Diary Of A Road Runner

5k Time Trial - Cold and Grey - 24m 00s PB!

I haven’t slept much all week and have had some kind of stomach bug. Was feeling really tired this morning and had restless legs again as well as still feeling a bit queasy from the bug/food poisoning or whatever it was.

Although I didn’t feel up to it much, I wanted to get out to keep the legs turning over, so planned a 5k jog. It was freezing, so I didn’t hang around too much but set off a bit quickly to get warm. Did the first k in 4:50 then just decided to keep it going. Fourth k really hurt as the split shows, slowed to 5 mins per k after doing my fastest k split to date of 4:34. Desperation to get under 24 minutes kept the legs going near the end but staggered over 5k as Garmin clocked the last metre and 1 tenth of a second over 24 minutes

Still, a PB despite feeling totally rubbish when I walked out the door, and didn’t do much of a warmup either, so there has been improvement even though I took a week off, which must have done me some good too!

Splits were:

4:50
4:45
4:34
5:00
4:48

5k Regular Run - pouring rain - 25m 53s

Had not slept much over the weekend (I had a horrible case of RLS for some reason), so I was feeling tired and unmotivated and had to force myself out of the door into a cold grey day and had to force myself to start running!

I was pretty ok once I started, albeit breathing hard, and the legs were turning over a lot quicker than in the last 5k I did on Sat, so without really trying I ran under 26 mins on what was planned as just a nice easy paced run. It started pouring down second half of run and I couldn’t keep rain out of my eyes! I think I need a few more 5k’s under the belt before I really get going again, felt a bit knackered at the end of this, but then again could be down to the lack of sleep and had no appetite at all yesterday and didn’t eat much over the weekend. Cold going round so maybe I am symptomlessly fighting it off.

5k Recovery Run - Fairly Sunny - 27m 31s

I’ve had 8 rest days out of the last 9 days, and the only run out of that was my PB race - so I figured it was high time I got back out on the road before I lost my motivation altogether, as it would be all to easy to sink into lazy habits!

Planned a 5k jog around random streets. It felt a bit cold to start with but soon warmed up and the sun seemed to be beating down.  Pace was nothing special but legs were feeling a bit heavy.  This was my first run of my “off” season - I have no races planned, and the next 10k (my preferred race distance at the mo) looks like being not until next year. It was a bit strange running without the motivation of an upcoming race and the possibility of a PB - so just made sure I completed 5k, and think I will need another few recovery runs like this back to back just to get back into the swing of things, before I start attempting time trials and hill work and long runs again

5k Easy Run - random streets - 27m 21s

I had been feeling tired the night before and all the morning before this run, and in fact didn’t really relish the thought of going out running at all But I thought a nice easy 5k jog would shake off the lethargy, so off I went, and although I felt OK, I didn’t feel great - and after finishing 5k in a very leisurely 27+ minutes, my lungs were working overtime, my legs were dead, and I was sweating like a pig on what was a pretty cool day - and still felt very tired for the rest of the day. I can run 5k 3 minutes faster than that and feel 3 times better when I’ve finished so unless I’m coming down with an illness I conclude the following:

It seems the recent race and hard training miles all coming one after another have finally caught up! I was going to run easy on Friday, but might try to gain something from a full 2 days rest before a light jog on Saturday before Sunday’s race. Or I may even take 3 days off altogether, as my body is telling me it needs to recover, and there is no point being knackered for what could well be my last race for sometime!

Lesson learned: Increasing mileage and including hard hill reps leaves you needing a rest, so I am going to take one, and try to catch up on sleep and eat well

5k Easy Run - St Lawrence Road random streets - 26m 43s

Just a nice easy/recovery run after last week’s hard miles (total of 23 miles for the week including longest run and hill work). Felt fine with no hangover effects from long run or mileage.

5K Time Trial - Warm Day - 24m 14s PB!

Today it was back to my regular (weekly if possible) 5k time trial as haven’t done one for a bit with races and stuff.

I did a bit of jogging to get warmed up, then set off, aiming to go hard and keep going somehow! I managed to run a fairly even pace, towards the end I thought I might break 24 minute barrier if I went hell for leather but Garmin seemed to tick distance over slower the faster I went and I ended up at 24:14 - still a PB by some 25 seconds but still needs work as I feel I should be improving faster!

Splits for this run were:

4:51
5:02
4:41
4:58
4:42

I hope to include my splits now I’ve figured out how to set it up on my Garmin Forerunner 101 (can’t afford the Garmin 405 and besides the kit I’ve got does me just fine for what I want it to do!

Recovery Run in the cold and grey! 5k 26m 23s

Easy recovery run after Trafford 10k on Sunday. Found a lap’s worth of streets going down Town Lane and leading back to Stockport Road.

Legs and CVS system still felt fresh - no hangover from racing. Ran a pretty mixed pace run, started off a bit quickly, did a kilo as slow as 5:30 but went quicker for short bursts, slowed down for the last one, completed 5k in 26 23. Felt fine and could easily have gone quicker for longer - but it was an easy recovery run!

5k Time Trial Tempo Run Mash Up - 24m 57s

This was one of those easy runs that suddenly turned into a time trial tempo run kind of mash up

I decided to do my 5k time trial route but in reverse, and just run it hard but comfortable and run to how I felt rather than keep checking the Garmin. But at 2k I felt comfortable and couldn’t resist checking the Garmin - and as I felt comfortable and was doing sub 25 min pace, I thought I would push on, and at that point it turned into a time trial. Mid way was a hill I usually coast down, but was climbing it this time and it took it out of my legs, but I ran the last 2k damned hard, so hard it took me a couple of minutes to stop breathing hard when I stopped - and only just broke 25 mins, so the hill bit must have slowed me a bit more than I thought.

I’ve had a week with little to no improvement, which is likely because I have been running quite intensively and now need a bit of a break - will have an easy week leading up to next Sunday’s Trafford 10k, throw in a 5k time trial, but mostly easy runs to keep fitness where it is and not burn too much energy - but on today’s evidence I wouldn’t be able to run the 2 sub 25 min 5k’s that would result in a sub 50 10k, but on the day who knows

5k Weekly Time Trial - Raining - 25m 28s

BIT OF A BAD RUN!!

Well, in a way - was quite experimental, as I was determined to run the first 3 k of my weekly 5k time trial at or just over 25 minute pace, and then put in a burst for the last 2k when feeling good.

At 1k I was 5:10, at 2k 10:20, but didn’t quicken up, thinking I would soon start to feel comfortable and would be able to up the pace, but it never came - after 3k I was just playing catch up and couldn’t find any extra pace or energy, and I must have been losing pace in fact as by the end I was a whole minute or so off my normal 5k time…

This either means the best policy is to go off sub 25 pace from the outset and just maintain it, or I’ve just had a bad day. I did run my heaviest week ever last week so maybe the legs are feeling it - then again I did just have a 2 day rest

Still, I find I sometimes shoot off a PB after a particularly bad run, so who knows

5k Personal Time Trial - 24m 38s - PB - Just!

5k against the clock on my usual route - managed a PB by 2 seconds, but more importantly I am running around abouts 24:30 now regularly whereas before I was stuck around 25:00 so there is definite improvement there.

For this run I did a little warm up jog, then set off, but I was overconfident again and set off too quickly, which I paid for in the latter stages. Did the first k in something ridiculous like 4 minutes 20! Was going about 24:00 pace with a k and half to go, but seemed to be going backwards a bit towards the end as my legs and lungs ran out of pace. Still was good to hit full throttle for a few k and if I can pace one of these 5k’s right I will be sub 24 before too long I hope!

Might do an easy run or rest day tomorrow and a long slow run on Sunday, which will make this my most intensive period of running to date, which I need if I am going to get faster and stronger!