Archives for Easy Runs category
Posted on Jun 06, 2012 under 5k, Easy Runs, Musings |
Have had something of a personal retreat over the long bank holiday weekend, avoiding facebook, forums and text messaging as much as possible. Well to be honest have avoided facebook altogether, forums altogether, and just maintained brief contact with a select few. Have spent a lot of time meditating and entering into some quite blissful states, and this morning I needed to go the the shops, which was an interesting walk, I had to stop and marvel at the beauty of a single red rose in a garden, and everything had a certain aliveness.
So I wondered what a run would be like, and was due a run, so had to resist the urge to contemplate my navel for another 24 hours and slowly got my kit on (deciding to wear my casual La Santa t-shirt rather than a proper running top for a short easy run), then stepped out into some nice early afternoon sunshine, though there were dark clouds here and there. Sunglasses and baseball cap on, I set off and played slalom with the bin men, one of whom kindly let me past before he dragged two bins to the van. Quite often I feel aggressive and irritated at people in my way when I run – probably hormones and adrenaline and all that, but on this occasion I felt quite at peace with the world around me, slowed without complaint for cars and road crossings, and just concentrated on my breath and running at a nice easy pace after a high mileage week last week.
Even the hills didn’t get a curse and I felt a sense of flow about this run, I did get quite puffy with the hills but didn’t overheat and kept the pace nice and easy and enjoyed really engaging with my surroundings – cars, leaves, cyclists, litter, tarmac, sky, it all had this quality to it that is hard to describe.
My weather control faculties were fully operational, as I had nice cloud-filtered sunshine for the run, and as soon as I got home and opened my back door to cool off, the heavens opened! In keeping with the tone of the last few days I walked out into it and embraced the sensations of the rain cooling my skin and felt quite at one with everything.
Am not sure a hard 5k time trial would have left me feeling quite so peaceful, but I think these easy mindful runs should definitely form a more regular part of my schedule in the future!
Posted on May 29, 2012 under 5k, Easy Runs, Jogs |
Having seen my counselling clients this afternoon, and written up my notes, felt like getting out into the evening sunshine for a little run to see if I actually still could run at all, after the weekend’s apocalypic performance in the roasting heat.
Not sure if it was the time of day that made a difference, or the fact that the previous run had acclimatised me a little, as it was still hot, but I found it a lot easier going. Set off at a very easy pace and generally kept this to about 6.15 per km, so quite sedate, chose a slightly new route by heading towards Hyde, then down Mill Lane, but avoided the massive hill and ran up through the estate instead which is a much more gentle incline, though it was still an incline, making it a bit of a hilly jog in places!
Felt fine at 3k and even powered up a stretch of hill, then felt good enough to run the last kilometer at a fair old pace, completing it in 5:43. Was pretty hot by this point and if I was going to run any further I would need to use sunblock or consider starting at about 8pm!
Posted on May 26, 2012 under 3k, All Weather Running, Easy Runs, Jogs |
Blazing hot 26 degree heat, but it looked nice and breezy and felt kind of cool in my house and garden. Not unbearable at all, so thought a nice easy 5k would be the ideal first run back out since the Great Manchester Run last week.
Took my baseball cap out and tightened it so it wouldn’t blow off in the breeze, and set off. Felt a bit rusty for the first km, then started to feel really good and upped the pace feeling really strong and motoring, but that lasted all of about 1km (which I ran in a suicidal 5:44), half a km later I cam to an incline and had to stop to walk up it, then couldn’t really get going much again. Wanted to at least run a last km, but by the time I’d done half of one was pouring with sweat, felt like I might set on fire I felt so hot, and was really feeling like I’d be better off calling it quits.
I think the next time I have an evening out planned, and the weather is like this, it will be safer to skip the run and save it for a time closer to sundown when the evening cool is settling in a little bit. Still, a bit of warm weather training might have helped. Can’t believe I ran a 53 minute 10k in this sort of weather at The City of Manchester 10k last year, still that was a bit earlier in the day!
Posted on May 16, 2012 under 5-10k, Easy Runs |
First real “easy” run in a while – I never find running that easy, so often feel the term “easy” to be mildy incorrect, but on this occasion I kept the pace very sedate, plodding along, and my breathing was steady and even with no gasping, though did work up a bit of a sweat even though it was cold.
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!
Posted on Apr 25, 2012 under 5-10k, 5k, Easy Runs |
Had a bit of a funny day sorting out my coursework, felt frustrated as time was running out and didn’t get as much done as I wanted, plus pile of accounts to do. Also felt a bit nauseous and tired, decided a quick 5k might help blow away some cobwebs.
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! 😀
Posted on Feb 15, 2012 under Easy Runs, Jogs |
Briefly, knew I needed to run easy after my fast 5 miler and longer run last week, and it was going well, although my heart rate felt way too fast for the pace I was going (not very scientific but I run how I feel and it was working overtime!). Then a hill came and after that I revised my target down from an easy 5k to 4k, and petered to a stop. Think the last 2 runs have taken more out of me than I thought, plus some stress lately, so plan to rest for 3 days before a long slow run on Sunday.
Posted on Feb 05, 2012 under 5-10k, 5k, All Weather Running, Easy Runs |
Wanted to get a run in despite the snowy weather, so kept an eye on the melting snows outside as running in snow can be rather tricky! The powdery stuff is OK, but once it freezes it can be very treacherous and I wouldn’t want to risk my dodgy knee springing out of its socket, never mind a broken neck or a flat face!
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!
Posted on Dec 27, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Easy Runs, Health |
First a cold stopped me dead, only lasted a mere 3-4 days, but running with a cold that was a bit chesty was out of the question, and then all my Christmas gatherings took over. Liz had an injured hip so our run around Tatton Park had been called off anyway (may have been just as well, our get together was delayed as it was when her car battery conked out at Sainsbury’s just before she was due to pick me up!).
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!
Posted on Nov 06, 2011 under Easy Runs, Regular Runs, Slow Runs, Swimming |
Well I am slowly on the comeback trail at a rate of 2.5 miles a week at the moment! Have been swimming during the week, as after last week’s run, gosh, did I know I had legs – talk about aches! Took several days to walk easy again! A 50 length swim session helped, and doing front crawl is helping with the cardiovascular fitness I think, or at least maintaining what the runs do without further impact on the legs.
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!!!!!
Posted on Oct 30, 2011 under Easy Runs, Health, Injuries, Jogs, Milestones, News |
Well, British Summer Time officially ended at 2am, so thought it was high time I kick started my running and blog again!
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!
