Planned 5k then remembered I needed to pop to cash machine on way home so I can pay builder later, so jogged an extra .33k then walked home with the cash!

Recovered quickly, quite pleased I could manage a sedate pace and resisted throwing in a burst of pace which wouldn’t have had any real benefit.

Plan 3-4k easy on Friday, then the hardest part will be getting up on Sunday for the start of the Great Manchester Run!

Was refreshing for starters to get out in the pouring rain, Garmin picked up a signal and off I went, feeling I was starting off quite quickly. Had to dodge a Chav mobile pulling out of a drive way, but apart from that no incidents, and started to warm up nicely. Felt disappointed when the first km ticked over in 6:40, and no matter what I did after that never went under 6 mins per km for some reason, though I got down to about 6. Tried to inject some pace but it wasn’t happening – didn’t feel puffed out or exhausted, I just couldn’t seem to go any faster even though I felt I was picking up pace, so ended up with a pretty sedate 31:21, which may have been due to some fatigue from the day or perhaps some residual tiredness from the longer run on Sunday.

Thankfully there was no calf niggle or anything, but I still don’t quite trust my right calf, sooner or later I will have to bite the bullet and put in some real strides, but I might save it for the finishing stretch of the Great Manchester Run. I received my pack today through the post and am pleased to say I have been promoted back into the White wave after ending up in the Pink one last year. Of course I’m not sure if I’m quite quick enough to justify starting in that wave but at least I can start in a later wave if I so wish (the down side of the white wave is having to get into central Manchester dramatically early!!!!!.

Not long to go!

I was a bit wary when I finally got out as the pavement felt very slippery. I saw a poor lass wobbling all over the place just trying to walk and had thoughts of abandoning the run. But I found a long stretch of quiet back street with very little traffic which was clear of ice and just nice black tarmac, so although it wasn’t ideal decided to run up and down that, abandoning any thoughts of a tempo or time trial pace to get under 29 mins.

Felt good so settled into a comfortable pace, got to the extreme end of the road then turned back, whereupon there emerged a mass exodus of church goers from the church that’s got a roof like the Sydney Opera House. Suddenly there were 4 wheel drives everywhere and running down the middle of the road was suddenly not an option!

Rather than get killed by these crazy people, I took a detour and found another stretch of road, which saw me passing a house several times, the smell of which suggested that the occupants, if not baking, were just very, very baked… Also passed a young chap who smelled of a similar substance, and noticed some youths playing snowballs in the (locked) playground.

Had to dodge a few cars and ended up running on the pavement slush anyway, it wasn’t really that bad, although the having to run gingerly made me feel rather heavy legged and I couldn’t get any pace up, so my finishing time was a dismal 33:20, but understandable since I was running in snow.

All in all it was quite fun, though will be glad to see the back of the snow so I can try to work on my pace, as running at speed in the conditions would not have been a great idea!

In any case, Christmas came and went, and on the day after Boxing Day, decided a few days of bad sleep and fatigue might be helped by getting back to the running, so I went out into the relatively mild evening air and set off at a very sedate pace. Felt good at 1k, but just kept it nice and slow, and by 3k was starting to feel it. Had to hang on a bit for the final half a k and was ready to stop by then, but the enforced break doesn’t seem to have done too much harm and in a few runs time I should be flying again and attacking that 29 minute mark and raising my distance to 10k soon!

Today it seemed pretty cold albeit sunny so put on the jogging pants for the first time with my long sleeve technical top. There was certainly a nip in the air and I could smell smoke from the fireworks of the night before! Once the Garmin picked up a signal I set off and maintained a steady pace, oddly enough running past the same lady and dog as last week, in the same place, though this time it left me alone!

Was breathing hard at 1k and rather than go out of my comfort area I kept a slow pace and also circled through streets to keep close to home. At 2k I was still going, and after deciding to do 2 miles and see how I felt, I started to envisage doing 4k. At 2.6k I took a bit of a walk break to cross a road, and then another when a car blocked the pavement, but apart from that there was much less walking than last week, and I didn’t feel quite as dead when I finished. I pretty much ran the last KM, and clocked the 4k in 26:09, so a minute quicker than last week.

I hope the aches and pains go away more quickly this time too!!!!!

The day after the City of Salford 10k, I woke up hardly able to walk. There was no sign the previous day, apart from a twinge half way through the race – nothing afterwards, no sign. And then I was suddenly hobbling around wincing as pain shot up from my left lower leg/shin.

This lasted a good while, in the meantime I took up swimming, which was a nice change and a way of keeping up some fitness. After a few weeks the pain subsided, but I was very wary of running again, and wanted to make sure the running injury was fully healed, being unable to afford physiotherapy for running injuries at the moment! Before I knew it, 2 months had passed and the clocks were going back, so seeing as it was a nice day, quite bright, and not too cold, and I got up too late to go to the pool anyway, I thought I would try a run!

Didn’t feel like almost November, so put shorts on and my long sleeve thin top, and went out to let the Garmin wake up from its 2 month doze, which took a while. Set off and within 200 metres a little dog tried to savage my legs and trip me up with its lead, which was quite funny, and then I settled into a slow pace and just felt curious about how I would feel.

At 2k I felt confident of being able to run 5k, and perhaps even in under 30 minutes. By 2.5k I had to stop and walk, and then kind of stop started for the next 1.5k until I ran the last 500 metres until staggering to a stop, gasping for air and with my legs feeling like jelly!

Gosh it took a while to recover from this comeback! 4k in 27:19, with walks. At least I felt the swimming had maintained some fitness, but even thought I’ve been swimming up to 70 lengths and doing multiple front crawl lengths, nothing seems as pulse-raising and generally knackering as running! Hopefully I will get back into the swing of it, but will continue to mix in the swimming for now.

Meanwhile I had a blood test a few weeks ago, and the results were that my cholesterol is fine, my liver is fine, my kidneys are fine, my blood pressure is fine, and I have a less than 2% chance of dying from heart disease in the next 10 years… At the same time, I have put weight on since I stopped drinking and started running 4 years ago, but think this may be down to consuming entire packets of custard creams after runs – I thought the running would allow me to get way with this, alas not, so I will be paying a little more attention to my diet in future, and the running and swimming will be part of a whole holistic health package.

Meanwhile, my counselling course is going fantastically well and I can’t wait to qualify and maybe even earn some cash, which is in short supply!

Happy Running!

I think targeting anything quicker than sub 55 at the City of Salford 10k is going to lead to potential disappointment, so I’ll set myself the goal of getting around in 55 and anything else will be a bonus!

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!

Am off on a bit of a walking trip for a few days at the coast, so hopefully that will keep my legs fresh without any hard impact work – and if I can get in a couple of easy runs before the first race, am hoping the twinge was a mere niggle and will be ok in about 10 days!

Before that, time for a bit of RICE!