Archives for 5 miles category
Posted on May 13, 2012 under 5 miles, Season's Best |
After the aborted run in the week, I wanted to get a substantial final run in before a quiet week leading up to the Bupa Great Manchester Run 2012. Weather looked nice and sunny so planned to run 5 miles, run how I felt and just see how it went.
Set off and did feel a little rusty, hoped I wouldn’t have to abort again. Just kept the pace nice and easy at first and eased into it, tackled the gentle inclines and began to pick up pace as I got into the run. Changed my mind about the route along the way, as I didn’t want to get stranded or have to run further than planned. Once I got to 4k I was feeling good, and knew all I had to do was run just under 6 mins per km to beat my season’s best.
Feeling really good, and noticing I was clocking 5:45s I started to realise I could be in with a shout of not just sub 48, but sub 47! I was really mindful of my calf and not wanting to risk an injury before the race, but also felt I needed to test running at pace out a bit more, so I maintained the pace while keeping my stride length relatively short.
1km to go and I was on target. Up to that point I had been paying attention to my breathing, taking in huge gulps of air as fast as possible, but now drifted into a state where I just let me body do the breathing, and I was basically running anaerobically as my lungs couldn’t get oxygen to my legs fast enough. Good practice for the last km of a race! Felt myself drift into a sort of zen state and just kept myself going, mindful that the end point was 8.05km and not 8, so I quickened up to make sure I got inside the 47 minute mark and did so with 11 seconds to spare.
Took a while to recover but felt good to hit another season’s best. Now I need to force myelf to do 1, and 2 at most easy jogs in the week, and be nice and fresh for race day!
Posted on Apr 29, 2012 under 5 miles, All Weather Running, Tempo Runs |
This was the weekend the spring weather turned to winter, the weekend the storms came, the air turned chill, slates were blown off roofs and it poured to the point of floods.
Perfect weather for a run then… In fact I was quite sanguine about going out and doing a swift 5 miles before having a nice quiet afternoon, so I went out and in about 10 seconds my whole body was numb with the cold. I thought about changing but thought I would soon be running and would warm up – and then the Garmin decided it would take about a mile of walking before it found a signal. I set off, aware my bladder was twitching in the freezing gusts of wind (I know, TMI) and so after 1k I stopped the Garmin and nipped into the shopping centre toilets.
Set off once the Garmin found a signal again, there were many points where I thought of aborting the run and just going home. But I soldiered on and ran into some really nasty headwinds. Drivers took pity on me and let me cross the road. At some point I found a rhythm and thought I might make it up to 5 miles, and noticed my pace was increasing imperceptibly. One lap was helped by gusts of wind behind me, but beyond that it seemed to be my legs that were turning over nice and quickly, although still with pretty short strides.
The last 2k were run in 5:45 and 5:42 which was promising, I felt good and the time was 47:57 – the fastest 5 miles since I did sub 45 in April 2010 when I was at 10k PB fitness – since then I have not managed to run anywhere near that fitness level, so it is hopefully a good sign that my running, apart from the blip with the calf, is starting to progress and I will be able to think about some kind of target soon. Still looking at sub 55 for Great Manchester Run, which in today’s evidence might just be possible!
Posted on Apr 15, 2012 under 5 miles, Regular Runs |
Having already run 11 miles this week, I could have been forgiven for staying in and reading, or eating carrots, but I felt like at least doing an easy run and getting some more miles on the clock!
Had been sunny earlier but as I stepped outside in my shorts I felt chilled to the bone and there was an icy edge to the wind, especially apparent when the sun went behind some very dark clouds. Undaunted, I donned my shades and set off at a leisurely pace and just elected to run random streets with a vague aim of an easy 5 miles in my head.
Before I reached 1km I was feeling some kind of weird sensation around my lower calf, and figured this might be due to the chill in the air, so stopped for a few moments and gave it a good rub. I kept the pace to a minimum, and almost decided to go back home, but figured I would keep going and just monitor the leg without doing anything heroic. There were a few odd slight twinges here and there, but figured it may well have been down to the muscles getting a bit chilled – it was pretty cold, so cold it wasn’t until about half an hour into the run that I broke into a sweat!
I felt pretty good all the way round and barely got out of breath, there were a few hills which I coasted up and thought were pretty easy compared to how challenging I was finding the same hills last year. This year my running seems to be coming much easier, possibly because I am not as obsessed with times or pace.
Accelerated a little in the last 2km but nothing crazy, and coasted to a stop with my breathing barely stretched above normal, making for a very easy and enjoyable 5 miles, and nicely warmed up by the end!
Posted on Apr 10, 2012 under 5 miles, Regular Runs, Season's Best |
Had meant to run on Sunday but events took over! And was out till very late yesterday, so the post Easter Tuesday was the day to get back to some running!
Wanted to do 5 miles, but had no target in mind, just wanted to see how I felt and run accordingly. Set off and felt a bit tentative at first, but started to subtly pick up pace, even though the first km went by in a pretty slow 6:30 and the Garmin seemed to tick over a lot later than usual on a my regular starting route. Felt that my body was responding and decided to take a slightly hilly route, with a big downhill but some uphills to compensate for the easy ride! The next KM’s started to tick over quicker, with 6:04 and 6:09, and the pace was thereabouts, with just a little slowing during the hills.
As I was getting towards the business end of the run I could see that I was possibly going to be able to achieve a sub 50 5 miles, something I’ve only done once before this season, and I had to be careful not to get carried away and sprint, ever mindful of the calf, but I did pick up the pace and with 3k to go it was well on the cards. I felt really good, breathing hard but not struggling at all, and I did the penultimate km in under 6 minutes, which meant I had about 6.5 minutes to do the last km! As much as I eased off the gas a little, figuring sub 50 would be good enough at this point, at one stage it looked like I would hit sub 49 so I had a stretch of running pretty fast without sprinting, and then eased off the gas as it looked like I would make 8km easy – of course too late I realised I needed another 50 metres to make up the full 5 miles, but it was too late so I just coasted to a stop at 49:08 having done the last km in 5:40 – despite the tough hills and easing off at times for fear of going too hard too soon in my recovery, I finished with a season’s best 49:08, so am pretty much where I was before the calf injury, if not better, and if I can keep my progress steady, I can start to think about maintaining that kind of finishing pace for longer, and look forward to perhaps beating last year’s time in the Great Manchester Run 2012!
Posted on Apr 05, 2012 under 5 miles, Hill Work, Injuries, Regular Runs |
Am starting to hope my calf injury might be a thing of the past!
Was out early today socialising, so was looking forward to an early evening run. Although it was cold early on, and there is still snow on yonder Pennines (Snake Pass closed!), the sun came out and although chilly, was bright. Put on shorts and set off, felt really cold, but Garmin found a signal quite quickly so could get going and warm up a bit.
Took in an incline that sometimes leaves me gasping at about 1.5k and felt fine, then headed down the long hill into the woods, and negotiated the loop by the river. At one point a little dog’s owner started calling it, and then it popped out of the undergrowth and started barking and snapping at me, running alongside me. The owner was very apologetic but I waved it off quite nonchalantly, funny little pooch!
Headed through the woods and experienced some kind of pain around my left chest, which disappeared when I stopped briefly, so figured it was some kind of stitch, and I felt fine so carried on and it went away. Saw some well behaved dogs, and reached 5k just as I got to the bottom of Stockport Road, a big hill which has defeated me on recent outings.
I took it slow and steady, keeping the legs turning over, and got up the really steep bit on one piece, then carried on, noting that the next km turned over in 6:36, exactly the same as the last 2, so I had managed to maintain my pace up the hill! That seemed to be a springboard for the last stage of the run, and although I was careful not to lengthen my stride (and therefore stretch the calf muscles) too much, I did get them turning over quicker, and did the penultimate KM in 5:51 and the last one in 5:45, the fastest couple since the calf went twang.
Had hoped to come in under 51 mins but it didn’t really matter to go a few seconds over, another 5 miler in the bag, 10 miles for the week, and might even add a few more on Sunday. Still need to get my confidence back in terms of running at pace and really pushing it, will just keep up with regular runs and perhaps run a little quicker for a few KMs in the middle stages.
So far so good!
Posted on Apr 02, 2012 under 5 miles, Milestones, Regular Runs |
Went walking yesterday and my feet had felt a little tired, but wanted to get a run in today, and take advantage of having Monday off Uni for the first time in a while!
Felt pretty cold out there, so was glad to get going to warm up, the first km ticked over in 6:31 which was pretty good considering I felt I was just tip toeing to warm up. At about 2.5km I was glad I had a Harvest chewy bar in my pocket, as I had felt I might need a sugar boost along the way, eating this will breathing hard was interesting, but it seemed to do the trick as I eventually felt my hunger pangs disappear and felt pretty good all through the run after a few minutes of feeling a bit hungry.
The 4th km ticked over in 6:12 and there were times when I noticed my pace go to 5:50 per km, whereupon I slowed deliberately, not wanting to push too much too soon and not wishing to experience any sudden twangs in my calf – as it was maintaining a pace of just under 6:25 and doing 5 miles would be enough at this stage, no need for heroics.
I felt I could run at that pace all day, and in the last km increased the foot turnover a little bit, midful not to stretch my legs too much, and I managed an uphill segment and a last km of 6:03 without any calf niggles. I did feel one minor something or other about half way, but it could almost have been a ghost in my mind, and there was nothing running the last km, and no pain on stretching afterwards.
All in all good to get past the 5 mile milestone, as the last 5 mile run was when my calf went, and incredible I am running it now when 5 weeks ago I couldn’t walk. Time wasn’t all that far off my season’s best for 5 miles either, only a couple of minutes out, which bodes well, so if I can just keep upping the distance and pace very gradually I should be OK fingers crossed!
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 under 5 miles, Health, Tempo Runs |
Just when it all starts coming together, my calf goes TWANG!
After the other day’s successful intervals session, and realising I wouldn’t be able to run much in the coming week due to some commitments, I decided a nice afternoon 5 miler would round off a good week of running. I didn’t set out to run it fast, or as a tempo run, but just wanted to get some miles under my belt which would take me just over 10 miles for the week – nothing over ambitious in that, really.
Set off at a slow pace and felt pretty good, first KM clicked over in 6:03 and thereafter I just seemed to start getting quicker without really trying. KM’s were ticking over nicely and though I was breathing hard I felt I could sustain it. At one point I was overtaken by a ten year old girl with her dad encouraging her on a bike, this may have been a bad omen and maybe I should have turned back then!
Kept going and with just 2.5k to go I was feeling great, running at some pace and feeling I would shatter the season’s best 5 mile time. There were some hills coming up, and I had thoughts of powering over them rather than dreading them, when suddenly my right foot landed and there was an explosion of heat and a tearing sensation in my calf. A few steps later I stopped, and had the presence of mind to stop the Garmin and realise that was it – RUN OVER. I massaged the calf but it hurt a bit to walk, and I needed to walk some distance to get to a bus stop, as I was quite a distance from my house and it was either walk about 2 miles or get the bus.
Eventually the bus came and I got home, but still quite a bit of pain in the calf, so took painkillers and put some ice on it. Checking the stats I had gone through 5k in 29:08 and had plenty left in the tank, so I seem to have finally got over the breathing and heart rate problems I had the other week, reached a point of feeling very fit and ready to go to the next level, when bang, or twang, something in my calf tears and now I have no idea how long I will be sidelined before I start the whole process of trying to get back to fitness YET AGAIN.
It feels like my body doesn’t want me to run sometimes. I guess I will have to hope this calf tear running injury is not too bad and that I can keep up the fitness I have worked hard to gain by doing some swimming.
Posted on Feb 19, 2012 under 5 miles, 5-10k, Health, Trail Running |
Just planned to run very easy and maybe do 11k, headed down to the woods at a very sedate pace and it was nice to have some scenery around, and see people out walking dogs and even people out on their horses. Was all nice and muddy!
Deliberately kept the pace slow, and felt fine, thinking the 3 rest days since my last struggle would see me nice and refreshed. Alas, when I hit 4k I started to feel wobbly, even though I was running 6:37 per km, not fast at all, and the lead up had been downhill.
Just tried to keep going then in the middle of the woods knew I would need to get back and tried to figure out a way of avoiding the big uphill on the way back. Found a path out of the woods but was feeling a bit rubbish by this point so walked up the big long hill, then started to trot again but found myself having to stop every 500 metres or so, felt thorougly puffed out and not great. And that was slowing down to 7 minutes per k.
Got out of the woods, so to speak, and just settle don completing 5 miles, which really seemed a long way off at times. Was really glad to finish and think a full rest week might be in order, as my body is not responding at the moment and might need some time to recover, which might be to do with the two longer/higher intensity runs last week.
Posted on Feb 09, 2012 under 5 miles, Milestones, Regular Runs, Season's Best |
Phew, at last one of those runs where things click into place and the work seems to be paying off!
Had some things on in the afternoon and some notes to write up when I got in, so had to make sure I ate something and then the clock was ticking to get a run in before it got too late in the evening. Was very cold out and had been utterly pouring with rain most of the day. Fortunately this turned to light drizzle so I got out, trying out the green supernovas I raced in last year, for a change. It was cold out, so cold in fact that the Garmin froze before it found a signal and I had to take the batteries out to restart the damn thing! Then it took ages to get going as yet another paranoid looking youth smoking weed walked past me…
Set off a bit quick, hoping to do at least 5k to get some kind of proper run under my belt, and settled into a comfortable rhythm, then took the risk of heading down a route that would take me in a big circle and be about 5 miles. Attacked the hill over the motorway bridge and passed another mad runner, and noticed the hill didn’t hurt TOO bad, then it was a case of coasting to the half way mark, which I got through in about 24 minutes, and figured that all I had to do was keep my pace and I could run sub 50 for the 5 miles. So far so good.
Was barely breaking into a sweat due to the cold and the light, refreshing drizzle, which was nice on my head but I had to keep wiping the Garmin with my sleeve. Mind you this Garmin, battered as it is, has been with me for some 4 years now so can’t complain! As I turned the corner to start the long straight back home I felt my energy dip a little and had to slow down, as I knew another torturous hill was coming before I was done. Had put in a few sub 6 minute kms but the Garmin told me I was slowing. Even so, when I had 2KM to go I calculated I could probably run them in 7 minutes each and still get under 50 minutes, so just tried to keep my pace as best I could.
The big motorway bridge at Denton Rock slowed me as much as I attacked it, and I briefly stopped at the top, before ploughing on and trying to inject some pace. I now knew I would get under 50 minutes it was just a question of by how much, and I wanted to finish relatively near home. Saw another mad runner and then it was just a matter of reaching the last oasis of streetlight so I could see the Garmin, and the 8.05KM ticked over in a time of 49:10. According to my records, I have not run a 5 miler anywhere near as quick as that since 2010, so it may be a sign that I still have some speed left in me as long as I can stay uninjured.
I recovered pretty quickly and felt good, so was really happy to break 50 minutes, and if I could have kept going it would have been 10k well under the hour. So my next targets are really a sub 49 5 miles and a sub hour 10k, and then I will start thinking about intervals as I look forward to the Great Manchester Run.
Posted on Feb 03, 2012 under 5 miles, 5-10k, Milestones, Regular Runs |
4 days since my last odd little run, and seeing as it was a bright day decided to do my first day time run in ages. With race season approaching I need to start getting used to running earlier, and while evening runs in the dark have had their own appeal during the winter, it was good to get out and have the sun in my eyes today!
This run saw me setting off in appropriate running kit, ie jogging pants and hoody top, thermal hat, and shades. It was at least half way and a big hill before I even started sweating it was that cold! Decided it would be nice to run through the woods so set off in that direction, enjoying the contrast between the glorious sunshine and the freezing air. The pavements were thankfully clear of ice but there were lots of water filled ruts and pockmarks in the woods that were filled with frozen solid water showing how cold it was.
Kept a steady pace not pushing too hard as all I really wanted to do was run 5 miles and enjoy it, not really too bothered about a time. At about 5k the massive Stockport Road incline loomed and I took the opportunity to pause for a second to remove my Nike running beanie hat! Then it was up the hill with just a little pause for breath as I crossed – it’s a tough hill that one!
Once the hill was negotiated I kept going, noticing my pace was a little quicker without more effort, which usually happens with hills! I was starting to feel the pinch a little, and so slowed and just concentrated on getting to 7k, so I could decide how to run the last KM. I put in some pace towards the end, nearly collided with a pair of pensioners coming round a corner to a chorus of “Good god he nearly frightened me to death” for which I dutifully apologised, and then it was a stagger to make the last half km.
Stopped my trust Garmin in a time of 51:56, one of my fastest 5 milers since November last year, and since it included the hill I am very pleased with it. Can’t recall a sub 50 five mile run for some time, and of course the heady days of almost running sub 40 are way back in 2010 – maybe 2012 will be the year I get some pace and speed endurance back 
