Thanks for the thoughts everyone, I am sure it will be fine. I expect to be a bit of a pooper by laying off the alcohol, one drink definitely leads to another. I want to enjoy the first organised run I have been too, and remember it too.

Ceci, glad the paracord beads worked for you. The internet has a wealth of information if only you know what to look for. That's why I enjoy here, you learn so much, so it's good to be able to share back.

taeliesyn, thanks for the headsup on what you are doing. Your Strava feed suggests you have been a busy boy. Hope the work schedule does not cramp you too much.

A simple 4 mile easy pace for me this morning. Dry and dark and I'll take that over most of the weather you guys put up with on here. 2 laps of a 2 mile circuit with a bit of warmup and cooldown on the way. I got so carried away with thinking about a work problem I nearly got home before slowing down for a walk. Nearly no cooldown at all.

Need a weather check ahead of tomorrow to see where I'll head out to. Have fun and be safe.

Ceci - You've definitely got determination, I'm happy to run the roads for 2hrs or more, but I don't think I could do 70+ laps just for 5 miles. Keep running consistently and you'll get your speed on the hills eventually!
Good luck on your 10k! I hope the rain holds off.

Happy to discuss my 'plan' any time Robbie, it seems to be working for me although I am sure I would see greater improvements if I did have a proper plan, but they all have ends and then I get 'lost' for a bit, that's pretty much the same reason I'm currently registering for events last minute so I haven't focused on them.
Good run mate, thinking about other stuff has definitely caused me to run further in the past too.

upsaluki - I wish I could get out for a run on my lunch break, looks like a good run on Strava, again be safe with the crappy weather and good luck on hunting trip!

Somewhere during the day yesterday I got it in my head, that 1km intervals were a good idea. Headed down early to get them in before the group/social stuff.
2km warmup, 4 x 1km reps at 4:15-4:20 pace with half rep time as recovery walk, 2ish km cooldown. Original plan had the intervals at 4-4:15 pace, but I just couldn't hold that, last km of the cooldown was a bit fast too as a friend caught up to me and I ran with him. So that gave me around 8.7km for that.
Then I'd somehow volunteered to keep another friend company on her intervals, seeing as I wasn't dead from mine. We did 2k warmup @ 6:00, 3x 2k @5-5:10 pace with 3 minute walk recovery and then cooldown. She held it together well for the intervals and we managed to tag on with the rest of the social group during our cooldown for the last 2km or so of their run. I ended up with 12km out of that. Legs are definitely tired today but not sore or anything which I'm very happy about.
Nearly 45km down in two days, I've put a nice dent in my attempt at Strava's Bring back the Boom challenge

upsaluki wrote: »

Ceci_O_K wrote: »

I went to the gym yesterday, determined to run on the indoor track. I made it 5 miles (70 laps). It wasn't too painful. I completed the 5 miles in 50:14. I wish I could run that fast outside with hills! Someday.

Robbie, I made a modified version of the paracord beads with 7 beads, so across and back was 1 mile. Perfect! (Enjoy a few beers with your friends, but don't go overboard!)

I just registered for a 10k that is this Saturday, even though there's an 80% chance of rain. At least the temp will be in the 40's!

Good luck in your race. 70 laps. That's dedication.

The laps were so much better than trying to do the same on the treadmill! No way I'd make 5 miles on the treadmill.

Stationary bike and weights at the gym yesterday. Sore arms today. We have a heat wave today. 48 degrees! I'm thinking a short run today will be nice!

So my two runs so far this week, I have done indoors on a treadmill. I read somewhere online that running on a flat treadmill gives a false idea of your pace. So I've been putting it on a slight incline. (2.0) to combat that.

For some reason the treadmill effects my shins very differently then road running. So getting use to that is slow going.

Stopped following the Bridge to 10k program. Now I'm just running for the same length of time that the program suggests for that given week. I am taking 1 min breaks during the runs.

I know I could just follow the program, but during the first 15 minutes of running or so my shins are on fire. This seems to calm down after a while, but a small break helps. Not sure why, my assumption is that there are slight differences in the muscles used to road run vs muscles used to run a treadmill. Just like running outside I imagine it will take a few runs for the body to get use to the difference, but will be fine when it does.

Anyway going to pick up the outdoor running anytime the weather is manageable, but running in the cold and dark was not fun for me. Going to get a few outdoor runs this weekend. Going to run a practice 5k Sunday to prep for my first race on Thanksgiving.

I will also likely restart the whole 10k program when winter breaks, even though I don't really plan to leave this group, I will just be following a slightly different routine.

TowsonChuck, running on a treadmill is different, normally 1% is suggested rather than 2, but if your shins do not hurt at 0%, then do that. You are still stressing the running system, it is just that you are getting some assistance from the belt moving underneath you, so you do not propel forward rather than up. Really hope you find some relief to the discomfort, not sure I would continue, but it might be a temporary change in how your body is reacting to the different load.

Ceci, well done on getting outside, looked like a good little run and an excellent result for you. I am impressed that you can continue doing 14 laps for a mile, when you are inside. You are inspiring and it makes me grateful for the conditions I have. I thought of you guys when I was cold this morning and thought to myself I am a big girls blouse, it's not even in the negative numbers (celsius). Thanks for sharing

Great to see some new members on here! Welcome!

Congratulations Tim on your marathon, its a shame your wife didn't do as well as she hoped, maybe her cold was catching up with her.

I have been seriously lacking in motivation. Like Ceci I can't really run at night. A lap of my town is only 4km and my town is built on the side of a steep hill so all the running up and down isn't good for my knees.

Thanks all! I'll go to 1% on this evenings run. It's just discomfort not debilitating. Very similar thing happened when I started running in C25k. After a week or so it mellowed out. I had chin splints fairly bad one year in high school football, this is much more just soreness not throbbing pain of the shin splints. And I feel fine after the work out. If it progresses I'll lay off, I have a good feeling that it will stop though.

The bigger issue is the gym has Bravo on the TV next to the ESPN TV. That gets painful.

Ceci, I guess i am kinda lucky then. They have a line of like 20 big flat screens in front of the cardio section. It's one of those big gyms, a regional chain. But it is a new facility(less then 2 years old) so it is fairly nice. Thought about putting a few good videos on my phone. Looking at putting some lectures on there. Not sure why but they help pass the time for me.

Completed first organised 10k race. So stats, according to TomTom watch it was only 9.91km, it looked as though the start and finish had been moved from what had become a lake. Nottingham and the UK has been subject to heavy rain for almost 2 days, so course was waterlogged in many places. Finished 306/581 and 57/77 V40M, so nowhere near as impressive as Ceci's result from yesterday.

I didn't get far enough back in the starting funnel, so the first 1km had loads of people go past me. At 2km it looked as though I was 3/4's of the way down the field. At 3km on the second downhill stretch on the mud, I tweaked my calf. It was annoying not debilitating, and I hoped to run it off. I noticed that going downhills I was overhauled by some runners, but on the uphills I could pass quite a few people. Altering cadence and stride length in line with hill sessions appears to have worked going uphill. About 6km in, I started passing people and staying in front of them. At this point I realised that the calf was just going to hurt all the way round. Between 6 and 8.5km I just switched off, I intended to pick up the pace for the last quarter but in reality that turned out to be the last 1.4km by the time I realised I had switched off. I definitely picked up the pace towards the end and started overhauling quite a few people.

So finished, thoroughly wet, it was raining, tired, relieved, somewhat underwhelmed. Glad I did it, more to understand the protocols at organised events.

However and finally a big thank you for the volunteers and supporters who turned out in what were pretty miserable conditions and made the whole event possible and enjoyable.

Postscript, calf is absolutely killing me at the moment, I can barely walk on it, but the beer is helping . Went out last night half a bottle of red wine and two pints of beer, not excessive but made sure I got plenty of water before, during and after the 40th birthday party. It appeared to have worked. Bodyweight was up 1.1kgs this morning from yesterday.

Have fun whatever you are doing.

Robbie, hope your calf gets better soon!

The rain held off long enough on Saturday morning for me to get a pb 10k in. There were 3 tough hills in the last 2 miles. I had to walk a few times. I also started out way too fast and really had nothing left at the end. Must work on keeping a more even pace and starting out more slowly!

Since Saturday they have rearranged the age groups (10 year increments instead of 5), so final results:
1:02:32.6, 10:06 pace (PB)
3/8 in my age group (I got a 2nd place medal on Saturday! 2/6 in the 50-54 group)
57/88 overall

Wondering where to go from here. I have 20 weeks until my half. Don't want to start a training program too soon (or too late!)

I'll probably do a Turkey Trot 5 miler on Thursday. I plan to keep riding the bike as much as the weather will allow. Bad weather days I will spend in the gym.