associated any improvement with general movement benefits and my self-generated drug cocktail. 

Well it seems that a few short runs I have undertaken to ease my way into some sort resumption of routine have been beneficial for my recent back issues, and I am grateful for that.

 

To be fair, paracetamol has a similar effect for controlling pain but I really don't like taking any sort of drug where it can be avoided and a drug is usually addressing symptoms rather than cause and I also  like my euphoric feeling after a run.

 

I should add this is a discussion of my personal experience and is not to be regarded as medical advice, medical professionals usually know best and should always be consulted for issues, especially when considering adding a relatively grueling exercise regime.

Edited 23 March by Gerrycan

[Hilly81]

I started running a little over 5 years ago and it has pretty much taken over my life. At 42 I now average between 45 and 50 miles a week usually running 6 days a week with a rest day on Saturday depending on my race schedule. I absolutely love it. I love the process of putting in the hard work and hopefully seeing the results come. I’ve also made so many great friends through running. It really has changed my life.
 

My current PB’s are:

 

5k - 17:02 (achieved last Friday at the Mid Cheshire 5k)

5 Mile - 29:05

10k - 36:17

HM - 82:13

Marathon - 3:17

 

I’m currently working towards a sub 80 half marathon attempt at the Chester half in 2 weeks. Got a nice 14 mile long run with 5 miles at half marathon pace lined up for tomorrow morning. 

[J.R.]

I didn't start until I was 9 years older than you are, before that I had never managed to run more than a few yards each time I tried, up until the confinement I was as regular and committed runner as you are and then everything went to pot and not just the running.

 

I started again with a local social group last year, I'm 5 years older at an age when that really counts, 14kg heavier but on the positive side mentally I know what I am capable of even if I am no longer nor never will be again 😄, sounds like a joke but that counts for a lot confidence wise compared to when I started.

 

My problem at present is finding the time against urgent priorities (getting a roof above my head) so I know its going to take a couple of years to get to my best form but I am on the way, 10k tomorrow morning then back to working on the building.