A New Running Thread for 2017

What’s your current running load?

If you’re running three times a week (easy run, tempo/interval run, long slow run), increasing your LSR by 3-4km a week is fine.

Yeah that’s my load, 3 runs a week. Though I’m not great at tempo/intervals on a normal run so I’m gonna find a big hill to do some repeats on instead I think.

That’s fine, make sure you take your long runs slow though.

Doing Amsterdam marathon in October, doing a couple of half marathons as training before that. Running four days a week and going to bootcamp twice a week.

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I struggle a bit with that tbh. Find it really difficult to run at a pace that’s slower than what I’m comfortable with. Going to try this evening.

I do appear to have successfully run through the tightness in my calves I’ve had since I started up again. Mind over matter, innit.

It’s really worth doing if you can; honestly worth forcing yourself to do it in the same way you might force yourself to run hill repeats or other hard sessions.

Amsterdam marathon sounds great! Does it actually run alongside canals and that in the city or is it more around the outskirts?

i also struggle with the slow running.
due to broken headphones i’ve been spent the last couple of weeks running without audio cues telling me what pace i’m going at - have found this liberating, focusing instead on how I feel and what’s comfortable rather than arbitrary expectations based on what i’ve done previously.

am missing tunes though.

Amsterdam marathon is great - lots of euro-trance all the way around, and the best chips & mayo at the end. is nice finishing in a stadium too.

Me: having a well-deserved rest after my ultra. A few weeks off and then back into building fitness and technique. Got this book, which seems good:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Running-Body-Ultramarathoners/dp/161519102X

Got a bit of a groin strain, not serious but annoying. Sore on my inner thighs and in the lower abs/groin. Anyone got tips?

I ditched the music years ago to be honest, think it’s a great decision and one I’d recommend to anyone. Helps train yourself to push through aches etc. without an easy distraction. Got to learn to love the suffering.

I’d use my watch to keep track of pace but I bodge d the strap back on with superglue and permanently fixed the button you need to press to change that setting.

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Don’t think I could do it without music tbh, it’s cripplingly boring as it is, wouldn’t cope with all that time alone with my own thoughts.

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Very much a personal thing I think. I struggle with music because I find my cadence wants to fall in line with the music and I find it distracting (the very reason a lot of people run with it) so I only ever use it in a gym, and even there I’d prefer a podcast.

Without, I find running usually clears my mind (the reason I started in the first place) and if I really want to hear something, I just use one of my most recent earworms - helpfully I can play it to myself at the speed I’m running at rather than awkwardly running at a faster/slower cadence than is comfortable.

Absolutely understand why some people run with earphones, but I do wish people wouldn’t do it in busy areas and lose themselves in whatever they’re listening to rather than paying attention to what’s around them - in races in particular.

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Yeah, I’ve got carefully tailored playlists which really help with my pacing, find it way more of a benefit than a problem but the odd occasion where I’ve tried to listen to something else whilst running it does really throw me off. I’m the same when I’m walking though, just keep tempo with whatever I’m listening to innit.

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Tempo! That’s the word I was looking for to use alongside cadence!

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I don’t know what it is, (endorphins maybe?), but I can’t say I ever think about anything dark when I’m out running. Even when it goes that way it tends to put me in a good head space to rationalise those things I might be feeling anxious about.

Sometimes you just zone out entirely, that can be pretty liberating.

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Aye, I think more that I’d just be thinking “fuck this” the whole time as opposed to any kind of depressive episodes or anything (which running in general really helps to stave off for me).

There’s something motivational about thinking “ok one more track” or getting a boost from some absolute banger coming on when you’re struggling which I don’t think I have the self-motivation to be able to conjure up organically.

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I still run with headphones on but would like to try and ween myself off of it as I definitely tend to pace myself based on what I am listening to.

Always podcasts for me when I’m running. Find it so weird when I don’t have them, like I overthink my breathing and stuff and go slower as a result

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How do people listen to music while running? Holding your phone in your hand? I’d be terrified of dropping it.