The FastDay Forum

Thanks, Pete! They'll hurt tomorrow. I can't feel anything now. There was a lot of treacherous downhill (it rained), which was tough going.

That's fantastic MaryAnn!

Brilliant Mary Ann! 15 minutes is A LOT - especially in that sort of weather. Well done you!

Yeay! Found my mojo again after giving up chasing my speed! Ran 10km Thursday evening with the club and then another 10.8km this morning on my ownsome - in 1 hour 19 mins. Now I did have to walk/run, walk/run in a couple of places - particularly up THIS killer hill.....



.... in fact I had to stop halfway up because for the first time ever when running I got a stone in my shoe - how irritating is that? Physically AND mentally!!!! So considering my first 10km was run in November in one hour, fifteen, I'm not too disappointed in my time, to be honest as I actually did nearly 11 today.

But I'm now on that post-run high, despite having to run directly into the wind at times!!!

I'm glad I didn't make the effort to drive up to Telford as it was cancelled this morning when the event organiser's wife slipped on some ice whilst carrying a box down the finish funnel. She's OK but they wisely decided to cancel for safety's sake....

Did a 10k this morning, it was supposed to be along the canal (mostly) but due to flooding the route was changed to around the town and there were a lot of hills and tight hairpin corners where we changed direction. I did my worst time yet (46m45s) but I although the weather conditions were perfect I don't think it was an easy course, especially given the number of competitors, so I'm not too upset. I was 632nd out of 1654 and 26th out of the 340 women who took part, so not too bad.

Sounds like a good result to me, all things considered!

so my run was on Saturday, I was more or less fine on Sunday (sore knees), but yesterday I felt awful. I had slept 12 hours straight but still needed more sleep. I went to work, but turned around to come home almost straight away. I felt awful, sore, and tired. I slept all day just about and then 12 hours overnight again. I definitely feel much better today, though still… flagging a bit…

I'm wondering if this is just running or something else. I definitely need to work harder at staying hydrated post race...

Congrats on your race!

FWIW, soreness can be reduced by gentle post race static stretching, right after, and especially that evening and if needed the next day. Substantial relief can often be just a few minutes away.

Achyness can also be almost eliminated by taking a pre-race and post-race BCAA - branched chain amino acid supplement. It's what the body uses to build proteins. The first time I tried it was at a Rock-N-Roll Marathon in Phoenix. I was amazed the next day while going through the airport that my legs felt like I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary the day before.

It works partly as a sacrificial - your body use it instead of your own muscle for energy during a race. And it acts as a post-race head start on rebuilding muscle cells that were damaged during the race.

Since you're in Japan the product we were introduced by Japanese runners at the Honolulu Marathon was called Amino Vital made by Ajinomoto.

Haven't found it in the US for quite a while now, but there are other equivalents available here that work just as well.

HTH

Thanks, ADFnFuel. I'll keep an eye out for Amino Vital. I'm running another half-marathon in April. I've been stretching pretty regularly since the race. Everything is so tight...

I've done my first run since the half-marathon. 10k on mild hills. I have a 10k race next weekend (signed up for it before I found out about the half). I'm hoping to knock some time off my PB for 10k, maybe even finish under an hour. But I dunno… maybe to do that I would have to train more specifically for it. Anyway… I'm glad it stopped raining long enough to squeeze in a run today! I really needed that!

I don't mind running in the rain, good job really, since the weather has been so appalling! However, the high winds we've been having have made me feel like I'm running through treacle at times I've decided to give myself a break tomorrow if it's still as bad, and go on the rowing machine (I have a concept 2) instead.

Been keeping up with my 'run 10 miles in 8 weeks' programme, but its week five now and I'm not convinced that I'll be doing what they say at the end Time will tell.

@MaryAnn Good luck with your 10k at the weekend and fingers crossed for breaking the 1 hour record! I have another 10k race on Sunday but am feeling fat and slow at the moment, with an achy knee so I'm not feeling very optimistic about a PB.
@Winsome I hope you aren't running every day - it is important to have some rest time. It is better to run longer or harder every other day than run a little every day, or so my running club coach says!
I don't mind running in the rain or cold, but the gale force winds are something else...running in treacle is a good analogy! I hope it is calmer for my race on Sunday.

Hi Susan

No, not running every day. Most weeks so far the schedule has been Pilates/core work Monday, run Tuesday, rest Wednesday, run Thursday, rest Friday, cross train (I've been using the rower) Saturday, run Sunday. The runs on Sundays are longer, in the week there are things like intervals and progression runs thrown in. The programme is from women's running magazine, a generally sensible publication

This is not the first time I've followed a programme; many years ago I used to run half marathons. At that time I also competed in indoor rowing - ah, to be that fit again... The last HM was in 2001 though... But I do know about resting/not just running junk miles. A couple of years ago I got back into running up to 10k regularly, then had an abdominal op and just didn't get back into training I'd like to make it a habit for life this time, so although I had a plan to follow, I'm also just focussing on getting out there. I really do enjoy training outside.

At the moment the weather is predicted to be awful for the local parkrun on Saturday; last week they had to abandon even their 2nd choice route and do loops on a concrete promenade finishing with a run up a long steep hill I'm not sure I want my first 'race' in two years to be under those conditions!

Good luck @MaryAnn and @Franglais - hope your runs are good ones

Thanks @Franglaise and @Winsome! Good luck to you, too, Susan.