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[Fader209]

Third bike trip of the week completed!
Going a little bit further each time but have no idea how far I'm going without strapping my TomTom to my head.

[JazzFunk]

Have decided to 'get strong' the Charles Bronson* way, via the noble art of the Great British press-up.

Need to be pretty strong for the job I do but, Christ, was bloody shocking a few nights back when I realised I couldn't even do a single proper press-up(!) Even after a few nights, I can only manage full ones via the 'girlie 'way' (ie. with kneecaps flat on the floor but the lower legs slightly raised in the air). Good news is that I'm definitely feeling stronger, shoulders, biceps and triceps have more bulk and am really finding it easier to manipulate medium-heavy objects (like large oxygen bottles), plus my 'push' is way better. Shoulders on fire at the mo, a nice feeling, just aim to get to the point where I can knock out twenty full non-girlie press-ups with ease, not aiming to get all Duke Nukem or anything.

(*The prisoner, not the Death Wish guy).

[PeteJ]

Nothing wrong with starting out pushups on your knees!

I've joined a rowing club, only been out three times so far but it is a good workout. Did 12k in the early morning today across the seafront, lovely start to the day. Hoping to build up and do the bigger distances soon, maybe even competitions if I keep it up over the next 12 months.

Off sea Kayaking this afternoon!

[cavalcade]

Just dipped under 40 minutes for the first time ever for a 10k. Only went out for a jog and ended up going a little quicker than anticipated.

Blimey. That's my long term aim, I'm at 22 minutes something for the 5k and 48 something for the 10k at the moment.

Anyone else here on RunKeeper or RunSaturday? I could do with more "friends" just to benchmark my running against.

[charlesr]

I'm on http://www.sports-tracker.com/ because the app is free and brill and the website is superb. I still like mapmyrun for the ability to easily manually map runs though.

While on a 2 week holiday in the Jura / France I used a diet of cheese, wine and beer to help me get down to a 37m03s 10k - undulating (mostly) off road course including lots of gravel and a short stretch of sand. I think I can now say I'm getting very fast. At the start of the holiday I decided to make my new goal 36mins (6mins per mile), but that now seems rather too close, especially since I could hopefully better that 37.03 on road.

[FatGit_UK]

6mins per mile...I think I'll have to try the cheese/wine/beer diet, maybe that'll help me improve on my slow 8min miles!

How often and what sort of training are you doing Charles? And how long has it taken you to get your pace down that low?

[charlesr]

I run at least twice a week and cycle at least once a week.
When I run I do between 3 and 9 miles. 3 for recovery, 6 for fast and 9 for a steady but less than race pace.
When running 6 I try and run at my target pace for as long as possible and then take it a little easier once I run out of steam.
I can't cope with planning anything more complex than that.
When cycling (mtb) I just go as fast as I can everywhere and try not to fall off, but it's more about fun (air time and crazy corners) than pinning the hills.

It took me 2 years of slightly more erratic training to get down from 43m to 41m but the last few months have been more regular as above. Then suddenly the minutes dropped off so I've gone from 41 to 37 in a very short space of time.

[FatGit_UK]

Thanks Charles, I've a better idea of where I'm going wrong now. I run (and cycle) two or three times a week, but although the distance varies, my pace doesn't. I'll have to try mixing things up a bit and see if that helps.

What would really help is a mobile app that let's me set a pace and then tells me if I'm going too fast or slow, so if anyone knows of one, please let me know. (I am on android though, so that may limit my options)


UPDATE... found a free app that gives voice prompts to keep you in set 'zones' (either pace or heart rate) - Adidas miCoach. There are four zones: blue, green, yellow and red. Blue is the easiest (which is almost just really fast walking), green is steady, yellow is race pace and red is full on sprinting. Workouts seemed varied enough and include long and steady, pace and intervals. There are pre-set zone settings to cover different abilities and they can also be customised a bit if they're not quite right for you. I've selected a half marathon training schedule to see how I get on with it over the next few weeks. It's too early to tell how well it works, but so far seems like just the thing I was after.

[charlesr]

Ah man, that micoach looks good. It's only on android though? I have symbian.
I'll have to ask for the feature from sports-tracker.

As for getting faster, the only way is to actually run/cycle faster - you won't be able to keep it up for the full distance, but you'll get your body used to the higher speed and eventually you'd last the distance at the higher speed.

[FatGit_UK]

Sadly, it's currently only available for iPhone, Blackberry and Android.

I've adjusted my zones so that the 'race pace' yellow zone will get me running about 15/20 secs a mile quicker than my usual 'steady' pace and I'll gradually increase that as I feel myself improving. I think this could be just the motivation I needed!

[charlesr]

http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/charlesr/7fcnjdf405lup6ja

Really dark wee in the morning before going for the run yesterday which didn't bode well. I just couldn't get my legs to move any quicker. Dehydration isn't cool. My legs are knackered from the forced effort now, so I'm going to give it a rest till next week - just some mtb at the weekend.

[Fader209]

Started properly getting into fitness now in preparation for a hopeful job as a postie as they apparently have to walk 8 miles somedays.
Anyway, I signed up to a fairly decent site which has all sorts of workouts for different purposes and it worked out a monthly plan of exercises for me to do which is mainly core stuff and upper body.
After my workout (usually 20-30 mins) I head out for a quick run out in the wilderness to get some cardio going. Is feeling great so far and can't wait to see some results.
I have also cut out a lot of bad carb foods and junk food and started eating apples. That may not seem amazing to anybody but due to my IBS (mentioned in the fart-in-girls-face story) I haven't eaten an apple in about 10 years! Had one each day this week and had no bad reactions so I'm dead happy about that!

[Fader209]

Weighed in at 10st 4lb this morning which is a decent weight loss to the usual 10st 8lbs.

Stupid muscles growing means I'm gaining weight in other places.
Stupid muscles.
*Hacks away at legs with butter knife Saw-style*

[Taka]

Either bravely or stupidly, I have decided to run the Cardiff half marathon one week before I also run the Birmingham half marathon.

I'm a fairly experienced half marathon runner now, though I've never aimed for such a feat before. I have applied for next year's London marathon so I'm chalking it up as training for that should I manage to get accepted.

Does anybody have any experience with running two endurance races so close together? I'm pretty fit and normally finish a half marathon at around the 2 hour mark, and my recovery times hover around 3 - 4 days afterwards before I feel 'fine' again without doing anything special. I've read everything from taking an ice bath to stimulate blood flow, to gorging on protein rich food to aid the muscles in repairing themselves. Does anybody have their own recommendations for a speedy recovery?

I think I can achieve a new personal best in Cardiff with a potential sub-2 hour time, though will probably end up with a more relaxed time at Birmingham.

[Rossco]

Absolutely gutted at the moment. Almost 3 months ago, I had a major injury on my knee on the bike. Going down some hills and jumps and landed one awkwardly and instead of my knee bending to take the pressure, it jarred backwards. Really tried to rest it since then and only done the odd day hillwalking (which to be fair have been long, epic 10 hour beasts at times) but it's still gubbed.

It was always a problem before for which I've seen physios and spoke to my surgeon about it when my ankle was getting operated on and he said to come back when the ankle was 100%. The ankle is now amazing, feels great but the knee is done. Having waited 2 and a half years since the original ankle injury, it really hurts to have something fresh that's stopping me once again from doing all the sports and activities I haven't for so long!

So booked in for hospital appointment and hopefully get some scans to see if there's any major damage as physio hasn't made one iota of a difference again.

In other news, been doing some weights at the gym quite casually the last few weeks. So busy working I don't have much time, but it's amazing how much weaker I am now than even just a few months ago when I was bulking up.