Archives for Milestones category

An Up and Downhill 5k with further speed improvement

Posted on Nov 24, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Milestones, Season's Best | No Comment

Am not really going out to try to run faster, but just run how I feel, but seem to be getting a bit quicker on each run. This run was a bit of a different route than of late, taking in a gentle incline and a big downhill before some gradual uphill and downhill running and more uphill with flat to finish. The downhill probably wiped out the uphills, so may have not had much impact on overall time, but ran a little quicker than last 5k and felt fine.

Even overtook one bloke who I caught up with from some distance, mind you he was running with a backpack and was probably running 20 miles but it was a change from being overtaken and felt like there was a bit of speed back in my legs.

A long way to go till I am pushing sub 25 for 5k, but am at least running again and seem to be doing so fairly comfortably at the moment!

A Starlit Four Miles in just under 43 minutes

Posted on Nov 22, 2011 under 5-10k, Milestones, Slow Runs | No Comment

Evening running seems to be my thing at the moment and running in the dark has its charms – though one of these days I will go flying when looking up to admire the stars or a passing aeroplane flashing in the sky!

Ran this at a slow and steady pace, averaging just over 6 mins 30 per km, trying not to feel any pressure to try to run fast, but at least finding that kind of pace very easy and was hardly out of breath all the way. May try to up the pace once I can comfortably run 10k, but there’s no rush – can build base miles in over the winter and then look for speedier stuff as spring and race season approaches, then think about potential races or time trials in addition to the Great Manchester Run 2012.

A Moonlit 5k in 33:54

Posted on Nov 14, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Jogs, Milestones, Regular Runs | No Comment

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! 🙂

First Run of Winter, As the Summer ends…

Posted on Oct 30, 2011 under Easy Runs, Health, Injuries, Jogs, Milestones, News | No Comment

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!

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

Posted on Aug 06, 2011 under Half Marathon, Long Runs, Milestones, Season's Best | 1 Comment

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

Posted on Jul 18, 2011 under 10-15k, Long Runs, Milestones, Slow Runs | 1 Comment

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!! 😀

City of Manchester 10k 2011 – A very hot 53:48!

Posted on Jul 03, 2011 under 10k, Milestones, Races, Season's Best | 3 Comments

My third race of the season (and my third outing to the City of Manchester 10k) began with a largely sleepless night, went to bed quite late and couldn’t seem to get off, then woke early. Fortunately this meant I got up in plenty of time to have coffee and breakfast! Was looking forward to seeing Neil and Dawn at the race, and also Chris.

It looked like it was going to be a scorcher. I chose to wear my Nike running singlet, and spent a bit of time liberally applying factor 50 to all the exposed flesh which included pretty much all of my head and face! Got the bus up the road then towards east Manchester, and had fun walking past the building where I used to work. Arrived at Sportcity and spotted some toilets, so joined a line, finding the athleticism it took for some to hold a faulty door shut while using said toilet to be somewhat admirable… I chose to use the one without the broken lock 🙂

I headed into the indoor track where I have seen Neil and Dawn before, but no luck, and tried to spot Neil at the front but no luck either. Positioned myself relatively near the front and we waited while they allowed the ladies’ loo queue to diminish so they could join the field. The sun was already starting to feel hot as the Lord Mayor of Manchester got us underway, and I set off at a gentle pace as we wound around the track. I had the Garmin set to just show the distance and the time of day. As usual at this race, the Garmin clicked over 1km long before the official marker, I accidently saw the lap time which was 5:01 – so a little quick, but I decided to ignore the bleeps after that.

Even 2k in it started to become clear just how hot it was going to be, I could see people tearing off in front of me, felt they were going far too quickly, but just ran my own race and resisted the temptation to speed up early on, as I knew by the end I would be suffering hugely if I ran the first half of the race too quickly in the sun. At 4k I was starting to get really puffy, but just held my pace, and at 5k a chap asked me what time we were roughly on, but I couldn’t tell him, I also asked him if he knew if there was a drinks station as my mouth had started to get dry, he didn’t know, and said he needed to catch up to his friend, and off he went.

At some point, maybe after 6km, there was a sign or someone said water ahead. Eventually we got to the water, and I took a bottle, which was a plastic bottle with its top off. I stopped to take a drink, and poured a little over me which gave me a shiver, and then ran with the bottle for a bit, stopping every now and then to drink until it was finished. By that point there was just over 7k to go, so I knew I could complete the race and the heat hadn’t devastated me, though it certainly felt tough running out there.

city of manchester 10k 2011 pictures road runner rob

I ran in the shade of some trees for a short while and the Garmin went a little crazy and didn’t move, in fact by this point it had been behind the KM markers anyway. I didn’t really care, just needed to run how I felt, and did stop a few times to get my breath, particularly up the last hill, and I could see the stadium and hear the announcer saying 50 minutes had just ticked over. I knew then I was going to make sub 55, which had been my target, and thought I could maybe get around 54, so just maintained my pace, and although people were doing mad sprints for the line I really didn’t have much left so just went at a decent pace. I looked out for Neil cheering me in like he usually does but there was no sign, and Neil and Dawn weren’t at the finish line (they said they’d wait, but no sign, so I figured maybe Neil had to pull out).

In any case, I’d done it in 53:48, over 4 minutes off my Great Manchester Run time, and I was even more pleased to have smashed 55 minutes in such heat. I thought I could catch my friend Chris coming in, and went and cheered in loads of runners, but no sign of her, so wondered if she had turned up either 🙁 I chatted to a bloke about the oases of the shady bits and the water station, and cheered in lots more runners, then headed back to the start line and cheered more people in and observed with some concern the people in ambulances – it was so hot that people had been collapsing with the heat and dehydration and breathing problems 🙁 I felt really fresh and buzzy once I had got my breath back, and enjoyed wandering around, then had a bit of banter with the elites as they went up to get their prizes. I watched the toddler’s race and presentation before finally drifting away.

city of manchester 10k 2011 pics road runner rob

Got home in time for Wimbledon final, and looked up Neil’s name on the results page – he’d done it in 39:01 so it looks like he was there, but they didn’t wait around at the finish line, so I don’t know what happened. It also turned out that Chris had done really well and got well under the hour, so she hadn’t come in that far behind me – so had finished by the time I got to the stadium entrance to cheer her in.

So a day of achieved times but missed friends, but all in all I had a fab day, and really enjoyed the sense of having survived the heat and achieved another milestone for the season. I have begun to think it may be possible to go sub 50 again before the end of September, who knows – I have entered the East Manchester Legacy Event 10k, and am looking around for other races. Who knows, the Offerton 10k is happening this Wednesday, couple of years ago I ran that a few days before the City of Manchester one… I will see how I feel and maybe roll up for an on the day entry. Will see! 😀

Edited to add City of Manchester 10k 2011 photos. 🙂

Bloody Garmin! Bloody good run though! 25:52

Posted on Jun 29, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Milestones, Season's Best, Tempo Runs | No Comment

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!!!!! 😀

Evening long run – 8.3 miles in 1hr 24 minutes

Posted on Jun 04, 2011 under Long Runs, Milestones | No Comment

After yesterday’s aborted run I wanted to redeem myself a little, and also wanted to experiment with running a bit later, so rather than run first thing today, I got a lot of stuff out of the way and mowed the lawn as a warm up, after tidying my office as well and pulling weeds up. It was a hot day, but getting cooler in the evening, so decided to christen one of my proper sleeveless Nike running tops, which I don’t recall ever wearing…

I set off and the top felt really cool, allowing the air to waft over my skin. I felt great and was going at sub 60 minute 10k pace for a while. I’d prepared a bottle of water but managed to forget it, but had fortunately brought money, which was a good job, as I started to plan a long run in my head and knew I would need to take on liquid. I passed a shop and stopped the Garmin dead on 4k. Got a bottle of fruity flavoured drink and set off again.

Started to tire around 9k, but was still a long way from home. Decided to try to run all the way back, but was slowing. Legs were complaining a bit. Couldn’t quite work out in my head if 8 miles (the target I decided to go for) was 13.1k or 13.5k, so decided to aim for 13.5. Struggled on the Windmill Lane hills, and really started to hurt, whatever the distance it was my longest run in over a year, by a few kms. I could see a shop in the distance and it was like an oasis, so I decided I would stop there whatever the distance and get a drink, I was really suffering, and the thought of some bourbon biscuits when I got home seemed like heaven itself.

I crawled to a pained stop and got a bottle of Lucozade. I was still a ten minute walk from home, and it was surprisingly cold. My legs felt a little numb, as did my abdomen, but I had covered 13.4km, which as I worked out when I got home, is 8.3 miles, so I had done my first 8 miler in a very long time. It was relatively slow, but it seems the 10 day break I had is now paying off, after a couple of comeback runs where I’ve felt a little rusty to say the least. All bodes well for the city of Manchester 10k next month, and it looks like evening running may suit me – won’t have much time this week but will hope to squeeze a run in and there’s always the weekend!

11.5K Long Run – 1hr 15

Posted on May 08, 2011 under 10-15k, Long Runs, Milestones, Trail Running | No Comment

Decided to run a bit later in the day again to avoid the hot sun, though the weather looked a bit unpredictable anyway. Slathered the sun cream on as a precaution and set off slowly, hoping to do 5 miles at least and hopefully 7.

Ran out towards Dane Bank as the skies darkened and spots of rain began to fall. Took on water at a few points. Was at about 5k when I got to Debdale park so thought I’d run up to the reservoirs then turn back, which should leave 3-4k to complete my target distance, but I ended up carrying on and found a nice bit of trail running, so took a risk and followed this, I knew vaguely where I’d end up but not how far it would be. Was lost for a small amount of time, then found familiar territory and ran along a bus route in case I totally ran out of energy.

As it happened I crossed the 7 mile mark as I was nearing home, and jogged a little extra to make it 11.5k to get nearer my house. Was tired, but could have gone on a little further. No sign of last week’s knee pain, though I did have a little hamstring niggle which I rubbed in the park for a bit, but it didn’t feel too much of a problem.

Somehow I have managed to run 12.74 miles for 2 weeks in a row! Plan to take this week as easy as possible before the Great Manchester Run next Sunday.