Running Thread - Join our Strava Club!

[Willo_]

I didn't enjoy driving the great Ocean Road so running it feels like it would suck, plus I've sussed it out before and logistically getting there etc is a pain

I'm in Geelong as well so I'm fully aware this probably seems a dumb thing to say but accommodation isn't easy and getting there is very impacted by road closures etc so it just doesn't really interest me I guess

 

[Wetdog]

I didn't enjoy driving the great Ocean Road so running it feels like it would suck, plus I've sussed it out before and logistically getting there etc is a pain


I'm in Geelong as well so I'm fully aware this probably seems a dumb thing to say but accommodation isn't easy and getting there is very impacted by road closures etc so it just doesn't really interest me I guess

Mate, being from Geelong, you’ve got a head start on the rest of us in Melbourne.

I get your point, though. You really need to stay down there.

Can you think of any other decent road marathons in Vic?

 

[Willo_]

Mate, being from Geelong, you’ve got a head start on the rest of us in Melbourne.

I get your point, though. You really need to stay down there.

Can you think of any other decent road marathons in Vic?

Apparently Ballarat is good, and being from there originally I should give that a crack and would love to, but it's a weekend my missus works and I'll be on dad duty


I have considered doing the half and getting the grandparents to watch the gremlins and me run

 

[ash_1050]

Does anyone have any experience with managing calf injuries?

Tweaked a calf muscle on Nov 10.
Rested until Nov 25 and then injured it again in a run yesterday.

Previously injured the other calf in July.

 

[faible]

Does anyone have any experience with managing calf injuries?

Tweaked a calf muscle on Nov 10.
Rested until Nov 25 and then injured it again in a run yesterday.

Previously injured the other calf in July.

Sounds like old age to me...

The only calf injury I've managed was a tear, which meant getting off it, so not much help.

 

[darrenmorgan]

Does anyone have any experience with managing calf injuries?

Tweaked a calf muscle on Nov 10.
Rested until Nov 25 and then injured it again in a run yesterday.

Previously injured the other calf in July.

stretch stretch stretch and stretch. and strengthen.

 

[guelfontheshelf]

Asking this here since a lot of you are likely Garmin users - just got a forerunner 955 (first Garmin). for those who do footy training in a garmin, what activity type do you use on your watch to track your workouts?

 

[faible]

Asking this here since a lot of you are likely Garmin users - just got a forerunner 955 (first Garmin). for those who do footy training in a garmin, what activity type do you use on your watch to track your workouts?

I think the 955 might actually have activity types for this; there's one on mine called Soccer/Football.

Presumably you'd want to make sure it's an activity that's going to enable the GPS to track your running distance, not just your HR / time.

 

[guelfontheshelf]

I think the 955 might actually have activity types for this; there's one on mine called Soccer/Football.

Presumably you'd want to make sure it's an activity that's going to enable the GPS to track your running distance, not just your HR / time.

Yeah sweet - that was the one I did but wasn't sure if there was a better one.

as an aside - it annoys me how strava automatically uploads all my Garmin workouts! not a fan of people's gym workouts clogging my strava feed, so I don't want to contribute that so I'm having to remember to jump into strava right after ending a gym workout to delete the auto-upload haha

 

[faible]

Yeah sweet - that was the one I did but wasn't sure if there was a better one.

as an aside - it annoys me how strava automatically uploads all my Garmin workouts! not a fan of people's gym workouts clogging my strava feed, so I don't want to contribute that so I'm having to remember to jump into strava right after ending a gym workout to delete the auto-upload haha

Does it count as doing a workout if no one else knows though?

 

[AvantGardener]

Yeah sweet - that was the one I did but wasn't sure if there was a better one.

as an aside - it annoys me how strava automatically uploads all my Garmin workouts! not a fan of people's gym workouts clogging my strava feed, so I don't want to contribute that so I'm having to remember to jump into strava right after ending a gym workout to delete the auto-upload haha

Thats about the only good feature of the update about a month ago, at least it opens to a page I can quickly change my gym sessions to private.

 

[guelfontheshelf]

Bloody sauna in Melbourne today, even for a fairly early morning run. Happy tops off running to all who celebrate

 

[Jatz]

Been steamy in Sydney as well. Just pouring out sweat with each run at the moment.

 

[Willo_]

Bloody sauna in Melbourne today, even for a fairly early morning run. Happy tops off running to all who celebrate

ugghh i went out at 6am and it smelt warm, only had an easy 8k and the last few were starting to warm up... and that was before it even got hot!
As someone who doesn't have the best rig (i am 41 so i figure it's allowed!) i even considered peeling the singlet off for the last couple of Km, but figured no one needed to see that!

 

[guelfontheshelf]

ugghh i went out at 6am and it smelt warm, only had an easy 8k and the last few were starting to warm up... and that was before it even got hot!
As someone who doesn't have the best rig (i am 41 so i figure it's allowed!) i even considered peeling the singlet off for the last couple of Km, but figured no one needed to see that!

Yeah feels, it was warm really early today!
Haha honestly getting the rig out is more about comfort than anything else!

 

[guelfontheshelf]

Fave running spots in Melbourne? Keen to add a bit more variety in my routes over summer. The areas I frequent are all pretty basic I think... (Albert Park Lake, the Tan, Elwood to Port Melbourne along the beach, Olympic Park, Princes Park)

 

[faible]

Fave running spots in Melbourne? Keen to add a bit more variety in my routes over summer. The areas I frequent are all pretty basic I think... (Albert Park Lake, the Tan, Elwood to Port Melbourne along the beach, Olympic Park, Princes Park)

Brimbank Park, Studley Park / Yarra Bend Park, You Yangs are some popular not-road ones amongst people I know.

Maribyrnong River has some decent sections, there's a Parkrun there on a Saturday morning you can link in to a longer session as well that I've seen people do on Strava

 

[conrad_437]

Fave running spots in Melbourne? Keen to add a bit more variety in my routes over summer. The areas I frequent are all pretty basic I think... (Albert Park Lake, the Tan, Elwood to Port Melbourne along the beach, Olympic Park, Princes Park)

I rate Maribyrnong - never too busy , mostly flat, decent scenery and a nice look at Flemington Racecourse if you please.

Williamstown/Altona is also pretty good, wind prevailing. Great views of the city along The Strand and some underrated beaches. Again, terrain is pretty flat if that's your go.

Melbourne is generally pretty average for running, sadly.

 

[Wetdog]

Fave running spots in Melbourne? Keen to add a bit more variety in my routes over summer. The areas I frequent are all pretty basic I think... (Albert Park Lake, the Tan, Elwood to Port Melbourne along the beach, Olympic Park, Princes Park)

Most have been mentioned. Others I can think of:

Capital City Trail.

Webb Dock/Westgate Park (Port Melbourne/Fisherman’s Bend).

Elwood Canal.

 

[Arkangel]

In addition to some of the suggestions people have already made:

The Gellibrand Hill area has some nice tracks. If you ignore the aeroplanes from Tullamarine you almost feel like you're in the bush---roos and everything!

It's a bit out of Melbourne proper, but if you have the time to drive up to the top of Mt Macedon, there's some lovely trails around there. (Or, if you're really keen, drive to the bottom and run to the top!) Tends to be a bit cooler up there in warm weather too.

On the other side of town, there are some nice dirt roads in the bush around Mt Dandenong, which I'm pretty sure are only accessible to emergency services vehicles (i.e., there won't be any cars to deal with). You could do a pretty decent circuit there, if you don't care too much about it being flat.

 

[guelfontheshelf]

Happy new year all, hope you all kick your running goals this year!

First race for the year for me is the Portsea Twilight 9.5k this Saturday.

Been looking forward to it but looks like it's gonna be pretty warm! Thankfully not as hot as Melbourne but still forecast to be about 28C at 6:30 when the race begins. I've never done a race that's 1) in the evening or 2) in that level of heat. Any tips for races in these conditions? I've been doing easy runs in much warmer weather but definitely not race paces.

 

[Alberto_Magnifico]

In addition to some of the suggestions people have already made:

The Gellibrand Hill area has some nice tracks. If you ignore the aeroplanes from Tullamarine you almost feel like you're in the bush---roos and everything!

It's a bit out of Melbourne proper, but if you have the time to drive up to the top of Mt Macedon, there's some lovely trails around there. (Or, if you're really keen, drive to the bottom and run to the top!) Tends to be a bit cooler up there in warm weather too.

On the other side of town, there are some nice dirt roads in the bush around Mt Dandenong, which I'm pretty sure are only accessible to emergency services vehicles (i.e., there won't be any cars to deal with). You could do a pretty decent circuit there, if you don't care too much about it being flat.

Werribee Gorge is another good one, but my tip is to get there on first light as it gets busy, some decent elevation gain and if you're inclined on a warm day a quick dip in the river at the end.

 

[Willo_]

Happy new year all, hope you all kick your running goals this year!

First race for the year for me is the Portsea Twilight 9.5k this Saturday.

Been looking forward to it but looks like it's gonna be pretty warm! Thankfully not as hot as Melbourne but still forecast to be about 28C at 6:30 when the race begins. I've never done a race that's 1) in the evening or 2) in that level of heat. Any tips for races in these conditions? I've been doing easy runs in much warmer weather but definitely not race paces.

I've done a run in Portarlington a few years that's in the evening and summer and never had a good run.
Best advice I can give is make sure you are hyrdated and park the ego, adjust your goal accordingly.. Go out conservative and try finish strong, it's easy to go out at goal pace thinking you are feeling great and then the heat catches up with you and you have a horrid last few KMs.

Basically just respect the conditions I guess, you may have no worries at all also, my worst blow up I was doing a half marathon so that's much worse to cook yourself early!

 

[stmookeyj]

To tie up a loose end, Singapore was unbelievably slow but I couldn't run any of the last 11km partially because of the climatic conditions (it was the only day in my week in Malaysia/Singapore that the Sun was out, doesn't mean it wasn't hot and humid, but the sun increased the road temperature so much it gave both my feet blisters which I could barely walk on). But the important thing was the finish line was crossed on foot, the medal secured and at least some demons exorcised.


Anyway onto this year, work commitments and a change to a Saturday rather than a Sunday means no Cadbury Marathon this year, but it's going to be a full slate. Thankfully I was awake and on the ball in order to get into a few races which sold out ridiculously quickly (5 AM wake up in Kuala Lumpur just to enter Melbourne, how crazy am I?).

MARCH: Wangaratta Marathon
APRIL: Canberra Marathon (maybe the Newcastle Marathon if the body holds up but that is a 6 day turnaround with Canberra on the Sunday before Easter, and Newy on Easter Saturday itself)
JULY: Gold Coast Marathon (Half on Saturday, Full on Sunday, not game enough to enter the 10 and 5 on the Saturday which is now possible for the totally insane)
AUGUST: In the ballot for Sydney but not overly hopeful. If I managed to finish in 2022 rather than tap out at 20km I would have got priority access for this year without the ballot requirement but the body said no.
OCTOBER: Melbourne Marathon (hopefully this one will end up being the 10th, if the hamstrings hold together)
NOVEMBER: Auckland Marathon (unfinished business from 2023)

Also entered Comrades in South Africa but not counting the chickens just yet. Also have a couple of half marathons in the schedule.

 

[guelfontheshelf]

I've done a run in Portarlington a few years that's in the evening and summer and never had a good run.
Best advice I can give is make sure you are hyrdated and park the ego, adjust your goal accordingly.. Go out conservative and try finish strong, it's easy to go out at goal pace thinking you are feeling great and then the heat catches up with you and you have a horrid last few KMs.

Basically just respect the conditions I guess, you may have no worries at all also, my worst blow up I was doing a half marathon so that's much worse to cook yourself early!

Thanks for this!
In the end I started out a liiiittle stronger than I should've, especially because I wasn't expecting so many hills, but was able to hang on and get a time that I was pretty happy with in the end given the conditions. Definitely a challenging run though!

Would love to find a way to keep track of runs that are happening in regional towns, it's a good excuse to go somewhere new for a weekend.