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

[mac11irl]

15kph walking is faster than i average running 🤣 (about 12kph)

[Gerrycan]

Had my first 5km run for nearly 4 weeks this morning and was happy enough with the time considering the layoff.

 

I'll just say that the addition of a new, noisy and energetically destructive puppy to the household has destroyed whatever free time, energy, or sleep patterns we previously had.

NOT my idea, I was outvoted.

[Gerrycan]

I find that when I extend myself more than usual or run after a layoff (see previous post) then I usually feel surprisingly good the following day but the expected stiffness, soreness (etc) are more apparent on the second day after the exercise. Do others experience this?

A good walk usually helps to work out the knots though.

[Gerrycan]

As mentioned previously I have recently been too busy and tired from work to run regularly and noticed that I have developed some back niggles and knee pains.

We managed to catch up at work and I was relieved to get an unexpected couple of days off and managed a 5k run today. 

Honestly, running is like a magic potion for me, within a kilometre the back was in correct alignment and painless and the knee was trouble free.

 

Things should settle down after Easter and allow better self management and consistent exercise.

[Gerrycan]

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has really been promoting the benefits of running and walking lately and especially spruiking participation in Parkrun for all levels.

 

This is quite a nice round up of training tips from a locally (Adelaide, South Australia) based elite athlete.

Australian marathon runner Jess Stenson shares her top tips to get a parkrun PB - ABC News

[Gerrycan]

The combination of the new puppy is starting to settle down, work demands easing a bit, and the Easter holidays has allowed me to string together some runs.

A slow 7km run, then 20k steps at work the following day stopping me seizing up meant I felt good enough to run again on the the third day (day off).

Tried something different for the 5km run and went all out for the first km and ran my first sub 5 min km, for what seems forever, then recovered from the effort over the next 3 km (very slow) and ran the last km again under 5 minutes. Final recovery was leaning against the pub wall gasping for air but really happy.

Surprisingly the overall time was slightly better than I have been achieving lately but suspect that near ideal conditions helped as well.

 

Not quite to Jess Stenson's recommendations but still felt good to mix it up a bit.

 

 

[Gerrycan]

For some time I used a non-gps Garmin fitness watch which required the pace length to be set for distance readings.

What became obvious over time and a set course is that my cadence (about 160-163 steps per minute) would never vary but my speed, and therefore reported distance covered, was determined  by my stride length.

It was pretty much the same when I rode a bike, I could rarely comfortable  getting my cadence over 70 per minute and it was just the gearing that determined my speed.

 

The ABC's latest Parkrun promotion has suggested shortening stride and raising running cadence can potentially improve efficiency and times, although they do say it is not easy and you should have a reasonable fitness level before attempting it.

 

Cadence — could it be the key to improving your running performance? - ABC News

[Gerrycan]

Another ABC parkrun story about a young family man in his early thirties, suffering from myocarditis, suffering from overwork and poor life choices meant he was barely able to climb stairs.

Took action and participated in Parkruns, was encouraged by his regular improvements and moved through phases to ultra marathons. He is now Australian champion in a thing called 'Backyard Ultra'

Backyard Ultra's consist of running successive 6.7km loops in under an hour, so if you run a lap in 45 minutes you get 15 minutes rest then you do another lap until you cannot beat the hour limit. He won the Australian event by running 308km in 48 hours.

 

What is really interesting to me is that he obviously had many genetic advantages to be achieve what he has, but his previous lifestyle had pretty much set him on a course for poor health, even a premature death!

 

How parkrun helped turn Chris Murphy into an Australian ultramarathon champion - ABC News

 

[Gerrycan]

For various reasons (excuses) I am only running once a week so I'm doing my longer 7.25 km route to compensate a bit.

As I've mentioned before I'm quite active at work so despite the longer intervals between runs the times are holding up quite well. However I noticed near the end of the run there was some muscular stiffness in the calves so lack of conditioning is going to catch up with me eventually if I don't get out more frequently.

It confirms previous my previous experiences that running three times a week will generally yield improvements, two times a week will maintain performance and once a week is a path to slow(er) deterioration.

 

[Gerrycan]

Despite it being our Antipodean winter here and predictably colder, wetter and windier I have got out a couple of times each week since the last post and the calve stiffness issue has subsided, thank goodness, as I hate the associated occasional midnight cramps.

Today I posted my best time this year for my 7.25km run, by one second (it still counts) so fingers crossed I can keep up the routine going forward.

Did not even have to rest up against the local pub's wall at the end of the run during recovery from the 'sprint finish', which is a far better look

 

[Gerrycan]

As you age then things generally don't work as well as they did but when I run I think my lungs struggle more than they should, which might just be due to normal ageing inelasticity .....but then again.

 

My dad was a lifelong smoker, I have literally hundreds of photos of him handed down to me and I have never found one without a cigarette in mouth or hand.

This means my mother was a passive smoker all through her pregnancy, I was a passive smoker through my whole childhood, as he smoked unremittingly in the car and house. My job as a child was to roll his cigarettes for him as he drove. Not to mention generally accepted smoking everywhere else, pubs, offices, restaurants etc., at least the underground had some smokeless carriages.

But thinking on it is worse than that:

I remember going to school in the London smog with all the smoke from coal fires (before the clean air act improved things) reducing visibility to about 3 metres.

Leaded petrol for a considerable period of my time in the UK, especially when I was cycling up to my job in the City of London on a daily basis.

Diesel lorries used to emit soot particles that looked like small black snow flakes. Nano particles be damned.

Dust from asbestos brake pads. Good grief I used to change the shoes and disk pads myself, in the street, and blow out the dust!

Our home heating progressed from an open fire with coal, to 'smokeless' fuels, back up from paraffin heaters (venting into the room), to eventually natural gas heaters (using the fire flue).

Now turns out that gas cooking hobs (which I have always had) are also incredibly bad for your lungs.

 

Perhaps I should just be grateful my lungs are as good as they currently are.

Edited 13 June, 2022 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

Not much running lately, due to work commitments and then inevitably I contracted Covid. After four vaccinations I thought I'd be invulnerable but of course it does not work like that.

Between long and many sleeps during my convalescence I managed to read some interesting stuff on the internet:

 

Ballet! Probably one of the hardest physical occupations in the world with endless hours of demanding constant exercise, rehearsal and performance.

Despite the many years of training experience and conditioning from institutions like the Bolshoi, historically, it is not unusual for ballet dancers to suffer from a lot of ankle injuries. Apparently an Australian looked at the stats and thought it could be done better and insisted that dancers in the Australian Ballet should spend a lot more time conditioning the ankle and calves. Despite some initial resistance, the statistical reduction in injuries suffered was so immediate and obvious that now nearly every international major ballet company now allows a session for the "Australian exercises" during their barre work.

What I got from this was that just because something has always been done in a certain way (for more than a century), does not mean it is necessarily the best or only way.

 

Another bit of information that piqued my interest is more running related.

The human microbiome is increasingly being recognised for its importance in our general health and even mental state. It is very complex with thousands of types of bacteria in our gut contributing their bit depending on what we feed them.

When we first start (or resume) 'serious' running I'm sure that everyone has experienced the stiffness that occurs with lactic acid build up in the muscles. As we train more then our system becomes more efficient at removing the lactic acid.

Apparently many endurance athletes like the top marathon runners systems go one step further and the lactic acid is returned to their digestive system where a specific bacteria converts it into glucose for the muscles to burn again. This efficiency makes sense when you look at how lean they are and still have the energy reserves to run 42 km or more.

What they are not sure is whether the bacteria is always present in the gut awaiting for sufficient and constant food (lactic acid) or whether it enters from outside and survives because the conditions exist, but not every elite endurance athlete has it.

 

I'll try to find the original material to put links up at some time.

Edited 19 July, 2022 by Gerrycan

[mac11irl]

On 19/07/2022 at 14:51, Gerrycan said:

What I got from this was that just because something has always been done in a certain way (for more than a century), does not mean it is necessarily the best or only way.

following from the above thought process...

 

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMN9v8wRe/?k=1

 

just watched the above. when i did my First Aid refresher earlier this year we were told about rice being phased out but not told why. 

this explains it nicely. 

 

im just not sure whether it applies to boppin yer head on stuff. . further research needed .  

 

 

[Gerrycan]

4 hours ago, mac11irl said:

following from the above thought process...

 

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMN9v8wRe/?k=1

 

just watched the above. when i did my First Aid refresher earlier this year we were told about rice being phased out but not told why. 

this explains it nicely. 

 

im just not sure whether it applies to boppin yer head on stuff. . further research needed .  

 

 

That tiktok is so on topic in our house it is almost frightening.

My wife had an accident on the bottom step of our stairs the other day resulting in a mildly hyper-extended ankle. Initial panic as we tried to assess how much damage she had suffered, then immediately into a raised leg position with a cold bean bag from the freezer applied.....because that's what you do.

We never really liked the idea of compression of an injured area (unless to stop excessive bleeding, or to slow the spread of venom from a snake bite).

Long story short, it was mild, there was some general swelling, movement was restricted for a a day or two and today she went for a gentle two kilometre before work and 'all the colours of the rainbow' bruising is now appearing.

The cooling and raised leg did not really do any damage, but probably did not do much good either, what has made the difference is that she got back moving as soon as possible.

I've done some really bad ankles and Achilles tendons in my time and thankfully fully recovered from them, but healing always accelerated when I could resume sensible movement.

 

I remember of a report some years back of someone who was running the equivalent of two marathons a day running the circumference of Australia. At one stage he had two really bad Achilles tendon injuries (presumably over use?) but against all advice he chose to continue (restricted) running. His progress was being monitored by an Australian university program and they were astounded at how fast the condition healed, way faster than any expectations and there were mutterings that it could lead to a revolutionary change to the way that such injuries should be treated.

Edited 21 July, 2022 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

I have links to the Ballet work where they emphasise the importance of strength training over stretching for reduced injuries. This resonates with me because during my time with youth gymnastics I always hated the amount of forced stretching that some coaches employed.

STRENGTH BEATS STRETCH | The Australian Ballet

 

The other link is to an ABC 'great moments in science' program. The actual university research found that if the human Veillonella bacteria present in elite athletes guts were introduced to mice systems then they immediately performed on average 13% better on treadmills than control mice with none or other bacteria added. The bacteria is not present in sedentary humans.

Bacteria of champions - ABC Radio National

 

Felt like a run for the first time in two weeks since contracting Covid and seized the feeling before it passed. Lovely day 17 dec C, and topped up the winter Vitamin D as well. Post covid catarrh/cough is significantly less (at the moment). I was not happy returning to work unless I could prove to myself I could complete a 5 km run so quite relieved.

Edited 21 July, 2022 by Gerrycan

[Slick2097]

Hi,

 

Runner here, like to partake in local parkrun's and ex-run leader and member of a local running club in Warrington.

 

Looking forward to joining in the running chats. 👍

 

Next race: Tolkien Trail race on Saturday.

 

Cheers,

Stephen.

[Gerrycan]

Welcome @Slick2097

 

I just looked up the Tolkien run on the net and the promo video of the route looks quite fantastic! Quite envious of you even though I'd now be struggling to do 10km especially with some steep bits.

Really popular too having completely sold out.

 

Looking forward to hearing a report from you about the event.

[Slick2097]

Tolkien trail was a tough race, I walked up most of the hills (530ft of elevation in all) but I had done it previously so I knew what was to be expected.

 

Next race, Colshaw Hall 10k on Sunday, a nice flat (ish) road race around the beautiful Cheshire countryside.

 

Lots of races coming up, a lot still which were postponed from Covid lockdowns.

[Gerrycan]

Well, just as I recovered from Covid I caught the cold that my daughter brought home from a local craft beer festival. She brought home beer too but has not shared that with me 😞.  Strangely the wife has managed to avoid contracting either virus from either of us. I'm sleeping in a different room while spluttering through the night, but we are all sharing the rest of the house.

 

Three years without an infection and this chest and head cold is an absolute doozy and in some ways more debilitating than the covid  was. It has felt like the dog has been sitting on my chest all week, so no running although I have struggled through work.

Hope to get over it soon and resume running before we leave for the UK at the end of the month where I hope to partake in some Parkruns where I usually win ................................. the bit where they ask who has come the longest distance to take part  .

[mac11irl]

4 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

Three years without an infection and this chest and head cold is an absolute doozy and in some ways more debilitating than the covid  was. It has felt like the dog has been sitting on my chest all week, so no running although I have struggled through work.

 

one of my colleague's who got covid via his 2yr old's creche in late Jan ended up catchi g at least 4 non covid chest infections within 2months of his infection... 

[Gerrycan]

18 hours ago, mac11irl said:

 

one of my colleague's who got covid via his 2yr old's creche in late Jan ended up catchi g at least 4 non covid chest infections within 2months of his infection... 

Ye gods, I don't like the sound of that!

 

[Gerrycan]

It is just over a month since contracting covid and then a subsequent cold and while there has been considerable improvement I am still struggling with congestion.

I did try a 'make-or break' run a week ago but it was a real struggle and made my condition worse for a while, so more break than make 😞 

I can work ok because I don't push near the aerobic threshold, but my short trot to catch the train the other day, normally a non-event, was anything but, so obviously I have lost a lot of condition.

 

Read a scientific review the other day where ten US universities had tested their (young, vaccinated) athletes  who had contracted covid-19 and found that 2.5% subsequently suffered from mild heart myocarditis (inflammation) and so were restricted from re-engaging in intense training/competition for up to several months until the condition subsided.

Since the age range was limited it does not really confirm whether that particular cohort is is more susceptible or not, but it certainly is yet another indicator that covid after effects should still be taken seriously by all ages.

 

Edited 15 August, 2022 by Gerrycan

[Gerrycan]

A big THANK YOU to the volunteers at the Raphael Park Romford Parkrun.

Great atmosphere and encouragement from them all the way round the circuit.

My wife recorded part of my first run in ages and unsurprisingly I looked like I was struggling (I really was).

Still I am happy that all the post covid/cold symptoms have finally been expunged and no real excuse not to get back into a more regular routine.

 

Edited 5 September, 2022 by Gerrycan

[J.R.]

Good to hear it I have not run since the beginning of the confinement with the exception of 3 sorties the first autumn when outdoor activities were tolerated.

 

Losing the sport and especially my daily exercise running a hôtel single handed meant I have put on 10kg during that time and I am feeling it.

 

I made contact with the Running, Trail & Gymnastique clubs in my new area (I too have moved) yesterday and will be starting again from scratch as soon as this canicule subsides, its 33.4° inside as I am typing this!

 

Frankly its scary but I have the knowledge of knowing what I am capable of, or was because at my age it diminishes year on year anyway, it won't be anywhere near as scary as when I took my first jog over years ago at 50+ having never run since school and being incapable even then, within 5 weeks I ran a semi-marathon and in a reasonable time.

 

I am really looking forward to the reprise, it's such a shame that Parkruns did not happen in France unlike the rest of the world.

[Gerrycan]

@J.R. you must have a natural talent for running to even attempt a half marathon after only 5 weeks of training at 50+. I can only dream of having half that ability!

I last ran this particular parkrun on my last visit about 5 years ago and have lost about 3 minutes, which considering recent events is ok and I still got the oxytocin buzz  

 

A lot of hill walking with the wife and a couple of runs this week and the legs are aching, but in a good way.