Pic: 'How much further? I want to rest, I want to go home!'
Hey there lovely VRBs! Grab a cuppa, pull up a chair and let's have a natter!!!
Here we are, just over the hump of September and somehow hurtling towards October already!!!
It's a funny time of year; it's tricky to work out what to wear, the sun (if out) is low and everything around us is beginning to show signs of the changing season. It's also the time when many of us are reaching the end of training plans with events looming large in the calendar. My race is about 4 weeks away, but I'm still nursing my dogy leg and unsure whether it's time to try another run or to exercise more patience. Ho hum! Being a superstitious Susan, I'm not going to tempt fate by putting my race on the October events spreadsheet just yet 🤔🙈
I haven't been running, but at the weekend I did go to Hyde Park to support my son who was taking part in Swim Serpentine 2024. It's run by TCS who also do the London Marathon. It was incredibly well organised and lots of fun, being a beautiful day for a lovely, well supported, laid back event (with no loo queues🤔 ). For the open water swimmers among you, it looked like a great event, with a variety of distances to choose from! Or for those of you who find special bling irresistible, take a look at the fabulous London Classics medal; 'the London Classics is a unique three-event challenge from London Marathon Events which is completed when someone has finished the London Marathon, RideLondon-Essex 100, and the two-mile distance at Swim Serpentine.' thelondonclassics.co.uk/entry/Quite the triathlon achievement. I'd want a very special medal for that lot!!! 🥇
In the last pompom post I included a picture of a fluffy dog looking up with big old eyes (bottom left in the collage above); Irishprincess put words into its mouth 'take me home, take me home'. Maybe he was in the middle of his long run and had just had enough! I've definitely been there myself ... that point where there's sill far too far to go and energy, confidence and resolve are dipping, where it takes a bucket load of will-power to run on past the bench.... What else might these poor tired pups be thinking??? What goes through your mind in the middle of a long run? How do you convince yourself to continue, or to pick it up again? Let's share some of our 'pain cave motivation' for future use.
And your news! How are you doing right now? Any gossip for us? We love to hear what's going on, good or bad, long or short, stop or start ... or otherwise. Do share 🥰
Here's to a good week for us all, hopefully with a little bit of sunshine to brighten the autumnal days.
You are right (as always). The weather is all over the place. I settled for a thin base layer and long sleeved shirt for my 20k this morning. It must have a good choice as I didn’t even think about heat as I ran. The ultimate test is still to come ….the walk home from the cafe!
There were learning points on this run. Just for a change I did a warm up routine before leaving the house and started to run as soon as I stepped outside. I had a feeling that CB might be more likely to make an appearance if I pressed start whilst in my WiFi zone; it worked!!
I took tailwind and some soft Bloks energy soft gums with me. They seemed to work too! 2:20:36….a HM would have been a PB, but today was 20k; I resisted temptation. I was feeling a bit tired towards the end. CB must have known; just as I was slackening off he threw in 5k, 10k and mile pace fartleks! It wasn’t a problem…the tiredness was in the mind. Starting slowly and finishing with a flourish… just what it says on the tin!!
It doesn’t often go this well; just smiling whilst I can 🙂
Wow, that's fabulous BC. What a great run that must have been. Is that the Clif Blok chews? I used to like those (Gu are good too). When I swapped to Veloforte for my energy bars I started getting my chews from them instead and I'd recommend them too. All of them are far more pleasant than gels in my humble opinion, although they're all terribly sweet!
Glad you seem to have cracked the NRC issue; silent runs are lovely, except when you're psyched up for a bit of coaching 😍
I’ve got several blocks of KMC, two of which are chocolate, which I’ve never tried. I’ve had the them ages. Might need to get them eaten now that long runs are on the plan
But wouldn't the chocolate melt? Even when it's cold my body temp rises on a long run and I can't imagine anything in my pocket covered in chocolate would fare well 😍
Never seen the chocolate variety and it’s many years since I ate any of the “original”. I guess it would melt! Stickier than sticky the stick insect ……..
I’m feeling like that about my annual distance goal. Are we nearly there yet? 🤣 Nope - not even close. 1064 miles run & 436 miles to go.
I read Ryan Halls book “Run the mile you’re in” awhile back and that has stuck with me. It certainly helps on long runs & with my bigger distance goals.
Oh wow, the colours in today's photo are insane, so beautiful. You're getting nearer with every mile Rw, with every step come to that!
As Eliud said on my run today, 'believe in the impossible, it will become possible' and as you say, you'll only ever be running one of those miles at a time. We believe in you.
His other tip was to smile, and how could you not with that gorgeous view to run with 😊
I get through the struggles of longer runs by eating something, telling myself that I’ve still got to get to the end of the run so might as well keep going and get there sooner. I run/walk if I need to 🙂🏃♀️
Eating is a good tactic! So long as your gut can cope. I often take an energy chew , as much for the psychological boost as anything. I once read that as soon as your tongue senses sugar your brain is immediately tricked into thinking energy. Science or kidology? It doesn't matter if it works 😍
I have to be careful with run/walking (unless I have planned for it), because it is often the start of a slippery mental slope for me. If I've built walk breaks in (e.g. at water stations) I'm OK because I'm just sticking to the plan. I can just about get away with a walk up a hill too, but if I walk on a flat stretch for no other reason than because I'm tired ... the temptation is too great to resist next time those tired feelings come back. I am weak ... 🙈😂
Hiya Linda and VRBs, just popping my head in to wish you all well on your upcoming races.
It’s the opposite time of year for me as it’s currently rest time before winter training and I’ve taken myself off to Whitstable for the week. The weather today was fabulous and I’ve made the most of it getting as many rays of sunshine as I possibly can. I also spoiled myself with some awesome whitebait scampi and chips for lunch which is highly verboten on my normal training diet but might as well make the most of the down time 😆
I do have a bad dose of PF in my left heel that feels like burning on the outside of the heel and is really painful to walk on. The other ankle is still moaning but I’m hoping the rest will help. 🤞
What a lovely place to rest, and boy did you choose a good week for it! Enjoy and hope the R&R is full of healing vibes for you. I did once read that whitebait scampi, when accompanied by chips, is particularly good for Plantar Fasciitis ... 😍
I think most of those doggies are saying, “just leave me be. I don’t want to run at the minute.” 🤣
I do want to run but I can’t. Budge up Linda, I’m joining you on the IC 🙁 and I have no idea why. My recovery runs after Antrim Coast were all going well, no aches or niggles and I wasn't pushing it. Then, last week I had to stop after 3K because I got a weird pain around my right knee that I’ve never had before. I took a few days off then on Saturday ran 5K and everything felt great again.
Yesterday I set out and had to stop just before 2K as the pain was so bad I was limping 😫
There are two things it can be. I spent a few hours gardening (yes that old chestnut again 🙄) but instead of kneeling (hurts my knees) I squatted all over the garden (stupid).
The other reason could be my shoes. My Garmin doesn’t seem to be tracking my shoe mileage properly so, while it says I have done about 240K, after a manual check, it seems I’ve done nearly 400K! So I’ve ordered new shoes, of course 🙂 And I’ve got a physio appointment today so I hope she can shed some light on what’s going on. I have a feeling it’s my shoes because I generally don’t get much mileage from shoes when my legs start to complain. Will post update after my visit.
I came back after my shortened run and worked up a sweat with my strength exercises so it’s still good. It’s only a little hiccup 🤞
What silly dogs, not wanting to run!!!Oh no IP, that's absolutely what we want to hear. I hope the physio has some positive words for you and this is only the shortest of visits to the couch. With new shoes waiting, you'll be itching to get out again. Hopefully that's the key.
After taking 10 days off, I ran 60 (slow and cautious) minutes yesterday and, touch wood, it doesn't seem to have aggravated it. It's not quite right, but so long as I can't feel it during the run I hope to continue with my plan. I won't be doing the 21.1k next week - maybe try for 16k if it feels OK, maybe skip it all together; and I'll be easing right back on the speed runs. If necessary I can drop some runs too and increase rest days. Options. Hope. Tentative!!! Keep the couch warm for me while you're healing, just in case 🙈
Ok so physio checked the knee out and found that my quads on that side were tight and also my kneecap itself didn’t move around as much as the other one. A one legged squat made me squeak loudly 😫So she’s loosened everything up and a squat at the end was pain free 🤗
She reckons the crouching overly stretched the tendons and then maybe the shoe thing has aggravated everything too.
She doesn’t want to see me again unless the pain doesn’t go away or comes back again and I have to rest and foam roll my quads and calves every day.
So now some rest and no kneeling/crouching in the garden for a while.
That’s great news about your run. Fingers crossed your hip behaves and, while it would be lovely to have the company, I hope you won’t need to visit me on the couch! 🤞
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