Keep Fit Club - ALL exercise types!

[Taka]

Excellent! I know I seem to gush about Parkrun a tad too often, but it really is such a fantastic initiative to get people up and running. The chap who started it all 10 years ago received a CBE just recently.

I may have to get some Parkrun tourism going, Charles, and pay a visit to Chichester before too long!

[Asura]

Man, just came back from my first run in 8 weeks, due to several annoying small illnesses running back-to-back. I "took it easy" and I'm still shattered.

[charlesr]

Feel good though?

[Asura]

Feel good though?

Nah, it'll be two or three sessions before I'm back to that stage. Right now, I feel good for having gone out, but physically I feel terrible.

[Taka]

That good feeling will come back soon enough! A non-runner once asked me if the runner's high really felt like shooting up heroin. I couldn't answer, never having shot up heroin before...

[charlesr]

Think I pulled a muscle on that unexpectedly long run Calf. Cycling this week only.

[Mr Ono]

I am going out today after going 2 weeks without any running. Been too hot or busy. Dreading it but need to as I have only 8 weeks left to train for the 10k and I haven't even run 5k properly yet. Oh, and I start work again next week so going to have to consider very early morning runs.

[Mr Ono]

Well that was OK! Just knocked 2 mins off my course record (only 6.8km) but was able to run for longer before stopping and it is hot out there now!

I think a lot of it is about adjusting my actual pace to be able to run longer rather than faster.

[charlesr]

Superb.

[PeteJ]

Just about to hit my second weekend of a month of crazy weekends.
Last Saturday I attempted the Eddystone Challenege - a 45k offshore row down in Plymouth. Unfortunately due to conditions they had to cut the distance in half but we still got to race a tough half marathon. 2hrs 5 minutes, came second in class and fifth overall, which was OK, though we all believe we could have won it. We prepared for a marathon, so when everybody found it was half distance all tactics went out of the window and it become a bloomin' sprint. We were stronger and fitter than the others, but our technique let us down in rough waters. More work to do there.
My hands are utterly wrecked, blisters everywhere. Not a good start for the weeks ahead.

Tomorrow I'm doing the Exeter to Exmouth kayak rally. Not too tough so figured I'd up the difficulty a bit by kayaking from Exmouth to the start line. Probably about 16 miles in a one man kayak, should be OK so long as the wind isn't too high. I hate windy conditions when in a kayak.

Next weekend I'm off to Jersey to race the Sark to Jersey. It's a 20 mile offshore row but will easily be the biggest race I've ever done in terms of spectacle. Can't wait for that, really hoping it happens this year as we were let down by conditions last year and the race got cancelled. Will be rowing in a type of boat I've never been in before and against some of the best crews in the world, so not expecting to finish anywhere near the top of the field but it should be a great experience still. Aiming to finish...and not last.

Then the following week I'm cannoning the river Wye. Should be pretty simple but it's also a bit of a nemesis for me as last time I did it I ended up with my boat stuck upside down in a tree. This year I hope to not have a near-death experience (or a death experience, for that matter)

This all follows a 110k row I did about a month ago on a rowing machine. Last night I found out that I might be needed to scope out another marathon event for my local club, which will be sometime in August.

I've definitely noticed that I've changed my attitude in the past few years. It wasn't a conscious attitude adjustment but it has happened. I used to turn down offers thinking I wouldn't be good enough, now I just accept everything and figure out how to get through it later. It's amazing how far you can push yourself when you get out of your comfort zone.

[charlesr]

Monster. How do you know if you are overdoing it (too many miles added per week too quickly)?

[Mr M0by]

How old are you if you don't mind me asking, Ged? A good buddy of mine is in his mid 40s and pretty much matches me at the moment, PB for PB, but his long runs are always of a much higher intensity than mine and coupled with his age, he's breaking down every couple of weeks with all sorts of strains, pulls and aches. I repeatedly tell him to save the hard efforts for actual hard sessions and to keep long runs easy or steady, but he's too motivated to win this endless battle we have going on!

I'm only 37 but do feel much older at times. My mileage is pretty moderate at the moment, completing around 20-35 miles a week usually across 3-4 sessions, so no different to my training pre-running club, it's the intensity that really is quite a step up though. On a Tuesday evening session I'll maybe only cover 6-9 miles but that could be made up of as much as 10 short fast splits, including a warm up and down in the form of a 0.5 - 2 mile light run bookending each session. Since last posting I have put more emphasis on stretching too.
In the days after I tend to be hobbling around though. You know when you get pins'n'needles/dead leg and go to stand up or put weight on it and it feels like it it's going to collapse under you or does even, well the day after any training and sometimes even the day after that my right leg is like that as soon as I get out of bed or stand up after being sat down for a while. I practically walk down the stairs sideways in the morning! And yet I'm not particularly concerned at the moment because my times have been getting faster and faster. I feel like a bit of a fraud saying to others in the club before an event that I'm not feeling 100% and then I go and set another PB.

I ran 17:03 in the Maldon Summer Series 5K on Thursday and yet 8 weeks ago I hadn't gone under 18: http://www.thepowerof10.info/athlete...hleteid=124700
11th fastest in my age group for the 2K Steeplechase this year.... Even if only 32 people have ran it.

100 fewer Saturday lie-ins and 500km later, I finally joined the 100 Club at my home Parkrun event this morning. Only 3 years to go before the 250 Club... (might ease up on that particular quest)

Fantastic. That's a lot of Park runs. I'm hoping to make 50 by the end of the year. Have you spent your Sweatshop voucher yet or are you still waiting on them getting Boosts in?

And was that a new 10K PB you set today?

I think a lot of it is about adjusting my actual pace to be able to run longer rather than faster.

At this stage definitely. My other half has now reached the end of the Couch to 5k and initially she genuinely found it a struggle to run 2 minutes, now she's completing the 30 minute runs feeling in better shape than she was in weeks 2 and 3. Sure she's not yet covered 5K but then last week we made it 2.6K, this week was 2.75K so the speed will come slowly. Besides I'm just glad that she's continued to run after finishing the programme, albeit just once a week.
My brother on the other hand is obsessed with his pace. He keeps running this 1.5K route near his house but whenever he goes to do his local park run, he's quitting half way round. I keep telling him to forget about the speed and just build up the distance (a la couch to 5K) but he hasn't been listening so far.

[charlesr]

Definitely pinged a muscle in the calf - I'm sticking the cycling because it only bothers me when running - hope it gets better by the Thunder Run in a couple of weeks!

[Taka]

I'm only 37 but do feel much older at times. My mileage is pretty moderate at the moment, completing around 20-35 miles a week usually across 3-4 sessions, so no different to my training pre-running club, it's the intensity that really is quite a step up though. On a Tuesday evening session I'll maybe only cover 6-9 miles but that could be made up of as much as 10 short fast splits, including a warm up and down in the form of a 0.5 - 2 mile light run bookending each session. Since last posting I have put more emphasis on stretching too.
In the days after I tend to be hobbling around though. You know when you get pins'n'needles/dead leg and go to stand up or put weight on it and it feels like it it's going to collapse under you or does even, well the day after any training and sometimes even the day after that my right leg is like that as soon as I get out of bed or stand up after being sat down for a while. I practically walk down the stairs sideways in the morning! And yet I'm not particularly concerned at the moment because my times have been getting faster and faster. I feel like a bit of a fraud saying to others in the club before an event that I'm not feeling 100% and then I go and set another PB.

I ran 17:03 in the Maldon Summer Series 5K on Thursday and yet 8 weeks ago I hadn't gone under 18: http://www.thepowerof10.info/athlete...hleteid=124700
11th fastest in my age group for the 2K Steeplechase this year.... Even if only 32 people have ran it.

Good stuff. You sound like myself at the moment where I'm not doing much distance (will need to soon, mind) but have ramped up the quality sessions. Consider yourself followed on runbritain btw!

I know how you feel about saying you think you may have a poor race and then bang out a huge PB. I've experienced the opposite too, where I've gone in feeling so confident and strong, only to then choke somehow and miss my target by a huge margin.

What's the rest of the summer looking like? Any big autumn A-races?

Fantastic. That's a lot of Park runs. I'm hoping to make 50 by the end of the year. Have you spent your Sweatshop voucher yet or are you still waiting on them getting Boosts in?

And was that a new 10K PB you set today?

I spent the voucher on Saturday at the Manchester Sweatshop store - closest store with the Adios Boosts in stock in my size. Really friendly bunch, where half the staff were either local Parkrun race directors or regularly volunteered.

Nah, Sunday's race was only a season's best. Two aggressive 1k long hills of a two lap course put an end to any PB attempts. Should have started my burn-up from 7k instead of 8k! Going to take the next week quite easy to recover; all this regular racing and quality sessions have destroyed me.

[charlesr]

50km pumped out in the adidas Thunder Run. Fierce race. So fast.