The 496 Challenge

[fruit_thief]

Sophie Ellis Bextor this morning. Felt sluggish for the first 9km out, but then got a lift coming home. I mean, a psychogical lift, a mood lift- I didn’t get in a car or anything. Probably went a bit quick on the return leg, but actually really enjoyed the last few km & Sophie was properly into the up-tempo stuff by then too.

Tomorrow… not at all sure it’s going to happen. Will be guided by Mrs, we might get in a short plod & maybe a walk, but think will struggle to make it up to 19km. It’s been… well, I want to say fun, but that’s not the word. Self flagellation, that’s it.

PS. If tomorrow does happen, it’s Plan B and The Darkness

[Poet]

@fruit_thief

Sophie Ellis Bextor this morning

You got your out and danced round your mates country mansion naked? (See: Saltburn, The Movie)

(This is censored, but probably NSFW/NSFD )

- YouTube

Frozen points for me. I’m LATEaf!
Made my connection with two minutes to spare - phew!!!

8.2km unknown route coming up

[JibberJim]

It’s -7 here (my weather sensor says in the garden), which means managing shoes that are warm enough for running any distance is going to be tough, will see what happens when I’m running.

[fruit_thief]

@Poet

You got your out and danced round your mates country mansion naked?

nah, not today, just went for a run

might queue that vid for a watch in July

PS think I have at least 25°C advantage today, it’s not really fair

[JibberJim]

Where are my thick gloves, ah, with the cycling stuff,in the conservatory, the temperature in the convservatory -4… gloves on the shoe dryer, so shoes don’t get boosted.

Baselayer, heaviest weight merino, medium weight merino, running top, wind jacket, 3 buffs (neck and ears), heavy hat, full baselayer tights, 3/4 tights, liner socks, merino socks, merino liner gloves, heavy gloves. Probably a similar outfit to @fruit_thief really…

Running was pretty nice tbh, 8.5km at 4:30/km to discover the underpass was clsoed - and really closed. So I walked a few hundred meters crossing a shitty road through multiple crossings, and I still couldn’t get to where I wanted without crossing another road which didn’t have a crossing and it was school run time… So I went the other way.

Unbeknown to me this route had me going about another 30m vertical above where I wanted to be, and was bloody steep, 4:30/km at 9km, and then an almost 6min km… But I was now just about committed to a minimum of 16km. Cruised along for a bit, until I was approaching 10am and the call I needed to join, organised that so I could walk uphill for it. 15.2km at 4:37/km.

8min call, and now I was freezing! I was 1.5km from home… But for you guys, I did the 2.8km at around 4/km to finish in 18:03km 4:34/km pace - but obviously a couple of bits of walking in there though.

Still day ticked off - and I’ve still got another 4km minimum to do.

[jeffb]

You could move oop north, it’s a tropical 1c here

I’m sat in my undies

[Poet]

I was bloody boiling!!
I soaked my head buff, so took that off and my hair was flopping everywhere.
I had on some jogging , a shell jacket over a long sleeve and some gloves. And a neck buff.

Finished an hour early, so I’m savings the legs and walking back to the train

Three colleagues getting an über, but I declined and am going to complete today

[Poet]

I AM OUT

That back thing I mentioned?
I can’t bend over to put my socks on, it’s agony -
Like a stabbing pain when I breathe in, bend or twist

Bath time and hot water bottle now

What have I learned?

1. That I can run far longer than I thought, with my current fitness
2. Running/exercise makes my breathing better
3. Running is properly easy, far less faff than cycling (this was a reminder!)
4. People still think running to work is “odd”
5. Cold weather, crisp morning running is awesome

I’ve had fun
Rest day, then maybe parkrun tomorrow, plus a few light weekend Zwifts (rain and wind this weekend)

[Adam]

Nice. You’ve put a right shift in.

I too have always been met with odd looks when I’ve run to work. It’s apparently beyond comprehension that you’d willingly choose to do it

[JibberJim]

@Poet

People still think running to work is “odd”

I guess I may just be benefitting from my being already seen as quite “odd”, and obviously working for an organisation with staff that have a reputation anyway, but I don’t hear any of that - I run from the trains to the offices all the time I go.

[Poet]

Oh, people didn’t say it, but the look/tone was there … “wait, what, you got off a few stops earlier and ran in…on purpose?”

[fruit_thief]

Sorry to hear about your back @Poet but 18 days is a proper shift, especially when it’s brass monkeys and you have been out of running for a bit

I woke up this morning, it’s the weekend, feeling like a rest day would be a really good idea.

Decided to call it a day.

Then Mrs wanted to go for a tiny jog

mid morning, we decided to walk to Carrefour to buy those crack cocaine apricot pastries

In the afternoon it suddenly occurred to me that I only needed to plod once around the local army base to bring the day total to 19 & potentially stay in the game

so, today wasn’t really a running day, but I really needed the rest. And if I have understood the terms of engagement then still not quite out yet … save that for tomorrow, a full work day. Unless maybe 10km before, 10 km after …

The Darkness were hilarious btw. Loving the Bluetooth headphones

[Poet]

Nice work

Jealous, so I am

[JibberJim]

14.2km morning run
5.4km Aldi for supplies.

So yes, still in.

20km on a saturday is a normal saturday pretty much - so tomorrow is likely, if you want the pressure @fruit_thief

4:46/km for the run, but first 8km I was still at 4:30, but certainly felt quite a bit flatter after that - so maybe tiredness is catching up with me a bit from the challenge.

[fruit_thief]

you are a machine @JibberJim

I ran the last few km yesterday at that sort of pace & the legs felt sore this morning, right at the front of the hips- it’s a tendons insertion but can’t tell if it’s rectus femoris or one of the adductors or both. Better now though. think this is my current weak spot being exposed

[Poet]

You, too, @JibberJim
My soft approach wasn’t like you two hard men

I’ve just driven to the shop, FFS

4km total walking today

[JibberJim]

@Poet

My soft approach wasn’t like you two hard men

So last January, 1st to 19th
21 runs 235.9 km 17:39 hours 1404, vert 4:30/km average
this January 1st to 19th
20 runs 231.9 km 18:38 hours 1477 vert 4:49/km average

So I’ve done an hour more running, for 4km less this year… This sort of thing is a lot easier when it’s not much different to normal!

I am using the same shoes as I used in Jan last year, so there’ll be a bit of pace loss from those, and I was still recovering from being ill in december at the start too, but if anything that left me rested for this week.

I’m at 99.1km last seven days for running, that’s quite a lot, but I’ve done over 100km a few times, so not unreasonable.

[fruit_thief]

10km in the morning before work. No music, just pure Zen a la @gingerbongo. Legs felt well rested after an easier day yesterday.

10km after work with the Manic Street Preachers. Taking it steady, legs feeling considerably less fresh for round 2. Still enjoying it though.

Trying to plan tomorrow’s soundtrack. I’m torn between Lenny Kravitz, Lady Gaga and Aerosmith

[JibberJim]

15.2km around parkrun - 20:56 for the actual parkrun, so also taking it steady, although a lot was 'cos I was trying to optimise time (I had to be back to take Otter to Faringdon) I arrived right on time and didn’t have time to drop hat/jacket so I was pretty over heating even running over 4’s.)
5.2km walking around Faringdon (well to Aldi and back)

Tomorrow is looking unlikely, there’s a storm, 21km will be more difficult, especially as Sunday is traditionally my easy day due to the other stuff I have to do.

[fruit_thief]

Tomorrow’s likely my last day. Might just try to grind out 21km all at once, and call it cooked.

After that I have a few consecutive days of work with odd start/ end times which make the logistics really confusing especially as I don’t have a car and work is 21km away.

I mean, could potentially Uber there and run home, but that’s just getting a bit silly all for the sake of a strung-out parlour game