Beardys running log - Ct5k

[Polar Bear]

It's a Camelbak Ultra Beardy but the previous model.  It's the only one that I could find sizing information for confirming that it would fit a larger than average bear.  And it does.

It comes with a fixed pocket for the supplied flexi bottle which sits above your backside and a smaller pocket that slips over the belt into my Samsung S9 fits with a little room to spare.

It's looking promising. 

I bought a Camelbak handheld bottle a couple of weeks back but I'm not happy carrying it.  I think that I could in fact slip the handheld bottle 'harness" over the belt and have two bottles on longer outings.  Sometbing to experiment with in future perhaps.

[redshift]

Belatedly joining this thread.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer this time last year, and after surgery and radiotherapy, and an enforced "no upper body workouts, no cycling, no swimming, no kayaking, you can walk up to 5K per day" between last July and January, I have work to do.  Oncology team have signed me off, and whilst the surgeon's 6-month consult has been buggered by CoVid, I'm carrying on as though everything's getting back to normal.

I'll probably post a new thread at some point, perhaps because I think we need to talk more about cancer - I'm still working out whether to do that or not, and this particular thread's not about that.

I wore out my first skipping rope between January and the end of March, heeding the idea of 'get fit to run, don't run to get fit,' and have now started staggering round the block. The attempt to get rid of the weight should help me for many reasons, not only because the fat and extra oestrogen are part of the problem.

So, I have a loop which measures 5.1km, which I'm currently doing as a run/walk combo two to three times a week.  Gradually I'm increasing the run and reducing the walk, although I'm not using the Ct5K podcasts (I tried in the past and didn't find them great).  I have a HRM and do the distance as a series of intervals, warm up for about 5 mins, then run until I ramp up to about 90% Max, sustain it as long as I can, then walk until I hit the lower end of threshold and do it again.  The walks are becoming shorter.

Carry on all, just sticking my head up.  I'm watching and learning.

[Beardy]

Welcome Redshift, we’re not at all fussy who joins us, after all, I was the one who started the thread. 

First of, I’m glad to hear that you are signed off and are now on the road to return to fitness.

You might be interested to know, or indeed already know, that the process of running bit and walking a bit has a technical name; Jeffing. Apparently this is named after some chap named Jeff.

I’m a bit concerned that you might be approaching this all a bit to technically, but that probably means we can learn something from you so please post as often as you feel inclined to do. If nothing else, it’s nice to see the progress of others to encourage us all to continue. I always need an additional boot up the backside to get out.

My excuse for not running today revolves around a 7 hour drive to Devon. It’s difficult to run while driving, and felt less than inclined to do so once I’d got here. We did however go out for an evening stroll to allow me the opportunity to explore a possible running route, so I’ve no excuse for tomorrow!

[Polar Bear]

Welcome aboard Redshift.

I'm pretty sure that what you are doing is just as valid as following a plan through an app.  The important bit is the journey and the shared experiences.

As for the cancer:  sorry to hear about this but also it is good to see how determined and committed you are in spite of it. 

Please keep on contributing and updating us on both your running and whatever else you feel the need to.

[chrisbainbridge]

I will add my welcome although I have only recently stepped up to beardy’s challenge. All are welcome here. I see this as truly the no drop running thread.

[perpetual dan]

Glad to hear you’ve been signed off, redshift.

I had a July shaped lull in pretty much all exercise, but I got back to 8km this evening. I started with a run / walk approach and still stop to take a photo half way round.

[Beardy]

Scenery. Scenery as far as the eye can see.
This mornings route made a very nice walk! I’m just not fit enough to run up hills like that. I need to find my map reading skills which I’d obviously misplaced when I planned this route. I should have turned around when it started going down wards long before I was expecting it. So a lot more jeffing than expected.
Oh and I got into trouble for being longer than I intended.

I also upset a couple in there ‘being renovated’ farm house when I wandered through their farm yard. I don’t  care. If they aren’t going to signpost the footpath on the alterations to the farm track that I assume the have made then they will have to put up with people following the route of the right of way as defined on the OS map. Gits. I’m assuming that it was also them that had raised the height of the fence on the style making it a stretch even for this six footer. Gits with nobs on!

[Cudzoziemiec]

I went for a run last night. This morning. Both. It was half past midnight when I went out the door. I'd been intending to run all day but it was so hot... By midnight it had cooled down nicely and I was still up anyway. Just a short run, didn't go through the park... Did see a police car whose occupants appeared to be either lost or looking for someone/something (they hadn't been called out to deal with a mad midnight runner as they ignored me!). And two student parties (low number considering the weather), one of which appeared to have attracted the wrong sort of attention from the neighbours, the other was much more low key (and playing Velvet Underground )!

[redshift]

You might be interested to know, or indeed already know, that the process of running bit and walking a bit has a technical name; Jeffing. Apparently this is named after some chap named Jeff.

I guess that means all the swearing I'm doing is Effing and Jeffing, then.   

I’m a bit concerned that you might be approaching this all a bit to technically, but that probably means we can learn something from you so please post as often as you feel inclined to do. If nothing else, it’s nice to see the progress of others to encourage us all to continue. I always need an additional boot up the backside to get out.

Technical is kind of my approach to everything.  I'm overweight and have never really been a runner.  Bike / trike, swim, some martial arts, sea kayaking, but never really running.  A million years ago at school, all my running was ballsports: sprint, stop, turn, sprint.  I have to balance a load of stuff now:  Rehab shoulders and chest after surgery, regain fitness, maintain strength and flexibility - they're all things I can do with the sports I do anyway.  In addition I've been told to increase my impact sports to help stave off any bone density issues related to oestrogen loss.  I'm taking Tamoxifen which is an oestrogen antagonist, but is supposed to avoid bone density problems compared to other drugs. I also need to lose the fat, which will help with oestrogen control.  For restarting exercise in January I started with skipping, which is lower impact but good cardio.  I have old injuries to nurse too, so I'm going slow and steady - this stuff is tricky in your 50's!

The two main things I became aware of right at the start were that my leg structures were all geared (haha) to cycling.  Heavy thigh muscles (rapidly shrinking after being off the bike for half of last year), and poor knee stability (my left MCL was damaged about 15 years ago doing Aikido) when doing anything other than walking.  Skipping intervals, interspersed with some basic stuff like squats, three times a week has really improved that, to the point where I tried to run a little when I was doing my 5km walk.  Having found that it didn't do any damage, except to my ego, I thought I'd give it a go...

Mainly though, I'm retraining my heart.  In January, I could have ridden the 10 miles to work just fine, but I couldn't skip continuously for 1 minute.  Hence I dug out the HRM and started to work towards being able to sustain higher outputs for longer.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

HK says be kind to yourself as Tamoxifen is very useful but it often makes folk feel pretty crappy.

[Auntie Helen]

After a weekend visiting chums in Saarland my hip muscle strain has improved a lot. It’s still there today, very slightly, so I might wait till Wednesday and then do another Week 2 workout before moving up to Week 3.

[Polar Bear]

It's a Camelbak Ultra Beardy but the previous model.  It's the only one that I could find sizing information for confirming that it would fit a larger than average bear.  And it does.

It comes with a fixed pocket for the supplied flexi bottle which sits above your backside and a smaller pocket that slips over the belt into my Samsung S9 fits with a little room to spare.

It's looking promising. 

I bought a Camelbak handheld bottle a couple of weeks back but I'm not happy carrying it.  I think that I could in fact slip the handheld bottle 'harness" over the belt and have two bottles on longer outings.  Sometbing to experiment with in future perhaps.

Tested the belt this morning.  Comfortable, convenient and practical.  I found that drinking required me to Jeff but that's OK.  I had a 3/4 full bottle in the main fixed pouch which sits like a small bumbag above your backside and my phone in the front removable pouch which can move freely over the belt but tended to stay in front where I placed it.

Likely to revert to using my armband for my phone and stashing keys and a bit of cash / card in the pouch in future.

[Polar Bear]

I have noticed that my shoes seem to have degraded and my left foot is rolling inwards.  I'm thinking that 600k of running plus another 200k approximately of warm up / cool down walks is about their limit.

I have replacements waiting so no big deal.  Feels good to wear a pair out though.  👍

[Polar Bear]

After a weekend visiting chums in Saarland my hip muscle strain has improved a lot. It’s still there today, very slightly, so I might wait till Wednesday and then do another Week 2 workout before moving up to Week 3.

Sounds sensible to me.

[Beardy]

I have noticed that my shoes seem to have degraded and my left foot is rolling inwards.  I'm thinking that 600k of running plus another 200k approximately of warm up / cool down walks is about their limit.

I have replacements waiting so no big deal.  Feels good to wear a pair out though.  👍

i received an email from Strava after yesterday’s run informing me that I needed new shoes. It told me I’d done 400k and Brooks recommended 500 to 800k per pair. Now that is targeted spam!

[Polar Bear]

Now there is a reason that I don't routinely use Strava.

[Beardy]

As,it happens I don’t need an email to tell me I need new shoes, I’d already come to that conclusion based on the amount of missing sole on the heel. In fact the spam has had quite the opposite effect because I now think maybe I need to use them a bit longer before I change them.

[Polar Bear]

You will know when they need replacing so be ready but don't hold back out of indignation.  I know from a previous injury that trying to run a pair of shoes beyond their serviceable life isn't sensible.  Noticing my left foot rolling inwards this morning, my awareness heightened by an unusual dull ache in my left calf is all the warning that I need.  The left calf twinge is my reliable indicator that it's time for new shoes.

I find that Brooks shoes tend to lose the stability of the midsole first whilst the uppers look almost new and the outsole is showing enough wear that the blocks in my main areas of contact have worn down but not yet through to the midsole.

[Beardy]

I’ve worn off the bottom sole completely on parts of the heel of both shoes, although the cushioning (mid sole?) still seems to be stable. I was thinking it’s time to get another pair of shoes so that I can compare and contrast as this will be the first time I’ve worn out a pair of shoes purely from running. It’ll also mean I’ve got a pair ready to,go should there be a sudden change in the feel.

[Ashaman42]

That reminds me (the stopgap tide me over till I get a proper fitting done) trainers I got off Amazon for £32 seem to have done the trick. My ankle pain has toddled off and I'm just getting muscle pain/soreness when I push a bit too hard.

I thought even not quite right trainers would be better than completely worn out ones.

[Polar Bear]

I’ve worn off the bottom sole completely on parts of the heel of both shoes, although the cushioning (mid sole?) still seems to be stable. I was thinking it’s time to get another pair of shoes so that I can compare and contrast as this will be the first time I’ve worn out a pair of shoes purely from running. It’ll also mean I’ve got a pair ready to,go should there be a sudden change in the feel.

We clearly run differently.  I worked quite hard when I resumed running to try and land on the forecoot rather than heel striking.  Apparently it is much easier on the joints.   It's become second nature and thus far I have suffered no injuries.

[Auntie Helen]

The NHS Couch25k lady says try to land with your heel first, not the ball or side of your foot.

[Beardy]

I think opinions on how you should put your feet down when running slightly outnumber the number of people actively expressing those opinions 

[Polar Bear]

The NHS Couch25k lady says try to land with your heel first, not the ball or side of your foot.

I am surprised with the advice to land heel first. 

Given the forecast temperatures for the rest of this week I will be having a week off.  Just too hot for my constitution.

[Polar Bear]

Just one of hundreds of videos on YouTube about running technique.