http://runningthecoasttocoast2008.blogspot.com/
A post that is very late coming...
Quite a lot of story to tell over the last few months - I'll hopefully update the blog sometime soon!
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Friday, 18 April 2008
Next Steps...
Over the last few weeks I haven't been happy with a number of things in general, and now wonder whether perhaps its time for a change in direction.
For a while now I've felt that my blog has just been treading water as of late and is coming towards the end of its natural life cycle. In essence the majority of my posts have been repeating the same thing time and again and I suspect its as boring to read as I find it to type. The last 16 months or so have been a big journey and I never thought for a minute I would have improved to the level I have from a starting point of nil, eventually culminating in a 2.53 marathon.
Although I started my blog in December 2006, I never knew at the time that the MdS would soon become my focus. To begin with my only reason for training was with the MdS in mind, with every event used as progression towards the big one in March 2009. However as time passes my fitness level has far exceeded my wildest expectations resulting in the MdS goal becoming progressively less of a target and just another event to do. In a round about way I've become a victim of my own success as I now realise I have some genuine road running talent. Ok, I'm never going to be an Olympic athlete or anything but I can see myself running some pretty decent times and no longer need the MdS as motivation. In fact the MdS now comes fairly low in my list of priorities and perhaps I'm not giving the event the respect it deserves. At its worst I see the event as a distraction if I'm brutally honest. Perhaps I'm just going through the mid training blues that everyone gets at some point and perhaps the recent injuries are making me feel pretty low. Who knows?
I think this has come to a head recently where my training has become pretty confused. Am I a 10k runner, half marathon, marathon, ultra, cross country, or Mountain/Fell runner, as clearly if I want to succeed I can not be everything. I really want to be the best at my chosen event rather than be ok at everything. The culmination of all this is that I feel ready to move to the next level and I have some ideas of where I want to be and what I want to achieve.
I don't regret doing the blog as with over 2,000 hits its shows that it has been a worthwhile exercise. I still intend to continue here for the next few weeks until some of my outline plans become a bit more concrete at which point I'll probably park this blog (or archive it to a sister site) and start afresh. That said it might still be possible that all I need is a few weeks off to reinvigorate myself and I'll come back as if nothing ever stopped! Maybe I'm just being a drama queen over nothing!
As for the MdS? I have several opposing views at the moment ranging from 1) I've already paid £500 so may as well do it as I don't want the money to drain away. 2) I've already paid £500 so now is the time to pull out of something that is going to cost me another two and a half grand 3) Its going to be a hindrance and just interfere with other stuff that I want to do in the build up to and the event itself. 4) It wont interfere as much as I fear and the thing will be a blast when it actually comes to doing it. Anyway, I still have plenty of time on my side and I'll make a decision when it comes to the crunch later on in the year.
What ever I decide I know that I deeply care as its taken me quite a long time to write this much and I feel quite emotional over it all.
Anyway, Adios for now.
For a while now I've felt that my blog has just been treading water as of late and is coming towards the end of its natural life cycle. In essence the majority of my posts have been repeating the same thing time and again and I suspect its as boring to read as I find it to type. The last 16 months or so have been a big journey and I never thought for a minute I would have improved to the level I have from a starting point of nil, eventually culminating in a 2.53 marathon.
Although I started my blog in December 2006, I never knew at the time that the MdS would soon become my focus. To begin with my only reason for training was with the MdS in mind, with every event used as progression towards the big one in March 2009. However as time passes my fitness level has far exceeded my wildest expectations resulting in the MdS goal becoming progressively less of a target and just another event to do. In a round about way I've become a victim of my own success as I now realise I have some genuine road running talent. Ok, I'm never going to be an Olympic athlete or anything but I can see myself running some pretty decent times and no longer need the MdS as motivation. In fact the MdS now comes fairly low in my list of priorities and perhaps I'm not giving the event the respect it deserves. At its worst I see the event as a distraction if I'm brutally honest. Perhaps I'm just going through the mid training blues that everyone gets at some point and perhaps the recent injuries are making me feel pretty low. Who knows?
I think this has come to a head recently where my training has become pretty confused. Am I a 10k runner, half marathon, marathon, ultra, cross country, or Mountain/Fell runner, as clearly if I want to succeed I can not be everything. I really want to be the best at my chosen event rather than be ok at everything. The culmination of all this is that I feel ready to move to the next level and I have some ideas of where I want to be and what I want to achieve.
I don't regret doing the blog as with over 2,000 hits its shows that it has been a worthwhile exercise. I still intend to continue here for the next few weeks until some of my outline plans become a bit more concrete at which point I'll probably park this blog (or archive it to a sister site) and start afresh. That said it might still be possible that all I need is a few weeks off to reinvigorate myself and I'll come back as if nothing ever stopped! Maybe I'm just being a drama queen over nothing!
As for the MdS? I have several opposing views at the moment ranging from 1) I've already paid £500 so may as well do it as I don't want the money to drain away. 2) I've already paid £500 so now is the time to pull out of something that is going to cost me another two and a half grand 3) Its going to be a hindrance and just interfere with other stuff that I want to do in the build up to and the event itself. 4) It wont interfere as much as I fear and the thing will be a blast when it actually comes to doing it. Anyway, I still have plenty of time on my side and I'll make a decision when it comes to the crunch later on in the year.
What ever I decide I know that I deeply care as its taken me quite a long time to write this much and I feel quite emotional over it all.
Anyway, Adios for now.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
7Pools Run
Yesterday I did my 10k route but kept off the gas going round at a fairly easy 6.50 min mile pace, in case I wanted to do the race the following day.
In the end I did decide to do the race today, mainly because I felt that a run at race pace would make up for the lost mileage earlier in the week more than a long distance training run would. As the race was in Sutton Park it was only a 10 minute drive away. I have done the race once before, probably about 12 years ago as a junior although the start back then was in a slightly different place. The course is a multi terrain race, starting on the roads before sections of mud, grass, gravel and stony paths. Its supposed to be about 10k, but I don't know how accurate the distance is. It was thankfully dry throughout with bursts of sunshine making it a bit humid at times.
At the start we had the usual loons going off like a headless chicken and in fact the pace was surprisingly quick. I had aimed to do a slowish start and come through as I knew the course would be quite tough and undulating. In the end I went half way and went a bit faster than I was going to but still at a reasonably comfortable pace. Only after a km or so did things begin to settle down a bit and I was roughly in about 10th place heading off the road section into the cross country section.
Very soon after I had overtaken a couple more people which placed me 8th with runners strung out ahead up to the leading group of three about 50 metres ahead of me. After about 2.5 km I had overtaken a couple more people and was roughly the same distance behind the leaders. As we headed up one of the grassy hills I managed to move into 5th and then suddenly fourth as the runner just ahead of me suddenly stopped. Although I was feeling reasonable I could also sense the run in my legs from the last couple of days. I don't think it massively slowed me down although I could certainly perceive I was not as sharp as usual.
One thing that I'm not sure on was my choice of footwear. I went for my trail shoes as opposed to trainers as I knew the forest section of the course would be very muddy and slippy, and just accept that my trail shoes wouldn't be that good on the road sections. As it was turning out it was very slippy anyway so I'm not convinced I made the right choice and I was certainly the only one to opt for trail shoes.
Heading towards half way one of the leading three was falling back a bit and the other two leaders were pulling away from me, about 75 metres ahead at this point. Bit by bit I was reeling in third place before I overtook him and I pushed on heading into the muddy and undulating forest section. In the forest I really couldn't see anybody in front or behind me so it was almost like a time trial. Very briefly at around 7km I briefly saw the chap in second and I was only about 20 secs behind him and slowly catching him or so I thought. Over the next couple of km I tried to reel him in, but I think it was at this point the training over the last couple of days had left my legs a little bit too flat. Although I probably got to within 12 seconds of him I was catching him too slowly and in the end he was never within any danger. I was also concerned that I could hear clapping behind me which is a surefire way of telling that somebody wasn't all that far behind.
In the end I finished a comfortable third place out of roughly 500 in a time of around 35.30. If it is an accurate 10k then I'm quite pleased with my time as its only a minute off my pb from last weekend especially considering its a cross country course that is quite muddy and undulating. It was only meant to be a training race so I'm happy with the result. I've now got two weeks to the Stratford Half although my knee and right calf are still causing me some serious cause for concern.
There will be some free photos, so i'll post these online, hopefully within the next day or two.
In the end I did decide to do the race today, mainly because I felt that a run at race pace would make up for the lost mileage earlier in the week more than a long distance training run would. As the race was in Sutton Park it was only a 10 minute drive away. I have done the race once before, probably about 12 years ago as a junior although the start back then was in a slightly different place. The course is a multi terrain race, starting on the roads before sections of mud, grass, gravel and stony paths. Its supposed to be about 10k, but I don't know how accurate the distance is. It was thankfully dry throughout with bursts of sunshine making it a bit humid at times.
At the start we had the usual loons going off like a headless chicken and in fact the pace was surprisingly quick. I had aimed to do a slowish start and come through as I knew the course would be quite tough and undulating. In the end I went half way and went a bit faster than I was going to but still at a reasonably comfortable pace. Only after a km or so did things begin to settle down a bit and I was roughly in about 10th place heading off the road section into the cross country section.
Very soon after I had overtaken a couple more people which placed me 8th with runners strung out ahead up to the leading group of three about 50 metres ahead of me. After about 2.5 km I had overtaken a couple more people and was roughly the same distance behind the leaders. As we headed up one of the grassy hills I managed to move into 5th and then suddenly fourth as the runner just ahead of me suddenly stopped. Although I was feeling reasonable I could also sense the run in my legs from the last couple of days. I don't think it massively slowed me down although I could certainly perceive I was not as sharp as usual.
One thing that I'm not sure on was my choice of footwear. I went for my trail shoes as opposed to trainers as I knew the forest section of the course would be very muddy and slippy, and just accept that my trail shoes wouldn't be that good on the road sections. As it was turning out it was very slippy anyway so I'm not convinced I made the right choice and I was certainly the only one to opt for trail shoes.
Heading towards half way one of the leading three was falling back a bit and the other two leaders were pulling away from me, about 75 metres ahead at this point. Bit by bit I was reeling in third place before I overtook him and I pushed on heading into the muddy and undulating forest section. In the forest I really couldn't see anybody in front or behind me so it was almost like a time trial. Very briefly at around 7km I briefly saw the chap in second and I was only about 20 secs behind him and slowly catching him or so I thought. Over the next couple of km I tried to reel him in, but I think it was at this point the training over the last couple of days had left my legs a little bit too flat. Although I probably got to within 12 seconds of him I was catching him too slowly and in the end he was never within any danger. I was also concerned that I could hear clapping behind me which is a surefire way of telling that somebody wasn't all that far behind.
In the end I finished a comfortable third place out of roughly 500 in a time of around 35.30. If it is an accurate 10k then I'm quite pleased with my time as its only a minute off my pb from last weekend especially considering its a cross country course that is quite muddy and undulating. It was only meant to be a training race so I'm happy with the result. I've now got two weeks to the Stratford Half although my knee and right calf are still causing me some serious cause for concern.
There will be some free photos, so i'll post these online, hopefully within the next day or two.
Friday, 11 April 2008
Another Write Off
Another week of immense frustration after the high of last weekend. During the 10k my legs felt pretty good and tactically I had about as good a run as possible. Perhaps what was equally positive was that I came away without any sign of injury.
I took Monday off because of the race the day before and didn't want to aggravate anything. Tuesday was going to be another nil return as I had my first sports massage. It was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, although occasionally uncomfortable. The chap doing the massage who incidentally was a 2.28 marathon runner in his prime reckoned that my tight calf's are just a symptom of high mileage and nothing to be massively concerned about. Hopefully a few sessions will keep things in check.
On Wednesday I was out for the evening so that day was another write off which was followed by my stomach feeling out of sorts the next day. Finally I managed to go out for a run on Friday. Due to all of the rest my legs were bursting with energy, although also felt a bit rusty at the same time. I didn't push too hard, but it wasn't a jog either. I did just over 9 miles at an average pace of 6.30 min miles. I know that it pretty quick, but I think it was more as a result of my legs feeling quite fresh.
My training over the last 3 weeks or so has frankly been crap, so I really could do with a month of quality training to get back to where I want to be. I probably haven't lost much fitness, probably no more than a couple of good weeks of training would resolve. What I have lost though is where I would have improved to had my recent woes not surfaced.
I'm the sort of runner who blows hot and cold. The run last week at Leamington was very uplifting, punctuated by a week such as this where I almost feel like jacking it all in. I suppose I'm a very negative runner, rather than looking at things positively I keep looking at how crap I am. However I use this as a way of pushing myself to improve (perhaps I push too hard sometimes and this is what results in injury). I need to keep telling myself how far I've come over the last year, running 38.00 10k's to begin with which is now down to 34.35. I just need to keep plugging away and hopefully the results will come.
Back to the plus side I found out that in the end I came 6th at Leamington. The only photos available are of the sort that you have to purchase. Unusually for me I have decided to fork out the ridiculous amount to buy them, with the snow in the background I think it might be worth the wait. When I get them I'll post them to the blog. Only other news is that I'm now currently ranked 435th in the UK for 10k, although by the end of the year I expect this to fall to around 1,300 based upon 2007 rankings.
I have yet to decide what I will do over the weekend, there is a tempting multi terrain race just a couple of miles away from where I live, but at the same time it might just be worth having a couple of days of decent training instead.
I took Monday off because of the race the day before and didn't want to aggravate anything. Tuesday was going to be another nil return as I had my first sports massage. It was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, although occasionally uncomfortable. The chap doing the massage who incidentally was a 2.28 marathon runner in his prime reckoned that my tight calf's are just a symptom of high mileage and nothing to be massively concerned about. Hopefully a few sessions will keep things in check.
On Wednesday I was out for the evening so that day was another write off which was followed by my stomach feeling out of sorts the next day. Finally I managed to go out for a run on Friday. Due to all of the rest my legs were bursting with energy, although also felt a bit rusty at the same time. I didn't push too hard, but it wasn't a jog either. I did just over 9 miles at an average pace of 6.30 min miles. I know that it pretty quick, but I think it was more as a result of my legs feeling quite fresh.
My training over the last 3 weeks or so has frankly been crap, so I really could do with a month of quality training to get back to where I want to be. I probably haven't lost much fitness, probably no more than a couple of good weeks of training would resolve. What I have lost though is where I would have improved to had my recent woes not surfaced.
I'm the sort of runner who blows hot and cold. The run last week at Leamington was very uplifting, punctuated by a week such as this where I almost feel like jacking it all in. I suppose I'm a very negative runner, rather than looking at things positively I keep looking at how crap I am. However I use this as a way of pushing myself to improve (perhaps I push too hard sometimes and this is what results in injury). I need to keep telling myself how far I've come over the last year, running 38.00 10k's to begin with which is now down to 34.35. I just need to keep plugging away and hopefully the results will come.
Back to the plus side I found out that in the end I came 6th at Leamington. The only photos available are of the sort that you have to purchase. Unusually for me I have decided to fork out the ridiculous amount to buy them, with the snow in the background I think it might be worth the wait. When I get them I'll post them to the blog. Only other news is that I'm now currently ranked 435th in the UK for 10k, although by the end of the year I expect this to fall to around 1,300 based upon 2007 rankings.
I have yet to decide what I will do over the weekend, there is a tempting multi terrain race just a couple of miles away from where I live, but at the same time it might just be worth having a couple of days of decent training instead.
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Leamington Regency 10k
I decided to give the Leamington Regency 10k a go in the end, even with my current injury problems. I did do the race last year so in theory it's my first direct comparison I've got on the road between this year and last. The course is not the quickest out there as early on it goes off road around a golf course, before hitting the roads around Leamington but with some very sharp hairpin bends. As a result I did 37.08 last year (my pb is 35.54 which was set a few weeks later).
Anyway, I woke up at 6.45am to find a blanket of snow outside, clearing it off the car showed that there must have been 3-4 inches, although the road surfaces were a bit better. I had wondered whether the race would be on today, but decided to go anyway. On the whole I had to drive a lot slower to get there but thankfully I had allowed plenty of time. As I was on the M42 doing 70 mph I went past a SPECS camera and I thought, that's a bit strange you only see them at roadworks normally, before realising there were loads of signs covered in a blanket of snow (these were difficult to see as well as they were white on white). On came the brakes, but then the next question was to decide what speed to brake to, 40, 50 or 60?? On the way home the snow had melted off the signs so I now know it to be 50mph. I'm now expecting a lovely letter from the Police very shortly, but will definitely fight that one if it comes. I don't condone speed (especially since I work in the industry), but there were literally no signs (that anyone could see) to indicate a speed restriction. Anyway, back to the race...
I got to Leamington and if anything there was even more snow. Thankfully the race was still on, but I would guess it must have been a close call. The start was in a field with a small surfaced track which didn't have any snow on it. I made sure I wasn't on the front line at the start this time as I didn't want to run like a headless chicken as I normally do. About 20 people set off quite fast and I decided to just do my own thing. As the race markings were every km I decided to base my pace on 3.30 mins per kilometre as its easy to work out, even though it is 35 minute pace and well ahead of my pb. I went through the first km in 3.22 so although a touch quick I was comfortable with my start. Bit by bit I started to catch the smaller groups ahead of me, not so much because I was speeding up but more because others slowed down. Early on I decided to take a quick breather behind the runners I caught before moving on. It was clear quite early on that my knee was giving me no trouble, but the off road bit around the golf course was very wet with the odd patch of ice, so I was careful with the sharp bends.
Kilometres 2 & 3 were run at roughly 3.30 min/km pace (5.38 miling), but then I had a bad fourth kilometre as it was mainly uphill and the surface was quite uneven. I think at that stage I was about 8 secs behind target pace which is normally a bad sign when that happens. However the next kilometre to half way was much quicker as it was mostly downhill and the advantage was regained. I think I went through half way in about 17.24, so about 6 seconds ahead of my pre race baseline. It was at this stage that I thought I'd really give 35 minutes a go although meant I needed a good second half. I was feeling strong at that point as I was still catching people up as we headed onto the roads in town. Just as we headed into town I caught sight of the race leaders bicycle at the front of the field and could work out I was 8th and about 30-40 secs behind the leader although the people ahead were well spread out. Bit by bit I worked my way up to 6th and although my lungs were really burning after 8km I still felt reasonably strong. It was also at this stage that I was about 18 seconds ahead of target pace so knew that not only was I going to smash my pb, but also I was almost certainly going to run sub 35 minutes.
Just after 8km I managed to overtake one more person to be fifth and was bit by bit catching 3rd and 4th placed runners, although they were some way ahead and of course the pace differential becomes less and less so takes longer to catch people up. In the end I ran out of distance and I finished in the field by the river in several inches of snow in about 34.35.
I'm really pleased with my run, partly because I felt so strong throughout, partly because of my time and smashed my pb in the process, but also because of how I ran the race. I'm pretty sure that I wasn't any slower than the race leaders in the second half and it appears the second part of the race was faster than the first half. I think the first 5km was done in about 17.23 and the second 5km in 17.10ish. I'm not entirely sure of my exact race time other than it was 34.3x. It also means that I will now have a UK ranking for the 10k distance, probably around 1,300 by the end of the year. I'm convinced that Leamington is not the fastest course around so hopefully there may be a bit better to come. I think the difference between now and last year is that although I'm not that much quicker my overall fitness and form has improved considerably meaning that I can hold the same pace for longer.
I'll take tomorrow off and probably Tuesday too to give my knee a rest even though I didn't notice anything during the race. Once I know my final time I'll update my blog and I know there will be loads of photos so will add these in due course.
Anyway, I woke up at 6.45am to find a blanket of snow outside, clearing it off the car showed that there must have been 3-4 inches, although the road surfaces were a bit better. I had wondered whether the race would be on today, but decided to go anyway. On the whole I had to drive a lot slower to get there but thankfully I had allowed plenty of time. As I was on the M42 doing 70 mph I went past a SPECS camera and I thought, that's a bit strange you only see them at roadworks normally, before realising there were loads of signs covered in a blanket of snow (these were difficult to see as well as they were white on white). On came the brakes, but then the next question was to decide what speed to brake to, 40, 50 or 60?? On the way home the snow had melted off the signs so I now know it to be 50mph. I'm now expecting a lovely letter from the Police very shortly, but will definitely fight that one if it comes. I don't condone speed (especially since I work in the industry), but there were literally no signs (that anyone could see) to indicate a speed restriction. Anyway, back to the race...
I got to Leamington and if anything there was even more snow. Thankfully the race was still on, but I would guess it must have been a close call. The start was in a field with a small surfaced track which didn't have any snow on it. I made sure I wasn't on the front line at the start this time as I didn't want to run like a headless chicken as I normally do. About 20 people set off quite fast and I decided to just do my own thing. As the race markings were every km I decided to base my pace on 3.30 mins per kilometre as its easy to work out, even though it is 35 minute pace and well ahead of my pb. I went through the first km in 3.22 so although a touch quick I was comfortable with my start. Bit by bit I started to catch the smaller groups ahead of me, not so much because I was speeding up but more because others slowed down. Early on I decided to take a quick breather behind the runners I caught before moving on. It was clear quite early on that my knee was giving me no trouble, but the off road bit around the golf course was very wet with the odd patch of ice, so I was careful with the sharp bends.
Kilometres 2 & 3 were run at roughly 3.30 min/km pace (5.38 miling), but then I had a bad fourth kilometre as it was mainly uphill and the surface was quite uneven. I think at that stage I was about 8 secs behind target pace which is normally a bad sign when that happens. However the next kilometre to half way was much quicker as it was mostly downhill and the advantage was regained. I think I went through half way in about 17.24, so about 6 seconds ahead of my pre race baseline. It was at this stage that I thought I'd really give 35 minutes a go although meant I needed a good second half. I was feeling strong at that point as I was still catching people up as we headed onto the roads in town. Just as we headed into town I caught sight of the race leaders bicycle at the front of the field and could work out I was 8th and about 30-40 secs behind the leader although the people ahead were well spread out. Bit by bit I worked my way up to 6th and although my lungs were really burning after 8km I still felt reasonably strong. It was also at this stage that I was about 18 seconds ahead of target pace so knew that not only was I going to smash my pb, but also I was almost certainly going to run sub 35 minutes.
Just after 8km I managed to overtake one more person to be fifth and was bit by bit catching 3rd and 4th placed runners, although they were some way ahead and of course the pace differential becomes less and less so takes longer to catch people up. In the end I ran out of distance and I finished in the field by the river in several inches of snow in about 34.35.
I'm really pleased with my run, partly because I felt so strong throughout, partly because of my time and smashed my pb in the process, but also because of how I ran the race. I'm pretty sure that I wasn't any slower than the race leaders in the second half and it appears the second part of the race was faster than the first half. I think the first 5km was done in about 17.23 and the second 5km in 17.10ish. I'm not entirely sure of my exact race time other than it was 34.3x. It also means that I will now have a UK ranking for the 10k distance, probably around 1,300 by the end of the year. I'm convinced that Leamington is not the fastest course around so hopefully there may be a bit better to come. I think the difference between now and last year is that although I'm not that much quicker my overall fitness and form has improved considerably meaning that I can hold the same pace for longer.
I'll take tomorrow off and probably Tuesday too to give my knee a rest even though I didn't notice anything during the race. Once I know my final time I'll update my blog and I know there will be loads of photos so will add these in due course.
100th Post and Injury
Sorry I haven't posted to my blog recently, unfortunately silence usually means injury and this is no exception. Whenever this happens I tend to feel in the doldrums and don't want to post anything...
What would be the week before last I started off on Tuesday with my usual 10k blast. I absolutely demolished my 10.2k best time on that course and when I worked out the equivalent for exactly 10k I found I was only 6 seconds off my race pb in a time of 36 minutes exactly! I was absolutely flying! The following day I ran from work back to home (11.5 miles) and again in a new pb time, although this session I rarely push very hard.
On Thursday I did another 10.2km this time in a more relaxing time of 42.23. The tightness of my calf's have been getting steadily worse since when I first posted about this a month or so ago. It got to the point of me calling someone who is a runner who specialises in sports massages to see whether he can sort them out. He reckons its nothing to be worried about on 60mpw distance and is to be expected. Anyway the next day I was walking from my bus stop to work (about 15 mins) when I could feel an odd locking sensation in my left knee (the bad one). Its not locking out in the literal sense, its the tendons running on either side of the leg going in and out of the knee just not working correctly. Anyway, I thought no more of it, and Friday was a rest day anyway. On Saturday I went for what was my 21 mile long run. I have to say the conditions were pretty bad, strong winds and driving rain in what was just above freezing temperatures. Everything started off ok and I felt pretty good all of the way through then suddenly my left knee went. I knew instantly it was bad news so stopped straight away. I think it was after 13.5 miles that this happened. The downside was that this was my country run where I can be up to 6 miles from home. Thankfully at the point it happened I was just about to cross the main road which leads back home, about 2 miles away. I tried a very very slow jog a couple of times, and instantly I knew it was a no go. As a result I was faced with a 40 minute walk into the strong wind, with just my running clothes, no gloves and it tipping it down. Needless to say the walk was one of the most unpleasant experiences I've experienced. By the time I got back, not only my hands but also my arms were numb. I was struggling to get the door key out of my pocket, and then to open the door. I had to head straight into the shower to get some temperature back into my body as I was fairly hypothermic. I'm not going to pretend that I was near unconscious or anything, but had I been any further from home in the countryside I could have been in real trouble.
As a result this week has been a total write off, although the only good thing coming from it is that it also gives my calf's a rest. The next problem is that I have a 10k at Leamington tomorrow. Its not a race I care about much, but obviously if I can run it I want to do it. I did a 3.5 mile evaluation run on Friday at a very light jog and the jury is still out. The clicking sensation in the tendon has gone, but the knee is still sore, probably as a result of some inflammation. Of course with the history of problems in that area I really shouldn't risk anything.
Anyway I think I'll risk tomorrow. Shit or bust as they say.
What would be the week before last I started off on Tuesday with my usual 10k blast. I absolutely demolished my 10.2k best time on that course and when I worked out the equivalent for exactly 10k I found I was only 6 seconds off my race pb in a time of 36 minutes exactly! I was absolutely flying! The following day I ran from work back to home (11.5 miles) and again in a new pb time, although this session I rarely push very hard.
On Thursday I did another 10.2km this time in a more relaxing time of 42.23. The tightness of my calf's have been getting steadily worse since when I first posted about this a month or so ago. It got to the point of me calling someone who is a runner who specialises in sports massages to see whether he can sort them out. He reckons its nothing to be worried about on 60mpw distance and is to be expected. Anyway the next day I was walking from my bus stop to work (about 15 mins) when I could feel an odd locking sensation in my left knee (the bad one). Its not locking out in the literal sense, its the tendons running on either side of the leg going in and out of the knee just not working correctly. Anyway, I thought no more of it, and Friday was a rest day anyway. On Saturday I went for what was my 21 mile long run. I have to say the conditions were pretty bad, strong winds and driving rain in what was just above freezing temperatures. Everything started off ok and I felt pretty good all of the way through then suddenly my left knee went. I knew instantly it was bad news so stopped straight away. I think it was after 13.5 miles that this happened. The downside was that this was my country run where I can be up to 6 miles from home. Thankfully at the point it happened I was just about to cross the main road which leads back home, about 2 miles away. I tried a very very slow jog a couple of times, and instantly I knew it was a no go. As a result I was faced with a 40 minute walk into the strong wind, with just my running clothes, no gloves and it tipping it down. Needless to say the walk was one of the most unpleasant experiences I've experienced. By the time I got back, not only my hands but also my arms were numb. I was struggling to get the door key out of my pocket, and then to open the door. I had to head straight into the shower to get some temperature back into my body as I was fairly hypothermic. I'm not going to pretend that I was near unconscious or anything, but had I been any further from home in the countryside I could have been in real trouble.
As a result this week has been a total write off, although the only good thing coming from it is that it also gives my calf's a rest. The next problem is that I have a 10k at Leamington tomorrow. Its not a race I care about much, but obviously if I can run it I want to do it. I did a 3.5 mile evaluation run on Friday at a very light jog and the jury is still out. The clicking sensation in the tendon has gone, but the knee is still sore, probably as a result of some inflammation. Of course with the history of problems in that area I really shouldn't risk anything.
Anyway I think I'll risk tomorrow. Shit or bust as they say.
Sunday, 23 March 2008
A Hard Week
Another 5 day week this week, but of a far higher quality...
On Monday I had the day off as per the norm at the moment. The following day I did a hard 10km session averaging 6.10 min miles.
On Wednesday I did a 12.5 mile route at an average of 6.39 min miles and felt pretty good all of the way round which was surprising considering I had such a hard session the day before. This was followed up on Thursday by going out for a 7 mile run on my 'summer' country route averaging 6.33 min miles. Again I felt pretty good all of the way round. I hadn't done this route for a while as its not really possible to run here safely in the dark and the road becomes almost impassable with heavy rain. As I had the week off work, it was good to do this route again.
Friday was another rest day before deciding to go for a long 20 mile run on Saturday. I haven't done one of these in training for a while, the last one about 2 months ago before tapering for the Draycote Marathon. As seems to be normal I don't particularly look forward to these runs, but its just a case of going out and doing it. I decided to do a new route and just guessed how far it was. I felt fine for the first 12 or so miles before it was really windy for about 3 miles with virtually no respite. The only other thing of note was that it snowed on and off for the the first 6 miles. I finished my run in 2hrs 14 mins so knew it was going to be under 20 miles, but sometimes its best not to over plan these things as I do have a habit of trying to do a certain number of miles in x minutes. Afterwards I measured the route on mapmyrun and found it to be 19.5 miles so averaged 6.52 min miles which I'm pretty pleased with, especially considering the wind. I did carry an electrolyte replacement drink around with me that didn't include carbs/sugars as I want to train my body to do without and make better use of fat burn. As it happens I didn't drink any liquid whatsoever, so whether this was a brave or stupid decision I'll let you decide!
The final run of the week was today's recovery run. I say recovery as I did 12.7 miles at an average of 6.33 min miles so it was way way too fast, but still a good run to end the week with after the long run the previous day.
Total mileage for the week is 58.5 which was fairly comfortable, even though it is my fourth longest week ever and only included 5 runs. Hopefully more of the same next week, although I'll be back at work!
On Monday I had the day off as per the norm at the moment. The following day I did a hard 10km session averaging 6.10 min miles.
On Wednesday I did a 12.5 mile route at an average of 6.39 min miles and felt pretty good all of the way round which was surprising considering I had such a hard session the day before. This was followed up on Thursday by going out for a 7 mile run on my 'summer' country route averaging 6.33 min miles. Again I felt pretty good all of the way round. I hadn't done this route for a while as its not really possible to run here safely in the dark and the road becomes almost impassable with heavy rain. As I had the week off work, it was good to do this route again.
Friday was another rest day before deciding to go for a long 20 mile run on Saturday. I haven't done one of these in training for a while, the last one about 2 months ago before tapering for the Draycote Marathon. As seems to be normal I don't particularly look forward to these runs, but its just a case of going out and doing it. I decided to do a new route and just guessed how far it was. I felt fine for the first 12 or so miles before it was really windy for about 3 miles with virtually no respite. The only other thing of note was that it snowed on and off for the the first 6 miles. I finished my run in 2hrs 14 mins so knew it was going to be under 20 miles, but sometimes its best not to over plan these things as I do have a habit of trying to do a certain number of miles in x minutes. Afterwards I measured the route on mapmyrun and found it to be 19.5 miles so averaged 6.52 min miles which I'm pretty pleased with, especially considering the wind. I did carry an electrolyte replacement drink around with me that didn't include carbs/sugars as I want to train my body to do without and make better use of fat burn. As it happens I didn't drink any liquid whatsoever, so whether this was a brave or stupid decision I'll let you decide!
The final run of the week was today's recovery run. I say recovery as I did 12.7 miles at an average of 6.33 min miles so it was way way too fast, but still a good run to end the week with after the long run the previous day.
Total mileage for the week is 58.5 which was fairly comfortable, even though it is my fourth longest week ever and only included 5 runs. Hopefully more of the same next week, although I'll be back at work!
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Back on it
Couldn't be bothered to post last week as it was just going to be the usual mindless drivel.
After the half marathon my legs were fairly stiff so didn't run on the Monday and wasn't going to on the Tuesday either before having a late change of heart. As I've said in earlier posts I've lost a lot of motivation after working so hard for the Draycote Marathon I've been finding almost any excuse not to go out for a run. Anyway this first run was my usual 10k route at an easy 7.12 min mile pace.
The following day I ran the 12 or so miles from work back home. I normally do it in the other direction, at the crack of dawn and with a rucksack. I managed to run home in a record time of 1.21, but to be honest the majority of the difference was due to not wearing the rucksack. My legs felt dead most of the way round and it was a bit of a struggle if I'm honest. I think part of this might just have been as a result of having done a full day at work and the half marathon still in my legs. Still, I averaged 7.08 min miles.
On Thursday I went out on the usual 10km loop again. I was intending to run just under 7 min miles, but as often seems to be the case with me I just ended up going bit by bit faster so it ended up more like a tempo run. It was a good session though and I averaged 6.36 min miles. Friday was another rest day.
Saturday is normally my long run day, but as I'm not working towards any long events at the moment I settled with just under 13 miles but at a decent average of 6.51 min miles. My legs were quite tired early on, but eventually got going about half way in. On Sunday I did the same route, but managed to go a minute or so faster at 6.47 min miles. The total mileage was therefore 49.5 for the week.
I started this week off with my usual 10km route on Monday at an average 6.45 min mile pace. The weather wasn't very pleasant as we had the storm the forecasters had been harping on about for days so ended up being quite wet. During the run I could feel both my calf's tighten up and were quite sore when I finished. I suspect it was probably in part down to the wet clothes and the cold tighten the muscles.
As a result I rested both Tuesday and Wednesday which seemed to do the trick. I decided that if the tightness did not sort itself out by Thursday then I'd just run through it - I don't have any major races planned at the moment and the injury itself are just tight calf's rather than me hobbling about the place. The rest days seemed to do the job until a mile or two into my run on Thursday when it returned again. That aside I did a new route of 10.5 miles and other than my calf's felt pretty good, probably down to the two days of rest and did it at an easy 7.03 min mile pace.
I followed this up on Friday with my usual 9 mile loop into the park at a faster 6.33 min mile pace, although it didn't feel that fast. Only other thing of note was that the wild ponies were on the road side which is the first time I've seen them in that part of the park as its densely forested. I tried to keep my distance as they are quite nervous creatures.
Yesterday I did another newish route (more like putting bits of various routes together) and set off earlyish for me. My legs were dead all the way route and I put it down to the previous couple of days training plus little in the way of breakfast. My calf's were still very tight not helping things. Anyway I did 13.2 miles at an average of 6.55 min mile pace.
Today I did 12.8 miles at an average of 6.42 and felt a lot better, except for the calf's again and now I've got some tenderness in my foot. Total mileage for the week is 52 miles, not bad considering the whole week could have easily been a write off.
I think that I'm back into the routine of things now so hopefully I wont have to drag myself out as much anymore. I've also been thinking that the last couple of weeks training have been pretty poor. Having just looked at my diary I think I'm being a bit hard on myself as this week for instance was my fifth longest week ever and at a far harder pace than other similar weeks. I think my misconception has been down to dropping to only 5 sessions a week (as opposed to 6), and the feeling of having to drag myself out. The times I'm doing are suggesting that my fitness has improved another notch in the last few weeks, so will be interesting to see how I do in race conditions at some point over the next few weeks, assuming I'm relatively injury free.
After the half marathon my legs were fairly stiff so didn't run on the Monday and wasn't going to on the Tuesday either before having a late change of heart. As I've said in earlier posts I've lost a lot of motivation after working so hard for the Draycote Marathon I've been finding almost any excuse not to go out for a run. Anyway this first run was my usual 10k route at an easy 7.12 min mile pace.
The following day I ran the 12 or so miles from work back home. I normally do it in the other direction, at the crack of dawn and with a rucksack. I managed to run home in a record time of 1.21, but to be honest the majority of the difference was due to not wearing the rucksack. My legs felt dead most of the way round and it was a bit of a struggle if I'm honest. I think part of this might just have been as a result of having done a full day at work and the half marathon still in my legs. Still, I averaged 7.08 min miles.
On Thursday I went out on the usual 10km loop again. I was intending to run just under 7 min miles, but as often seems to be the case with me I just ended up going bit by bit faster so it ended up more like a tempo run. It was a good session though and I averaged 6.36 min miles. Friday was another rest day.
Saturday is normally my long run day, but as I'm not working towards any long events at the moment I settled with just under 13 miles but at a decent average of 6.51 min miles. My legs were quite tired early on, but eventually got going about half way in. On Sunday I did the same route, but managed to go a minute or so faster at 6.47 min miles. The total mileage was therefore 49.5 for the week.
I started this week off with my usual 10km route on Monday at an average 6.45 min mile pace. The weather wasn't very pleasant as we had the storm the forecasters had been harping on about for days so ended up being quite wet. During the run I could feel both my calf's tighten up and were quite sore when I finished. I suspect it was probably in part down to the wet clothes and the cold tighten the muscles.
As a result I rested both Tuesday and Wednesday which seemed to do the trick. I decided that if the tightness did not sort itself out by Thursday then I'd just run through it - I don't have any major races planned at the moment and the injury itself are just tight calf's rather than me hobbling about the place. The rest days seemed to do the job until a mile or two into my run on Thursday when it returned again. That aside I did a new route of 10.5 miles and other than my calf's felt pretty good, probably down to the two days of rest and did it at an easy 7.03 min mile pace.
I followed this up on Friday with my usual 9 mile loop into the park at a faster 6.33 min mile pace, although it didn't feel that fast. Only other thing of note was that the wild ponies were on the road side which is the first time I've seen them in that part of the park as its densely forested. I tried to keep my distance as they are quite nervous creatures.
Yesterday I did another newish route (more like putting bits of various routes together) and set off earlyish for me. My legs were dead all the way route and I put it down to the previous couple of days training plus little in the way of breakfast. My calf's were still very tight not helping things. Anyway I did 13.2 miles at an average of 6.55 min mile pace.
Today I did 12.8 miles at an average of 6.42 and felt a lot better, except for the calf's again and now I've got some tenderness in my foot. Total mileage for the week is 52 miles, not bad considering the whole week could have easily been a write off.
I think that I'm back into the routine of things now so hopefully I wont have to drag myself out as much anymore. I've also been thinking that the last couple of weeks training have been pretty poor. Having just looked at my diary I think I'm being a bit hard on myself as this week for instance was my fifth longest week ever and at a far harder pace than other similar weeks. I think my misconception has been down to dropping to only 5 sessions a week (as opposed to 6), and the feeling of having to drag myself out. The times I'm doing are suggesting that my fitness has improved another notch in the last few weeks, so will be interesting to see how I do in race conditions at some point over the next few weeks, assuming I'm relatively injury free.
Monday, 3 March 2008
MK Half Photos
Results are now out and I came 35th out of 2,000.
Well it turns out that I actually beat my 5km PB by 6 seconds which is a bit embarrasing. At the 10km mark I was 13 seconds outside my 10km PB.
And now for the photos. After my fashion faux pas at the Draycote Marathon I opted for a little black number this time...
This was around 5 miles in. Just been overtaken, again...
Not far from the finish
Well it turns out that I actually beat my 5km PB by 6 seconds which is a bit embarrasing. At the 10km mark I was 13 seconds outside my 10km PB.
And now for the photos. After my fashion faux pas at the Draycote Marathon I opted for a little black number this time...
This was around 5 miles in. Just been overtaken, again...
Not far from the finish
Saturday, 1 March 2008
Milton Keynes Half
As my legs were feeling really drained the first week after the marathon I decided in the end to do nothing this week - yep zip. As a result I've let go a bit and have been eating just about everything that's bad for me, and been drinking a fair bit too. Although I wont have lost much fitness I've no doubt put on a couple of pounds this week that will need burning off when I start re-training properly.
As you can probably tell I really wasn't bothered about the Milton Keynes Half and right up to the middle of Saturday I was thinking about not bothering to turn up. Normally when I feel like this it means I end up running really badly as the motivation just isn't there.
On the day I went down with a friend from work who is using the event as part of his training for a marathon at the end of April. As I was warming up my bad knee jarred slightly and felt quite sore which was a bad omen. I lined up at the start and tried to stretch it a bit and a few minutes later we were off.
Basically I set off way way too quickly and did the first mile in 5.30 and the next mile in 5.45. As a result I could feel my legs not feeling all that great quite early on. However I managed to tag onto with a group of 5 or so runners and stayed with them to about 5-6 miles when they gradually went ahead, or more accurately I started to slow down. In retrospect I shouldn't have tagged with them as it was too quick for me and although I could keep with them for a few miles they were too fast.
I went through the 10km barrier in 36.00 dead, which underlined how fast I went off at the start as it was only 6 seconds slower than my pb!! Bit by bit I was slowing down after this point and I didn't overtake anyone after 4 miles but managed to lose loads of places which is never a great feeling. Between 8-9 miles it was very windy and I had a really bad mile. It also blew any remaining energy out of my legs.
Although I'm painting a really bad picture I was still way ahead of my half pb at this stage and was probably on for about 1.18.30 (probably 1.17 after 10km). That said, I was slowing down considerably so knew I was realistically not going to run less than 1.20
I went through 10 miles in 59.53 so in fact I actually beat one of my targets to run 10 miles in less than 60 minutes! Not much else to report other than I was just getting slower and slower, although about 600 metres before the finish I could hear the first lady just behind me and about to overtake. I used this as a spur to put in a bit of a kick and managed to leave her behind up to the finish. In the end I ran 1.20.30 which is a new pb by 2.07 minutes. My average pace was 6.09 min miles.
I'm not particularly impressed with the way I ran even though it resulted in a pb, in fact I'd say it was fairly diabolical. Just went off too quickly plain and simple. In fact the last 6 miles of my half marathon were probably no quicker than my last 6 miles of my marathon at Draycote. It was never a particularly important race for me so I'm not massively bothered, although just disappointed I wasn't more tactically astute. One positive though was that if I ran the first 10km only just a few seconds behind my pb for that distance, then it looks reasonably certain that I'd have a good chance of running quicker. Its slightly surprising as I thought my 10km pb would be difficult to beat as I've focused away from speed for endurance.
There were a few cameras around the course so if there are any photos I will post them as of when I find them. The course also used chip timing with 5km split times so will add them tomorrow evening.
As you can probably tell I really wasn't bothered about the Milton Keynes Half and right up to the middle of Saturday I was thinking about not bothering to turn up. Normally when I feel like this it means I end up running really badly as the motivation just isn't there.
On the day I went down with a friend from work who is using the event as part of his training for a marathon at the end of April. As I was warming up my bad knee jarred slightly and felt quite sore which was a bad omen. I lined up at the start and tried to stretch it a bit and a few minutes later we were off.
Basically I set off way way too quickly and did the first mile in 5.30 and the next mile in 5.45. As a result I could feel my legs not feeling all that great quite early on. However I managed to tag onto with a group of 5 or so runners and stayed with them to about 5-6 miles when they gradually went ahead, or more accurately I started to slow down. In retrospect I shouldn't have tagged with them as it was too quick for me and although I could keep with them for a few miles they were too fast.
I went through the 10km barrier in 36.00 dead, which underlined how fast I went off at the start as it was only 6 seconds slower than my pb!! Bit by bit I was slowing down after this point and I didn't overtake anyone after 4 miles but managed to lose loads of places which is never a great feeling. Between 8-9 miles it was very windy and I had a really bad mile. It also blew any remaining energy out of my legs.
Although I'm painting a really bad picture I was still way ahead of my half pb at this stage and was probably on for about 1.18.30 (probably 1.17 after 10km). That said, I was slowing down considerably so knew I was realistically not going to run less than 1.20
I went through 10 miles in 59.53 so in fact I actually beat one of my targets to run 10 miles in less than 60 minutes! Not much else to report other than I was just getting slower and slower, although about 600 metres before the finish I could hear the first lady just behind me and about to overtake. I used this as a spur to put in a bit of a kick and managed to leave her behind up to the finish. In the end I ran 1.20.30 which is a new pb by 2.07 minutes. My average pace was 6.09 min miles.
I'm not particularly impressed with the way I ran even though it resulted in a pb, in fact I'd say it was fairly diabolical. Just went off too quickly plain and simple. In fact the last 6 miles of my half marathon were probably no quicker than my last 6 miles of my marathon at Draycote. It was never a particularly important race for me so I'm not massively bothered, although just disappointed I wasn't more tactically astute. One positive though was that if I ran the first 10km only just a few seconds behind my pb for that distance, then it looks reasonably certain that I'd have a good chance of running quicker. Its slightly surprising as I thought my 10km pb would be difficult to beat as I've focused away from speed for endurance.
There were a few cameras around the course so if there are any photos I will post them as of when I find them. The course also used chip timing with 5km split times so will add them tomorrow evening.
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