Fitness Thread

[JonM]

Been running up on the Pennine Way on Dodd Fell this morning. It's absolutely magical and perfect running conditions, bright sun, completely still and the compacted snow is great underfoot. I'm sure it won't be like that everywhere though - also plenty of deep, uncompacted snow where I suspect treading in the footsteps of the person in front will be helpful, and also the odd spot of black ice on farm tracks that have been cleared.

[tiffers]

5 hours ago, JonM said:

-10 up at Hardraw and Keld last night but it warms up quite a lot today and gets above zero tomorrow afternoon. Probably be better running on crunchy stuff than wading through streams of melting snow.

Yikes that is cold. Sounds like it's going to get tougher with bogs in the next 48hrs or so.

At least the cold keeps it harder under foot!

I see the early runners are understandably well below record times at the mo for the sprint and challenger south.

[shaun mc]

Lots of reports of 'swimming' on the Spine after the snow has melted, especially the bit after Tan Hill

Was on the Pennine Way above Dufton on Saturday afternoon. The track was treacherous - I see a few have dropped out due to taking a fall, including one of the leaders. Off the track the snow was knee deep.

Interestingly, the top 2 female runners are just starting to edge closer to the top male runners in the 2nd half of the race (their splits are slightly better). Lucy Gossage running especially well atm

[Bedford Roughyed]

14 hours ago, shaun mc said:

Lots of reports of 'swimming' on the Spine after the snow has melted, especially the bit after Tan Hill

Was on the Pennine Way above Dufton on Saturday afternoon. The track was treacherous - I see a few have dropped out due to taking a fall, including one of the leaders. Off the track the snow was knee deep.

Interestingly, the top 2 female runners are just starting to edge closer to the top male runners in the 2nd half of the race (their splits are slightly better). Lucy Gossage running especially well atm

Sounds like a rapid change in conditions.  From one form of horrible to even more horrible!

[shaun mc]

11 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

Sounds like a rapid change in conditions.  From one form of horrible to even more horrible!

From what I've seen (been a bit of an avid watcher) after the snowmelt the conditions weren't too bad at times, at lower levels

Kim Collison finished a few hours ago in the 3rd fastest ever time, about 3.5 hours ahead of the 2nd place who is just about to finish. Lucy Gossage will win the womens race and 4th/5th overall

There's a runner from my work doing the full Spine. She still has just over 100 miles to go after 86 hours of racing! 

[gazza77]

One of the consultants at our place won a few years ago, and came second in the sprint this year. On Facebook, he describes the conditions as those you'd dream of for a winter race, both beautiful and brutal.

 

 

[JonM]

18 hours ago, gazza77 said:

One of the consultants at our place won a few years ago, and came second in the sprint this year. 

In 2023, I ran all 30 of the 'mountains' in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. By which I mean that I drove from my house to some convenient spot and ran up 1, 2 or 3 of them, ran down and drove home.

The consultant you refer to ran up all 30 of them back in 2020. Difference is he did them all in one continuous 209km loop, on foot, taking 41 hours to do it. Fastest known time by a considerable distance.

I comforted myself with the thought that maybe he is a lot younger, or maybe he has a job that allows for a lot of time to run. But no, he's a consultant, director of a division at the hospital and has 5 kids. And we're almost the same age...

 

Edited January 17 by JonM
Correcting my spelling and grammar.

[Copa]

On 10/01/2025 at 09:03, JonM said:

A traditional sport in the north of England is fell running - typically you run up a hill and back down again, or in some cases up and down several hills. The races are categorised according to length and elevation gain. About half of the people in my running group did the "nine standards" race on new years day, which is local to us. It's in the middle category for both length and steepness - 13KM and 550 metres of elevation gain (and 550 back down obviously). That would've been a full kit affair just because of the time of year and possible weather conditions. Some of the very tough local races have around 2000 metres of elevation gain. 

Next time I'm in England I'll have to see if there are any races on. I'd love to participate.

[shaun mc]

2 minutes ago, Copa said:

Next time I'm in England I'll have to see if there are any races on. I'd love to participate.

Make sure you read the FRA website about kit requirements to participate. They can be loosened on the day by the RD, but you'll still need to bring them all with you, or borrow whilst you are here

[JonM]

9 hours ago, shaun mc said:

Make sure you read the FRA website about kit requirements to participate. They can be loosened on the day by the RD, but you'll still need to bring them all with you, or borrow whilst you are here

Yes, good point, although the kit requirements are generally what you'd want to have with you for bad weather anyway. The FRA has a bit of a reputation for its arcane rules and regs, but some of the big, traditional races in August do see most people just running in vest and shorts and not carrying a backpack full of maps and waterproof trousers and so on. Some of the small local races round here are run outside of FRA rules and don't have any special kit requirements, although common sense obviously applies and they're all in summer.

[tiffers]

The Arc of Attrition is on over this coming weekend. For those that don't know about it, the Arc is a race around the tip of Cornwall, starting on the Lizard peninsula, following the coastpath round Lands End, through St Ives and finishes on the north coast at Porthtowan. Both beautiful and brutal with the technical and hilly terrain. No doubt made more difficult by the current storms in the UK. I'll be out cheering on the runners tomorrow

The 100miler starts at midday today for any dot watchers!

https://live.utmb.world/arcofattrition/2025
 

[Bedford Roughyed]

On 09/07/2024 at 17:24, Bedford Roughyed said:

32kgs down now, was about 31 on my 1 year dietversary.  not as much as I wanted, but really can't complain!

Another 30kgs by next year will be nice.

38kgs down now.  Definitely slowed down but still going right way.

 

[Bedford Roughyed]

Fitness goals for a 50 year old?  I need some ideas.  What is average for a 50 year old?

Running a 5km without stopping?

10 press ups?

1 pull up?

80kg bench press?

I need some goals for next year.  The aim is to be a bang average healthy 50 year old!

[OriginalMrC]

10 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

Fitness goals for a 50 year old?  I need some ideas.  What is average for a 50 year old?

Running a 5km without stopping?

10 press ups?

1 pull up?

80kg bench press?

I need some goals for next year.  The aim is to be a bang average healthy 50 year old!

Well done on the weight loss, amazing work. 

I aim to do one 5k every week. Doesn't have to be fast, I aim for 30 mins. When I first started running I was only doing about a mile at a time and built it up from there. Good trainers are a must (highly recommend Brooks).

If you're not doing it already I highly recommend dumbells. They are so simple to use and there are loads of different exercises. You will also see noticeable improvement over time. I started on 10kg dumbells and am now on 25kgs after about 18 months doing them once or twice a week. 

As I've got older I've realised that it's best not to overdo it. Set a goal that's achievable and take your time doing it 

[CanaBull]

41 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

Fitness goals for a 50 year old?  I need some ideas.  What is average for a 50 year old?

Running a 5km without stopping?

10 press ups?

1 pull up?

80kg bench press?

I need some goals for next year.  The aim is to be a bang average healthy 50 year old!

First off excellent work on the weight loss, that’s a fantastic achievement! Congratulations, you must feel so much different now

In terms of exercise I’d suggest simply find the sustainable thing you like doing and do that to your best.  I hit 50 last year, I found an inversion table to be one of the best investments and do at least 60 crunches a day on that to keep my core strong and my back in order. 

Can’t run very well, 5k is my limit but sign up for races to keep me  accountable for doing the work but the stand up bike I can do 30k+ on that quite comfortably.  Are there particular walks or hikes you’d wanted to do?

Yoga for flexibility is good at any age but take care of you have injuries that certain positions might make worse  

Not exercise related but perhaps buy clothes you wouldn’t have worn before.

All the best!

[Bedford Roughyed]

18 minutes ago, CanaBull said:

Are there particular walks or hikes you’d wanted to do?

I have some good goals/targets/wish list on various hikes. That’s my main passion and goal.

The other goals were more like bench marks, what should an average 50 year old be able to do?  

[CanaBull]

47 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

I have some good goals/targets/wish list on various hikes. That’s my main passion and goal.

The other goals were more like bench marks, what should an average 50 year old be able to do?  

I think the main thing is getting at least 150 minutes of cardio activity in per week.

Not sure about weight lifting benchmarks, I’m fairly messed up so can’t do that much beyond maintaining with 25lb resistance bands I’m afraid. 

[JonM]

7 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

I have some good goals/targets/wish list on various hikes. That’s my main passion and goal.

The other goals were more like bench marks, what should an average 50 year old be able to do?  

I suspect the average 50 year old probably can't do a pull up at all, but 10 push-ups seems like a much more reasonable target.

I suspect the average 50 year old also probably can't run 5k, but again I think it's a reasonable target for a fit, healthy 50 year old. The NHS couch to 5k thing is very good. Main thing is to avoid getting injured - your cardio fitness increases faster than the strength & flexibility in tendons, ligaments, joints etc. so don't be in any hurry.

If you can walk 5k, I'd really recommend doing parkrun - plenty of arbitrary targets you can set yourself, a very supportive and friendly environment, people bigger than you and/or much older than you taking part and because it's every week, it builds a habit and constantly gives you something to aim for. Walk the whole thing the first time, then incorporate a little bit of a run now and then the second time you do it and so on?

Amazing weight loss - I really can't imagine what it takes to achieve that.

[JonM]

I took advantage of the dry, sunny, cool weather this week and ran coast to coast from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, mostly following the Hadrian's Wall path, but with about 10 miles on the Tyne path due to a stopover in Hexham. About 100 miles in 3.5 days - not a challenge for GeordieSaint, but comfortably hard for me. 

[Route66]

On 17/02/2025 at 13:28, Bedford Roughyed said:

Fitness goals for a 50 year old?  I need some ideas.  What is average for a 50 year old?

Running a 5km without stopping?

10 press ups?

1 pull up?

80kg bench press?

I need some goals for next year.  The aim is to be a bang average healthy 50 year old!

I’m a few years older than yourself but ever thought of taking up walking football, socialising and fitness all in one

[Bedford Roughyed]

16 minutes ago, Route66 said:

I’m a few years older than yourself but ever thought of taking up walking football, socialising and fitness all in one

I think something social would be good.  I'm more and more of a hermit as I get older, which can't be good either.  

[Route66]

7 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

I think something social would be good.  I'm more and more of a hermit as I get older, which can't be good either.  

Will be loads of clubs near yourself been at Glasgow at weekend playing in a 24 team tournament, competitive but great fun

[Copa]

My fitness is improving significantly. I’ve started doing a 17km slow trail run with 600m of elevation change on the weekend in addition to parkrun. I also do one or two shorter runs during the week.

[tiffers]

After having to take the best part of a year out due to sesamoiditis, I've got the go ahead from the doc to get going again. Nicely coinciding with a place for the London marathon next year... Let the training begin. Starting with the couch to 5K...

[Copa]

I ran a casual 21km the other day. I haven’t run like this for a very long time.