Over 60s training.

It likes pictures better.

Tracey, nice one!

I'm very disappointed as won't be doing the National X-Country today after all .

We had 3 inches of snow overnight and it's still snowing a bit now. The race will go ahead but it's a 15-mile drive and there were reports of hazardous driving conditions on many local roads this morning. Don't think anything was gritted. At best the traffic would have been very slow and it only takes a minor accident for everything to seize up completely. I just didn't want to put myself through such a lot of potential hassle. I nearly had an accident last time it was like this. Stupid snow!

Nice sprinkling of snow. Just enough nto be a minor nuisance.

Tracey
Nice easy 3. Hope it went well.
Have a good run tomorrow.

Graham
Shame about the snow but there's nopoint in taking un due risks.
JJ

Graham,
That's disappointing but there is always another race.

15.3k done for 62k this week, just short of 40 miles but good enough. 195k so far this month so on track for 240k + for the month. Time to introduce some pace work, hoping the weather will permit it this week.

Mick

Tracey - does Andre run independently or do you have to jolly him along?

Graham - what a pity, and you were so looking forward to it. But the right decision, I'm sure.

Ran 4.8 miles today, - to the town lake, twice round it and back home. Was bitterly cold, lake was frozen though not all over.  However, for the last mile and a half I had the bitter NE wind behind me and warmed up enough to take off my headband, and even my gloves.  

Tracey
have a good one tomorrow - best of luck

Graham
that was not good timing!! We had a  flurry here but nothing significant.

Mick6
good going - all on track. Distance look so much bettter in km!!! 

Forced to stay in and watch the rughy again !!!

Still snowing off and on but a bit of sun inbetween too. Off to the Newcastle v Southampton match soon. I got a couple of free tickets courtesy of Rungeordierun. He'd been given them as a gesture of support from the Newcastle United Supporters Trust and he kindly thought of me to use them as thanks for my help so far in planning his run (he has a season ticket himself). It's ages since I went to a League match so really looking forward to it. Polar explorers probably wear less than I'll be going in though!

Run done. 3.09 miles in about 40 minutes. A lot of work to be done before I can think of being anywhere near my target time of 29:34 for 5k. Anyway, it's a start. I'm pleased that I can feel that I'm running better (all the core and posture work plus the RS input. I wore Asics 2000 which we've got as trial shoes at the mo and really liked them to run in. Probably slightly more support than I need (and I must get my gait assessed after doing all the core work, etc) but I felt as though the footstrike was further forward and the transition's good.

Good morning

K2
a good start - as Chairman Mao said " a journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step" - and your foot equipment sounds pretty good as well. 

Tracey
I have a mental image of  a plucked turkey on someone's head chasing after Andre 

Columba
we are closer to the start of the NE wind here - and it's bliddy freezin!!! (see Graham's words on getting dressed for the match!!)  

Graham
remember - "allez les noir et blancs "

It was the aforesaid bliddy freezin this morning - bone dry with dusty snow blowing around and not sticking to anything.
A hard day's decorating yersterday left me a bit still in the legs but it soon wore off  leaving me with just the cold and the wind to contend with 

12.11 mile sdone in 1:44:29 (8:38m/m) with avHR 131 (66%WHR) and a max of  142 as I controlled effort 

  Mile

Time

Avg HR

Max HR

01

9:34.6

115

131

02

8:49.8

128

135

03

8:35.3

129

137

04

8:34.7

131

141

05

8:17.7

131

142

06

8:21.1

134

140

07

8:16.5

135

142

08

8:37.7

134

139

09

8:27.7

136

142

10

8:32.9

136

140

11

8:50.1

134

139

12

8:34.1

136

140

.11

:57.6

140

142

oh well that didn't work very well did it???

12 miles was all I had in the legs as I tried to push on despite the good avHR.
However it puts me on target for where I want to be by the end of February.

I am still not convinced my Garmin is giving me accurate HR information but on the basis of Ilike what I see it will do!!!

Tracey - I love that! I can just picture it!

"Bone dry with dusty snow blowing around and not sticking to anything" (TS) - that's what it was like here this morning, too. Snow seems to have blown away now, though.

But still freezing.

Hi, I don't mean to butt in rudely, but I just wondered if anyone here has had sciatica. I got it about 9 years ago due to overdoing things hugely in the gym. (I don't go any more.) Really bad it was, and took around 8 weeks to go away. It has never come back again since then, except around 3 weeks ago I suddenly got it, but not as badly. I mean it didn't go right down to my foot as it had before. But this time, as before, my main problem was sitting. That's when it bothered me and only then. Wanted to keep stretching out my right leg. Not sure what caused it this time except that I had been sort of jumping on and off the pavement because of snow, avoiding the slippiness on the pavement, but then a car would come and I'd jump back on to the snowy pavement again.
Anyway, I stopped running but did plenty of walking. I went to my doctor about 10 days ago. (He's an excellent, competitive off-road runner in his mid 50s, as it happens so he's sympathetic to running - but not on roads!). He told me I'd hurt my back and confirmed it was sciatica. He advised only walking for 3 or 4 weeks, and no weights, etc. and prescribed me a box of 100 good painkillers (Free in Scotland, btw.!)
I haven't taken even one as it didn't get that bad to have to, but sitting was still the worst, but only a bit uncomfortable. But now I'm practically pain free, even sitting on the worst chair doesn't bring it on any more.
And now - at last! - my question is: do you think I really should wait another 2 or 3 weeks as recommended, or just start gentle running again tomorrow or something? (I'm 75.)
My usual is about 4 and a quarter miles 4 or 5 times per week plus plenty of walking. And sometimes I try to do interval training or just run fast and slow during a run.
Sorry this has turned out to be so long!

Tracey
very well done -surprised you didn't run faster to get away from JJ's hugs 

Columba
It turned to hail this afternoon so I was lucky !

also ran
sorry no sciatica around here but I guess the doctor was giving a timesacle to allow the inflammation to disappear completely. starting back too soon may just aggrevate the condition again and then you are back where you started

Trying again

  Mile     Time     Avg HR Max HR

01         9:34.6    115        131

02         8:49.8    128        135

03         8:35.3    129        137

04         8:34.7    131        141

05         8:17.7    131        142

06         8:21.1    134        140

07         8:16.5    135        142

08         8:37.7    134        139

09         8:27.7    136        142

10         8:32.9    136        140

11         8:50.1    134        139

12         8:34.1    136        140

.11        0:57.6    140        142 

works this time - copied table from Garmin Connect to plain text in Word and then copied it direct into the thread - saves time when there are a few miles to record

TWells 1/2m today and only 1900 runners turned up out of 2800 entries. Ity's such a shame when so many folks were turned away because the race limit was reached early.

Did 31 mins of 300m run and 100m walk. Didn't count the number or pace.

Tracey
Lovely to see you. Shame you were off colour. Sorry I wasn't at the start or finish but as you could see I was diverted elsewhere for other duties. Hope you enjoyed seeing my doodle. 

Ceal
Eric ran 1:53 and was first M70. Not sure I could beat that if I was fit.

Also ran.
I think you ought to wait until you are pain free before re-starting but I would try some power walking to start getting you back into things. It has less impact. You may want to add some gentle exercises a couple of times a week that will strengthen the back muscles. Planks may work. When you re-start running I would want to do 300-400 miles of slow running to rebuild gently. At 75 you will almost certainly want to recover properly from from any exercise before you do the next session otherwise overuse injuries are likely to keep cropping up. Stick around and keep us posted on progress.
JJ