2017 Fitness Thread

[mongers]

Went out for a ride with an acquaintance of mine who own a plush bike shop, he's trying to get some community rides together and if some family and kids turned up I was going to take charge and lead them on a suitable ride.

As it turned out just two or three of his young staff and a couple of their friends turned up, so I ended up tagging along with a bunch of 20/30 something mountain bikers on one of their off-road rides on prepared activity tracks in a nearby activity centre.

Did about 10-11 miles with then and I didn't have any difficulty keeping up with them despite me turning up on a hybrid with 30mm tyres and they on full suspension,disc braked fat-tired mountain bikes.   

[Liep]

Some single track can be done on cross bikes/hybrids, but they aren't necessarily fun. If by prepped you mean no roots/mud then I can see the fun but whenever I try roots without fat tyres or front suspension I end up cursing. Also mud on slim tyres is a recipe for ending up on your arse, at least for me.

[mongers]

Some single track can be done on cross bikes/hybrids, but they aren't necessarily fun. If by prepped you mean no roots/mud then I can see the fun but whenever I try roots without fat tyres or front suspension I end up cursing. Also mud on slim tyres is a recipe for ending up on your arse, at least for me.

Yeah, some roots and a bit of mud, but fairly easy; helped that the 30mms I had on are extremely grippy Schwalbe CX tyres, don't last long, but a real nice summer tyre for grit covered roads/track.

Which reminds me, time to change those for something mor appropriate to Winter. 

edit:
I should add you're bike handling skills are probably a good deal better than my grandad's approach to balance. 

[Liep]

Off to run my first half marathon. There's a pacer running at 5:42 which should give me a time just below two hours if I manage to squeeze in before him. 22000 runners, plenty of spectators and music events, quite a nice day forecasted and the route is completely flat, so I think it should be possible even if I haven't been able to train much lately.

[Liep]

We were on course but with two kms to go a rain storm hit and we ran in about 10cm of water flooding down the street. It ruined my feet and my final time was 2:01:28

They cancelled the race 5 minutes after we finished because of a thunderstorm rolling in.

[Liep]

3 runners were struck by lightning

And this is what we were running through in the end:

[mongers]

We were on course but with two kms to go a rain storm hit and we ran in about 10cm of water flooding down the street. It ruined my feet and my final time was 2:01:28

They cancelled the race 5 minutes after we finished because of a thunderstorm rolling in.

Good grief, Liep that was epic in more than one way.

Congratulations on the time.

[alfred russel]

Crap--I think that you would have easily gone under 2 hours if the last section didn't turn into swim optional!

[Eddie Teach]

The important thing is that he finished, a couple minutes more or less aren't a big deal.

[alfred russel]

The important thing is that he finished, a couple minutes more or less aren't a big deal.

With the caveat that in this particular instance the conditions were horrible and I think cost Liep a reasonable chance at his goal (and based on that picture and his report a couple minutes), I vigorously disagree in principle.

These are races. The goal of a race is to finish faster than other people, or in Liep's case to race against the clock. A good athlete would set out to win the race outright. I don't think that you would say it isn't a big deal that such a person finishes a second behind the winner. For me, and I think Liep and I think everyone else on this forum, winning major races is not a realistic goal. However, we can still train for and race against specific goals--to be in a certain percentage of our age group, or to beat a certain time.

I hate the people that show up to races and just walk the whole way and then put a race sticker on their car and present themselves as a marathoner or half marathoner or whatever. A race should be raced. Anyone can walk for a few hours.

[Liep]

Yeah, I'm glad I finished as this is my first half marathon but I'm annoyed I couldn't finish properly because of the weather. If it has been any other race I think I would feel like it had been a waste but the first part of it was really nice getting to run all around the streets of Copenhagen being cheered by thousands.

[Eddie Teach]

Anyone can walk for a few hours.

Not so.

[Valmy]

first part of it was really nice getting to run all around the streets of Copenhagen being cheered by thousands.

Now you know how the army felt returning from the First Schleswig War...except they were probably marching.

[saskganesh]

Training for my half today (race day is Oct 22nd) I was a bit crusty from the party I went to Saturday. Went slow and steady and by mile 4 I was feeling human again. Hot and humid morning, but not so bad considering. One long water stop en route and I got home at the 2 hour mark. Very satisfying result for a rather leisurely run

Liep, that race looks incredible. I think it would be a lot of fun to run in conditions like that.

[alfred russel]

Training for my half today (race day is Oct 22nd) I was a bit crusty from the party I went to Saturday. Went slow and steady and by mile 4 I was feeling human again. Hot and humid morning, but not so bad considering. One long water stop en route and I got home at the 2 hour mark. Very satisfying result for a rather leisurely run

Awesome.