The slightly delayed arrival of this week’s chat is because my 21 year old Australian nephew, whom I haven’t seen since he was six, was staying with us this weekend. I’d hoped we might run together, but lack of kit prevented it.
However, we went for a 2 hour walk with the dog on the hilly trails and roads surrounding our house. I can’t resist reporting that 9.4k and 321m elevation gain ⛰️ took more out of him that it did me. 😉 😇 Since he ran a sub-2 hour HM in April 2021 as a novice runner, I feel there’s hope for me yet! It was so special to have this shared experience with him, and not something I could’ve imagined before I took up running. 😍
Thanks to assorted VRBs and the admin team, several opportunities for our running community to get together are currently in the pipelines. So keep your eyes peeled for polls and events, including the return of the virtual ultra-relay 🌎 group event and the HM and 10k 🎽 individual virtual races, which should be coming to fruition in a few weeks. 🔜👟
In the meantime, we’re all ears for your news about how your running’s currently going!
Have a fabulous week, all!
The Marathon Team xxx
Editing to add: RunBrianRun and nowster have also recently suggested other ways in which forum members might like to connect. See these posts:
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Cmoi
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How exciting to see your nephew! I bet he’s got a bit taller 🤣. And that sounds like a lovely walk. As you know, I’m repeating C25K so at the moment so I’m tending to read more posts than write them, but it is still so lovely to see how everyone’s getting on. I had entered the Winchester 10k which is mid Feb but it would be foolhardy to do it, but I’m sure lots of people have entered some great races! 😁😁😁
Funnily enough "You've grown!" was how both my husband and I greeted my nephew, Frenc ! 🤣 It's daft, since obviously his height was going to increase from age six to age 21, but he's easily a foot taller than me and several inches taller than my husband, so it's hard not to comment! 🤭
You're doing so well building back with C25K, definitely keep us posted. 👍 And with a bit of luck, you'll be able to get involved in at least one of the virtual events if you'd like to. No entry fees, no cut-off times, pick your own route - and for the ultra-relay, the distance too, as every run counts. What's not to like?!
Good afternoon Cmoi, from a snowy North Yorkshire! Everything was crisp and clear this morning when I got up in anticipation of my first intervals run for ages, but by the time I had fed Molly and had my breakfast, there was a covering of snow. It felt pretty cold too.
So, I decided to run anyway, as we do! Merino first layer, running shirt second layer, cold running jacket third layer and waterproof jacket on top. Because the snow was fresh, the foothold was pretty good, so I wasn’t worried about falls. My guided interval run had my full attention.
This was my first trip out with this particular Nike coach, and I think it went pretty well. I finished in one piece and apart from a brief “have I done enough?” moment of weakness, I just kept going until I finished with a verbal pat on the back.
Next week’s tough run seems to involve hills! I really like this programme. It is getting me to do things I wouldn’t attempt left to my own devices; variety and all that. It has also recorded the pace over each interval, which will be a great point of reference for next time; Molly and Mrs BC walk now! They are forming a disorderly queue at the door 👍
Congratulations on getting out there Beachcomber66 , and good to hear that you're enjoying your NRC programme!
We've barely had snow yet this year, though it might just arrive tonight. Still rain at the moment. Like you I enjoy running on fresh snow, it's compacted slush and ice that I won't take on, too risky.
I hope your disorderly queue was suitably brought to order 😉 and enjoyed the walk. 😀 There was a similarly disorderly queue around our kitchen table earlier as we're still eating the pizza I bought to feed my nephew when he arrived on Friday night. Turns out the pizzeria defines "large" differently for eat-in and takeway. Result: a 45cm diameter pizza!
It is fun misswobble. I ran quicker than I have for a while on the mile pace interval…but at least 25secs/k slower than the speed run which laid me up for months! Hills next week will be interesting.
Mrs BC and I are season ticket holders, so we go to all of the home matches together; been going for years, in fact I started in 1966, just before the world cup (not with Mrs BC then of course). My dad wouldn't let me go (said I wasn't tall enough). By 1966, when I was 14, I was taller than him...end of argument! 👍
🙂 Boxing Day 2009 I drove our youngest to Lincoln. He was commentating on Lincoln(2) v Chesterfield (1) for a local radio station. Never been so cold in my life! (Only tenuous link to current running conditions up here!). The things we do……
I love going to Sincil bank 🙂. They usually beat us 😁 This last Boxing Day four of us went to Sunny Scunny.
There are some great commentators ! It seems really popular still. Some of the live bloggers are really quite good The ones embedded with the away fans are funny 😁 One of our fans covers all our games and he uses past players as co-commentators. Always a good listen. I’m listening in today as OH will be there with the prawn sandwich brigade. He doesn’t usually do that mind you. It’s a treat from his pal.
Hopefully it’ll go ahead🤞 I think it will as it’s a sell-out and they’ve got the snap in😁
🙂 Hope it goes well. Long time since I did the prawn sandwich thing. Sitting with Mrs BC in our regular group, coffee and something with chocolate in does just fine. More relaxed 🙂
Great that you enjoyed your snowy intervals BC. I wonder if you have Hill, Hillier, Hilliest next week? If so, it's a ton of fun; in fact I might even do it myself this week. 😀
Runner up was my favourite of the whole NRC HM, closely followed by hill, hillier, hilliest! Totally agree with you about how brilliant the hill runs are. Not something I thought I’d enjoy at all. Have fun Beachcomber66 !
Thanks CC. Hills, of all sizes, are something we are not short of! Whether there are three lined up within any specified distance is a different matter. That is a present to unwrap next Monday! My next job is to get the roller out to smooth out my calves.
That's what I don't understand about these guided runs - how are you supposed to find suitable terrain in a specific place? Please can someone enlighten me? cheekychipmunks ? MissUnderstanding ?
Thanks for explaining cheekychipmunks . Tbh I struggle to imagine running hills that way. I've no idea what my 10K/5K/mile paces are, but I could replace those numbers by effort. However, I'd never get anywhere! Think I'll be sticking to my normal runs, which are naturally full of uphills and downhills.
You’d be fine Cmoi, because that’s what they’re looking for really, effort. In fact the tell you to ignore your time/pace on runs like this, and focus on effort. 😀
If I've understood correctly cheekychipmunks the 30 minutes involves 6 minutes 45 seconds of uphill running. That's a bit less than half what I do during a basic 30 minute road run down to the village and back. Might be fun to try on a serious hill though!
It’s actually a speed run, so the emphasis is based on maintaining effort, using the hill as an extra training aid. You’d still get plenty of benefits. 😀
It's like C25K isn't it? A soundbite title that doesn't actually reflect the programme content!
Course, there's still the problem that unless I mess around with my phone settings, and possibly not even then, I can't actually get the same NRC runs as those of you using the English-language versions!
In fairness I can understand why NRC would use French in France! From the website it appears they've offered a fairly limited range of French language runs for not quite two years. Obviously not worth their while investing more. (Yes I'm so weird I had a quick look at their global turnover too!)
I’ve got a lot of hills to choose from depending on how much of a challenge I want! On the run guidance, they say it only has to be a gentle incline or you can use a treadmill. It doesn’t need to be long because you’re running up and down the same bit of hill. I tend to do a longer warm up jog than is suggested on the app-five minutes isn’t enough to get me out of the toxic ten.
Just frost here today, and I was running on the local common, so it was a trail and not an icy road. 🙏🏻 All I had to watch out for was my dog whenever I turned to go up or down - we could easily have ended up in a heap! 😅
As I've just said in my reply to Cheeky MissUnderstanding it might be interesting to try on a proper hill. But since pretty much every 30 minute run I do from home already involves at least 15 minutes of uphill running, it seems a bit daft to reduce that to 6 minutes 45 seconds unless I can increase the challenge in another way. Need to put my thinking cap on!
Good point! I've been making very little effort for months in terms of pace. Once my leg started to recover I upped the gradients and overall elevation, and went back onto more interesting terrain again, rather than specifically pushing to go faster up hills.
I've started varying things a bit more, but way less than when I was training for the trail marathon. The 16-week plan had nothing like the NRC run in it, just 5 speed runs and 10 hilly ones. It suggested all the uphills should be done at tempo or more, but since I also had 15 non-flat tempo runs of up to 80 minutes, I can't say I took pace on hilly runs very seriously. Instead I ran as much silly terrain as possible, which actually proved much more helpful on the day!
For me, if I’m tackling hills on a run, it’s a case of adjusting my effort so that I can complete the hill and keep going.
With the NRC hilly speed runs, I’m generally working much harder.
Since the first NRC plan that I followed knocked 40 minutes off my finish time, I reckon they’re worth using. These days, I use the guided speed runs and sometimes use NRC for the longer runs but I tend to do the recovery runs without. Besides, I’m usually leading a club run on my recovery runs so the audio guidance wouldn’t fit in well!
I choose a hill - or set of hills - that I fancy running up. I’ve got plenty to pick from. The walk there is a pre-warm-up. The NRC coach always starts with a 5 minute warm-up
It’s just a run 🙂🏃♀️ I was thinking yesterday, as I attempted a jog and was in pain up s steep, mudfest, how come there’s no coached down hill sessions 🤷♀️😁
Sounds like you are really getting into all the variety that NRC offers. I found it astounding that I could have coaches from all over the world talking to little old me through my ear phones! Technology amazes me. Having to take things carefully since my knee flare up last April, I have yet to return to NRC. I remember it took several attempts and questions on the forums in order for me to manage to set it up properly.
I don’t have the complication of adding music to the mix, so I am managing reasonably well with it; that said, I didn’t switch it off properly after I finished the intervals, so it was still recording time when I sat down in the cafe duh 🙄
When I downloaded NRC I got the French version over61andstilltrying , with completely different coaches to those loved by people on here. So I deleted it again!
Oh dear! Did you try the French coaches? There may some you could enjoy, although perhaps enjoying the run and scenery without any coaching is more your thing. 😊
No, I scrapped the whole thing over61andstilltrying as I only wanted to find out what all the Coach Bennett fuss was about. I dislike audio coaching at the best of times, and when it's unsuited to the context it's utterly infuriating. Even during C25K I used to swear at Laura when she was clearly talking rubbish!
Poor Laura! I know that I have listened to various instructions that are not appropriate when approaching a narrow path with a sheep in the way, just where I have a stile to climb , a steep section, lots of tree roots or any number of other scenarios. I do remember coach Bennett saying that we are own best coach, I think that I have remembered that correctly, so we make our own minds up at such times. I haven't listened to any headphone coaches since my knee flare up last Apri.
Happy, enjoyable, injury free running to you. 🏃🏻♀️😊
The other problem I had with the later identical runs was that I knew exactly what she was was going to say because I'd heard it all a couple of days before. That bugged me too!
Thanks misswobble . It's confirmed that I have more hill fitness than my nephew right now, which really surprised me tbh. On the flat he'd leave me for dust!
I found the same when I saw MYgrandson In Oct/nov when HE came over from Oz. He was 12 last time I saw him and now 18 and over 6ft tall. Towering over me…. Must be the sunshine makes ‘em grow over there.
I wish I could get him j in terestedbin runnjng. He was at one time but now has a very sedentary girlfriend who lives off fast food and seems to have influenced him to be the same.
Sounds like i you had a great visit with your nephew though 😁
It was fun limberlou , thanks. I'd originally been hoping to fit in sightseeing and a restaurant meal or two. However, I decided against that for various reasons and I'm glad I did, as it made things much more chilled and enjoyable. Is your grandson's girlfriend the same one who proved problematic during the visit last year?
yup!!! They split as soon as they got home but then he weakened and they are back together. Glad you had a better experience than I did. Hope he comes on a solo visit next time 😳🤞
Ah, don't worry limberlou your grandson's still very young, there's plenty of time for him to find someone else and change his habits. After all I didn't take up running until I was 59!
Oh what fun Cmoi! I wonder if he knew it was a secret competition?! It's very hard not to say, 'wow, how you've grown' when you see a youngster after several years isn't it?! It would be quite a worry if they hadn't grown though! 😅
I was planning on doing a birthday run today to celebrate the start of my final year of this particular decade (waaaaaa 😩), but time restraints conspired against me and I ended up doing yoga, then playing with my baby grandson while my daughter did an Ignite workout at the gym (no, no idea either), then after coffee and a hefty hunk of flapjack I walked Flossie in the lovely, and very unusual, sunshine ☀️
I'm intrigued by the upcoming events and will definitely keep my eyes well peeled. I've committed to taking part in the HUHM as I need a focus to prevent me from bimbling on every run (much as I'd love to!)
I've always tried to avoid making "you've grown" and similar comments to children and young adults, as it's just so idiotic, but couldn't help myself. Though I did actually follow up with "Not surprising since you were six when we last met!"
At the start of the walk I told him that I thought I'd struggle to keep up with him, so when it didn't turn out that way we had a bit of a joke about it. He'd arrived from a few nights of maximum beer and minimum sleep in Berlin, on top of lots of partying for Christmas, New Year and his girlfriend's and his own 21st birthdays. So he's been in better shape!
Your day sounds lovely. I'm behind with yoga, though managed a run this afternoon. And yes, more events info coming once the infrastructure and details are in place.
How lovely that he visited! And he does sound speedy! I'm back running post Christmas virus' and loving it! I'm jeffing at the moment but swear my polar watch tries to vibrate less so I don't notice time changes😱 I get massive angry buzzes for annoying emails and teeny secret buzzes when running - even when I strangle my wrist with the strap!! Must look at the settings somehow......
I booked on to the Forest of Dean half marathon as motivation 👌 for April. Am off to the National running show at NEC next weekend and generally enjoying the January moving challenges (red January, Doddie Aid AND agri world run1000!!)
Nephew was captain of the school football team (soccer, not Aussie rules) and generally sporty before he tried running Cowladyrunning , so if he decides to get back into it he'll doubtless be speedy again.
Your massive angry buzzes for annoying emails made me laugh, must be so irritating though! Apart from that, it sounds like your running's going really well. Looks like a HU meet-up might be in order for the Forest of Dean HM too - as well as MissUnderstanding , isn't SkiMonday doing that one?
It's very much that SkiMonday ! I'm still teaching a private student one afternoon a week, and working as an examiner from time to time, but the workload is way less. However, I now have no excuse to say no to other stuff! I'm president of my Renaissance choir, dance and music group, and have spent a year or so getting that going again after repeated covid lockdowns and the "health pass." Plus being at home gives me less excuse to avoid housework and life admin.
Better that than not having enough to do! It seems that your retirement is going well.
I’m aiming for a quieter life but the running club is keeping me busy. The background checks for my run leader’s qualification are in progress so, hopefully, I’ll be starting a C25K group soon.
Great stuff re the run leader qualification SkiMonday ! If I didn't have enough to do I'd find something... That's one of my problems, inability to switch off. Also, now that I don't have to get up early, my body clock is reverting to its natural night owl state. Not great.
Yep, I can confirm that SkiMonday is, indeed, signed up for the Forest of Dean HM!
It would be good to meet up beforehand (there’s usually some hanging around in the field before the start) so I’ll start a chat for that. Is anyone else from the forum going to be there? The membership of chat groups can’t be changed after they’ve been set up so I’ll hang on a day or two to see if anyone else is going to be there.
Definitely count me in! I’m back on the HM plan after my fall and at eight miles again now. I’m making sure to include plenty of hills! Exciting times.
That sounds like a walk that would definitely blow away any cobwebs 🥵 but, more importantly, you made some lovely memories together 🥰
My running is going ok and I’m now gardening a little but timing myself so I don’t overdo it. So far, my back is ok but I’m with the osteopath tomorrow because it still feels so tight and I want to hear what she has to say about that. It is holding me back a bit and I feel very frustrated ☹️
Anyway, in the big scheme of things I have nothing to complain about. I’m still running and that’s the important thing 🤗
I haven’t entered any races yet as I don’t want to jinx things but I do have my eye on a few….
I hope your osteopath visit goes well IP…..about time that injury gave up and went to pester someone else (not another runner of course!). Is it just me or do aches and pains feel so much worse in winter?
Thanks BC. I think you’re right about winter aches. I guess our muscles are cold for longer at this time of year so I make a point of warming up really well. Not sure if it helps but it feels good 🙂
Yes, we cramp more in the cold and the best way to combat it is to stretch, stay active and exercise regularly. The stiffness gets worse if we skip exercising, choose sofa instead of frozen paths and avoid stretching. 😉
🙂Hopefully the paths will thaw before my next scheduled run! I don’t run on ice following a fractured vertebra just over 4 years ago. There is always the dread mill, my swimming and daily dog walks to keep me flexible. Nothing comes close to matching running though.
Ah, the stretching dilemma. I’ve always stretched (did ballet so it’s a given even if I wasn’t a runner) but for various reasons I didn't stretch at all for two days at the weekend and guess what? No aches or pains at all. Coincidence? I might have to experiment ……
Frozen paths? No thanks mrrun ! Snow, rain, hail, wind, heatwave... I've done all of those, but ice and thunderstorms are the two weather conditions in which I won't run. Although it's only snowed a bit here, it's melted and re-frozen, and so there's inch-thick rutted ice outside now. Yoga for me this evening instead!
’Frozen paths’ should be read as my attempt at poetic expression. 🙄 Not an ice patch further. I never risk my delicate feet on frozen grounds nor would l venture out in gale storms - but I will keep a keen eye on weather improvements and go out the second it gets safer.
That’s a good and sensible approach. If l run from home in colder weather I will get my cardio pumped up in the room before storming out like a gazelle (ok, ignore the second part, but the part about cardio shifting gears is correct). If l drive to my running destination, I’ll do a mix of fast walking and short sprints whilst wearing my warm jacket, gloves and a hat. Once I can feel that I’m getting sweaty, I’ll leave all that excess gear in the car and do a gazelle thing. The body by then is well in the working mode.
I’ve got a vintage high maintenance 1964, they don’t make them like they anymore. Everything is delicate about it, from fuelling to servicing, nothing left to changes. The aim is to run it for a looong time so planning and executing the plans need to be done by the manual 😀.
We haven't had frost yet just very cold so, dressed in my thermal gardening kit, I have started to cut back (I leave everything over winter). I’ve started with the Hellebore leaves and have moved on to perennials. Also, I’m picking up all the leaves that have fallen on the borders.
I’m only doing an hour a day so don’t really feel the cold. I’ve lost several shrubs in the previous snow so I have a big strong young chap coming to take them out for me 🙂 Last year I would have done that myself but I’m making a real effort to be sensible 😇
Glad you're back running Irishprincess , and really hope that the osteopath visit has helped. I can empathise with your frustration at having to limit your activities, although at least you have a bit of time to prepare for races.
You're so right about making memories with my nephew. Going for a decent walk gave us lots of opportunity to chat, and for me to show him the area.
Back felt great afterwards. She loosened everything up and moved my coccyx a bit. I told her that I need to take her home with me so she could look after my back every day 😂
Lovely to have your Australian nephew staying! 😊No runs for me last week, so nothing for 8 days,seems to be a pattern lately 😪
George dog not been so good last week,several vet appointments and injections and pills. Another one today after sickness. But he's snoring sweetly beside me right now so is a tough cookie bless him.🐕🐶 took some time off work, we had a couple of mini beach walks which he enjoyed.
Hoping to get to club tomorrow and possibly a forest night-time run Wed's, just depends how he is.
My partner managed to get his 13yr old to our run club last week, he came back saying it was "COOL" so that's good!
Sorry to hear things aren't great with George dog aliboo70 . I'm sending him lots of snuggles, and Jedi's sending gentle friendly licks, sniffs and tail-wags. Hope you managed to get to run despite it all.
I like the 13 year old's reaction to run club! It's exactly the opposite of what mine would've been at that age, mind... 🙃
Thankyou Cmoi and Jedi! He's seems a lot brighter today and we had a little seafront walk this morning. He told me off(chasing ankles!) when I went off to run club tonight! (He stayed in at my Dad's place)So still some feisty Jack Russell in there,a good sign. 😁🐕🐶
I did a solo run last night as missed club then tonight a super muddy 5 miler in the spooky forest, only 4 of us this week . Epic amounts of mud and ice,was fun! Xxx
Now that is a real result! To be in better shape than an 18 year old Aussie lad? Yup, feel very good 😊
I'm back in Canada again, this time for four weeks. Although there was masses of snow here in December, with very cold temps, it is currently unseasonably 'warm' (around 5C) and wet!!! I've had two runs so far with an assortment of clothes - I find it very hard to get it right in cooler temperatures. Today's run was 'Sprintervals' from NRC which was ace - I had to chuck my jacket in the bushes though and come back for that during the cool down interval😍
I'm really hoping to see some proper snow before I leave ... but on the other hand I don't want my running interrupted. Not asking too much I hope 😍
Thanks linda9389 - I was pretty chuffed! Nephew's actually a bit older, at 21, and arrived with us from Berlin, where he'd had been sampling beer and nightlife to the max with his friends. No way could I keep up with him on the flat when he's in form, but I'll take what I can!
It's been unseasonably warm here too, though temperatures are finally dropping again and it might snow tomorrow. Have a fab time in Canada, and hopefully you'll get just the right amount of lovely fluffy powdery snow for it to be runnable!
We are away this week down on the south coast Western Australia (see pic) so I’m taking a break from my HM plan. I’ve been for a couple of runs where it has been just the kangaroo’s and me. We will be at the beach most days early with the boys so won’t be doing any long runs.
As soon as I read that I googled and saw there's a, 80k UTMB World Series qualifier ultra marathon event there in May. Really good course description, sounds like a great event!
That looks glorious RunWillie ,and quite a contrast to the weather most people on here are experiencing right now. Bonus kangaroos too! Enjoy your break.
How absolutely wonderful and truly special to share that time together ❤ The strength and fitness (and hills!) from running have yet again proved it's worth 😃
Thanks GTFC . Yes, and while I hate the expression, it was definitely quality time, and tbh gave him a much more realistic experience of our life here than just doing more touristy things. Probably also better stories about the crazy hill-obsessed aunt!
Hi Cmoi Well done on showing your nephew how hills are run 👍💪 I bet it was lovely to run with him. This is something I do miss with track and field. It’s a very isolated sport in that respect. Mind you my son is keen to race me over 100m this year! He was a county sprinter in his school days but has done literally nothing since as family life and work have taken over any spare time he might have had, It’ll be interesting.
At the moment I’m in a bit of a bad back crisis which I’m hoping will be sorted tomorrow when I visit the chiropractor. I woke up two days ago and boy did it hurt. I think I overdid it in the gym last Friday 😖 It seems better today and I did a session yesterday at the track here but it’s still there. It feels like a guitar string that is about to snap if I turn the wrong way. I’m doing some gentle yoga stretches and walking today seemed to help too. Gotta be careful and listen to the advice of the chiro tomorrow. 😇
Oh no, sorry to hear about your back RunBrianRun . Very much hoping that the chiro will be able to sort it for you.
It was a walk rather than a run with my nephew, though he did say he couldn't imagine running it! I don't think I've ever joined up those particular bits of route myself, so should give it a go once the weather's better. Currently about an inch of snow, but layered over a similar depth of ice where yesterday's snow melted and refroze. We either need more or a proper thaw!
As usual I am late to the party. I know what you mean about the height. My 18yo son towers over Mrs Decker and I as well. 🦒 Perhaps you and your nephew can run together in a future race.
I have a plan which my Iron man friend is looking over. I am a week in and already feeling it, but I know it takes time to adapt to new structures. Adding one extra run day and longer weekly. strength sessions. Also trying to balance recovery so as not to break anything. Been doing mostly indoor runs so the next couple will be outdoors. Jan Feb are my least favourite months to run outdoors here but the weather is relatively mild now. Happy running everyone
Latecomers also very welcome Decker ! Best of luck with your plan, sounds like a you've made a great start. It's finally snowed a bit here, so I'm doing more yoga than running right now. Plus my nephew also kindly donated a heavy cold which has messed up my breathing. Going for a walk shortly. Happy running!
I think you have more snow than us right now but we are due for a storm this Wednesday. ❄️ Sorry to hear of your cold. At least it’s not as impeding your movements too much. Be well soon!
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