Running thread

Was down at The Wammy this morning, boy is that a quick course. Reminds me of Isabel Trail. Certainly more enjoyable than the lunchtime afterwards spent queuing up round Gladstone Pottery Museum to see the thrown down contestants & their handiwork.
 
1:38 at Wilmslow half for me, a PB as I've never done a half outside of training and 1 marathon, set off at 1:35 but faded at about 14k.

Always bound to happen, think I've only done 3 runs over 15k in the last 2 months. Happy with that outing though.
 
Two half times under 100 mins there; excellent stuff.

I might have posted about this before, but anyway …
I recall reading as part of my athletics coaching qual about the mental aspect of running, and I was wondering what the rest of the runners on here do.

I may have these terms wrong but there are 4 types of mental activity that runners (and other sports I guess) can engage in whilst running:

1) Externalise elsewhere - so you’re thinking about something unrelated to your surroundings (work, family, hobbies, whatever)
2) Externalise locally - so you’re looking at and focusing on the landscape you are passing through, (rather than the run activity itself).
3) Internalise about your body - you are thinking about and conscious of how your body is feeling in the moment as you exercise, and pains or niggles anywhere, regulating your heart rate, your cadence, your stride length etc.
4) Internalise about your run/race - you are thinking about and focusing on your run, about if you can overtake/reach the person in front, or keeping up with them, or how far you have left to go, or the climb or descent ahead, or whether your pace is on track eg via your watch etc.

I suppose the answer is that most of us do a combination of all 4, but I just wondered if some people tend to do more of some than others, and if so if so which “work best” for you.
 
chesterbells said:
Two half times under 100 mins there; excellent stuff.

I might have posted about this before, but anyway …
I recall reading as part of my athletics coaching qual about the mental aspect of running, and I was wondering what the rest of the runners on here do.

I may have these terms wrong but there are 4 types of mental activity that runners (and other sports I guess) can engage in whilst running:

1) Externalise elsewhere - so you’re thinking about something unrelated to your surroundings (work, family, hobbies, whatever)
2) Externalise locally - so you’re looking at and focusing on the landscape you are passing through, (rather than the run activity itself).
3) Internalise about your body - you are thinking about and conscious of how your body is feeling in the moment as you exercise, and pains or niggles anywhere, regulating your heart rate, your cadence, your stride length etc.
4) Internalise about your run/race - you are thinking about and focusing on your run, about if you can overtake/reach the person in front, or keeping up with them, or how far you have left to go, or the climb or descent ahead, or whether your pace is on track eg via your watch etc.

I suppose the answer is that most of us do a combination of all 4, but I just wondered if some people tend to do more of some than others, and if so if so which “work best” for you.
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Mainly 3 & 4 for me depending on race situation. Trying to balance the feeling of the effort with the pace.

Number 2 is really only on distances of half marathons or more, maybe an easy training run.

Never number 1, running is my sanctuary, thinking about life during that would ruin it for me. This might be the complete opposite for others though.
 
Thinking of trying the parkrun close by to the Etihad at Phillips Park. Says you can park in blue car park. Has anyone tried it?

Or I might do Warrington again and see if I can improve for a second consecutive time.
 
simmo said:
Thinking of trying the parkrun close by to the Etihad at Phillips Park. Says you can park in blue car park. Has anyone tried it?

Or I might do Warrington again and see if I can improve for a second consecutive time.
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Went to Warrington again - down to 32.06 today. Was 34.10 last week.

Now I’ve got a base level of fitness I’ve something to build on to keep chipping away at. Today was fastest I have done since July 21, granted I have not done many each year since then.
 
staffsblue said:
Well done, mate!
There's so many variables such as weather conditions and temperature, your starting position in the pack, your diet, levels of hydration and sleep quality, as well as things you can't control like congestion on the course.
I try not to overthink the run, run at a comfortable pace and try to enjoy it. Oh, and always save a bit of energy back for a sprint finish!
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Home working and the lack of activity made me think.

I joined the gym 6 weeks ago and have been attending several sprint bike classes. It is definitely having an impact and am losing weight. I have returned to parkrun on 3 occasions and gaining momentum.

The variables as you say in the mix play a part.
 
chesterbells said:
Two half times under 100 mins there; excellent stuff.

I might have posted about this before, but anyway …
I recall reading as part of my athletics coaching qual about the mental aspect of running, and I was wondering what the rest of the runners on here do.

I may have these terms wrong but there are 4 types of mental activity that runners (and other sports I guess) can engage in whilst running:

1) Externalise elsewhere - so you’re thinking about something unrelated to your surroundings (work, family, hobbies, whatever)
2) Externalise locally - so you’re looking at and focusing on the landscape you are passing through, (rather than the run activity itself).
3) Internalise about your body - you are thinking about and conscious of how your body is feeling in the moment as you exercise, and pains or niggles anywhere, regulating your heart rate, your cadence, your stride length etc.
4) Internalise about your run/race - you are thinking about and focusing on your run, about if you can overtake/reach the person in front, or keeping up with them, or how far you have left to go, or the climb or descent ahead, or whether your pace is on track eg via your watch etc.

I suppose the answer is that most of us do a combination of all 4, but I just wondered if some people tend to do more of some than others, and if so if so which “work best” for you.
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2. 70%
3. 30%

I'm detached from work and home, in nature and living in the moment.
 
Tommy_Catons_Perm said:
2. 70%
3. 30%

I'm detached from work and home, in nature and living in the moment.
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Thanks for this, and to the other posters who’ve replied to this post.

Personally I find myself doing 1. Inadvertently sometimes but when I do it a lot my pace tends to slacken off without me realising it. Though I don’t go out running with the aim of “clearing my head” sometimes it does head to rationalise things a bit or chew them over.

I tend to do a lot of 4. tbh, though I wish did more of 2. - both when I’m running or cycling.
 
simmo said:
Thinking of trying the parkrun close by to the Etihad at Phillips Park. Says you can park in blue car park. Has anyone tried it?

Or I might do Warrington again and see if I can improve for a second consecutive time.
Click to expand...
Hi mate, yes I’ve done that and it worked well. Did on a matchday 3pm KO too by coincidence. I actually think if it was a 12.30 Sat KO they would have let me leave the car there - they said on that day that if I’d booked a parking space for the 3pm game I could’ve left the car there all day.

But yep, it’s convenient and handy for the run. A hard course, enjoyed it and glad I’ve done it, but probably won’t bother again (unless it’s before a home 12.30pm KO).
 
chesterbells said:
Thanks for this, and to the other posters who’ve replied to this post.

Personally I find myself doing 1. Inadvertently sometimes but when I do it a lot my pace tends to slacken off without me realising it. Though I don’t go out running with the aim of “clearing my head” sometimes it does head to rationalise things a bit or chew them over.

I tend to do a lot of 4. tbh, though I wish did more of 2. - both when I’m running or cycling.
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Hmm
 
gaz76 said:
That's a cracking time on that course
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Yeah well happy with it, I was just aiming to get back into the sub 20's, I knew I was in sub 20 shape but Heaton Park was a bit of a gamble, never know how much the hill will take out of you. Felt strong throughout, potentially left a bit of time out there.
 
chesterbells said:
Two half times under 100 mins there; excellent stuff.

I might have posted about this before, but anyway …
I recall reading as part of my athletics coaching qual about the mental aspect of running, and I was wondering what the rest of the runners on here do.

I may have these terms wrong but there are 4 types of mental activity that runners (and other sports I guess) can engage in whilst running:

1) Externalise elsewhere - so you’re thinking about something unrelated to your surroundings (work, family, hobbies, whatever)
2) Externalise locally - so you’re looking at and focusing on the landscape you are passing through, (rather than the run activity itself).
3) Internalise about your body - you are thinking about and conscious of how your body is feeling in the moment as you exercise, and pains or niggles anywhere, regulating your heart rate, your cadence, your stride length etc.
4) Internalise about your run/race - you are thinking about and focusing on your run, about if you can overtake/reach the person in front, or keeping up with them, or how far you have left to go, or the climb or descent ahead, or whether your pace is on track eg via your watch etc.

I suppose the answer is that most of us do a combination of all 4, but I just wondered if some people tend to do more of some than others, and if so if so which “work best” for you.
Click to expand...
#2 has been studied and found to be very good for mental health.

However, it's mainly #1 for me. There's no way my brain could handle running for an hour with nothing to distract me. I listen to podcasts (language learning; health...) and music (I'm always compiling playlists of my favorite running tracks).

If I didn't have these things in my ears, I couldn't be a runner.
 
@chesterbells

If we’re relating directly to racing I would rank them as follows:

1 - 5 percent
2 - 20 percent
3 - 20 percent
4 - 55 percent

1/2 I really only use to distract myself from the run, during periods where I am struggling. It’s not for pleasure just a coping mechanism to reduce my perceived effort.

I have two distinct coping mechanisms.

In the latter stages of races, particularly when running fast (parkruns) or faster to finish out a long race. I try to externalise, and distract myself, by counting to 20/30/40/60 and then repeating a number of times before I look at my watch to see how far I have left. Usually use this on the last 1/2k.

During other periods of the race I often try smiling and tell myself how much I enjoy running, how lovely the day is etc, what a beautiful location etc. apparently they are great methods of controlling how hard you feel like your working.

The rest of the race (Point 4) I typically focus on my form, checking splits, trying to hold onto people, building ‘pretend’ rivalries to help motivate myself.

Yesterday I ran a trail half marathon and all those factors came into play. It was a struggle from the word go and the races got merged quite early on so I was unsure who my competitors were.

Therefore during tough periods, early on, I kept a telling myself how much I loved this, how beautiful a day it was, how happy I felt, how I have chosen to do this because of the feeling at the end etc.

At 15k the half marathoners did an extra loop and so for the first time (since very early on) I knew who my immediate competitors were. One bloke 200 metres ahead and one 200 metres behind. Immediately my mind switched, I was in a race, and that was a great motivator although my first fear was what I could lose not what I could gain (more worried about the bloke behind than catching the bloke in front).

I managed to catch the bloke in front and maintain my distance from the bloke behind who, like myself, had picked up the pace. Came home in 8th in 1:40:26 which was ok, but because of the merging fields I actually thought I was 4th.

There is a book by Alex Hutchinson called ‘Endure’ which discusses all these issues and quotes academic papers on the subject, speaks to experts like Tim Noakes on the Central Governor Theory etc. Bit dry in parts but full of useful info.
 
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So.. Was training really well this year for my Marathon due to take place Sunday.

But the Gods decide to strike about a month ago, chest infection, severe lower back pain and now testicular pain, taking anti biotics and hurts to even sit down - I have a scan in a couple weeks.

Problem is, I am determined to be on that starting line this Sunday no matter what - Even if i run/jog/walk it i really would love to see it through, hoping the anti biotics will start kicking in the next couple of days.
 
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