Been feeling a bit tired since the Park Run episode on Saturday (not least because I was up a lot earlier than usual for me!!)
So, went for a nice gentle paced recovery run, and it felt a bit tough after a few k – but that was to be expected as it was afterall the definition of a recovery run is to recover from something, I think – and it seemed to help.
It’s been quite some time since I’ve run a race, and been able to soak up the atmosphere, and just enjoy running with other people (and OK enjoy the odd duel at the finish line!). Ever since they started a Park Run at Woodbank Park, I’ve been toying with the idea of popping along, and sacrificing my Saturday morning lie in 
I was a bit wary of that park though, having done the Offerton 10k there last summer, and basically died on the hills 
Finally, yesterday, I decided, yes, I am going to go and do it! Only 5k, afterall!
I had decided to jog the 4 miles to Woodbank Park from my house as I thought this would neatly kill two birds with one stone – a) getting there and b) warming up! I got up a bit late though, the dog wanted to sniff everywhere when I took it out for a walk, I still thought I’d be fine, and set off. Checked the time on the Garmin. Oops, I was cutting it a bit fine I thought. And so instead of a leisurely warmup, I ended up in a race against the clock to even get to the starting line!! When I got to the bottom of the massive hill in Vernon park it was 8:50 and I was calculating whether to make a graceful sweep around the park and back home, or whether I could still make it! No heroics up the big hill, but I did feel a frisson of fear when I saw running things marked out – I was going to have to run up THIS. Again… Twice… I Took a wrong turning, started cursing as it was 8:58 and I couldn’t even see the track/start, and then saw a lady in running gear and asked her the time, turned out she was doing the run too. We both made it 9am, but they hadn’t started yet. A sprint to the start line ensued, then after about 1 minute to get my breath back and set one of the runners’ dogs barking at me, off we went!
I was feeling fine, and raced ahead of a lot of people on the track lap, and did the first k in 4:33 and was flying after my extended warmup! Great! Then we got the the hill going down into Vernon park. Oh crumbs, thought I (well not crumbs, but another word!) – All the memories of the three laps of 10k Hell from last summer swam into my mind, but at least it seemed they weren’t going to make us run the entire hill, ie all the way from the bottom of the park…
Anyway, I managed to get up the hill the first time, and by the time we got round to the second lap I was getting a second wind and really going, and started overtaking a few people and felt great. Then the hill got me again. Kept going, but really started to hurt and felt I was losing pace, I overtook an older guy, but then he took me and sped off. Garmin seemed to click over 5k mark a long time before I got near the track and the finish line, I stumbled over and felt knackered and forgot to even stop the Garmin, although my official time was 26:19, which given the crazy warmup and the hills, was not too bad, and is a target to aim for. Saw the woman from the beginning and we exchanged well dones as I queued up to hand my token to the man with the laptop.
It seems a tough course for everyone, the first place time was about 19 minutes, and not 16 or 17 like it seems to be at most of them. Although not ideal for a time trial, it will be a good progress indicator, and of course doing the hills will be good for my 10k’s, especially if I do the Offerton one again!
I would really recommend the Park Runs to anyone thinking of doing a run, the good thing is they’re every week, they’re free, and fantastic fun for all ages and abilities. Visit the Park Run Website for more info!
Thanks to all the volunteers!
This wouldn’t be a running blog without a catalogue of injuries – or it sometimes feels that way. Late last evening, I started to get a bit of intermittent pain in my right calf – sometimes when I was walking, sometimes at rest, and that persisted this morning. It was kind of weird as it just kept cropping up without warning.
So I opted for a 5k easy run, and ran at slower than 6mins/k all the way, finding that the running didn’t really make the calf twinge, except maybe when I tried to speed up and forefoot strike… Could well be something to do with running faster with the interval training session yesterday, so I will take it easy for now, with a few rest days and some jogs, rather than do any out and out speedwork – think I will leave that until next week, but hope to fit in a long slow run on Saturday – possibly keep it to 6 or 7 miles if the calf is still playing up.
This was my longest run in 6 months. Set off slowly, for a planned 8 miles, and was struggling a bit at first as I went down Stockport Road and into Bredbury, having to tie my shoelace en route. Then I hit the uphill part of the course and just pushed myself to keep going. Then coasted off the hills on the flat and downhill bits and built up a real head of steam until the next hill, near the end. Slowed down a bit then and just jogged to the 8 mile point. Think I need a couple of rest days now to let my legs recover from the hard sessions lately.
Did a ten minute mile to warm up, and felt as if my body might not have another 3 miles in it! But I grabbed the bull by the horns and set off, setting a good pace; actually it may have been too good, as I did the first k in 4:36 and the first mile in about 7:30ish, and suffered for that later, with the last km taking 5:24 so I was losing steam by the end.
However, I managed 3 sub 5 minute k’s, and it’s so long since I ran like that, it will take time to learn how to pace it again – I do feel that I am coming back to fitness in leaps and bounds now, and won’t belong before I am challenging my 5k PB.
This run did hurt quite a bit though! But also felt good too, and was nice to run at pace again. 
This was supposed to be a nice gentle easy run, and felt easy enough but first k ticked over in 5:06! After that settled into a slower pace, before slightly quicker last 2. Felt yesterday’s 10k in all sorts of places, but didn’t struggle too much, feel ready to do a full blast 5k at some point now and see where I’m at time wise. Not long ago, today’s time was my flat out 5k best, but was running easy today.
This was the first 10k either racing or training I’ve run in months – ran it very even paced at about 5:40ish per k all the way, and just struggled a bit in the last k, as I was running out of stamina and there was a hill. Managed it though, and recovered well, it will only a matter of time before I’m knocking the minutes off and getting close to 50 mins once the races start coming up in April.
This was a bit of a tough run. This time my lower leg held up with no twinges, but it was very cold. Felt a bit of a groin niggle. Plodded round 5k in over 31 minutes and didn’t feel all that comfortable. Just not such a good run, but felt pleased to have run without the leg playing up! But it was a bit of a struggle!
Very slow run, but fulfilled the purpose of longest run again so far, and in general was nice to be on my feet and jogging along for over 40 mins, slowly getting my legs used to doing more work for longer, and allowing my CV system to just tick over. I recovered very quickly, and find I enjoy these slower runs, so will keep doing them, build the distance slowly, and keep doing faster bursts in between, until I feel ready for some intervals and speed work and time trials
Garmin went haywire so not sure exactly how far I ran or what the real pace was. First k was about to tick over in about 5:30 when my Garmin flipped back to 700 metres and ended up clocking the first k in about 6:30 – felt I was running faster than that, in fact that is my dead, dead slow pace – and all the other k’s were evenly paced around 5:30 mark, so I added an extra 300 metres to the completed distance for this run. Overall time was about a minute slower than I would expect for 5k, so seems as if I did gain the 300 metres. Thankfully it wasn’t a serious time trial, but is funny how Garmin sometimes does that.
Did struggle a bit at times on this run, with heart hammering, but was good to complete.
