Rob's Running Blog

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!

An Up and Downhill 5k with further speed improvement

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!

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!

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

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.

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.

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

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!!!!!

Legacy Events East Manchester 5k Debdale Park – 26:03

Races are like buses, none for a year then suddenly two come at once!

The Legacy Events East Manchester 5k at Debdale Park was a different affair altogether from the Great Manchester Run last week – 5k, so shorter, and about 38,000 less people, but these kinds of races are just as important, if less well known, and see runners of all abilities.

It had been an exhausting week for me, with some bouts of insomnia, things have been very hectic, so an early start on Sunday morning was one of the last things I needed, and as usual on race mornings I woke up groggy, disoriented, and wondering “why on earth am I doing this?” (or words to that effect). I has some toast wth bean pate on it, then went to get the bus (really should get better sorted these buses, the online timetable never seems to match the one at the stand, which can be very confusing). Anyway, got to Debdale Park in plenty of time and saw the Marshals dotted around. Was pretty cold and very windy. Found the grotty debdale park toilets which were thankfully empty, though am glad I only needed to pee as there was no toilet paper in sight! Lol. Could probably have held on for a 5k anyway…

Did a little jogging around for a warm up, then went to join the organised warmup, had to improvise when they started doing side steps, as that is the surest way to buggering up my dodgy knee! Massaged my legs, right hamstring felt really tight and muscles felt brittle, like cold plasticine, which wasn’t good. A bloke in a red top chatted to me on the way to the start line and said he used to do marathons in 3 hours in his army days, but wasn’t sure what he would do today.

Felt excited as the horn went off, and off we went. I usually struggle pacing 5ks and this was no different, and haven’t done one for quite a long time! And this was actually my first real 5k race, with a number – as opposed to a park run. Felt like I was going a bit fast, went down the first little hill, went round a corner, and my right lower leg almost collapsed underneath me and developed weird spasming shooting pains all of a sudden. Had visions of pulling out, but just slowed down and it went away, but was a bit scary to say the least

Overtook a few people early on and was overtaken by one or two, but the field seemed to spread out very quickly and I started to find my own pace. On the little incline past the reservoirs just before the water station, a young lady came past me, and I responded by sticking with her; she went through onto the long straight path which was very windy, and I tucked in behind her to shield me from the wind. We were destined to to share the work for the rest of the race, she would pull in front of me, then I pulled in front of her, and it was really handy to have someone to work with like that and kept me motivated. I was really hurting by 4k, but then again, only 1k to go, and somehow I found something extra and pulled away from my companion, then sped past a woman who had overtaken me early on, but who I had kept in my sights. I was wincing and hurting as I entered the finishing straight, had no idea what the time would be, but sprinted with whatever I had left for the line, and cross, according to Garmin, in 26:03, which is 2 minutes off my 5k best this season so far, so all in all the race day adrenaline and my temporary running companion really helped pull me on to an improved time.

I stayed behind for a bit to clap more runners in, including a parrot, some nuns, and a fairy. The bloke in the red top finished in about 31 mins and came and found me for a chat. I was getting a bit cold by then so wandered off to get the bus home, buzzing and a little more lively, although by the time I got home I was looking forward to a very lazy day!

Great Manchester Run 2011 Race Report – 57:50(Photos to follow!)

My first race report in a long time!

The day before had been derailed by some pesky hackers deleting various websites of mine or defacing them, so ended up trying to sort that out till late, rather than relaxing, and as a result got to bed late and probably got 4-5 hours at most.

Woke up, got up, and felt very groggy. Looked cold, and grey, and miserable outside. Got some toast and marmite and half an oaty flapjack down me then set off for the bus, which seemed to be late, so jogged round the corner to the next stop and eventually the bus came. For some reason there were no other runners getting on the bus, or on the bus, this year, normally there are quite a few, maybe they got on later.

Decided to hang out at Piccadilly Rail Station, and had great fun and games with the toilets with no paper in the paper holders… But got sorted eventually, then for some reason got caught short when I got to the start line so used a portaloo after the warmup and the queues weren’t too bad…

The field was quite dense and there was no way I was going to be able to push through to the front of the wave as planned, so I decided to just go with the flow, the Green Wave went off, and I switched on the Garmin, I was standing next to some guys dressed as Austin Powers, and oddly enough on the other side of me were two people wearing daffodil heads identical to the one I wore last year!

Then we were off, I crossed the mats and started the Garmin, and started to enjoy the atmosphere and the feeling of racing for the first time in a long time. I did a lot of overtaking, Garmin said I was going really slowly, but wasn’t sure, and didn’t really care, just wanted to enjoy it all, and felt good as the first K marker came up, and good as we went out on to Chester Road. I was overtaking many, many people, and saw a few 75 minute pacers around, I knew I would probably be under an hour so was just running my own race. Got to 4k and the drinks station past Old Trafford, took a bottle of water and drank it, then prepared for the long run back into central Manchester. Gave some kids high fives and gave Superman bloke a thumbs up, then started to pick up the pace, said “WoW!” to some blue Indian chaps, who seemed to appreciate it, then concentrated on the final straight, still feeling good with 3k to go.

I wanted to pick the pace up more, but did start to hurt a bit by that point, I’d caught up with the Green Wave by that point (who started some half an hour before me), there were people flying past me, I just tried to keep up the pace. With 800m to go I put on a burst of speed that had me going at 4:08 per k, but I couldn’t sustain it. My Garmin ticked over 10k in about 57 mins (which I had predicted based on my current training) and the finish arch was still a distant mirage. I was petering out a little but gave one last push, grimacing hard to get every last drop out of myself. I made it over the line in an official time of 57:50 and it took me a while to recover.

I nipped home and had a shower, before returning to town to catch the second half of the Great Manchester City Games 2011, and got a nice vantage point near the end, where I got some close up glimpses of Jessica Ennis, Tyson Gay, and the other runners, including Haile Gebrselassie who was doing a final interview, when asked if he would come back, he said “Sure!”.

The weather was crap, but it didn’t put a damper on the day, the atmosphere, the people, or my spirits one bit

5k Tempo Run – 27:59 – a season’s best so far!

Went out for what was a planned easy run, but I got carried away. Set off quite quickly and decided I could keep up that pace, so went round a few random streets and paths round the local estate and ended up coming out half way up the Stockport Road Hill, legged it up that without losing pace and then I realised I might be on for a sub 28. Did the first k in 6:07 then the next ones were under 6 minutes, as I got to the last few hundred metres it was touch and go and really had to sprint (for want of a better word, it was was determination to make my legs keep going somehow!) for the sub 28 – I was at 4.98k with seconds to go, didn’t manage to stop the Garmin as I nearly went flying over a speed bump instead, but was prettty sure I’d done the 5k just before the minute ticked over… Was a tough run, and I would need to run that fast twice to do 56 minutes in the Great Manchester Run. If I set off at that pace I will be dead though, and end up getting the tram back from Pomona at Salford Quays… So I need to start off slowly and then see how I get on in the second half, but it’s looking like 57 minutes could be a challenging target…

5 Miler in the spring sunshine – 51:23

My first 5 miler since… November. It seems a long time and my running has been going in fits and starts with all the colds. I managed to shake off the latest cold more quickly, maybe that is something to do with the spring weather!

I was tired after a few nights’ restless sleep, but know that time is ticking as the Great Manchester Run approaches, and I can’t afford any more laziness in saying “oh well, I will pick up the fitness as I go on…” So in a way having a race booked into the diary is giving me renewed motivation.

As usual, I had to force myself out through the door, and the first k felt a bit of a struggle – I soon had to unzip my running top and started to wonder whether I should have opted for shorts for the first time. But I kept going and planned to do at least 5k, with 6 or 7 being a possibility. I had taken my bus pass with me so had a bit of freedom to go wherever I pleased near the main roads, without the worry of having to run back if I went too far out. This seemed to help psychologically. I ran out towards central Manchester through Gorton, had an altercation with a car that tried to kill me and then yelled “dickhead” at me, which caused me to have an adrenaline burst and speed up for a while. I did some hilly backstreets then got back on to the main road. At 6k I started to think about doing 8.05k and crossing the magic 5 mile barrier, and figured it might be just what I need as a boost, since my training has been so up and down of late…

It did start to get a bit tough after that but I slowed down and just kept going, and towards the 5 mile mark I felt a rush of endorphins which just carried me through the final stages of the run. It was exhilarating to finally cross the barrier and know that 6.2 miles in May is going to be achievable – and if things go well I might even be able to start thinking about a half decent time – at the moment I want to at least beat the 58:12 I did for my first ever GMR, and who knows the 52:49 I did in 2009 might even be in reach. Will see how it all goes

4k that beat the downpour!

One of the many things I like about running, is that usually (not always, of course), the perceived effort produces rewarding results. This can give a real psychological boost. You put the work in, you get the reward. Bit like with lab rats… But anyway, today I had to force myself out again, it’s a grim day, rain, clouds, and while I was warming up it was pouring down, but I wasn’t going to let that deter me – I needed to wake up somehow!

So out I went and trudged the streets until the Garmin found its satellites and locked in, and then set off, just wanting to get the run over with so I could get back to the house. It had stopped raining by now. Don’t get me wrong, I love running in the rain, I especially love long runs in the rain, but rain at the start of a run, before you’ve warmed up, can be more of an annoyance. In any case, I set off, and felt good, and noticed that I was breathing hard by about half a kilometre – checked Garmin, and I was going a bit quick, and I ended up doing the first k in under 6 minutes, which is what my last k had been in my last run (I often seem to start off as I left off!). I tried not to slow, but inevitably a bit of a faster paced start had got me into oxygen debt, so I just tried to maintain pace and complete the 4k. Some rain would have been good at that point!

At 2k, I was breathing very hard and wondering if I would even make 4k, but I also knew if I did make 4k, I was going to run it in sub 25 and quite a bit quicker than the 4k effort I did in the week (25:11). That kept me going, even though I had to grit my teeth and was grimacing. I just kept going, kept going, no pain, no pain, whispering the Mantra of Rocky

By the last K I was starting to feel an endorphin rush, I passed a woman I had already passed once in my looping route, and at that point my legs felt like feathers, I sped up to near 40 minute 10k pace, feeling like I was flying, before dwindling down to a jog and stopping the Garmin at 24:02. I was really pleased to knock a minute off the time for the same distance from only a few days ago, and pleased that my effort had paid off. I worked hard, and got my little reward. I also beat the downpour that started just after I got in!

Of course one of the other things I like about running is that, I will soon be running that kind of time with far less effort, and increasing the effort will result in faster times, and I hope some longer runs too.

One thing is for sure, running wakes me up, which is one of my biggest perceived daily efforts