[steveri]

Back on the Zone 2 malarkey, I guess it's only a silver bullet if you're running more frequently. A harder 20% of not very much mileage is even less. So I'd better keep trying occasionally, and as Tom points out it's easy to get your HR up on the trail - pride prevents me walking easier hills - I'll do maybe 500' of ascent on a regular short run.

@durbs - the occasional parkrun is good for a fitness sanity check

[chriss]

Nice little video covering the Back Yard Ultra. They do one near ish me in Suffolk tempted to try it.

[slab_happy]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/27/harvey-lewis-ultramarathon-backyard-championship

This is just batshit bonkers.

I mean, Laz invented the Barkley Marathons (which the article manages to avoid mentioning directly), so I don't know what else you'd expect from him.

Btw, on that topic, did everyone see that, after her Fun Run last year, this year Jasmin Paris became the second woman ever to start the fourth loop?

She timed out on it (at 9 out of 13 pages), but came in looking ridiculously strong.

[SA Chris]

Yep. I did, she's a complete running beast.

[Durbs]

If you want to burn calories and lose weight, long and easy worked for me.

Alas I'm time poor, what with 3 kids and a 9-5, so 90% of running is in my lunch-hour, which needs to include post-run shower, hence focussing on speed rather than distance.

[SA Chris]

Fair enough. I was generally the same, had to resort to night time runs once kids were in bed, and foregoing a lie in and getting up early and running into town on a Saturday while my wife drove them in for various activities (or running back). It's not easy with continual family time constraints (and doubly bad if you are both training for the same marathon).

[El Mocho]

Does anyone have experience on dealing with ITBS? Think this is what I may have. It's probably largely triggered by being middle aged and not built for running rather than doing massive miles.

Been running last 10 months or so, mostly off road, decent shoes (I think, seem a good fit/I like) mostly now in the 5-10 mile distances and normally once a week twice max. Initially struggled a bit with legs aching but as I have done more it had got a lot better (mostly shin splint type stuff) and no/very little pain last 4 months. Run a few weeks back and went a bit faster than would normally as I was feeling great. Had general stiff/achy legs next day. Next run and outside of knee got really sore half way through, limped/jogged home. Sore walking dogs for the next week or so. No runs for 2+ weeks. Next run pretty slow and again part way through same pain so walked home (pretty painful!). 3 or 4 days of pain when walking dogs and now (week later) pretty much fine walking. It does feel better with a knee brace on.

Walk couple of hours every day with dogs, have reasonably strong legs (can do 1 leg squat thing fine) and have 'ok' form when running - not had gait analysis but nothing glaringly obviously terrible, and had foot/walk analysis and that's pretty good, do roll from outside of heel - wear out outer edge of heel on shoes first.

Stretches? Strength exercises? Googled a few stretches so will try them. Or a good physio in Shef!

[T_B]

Sent you some msgs via WhatsApp Ben.

[chriss]

Finally did a road race Sunday the Stebbing 10 in Essex. It's a lovely one that starts just after the Remembrance Service, 10 miles of rolling countryside roads. This was my first road race since 2019 & fourth since covid/injury. Really enjoyed it, my mate paced us for 1.20, but we cracked on & finished in 1.17.23, pleased with it after such a long lay off.

Keen to train again for something else.

[SA Chris]

Well done, not much further to a half, can easily do it! Nice flat one and you'll be good.

https://www.letsdothis.com/gb/e/barry-buddon-fast-half-marathon-193711 is apparently as flat as they come, doing it next year as it's the day of my 55th. Not exactly on your doorstep though.

[chriss]

Well done, not much further to a half, can easily do it! Nice flat one and you'll be good.

https://www.letsdothis.com/gb/e/barry-buddon-fast-half-marathon-193711 is apparently as flat as they come, doing it next year as it's the day of my 55th. Not exactly on your doorstep though.

My wife loves Scotland, so could possibly do a trip up & new race somewhere cool is always fun too.

I like a 10 miler, it's a great distance. Need to pull my finger out and get back down to some decent times.

[SA Chris]

10 milers don't seem that popular (round here?), it's either 10k or half.

If you want to come up to Scotland, there are some beautiful races you can do; eg Clova Half (which I did last Sat) and Loch Rannoch events are amazing scenery.   

[chriss]

There's 3 regular ones down here, I've also done some 15 milers - another rare, but fun distance.

I personally find 10k the hardest to perform in (bar a marathon if you want to have a go at it).

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll check em out.

[SA Chris]

10 k is a brutal distance, always gets me. I found marathon OK on the day, just the massive block of training involved that dampens my enthusiasm for another.

[Stabbsy]

10 mile/half marathon definitely my preferred distance - there’s quite a few dotted round North/West Yorkshire from flat (Tadcaster, Thirsk) though undulating (Snake Lane) to proper hilly (Otley, Guy Fawkes). I was originally planning on doing Derby 10 mile this year (another flat one), as my actual 10 mile race PB (from Otley) is about 5 mins slower than my best 10 mile split in a flat HM.

I’ll keep that April HM in mind Chris - was hoping to get back fit for Wilmslow HM in March, but that would give me an extra 6 weeks if post-viral symptoms don’t settle down in time.

[SA Chris]

Hope you get over it! Just noticed that Run Balmoral is the same weekend as my birthday too. Darn, The 15 miler there is the most scenic I've ever done, Spring in Deeside at it's best. Definitely not flat though.

[Dingdong]

Well done, not much further to a half, can easily do it! Nice flat one and you'll be good.

https://www.letsdothis.com/gb/e/barry-buddon-fast-half-marathon-193711 is apparently as flat as they come, doing it next year as it's the day of my 55th. Not exactly on your doorstep though.

My wife loves Scotland, so could possibly do a trip up & new race somewhere cool is always fun too.

I like a 10 miler, it's a great distance. Need to pull my finger out and get back down to some decent times.

Word of warning Barry Buddon may be flat but you’ll be running into headwinds pretty much the whole race 

[SA Chris]

It's a circular route?

[Dingdong]

It's a circular route?

Its not a circular route, just a single loop but the track itself weaves around corners and even if it were circular you can still run into/away from headwinds especially on something as long as a half, and doubly especailly in Scotland 

[SA Chris]

OK, sorry, there and back. So wind can be a help but also hindrance. You don't need to tell me about wind in Scotland, I've done more than enough halves and other runs here to know you can feel it in any direction at any time.

[Dingdong]

It was more of a warning to those who may conflate FLAT and FAST 

[steveri]

If we're doing recommends, our club half in Jan is decent (but not flat): https://www.helsbyrunningclub.org.uk/four-villages-half/

On topic: course runs underneath an excellent bouldering venue and near 2 others (Manley, Helsby, Harmers).

[edshakey]

Maybe this'll be of interest to one or two of you? Seems like the best thread to stick it in.

In September, my dad ran the Across Wales Walk, and I went along to support, and also film his day. I've put together a film which I've just uploaded to YouTube. This is the first thing I've ever filmed or edited so it's nothing incredible, but if anyone likes peaceful running films and has some time to kill, it's probably worth a shot.

Enjoy!

[SA Chris]

Has anyone unintentionally put themselves into ketosis before? I think I have been for 2 weeks now since I ran the Glen Clova half. I felt OK during the run and had my usual eating regime before and during the race, only difference is I mixed my recovery shake, started chatting to a mate, went for coffee with him, then went bouldering up the Glen, and completely forgot about it, so didn't really eat much of significance until I got home at 6.

Since then I have lost weight, had a raging thirst, been sleeping badly, lost appetite and had no desire to eat anything sweet, plus had strange taste in mouth. I've been shitting myself that something serious is up (given my brother's cancer of the digestive system), but was chatting to a mate when running yesterday, and i think he cracked it?

[edshakey]

I was under the impression that ketosis required significantly more effort/time to get into, like it wasn't something you could accidentally get into. Is that not true?