It’s absolutely nuts. You run though 30+ of the most famous vineyards in the world, and they dish out wine for the runners at most of them. There’s like a wine station at every mile or so. Then for the last 7km or so they start wheeling out the food. A massive pile of shucked oysters and a cool Chablis. Dudes carving slices off legs of jambon. Rare steak. Ice cream. Proper mental. And the whole thing has a fancy dress theme. So you have Fred Flinstone barfing on the steps of Chateau Lafite. Darth Vader taking a slash in amongst the vines of Mouton-Rothschild. Carnage, a lot of fun though. Definitely not a PB marathon.
Running 60 km/week last summer I was losing weight pretty regularly if I didn’t try to eat more. I tend to eat reasonably healthy either way, but it’s nice not to have to even worry about how much food I’m inhaling every day.
Yeah. I used to have knee troubles but that has completely disappeared since I switched to forefoot. But as mentioned above, the switch should not be taken lightly. Years of heel striking meant my foot ligaments and bones, not to mention calf strength were so deconditioned. Took a good couple of years to get up to proper distance (ie. >10km). Love it now though. The lightness of the ground impact from using the whole foot and lower leg, and the connection to the ground with minimal shoes is really cool.
Just ran an easy 5k this morning. First time running two days in a row and I really felt the difference. Was a bit of a struggle compared to yesterday.
10k yesterday at 5:00min/km, 12k today at 5:40min/km. What I find absolutely fascinating is the stuff that goes on in my head during runs. Usually after 500m, my mind starts playing tricks on me along the lines of “wanna take a short cut today?”. Whenever that happens, I either ignore it or I add another 2km. Then at some point when I get into the flow of things, I look at landmarks that give me a feeling for how much I’ve got to go. Breaking down longer runs into 1km chunks helps me a great deal to keep going and my perception of how long a run feels depends a great deal on whether I know the route I’m taking. By now I can literally tell seconds before my Apple Watch will notify me of completing another km. Also, when I run 20k I keep reminding myself that I’ve done it many times before and that even though it may seem too much, it will go by and the feeling when I’ve arrived will be worth it. Being the simpleton that I am using Strava to track my runs is a great source of motivation along with the fact that I keep adding new music to my running playlist that plays in random order. A great track at the right time has carried me through lows many a time. All in all, for me running is 70% a mind game.
I have always walked a lot even before running, usually 15,000 steps a day. The first time I ran for 100 metres I thought I would puke but once I mentally pushed myself to go further I found that my body was perfectly capable of much more than I thought.
During my 10k race I was two thirds of the way through and started to slow a little. I thought back to my training and employed some breathing techniques and calmed myself and then I was back on form after a minute or two.
I’ve found that the physical training is quite easy in a way; I have a target and I know exactly what I need to do to improve and the results are quite obvious. Now training for a marathon I think it’s the mental aspect of contemplating running for 4 hours that I find intimidating.
Yeah, that’s what I’ve found out. Looking at my 50k training block starting next month is a bit scary. Peak is consecutive sundays with marathon distance, which seems crazy to me right now. Good way to learn some things about yourself though.
I had a nice personal milestone yesterday. I’ve been struggling with feeling super wiped out from my runs. Yesterday was supposed to be a rest day and I felt beat but in the afternoon I thought “why not go out again, the worst thing that will happen is that you’ll be properly tired after” so I did and it was fine. I actually felt a little better! Went out again today and doing OK so far, so I think part of the fatigue thing was a mental block. Tomorrow is Synthurday though so I think I will laze around
I resumed running this week, thanks to this thread. The weather is pleasant this time of year so I figured it was time to get off my ass. I did 3.3 miles on Wednesday and 3.3 on Thursday. These were untimed runs since my watch needs a new battery. I guess I’ll try to get to that this weekend. I should be back to doing 20 miles per week before month end. Thanks for the inspiration.
I wish i enjoyed running because it seems like the most convenient form of cardio possible. Low cost, can do it anywhere, get to see things, can do it in social groups, yada yada. How do you all … tolerate it though? Don’t think i’ve ever run more than 2 miles in my life, and im never able to keep a running habit up for more than a week or two.
Enjoyed cycling way more but had to quit cuz injuries.
Running is quite simple: it‘s starting without stopping. It does take a while to develop a routine, but once you‘ve established that, it gets easier. It can be a bit like meditation: let your mind wander or think of nothing at all. Pay attention to your breathing, the rhythm of your feet or sometimes your surroundings. It can be tedious as long as you‘re too conscious of what you‘re doing, but at some point you‘ll realise that your body moves on autopilot. Hard to describe really, but it does take a few weeks of regular running until you stop questioning whether it‘s a good idea to go out on a Sunday morning in the rain.
Exactly this. I ran to work this morning; Crystal Palace to Battersea and it was such a nice way to start the day. Great to kill to birds with one stone and avoid the drab train commute while working on my training.
I’ve started practicing “rhythmic breathing” which really tunes into the idea of running as meditation. I breath in for three steps and breath out for two which means my strides and breathing pattern are consistent but constantly alternating. It’s like listening to The Grudge by Tool because my breathing circulates in five but my feet are in 4/4.
The longer runs become meditative for me. It’s one of the few times when I can head out, run 7 miles and get an hour to myself without having to think about work, or any distractions, really.
It’s easy to add distance, just get to the point where you can easily run a 5k without constantly cursing to yourself and being sore the following day. Once you get there, it’s a matter of repetition and slowly adding distance week after week.
@snakegoat mentioned breathing, I breathe in and out through my nose and focus on managing that to the point I don’t have to periodically gasp for air.
