Joined a running club and other things

[Kallyfudge]

Wow, I'm now a member of the Didsbury Runners. Went for the first run on monday, was great. They meet up about 10mins slow walk down my road. Monday runs cover a lot of speeds and distances, and they're a lovely bunch of people.

Have increased my mileage successfully I think, but fast.. Gone from 15-20k a week to 35-40 for the past 4 weeks, going to think of upping it again next week if things feel stable. Really enjoying the long easy runs and being mindful, also practising/trying to improve my form. That's hard though without outside input from someone else or a camera. My cadence has always been good 170+ average on fast runs, a little lower on easy runs 160+ but I don't know if I'm running like an octopus wrestler or not.

So have the Manchester half marathon coming up, I am going to be signed up for a race at all times now, to keep me motivated. So marathon next anyone have any marathons towards the end of this year?

On another note, I am being made aware that its going to be important to have something soothing that I enjoy doing that is NOT running. We all have 3 systems, Soothe, Threat and drive. So I need to get back into other things I enjoy like reading and videogames. I think everyone needs that, because there are going to be times when we cant run, but also its important to keep the soothing part of our minds in good shape as its not good to live on drive and threat alone. Then when we cant run for example we live in threat land. Running has filled a huge void for me and it can be soothing but mostly drive based. What do you do when you cant run?

So now.. after saying all that.. I'm going to do some interval training. I've never done this properly, just winged it, I've used the mcmillan pace calculator and am going to set it up properly today, I can get my watch to tell me when to go etc using training peaks, just need to sort all my paces out.

Hope you are all doing well and all my best to you.

[Tomas Marathon]

Sounds great with the running club. I hope you continue to find it fun and useful.

I enjoyed reading about soothe/drive/threat, and it makes a lot of sense. I have drive, and when I can't run I tend to get grumpy and unreasonable and take it out on my poor loving fiancee. So I need something soothing to carry me over before the next injury. Thanks for bringing it up, it's a very sensible concept.

[Kallyfudge Marathon in reply to Tomas]

Thanks Tomas! You and I are like 2 legged stools, and soothe is really good to develop even when we can run. I put some more info in response to Sandra below. Its something I've been working on myself and am rubbish at at the moment

[JaySeeSkinny Half Marathon]

You're really going great guns, aren't you! I think it's brilliant, sounds just right for you. Enjoy!

[Sandraj39 Half Marathon]

Sounds like your running is going great! Interested to read about soothe/drive/threat and am definately going to look into this further. Running has helped me manage a life long battle with anxiety. Recent problems with injury and less running has definately confirmed this - running is my happy place and without it I struggle!

[Kallyfudge Marathon in reply to Sandraj39]

One of the books we used is called "building your self confidence using compassion focused therapy" by Mary Welford Here is a bit of info on the model

psychologytools.com/emotion...

I find it really helpful as often find myself in threat. Running can be soothe but mostly it belongs in drive. I think a lot of people in this age are taught and pushed into relying on drive alone and when drive doesn't work, due to injury or work problems, we don't have the third leg (soothe) to help, just retreat into threat. I recommend reading about it. I've got another book called the compassionate mind by paul gilbert but haven't read yet.

I think its a good idea to develop it before we need it, but more importantly it will help a lot even when we can run and improve quality of life to learn and strengthen soothe.

[ju-ju- Marathon]

Sounds like you are doing really well.... I am hoping to sign up for a marathon in December fingers crossed.... I am not familiar with the soothe threat and drive theory. Admittedly I have a lot of drive in my work and my running, I have threats too, but not a great deal of soothing. Although I do try and have a massage every 6 weeks if that counts ( not a sports one, a proper candles and tinkly music type thing)!!

[misswobble Marathon]

Running club! Yay! Great fun but don't up your distance too soon! It's so easy to get swept up in it and try to keep up with them but they have probably been running a lot longer. Do the gradual progression and take your time 🙂🏃✔️

I love to read. Always got several books on the go at once 🤓 I stayed in a hotel this week and before dinner everyone had their nose in a book 🙂

Do you walk? I love to walk. I walk a borrowed dog, walk to the shops, walk to see new things, walk round the garden in bare feet. I love it and it's free. It doesn't have to be far or for a purpose 😃

I grow things! Food mainly. Growing things is really positive as you have the prospect that it will thrive. Doesn't always though so you have to try again 🙂

I am training for a half and a full marathon at the moment 🏃‍♀️💪