Hope everyone has had a fab start to July. How are you all doing with your Quests this week? We have a lot of variety in the quests this month, and it’s going to be a pleasure seeing you all reach your monthly goals.
If you’re reading and haven’t joined, it’s not too late... this is all about setting goals to work towards or even accomplish this month. A quest can be to go to a new distance/time, attack a PB, train for an event, up weekly milage etc. Sometimes a quest isn’t about that... sometimes it’s about getting off the IC, working on strength or flexibility, consolidating our running, or maybe it’s something brand new to go alongside your regular runs. The choices are endless.
Personally, while I’ve had a good play with the new watch, my quest has changed and I’ve started a new half marathon plan. I’m aiming to run the distance alongside our very own Oldfloss in October. So far so good (apart from struggling to keep my pace down to the prescribed maximum on my plan!
Have a great week 2 everyone.
Written by
UnfitNoMore
Graduate10
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I’ve just run 10k 🏃♀️ I was suppose to run 9k this morning as I’m on week 6 of the magic plan but here in Melbourne we’re going back into lockdown😢. We’re allowed to exercise but as our state premier said yesterday “it’s not an opportunity to run a marathon” I don’t think there’s much chance of that but maybe a half one day 😊
Hope your half marathon training goes really well.
Congratulations on that 10k, especially getting it in early! I was saddened to see the news that Melbourne was heading back into lockdown and state borders were closing. Obviously it’s necessary, and I hope it’s for long enough, but also ends as soon as possible
Stay safe and well... and enjoy the exercise you can take.
How wonderful that you and Oldfloss are planning running the Monsal trail HM together. I’d really love to do the 10k there next year. Just need to enter as soon as it is open .
I have achieved 2 (not) parkruns and an intro to new shoes run last week so everything going to plan. The same again this week and then I will start the magic plan again. Me and UpTheStanley still have fingers crossed for the New Forest 10k in September 🌲🏃♀️🌳🌲🏃♂️🌳🍀🤞
I have my fingers crossed for all autumn events, but hadn’t booked anything... we shall be running the HM before the rescheduled date for the event itself, but who needs a medal and you have friends?
You’re doing really well with the (not) parkruns... I’ve managed to submit times twice (on consecutive days 🤣) so far!
Have a great week and it’ll be cool to see you on that bridge again soon.
A virtual race is a great alternative if worried about Covid in the current climate and I fully understand why this will be so much better for Oldfloss. I Love that she won’t be doing it in her own and look forward to reading your posts.
Hello I have started my run every day for 💯 days and I have run a variety of distances but none over 5km. I am really enjoying it. Hope all goes well with your training plan for a half marathon .
100 days of running? Excellent... variety will certainly help with that... I get bored really quickly repeating runs too often. Have a wonderful time ticking those days off... do you have plans for day 101?
Not sure about a quest this month as I'm starting it with a niggling pain in my knee. One of my old park run pals has returned to running after a baby so she is spurring me on. I'm going to make my quest to reach that magic 60 minute run. I just missed out last month but I'm only 5 minutes off so🤞. After that I want to get my 5k time down by at least 2 minutes. With only one more week at work the summer break might provide the opportunity to focus. We'll see 🤔. Good luck Questers!!
Hope that niggle settles soon for you. If you can get that 60 in that’s only gonna help with the summer mission. Good luck all around and have fun out there.
Congratulations! Hopefully the knee worry is behind you... pace work will give a higher impact, so if in doubt have a relaxed week or two first. Fartleks may be the best way to start off on that journey, and your short run is ideal for that.
Thanks Dexy, I had originally planned to try for 10 miles and had got to 12k and then lockdown happened, so after being a bit in the running doldrums, I’ll try again. Trust me to start a plan in winter in Wellington though. 😂
Thanks UNM, parkrun was brilliant! We had lower numbers than usual, but I guess some may still a little nervous about attending. Fortunately, after an awful week of weather, it was just cold, but fine. I’m looking forward to this Saturday again. I don’t usually run with others, (too far behind normally) but it was really nice having conversations with other runners who weren’t concerned with PBs and happy to chat, suspect it might be a bit different this week though! 😂
Maybe... or maybe there’s been a shift in focus for a lot of people. Dunno how it’s been there, but I’ve been able to run here... it’s the conversation that’s been missing.
Hi UnfitNoMore, this morning I ran 12K, OK that is the bottom line but I am not too happy about my time, I ran slowly to make sure that I completed it, which I did, my first 5K split was 38.40, the 10K split was 79.52, usually I am around 73 minutes, altogether that is the longest run that I have ever run 12K time was 96.66, I would have been happier if it had been around 90 minutes.
Great job on the 12k. Your longest run should always be your slowest... I don’t worry about time one little bit when adding endurance. Whatever the distance, getting there is everything... times can be worked on later.
PS, I did buy a small packet of Jelly Babies but I am afraid to say that having quite a few of them made my stomach just a little sore, they didn't affect my running, from now on I will keep to having liquid just before and after I run. 🏃🏾 👍
Did you like the new watch? Have you got your head around all of its features yet? Good luck with the HM training too, I hope to move on to that one day, maybe!!
I did my first sub 35 minute 5k attempt yesterday and managed 35 minutes 40 seconds But, it was my 2nd fastest 5k according to Strava and I did get PBs for 1K, 1 mile & 2 mile so while not quite there yet, overall I'm happy with my first attempt. I'll try again next week.
Love the watch... so many features it’s unreal... and still messing around creating cross training workouts!
Great job out there... sounds like you were well on track until that last bit... it will come soon I think. Have a couple of really relaxed easy ones and then go again.
Hi! Week 2 of JuJu's magic plan and I ran just shy of 5k this morning using the "Ramp up and taper" workout in Runkeeper. It was great! I'm pretty sure that the 600m in the middle wasn't exactly "fast" but the kms really fly by when you vary it like that and before you know it, hey presto, 3km done and you're down to cool down!
App says "congratulations, that was your 23rd fastest run" LOL but that does include walking for warm up and cool down (which most of my other runs don't) and inspired by all the advice here, I've decided not to focus on pace but following a plan and shaking things up. Glorious hot weather here this week (I live in Geneva) so all in all pretty happy with July questing so far
Nice work! I’m pleased my apps don’t rank my runs down into the 20’s, that could drive me bonkers! Endurance is the priority on your plan, so exactly right not to worry about speed... late in the plan you’ll be pretty amazed what you can do with the short run though!
Not so glorious here... but I’m off for a 50 minute run anyway!
Love that about your app telling you that was your "23rd fastest run, well done on almost running 5K as part of Ju Ju's Magic 10 plan at week 2, onwards and upwards 🏃🏾 👍
Good to hear the watch arrived and that you're enjoying working it out! I ran my first 10k last weekend which was great 😁 a steady 5k last night with increasingly more time being spent in heart rate zone 3, although still more in 4 than 3, but it's a work in progress....
Congratulations on the 10k... and that heart rate is moving in the right direction, which is the main thing. Hope this coming week can live up to that great one!
I think I must have a naturally high working heart rate because it really doesn't feel like I'm working that hard but either way getting it down must be doing me some good!!
Yeah, nailed on that your Max is higher than the defaults then! There are workouts that will reveal your real max HR... they tend to involve hills and sprinting!!!
Have a read of this... it has a couple of workouts that will let you discover your max HR. As the article goes on to say, when you’ve discovered your max HR for running, using that can make swim and bike training HR targets impossible to achieve... triathletes probably need to change their rates depending on the training session.
The watch measures vO2max, and the connect app uses that (and I assume other things) to calculate your fitness age. I’m currently 14 years younger, just hoping that if this continues, I won’t have to enrol at school 🤣
I was going to buy the Phoenix 6 in solar variety, but can’t justify the price tag (£840) yet... so I looked at the rest of the range and the 245 ticked a high ratio of useful features to pound spent.
I think my quest is just to really enjoy running. I graduated a couple of weeks ago from C25K and quite quickly managed to actually run 5K in 34 minutes and then it all went a bit downhill. (Sadly not literally ). I was getting really frustrated because I didn’t seem to be able to run at the same speed consistently. Anyway lots of browsing on here, plus downloading the Nike running app gave me a bit of a revelation this week - firstly the idea of running slowly most of the time in order to increase your speed and secondly the idea of trying to find my comfortable ‘easy’ run. So I am trying to change the criteria by which I judge my runs. I had an excellent run this evening - it was pretty slow, but it felt comfortable and easy. And I realise I need to have more runs like that before I can push myself. (I am quite an old gal, and really don’t want to end up on the IC.) Maybe I will think about aiming for faster / longer at some point but for the moment I want to be comfortable and confident running 30 minutes. Sorry that was a long one!
That, for me, is the most important quest a new runner can take on. My first truly easy run (as opposed to one that was easy to finish) will live with me forever. When you’ve found that really happy pace everything else unlocks. Have an amazing month of discovery... oh and say Hi to coach Bennett for me!
I've managed to run 3 times in the last week and got a PB for the (not) Parkrun on Saturday, so close to the sub 30 min 5k (30.01 min). I have also managed to do my yoga classes on alternate days. It helps that I have a week off so have had lots of time. I was supposed to run today but my ankle was a bit sore when I got up so I'll give it a miss today. I don't want to risk making things worse so I'll see how it goes. The positive side is that my ankle didn't hurt on my previous runs but I don't think the weather is helping today. Hopefully I will feel OK to run tomorrow but if not I'll give it another day.
Good luck with your training for the half marathon.
Congratulations on the PB... and that 30 is there for the taking! Hope your ankle is good soon, rest is the only way to go today, and if it needs a few days off it’s going to be worth it. Yoga will of course help with all things strength and flex! Have a wonderful week.
I shall have to work hard, to keep up with you, before the HM date!!!
All is going to plan, sort of...
I am not quite on top of the new plan I am using... but I will get there.
Popped in a speedy ( for me ) 19 minute run for Rainbow Relay on Beyonders... and am still incorporating 5K for Not Park Run, each Friday. I shall be adding to that as the weeks go on and shall keep Sunday as my long run day
I am focusing more on strength work too, stamina seems fine.
Ha! Don’t forget that I’ve seen the pace of that Rainbow Relay run... and I know that you’ll have no problem keeping up with me... quite the opposite, but I’m going to train hard to get to that start line in a condition where I won’t hold you back! I’m using Garmin coach this time around and it’s pretty good... every run reveals the run for the week after, so it’s either smoke and mirrors or it’s adaptive. I’d see them as a reward to look forward to post run, but this week’s 50 minute run rewarded me with a 90 minute run 🤣
I've managed two runs this week; a 35 minute and a 50 minute. I'm building up gradually and the 50 minute run was great, I felt I could have continued but didn't want to push too much too soon as decided to stop while it still felt comfortable. Heel has felt good so I'm glad to be back to it and hoping the wind dies off a bit for next week as I can pretty much be running without going anywhere with the seafront gusts!
Great job... and smart to stop with plenty left in the tank, as always gentle progression is the way to go. No seafront gusts here, thankfully, well done dealing with them, good resistance training right there!
Bit of a limp start to the Quest for me for a rather odd reason - I have fallen out with my closest friend (of 25 years) We've emailed one another nearly every day but over the past up to a year the atmosphere went... weird. Long story short I've spent a lot of time this week drafting email after email to try to hit the right note and leave the way open to reconciliation.
So I won't make 5 'active days' this week and have done less yoga than would be useful in the circumstances. Did get a short run in glorious sunshine, though even that wasn't a 'new route'
Sorry to hear that you’ve not had a great week. Holding out the olive branch is admirable. The running will come back of course. Wishing you a much better week this time around, in every way.
Completed a couple of weeks of consolidation brought myself up to 5k and feel ready to begin the bridge. If I start now I should be close to completion when I go back to school in September. So I can start the distance version as I’ll have more time after next week 😍 I’d like a long time to consolidate the 10k as I’m still hoping to do an HM in April. Three not parkruns this week!
Great job... and definitely ready for the distance version but the sounds of it. Have a wonderful time in the Bridge, and you’ll have plenty of time to get to HM by spring!
The daily yoga is so enjoyable and the physio exercises going well. Have found standing on a slope board for 3 minutes with straight legs and then 3 mins with a bend at the knees has been relieving my foot pain a lot. Mr Bbr was given this exercise by his physio for PF.
Going to try plyometrics again today so fingers crossed it goes well.🤞
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But, it was my 2nd fastest 5k according to Strava and I did get PBs for 1K, 1 mile & 2 mile so while not quite there yet, overall I'm happy with my first attempt. I'll try again next week. 
Sassy for September Quest - week 2 💥
