It's occurred to me, you - collectively and individually, are wonderful. Do you know that? What you are doing to better yourself by running is wonderful, and the fact that you share your journey with us all is wonderful, not to mention the achievement of actually running for longer distances.
Anyway, I digress!!
This morning I looked out of the window to see frost. Now, I don't mind running in the cold, but I have to confess I did hold off for an hour or two. Eventually I started the great debate with myself of what to wear. I hate running in anything more than shorts/tshirt, and obviously socks/trainers. Yes, and underwear before you say anything lol! This morning it was about 6°c out by the time I set off, so I decided to look like a complete fool and wear my running shorts over my long running pants, and a tshirt over my long compression top. Oh and a hat too, since for some odd reason I decided that Friday was the day for a haircut. I looked rather strange I think, but I didn't care. I did my stretches, laced up my lovely CloudFlows, and set off on my flat towpath route. This was intended to be a recovery run you understand after the million-or-so k I did on Thursday, so no hills today.
The first 0.5k or so was a little painful I have to say, and I debated whether to turn back, but it pretty quickly eased off, and I put that down to maybe missing out some muscles when stretching or something, I've had no pain since, I think they were just still a bit tight from the long run the other day. As I started my run a female runner, who looked much fitter and experienced than I did, turned out onto the towpath ahead of me. I deliberately waited for a minute so she could get a head start, and then set off myself. I have to say I love Strava's auto-pause feature for this. It will be very handy the next time I do a parkrun. I realised pretty quickly that I was catching her up. I estimate she was probably running 1min/km slower than I was and I ran next to her for a few hundred yards and we had a brief chat. She explained that she hadn't run much this week, I explained that this was a recovery run after a longer one, and we both continued. It's the first time I've actually overtaken a serious-looking runner though!
Apart from that little bit of excitement, nothing much more to say really, I got to 2.5k without any drama, turned round, and ran back the other way, saying hello to the exact same set of dog walkers I'd said hello to on the outward leg.
What I would say though is I hate having wear layers. I hate it with a passion. I would have been too cold to go without, but after about 10 minutes I was definitely feeling a little on the hot side, and just wanted to rip the extra bits off. Then I would have had to carry them though, and that would have annoyed me.
I finished my 5k run in just over 33 minutes, not my best, but I was happy with that, for me. Average pace was 6:33/km with the first km being at 6:11 which was good. The rest of the 4km splits were consistent though, and I think that's a good thing. And I enjoyed it, which is also good.
Thank you for listening to me waffle again, run safe everyone!
Nice run Neil! I ‘do’ waffling, so I’m happy to see others do it too! 😅👍
I’m with you on the clothing dilemma. I was ok yesterday at parkrun, as I was able to leave my jackets (thin one and a down one) at the start, and I ran in a long sleeved thin top and long leggings. Nothing else extra and it was 3 degrees / but I do run hot, so to speak!
But it was dry. What to wear when it’s wet and cold? 🤔🤔
Impressed with your ability to chat to the woman runner too. Kudos. I can’t do that! 👏👏
I’m off for a 4k tomorrow. Hopefully more pleasant than last week’s one, which was vile! 😖
Thanks Cheeky! Yes, I run hot too, but only once I've warmed up. I'm pretty convinced I could run in shorts and tshirt even if it was freezing once I was warmed up, but I'm not quite planning to try that yet. Clothing is indeed a nightmare, but I'm not ready to join a gym and run indoors on a treadmill, not just yet anyway Well done on your 4k run... just seen that!!
You never waffle Neil, glad you enjoyed your 'recovery run', I do agree with you that when it's cold you want to put more layers on but once into the run you wish you hadn't as many on, isn't there some rule for runners to dress for the temperature being about 3C higher than it is.
This morning I went on a 12 kilometre WALK, rather interesting as for the first time I set my Mapmyrun app onto walking mode on my new Smartphone, the result at the end was that from the time I left my house and back, I walked a little over 12 kilometres, 17,000 steps and burned 737 calories which is more than any 5K runs that I have been running recently.
NO, certainly anyone can do a long walk, cycle, or other exercises on their non-running days but I wouldn't stop running just because long walks burn more calories, if I had ran 12K I am sure there would have been more than the 737 calories than when I walked, it is not fair to compare a 5K run with a 12K walk. That MapMyRun app I have only records how many steps I walk when I have it on walking mode but does not record how many steps I do when I have the app on running mode.
Your pace and times are always very good. And loads of people at the Rotary Club Blenheim 10k for Macmillan cancer research were wearing shirts over leggings and t-shirts over long sleeves. After all, what’s good enough for Superman (or Bananaman for that matter) should be good enough for you 😍
I have to say I'd never looked that closely at Bananaman, but, yes, I see it now! What's scary is how quickly that image came to your mind
Though watching that video I now feel really nostalgic for my childhood... oh well!!
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I used to watch Super Ted and Bananaman with my daughter when she was small, but her absolute favourite was Dogtagnian. He-Man was pretty popular too and she had all the models from that - By the Power of Greyskull!
That sounds like a lovely run, Neil! And am with you on the clothing issue. 😱 So hard to get it right. I overlayered today and was too hot, but was able to tie my outer layer around my waist. Then the heavens opened so all bets were off!
Regarding pace: have you ever considered negative splits rather than trying for consistency? I always go for this, and it works like a dream. Interesting article in Runners World below. Oh, and it’s not just for racing:
Thank you dear Sadie, it was surprisingly fun, even though I did consider it a faster run, but it's good for me. I'm no longer hung up on time, I'm just going to let my pace increase gradually I think.
Negative splits: The honest truth is YES, I have. My ultra-marathon-running friend at church explained it all to me. It makes sense, and I try, I really do, but am not good enough at pacing yet to get it right. For this run I really thought I was running the first k slowly too, I've clearly not got a clue. I don't mind though, it doesn't matter when you're running for the joy of it does it?
What I do know is that anything you think is a good idea is definitely worth some attention xxx
Yeah, if you just go with the flow, you will find your pace will naturally increase over time. Just get in some nice, slow long runs and maybe an interval session here and there. 😁
Pacing is one of the hardest things to master! Sheesh, always something new to learn with this running lark! I have found it easier since I got the Garmin - I am able to check my pace very frequently as I start off, so I can keep it slow. It is just so tempting to zip off at the start of a run, and slowing it right down takes some discipline! But honestly, for me a slow start is like a magic potion and it is so weird how despite being faster at the end, it doesn’t feel faster! Makes my head spin!
Slow long runs are simply the best aren't they Sadie? That silly 13k I did the other day - I just didn't want to stop. I felt like I could have gone on much further, though kinda-glad I didn't, wouldn't have wanted to pick up another injury, or have a leg fall off or something
What Garmin have you got? I was considering getting one myself. I did consider the apple watch, but a) too expensive and b) I've heard that serious runners use an actual garmin. And since we can get garmin stuff through one of our distributors at work, I should be able to get one at near trade if I'm lucky.
I will try to practice pacing, might take a while to get it right though!
Garmin is known for having the best GPS, and I can testify for that, as not once have I had any issues. My Garmin is easily the BEST bit of running kit I have bought and I love it. 💜 I heartily recommend, Neil, it is a game changer. 😁 I have probably the most basic one possible, Garmin 30 - but it does everything I need. I had wanted the Garmin 35, but my sister made a mistake! But honestly, as I said, it does everything I need from a running watch.
Thanks Jan, yes, interesting thing, the stretching. Since I've realised just how important it is, and started stretching the muscles that the physio said needed work, I've noticed that I don't have a problem with those any more during a run, though they do still get tight afterwards. The other tight bits tend to fix themselves within the first couple of minutes or during the warm up walk, so it's all good I think.
Thanks once again for your support and encouragement
Lovely run Neil - and I’m happy to read your ‘waffle’, although to me it’s just a post from a VRB! I’m still at the experimental stage with layers too - I ran with a long sleeved top and t-shirt over it yesterday - did get rather warm but my hands were still cold and the long sleeve top had those thumb-hole things in the sleeve which I used to keep warm - and it stopped me from constantly looking at my watch which I wanted anyhow!
Thank you, nice to know I'm not boring people to death. Or maybe it's a good thing if it makes them run the other way. After all, a run is a run, right?
I'm so glad I'm not running during the first half of this week, it's just too cold! Then I'd layer up and run and be too hot. Ideally I want to run in my own little microclimate which I can control with a thermostat. Surely someone's invented that, right?
Lovely comments...lovely post...lovely run! 🙂 I agree with you about layers though - I wore a very lightweight waterproof run top to begin with today. Kept me warm whilst starting off and then worn around my waist without really knowing it was there (iykwim). I also wore gloves to begin with, although these were soon removed and stuffed in my waistband for the rest of the run once I had warmed up. I do find running gloves really useful in the winter though and are often the thing that makes a real difference on a run. Frozen hands = not nice!😮🙂
Thank you Sandra, and yes, I completely agree with you about the gloves. I forgot mine this time and got away with it, but your fingers are something that doesn't tend to warm up that well during a run, and although the increased circulation should keep them a bit warmer, it's still not great.
Ah well, we just have to get through winter don't we?
Can't beat multiple sightings of dog walkers! I saw one pair three times today, the second time I only saw the woman and thought she'd thrown the man in the brook I was running down! 😂
Thank you BTP I wouldn't say "zooming", just running slightly less slowly, but although I felt guilty for leaving this poor woman behind, it did feel good. It's SO rarely that has happened!!
Lovely to hear about your recovery run... I do like a bit of waffle 😊 Yes the weather is causing a lot of "ooh, I don't know what to wear" in these pages! Bit of trial and error methinks...
Thank you MutleyShuffle , glad you like the waffle. I've seen various things in the forums about what to wear... still as confused as ever, but hopefully by the time I've worked it out it'll be slightly warmer again
Thank you! It really works doesn't it? I love reading about other people's running adventures, good and bad. Always something to learn. I continue to be amazed by just what a lovely bunch of folk we have on here...
Well done on your run Neil and by the way I love a good old waffle delicious 🤣🤣🤣🎃👻!
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Thank you Peggy. Mmmmmmmm waffles 🥞Yes I know the emoji is wrong... nearest thing I could find!
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Well done on your 4k run... just seen that!!
Another change of plan - 5K + 2K 😊🏃♀️🥣
First 5K at benchmark pace since return to running
Another 5k and Not Quite so Messy
