NIce runs and rides guys and girls, sounds like you have better weather in the states than we do in blighty at the moment. Temps struggle around freezing during the day and dip below during the night. Expecting snow tomorrow (Tuesday) night through to Thursday. Rugby matches were cancelled yesterday due to the ground being like concrete. Too dangerous for the kids.

Tim good luck on the recovery, restarting almost from scratch must be hard on the soul, especially after the marathon last year. I hope it goes well, it sounds as though you have your recovery well thought out and planned.

taeliesyn, good luck on the run into work.

upsaluki, you have my empathy, I support the mighty quins, who play a flamboyant style which is fantastic to watch when it works and can be very painful when it does not. The big issue is that you can only watch as it unravels before you.

Another very easy run this morning, I seem to be getting my mojo back. Looking forward to my first tempo run for a while tomorrow, which should indicate how good the recovery is going.

Have fun everyone.

Robbie & taeliesyn, I did rest up over the weekend. Unfortunately, I had to learn the importance of rest days the hard way. Pushed too hard last spring and, between over doing the legs work and a wrist sprain that wouldn't heal, I was basically banned from the gym for a couple months. Safe to say that was a lesson that I won't soon forget.

MM, I'm curious, what kind of trails and trail races do you run?

PaytraB, thank you for the welcome. You make an excellent point about my shoes. How many miles do you get out of your shoes? I've tracked about 300 km in mine and I think it's about time to demote them. Sorry to hear you've been having trouble with varicose veins.

It's great to find more Oatmeal fans. Varda got me hooked on The Blerch comic & my brother bought me the t-shirt for Christmas. I do believe that little critter has been following me around lately! I haven't read the book yet, is it worth the purchase or a rehash of the website?

Today I hit the Free Motion treadmill for my run. Picked a 3 mile trail, turned on the fan, 10 minute warm up walk, 30 minutes of running, finished up with another 10 minute walk & stretching. Overall, it wasn't bad for a day of running inside... One of the newbies grabbed my TM as I was writing on the sign-in sheet Luckily there was another one free so it wasn't a big deal to switch. Haha - I did catch myself rolling my eyes about 'not having to deal with this kind of thing outside'.

Congrats on everyone's runs and rides today. Tomorrow is a cross training day for me so I'll either be hitting the gym or the pool, depends on how quickly Little Man and I get out the door in the AM.

Skye_NS wrote: »

MM, I'm curious, what kind of trails and trail races do you run?

This is my plan for the year, with a local 10K just before the first HM

May - Ox Half - http://whitestarrunning.co.uk/eventBase.php?eid=2
July - Dorset Invader Half - http://whitestarrunning.co.uk/eventBase.php?eid=5
August - Salisbury 54321 Marathon - http://www.salisbury54321.com/
October - Clarendon Marathon - http://www.clarendon-marathon.co.uk/

I did Clarendon HM last year, with that supposed to be the tougher half of the marathon. The Ox is the same day as a marathon and 50K, and they're proposing introducing the Dark Ox, 10K night run on the Saturday, which looks entertaining

I had hoped to do Hampton Court (palacehalf.co.uk) but didn't get a place. As a flat HM I figured I could more realistically assess my time there as trail times are a bit unpredictable. I think Clarendon took me 15 minutes longer than I could have done HM in, given the terrain and limping after the 12Km point.

As far a shoes as concerned, I have about 520km on one pair of road shoes, and 300 on the other. I'm about to introduce a third pair to the cycle to allow me to retire the first pair in about another 100km. I overpronate and have suffered shin splints in the past so find that approah helps the transitions. My trail shoes have about 100km and 60km respectivelly, but on some trails I just stick with road shoes, given the mix of sufaces. Tarmac will kill the grip and gets quite uncomfortable without any cushioning.

Robbie, good to see you getting over the virus, it's affecting lots of people badly this year.

So last night was 8km along the Thames down through Battersea Park. Any Pink Floyd fans should recognise the name Several bootcamp classes in the park as well as lots of runners. I managed reasonable pace but legs are a bit leaden this morning. Jumping on my Brompton for the work ride wasn't all that welcome. Supposed to be a cooper test this evening, so I'll see how I feel. Tuesdays tend to be difficult days for feeding adequately so it's not the best day for something like that.

Ran a little over three miles today. It snowed last night about an inch or two. I chose not to take the yaktrax out and it was a bad decision. Very bad footing out there, and one of my knees is a little sore. Good to get in the work though. The workout was supposed to be interval training but it was pretty hard to ramp up the pace with the poor footing.

Skye - well done on the dreadmill, I started on dreadmills in June last year and progressed outside when the gyms aircon failed. Never gone back to a dreadmill since.

taeliesyn, I still love the attitude, it wasn't to be, I'll do something else. It is refreshing to see someone just go with the flow.

MM, nice going, it must be hard running through London but wanting to run trails. At least you are getting "easy" miles on the legs.

Ceci, great work on the rides.

upsaluki, I have some yaktrax for winter walking but never really thought about running in them, may need to consider it tomorrow. Nice run though even if you had problems

Romy, well done on the gym session, no KR done here.

Re running shoes, I have some Reebok subduo lites (5 pairs), 2 in boxes unused, 1 I am breaking in for the HM, (one 4ml run per week plus the 2 long runs in the last training weeks before the taper), one pair with 209miles on them, the last pair with 311miles. I rotate them round to ensure they dry out, but it probably means I will get slightly more life out of them. Each has their own colour bow on the front so I can match the pairs and know which is which, although a quick look on the treads gives it away. Before you think wow, I got 4 pairs through an end of line discounter (30GBP per pair)

Tempo run this morning, I couldn't hold the pace for the full time, so a little disappointed (40 secs per mile faster than the planned HM pace). Thighs felt as though they were working hard. I felt a little stiff later in the day, so got a 3 mile walk in to loosen up. Very easy run tomorrow. I love the 80/20 programme a bit of running every day but not too much at any one time.

Have fun peeps.

Patra - good luck with your run.

Light dusting of snow last night, melting as I ran this morning, making it slippy underneath and cold, especially with the wind. Ended up warm enough but could have done with layering slightly differently. Very easy paced session, they are getting easier but I was more aware about my posture. I was definitely more upright than recently. A definite sign that fitness is returning. Intention next week is to change the direction of the very easy runs. The last few weeks it has been uphill, long downhill and then uphill to finish. Next week will do downhill, long uphill with downhill to finish and see what that does to my perception of the run.

Have fun everyone.

Got off work yesterday too late to run outside, so headed to the gym to get my 4 miles in. 4 miles on the indoor track in 38:32. Would have been better if I didn't have to dodge people who insist on walking in the passing lane! Not really complaining because at least I have the option of running indoors when it's too cold or too dark.

@taeliesyn‌ I'm almost at the point on my longer runs that I need to be thinking about mid run hydration. Saturday I will run 8 miles. With the temps as low as they are now, hydration shouldn't be a issue yet. But in the coming weeks as the distance increases and the temps rise, I'll have to come up with a plan. The route I usually run has no options for hydration, so I'll have to carry my own.

I have problems with hydration, I am okay up to about 8-10km but after that I do need to drink. Unfortunately drinking when running makes me feel sick. I can manage tiny little sips but anything more than that and I want to throw up. I usually plan my long runs early in the morning to minimise dehydration. I guess I will just have to persevere and hope it gets better or I will have no chance of a running a HM.

Out with Jog Scotland tonight, cold and icy. For the 3rd week it has just been me and my son. Hopefully we will have some more runners next week.

My knee felt sore last night, but was good today so I slipped out for an afternoon run. 4 miles -38:48. Roads were clear and I was feeling good. Hope everyone but Taeliesyn experiences a warming trend!. 8) If you think I snivel about running in the cold wait until it gets 90 plus degrees here!

ftrobbie- I felt good again today on my five mile run. I think my times have improved with clear footing. Today was 28 F but the roads were clear and I was feeling good again. I'll probably take it easier on my longer run on Saturday. Tomorrow is a rest day.