Official Running Thread

Jack Straw · Dec 2, 2020

knocky1 said:
Sounds good so far. Nothing to add at the moment except you may want to put the Strava App on your phone. You can then record your runs to chart progress or lack of progress.

Not only do I not do kilometres, I don't do mobile phones either! :ohmy:

I write my times down in the back of my week to view diary!!

knocky1 · Dec 2, 2020

Jack Straw said:
Not only do I not do kilometres, I don't do mobile phones either!
I write my times down in the back of my week to view diary!!

Deleted member 2719 · Dec 2, 2020

Jack Straw said:
I've just got in to running and have been lurking on this thread for a few months. I don't understand a lot of the abbreviations used, apart from PB!
The reason I've been running is that I play football three times a week, or I did until the lockdown, and want to keep my fitness up for when we are allowed to return to playing which is now this Saturday. Bignuts has seen me in 5-a-side action, so may beg to differ that I "play football", perhaps aimlessly chase a ball around may be more like it?!
I've been running 4 miles, three times a week. I speak in old money, so I don't do kilometres.
This morning, I ran from the east arm of the marina to the end of the undercliff walk, touched the wall - you have to do that, then obviously back again. That took 55 minutes and 7 seconds. I don't have a snazzy watch either. Just a wrist stop-watch. I've measured the distance on Google maps and it is 5.6 miles.
With my 65th birthday coming up in two months, I think I'm doing OK?
I intend to run just once a week when I start the football again.
Without reading back all 2,230 pages on this thread, any helpful tips for my running would be much appreciated.

Nice one Jack, I started running a couple of years back, not really a long distance man as speed was always my thing, but managed to settle for 5 or 6k. But I was told by a friend long distance running will zap your testosterone and if you do to much you will talk and look like Minnie mouse.

Stick to short bursts if you want to be a Brutus.

*Please note this knowledge is not factual, but it could be right!

Good luck.

Simgull · Dec 2, 2020

Jack Straw said:
I've just got in to running and have been lurking on this thread for a few months. I don't understand a lot of the abbreviations used, apart from PB!
The reason I've been running is that I play football three times a week, or I did until the lockdown, and want to keep my fitness up for when we are allowed to return to playing which is now this Saturday. Bignuts has seen me in 5-a-side action, so may beg to differ that I "play football", perhaps aimlessly chase a ball around may be more like it?!
I've been running 4 miles, three times a week. I speak in old money, so I don't do kilometres.
This morning, I ran from the east arm of the marina to the end of the undercliff walk, touched the wall - you have to do that, then obviously back again. That took 55 minutes and 7 seconds. I don't have a snazzy watch either. Just a wrist stop-watch. I've measured the distance on Google maps and it is 5.6 miles.
With my 65th birthday coming up in two months, I think I'm doing OK?
I intend to run just once a week when I start the football again.
Without reading back all 2,230 pages on this thread, any helpful tips for my running would be much appreciated.

Well done.
Advice, well where do you start..here’s some stuff that frequently comes up on this thread I’m sure others can add...maybe we should have a top ten or twenty NSC Runners tips!

Do parkrun when it returns
Long slow runs are better than short fast ones
Run on the Downs - much more enjoyable than roads
Get some decent shoes from Run or Jog Shop. Other kit doesn’t really matter.
Cross training/core strength all helps
Hills are great
Strava is a really good free App (join the NSC Runners group)
Don’t overdo it or you’ll injure yourself
If something hurts stop
Report progress and achievements here for motivation
Don’t let [MENTION=15605]knocky1[/MENTION] beat you with his mind games
Most of all enjoy it!

Garry Nelson's teacher · Dec 2, 2020

Jack Straw said:
I've just got in to running and have been lurking on this thread for a few months. I don't understand a lot of the abbreviations used, apart from PB!
The reason I've been running is that I play football three times a week, or I did until the lockdown, and want to keep my fitness up for when we are allowed to return to playing which is now this Saturday. Bignuts has seen me in 5-a-side action, so may beg to differ that I "play football", perhaps aimlessly chase a ball around may be more like it?!
I've been running 4 miles, three times a week. I speak in old money, so I don't do kilometres.
This morning, I ran from the east arm of the marina to the end of the undercliff walk, touched the wall - you have to do that, then obviously back again. That took 55 minutes and 7 seconds. I don't have a snazzy watch either. Just a wrist stop-watch. I've measured the distance on Google maps and it is 5.6 miles.
With my 65th birthday coming up in two months, I think I'm doing OK?
I intend to run just once a week when I start the football again.
Without reading back all 2,230 pages on this thread, any helpful tips for my running would be much appreciated.

Hi mate, welcome aboard. I'm a fellow old git just over a year older than you. I'd like to say this equips me with some sort of running wisdom - but it doesn't. He's a few points to think about

1. You are running as means to an end - to keep your fitness for football (for which huge respect: it would kill me to play a game of footie). For most of the guys on this thread running is an end it itself - i.e our main - perhaps only - sport. We are, in short, running nuts.

2. Hence some of the posters are exceptional runners - in the times they post, the distances they log in training, the number and variety of events they enter, their times, their age gradings and positions in races. One of two tick all these boxes!

3. So once you've worked out what you want from the sport then you can form some sort of plan. If you want to simply improve your time (PB) for you 4 mile runs then that's a perfectly respectable goal (in short, do some longer runs at a slower pace and some shorter ones at a faster pace). If you want to run some events (there are very few 4 mile events) then you'd need to think about different training. At our age there are still some guys hitting astonishing times - some of whom live in the area. You'll soon be in the 65-69 category and be a relative youngster in that category. A lot of guys who were shit hot wen they were younger will have......well, disappeared.

4. Many of us here are Parkrun fans and almost everyone agrees that its just about the best way to motivate yourself to better times (and more injuries, often!), monitor your performance against yourself and others (especially those in your age category), run on a variety of courses (always 5k but even Sussex has about 15 or so courses which have differing challenges from Worthing which flat as a pancake but hellishly windy to Bevendean which is vertical). I couldn't predict your likely finishing time on the current data but depending on the course you might be around the 30. minute mark for a 5k - which be about the mean average in most parkruns. It wouldn't win you your age category; you'd need to get into the 21/22 minutes area on most courses (that's around 7 minute miles in old money).

5. There's all sorts of sites I could direct you to on the age grading issue, but they only tend to work if you are doing a standard distance - at least rounding up or down to the mile or kilometre. So you could work it out for 4 miles, assuming you measured it pretty accurately.

I hope this helps. A lot of the guys here just run to enjoy themselves in the act of running (there's some fantastic places to run in Sussex) and that's great.

BTW I don't 'do' mobiles phones either. And I also only record my training times by writing them in my diary. But after 35 years of fairly serious running I did get a 'snazzy' watch for my 65th - and it's the best thing I've ever bought.

PS if you lived in Worthing, you'd have just found yourself a training partner. Think yourself lucky you don't!

Badger · Dec 2, 2020

Bozza said:
I know you're far more experienced than I am on trails, but having looked at some close-ups of the soles of those, they're not massively different from my two Nike pairs. I just don't see how they can grip onto something that has no give - so the lugs can't "dig in" at all, and is like a sheet of ice.

What it may be, thinking about it now, is I've just not been respectful enough of the conditions and expected to be able to just barrel on regardless. This autumn, thus far, I've taken a lot more care on the chalky stretches I have to deal with, slowing to a careful walk if required, until I'm onto a better surface.

A bit of a late response on this but one pair of shoes I can recommend is Saucony Peregrine Ice. They're the best shoes I've found for icy/snowy conditions (we get a fair bit of it here) and I feel pretty confident wearing them on most surfaces. The Vibram soles are specifically designed to grip ice. I wore mine yesterday on my first proper snowy run of the season and they didn't let me down.

timbha · Dec 2, 2020

GNT - can I ask which snazzy watch you acquired and why it's so good? I need to get one.

Jack Straw · Dec 2, 2020

Simgull said:
Well done.
Advice, well where do you start..here’s some stuff that frequently comes up on this thread I’m sure others can add...maybe we should have a top ten or twenty NSC Runners tips!

Do parkrun when it returns
Long slow runs are better than short fast ones
Run on the Downs - much more enjoyable than roads
Get some decent shoes from Run or Jog Shop. Other kit doesn’t really matter.
Cross training/core strength all helps
Hills are great
Strava is a really good free App (join the NSC Runners group)
Don’t overdo it or you’ll injure yourself
If something hurts stop
Report progress and achievements here for motivation
Don’t let [MENTION=15605]knocky1[/MENTION] beat you with his mind games
Most of all enjoy it!

That's very helpful. Thank you very much. A friend of mine is buying me some new running shoes for my birthday. I will go to the Jog Shop and get fitted out properly.

Jack Straw · Dec 2, 2020

Garry Nelson's teacher said:
Hi mate, welcome aboard. I'm a fellow old git just over a year older than you. I'd like to say this equips me with some sort of running wisdom - but it doesn't. He's a few points to think about

1. You are running as means to an end - to keep your fitness for football (for which huge respect: it would kill me to play a game of footie). For most of the guys on this thread running is an end it itself - i.e our main - perhaps only - sport. We are, in short, running nuts.

2. Hence some of the posters are exceptional runners - in the times they post, the distances they log in training, the number and variety of events they enter, their times, their age gradings and positions in races. One of two tick all these boxes!

3. So once you've worked out what you want from the sport then you can form some sort of plan. If you want to simply improve your time (PB) for you 4 mile runs then that's a perfectly respectable goal (in short, do some longer runs at a slower pace and some shorter ones at a faster pace). If you want to run some events (there are very few 4 mile events) then you'd need to think about different training. At our age there are still some guys hitting astonishing times - some of whom live in the area. You'll soon be in the 65-69 category and be a relative youngster in that category. A lot of guys who were shit hot wen they were younger will have......well, disappeared.

4. Many of us here are Parkrun fans and almost everyone agrees that its just about the best way to motivate yourself to better times (and more injuries, often!), monitor your performance against yourself and others (especially those in your age category), run on a variety of courses (always 5k but even Sussex has about 15 or so courses which have differing challenges from Worthing which flat as a pancake but hellishly windy to Bevendean which is vertical). I couldn't predict your likely finishing time on the current data but depending on the course you might be around the 30. minute mark for a 5k - which be about the mean average in most parkruns. It wouldn't win you your age category; you'd need to get into the 21/22 minutes area on most courses (that's around 7 minute miles in old money).

5. There's all sorts of sites I could direct you to on the age grading issue, but they only tend to work if you are doing a standard distance - at least rounding up or down to the mile or kilometre. So you could work it out for 4 miles, assuming you measured it pretty accurately.

I hope this helps. A lot of the guys here just run to enjoy themselves in the act of running (there's some fantastic places to run in Sussex) and that's great.

BTW I don't 'do' mobiles phones either. And I also only record my training times by writing them in my diary. But after 35 years of fairly serious running I did get a 'snazzy' watch for my 65th - and it's the best thing I've ever bought.

PS if you lived in Worthing, you'd have just found yourself a training partner. Think yourself lucky you don't!

Thanks for taking the time to type that lot. Very much appreciated and some very helpful tips. Seems we have much in common. For instance, our phone numbers begin with 01 !!

Artie Fufkin · Dec 2, 2020

hi guys, just adding another one of my favourite running-related films available on YouTube.

Transamericana is a Salomon film following ultra runner Rickey Gates as he documents his epic journey of running the length of America (!), from South Carolina to San Francisco. If you have 75 minutes free one evening I'd definitely recommend checking it out. A real life Forrest Gump adventure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ciEqPZsOCs

Garry Nelson's teacher · Dec 2, 2020

timbha said:
GNT - can I ask which snazzy watch you acquired and why it's so good? I need to get one.

It's a Garmin Forerunner 25. Bought almost exactly 1 year ago for £75. The functionality is probably quite limited but suits my (simple) needs: time/pace or speed/distance. It also does either miles or kms. THB I'm probably the worst person to give advice on this. There's better ones on the market - and it's almost certainly obsolete. But there and again, so am I!

Bozza · Dec 2, 2020

Artie Fufkin said:
hi guys, just adding another one of my favourite running-related films available on YouTube.

Transamericana is a Salomon film following ultra runner Rickey Gates as he documents his epic journey of running the length of America (!), from South Carolina to San Francisco. If you have 75 minutes free one evening I'd definitely recommend checking it out. A real life Forrest Gump adventure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ciEqPZsOCs

I watched this last week as it happens.

It was a strangely soothing watch, but very enjoyable with it.

Bozza · Dec 2, 2020

Jack Straw said:
Not only do I not do kilometres, I don't do mobile phones either!
I write my times down in the back of my week to view diary!!

Good man.

Why on earth does anyone living in the UK measure distance (with the exception of 5km and 10km runs) and pace in kilometres?

I've always been good at mental arithmetic, but when someone quotes their pace in minutes and seconds per kilometre, it might as well be in Japanese. I have no idea what it means.

Albion Robster · Dec 2, 2020

Albion Robster said:
Hey Mouldy.
I thought I would provide an update on my 10:10 progress. Now 7 runs into the 10 days...jeez, it’s a tough challenge! I’ve been running at a decent pace throughout with a weekly average pace of 4.32 per km, however my runs have incurred quite a few hills within the borough of Brighton & Hove - incurring 759m of running up hills through those 70kms.
Have to say, my legs are feeling quite heavy now but I’m now 70% through my lockdown challenge and hopefully mentally things should be easier. Will need to slow down the pace and find flat beachfront runs over the next couple of days.

PS: Thanks for making me ‘accountable’ to my personal challenge - makes it easier to complete the running challenge when I’ve put in print on a forum! Keep telling myself I cannot quit this challenge.

Further update for those interested.
Completed my 10:10k challenge last week. Got to say the last two runs were super tough as the muscle fatigue really hit me hard. Tough 10 days of running with a cumulation of 988 metres of hill elevation didn't help my legs either. Overall I ran the distances with a good pace with an average pace of 4:30 per km across the 100kms.
Decent challenge to set yourself but be warned do some decent stretch-outs on a foam roller and a couple of deep radox baths as well.

I then gave myself a weeks rest and blasted out a 5k last night. Only managed to bang out a PB of 19:12. A massive 14 seconds quicker from 4 years ago!

From what other seasoned runners have said previously on thread, it really does pay to build a solid running block of distance runs that will in turn help bring down your times for those shorter distances.

Artie Fufkin · Dec 2, 2020

Bozza said:
I watched this last week as it happens.

It was a strangely soothing watch, but very enjoyable with it.

Nice Bozza. I think it's a really captivating film. Capturing a man's journey of discovery, both literally and metaphorically.

This is my favourite line - "nothing is as powerful as something that you experience yourself."

big nuts · Dec 2, 2020

Jack Straw said:
I've just got in to running and have been lurking on this thread for a few months. I don't understand a lot of the abbreviations used, apart from PB!
The reason I've been running is that I play football three times a week, or I did until the lockdown, and want to keep my fitness up for when we are allowed to return to playing which is now this Saturday. Bignuts has seen me in 5-a-side action, so may beg to differ that I "play football", perhaps aimlessly chase a ball around may be more like it?!
I've been running 4 miles, three times a week. I speak in old money, so I don't do kilometres.
This morning, I ran from the east arm of the marina to the end of the undercliff walk, touched the wall - you have to do that, then obviously back again. That took 55 minutes and 7 seconds. I don't have a snazzy watch either. Just a wrist stop-watch. I've measured the distance on Google maps and it is 5.6 miles.
With my 65th birthday coming up in two months, I think I'm doing OK?
I intend to run just once a week when I start the football again.
Without reading back all 2,230 pages on this thread, any helpful tips for my running would be much appreciated.

Great to see you join the thread and start running.

You still hold your own on the football pitch and punch above your weight based on your age. I’d be amazed if I can still play at 65.

It got me thinking earlier that we used to play together at Stanley Deason in the late nineties so you were around my age now whilst I was hanging on to my late teens.

I just remember lots of questionable pornography changing hands before and after games, with your mate Dave being the general provider!

Other than football and porn, I’m really into running after hitting 17.5 stone in 2009. I’ve run consistently since 2010 with a break of around 15 months due to losing motivation after my first marathon in 2012.

Like others, I prefer the long, slow stuff but having a varied schedule is great and you reap the rewards. Sunday was 17.5 miles whereas tonight was 8 x 500 metres with 90 seconds rest in between. Believe it or not the 17.5 miles was far easier.

Good luck with your running and I love the old school way of recording and tracking your times.

A GPS watch is one to consider. I love stats and analysis and this gives you the option to store runs electronically. Using Strava also has a good social aspect, especially with the NSC group which goes from strength to strength and clocks ridiculous amounts of miles per week.

Jack Straw · Dec 2, 2020

big nuts said:
Great to see you join the thread and start running.

You still hold your own on the football pitch and punch above your weight based on your age. I’d be amazed if I can still play at 65.

It got me thinking earlier that we used to play together at Stanley Deason in the late nineties so you were around my age now whilst I was hanging on to my late teens.

I just remember lots of questionable pornography changing hands before and after games, with your mate Dave being the general provider!

Other than football and porn, I’m really into running after hitting 17.5 stone in 2009. I’ve run consistently since 2010 with a break of around 15 months due to losing motivation after my first marathon in 2012.

Like others, I prefer the long, slow stuff but having a varied schedule is great and you reap the rewards. Sunday was 17.5 miles whereas tonight was 8 x 500 metres with 90 seconds rest in between. Believe it or not the 17.5 miles was far easier.

Good luck with your running and I love the old school way of recording and tracking your times.

A GPS watch is one to consider. I love stats and analysis and this gives you the option to store runs electronically. Using Strava also has a good social aspect, especially with the NSC group which goes from strength to strength and clocks ridiculous amounts of miles per week.

Yes. That was definitely Dave with the porn!

He's had to pack up playing football due to a hip replacement.
I can't believe you were ever 17.5 stone. When I've seen you playing 5-a-side at the King Alfred, you look the leanest one on the pitch!
Thanks for the tips.
I'm sure I'll see you back at the King Alfred before long.
Wishing you well. Cheers. :drink:

knocky1 · Dec 3, 2020

Albion Robster said:
Further update for those interested.
Completed my 10:10k challenge last week. Got to say the last two runs were super tough as the muscle fatigue really hit me hard. Tough 10 days of running with a cumulation of 988 metres of hill elevation didn't help my legs either. Overall I ran the distances with a good pace with an average pace of 4:30 per km across the 100kms.
Decent challenge to set yourself but be warned do some decent stretch-outs on a foam roller and a couple of deep radox baths as well.

I then gave myself a weeks rest and blasted out a 5k last night. Only managed to bang out a PB of 19:12. A massive 14 seconds quicker from 4 years ago!

From what other seasoned runners have said previously on thread, it really does pay to build a solid running block of distance runs that will in turn help bring down your times for those shorter distances.

I've been off strava for a while with limited running in 6 months but just realised who you are. Excellent running. Sub 19 when Parkrun resumes well on the cards. I'll be looking out for you on the Prom in 2021 ready to sign you up for one of the NSC Weakest Link relay teams next June.

Ready for comeback 2 today. Will do a walk/run warm up, cool down and slow Fartlekky sort of thing with lots of stretching afterwards.

Garry Nelson's teacher · Dec 3, 2020

knocky1 said:
I've been off strava for a while with limited running in 6 months but just realised who you are. Excellent running. Sub 19 when Parkrun resumes well on the cards. I'll be looking out for you on the Prom in 2021 ready to sign you up for one of the NSC Weakest Link relay teams next June.

Ready for comeback 2 today. Will do a walk/run warm up, cool down and slow Fartlekky sort of thing with lots of stretching afterwards.

Yeah - and I know which team he might end up in. !

All the best for the comeback.

Greg Bobkin · Dec 3, 2020

Welcome to the best thread on NSC, [MENTION=259]Jack Straw[/MENTION] – there isn't a lot I can add that hasn't been said by the others, to be honest. The most important thing is enjoyment or else what's the point?

Looking forward to some kind of social NSC run in 2021 – the majority of the year without races or even seeing people at parkrun has been pretty soul destroying. The way things are going [MENTION=15605]knocky1[/MENTION], you might have to be bossing four or five NSC teams at Weakest Link next year!

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