Sports & Fitness The Running Thread (All Abilities)

Everyone still getting out there and putting the k's in?

I finally feel like I'm getting a bit of motivation back, I think largely due to my toes being pain free for almost 4 days now for the first time since December!

Finally dragged myself off to the Docs last week, seems I have chronic gout, not the "out of the blue wakes you up at 2am like someones cut your foot off" type of gout, but a long, dull, lingering drives you nuts type.

So, a low daily doe of gout meds and sure enough, pain is almost completely gone. Had a bit of a cold so only had one short run since but pulled up good afterwards so really hopeful I've got it cracked.

Looking forward to hitting the trails again and building my base back up. Also got the MTB in for some much needed love at the moment, keen to get back on the bike a bit too. Audax off road season start sin October, that's the long distance cycling club. Had some amazing rides with them over the years so want to start getting my cycling base fitness back up enough again to join their 100k "short" rides later in the year.

Hope everyone is getting some good runs in.

 

Now that is some great news @Propagate and hopefully you will get back into pretty soon.
Sticking to my 8km routine runs these days and loving the cold weather.
Should probably time myself before we get into the extreme cold to see where i stand at the moment speed wise.
Been trying to shake things up a bit lately and discovered a very nice and hilly route around my suburb so really looking forward to doing that over the weekend.

 

Great stuff @Propagate

I have self diagnosed issues with my itb

Doing some diy exercises, lots of squats core type stuff. And bought some of those stretchy bands to try a few things. I have been riding to work the passed week so hopefully 10-15km are helping. No knee pain when riding

 

When my ITB played up, and also a mate who was new to running went out too hard/too far early on and his flared up, the exercises recommended were to strengthen the glutes (Bridge, single leg bridge, superman thingy's etc) . Worked within a few short weeks for both of us.

 

Got my km's up in April (first month I've done over 150kms). Lots of slow runs, not too many sprints.

Just came back from the Sydney 10 at Homebush and walloped my best time, finishing under 47! Last year at the same event my time was ~51, so to cut 4 minutes off is really satisfying.

 

Nice work @marty998

Step backwards for me this week, toes flared up again after a short but surprisingly tough trail run on Friday afternoon, so, I've spent the weekend clearing out the "dumping room" at the back of the new house (two spare bedrooms were knocked into one by the previous owner)., and ordered a Concept2 rowing machine to go in there. That should help keep the fitness up whilst I get on top of the toes issue.

I've put the spin bikes in there too and took the treadmill apart to relocate into there as well, but the deck is so heavy a mate and I couldn't move it, so the treadly is now in pieces on the garage floor until I can get a removalist around to shift it for me.

Looking forward to the rower, only used the sporadically I the gyms over the years for warm up. Very good all over workout though. I likes the look of the Waterrower but when it came down to it, the Concept2 seems to be the industry standard for anyone remotely interested in getting the best from it. Massive online community, iPhone app that talks to the rowers monitor and direct integration with Strava plus the Concept2 website has a huge forms and plenty of training material.

Good way to pass some cold winter nights if I cant do anything on two feet for a while.

 

Concept2 arrived yesterday, put in a steady/easy 2k row last night to get a feel for it and work on technique a bit. 10 minutes/2000m and I felt it! Across the back of my shoulders, lower back and groins mainly. If I can incorporate a regular row into the running (once I can run properly again) I can imagine it'll improve the running heaps, strengthening the core and some of the other muscles that don't get hit running alone. Back to the Yoga to from last week, first couple of sessions were tough, lost so much flexibility but it's coming back quickly, can't believe how much my hamstrings had tightened up!

 

Hi,

I recently started running. Started in March with 2.63k maximum. Yesterday, i did 12k. I cant believe that i could do 12k. My pace is but higher - 7.5 but its improving slowly.

Thanks all for putting your experiences out there. It definitely helped.

 

Great work @Rooky that's a huge jump in a short time, well done.

Though I'm far from an exert I'd say maybe wind back your distance a little, or don't go much further just yet until your body is accustomed to it. Most of my injures early on came from going too far (relatively speaking), too soon and hurting muscles and joints that aren't accustomed to that kind of work. Your big muscles adapt very quickly, it's all the little ones and all the joints etc that take along time to get used to being pounded.

Keep it up!

 

Great work @Rooky but please listen to @Propagate !

I started recently and was doing 9km to work after a short period. I felt little hint of niggles but nothing to serious. I had a good go at some stairs and wrecked my knees, struggled to walk the last km.
Today was ultra trail and I couldn't go in! Paid for the ticket and ready to go but Struggle to do 3km now really ****** off

 

Oh mate @bob shovel that sucks man. See if you can find a reputable physio, (stay away fro Chiropractors, complete quacks). My physio has got my back from being debilitating to 95% pain free and not impacting on my running through daily exercises to strengthen my core and posture, protecting the spine and taking some of the pressure off it. Out of frustration and getting nowhere with the toes I went to see him the other day to get his thoughts, and he agreed with my thoughts, very doubtful it's gout. My big toes have hardly any flexibility in them, putting extra pressure on the tendons and joints when I run so a bunch of exercises to do every day for the toes to get them more mobile and flexible and already they so much better than they've been for months. I even had a 6k mainly hard surface run yesterday and a high pace (for me) ad my toes have pulled up great, normally I'd be hobbling for at least 2-3 days after that.

A good physio will look at your gate, your posture and pick out the imbalances in how you carry yourself then give you exercises to strengthen your weak areas so you're not continually wrecking yourself by compounding mechanical and movement problems you don't necessarily know you even have, plus (unlike a chiro), they'll only want to see you 3 to 4 times to make sure you're actually doing your exercises and making progress rather than a weekly fleecing for two years that a chiro will hit you up for to "put things back in place".

That being said, if you've simply gone too far, too fast then the only fix for that is winding right back on pace and distance and building up slowly again when you're ready (with good form), but if you've hurt yourself from it you might need to look for a good phsyio to get you back on track. Particularly with some of the most common issues like ITB, quitting running until that's better then starting up again won't necessarily fix ITB issues, you'll juts get a short pass until you get your K's up again and then the ITB will kick back in unless you address the underlying reasons, (usually tight hamstrings, weak glutes and poor form for IT Band).

Jeez, have a listen to me, here I am hardly even a "runner" really and talking like some kind of guru! Feel free to ignore anything I ramble on about, all I'll say is being a late starter to it that started with a high level of fitness from cycling, I've pretty much made every single beginners mistake and had all the most common running issues withing the last 2 years and it's pretty much all in this thread.

 

Very well put and sums things up nicely. Running is not rocket science and with experience comes a lot of knowledge which is were you stand. You start knowing your body a lot more and what works and what doesn't.

It's not complicated but it's not simple either as it's extremely taxing on the body and most people come to running with decades of bad habits (posture, nutrition, undisciplined ...) and expect that their body will be able to run for kms on end without any issues. Never the case unfortunately as it takes years for the body to adapt as running changes your body at a molecular and cellular level.

 

Great advice! Much appreciated

I'm doing heaps of squats and leg strengthening exercises. nothing to excessive
Each time I make a coffee do some squats etc

 

I just recieve a new pair of flash running shoes!

I'm helping a young guy at work buy his first ip and today at the door was a new pair of Adidas running shoes he hasn't bought yet but he's very close and excited !

I better get running and try them out
I've gone from never owning running shoes to now having 2 pairs. UTA 50 next year!

 

Nice one @bob shovel Happy New Shoes Day (you always run your fastest on new runners day, same on new bike day too).

 

Some inspiration for all of us.

Raven is a legend.............

 

What a legend! 8 miles, every single day since 1st Jan 1975, same time same route.

 

An update.. a year ago she took 28 minutes to finish 3 kms.
Last weekend she has finished it in 14 minutes! Her pace is amazingly consistent.
Her goal was to come within rank 20 in her Cross Country Zone running. Tomorrow is that day.
Regardless of the outcome, I'm really happy that she can do this. She is officially the fastest in our family and relatives!
Thanks to her, 9-year-old brother is also doing 2 km under 10 minutes. But, I think, he will have tougher competition.
I'm taking a day off and going to the event tomorrow
Again, thanks for your advice everyone especially Propagate, RS Gumby, mrdobalina and paulF.

 

That's great @devank well done to her! Looking forward to hearing how she goes today.

 

Me too