Happy Monday - how's it going? Tell us all about it in the comments 😍
I'm feeling a bit chilly today, even in Hove we had a frost this morning! I'm considering breaking out my Dreaded Capris for my run!! 😨
I was listening to the Trailrunner Nation podcast last night on my bike trainer, and they had an interview with a really lovely woman called Hillary Gerardi. She's a hardcore skier and sky runner, an American who lives and works in the French Alps. She is struck by the way the locals tend to wish people "Bon courage" as they set off on their adventures. Although this can translate as the "good luck" expression that is commonly used by English speakers, it also can mean something more like "hang in there!" or "you can do it!". Hillary muses that "courage" has more positive connotations than "luck", because we have control over it. She also suggests that we can work on our courage in increments - small acts of courage that build up to a big act of courage - and apply this to our marathon training or whatever life throws our way.
I rather like this concept, so from now on I wish you BON COURAGE with your running, cross-training, and resting!!! Or you could just stay in under the duvet with a hot chocolate...😄
If you have a race coming up in December, you might like to know that we have a brand new Events Post up today, so go there and tell Linda what you're up to! healthunlocked.com/marathon...
Great to be back running again, this morning I did a proper 5k, no dog, no bridges or slippery grass, just focussed on running and came in sub-30 minutes! Week 1 of 14 of my HM plan, complete!
I bought two pairs of running shorts on Friday to deal with our heat!. Gave away both pairs of my Hoka’s to one of my boys so I’m now officially an Altra girl. New trail shoes arrived ready for next year, once the boys go back to school, and we can escape to go trail running!
HM plan has been paused due to heat but I’m going to maintain 25miles weekly over the Summer so I’m ready to go once it cools down.
. I dug my retired ones out this week, post marathon, to accommodate my swollen, battered toes. Been dog walking in them 🙂🏃♀️🐶. They are very comfy for knocking about in and are really we finished off. When I ran in them though they gave me hellish blisters 🤷♀️
I haven’t had a blister yet with any of my Altra Road shoes although not tried my new trail shoes yet!😳 I thought I would alternate between different drops but I’m loving the toe box. Hope your toes heal soon. Is that a normal marathon thing or the new saucony speeds?
I ran trails in my road Altras but they’re really slippery (unsurprisingly) which causes your feet to move about much more, I can’t avoid trail even on my road runs.
I ran my marathon in the Speeds ( road shoe) but there’s quite a lot of trail on the course,, and because it was wet and muddy, it caused my feet to move about more in the shoe, hence blisters
It’s not the only cause for blisters though. Marathons need glute strength. Without it you’re relying on your calves to do the heavy lifting and your toes start to grip more as a result. I think that’s more glute exercises for me 🙂
That’s interesting and alarming for this future wannabe marathon runner. I’m not great at doing strength. Lots to learn. Good to know there’s no silver bullet shoes though 🤣 ❤️🏃♀️
The only shoes not to give me blisters were the Saucony Kinvara 5, which I wore into the ground. I did a marathon in it despite it being billed as a minimalist road shoe. I found it very comfy. The other, my recent Nike Run Shield Pegasus 36, which I bought for my recent marathon training. Unfortunately I wore it out before the big day. Love that shoe so I’m after another pair for about £50. A road shoe but I ran my trails in it too 🙂
The glute strength was flagged up at my last gait analysis when I mentioned blisters. You can do your strength work at home if you wish. Swimming, cycling, walking etc all good too 🙂
We have had a covering of snow over the last two days; I hope that drive and car clearing counts as cross training! The trails are the last thing to thaw around here, so no running for a while. The combination of ice and hills is lethal. Give my achilles time to settle I suppose. Bon courage? I think that we all need some courage to step out of our comfort zone, otherwise we stagnate. We aim for confidence /competence ….but then we go hunting for the next testing challenge. I like the concept… but I am still going to chicken out of the trails for a while 🙂.
I like my trail in winter, and I find it more secure footing wise than running on Tarmac etc I started C25k in winter on the trail in a pair of Karrimor Tempo Trail. Happy days 🥰
I’ve got some dead grippy Nike shield road shoes and I’ve nipped to the shops in them on icy pavements several times this week and found them really good. They’re dead bungee wise for running now so they’re retired 🙂
I have not run since my marathon, and yesterday, I fell asleep twice which is just not me. Feeling better today so am thinking of having a trot round Ive got itchy feet 🏃♀️
I started C25k following a spinal fracture caused by a spectacular Fosbury Flop which was a result of stepping on slush lying over a layer of sheet ice. I have run on fresh snow and enjoyed it, but I would need years of therapy to persuade me to run in icy conditions now, particularly on hills. 😂 I will run the trails again as soon as the ice has cleared; you are braver and more nimble than I am misswobble…much respect 💪💪💪
If it was icy on the trail I’ll wait til later in the morning when the sun comes out and hopefully has melted the worst of it. I’ve gone out with grips on my shoes but I wouldn’t call it running 🙂.
I went on a recce yesterday and the trail was wet but clear..hurray !! I got up this morning, and we have had more snow and the temperature has fallen to 2 degrees…..patience required.🙂
It’s mild here but I’m dog minding today. I got out at least 🙂
Hellow Roseabi,
Capris? Are those not pants cut off just below the knee or so? Now to my great surprise I don't mind running in regular thin tights when it is 1°C, but capris sounds a bit chilly for me! Once the temperature drops even lower, I might even bring out my thinly insulated winter tights from Decathlon.
As for myself, I am doing verrry good! Reached the magic 10 mile marker on Saturday for the very first time. The stars seems to be aligned for my run and all went well. Though I have to admit, 10 miles is not something I see myself doing on a weekly basis! It's back to the good old 10K for me now. Might try another 10 miler some day in the future, but the keyword here is 'future'.
Letting the legs (and knees and ankles) rest for a week now, before I kit myself up again for a simple 5K. I actually didn't plan to reach 10 miles at the start of the year, but I think I can say this year has been great for running for me. Had a couple of minor set backs in the sciatic region, but I overcame them and lookie lookie, the ten miles came to pass, just 1 year and 10 days after (re)starting running with C25K.
And I have to thank these groups (C25K, Bridge 2 10K and the Marathon group) for it, because I honestly don't know if without you guys I'd still be running...
I dug out my winter weight Ronhill tights 😍 for dog walking this week. We’ve had ice, snow and freezing winds 🤨. I like my shorts and plan getting them back on ASAP but my psoriasis is really unsightly at the mo. Once I get home I have to get my legs out again 🙂 Central heating is awful for causing flare-ups, so I turn heating down and don a thicker jumper. My husband likes heating up to furnace temps so I keep turning it down 😁
I had a 14k long run scheduled yesterday, went out in two long sleeve tops and long leggings (way past capris for me!). On the way up the hill I got nice and warm and peeled off the outer layer, but I should probably have put it back on for the return journey as I was really cold by the time I got back to my bike.
Yes, I like the Bon Courage spirit - you make so much of your own luck.
In other news, I'm doing the RunnersConnect strength bootcamp which is interesting - lots of strength work on top of the running and it's nice to have a custom schedule. If this works out I'm contemplating using them to give me a custom training plan as there doesn't seem to be much out there for a 30k trail run, which is what I am contemplating setting as a goal for early May - it seems a lovely route, a chance to do an organised trail run, and a stepping stone to (whispers it) perhaps doing a marathon sometime in 2023.
Hello everyone and thanks roseabi for hosting the chat. I’d like to be out and running in this weather but I’ve had a pretty grim last 8 weeks and it looks like I won’t be back out for a while yet. Hot chocolate and staying firmly on the IC for now. I’ve put all my running shoes back in their boxes to keep the dust off them. 😅 Could do with some bon courage right now. 😭
Hi roseabi and running friends, sadly I haven't got any actual in-person events now until the new year, except for Parkrun of course! I followed the 'A cold run' guided run on the NRC app for my run yesterday. There's lots of good advice during the run on what to wear and happily I seemed to have selected the corrected gear for the run, by some happy coincidence.I'll try to go out with my running club at least once a week during the winter (they meet for runs twice-weekly) so I'll have some company on the cold evening runs. Speaking of which, we had a light dusting of snow in Bognor Regis this morning, but it's pretty much all gone now.
I've bought myself a new pair of Brooks Hyperion running shoes to replace the Ghost 14s I had previously. In the meantime I'm using my second pair, which are the waterproof version (just as well, with some of the weather we've been having!). Expect to see some photos and maybe a review in due course, once they've made their way over from Germany.
Bon courage everyone, take care and enjoy yourselves.
I need Bon Courage at the moment. For some reason I’m really feeling the cold, and the thought of togging up to go and get buffeted in the frigid air didn’t appeal this morning. Instead I did a nice yoga session and will go for a trot tomorrow. Thanks for the heads-up on the NRC cold run David_G I’ll do that one I think. 😀 I miss my river path, but I haven’t returned there since Mr C’s incident, and my other routes are all exposed. 🥶
I’m also still trying to balance my grandma duties with my yoga and running, and I’m trying my hardest to get back into a workable routine - but it’s hard! Dark mornings certainly don’t help. Tell me to get a grip! 🙄
Maybe you are just due a bit of a break/ mileage reduction anyway CC? Not too much of course, but those who rarely pick up an injury 🤞🤞🤞🤞 need to make a conscious decision to cool it a bit a some point? Easy for me… my legs make the decision for me!
You’re probably right BC. I’m starting my new HM plan around Christmas so it’ll be back to full on then. I’ll take your wise advice and cut myself some slack until then, just running for fun - and in nice weather! 😀
Hi Roseabi, it’s funny I just listened to that podcast on Saturday. A great concept for sure. Like others this time of year the cold and dark have really set in the mornings and I find it harder to get out the door. Life has been mentally exhausting the last few months for various reasons and even running is slipping away a bit. Last week’s long beach 20k run was a bit of a gong show, with me getting lost and tearing my run tights scrambling with a thorny weed by the water’s edge. So this week I kept it short at 10. This morning I could not make the time work for my short run either. And TBH I just did not want to run in the -12 dark again 🙂. I don’t know if I should push forward or take a full stop for awhile. I may try an indoor run later today and see how it goes. Sorry this is a bit of a downer but it’s part of the game we are in here I suppose. I have been researching races for next year though and there is one in Quebec which sounds pretty awesome. I may try the 65k trail route at the UT Harricana if I can convince my wife that it would be a nice vacay in September. There is a good chunk of elevation +1870m/-1550m but the cutoff seems generous at 12hr. We will see.
Can be hard getting out the door this time of year! I'm struggling to motivate myself and conditions are really mild here. The treadmill seems like a good compromise.
No, that doesn't mean Roseabi is cuckoo, it's an approximation of hi there, hiya, etc. It's also the equivalent of peekaboo when playing with very small humans.
I've not run for just over a week. Managed to tweak my right hamstring at Renaissance dance practice, of all things. It's much better, though as we got about 20cm of snow yesterday I went for a short walk with the dog (see photo) rather than attempting to run.
Today I shovelled snow for about 2.5 hours, which I'm counting as cross-training. Hopefully I'll be back out running - and dancing too - soon.
I like the cut of Hilary’s gyb! 🙂. You need lots of guts to run mountains 🙂
We can all channel our inner Hilary and get out there and run through in winter, albeit not in the mountains. It’s good to be out in the fresh air. We have our running gear to see us through - although I’ve not got that waterproof run jacket yet 🎅🏻 🤞😀
We don’t need to be heroes. Shorter runs are better than no runs when weather puts a crimp on our longer run plans.
Speaking of plans, I unfurled a fresh new marathon one yesterday, which I will be following for the next 18 weeks 🏃♀️ I have my sights set on a spring half marathon; entry to which is going in my letter to🧑🎄 too 😎
Dunno about anyone else but Christmas prep does my head in, so to escape the chore, a run is a blessed relief 🙄. I handily run my Christmas errands! 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️ Attempting to stuff a great lump of pig into my cycling rucksack last year was hilarious 😁.
I’m going a bit stir crazy on my post-marathon toe-healing break. It’s been a full week now and I’m getting restless 😎
We were alone in the end, except for our son who came over as part of our bubble I did divvy up the meat though to my sister She was expecting her daughter and family so I’d bought enough for a big fuddle. It was all sad in the end as they could only exchange gifts away from home 🙄
My son was back at work Boxing Day so it was very quiet all in all. Quiet suits me fine but my sis likes a do! 🎊 🎉 Maybe this year 🙂
Oh I love Bon Courage! I’m going to say it to everyone now 😂
The running is going well, I’m still on my 10K training plan for my December race and I’m a bit surprised that every week after I do intervals I get a new record! I know it can’t happen every single week but I’ll take it as long as I can!
Had my booster shot this morning and I’m knackered as I booked it for 8am 😱 what was I thinking? I never sleep well with an early start so have been awake since 4. I might need a wee snooze this afternoon 😴
Our country roads are too narrow so I always have to stop to let a car pass. On ordinary runs it isn’t a problem but you really don’t want to stop mid-intervals do you? 🙄
I've never been a fan of good luck - the inference that it's all down to fate. I will now fully embrace Bon Courage!!! But for me it's bon courage and beaucoup de patience still! This leg will get better eventually (incrementally will do fine!) ... bon courage Linda, bon courage! My mountain is nowhere near as pretty as yours or Hillary's though 🤦♀️🤣
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