It's Monday! Let's CHAT!!! How have you been getting along this past week?
I finally managed to get my solo 50 km run done on Friday, very pleased! I stitched together a few familiar routes and took my time, walking all the steep bits (and taking the opportunity while doing to eat something from my considerable food stash!). It was lovely to get up onto the South Downs again, and without any complaint from my Achilles friends 😊😊😊 The weather was pretty good until the last 5 km along the sea front, where a headwind slowed me down to a tired jog. I ended up a bit further away from home than intended (due to a loo detour early on back in Shoreham), and had to walk 4 km home against the by-then biting wind and rain - so I was glad I'd packed a jacket! I got some chips so I was all good 😁 Overall a very enjoyable day, which didn't ever feel too difficult.
Except! I got blisters under two toenails, which puzzled me a lot because my shoes have been fine before with this sort of distance and terrain. I had a bit of a trundle round the web and came up with a very useful article by an Australian podiatrist, from which I conclude that my laces had not been tight enough - what a fool! I did realise they were a bit loose as I was going along, but didn't think it would be a problem 🙄
Here's the page if you're interested - WARNING!! Contains nasty pictures of blistery toes from the outset... blisterprevention.com.au/to...NB check out my reply to Kevin41 for instructions to block images on websites...
★ Have you found any useful online articles you'd like to share? Might be good to build up some pinned resources!
As always, if you're new here, or just browsing through the community posts, this is a great place to introduce yourself and let us know how you are doing. You’ll find plenty of support and knowledge from your fellow runners here.
Have a great week, everyone!!!
The Marathon Team xxx
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Pity about finishing 4k from home in a gale ☹️ Although the walk does help stretch out the kinks. Chips greasing your path no doubt 😁 yum yum. Great way to celebrate an epic feat I think 😋👍.
I think blisters are always going to feature 🤷♀️ I am still dealing with mine the third week after my marathon 🙄. I did find that sticking a Compeed plaster on my bunion area of my right foot beforehand worked really well It was the ends and between my toes that bore the brunt I’m losing another nail too
I hope you’re recovering well and planning your next adventure Yesterday would have been my marathon event - in perfect weather 🙁.
I felt fine post marathon, apart from blisters, and have been running regularly since. Another run today as it’s lovely out after a frosty dawn
32k is the hunger time for me too. I usually start sniffing the hula hoops at that point. I took two bags on my marathon but forgot about them even when I was struggling in the last few Kms 🤨. Brain not functioning properly 🙂
Wow - I know you warned us but some of those pictures 🤢🤢🤢. Actually very timely for me as I have a black toenail from my last run, seemingly out of nowhere, thanks I’ll have a proper read whilst trying to block out the photos ha ha
I just found out it is possible to block images in Chrome - no doubt it can be done in other browsers too! Go into Chrome settings, then 'Privacy and security', then 'Site settings', scroll down to 'Content' and select 'Images', input the site address to block the images xx
What a brilliant achievement and a wonderful way to bring the running year to a close. I think that's a target of mine one day. To go 31 miles will be ace. Many congratulations because that's an incredible achievement 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
I have been running regularly and last week did 33m including a HM yesterday which felt good. Just keeping out there now through sheer enjoyment 😃
Hi roseabi and running friends. That looks like an epic effort Roseabi. I doubt I'll ever be able to go that far in one go, but 'never say never'! 😃I've been plodding along towards my LEJOG challenge. As of this morning I've run 366.48 miles in 99 days since I started. I'm on the M6 just west of Ashton-in-Makerfield in the virtual world. 👍
I've joined the Bridge Winter Speed Challenge and I'm aiming to set a baseline time for my 1K one day this week, but I'm not sure yet when it'll be.
Thinking ahead, I've also joined the HUHM Spring Virtual HM challenge. If I can manage it in time, it would be lovely to complete LEJOG with a HM! 😁
Congratulations your awesomeness!! Amazing run. Rounded up with a pile of chips in keeping with the culture of this forum (the Northern Branch anyway 🙂). You deserve honorary membership!By way of contrast, a 5k hill run for me this morning. I decided to slow off to make sure that I ran all of the hills and I slowed off on the downhills too, with a 15/16k scheduled for Wednesday in mind. Result was exactly the same time as last week with the slow bits a little faster and the fast bits a little slower. My achilles started to grumble last week, so I have reintroduced eccentric heel dips and calf raises; seems to have done the trick. The hill run has started to give me a tight outer edge to my calf, but that will roller out before Wednesday. So I am at the start of week 7 of my age adjusted version of your plan, but the achillies prompted me to bring forward the check in. The last two runs have felt like hard work, which is probably the cumulative mileage, but I reckon I will be fine if I keep things steady. 👍
Thanks Beachy! I lived in Lancashire/Merseyside for quite a few years so I'll take you up on that membership offer 😄Great work, and all the best for successful Achilles and calf rehab! xxx
My running has plateau-ed since lockdown Mark 2, as my routes are much more restricted, yet I feel obliged to make the most of the time I'm allowed out. So I've signed up to the Speed and Spring HM challenges, in the hope that these will force me to make an effort.
Congratulations on a very successful ultra! So impressive!!! Those hills 😨
I was reading a cycling article at the weekend, but the bit that particularly struck me can equally be applied to running 'The harder and farther you go, the fitter you get, and before you know it, you’re waking up at 3 A.M. to put in 75 miles before work just to maintain your base fitness. This is no way to live.' It struck a bit of a chord with me as an easy trap to fall into. For now I'm still pretty much resting from running to sort my niggles before I start my new plan, but always at the back of my mind is how can I not lose fitness? 😂
That article made me smile several times but that one bit made me squirm a bit 😊.Walking is mostly OK. It gets worse if I sit for any length of time (timely reminder to get up and on my bike!) and sometimes I feel it if I twist or maybe during some leg lifts. It's 'lateral hip pain' (Dr Google says!). I think it's tendons/ligaments that run over the hipbone that are inflamed. Nothing serious. Maybe tight IT band caused it (tho no outer leg pain). Am stretching bum, IT band, hip flexors and calves - but more gently than I was. And am back on the Naproxen in case that helps reduce the inflammation.
I was wondering if a bit of regular brisk uphill walking might help with your fitness. But also, as it says in that article, the quality of your 20 mile bike ride will make a difference 😊😊😊
Forgot to say I'll be doubling my max distance this week to a whole 2km 🙂 Planning to run Tallinn Marathon next autumn and knock 20 mins off my PB to get close to 04:30:00. So a hell of a long way to go...Oh crap! Now I've just gone and said it out loud! 😂
Congratulations on completing such a distance! Last week was horrendously busy at work, but I still managed to fit in 3 runs. My long run was done on a Sunday for once, and it was a bit slippy out there, but I managed 16 km.
I've decided that I don't like taking myself away from the family for long stretches of time on a Sunday, so I was a bit naughty and did my next long run today. You might remember that I have a Christmas marathon scheduled. It's between two running shops west of Oslo and in a town south of Oslo and they're offering participants a 30% discount on everything this week. So I killed two birds with one stone, as the route passes my house, and I ran from home to the shop at the finish - 18 km - and bagged myself a bargain. I'm glad I don't have to do another long run until next week!
Oh I hope your toes are on the mend. I still have two purple ones from my effort. I must try that heel lock lacing method. Maybe thats why they are not healing properly. They are just getting re-bruised with each run! My speedgoats have lots of toe room but on downhills you’d still mash up the piggies, I am sure.
This last weekend was a long solo lockdown run, around 28k. Dry going out and a full snowstorm coming home. I even managed to get lost on an out and back run when my phone lost track of my gps for a bit Almost had to shamefully call Mrs Decker to track me down. But in the end I worked it out. Also found am AMAZING deal on a new Suunto run watch for 60%off so that should be coming soon. My friend has one and swears by it - especially the battery life. We will see.
Wow that must have been some snowstorm to get lost on your way home. Did it get really difficult in terms of footwear? We're having a really warm early winter, so there's no snow on the horizon for a while. Just gales.
I think it was a combo of my complete lack of an internal compass and my phone tripping out along with the snowstorm😁. I had my Speedgoats on and the traction was pretty solid. January will be the test, but i have my secret weapon Nano cleats for that!
Thank you!!! I think I may actually have got away with it and will keep the nails, but I'll have to wait and see.I don't actually have the lace-lock holes on my trail shoes, but I definitely could have had them done up tighter! One thing that puzzles me is that they always seem to loosen over time - something else to investigate...
Lost in a snowstorm??? How scary!!!!
Ooh, a Suunto! I was very tempted by those, they have some great triathlon options, and as you say their battery life is great. The trouble with the particular model I was looking at was that I saw a lot of comments that the strap would break, and I wouldn't have wanted that to happen while I was swimming in the sea! So I went with a Garmin in the end. I hope your Suunto isn't the breaky-strap one, it was a Spartan Trainer. I imagine they have sorted it out by now anyway.
I tried the lace lock method for some dog walks and it seems to put pressure on different parts of the leg. My right IT is a bit tight, not sure if its connected, could just be the running. Will try it in my long run this weekend and see what happens.
Yes who gets lost on the back of an out and back? This guy! It was a bit confusing walking along the roadside with cars speeding by and not knowing which direction was right. Once my phone reconnected I found a road I recognized and checked my compass and all was well. Does not bode well for any future desert or arctic ultras though...🙂
The Suunto was hard to pass up at 60%off. I have ordered the Ambit 3 which seems to have all I need. My friend Luis that did the Mexico 100k swears by his. Especially the battery life.
Congrats on your 50k run, hope your toes heal up well!
As for me, training is mostly going well but my stomach has not a been happy bunny on quite a lot of runs lately. I haven't yet had to divert my route to the nearest loo but have been very crampy and uncomfortable. I'm trying to work out what's triggering it and be extra careful about not eating too close to running. I've started a probiotic too. I might have to give up coffee as that seems to be a trigger I hadn't realised, until I googled, how much havoc all this jigging up and down and effort causes to the digestion!
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Almost had to shamefully call Mrs Decker to track me down. But in the end I worked it out. Also found am AMAZING deal on a new Suunto run watch for 60%off so that should be coming soon. My friend has one and swears by it - especially the battery life. We will see. 
I hadn't realised, until I googled, how much havoc all this jigging up and down and effort causes to the digestion!
Weekly Chat 11th - 17th May 🍪🍪🍪☕
