Random Running Questions

Maximus Alexander

CameraBag wrote: »

Background: Male, in my 20s. BMI is like 24ish. Parkrun age grade tends to be something like 51%, if that's useful. The reason I think I can manage just one run is that I also cycle maybe 4 times per week.

Ditch a couple of those cycles and replace with running; )

Firedance

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Ditch a couple of those cycles and replace with running; )

big +1 to this, unless it's your cycling you want to improve!!!

jamule

dna_leri wrote: »

Those times are 17:20 pace; loosen the reins and go for 17:40

I'll get by the 18 min marker first, no point being greedy . No lacking of 5 kms to finish the year in style and I'm in no rush

HigginsJ

I have a pain in my left knee. Felt a slight twinge about 2 weeks ago but since the race yesterday it is exceptionally stiff. If I put a hot water bottle on it for a half hour it loosens out but then tightens up again and it's sore/stiff to bend the knee. Now it's not swollen that I can see. I will try the heat on it over the next few evenings to see if it loosens out.

If it does not improve who do I go see. Would I go straight to a physio or would I need to go to a doctor?

Ososlo

HigginsJ wrote: »

I have a pain in my left knee. Felt a slight twinge about 2 weeks ago but since the race yesterday it is exceptionally stiff. If I put a hot water bottle on it for a half hour it loosens out but then tightens up again and it's sore/stiff to bend the knee. Now it's not swollen that I can see. I will try the heat on it over the next few evenings to see if it loosens out.

If it does not improve who do I go see. Would I go straight to a physio or would I need to go to a doctor?

Physio definitely. It is probably a 'tight IT band'. Google it for symptoms.

mel.b

Does anyone know if / how to charge a Polar M400 without a computer? I'm going on holidays in a months time (yes I'm super organised and like to get things sorted early) and won't be taking my laptop with me so I don't know how I will charge my watch. It uses a standard micro USB so I just tried plugging that into a camera charger but it didn't appear to work. Any ideas?

BeepBeep67

mel.b wrote: »

Does anyone know if / how to charge a Polar M400 without a computer? I'm going on holidays in a months time (yes I'm super organised and like to get things sorted early) and won't be taking my laptop with me so I don't know how I will charge my watch. It uses a standard micro USB so I just tried plugging that into a camera charger but it didn't appear to work. Any ideas?

How do you charge your phone?

mel.b

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

How do you charge your phone?

iPhone charger...just tried it and it works, thanks

Battery Kinzie

Anyone in the Raheny/Clontarf/Killester area know of somewhere to do decent hill training? I know a few spots (i.e. Watermill road, St. Annes park near the Coast, etc.) to do shorter bursts, but what of 1-2k type workouts? I don't really fancy driving out to Howth or similar.

Utdfan20titles

After running a half marathon soup or no soup?

The Muppet

Fairview to Artane on the malahide road might fit the bill.

Battery Kinzie

The Muppet wrote: »

Fairview to Artane on the malahide road might fit the bill.

Can't believe I didn't think of that. According to Strava it's 1.2k from the bottom of Malahide Road to Donnycarney church with avg grade of 1.6%. There's no segment for any further up the road so I'll have to look into that a bit more, but from memory its not any steeper as you get towards the Artane roundabout, though still an incline. Cheers

Sunny Dayz

Q for those of you familiar with the Phoenix Park - doing the great pink run on Saturday and we are planning of making a day of it in Dublin by going to the zoo afterwards. Is it far to walk from the car park beside the zoo to the start area way up Chesterfield avenue? We'll have the child with us (age12).

ThisRegard

It's about 2km from the entrance to the carpark and Furze Road which is around the start for both races. For a 12 year old there's plenty to entertain them on the walk anyway.

sideswipe

Interested to get some views on nutrition before marathon paced training runs.

Have been doing all long runs on empty. Have a few MP sessions coming up in my long runs and I'm undecided if I'm going to continue the fat adaptation type run or fuel as I would for a race.

Krusty_Clown

sideswipe wrote: »

Interested to get some views on nutrition before marathon paced training runs.

Have been doing all long runs on empty. Have a few MP sessions coming up in my long runs and I'm undecided if I'm going to continue the fat adaptation type run or fuel as I would for a race.

MP sessions are all about simulation. Do the same thing as you're planning to do on race day.

Bungy Girl

Battery Kinzie wrote: »

Anyone in the Raheny/Clontarf/Killester area know of somewhere to do decent hill training? I know a few spots (i.e. Watermill road, St. Annes park near the Coast, etc.) to do shorter bursts, but what of 1-2k type workouts? I don't really fancy driving out to Howth or similar.

Malahide Road, as The Muppet said. Also Gracepark Road starting at Richmond Road and all the way up to Collins Ave is even longer (at least a mile of climb) and a decent gradient. You have to cross at Griffith Ave but other than that you're unlikely to have to stop for traffic.

positron

Anyone ever wear those technical t-shirts that you get some of the races, after the race?

Sorry, I just want to rant (apologies)... why do various event organizers design their technical t-shirts so poorly with huge banners about event date etc?! I mean, a runner has already signed up to the event and what is the point advertising that event on that t-shirt which won't see the light of day until the race day? If the idea is to get their sponsors logo to be out there and seen, should they not design the t-shirt in such a way that people would actually want to wear it during their normal runs along the streets or parks after the race as well?

mel.b

positron wrote: »

Anyone ever wear those technical t-shirts that you get some of the races, after the race?

Sorry, I just want to rant (apologies)... why do various event organizers design their technical t-shirts so poorly with huge banners about event date etc?! I mean, a runner has already signed up to the event and what is the point advertising that event on that t-shirt which won't see the light of day until the race day? If the idea is to get their sponsors logo to be out there and seen, should they not design the t-shirt in such a way that people would actually want to wear it during their normal runs along the streets or parks after the race as well?

I don't wear them but that's because I find the fit and sizing very poor and they don't fit me (especially the Titan ones - but maybe I'm just awkward )

However, as for the advertising of the race on the t-shirt, it doesn't bother me and as a relatively new runner it alerts me to runs to look out for the following year. For example, I did a park run the week after the Limerick marathon and loads of people were wearing the shirt. At the time I didn't even know there was a Limerick marathon (and half & 10K), so it meant that I was aware of it the following year (although turned I was out of the country when it was on so I couldn't do it)

Firedance

positron wrote: »

Anyone ever wear those technical t-shirts that you get some of the races, after the race?

Sorry, I just want to rant (apologies)... why do various event organizers design their technical t-shirts so poorly with huge banners about event date etc?! I mean, a runner has already signed up to the event and what is the point advertising that event on that t-shirt which won't see the light of day until the race day? If the idea is to get their sponsors logo to be out there and seen, should they not design the t-shirt in such a way that people would actually want to wear it during their normal runs along the streets or parks after the race as well?

I'm with mel on this, I rarely wear them because the size and fit is rubbish (why do so few Irish races do women's sizes??!) the advertising etc doesn't really bother me. There's certainly room for improvement though across the board. Personally I'd prefer a good quality, good fit technical t-shirt (or singlet) instead of the other stuff like medals etc that are given out.

tang1

Firedance wrote: »

I rarely wear them because the size and fit is rubbish.

Apart from your Rotterdam one of course........

runnerholic

sideswipe wrote: »

Interested to get some views on nutrition before marathon paced training runs.

Have been doing all long runs on empty. Have a few MP sessions coming up in my long runs and I'm undecided if I'm going to continue the fat adaptation type run or fuel as I would for a race.

I'm considering running my next marathon without using gels or energy drinks.
Would you recommend such a strategy considering your experience so far?

El Caballo

runnerholic wrote: »

I'm considering running my next marathon without using gels or energy drinks.
Would you recommend such a strategy considering your experience so far?

My question would be why? Gels and energy drinks will improve your raceday performance, that is unquestionable, they work and help you on the day of a race by preserving your carbohydrate stores (glycogen). The more glycogen you have to use, the faster you can run and less likely to have a bonk during the race. Whatever about training without them((as that could get long), they will undeniably help you run faster on raceday and perform better.

runnerholic

El Caballo wrote: »

My question would be why? Gels and energy drinks will improve your raceday performance, that is unquestionable, they work and help you on the day of a race by preserving your carbohydrate stores (glycogen). The more glycogen you have to use, the faster you can run and less likely to have a bonk during the race. Whatever about training without them((as that could get long), they will undeniably help you run faster on raceday and perform better.

I hate having to wear belts to carry the gels. I just prefer to run free without the distraction of having to take fuel on board every so often. I have read that you can train your body to access its fat stores more easily if you train yourself to run on empty.

El Caballo

runnerholic wrote: »

I hate having to wear belts to carry the gels. I just prefer to run free without the distraction of having to take fuel on board every so often. I have read that you can train your body to access its fat stores more easily if you train yourself to run on empty.

Yep, you can train your body to access fat stores more easily by running on empty but it also has a recovery cost both mentally and physically, every action...

The numero uno way by a country mile to train your body to be more efficient at using fat as fuel is running more miles. Running on empty is a marginal gains affair when you compare it to actually running more. It really is that simple, if running on empty hampers recovery time, it impacts the amount of solid running you can do and your ability to run even more mileage which would be more productive. If you are running low/medium mileage increasing mileage will give you way more bang for your buck because time spent running has a mahoosive impact on how your body processes fuel, the overwhelming factor on fuel efficiency for running. So if running on empty affects your recovery thus affecting the amount of solid mileage you can get in, then it also affects the major contributor to fuel efficiency which is time on your feet or mileage, there's a problem of chaining one slice of cake when you could have the rest.

Not by any means saying you wouldn't see any benefit from running on empty, you probably would as us mere mortals who haven't come close to our potential will see benefit from nearly any kind of new stimulus but it's my firm belief that many recreational runners miss the woods for the trees when it comes to seeking improvement by looking for marginal gains through things like running on empty when the major gains are there to be made through honest hard graft of mileage, that's where the golden ticket is for us to make leaps forward, will improve your fuel efficiency to no end compared to empty runs. My 2c on the subject. If you do go with running on empty for training, don't do it on raceway as gels or energy drinks will give you that extra boost and preserve your carbohydrates as no matter how fat adapted you are, you still need carbohydrates to run to your best in a marathon.

HS3

positron wrote: »

Anyone ever wear those technical t-shirts that you get some of the races, after the race?

Sorry, I just want to rant (apologies)... why do various event organizers design their technical t-shirts so poorly with huge banners about event date etc?! I mean, a runner has already signed up to the event and what is the point advertising that event on that t-shirt which won't see the light of day until the race day? If the idea is to get their sponsors logo to be out there and seen, should they not design the t-shirt in such a way that people would actually want to wear it during their normal runs along the streets or parks after the race as well?

I wear them all the time! I find them great. They dry in no time when you wash them and the feel light as air to run in. Im not a fan of women's tops. They're way too clingy. I put myself down for a medium t shirt, so it's oversized and now have enough to rotate them so they're the only tops I wear. Only one I don't like is the raheny 5 mile one from last year. The neck is too high

rainbow kirby

Firedance wrote: »

I rarely wear them because the size and fit is rubbish (why do so few Irish races do women's sizes??!)

Same over here and an awful lot of race t-shirts are cotton unfortunately! Let's just say I now have a hell of a lot of pyjama tops...

yaboya1

HS3 wrote: »

I wear them all the time! I find them great. They dry in no time when you wash them and the feel light as air to run in. Im not a fan of women's tops. They're way too clingy. I put myself down for a medium t shirt, so it's oversized and now have enough to rotate them so they're the only tops I wear. Only one I don't like is the raheny 5 mile one from last year. The neck is too high

You did well. I've never gotten a t-shirt for the Raheny 5

mel.b

Creative things to do with all those race tops:

- make a quilt...https://runnersami.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/runningquilt.jpg
- wall of fame...http://thenotsoblankcanvas.blogspot.ie/2012/09/threadbare-memories.html
- turn it into a bag...http://www.fittinpretty.com/easy-diy-race-shirt-bag-tutorial-no-sew/

HS3

yaboya1 wrote: »

You did well. I've never gotten a t-shirt for the Raheny 5

Nah. I just made a mistake. It was the from the Terenure 5 mike not Raheny. Guess that's why they put the event detail on.