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[Kit]

Forgot to mention. I have run 547 miles so far this year, with only one run in July (due to my broken shoulder blade). I'm planning on making the 1000 by the end. I need at least 24 miles per week from now on. Should be doable, especially with marathon training starting up for 23rd December.

I get out of breath just running to the pie shop.

[charlesr]

Maybe you should run not quite as far as the pie shop and then turn around

Bizarre fact: my mother in law does wii fit every day. I was shocked. She has been using it at least 5 times a week for a year now and has some really quite young age considering she is 70 or something.

[Taka]

While you are there, there's a really good restaurant down on the docks quay (down La Rambla and turn left) round the end of the water: Barcalonetta. Bit pricey, but well worth it, and for ?15-20, you can get an amazing bottle of red that will be way more than that over here. Book in advance. Don't arrive till 9.30-10pm otherwise it'll be empty.

Also worth checking out the Sagrada Familia if you like architecture at all - it's bonkers.

Also to the right hand side (east) of Ramblas - can't remember where exactly - there used to be a great cider / tapas bar (I can't find it on google maps). You get cloudy cider poured from the wall and tapas on the bar with toothpicks through them. Keep the toothpicks to see how much to pay later. Lose some on the floor like everyone else Good cava as well.

We did check Barcolonetta out but after a day of hardcore sightseeing via the tourist buses, we were shattered and fed up of people so we decided to go there quite early to avoid the crowds.

Popped into the Nike store and dear god, sports wear is dear out here! Over €30 for a pair of Nike shorts I could get for just under ?20 back in Blighty!

We also popped by the Olympic stadium and the Olympic museum for some inspiration. The curator has just a wee bit of updating to do after Team GB's haul in London

Tried running in the sand along the beach today and have decided its not for me. I understand the benefits of pushing the stabiliser muscles but the feeling of moving in quicksand just ain't for me.

Last few hours here so desperately trying to fill in the tan line gaps my running vest has left me with!

[yesteryeargames]

Well i tried the 3 small meals a day, well under 2000k still

and i have gained 2 pounds in a week ,lol

i have started taking creatine and there is a loading phase for 5 days i hope that explains the weight gain

[dataDave]

Well i tried the 3 small meals a day, well under 2000k still

and i have gained 2 pounds in a week ,lol

i have started taking creatine and there is a loading phase for 5 days i hope that explains the weight gain

Water retention from the creatine, probably.

[Taka]

Absolutely riding on cloud 9 at the moment.

Woke up in a 50/50 mood for the Parkrun 5k yesterday and motivated my arse out of bed. Decided not to race with the heart rate monitor so I really was racing lightweight with the intention to PB. For weeks, I've plateaued at about 23:30 for a 5k and managed to pull some voodoo out of somewhere to smash my old time with a new PB of 22:35!

I can only put it down to a couple of things:

- Barcelona temperature training has helped me become a bit more efficient with heat management
- super lightweight Nike Flyknit Racers
- better attended course with more people around my ability level to pace with

[TonyDA]

I'm after some advice - on how to eat properly during the day for regular running, and how to increase my ability to run for longer. To give you some background:

A year ago, I weighed 12st 6 (I'm 5ft 7). Definitely overweight, and although I could walk for miles (I live in Brighton, so am right next to the South Downs), I could manage about a 5 min run before I was shattered.

I've been running three times a week since October 11. I started on a 'Couch Potato to 5k' podcast course, and am now at a point where I can run for 30 mins without stopping. I now weigh 11st 5, have lost two inches off the waist, and feel a LOT fitter.

However, I seem to be stagnating. My 30 min run takes me to a local park and then once around it. My head tells me I should try and run a second lap of the park (which would add about a mile to my run). However, try as I might, my legs at this point are gone and it's tough enough to run the next five mins which takes me home.

Any tips on how to run further? Is it simply a case of motivation, or forcing myself?

Also, what do those of you who run regularly eat during the day? I have a desk-bound office job, so my daily diet seems to be cereal or fruit for breakfast and then a sandwich/soup/salad for lunch - all bought at Pret etc (but watching the calories, rather than going for the 'all day breakfast baguette...'). Over the past year, I've learnt to (mainly ) say no to the abundance of cakes, chocolate, mochas/hot chocolates, but I feel there is a better way to eat during the day. Any tips? In fact, my weak spot is breakfast - I hate eating when I get up at 5.30am, so tend to wait until I get to work at about 8am. That doesn't feel right at all....

Thanks in advance,
Tony

[Taka]

Hey Tony, great to see another runner amongst the ranks!

From personal experience, running further on the same fitness level means having to slow your pace down. I would never be able to run a 10k race at my 5k pace and equally, running a 5k at my half marathon pace would be selling myself short by quite a margin. For example, my 5k pace is about 7:20 per mile, my 10k pace is 8:00 per mile and my half marathon pace is 8:30 per mile. Don't forget that we all feel better and worse on some days versus others so base your pacing on perceived effort, so traditional long steady runs should be anywhere between 50 - 60% on the scale.

This is possibly the one downside to running based on a time factor as opposed to by distance. On your next run, dial yourself back a little and that final lap of the park should feel more bearable. As you become fitter by running further, you'll also find you'll be able to run a bit faster too. Running is sometimes illogical, sadly!

If you have a local Parkrun nearby, I wholeheartedly recommend you pop along for an organised weekly race against others. Not only can you monitor your progress but you'll also meet other runners of all ages and abilities to keep the motivation stoked.

I'm an absolute fiend for carbs during the day, so love bread, pasta, potatoes etc. I'm not training to lose weight, rather to become better at my sport so I need to make sure I'm fuelled up to run well and recover well at all times and if I lose weight in the process (usually) then that's a bonus. When you have breakfast doesn't matter so much as long as you do have some.

Best of luck!

[TonyDA]

Taka, thanks for that. I didn't know anything about the Parkrun at all - and have just discovered there's one about a 15-min drive from me. Think I'll be checking that out in a few weeks time (I'm on holiday the next two weekends).

Will take your advice about slowing down and trying to run further. To be honest, I run the distance rather than time - it's just that the run from home and back, with a loop of the park, tends to take 25-30 minutes. Maybe a better approach is to set out more slowly and aim to run the second lap? I'll have a few goes at that and will report back!

Thanks again.

[Taka]

Pleasure! Glad to help.

I'm a huge fan of the Parkrun network and whenever I'm travelling around for work, one of the first things I check is to see if there's an event nearby! Once you register, you get your own barcode which you need to take with you each week for them to pair your finish time and position with your profile. The stats they give you are quite useful, with all of your times and PBs recorded, along with an age grading compared to others in the field. I usually find myself racing against a gent in his early 70s and ever since a defeat during the final sprint several months ago, I vowed I'd never let him beat me again and to this day, I've kept my promise!

You don't have to slow yourself down by too much to reap the benefits of going further; 30 seconds to 1 minute per mile should do the trick. If you don't have a GPS watch, use a watch with a stopwatch function and use several landmarks to monitor your overall speed so you get a feel for whether you're going too fast, or even too slow.

[Taka]

Just over a week to go until the Cardiff 10k for me. Never competitively raced a 10k before so my current target (gleaned from a longer half marathon race pace run) is 52 minutes, though I'm fairly confident I can push and achieve sub 49 minutes based on dialing back my 5k splits accordingly (25 minutes steady and 24 minutes pushing harder).

Because I was one of the first 2000 to sign up, I received a commemorative technical Cardiff 10k t-shirt as part of it all except it's a large when I'm smaller than a regular small.

[dataDave]

Entering my sixth week of training. After this is done I'll be doing intensive cardio for two weeks to burn off a little excess and then starting a new 5x5x5 regime (5 reps, 5 sets, 5 days - each week the weight lifted goes up a couple of pounds) which will go on for 24 weeks.

I don't seem to have gained any weight although my strength is coming back and I'm not fitting into anything at the minute. Everything I try on looks tight and gay. I'm also beginning to see the fibres of my trapezius which has never happened before, interested to see where that goes.

My diet has been pretty clean so far as well. No junk food or ****e.

[dataDave]

Also, what do those of you who run regularly eat during the day? I have a desk-bound office job, so my daily diet seems to be cereal or fruit for breakfast and then a sandwich/soup/salad for lunch - all bought at Pret etc (but watching the calories, rather than going for the 'all day breakfast baguette...'). Over the past year, I've learnt to (mainly ) say no to the abundance of cakes, chocolate, mochas/hot chocolates, but I feel there is a better way to eat during the day. Any tips? In fact, my weak spot is breakfast - I hate eating when I get up at 5.30am, so tend to wait until I get to work at about 8am. That doesn't feel right at all....

Try switching everything to wholemeal, so, brown bread, brown rice, brown pasta all that good stuff. That will do a better job at keeping you fueled for longer. Drink a whey protein shake before bed to aid your legs in recovering so they aren't shredded the day after and you are ready to go at it again.

Drink a glass or two of water first thing in the morning when you wake, keep a bottle at your bedside just for that. Force yourself. That will open up your stomach and make you feel like food. I'm **** at that too, but breakfast is important.

[charlesr]

I'm back. My goal of 10k+ a day for 2 weeks failed slightly. I did 7 days and then a 10 miler, but the next day, the ground fell away underneath me on a technical section and I dropped into a gulley and mashed my ankle - luckily was holding a tree branch, otherwise might have broken a leg. A few days off to see if it's useable. All good until then.

Did one of the 10k runs fully in barefoot style and spent the entire 2 weeks barefoot as much as possible. Looking to run a half marathon in my adios shoes in barefoot style next month and a full marathon 2 days before Christmas.

[Taka]

Crikey! Mad that the ground gave way underneath you.

I was robbed of a PB yesterday due to my GPS watch refusing to link before the Parkrun. Put it into stopwatch mode and just treated it as a speedwork seesion, though realised I was on the cusp of a new PB during the closing stages so ran like hell. Sadly, wasn't enough to make up the 6 seconds to beat last week. Watch then decided to work just as I was walking to my car afterwards!

Went for a long steady run today which became my longest run ever. Only intended to do 12 miles or so but was feeling really, really relaxed and good so upped it to 14.35 and still came in at sub 9 minute miles so I'm ready for my half marathon next month.

Had an ice bath (not done one for a while) and all watered and fed now to recover in time for Cardiff 10k next weekend.