Archives for 5k category
Posted on Nov 14, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Jogs, Milestones, Regular Runs |
Seem to be running about once a week at the moment, with some swimming thrown in. Don’t generally run in the dark but today had some stuff on and it got to evening, but wanted to squeeze a run in. Was quite cold. Set off slowly and cautiously but after 2-3k was feeling OK and managed to speed up in the last km.
Running at night was an interesting experience, especially through the local estates. Of particular interest was waiting for the oases of street lamps so I could see the Garmin readout without trying to fiddle to put the light on.
First run I have managed since starting again without having to stop for walk breaks, and managed 5k as a bonus, am definitely on the comeback trail and the first 2 short comeback runs have paid off, and the swimming has been helping too!
Am planning a 10k run in Tatton Park week before Christmas with a very good friend, looks like I could be on schedule to make it! 
Posted on Aug 24, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Easy Runs |
Enjoyed a week away that involved some pleasant hill walking which was good for my CV system without punishing my legs too much. Also enjoyed a swim in the sea, covering quite a bit of water and swimming against the tide – this ended up giving me sore groin muscles the next day, as breaststroking always does if I haven’t done it for some time, but it was again a nice CV workout without busting my lungs too much
Anyway, 8 days since my last run, and with only 3 days till race day, I knew I’d need to turn my legs over again so went out for a tentative 5k, hoping the niggle of last week was just a niggle, and that the rest would leave me feeling OK. I expected to feel quite rusty as I usually do after a few days break, so started off quite slowly, and did a 6 minute km, then still felt fresh so upped the pace in bits and bursts, and did 2 at 5:42, then pushed the boat out at 5:24 before running a very comfortable last km at 5:45. Not lightning pace by any means but the good news is I didn’t feel rusty at all, but rather felt fresh, and my next run back is usually much better so gives me hope. No niggles on the knee, which is very good news!
I think the week off running has allowed my body to recover from all the hard running of the past few months, and soak up the benefits. I plan a very easy run on Friday, and then it will be time to roll up to the East Manchester Legacy 10k on Sunday. Will be pleased with around 52 anything quicker, well, I will just run how I feel and see how it goes on the day!
Posted on Aug 14, 2011 under 5k, Easy Runs |
Just a really easy evening run. Took it really easy at first, went up to 55 min 10k pace for a km, wound down with a nice slow pace.
Should really have done this on Friday’s run – think the long run last week is taking some recovery from, so will just run easy for a while, as not much more to do with my next race in 2 weeks – will just maintain fitness and maybe thrown in some speedwork, and keep my conditioning up, and then see how I fare!
Posted on Aug 12, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Recovery Runs |
Felt nice and fresh after 5 days off running since my half marathon effort last weekend, so wanted to get out again and thought a nice 5 miler with some pace thrown in, during the latter stages, would be quite nice…
Felt OK at 1k, and increased the pace, by 2k I was starting to heat up and sweat but the sweat wasn’t going anywhere. Had to stop at 3k and realised there was no way I would be running 5 miles today – it was humid and I couldn’t breathe comfortably…
Walking across a road in the last KM, a friendl chap said I would need to quicken up to miss the coming rain, and I said I needed it to cool down – he laughed and said he was sweating just watching me, and as I ran off he shouted “See ya kiddo…” I really love being called kiddo at my age, lol
Anyway I did put a burst of speed on but then felt totally trashed and took a long time to recover, my left foot was soaked in blood from a toenail digging in too…
Will see about a run on Sunday, guess I will still be tired after the long long run last week!
Posted on Jul 22, 2011 under 5k, Easy Runs, Recovery Runs |
Just a 5k run at a nice leisurely pace, sort of a recovery run as well after Monday’s long run, my legs felt a bit stiff at first but soon got into it and felt ok through the run, just keeping to a nice pace and although I slowed at the end ran the last km in 5:30 quite comfortably, which is sub 55 10k pace, at a jog, so I think the legs are starting to move quicker with less effort thanks to the recent training
Some more intervals on Sunday I think! 
Posted on Jul 13, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Cross Training, Easy Runs, Trail Running |
Been a hectic week since I returned north – so just a nice easy 5k through road and trails to get my lungs used to the Manchester air again!
When I got back did some gardening, mowed the lawn, and chopped/sawed down an overgrown tree in the garden – so I guess I can say I did some cross training as well
Posted on Jun 29, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Milestones, Season's Best, Tempo Runs |
Wanted a quick fast run, and set off at a nice pace which felt comfortable, despite first doing the first km in 5:05! Started to motor after that and felt utterly great, checked Garmin, which had gone dead. Started it up again and had lost time and distance, not sure how much, but rather than try to work it all out decided to run 5k from there, so started it again and off I went, did second km in 5:15, all well and good, still felt fresh, and started to motor – whereupon Garmin dies again, with the meter still on 2k despite the km beep having gone off about 300 metres back… Got a bit annoyed and realised I hadn’t wedged the batteries in and the faster pace must be jiggling them about, so searched in vain for a bit of paper or card but the streets were scrupulously clean – why is there no litter around when you need it?! Eventually found a chewing gum wrapper, wedged in the batteries, and decided to just start the Garmin from where it was stuck on 2k, and go all out for another 3k. Was hard to get my rhythm back after stopping for a while, my body had almost gone into shutdown mode because I had stopped running for a few minutes. However I did the next km in 4:59 which is my fastest this year, it started to hurt then, so I slowed for a km and then put all I had into the last one, was breathing very hard indeed… Stopped the clock in 25:52, a season’s best for 5k, and not bad considering the stop and start nature of the run – and the fact I probably ran an extra half a km due to the lost time – who knows, maybe I was abducted by aliens in those lost minutes!
Note to self: either remember to wedge a bit of card between the batteries before setting off, or do not run so fast that the Garmin’s innards can’t deal with the shock!!!!!
Posted on Jun 17, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Tempo Runs |
Wanted to do a quick 5k to blow the rust off the legs, and wanted to do the first couple of k as a warmup then go all out for a few k. Didn’t quite go according to that plan – ran the first km in 5:44 which wasn’t bad for a warmup pace, and then did the second k in 5:19 and then really started to put some strides in – except the quicker I went the slower the Garmin seemed to register for a while – I sped up to a very fast pace and the Garmin said I was doing something ridiculous like 7 minutes per km, and it was only when I slowed that it went under 5 mins per KM, I think something went wrong on that KM because I felt I was going faster having warmed up, but that km clocked over in 5:27 (I suspect it was longer than 5k though). In any case I slowed down for a maintenace penultimate km, and then again, in the last k, I wast putting in some huge bursts of speed and the display went under 4 mins per km as i powered into what felt like my fastest pace in a long, long time, I felt the Garmin was slowing down, I seemed to cover two road junctions and it barely moved, and then I finished the last km in 5:16, so at least on this occasion my last km was the fastest, as it should be, am just not sure where the two slower kms came from as I felt I was going fast all the way – so will just put it down to the vagaries of the Garmin (I would upgrade my 105 if I could afford to!), as I felt this run was a lot faster all round than the similarly timed one of last week.
In all, although I am only managing one fast run and a long run per week at the moment, due to time constraints, I feel I am slowly improving, and if I can manage today’s pace for 10k it would mean a sub 55 10k, which now seems a reasonable target for the City of Manchester 10k in a few weeks
Posted on Jun 10, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Regular Runs, Tempo Runs |
Was a run that was late in the week and late in the day – managed to hit the school run after trying to run home from the libary – quickly realised running with a gym bag with a heavy book inside was not going to work very well 
Set off pretty quickly with a 5:16 first km and then slowed to about 5:30 pace, eventually slowing to 6+ pace as I got tired in the latter stages. Not close to the 26 I did in the 5k race the other week but then it wasn’t a race and I didn’t have a warmup or someone to tuck in behind, but felt good to be out running again and get a bit of pace up.
Posted on Jun 03, 2011 under 5k, Regular Runs |
Was hot out today but I didn’t quite realise how hot until I was halfway up a very long incline which was getting steeper and steeper (route I have never taken before but died walking up many years ago) – turned back but was just gone after 3k so decided to head back to area near my house and abort planned 5 mile run. Ran out of water, thought about refilling and carrying on, but I knew I was beat on this occasion – might have to review the midday running – then again it’s forecast to be cold again on Sunday… lol.
