The FastDay Forum

[carieoates]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33423846
...
Am now playing with different supplements, gels, energy tablets etc. it's a minefield .

Glad the knee is better.

Since the body holds around 2,000 calories of readily accessible energy, supplements (beyond water on a really hot day) aren't necessary for any event lasting an hour or less. It's also nice to not carry the added weight.

Knee is now bruised from physio,,,,,wow he has strong thumbs.
I actually have finger print bruises on my thighs from the pressure....
IWorking on my breathing as I'm a mouth breather and trying to shut it....
When not hot o can do 5k fine, but as soon as its 22degrees or more even with my hat I'm dry mouthed.

Here's a laugh, me recovering from 26 degree 5k run on Thursday.

I don't remember if it was mentioned before but am curious. Pain in one knee or both?

If it's just one knee, the next time you're out for a run pay close attention to which foot hits the ground at the point where you just start to exhale.
..

Bit late with my reply @Barbarita but a Garmin Forerunner 10, the basic one, can do all you need as uploading to the website gives you all the info and charts. I've been using one for a couple of years and every time I think of upgrading I decide not to bother. I got mine from Tesco on one of their 'booster' days so paid for on vouchers which made it feel free. If you want heart rate monitoring then you would need a higher model. On the finding GPS signal, I have seen complaints that it can take an age but mine seems to find within seconds 99% of the time - often before I'm even halfway changed into running gear. You can pause and start whenever you want and there is an auto pause, so you would need to make sure it's off if you want to include your breathing pauses.

[carieoates]

I don't remember if it was mentioned before but am curious. Pain in one knee or both?

If it's just one knee, the next time you're out for a run pay close attention to which foot hits the ground at the point where you just start to exhale.
..

Pain in right knee, never whilst running
I exhale (and I do push it out) with right leg foot strike. If I don't I have to alter breathing is that normal, or just good breathing?
6.2k this morning whoop

Pain in right knee, never whilst running
I exhale (and I do push it out) with right leg foot strike. If I don't I have to alter breathing is that normal, or just good breathing?
6.2k this morning whoop

From the book "Running On Air" by running coach Budd Coates, "...impact stress is greatest when foot strike coincides with the beginning of an exhalation". ... "When you exhale, your diaphragm and the muscles associated with the diaphragm relax, creating less stability in your core and making you more susceptible to injury [on that side]."

Most of us unconsciously coordinate our breathing with our foot strikes: most commonly an even ratio of breathing in for two steps and breathing out for two steps. Because of this, the same side (in your case, the right) always gets the most impact stress. The solution is simple: breathe in for three steps, out for two.

This requires far more practice than you'd think because it's very easy to forget given the constant distractions - LOOK SQUIRREL! - that come with being outside during a run. Notice the foot strikes as you exhale now? They alternate spreading the cumulative impact to both legs, not just one.

This odd (as opposed to even) ratio can easily be changed to 2:1 when running faster or even 4:3, for example, when running quite slow. I found that it makes a difference. Try it.

Thanks for your posts @creakypete, @brougham, @franglaise and @anniew. I've been doing some heavy reading on the dcrainmaker site and also some trekking sites, and I am leaning towards a Suunto Ambit 2. This is ludicrously expensive (especially as I never thought of checking Tesco when I had my last fistful of coupons to double up!), and ludicrously over-engineered for my low-level requirements but I read it has the best altimeter and monitors real-time ascent, so I hope it can do what I really want, which is to show me miles travelled and feet ascended on the watch after I press stop. If anybody knows different, please shout out. Maybe when I get the thing I will get all nerdy about the online stuff, but for now I will be happy just to log those two figures in my diary.

@barbarita Just be careful that the battery life can cope with all the gadgets, that is one problem with an all singing all dancing watch. If you are doing a long trail race you want the battery to last a lot longer than a few hours.
@AdnFuelI agree with you totally, you really don't need any energy supplements for a HM. You can run comfortably with none of that for 2 hours. It is a big marketing ploy with new runners seem to get conned by. It is what you eat the day before which is important, even breakfast is just a top up and not that important.

I also like the Ambit 2, but haven't purchased anything yet to replace my obsolete but still functional Garmin 201 nor my broken 305. As others have mentioned battery charge time is an important consideration.

A minor point for hikers/runners (as opposed to pilots), but physical geometry makes satellite based altitude measurement error 1.5 times that of the horizontal position error. This is fairly minor (while SA is turned off) but tends to make cumulative totals of altitude-climbed and descended very unrealistic. This can be offset somewhat with a barometer based system and by averaging multiple trips to find the real values.

Which ever unit you decide to purchase consider paying a higher price if the company or retailer offers a very generous return period. Reliability and full feature usability has been an issue with most GPS manufacturers.

Missed a parkrun last week due to a climbing weekend, which was great, and did not report the previous week due to not only having a rubbish hot, slow run but also the results gave me an extra 7 seconds I did not ask for. However, on Saturday 18th I managed a post-op PB of 24:11 - admittedly only by a second, and still not under 24 mins as I would want to be, but progress nevertheless. And MrsPete is getting over her Achilles problem, thank goodness - she has been like a bear (a thin bear, that is) with a sore head for several weeks now...

Have started running again, thanks to a bit of encouragement from @carieoates. However I have an old hip injury so I'm hoping it does not make a reappearance or I will be very cross. I don't have any excuses really living in a nice climate where it is relatively flat locally. I should make the most of it.

[carieoates]

Just thought I'd update you real runners.
I'm doing my first 10k race on Sunday, so this morning I'm going for a gentle 5k to keep things ticking over. Last Sunday (my long run day) I did 7.7k and I was pleased with the fact that I was concentrating on my foot strike my physio advised that I should try and "ball of foot" or "flat foot" strike. I've ever run that far before and am now confident that Sunday's 10k will not kill me. I have an aerobics class on Friday morning and that's it till the race. No takeaway or wine this Saturday so that Im not dehydrated.
My only concern is that I will need a drink before the water station.....is it frowned upon to carry a drink around with you! .......So any advice great fully received.

Good Luck with your first 10k! No problem if you want to carry a bit of water, lots of people (probably mainly girls, however) carry water, even some parkrunners. Should not be any need to drink though, dehydration is very unlikely during such a short time/distance and some runners definitely drink too much!

@carieoatesGood luck with yout first 10k! Of course there is no problem at all to take your own water and drink before the water station. I agree with Pete, I wouldn't for such a short distance - but I'll do anything to avoid carrying water bottles as I don't like them. I tend to only take them for long trail races where you don't have many water stations, often the first one isn't before 15k.
Let us know how you get on

[carieoates]

Wow that was a great little run, I like being off on school hols. This may become a regular thing.
So i did run a bit too short of 5k than I wanted without a drink and I didn't die,lol
Does anyone else use Strava, I'd like to be friends.

Earphones....the race rules say no headphones, but I'm not great when I can hear my breathing, as I over concentrate on it. It's fine when I can't hear it though.....is that odd or common I wonder. So do I just plug one ear in, they're wireless but visible. Or is this another obstacle I need to conquer.

Now time for brunch.

@carieoates Good luck on Sunday - you should be fine without much water, staying well hydrated the day before seems to help me.

I've also changed to landing on my mid-foot from heel, it seems to be more natural now but took a while to get used to it.

As for the no headphones rule, there's rants galore on the runners world messageboard about this, I don't use them (just never really got on with headphones and running). Maybe have a short run without them? A lot of races do ban them now.

Good luck anyhow