Rob's Running Blog

An ill fated enforced 9.15KM long run… Longest run of 2012 so far

Had been visiting my sister earlier in the day, being entertained by my great nephew, and have had a bit of a lazy chilled weekend all told, but with 2 frantic days coming up wanted to get a run in. Was running a little late but made sure I had a pre-run snack of weetabix with golden syrup to make sure I would have some fuel, and set off planning to cover 5 miles. Thought I would try a new route which would take me in a big loop and cover about 5 miles, and I factored in a bus route in case it proved longer than I thought or if I came unstuck in any other way.

About 3k in I was reaching the point of no return (long stretch without a way back or bus route etc) when my left hamstring twinged a bit, but nothing major. As I went up the hill over the canal bridge, I started feeling a bit puffy and considered turning back. The fact this would mean an uphill slog put me off somewhat and I thought it would be best to carry on and reach the main road section where I could jump on a bus, I checked the time and seemed to be OK.

However the slope over the bridge seemed to take it out of me a bit and I stopped for few paces to recover, realising I wasn’t feeling in the best of shape for a 5 mile plus run. So I decided to make it to the bus stop on the main road going back, and catch a bus there. I actually made it that far, to find I had missed a bus by 5 minutes, and the next one was in another hour (unbenknownst to me, the half hourly timetable in my head had been changed to hourly on Sunday Evenings!). So the only thing for it was to carry on running for the next 4 or 5k… So I trotted on, past caring about my pace and just thinking about food and drink and the stuff I need to sort for tomorrow. Managed to keep going and took one or two breaks, my feet were getting a little sore but I persevered. Eventually came to a stop just before my house and had covered 9.15k in 1hr 05 minutes. Was good to run long, but might have been better with more of a plan, then again it was enjoyable in retrospect!

Is an odd route that I first ran as a 10 year old primary school boy, and took in the funeral parlour where most of my relatives have gone through, the old people’s home where my mum died, and the house where I grew up. Was interesting to run a different route, and some of the dark stretches were quite spooky. The amount of roadworks and temporary pedestrian areas is quite amazing really. Hey ho!

Until the next run, cool runnings! (I went past a place called that the other day and thought it might be a running shop, but was a Jamaican fast food place, lol!!!!!!)

A Blustery 5 miles in 53:25

Been a long weekend of study, so felt like a run to blow the cobwebs away. This time I managed to eat properly earlier in the day, so set off with a target of 7k, but rather miscalculated the route so ended up doing 5 miles, felt I had a little more in the tank but it was a bit tough in the latter stages – kept to a steady and quite sedate pace, the time of the run compared well with the 53:17 I did for my last 5 miler in early December, so have probably got about the same fitness base as I did then, and need to build on that now.

A Comfortable 5 miles in the December Darkness – 53:17

Hadn’t been running in the week due to general Christmas busyness and also a cold trying to start off and on ever since last week. Felt quite rough yesterday so just rested up, then on the back of some personal stressful stuff, decided a run might help with my mood, so set off in the cold December Saturday evening with a vague plan of seeing if I could do 5 miles.

Started off on local streets as usual and decided to head up Windmill Lane, through the edge of Dane Bank and around to Hyde Road for the long stretch back. Felt strangely comfortable, albeit running at a pretty slow steady pace, and only felt moderately strained going up the hill on Windmill Lane at about 3k. Felt pretty good thereafter, though I did notice a few hunger pangs along the way.

Still felt good on the long straight along Hyde Road back into Denton, saw a lady runner and gave her the thumbs up and she greeted me verbally which was nice. Slowed over the steep motorway bridge, then with a KM to go started to speed up. Flew past a gang of laughing youths and a glance at the Garmin showed my pace to be 3:41per KM at that point but it didn’t last, although I still felt good I slowed down a little and although the last k was the fastest it was still over 6 minutes. Still, even that last burst of speed didn’t leave me too much out of breath and I only stopped because I had reached my target and didn’t want to overdo the increase in distance and risk injury.

In all the steady increases and rest periods I have been building in seem to be working and my running is going strong at the moment – this was certainly the easiest 5 miler I can remember running this year, so will be interesting to see how I get on when I start trying to run a little faster, but for now just putting in the miles is feeling good.

7k in the cold and rain – let’s see if exercise can stop a cold!

I’ve got some really bad colds the last few winters, and notice this seemed to correlate with a period of injury where I had not been able to exercise. This winter I have been faring better and my running has been going well, but alas, recently I had a meeting with a colleague for an hour and a half of him sneezing and coughing in close proximity to me, and 2 days later I woke up with a mildly sore throat, the odd sniffle, and a few sneezes here and there, but thankfully so far no drained, tired, horrible feeling (despite some insomnia).

So, today looked to be pretty cold, about 3-4C, I had to put the heating on a little higher. When I went out for my run I could feel why – the outside doorhandle felt icy, and my breath was pluming around me. Even but the hood on my top up while the Garmin found its signal, then off I went on a planned 7k in the cold dark evening along puddled pavements.

I felt a little puffed out at first, despite the slow pace (6:30 per km) but got into my stride and took a long loping loop that had some inclines and declines included. At about 5k it started to rain pretty heavily, which was quite nice as I was pretty warmed up by then, and although the last km was a bit slower than the others, mainly due to having to navigate a lot of crossings and corners, I felt good and relaxed to a stop in 45:21, averaging 6:30 per km and while my body had worked hard, I felt pretty happy to have done a “long” run and even felt a mild endorphin buzz in the latter stages.

Now it remains to be seen whether running will help with this cold, it doesn’t feel too bad – I am hoping like a few other colds that have tried to get going, and failed after a run, that the effect will be the same this time, and I can prove the immune boosting power of running, if only to myself!

A speedy 4 miles in the dark – making 11 miles for the week!

Technically my long run, of 6.4k, which is about my limit at the moment. Thought about doing 7k but decided I had already done enough in reaching 11 miles for the week and need to be careful about injuries.

Did this 4 miler a couple of minutes quicker than the last without consciously feeling I was going any faster, did need to slow down a bit at the end but could probably have kept going and felt mainly comfortable.

Not sure what my real goal is at the moment apart from the build base fitness back up. I guess I could try a one mile time trial sometimes, and there is the looming 10k with Liz to think about, I need to earn the feast she will feed me afterwards!!!!!

My First Unofficial East Manchester Half Marathon! 13.1 miles in 2 hrs 14 mins 13 seconds

Well, I’ve been doing a lot to try to improve my speed lately, and have been struggling to maintain any pace, and have been struggling on quite a few runs of late, so I set off on this planned long run with the idea of just taking it easy and seeing how I got on. Fortunately it was quite overcast with a little rain in the air, so ideal for tackling a long run.

I set off at a gentle pace with a bottle of water at the ready, and felt good at first, then hit the usual 2-3k point where my lungs begin to work really hard. I didn’t have a route in mind until that point, but I started to think about doing ten miles, and thought going out along Ashton Old Road, through Beswick, then turning left along Pottery Lane, and getting home via Hyde Road through Gorton, should give me a good long run, as I sometimes find it helpful to have a circuit in mind, and I had my bus pass with me in case of blow ups or other disasters!

I stopped a couple of times just to take on water, and felt pretty good, even tackling the big hill near the Blue Pig (actually I don’t know if the Blue Pig is still there I think it closed down!) with confidence. It did amuse me to see the queues at the bus stops growing the further along Ashton Old Road I got, I felt like saying to them all that the bus would be a while. I had an idea of racing the bus right into town, but eventually it passed me!

The roads were relatively quiet, as I got near pottery Lane the Garmin ticked over the 5 miles mark and I still felt fresh and good, so I thought I might even try doing a little over 10 miles to make my longest ever run. I ran some way along pottery lane, and checked the Garmin as I felt I was nearing 9km – and to my shock the display had somehow jumped back to 7.56km. Which was totally wrong. I stopped and had a quick look, it seemed I had done 11.53 meters in 7 and a half minutes, which was total rubbish, I’d done the first 8k at around 6 mins per km, then it had gone haywire, so I quickly worked out that 7 and a half minutes was easily 1.2km, so I reset the Garmin and figured I needed to run another 7k ish to make my ten miles. As I got along Hyde Road I figured I might get near home too soon, so took a bit of a detour and got lost in the back streets of Gorton before coming out at Pottery Lane again, and by then I was off along Hyde Road feeling like I wanted to get home. I had run out of water long since and needed a boost, so stopped the Garmin on 5k and dashed in a shop for some Lucozade, then dashed out again and restarted the Garmin.

I had already figured that I would end up doing maybe 12 miles now if I ran all the way home (the bus was always an option, I told myself I could stop when I wanted), so I carried on and figured 12 miles would be enough. When I got to within spitting distance of my house I was on 10.5km of this part of the run, and I quickly worked out that if I ran 11.9km on the clock, and added it to the 9.2 from the first segment of the run, I would have 21.1km, or 13.1 miles! I had been slowing in the last few kms and was feeling a bit depleted, but wasn’t shattered by any means, in fact I felt confident I could run another 1.4km, so I just carried on, and on… and finally felt the relief of easing to a stop and hitting the stop button on the Garmin having completed 13.1 miles altogether!

My longest run before this was a bit over 10 miles, so I have surpassed my previous record by some distance, and have run for over 2 hours for the first time ever. The combined time on the Garmin was 2 hrs 14 minutes and 13 seconds – it would be interesting to see what I could do if I pushed the pace! Average pace was around 10 minute miles, or 6 mins per k, which is fine, the main thing is I got the distance in my legs – and it seems like even though I have struggled on some runs lately, they have been doing me some good on some level, as I felt pretty good and fresh through most of this run!

Hopefully this will help with my endurance and confidence on shorter runs, and maybe I will even find some speed again (I had to slow down on portions of the run as I was running sub 55 10k pace in places and not really noticing!)

In all a very good run – and what a difference a bit of cloud cover makes! The sprinkle of rain right at the end was a blessing!

Long Slooooow Run with a near death experience thrown in – 9 miles in 1hr 34

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!!

My First Seaside Run – 5 miles along the Lancing shorefront.

5 Miles along the Lancing coast – from girlfriend’s house in Lancing to Worthing Pier, and back again.

Very, very hot – look forward to running City of Manchester 10k in the overcast rainy conditions of Manchester, my southern-based warm weather training could pay off – was a scorcher, had to walk, but at least didn’t blow up like my last run. Will try to squeeze in a few jogs this week in preparation for the race, maybe the enforced rest lately could be an advantage

Run of FAIL – 8 Miler aborted at 4k…

When I set out, it seemed quite breezy out, and a little overcast, so thought 6.30 would be a nice time for an evening run. After 2k I was feeling good, although I was aware the sun was on me and I hadn’t put any cream on… Oh well I thought, and the next km was up a hill which I took very easy. At about 3k I started to feel not quite right, I was getting thirsty, and also feeling pretty hot, and my lungs were working very hard. I took some water, and slowed the pace, but suddenly the thought of stopping to cross an intersection was like an oasis. I started again, but something had gone, I felt I had no energy at all the the thought of the 8 miles circuit filled me with dread, I was starting to feel a little sick too. So unfortunately I had to stop at 4k, and it took a while to recover, I also got the munchies but was a while before I could get to food.

Strange run. Might try again tomorrow, if I am going to burn up might as well get it over with earlier in the day.

7.2 miles in the pouring rain – Zen and the Art of Running!

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.