Archives for Milestones category
Posted on May 19, 2013 under 5 miles, Milestones, Tempo Runs |
Not had much energy lately and felt sluggish during the day, been trying to take it easy, mainly lack of sleep and overwork! Hadn’t run in the week apart from a quick 3 miles with the SRC, cut a little short when I unofficially backmarked for a new runner at the end.
Had to really force myself out for this run, had been overcast all day and not looking great, but made myself put on my shorts and shoes and headed out, felt warmer than I expected, so off I went and within seconds my right hamstring was feeling a bit funny… Just carried on and headed towards Dukinfield, was going to do the Globe Lane – Ashton route, as it was dry I headed towards Jet Amber Fields and towards Shepley, then hit the bridge, and looked over the bridge at the canal and decided running via the canal would be nicer as the sun was struggling to come out.
My switchback briefly confused the garmin, but by this point I was warming up, and saw a few goslings and their parents as well as some rather grim works around the bridges as well as some stumps where there had been trees last time I was down this way.
Headed back along the canal towards Guide Bridge, dodging puddles, and heavy foliage and tunnels confused the Garmin a bit more, then hit the roads again and got up quite a bit of pace on the long stretch back home. Had a target of under 50 for sure and would have been nice to go under 48 but ended up just a little over, even so was my fastest 5 miles since last September and my legs survived the sustained extra pace, was really hot and puffed out by the end but felt good to run at a faster pace for a few miles and work up a sweat! 🙂
Posted on May 12, 2013 under 10 Miles, All Weather Running, Long Runs, Milestones, Season's Best |
Have neglected this running blog of late, my running has been on and off with injuries but thankfully more on lately!
Got up to 8 miles last week, then a long walk on Monday, followed by some pretty hard running at SRC Hyde which I only occasionally get to with work at the moment.
Had planned to do 8 miles today, it was pouring and cold, at about 6k my right hamstring started tightening (it was the left I pulled months ago!), I gave it a rub and was ready to turn back, but a jog round a park and it was Ok so I headed back on my planned route through Reddish to Belle Vue. It did keep tightening when I sped up but fitness wise I felt great, very happy to be running and looking like a madman in the rain! As I neared home I was at 14.5k and thought why not go the long way round and make it a nice 10 miles, so I did, and it’s been a long time since I ran so far and really didn’t want to stop at the end as I could have gone on all night, but I don’t think my legs would have thanked me for it in the long run 🙂
Posted on Mar 10, 2013 under 10-15k, All Weather Running, Long Runs, Milestones, Trail Running |
Time for the Sunday long run, and for a spring day in March the weather was a bit grim – blowing a strong icy wind, freezing cold. Still, the sun was out and shades went on, but only managed to sweat and feel warm when shielded from the wind at brief times in the woods.
Started off towards Hyde, went past Sweatshop and glanced in the window but didn’t see anyone, then headed up to the old railway tracks and ran to the end out towards the hills, then all the way back to Denton. Bumped into a number of friendly dogs and a chap who asked for directions to the canal paths, to get to a pub outing with some mates, I was a bit lost at the time so just told him to head for Gibraltar Bridge and he could get the canal from there.
Got quite muddy in places and the ascent up Stockport Road was a bit of a killer, but made it, then trundled and plodded the last km and rounded off to 13k, or just over 8 miles, just as the Garmin was about to die!
Posted on Mar 03, 2013 under 10-15k, Health, Long Runs, Milestones, Trail Running |
Something of a Sunday long run, and just under 7 miles is certainly quite long considering my breaks due to injury lately. Was nice to get a substantial distance under my belt, and felt good, though the first few K and the last few were quite tough, in different ways.
Set off down Town Lane, plan was to run out to Reddish Vale and see how I got on. Felt pretty cold to start with, and took it easy, enjoying the the uneven ground and the greenery around me. Bumped into a bunch of vans who looked like they were getting ready for pony trekking, then began the descent to the park, where I started to feel a bit odd, and had to stop for a moment as my heart felt slightly odd and I felt a tingling in my fingers. I put my hand on it and it seemed to have a weird fluttery extra beat, which occasionally happens at rest. I walked for a little while and it went back to normal, and I carried on slowly, and felt no ill effects after this, despite going uphill after this.
I took a few detours and ended up going uphill into Reddish, did a loop of some houses and got a bit lost so went back the way I came, through the park, and then the climb back to Denton, passing ponies along the way. The long steady incline had me working hard and by the time I got to Town Lane I was starting to drag a bit, a chap sweeping his path pulled aside and said “won’t get in the way of your training, stay cool mate,” so I gave him a thumbs up and dug in for the last couple of km. Was just about out of steam by 11k, and petered out, but was nice to have been out running for well over an hour with no niggles, and at times was running as fast as 10 minute miles! Will work on that, one run at a time, for the moment I am just enjoying getting out and enjoying the trails, will be even nicer when the sun pops out!
Posted on Jan 05, 2013 under 10-15k, Long Runs, Milestones, Slow Runs |
Been running but couldn’t be a*sed updating this blog for a while – too much going on! Might just do a short entry for each run from now on, unless I feel like writing more.
First run of the year, after a New Year’s Eve run with Sweatshop Hyde, where I seemed to run a bit faster than of late (was nice to be near the front instead of languishing at the rear).
In any case, set off tonight aiming to do over 5 miles, went via Dane Bank and Reddish out towards Stockport then turned back, at which point started to feel very energy depleted. Had to find a cash machine and grab a bottle of gatorade from a shop. When I got to 12k had visions of running 10 miles, but when I went up the motorway bridge near Sainsburys I had to just stop, my legs suddenly went to jelly. It was all I could do to keep going very slowly and was just feeling worse and worse, so stopped the clock at 13.22km, or 8.21 miles, and went to the nearest shop for a drink and a snack to replenish my failing reserves.
My niggly leg held up well – and this is the furthest I have run since my injury in September, so very positive despite imploding at the end!
Posted on Oct 14, 2012 under 5-10k, Club Runs, Milestones, Trail Running |
Have not been able to make the Hyde Sweatshop Running Community runs for over a month, both due to my injury woes and also the fact Mondays and Wednesdays have been inundated with client bookings in the evening. So when I recieved an invitation to run a 4 miler with Ron Hill this Sunday morning, with free breakfast to follow, I felt I couldn’t really say no!
It was a bright, albeit chilly morning, definitely a few notches down on the thermometer, especially early in the morning. I wore my long sleeved top underneath my short sleeve SRC yellow top, and my tracksuit bottoms. I put the old-ish trainers on as I expected we might hit the muddy trails!
Got to the shop and it was still quiet, chatted to a few people, and soon some familiar faces arrived. I had to remind myself I have not had much running for a month, so didn’t want to start trying to maintain whatever pace I had last time I was there!
We set off into the bright Sunday sunshine with Ron Hill leading, and I held back my pace, feeling tempted to try to hit the front markers but knowing that might not go down to well with my legs or lungs! Chatted to someone I hadn’t seen before, and felt quite good at the pace we were going. When we hit the trails around the Tame valley things got very muddy, I was able to attack the hill before Mill Lane and put on some bursts of speed, but then waited for back markers at various points. We went through the woods and up the stairs in the hillside, I took it easy, and then there was a bit of a detour back up to the canal path, which was extremely muddy. There was talk of ecoli and plague in those dangerous puddles as people tried to avoid them but I just went straight through a few – I hope I shall survive!
On the hills up to the shop I watched a few roads and stayed with the person I had chatted to at the beginning, and supported her to the end, as this wasn’t really a run to go hell for leather with pace, but I really enjoyed the company and the bright sunshine of the run.
I felt quite good at the pace I ran and it didn’t feel like I hadn’t been out for a run with other people for so long, so hopefully the swimming and the few jogs I’ve managed have kept my fitness ticking over.
Work permitting, I might venture back to the 5k Wednesday group, and will hopefully meet some more nice new people as well as familiar ones, and I can slowly build my distance and pace back up so I can enjoy some long winter runs.
My leg and back seemed to hold up well on this one. But my trainers certainly needed a spray with bleach solution and a dunk in hot water, and are now steam drying on the radiator, ready to eat more mud another day, although the evening runs will probably be on roads from now on with the dark nights!
Posted on Aug 26, 2012 under 10 Miles, Long Runs, Milestones |
Having run a bit less this week, I wanted to get a long run in, which will probably be the last run of substance length-wise before the City of Salford 10k, as I guess I will be in cutback mode for a little while now, especially having done a 22 and an 18 mile week back to back now.
Set off at a slow pace and felt fine, could feel my body adjusting to the jogging, but it wasn’t a painful process, more like, “Oh, this again, ok, can do…” However at about 3k I felt a weird pain in my right lower leg, and it felt like the leg would give out. I slowed, it was Ok, and then the same thing started happening with my left leg. I was ok when I slowed, then when I sped up a little to take advantage of a green man on a crossing (and I don’t mean molesting aliens, ha ha!), the pain intensified, my leg felt like it would give way, and I had to stop to give it a little massage.
I carried on, wondering whether I should turn back, and abort the planned 10 miles, but it seemed to be Ok if I kept to a pace just slightly quicker than walking. CV wise I felt great, barely broke into a sweat and wasn’t breathing much harder than if I had been sitting down.
I plodded on, and at some point the nagging pain disappeared and I felt myself speed up, instead of doing 7 mins per km I was doing 6:30 and going quite comfortably. The pains didn’t come back, but I could feel my toes blistering a little! I took the hill on the motorway bridge without a second thought, although by that point I could sense my glycogen stores were depleting, but I had managed the distance without a drink or any other sustenance, which is a first for me on anything over 10k!
Slowed towards the end and had been running for just short of 2 hours, but it didn’t really seem all that far, so my fitness must have really improved lately. Not sure what the niggles were but might have been to do with the time trial the other day, so I will probably give the reps at the running club a miss, as after 2 high mileage weeks I think I need some lower mileage and lower intensity, so that my body can reap the rewards of the last month or 2, and the last thing I want to do at this stage is risk an injury before one of the few races I have been able to enter this year!
Posted on Aug 17, 2012 under Above 10 miles, Long Runs, Milestones, Slow Runs |
Weather was looking bit cloudy so ideal conditions for a long slow run. Wasn’t sure how my legs would be as they had felt a bit achey after the recovery run on Tuesday – still, they’d had 2 days to recover from that!
Unlike my long runs in the past, where I felt good and upped the pace, and eventually ended up with injuries, I was determined to keep the pace nice and slow. For the first 3k felt very good, although there was a moment where I started to breathe hard and wondered if I would get anywhere near my target of 10 ish miles. The plan was to run just over 10 to take me into 20 miles for the week.
There was a bit of a breeze, and a little drizzle helped me keep cool although it was mainly dry and towards the end of the run there was a nice red sky. I ran out through Dane Bank, then Reddish, then all the way to the edge of Stockport until I came to a sort of dead end of dual carriageway, and turned back, opting for the route via Belle Vue and back to base through Gorton. Barely got out of breath although my knees were a bit sore at times, and I was sweating quite a lot – at about 12k I popped into a shop for some energy drink, which only lost me about a minute, but I needed to refuel, and it did me good. Kept plodding along at a nice steady pace, felt I could keep going all night really, and 10 miles ticked over while I was still a ways off the motorway bridge at Denton Rock.
Took it slow over the bridge, and started to calculate what I would end up running, figured I would easily make 11 miles and when that ticked over realised I only needed to run another 1.6km to make it 12. My pace was slowing and feet were a bit sore, but just kept going at an easy pace, and when I got to 19.4k I figure I couldn’t quite trust my own maths, so I thought to make it 19.8k and by then I just decided to jog another 200metres to make it a nice round 20km, or 12.43 miles. I could have carried on and made it a half marathon, but time was getting on, and I had already exceeded my planned distance, and was near my front door, so I petered to a stop, took a well deserved slug from what was left of the powerade, and got inside to cool off!
21.8 miles for the week, with a nice mix of runs, have a little time away now so will be having 4 days off running with some hiking instead, but I feel in really good shape. Probably my last really long run before the Salford 10k race in September, hopefully this time I have got the preparation right, and will be able to do myself justice.
Might try a 5k time trial next week, just to see where my pace is at!
Posted on Aug 01, 2012 under 10-15k, Injuries, Milestones, Trail Running |
After my first outing to the Sweatshop running group, related here, I elected to try the Monday “improvers” group for a while and have enjoyed running up hills and down dales, and have felt a definite improvement in my running form of late, also helped by learning to build some easy runs into my schedule, and slowing it down on my long runs rather than running fast just because I feel good (while slowly breaking down tissues too quickly!)
Anyway, I decided I wanted to give the Weds group another go, and this time I would know what to expect, so it was planned in my week as a hard run, and I made sure I hadn’t just done an insane long run the day before with a race coming up at the weekend on this occasion!
On the way to the shop it started raining heavily and seemed pretty miserable, when I got there I presented my card and in return got my “5 week” prize, a bright yellow Sweatshop Running Community running top! I immediately jettisoned my grey top and decked myself out like a bumble bee! I chatted to people and then went outside to try to get a Garmin signal, and then we set off. The route was headed towards the canal, so I issued a silent prayer of gratitude that there were unlikely to be insane hills tonight! It was also pleasing that the rain had stopped and the sun decided to show itself!
I noted the faster runners from last time, some of them went off really quickly but I didn’t try and fly after them, but did keep them in sight. As luck would have it I had forgotten again to switch off my Garmin pace alert so it was going bonkers at me while I was definitely not in the mood to slow down, I managed to switch it off when we paused to let the runners at the back catch up, but I had to stop it and by then the lap thinggy was off so in the end I left it running but didn’t really bother with it.
The route now looked like it was going to be the same route as the last time I ran with the Weds group, but in reverse, so it was a nice trip through the woods again. The front runners did keep disappearing, but after a second “pit stop”, I found myself on their tail and stayed with them for a bit before they once again zoomed off, but I wasn’t massively behind. I knew I was running faster than I have for a while, but that was part of the plan!
We crossed Stockport Road at the end of the woods and headed into the fields at the other side which lead up to the farm and Town Lane, funnily enough where I used to run back when I very first started, though I had never seen it quite as muddy as this! We reached a stile to get through to the next field, and had to line up, and as a lady was telling me it was nice to see me back at the Weds group, suddenly my feet were going from under me and I was freefalling – all the way down onto this rock in the ground, the base of my back smacking into it hard. For a moment the world blurred and the wind was really knocked out of me. I had visions of ambulances skidding through the muddy fields to rescue this broken runner, and thought of my Dad and how he had never really been the same after a similar incident caused by a bag of frozen peas in the Co-op (mind you he did get a compensation claim for that!). All these things ran through my mind and Tony the coach came to see if I was OK, but I managed to get up and had to run a bit gingerly for a little while, up some hills towards the farm.
It was at this point that the faster pack and those of us in the middle and back got separated, much to Tony’s consternation, we didn’t even know which way they had gone, but I pointed out that if they had gone left, they would be in Reddish Vale before long, and that we should go right! We cantered up Town Lane while I suggested to the lady at the back it would be a good idea to sneak of and get an ice cream from the ice cream van that had nearly run us over, and then eventually we regrouped with the faster runners.
As we ran along St Lawrence road, I realised I was up with the faster runners and for a short time I moved in front of them, am sure they were just taking it easy but it felt good to be up there for once and although I was pushing myself it felt quite good. On the way through to the fields to Mill Lane they zoomed off again, and then on the final leg to the shop we did another big hill, one I imploded on last summer, just past the railway station. I held my own on this, and although the top runners went off quite a way, I wasn’t miles behind this time, and worked hard on the hill even though my legs were turning a bit rubbery by this point!
Arrived at the shop and felt great, chatted a bit and checked the distance we had done, which was about 6.36 miles, in some tough underfoot conditions. My back felt OK, but I took some painkillers just to keep the inflammation down and so far as I write this it’s not complaining too much, I guess it could have been a lot worse!
I think I have definitely improved and it will be interesting to see what time I can knock out a 5k time trial in, this weekend. Better give it a few days for my back and legs to recover though!
Thanks to Sweatshop for my brand new top. It needs a wash though as it certainly got christened when I fell in my back into mud and rocks!!!
Posted on Jul 27, 2012 under above 15k, Long Runs, Milestones, Season's Best, Slow Runs, Trail Running |
After the hill reps on Monday, an easy/recovery run midweek, and another session with the club looming on Monday (wonder what the demon coach will have in store this time?!), I wanted to try get a long run in, as that’s the kind of run I’ve been missing lately, not having done anything over 10k really since my 13.5km run before the City of Manchester 10k, which was a while ago now.
So, after what turned out to be quite a stressful day with one thing and another, I decided to leave it all behind and headed out into the early evening sunshine. It felt warm, but the sun was dropping (about half six when I set out) and I was determined not to make the mistake of long runs in the past – set out slow and end up running faster and faster, defeating the object of a long slow run!
I certainly did set off slow, my calves felt tight which was a bit worrying at first, especially as the 2nd and 3rd kms involved ascents towards the Transpennine trail I found near Hyde which is old railway lines converted into a path. I had walked this on Monday, so knew my way around a little, but took the odd detour to see where I would end up on the way! It was nice once I got to the railway lines – flat, and in the shade. I went to the far end, then on running back ran round what seemed to be a cul de sac before going back over this little bridge and heading up a dirt track which went on for quite a time and was quite an ascent. Once I got to the end of it and a main road, I noted it was called Green Lane. I didn’t have a clue where I was by that point so I figured the safest bet was to go back the way I had planned to begin with, along the railway tracks through to Haughton Dale.
Going back down this lane I realised what an ascent it had been, as it looked much steeper going down than it had felt going up! I kept my pace down and started toying with the idea of doing 10 miles, as I was already up to 9k by that point, but was aware my knees were starting to feel a bit sore with the uneven ground. I got back to the railway tracks and maintained a slow pace, sometimes very slow, though I didn’t feel I was going as slow as the Garmin said at times!
I reached Haughton Dale and almost went the long way round through the woods, but my knees were warning me now, so I took a little shortcut which still involved a steep climb which I powered up, and then it was a gentle jog back into Denton, with a few detours around random streets to make up my revised target of 15k. Was still a little far from my front door so jogged an extra hundred meters before gliding to a gentle stop. Didn’t make the 10 miles but there’s always next time, and this was a pretty hilly route in places so didn’t want to risk overuse injuries – again!
Made it my highest mileage week for as long as I can remember (almost 18 miles) and my longest run of the season.
I just hope that coach goes easy on Monday, lol!!!!
