Sports & Fitness The Running Thread (All Abilities)

Awesome to hear @devank and best of luck for today's race.

Managed to finally ge another pair of runners(Asics GT 1000 7) yesterday and they had a baptism of mud and a good soaking last night. Melbourne is finally showing it's Winter colours!

 

You're not kidding, it's bloody freezing! @paulF I wussed out and did my run on the treadmill in the house, away from the howling wind and driving rain.

 

Ha I was up at 4 30 and ventured out - I love routine!!

 

lol The thought of buying a treadmill did cross my mind last night after that kind of drenching

 

You're hardcore @RS Gumby

Love my tready @paulF removes another excuse not to train. It doesn't rain in the spare bedroom.

I'm actually really enjoying the rower at the moment, my toes are still playing up so my weekly k's are still way short of where I'd like them, the rower is giving a nice change from the runs and a belting workout and is great for strengthening glutes. I smashed a hilly run on Sunday, way faster than the last time I'd done it even though my k's are way down, my legs just felt stronger and could drive better from the glutes.

 

@Propagate , planning on getting a boxing tower in order to get back it and might as well get a treadmill while at it.

My number one priority during Winter running is not getting injured and a treadmill is probably my best chance at keeping injuries at bay as most of the runs are slippery and as much as love running in puddles of water, sometimes they are too deep and the foot lands awkwardly and can get injured. Also running at night with poor lighting conditions doesn't help, so a treadmill is not a bad idea at all!

 

She did well. There were about 15 schools in this zone. 4 or 5 top runners from each school come to the zone.
Last year, she was 28th. She wanted to be in the top 20 so that she can score a point to the school. She came 13th this year. She was so happy. She took about 14:30 to do the 3 kms. It is all because of her once a week of training! A good lesson to her dad

 

Bloody brilliant mate! @devank well done to her (and you for encouraging her).

 

Great stuff!
Keep an eye out for Trail kids. Next run is in August at Glenbrook. They do a 3km timed course in the national park

 

Top 6 from the zone goes to regionals. I asked her if she wants to go to the regionals. She is not keen. Her aim is to get the 'School Sports Champion' award at school.
There is a cooks-river-fun-run in my area. I'll try to get her to do the 5km run and see if she likes this sort of events outside her school.

 

Running events seem to be pretty enjoyable and very inclusive of all abilities. Can't remember if I said earlier in the thread but I used to race mountain bikes a fair bit, I loved the weekends away with mates, going to different places and riding different trails but I always found the race itself super stressful, too much testosterone and too many egos. I've only done a few running events but the difference between it and riding is the inclusivity, same social aspect with mates but a loss less stressful come "race" time. Seems to be a much bigger spread oaf ages, sizes, shapes and abilities in the trail running events than MTB too. Hard to find someone that doesn't have a smile on their dial. The bigger ones are great for the family too, if it's just your kids running you can grab a coffee from the van and by the etime you're half way through it you'll be cheering them through the finish line and buying them a t-shirt.

 

I love this mega running thread on PropertyChat. We should do some running meetups with fellow property investors.

 

Guys, last Saturday I had a crack at the Western Sydney Marathon. It was a slick operation, the organisers knew what they were doing (apart from the starting arch falling over a minute before the gun was due to go off!), and was a pretty picturesque course too

Was totally underdone on training (averaging 35-40km a week, instead of the recommended 70-80), but thought I could still put in a reasonable effort and get somewhere around 4 hours.

Passed the halfway point in 1:58 (just 1 minute behind my HM best!), and 28k in 2:41 so things were going ok, but knew the wheels were falling off and the cramps started setting in. Obviously went out too fast but it was hard to know as I'd never been past 32km before, and certainly not that quick on the training long runs.

Bit frustrating I was not out of breath at the end due to all the shuffling required to nurse some sore and painful calves through to the finish, but stumbled over the line in just under 4:30 (including a 4 minute toilet stop losing my guts ). Not bad for a first effort, but lots of room for improvement.

Got 2 half marathons in the near future with the Blackmores Sydney Marathon to follow in September. Lots to look forward to!

 

Nice one @marty998 now time to get some solid training blocks in so you can smash it at Sydney.

 

I think I might be turning a corner with the toes, several weeks of phsyio, lots of stretching exercises and manipulation and they're coming good slowly. Still hurt like a mother lover after a run, but once I can manually moved and stretch them they start to come good and have been great when not running.

Had a crack at Mt Donna Buangs Vertical K run last Sunday, can't believe it was a year since last time I ran it. 22k with 1300 meters of vertical gain. Super slippy, super steep mud trail that ascends straight up the side (no switchbacks to ease the gradient). Down to 22 minute per K pace in places (can hardly cal it a run, more a speed hike). Only about 6k of it is runnable. Was even a bit of snow on the top.

Coming down is masochistic, by the time you're halfway down the quads are complete jelly.

My buddy lives half an hour from Warburton (the start of the Donna Buang run), there's a social trail running event organized near his place on Friday night (not a run, a talk by local gun trail runners about "the scene"), so we're going to that, then I'll crash at his place and we're going to run Donna again first thing Saturday.

I got a fairly decent 11k in yesterday, nothing flash, just super steady as another toe test really. They pulled up sore immediately afterward but after some gentle rubbing they came good.

So, it's too early to call it just yet, but I'm going to put a few big runs in the next couple of weeks. I'll do Donna this Saturday, then a couple of 10's in the week then maybe a 30k the following weekend. If the toes hold up to that I'm going to pull the pin on the Surf Coast 100k registration for September!

How's everyone else going? Been a pretty cold, wet few weeks down here in Vic.

 

@Propagate , that Mt Donna Buangs run seems really hard. Wish it was close enough for me to get there ...

I wish i had it in me to do long distance again, takes too much time to prepare for unfortunately even when not planning on doing any races. My longest run these days is 12-15kms which seems perfect distance as the pace is still pretty quick for my current level of fitness and i'm keeping my weight steady so not loosing too much muscle mass.

I'm really loving the usual every second day 8 kms after work even though the running conditions at night in Melbourne these days are pretty harsh. Half an hour or so and i can go back to my day.

As the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race. Keep at it and enjoy it

 

Friday night was good, the talk up at Emerald was great fun. It was hosted by a chap called Ash (can't remember his surname), a gun runner who''s ran all over and it was a night to kind of let people from the online trail running groups meet in the flesh and talk a bit. A few video's were played on the big screen and three short talks by the local trail running club founders to encourage more people to join up and join in (at all levels).

Peter Mitchel spoke first, ex Australian champion marathoner (2:14) from the 80's, he was funny and had some great stories and photo's. He started the Dandenong Trail Runners.

Then the chap that founded Lysterfield Trail Runners, nice chap, good photo's and talk (can't remember his name).

Lastly, David Linn (AKA The Bearded Asian), who founded and run the Victorian Ultra Runners club. He was also very funny and seems to come dead last in any Ultra he signs up for.

It was a great night, very much social focused and highlighted how accessible and welcome runners of ANY ability are to the trail clubs.

My only chagrin is I've now had to re-activate my Facebook account to join the clubs as, like a lot of grass roots clubs these days, they are all ran predominantly via Facebook.

Running wise, not a bad hit out at the weekend, did Donna Buang again (2 weeks in a row now), absolute boggy mess this time after all the rain, we got pretty cold and wet and slid the whole way down in the mud. Super sketchy but heaps of fun. Finished a few minutes quicker which was s surprise based on conditions, nothing run-able on the way down. Finished way stronger than last week though, toes were sore but nothing like as bad as the quads weren't complete jelly. I'm contemplating going again this Saturday to make it 3 in a row, it's such good training for strength and time on your feet, but being a good 1:45 drive each way it gets a bit tiring. Here's a link to te Strava/Relive map video of Saturday's Donna Run:-

Numbnuts on Instagram: “#trailrun Saturday up a very muddy slippy #Mtdonnabuang #run #running #runner #trailrunner”

Backed it up yesterday with a stead 18k slightly uphill dirt road run. Left at dawn and ran to my favorite cafe, met my partner there for breakfast then a lift back to my car.

Numbnuts on Instagram: “Early morning shakeout run to @wombat_cafe for another awesome #vegan breakfast #run #trailrun”

I'm feeling good just now, I really want to start pushing out my training, super keen to sign on for Surf Coast Century just haven't quite got the confidence that the toes are right yet. Couple more weeks and lengthen out the runs, see how we go.

Anyone else get a hit out over the weekend?

 

Everyone managing to beat the winter blues and get their K's in?

I've changed tack slightly, building some low intensity base k's (it's easier on the toes). Trying to do a daily 10k at under 145 HR on the treadmill or under 150 HR on the street.

Seems to be working, I'm 9 days in now. First 8 days mix of 10-12 daily K's on the treadmill or local loops, adjusting pace/incline etc to keep under that sweetspot HR. Within a week my treadmill HR is down a few BPM for the same speed and incline, too early to draw a conclusion as to whether it its working for me. It's definitely helping me stop going too hard every run, which I don't believe is too good for you. Need those recovery K's and long slow run days.

Did a 24k loop of the local reserve yesterday, mixed trails and hills etc, sandy, muddy and some firetrail. Stayed lovely at 150 HR until about 1 hour 45 then it ramped up 10bpm for same effort so I had to back right off to a walk almost to get back under 150. I think it was partly to do do with running on an empty stomach and carrying no water or food, I think I ran out of fuel and the body responded with a ramped up HR. Next weekend long run I'll eat & hydrate on the run and see if the same thing happens.

It's called the Maffatone Method if anyone is interested. The aim is to not go over the max MAF HF at all for a few months preferably, the theory being you increase running efficient so are able to go longer, and faster, for the same effort, great for us wannabe ultra runners trying to find your day-pace and get that pace up to a level that doesn't feel like a walk.

Going to try and see the month out with minimum daily 10's and a long one each weekend then do a treadmill caparison between start & end of the month, I'll add back in some tempo and Fartlek stuff after that to mix it up.

 

That's a lot of mileage @Propagate and that Maffatone method sounds pretty interesting. Similar to what most long distance athletes advocate and do, 80% easy and 20% hard. Most believe that the long easy runs are the most important part of any training regime.
Good stuff and hope it's all going well.

No change here, same old run and exercise regime after work. I've been noticing some lower abs pain after my runs but not during. It's been there for a while now, subsides a day or so after the run but comes back after each run. More like soreness and not actual injury pain if that makes sense. Almost have the symptoms of a sports Hernia but don't think it's that.

I think weight lifting is the cause of it(too heavy weights when doing military overhead press and bad form ) and not running so changed things a bit and will see how that goes.

 

Hope that abdomen soreness subsides @paulF , like you say, probably from lifting?

My Daily K's are going very well, it's been interesting. Last night was the 18th day in a row for a total of 213k so far, mix of outdoor and treadmill days. Been sticking to the 150HR max outside and 145 indoor. Indoor has been a mix of flat and fast/steady or inclined increases with reduced speed to keep that HR constant. Last night I increased the incline 0.5% at each 1k mark and back the speed off accordingly to keep the same HR, at 30 minutes mark I reduced the incline 0.5% per K and sped back up accordingly to maintain HR consistency. Been very interesting. After reading up a bit on the physics of treadmills, (apparently incline treadmill running is actually the same as climbing outside (wind resistance not included), so I'm keen to start doing much more incline stuff on the treadmill going forward, get ready for the hills once the weather picks up!

So, that's almost exactly a combined equivalent of 5 marathons in 2.5 weeks. No real negative effects as yet, right ankle is a little sore from overuse, I'll watch that, it is getting better but if it gets worse I'll can the runs for a few days. Toes are still sore but not as bad the slower stuff doesn't affect them as much. I'm getting a bit tired generally and don't relish the treadmill nights, but once I'm 5 minutes into it and warmed up all is good. Main thing is food, man, I can eat! Always had a big appetite but I'm shoveling stuff in at the moment, (managed to stay off the booze still too, that's over 2.5 months without a single drop now).

I'd say it's working, I did an easy loop from work a month ago, 11.5k and averaged 5.09 minutes per K at an average HR of 161 bpm.

I ran the exact same loop on Monday but averaged 4:58 per K at a average HR of 151, so 11 seconds per minute faster pacer for 10 bpm per minute less HR effort effort.

I'm noticing in on the treadmill too, I'm having to run faster now for the same 145HR.

I'll see the month out with it then have a couple of rest days before adding the faster speed day back into the mix, be interesting to see if my middle distance times increase based of the low HR stuff once I start pushing a bit again.

I'm really looking forward spring, especially if I keep this volume and planned constancy up, it'll be the first year (running or riding) that's I'll go into spring already nice and fit, ready to enjoy some long, sunny trail runs!

Hope everyone else is getting their winter K's in?