Archives for 10-15k category
Posted on Jul 18, 2011 under 10-15k, Long Runs, Milestones, Slow Runs |
I should get money to make the sun come out, I really should! It had been chucking it down all day and the skies were pure November – ideal conditions for a a long run! This time I was not to be fooled though, so took baseball cap, shades, and dabbed a bit of sun cream on my arms – and sure enough, no sooner had I started the Garmin, there was this big ball of heat in the sky, burning the clouds away! So the shades went on for a while.
This was a planned 8 miler, on a route with some serious hills, plenty of declines but some nasty inclines too. Last time I attempted this route was a sunny evening and I came a cropper at 4k ish feeling quite ill, and did start to feel a bit puffy early on, which is possibly due to the long spiral incline early on. This time I nearly came a cropper at a junction, I could see a car some way down the road on my left, but felt I had plenty of time to cut in front of it. Don’t know what the driver was playing at, as instead of slowing as he came to the junction, he sped up, which resulted in a near collision and me practically rolling over the bonnet of the vehicle while having the horn blasted at me. This reminds me to be more careful, as the driver was obviously lost in conversation with the passenger and only saw me at the very last moment. For the rest of the run I stopped and tip toed across every junction…
Anyway, it may have been a burst of adrenaline from this that led to a 5:33 km and then a sudden drop in my motivation. Felt like I was blowing up, and stopped the clock at 5k and went in a shop for some gatorade. Drank some and set off, having to walk in phases, and then tackled the big hills on this route, and was glad it started to rain again. I recovered on the long downward stretches and started to wonder if I could maybe do 9 miles. I was feeling better than earlier in the run, so decided to just keep going.
As I went over 13km, I felt I could get to the 14.5km mark, but I hit some kind of wall at that point and started to feel really depleted, presumably my glycogen stores were starting to run out, I felt a little sick, and my legs were feeling heavy. I forced myself to keep going and it hurt so much I almost had tears in my eyes, but I gritted my teeth and finally ran down the last km, and was really, really, really glad when I staggered to a stop and hit the stop button on the Garmin, 9 miles in 1 hr 34 minutes, longest on my feet this season, and longest distance.
I think I will have a few rest days now!! 
Posted on Jun 12, 2011 under 10-15k, Long Runs, Musings |
I’ve been interested in Buddhism for a while, and increasingly in Zen lately, and I must say that running in the rain has a certain Zen quality about it – just being, living in the moment, one moment after another, feeling the beauty of the wetness instead of trying to keep it away with layers of clothing. Also there’s something very childlike about splashing and sploshing through puddles without a care in the world.
There’s also something manic about me, which relishes the funny looks I get from folk wrapped in their raincoats, which says “You crazy mother******”. I do feel crazy at the time, like I’m invincible, like nothing else matters, totally in the moment. Or perhaps they are the crazy ones, huddled against the wet, or standing in doorways smoking their death sticks while they watch the crazy runner get a bit wet, unable to partake of the pure joy of being. I wish they’d give it a try!
For the record I did 7.2 miles, I did one of the kms in 5:12 which left me a bit out of it for a while, and was going to stop at 10k, but then decided to make it 10 miles for the week and pulled in an 11th km of 5:44 before slowing to a crawl and stopping on 11.6k. Not had much chance to run this week, so was good to get out.
Why would a little torrential rain stop me? Every rain drop, like every moment, is just part of the picture of how things are. Maybe it’s just the endorphins, but I do feel a certain Zen quality right now.
Posted on May 08, 2011 under 10-15k, Long Runs, Milestones, Trail Running |
Decided to run a bit later in the day again to avoid the hot sun, though the weather looked a bit unpredictable anyway. Slathered the sun cream on as a precaution and set off slowly, hoping to do 5 miles at least and hopefully 7.
Ran out towards Dane Bank as the skies darkened and spots of rain began to fall. Took on water at a few points. Was at about 5k when I got to Debdale park so thought I’d run up to the reservoirs then turn back, which should leave 3-4k to complete my target distance, but I ended up carrying on and found a nice bit of trail running, so took a risk and followed this, I knew vaguely where I’d end up but not how far it would be. Was lost for a small amount of time, then found familiar territory and ran along a bus route in case I totally ran out of energy.
As it happened I crossed the 7 mile mark as I was nearing home, and jogged a little extra to make it 11.5k to get nearer my house. Was tired, but could have gone on a little further. No sign of last week’s knee pain, though I did have a little hamstring niggle which I rubbed in the park for a bit, but it didn’t feel too much of a problem.
Somehow I have managed to run 12.74 miles for 2 weeks in a row! Plan to take this week as easy as possible before the Great Manchester Run next Sunday.
Posted on Apr 29, 2011 under 10-15k, Injuries, Long Runs, Milestones, Slow Runs |
Lovely late afternoon sunshine was the setting for a planned 7 mile long run to get some distance in my legs, though I was a bit concerned as I had been experiencing shooting pains at rest in my left knee, which was odd as there was no pain running. As my mum always used to say, probably a bit of arthritis or something…
In any case I set off at a sedate pace and straight away started to wonder if I would be able to last for 7 miles, but kept the pace slow and steady. At about 2k I got the pain in my knee again and slowed, almost calling the run off, but just decided to keep going slowly. Ran all the way out to Debdale Park, then through the park and up past the reservoirs, before turning back and going back through the park again. I was feeling strong in a cardiovascualar sense, but as I left the park and started to think I might reach 7 miles after all, the knee started to complain and I still had a way to get home. It was either carry on or abort and get the bus. I slowed considerably, and started to flag in every way, but set myself a target of 5 miles, and when I crossed that set 10k, and finally, as I was really flagging and my knee was really protesting, I just did another half a k for good measure, and ended up at home feeling very tired and depleted, and needed to eat half a packet of biscuits to replenish energy…
Update: thankfully over the weekend there was no comeback knee-wise from the run, so it may just be the joint working to strengthen itself as i increase the mileage, but am not going to go too hard on it with the first race in a year only 2 weeks away…
Posted on Mar 06, 2010 under 10-15k, Hill Work, Long Runs, Milestones |
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.
Posted on Oct 02, 2009 under 10-15k, Injuries, Long Runs, Milestones, Recovery Runs |
It’s been a busy week since the race on Sunday, my uni course has now started, and I have been socialising a bit as well, together with work and what have you! Managed to swim 40 lengths on Tuesday, and aim to build in some swimming as cross training while my leg gets fully back to normal.
Wanted to do a bit of a long slow recovery run today, so warmed up indoors, then set off at a very gentle pace on the Bredbury and Hyde circuit route. Rain helped keep me cool, and at the gentle pace I was running at, I didn’t start to hurt until near the end of the run, and even managed the hilly parts quite well.
There is still something up with the leg, but it seems to be reacting well – will just have to avoid anything too intense in the way of speed work or harder paced long runs for the time being, until I am sure the leg is up to it.
But felt great to be back out running in the rain 
EDIT November 22nd – This run turned out to be too much for the leg, which reacted quite badly over the next few days. That’ll teach me to go out doing 8 mile runs with shin splints 
Posted on Sep 06, 2009 under 10-15k, Hill Work, Regular Runs |
Pretty slow run with plenty of undulations, but felt fine throughout. Ran the reverse route up through Hyde over the hills then back up Stockport Road. Nice easy pace but didn’t feel the hills were too hard and recovered very quickly for an enjoyable run. Lower left leg seems to have a bit of pain on impact, but been there for a bit so just need to be careful with up and coming 3 races in a row.
Posted on Aug 28, 2009 under 10-15k, Long Runs, Tempo Runs |
For a while, building in more easy runs seemed to help my improvements, and slowing down the pace of long runs. But then the improvements stopped, and a good friend with a lot of running experience suggested running some longer runs at a harder pace. So I did a 12.1k effort today, with no reference to time, just ran how I felt – felt I was going at race pace at points, but refused to check out the time. Turns out I wasn’t going hugely fast, but I did go through the 10k split in 52:21 – so faster than Sunday’s race, and by that point I was at death’s door, but forced myself to go through another 2k at the best pace I could manage, and managed the 12.1k in 1:03:33, which is almost exactly the same time I did the same distance last time round – several months ago, and I found it easier back then… So something has gone wrong!
In actuality I think doing the easy runs has harmed my mental toughness. I can see that occasionally running a week where most of the running is easy will help – but I read an article that said 90% of your running should be at easy pace. Well I’ve tried that, and it seems to be load of tosh Harder runs ahead then, the stopping feels nicer though
Posted on Aug 12, 2009 under 10-15k, Long Runs, Regular Runs, Slow Runs |
Nice gentle paced 8 miler – got a bit puffy in the first place but first 2k were a bit quick. Kept the pace down to 6 mins+ per k, and mixed in a few faster bursts up hills then just coasted the last few miles with a few race pace strides in the last K. Bit slower than my last 8 miler but slightly different route anyway, but felt like a good aerobic workout and recovered nice and quickly.
Posted on Jul 28, 2009 under 10-15k, Recovery Runs |
Nice 8 miler at recovery pace, with a few hills which I took easy, in all averaged 6:03/k pace so was spot on at keeping it nice and steady and I managed not to speed up as idea was just to recover from the race on Sunday and get a bit of nice slow time on feet in, felt like a nice aerobic workout not too heavy. Didn’t feel too many after effects from the race and am starting to find running quite comfortable now I’ve got back into it after the little break. Certainly the most comfortable I’ve felt for a while. A few more of these, some intervals, fartlek and a longer run every week and I should start to see more results.
Have not done a one mile trial for a bit so hope to fit one in soon!
