Rob's Running Blog

Hmmm, 3k loosener in 20 mins and struggled!

Not sure what has happened to my form, but the race last week didn’t go according to plan, and I thought I’d just put in a very easy loosener to shake any bits of rust off my legs. Lower legs felt a bit niggly, not sure if it’s the older trainers I was running in, but in any case although I felt OK to begin with at 2k I walked for a bit and then jogged very very slowly to make up another km and still felt very hot and puffed out….

I think targeting anything quicker than sub 55 at the City of Salford 10k is going to lead to potential disappointment, so I’ll set myself the goal of getting around in 55 and anything else will be a bonus!

Recovery Run FAIL – Humidity got me! 5k in 31 mins

Felt nice and fresh after 5 days off running since my half marathon effort last weekend, so wanted to get out again and thought a nice 5 miler with some pace thrown in, during the latter stages, would be quite nice…

Felt OK at 1k, and increased the pace, by 2k I was starting to heat up and sweat but the sweat wasn’t going anywhere. Had to stop at 3k and realised there was no way I would be running 5 miles today – it was humid and I couldn’t breathe comfortably…

Walking across a road in the last KM, a friendl chap said I would need to quicken up to miss the coming rain, and I said I needed it to cool down – he laughed and said he was sweating just watching me, and as I ran off he shouted “See ya kiddo…” I really love being called kiddo at my age, lol

Anyway I did put a burst of speed on but then felt totally trashed and took a long time to recover, my left foot was soaked in blood from a toenail digging in too…

Will see about a run on Sunday, guess I will still be tired after the long long run last week!

5k Easy Run – 28:51

Just a 5k run at a nice leisurely pace, sort of a recovery run as well after Monday’s long run, my legs felt a bit stiff at first but soon got into it and felt ok through the run, just keeping to a nice pace and although I slowed at the end ran the last km in 5:30 quite comfortably, which is sub 55 10k pace, at a jog, so I think the legs are starting to move quicker with less effort thanks to the recent training

Some more intervals on Sunday I think!

4.6k Recovery Run – 25:30

5k recovery run just to uncrease the legs from the Park Run.

5k Recovery Run – 29 mins

Been feeling a bit tired since the Park Run episode on Saturday (not least because I was up a lot earlier than usual for me!!)

So, went for a nice gentle paced recovery run, and it felt a bit tough after a few k – but that was to be expected as it was afterall the definition of a recovery run is to recover from something, I think – and it seemed to help.

Gentle 5 Mile Regular Run – 45:20

Put in a lot of running miles last week so on this occasion just took it easy and did a very gentle 5 miles as a kind of recovery run after Sunday’s hard 5k time trial. Felt good.

5k Recovery Run – 27:27

This was supposed to be a nice gentle easy run, and felt easy enough but first k ticked over in 5:06! After that settled into a slower pace, before slightly quicker last 2. Felt yesterday’s 10k in all sorts of places, but didn’t struggle too much, feel ready to do a full blast 5k at some point now and see where I’m at time wise. Not long ago, today’s time was my flat out 5k best, but was running easy today.

Further Along the comeback trail -4k in 23:55

Well, am slowly getting back to actually being a road runner of sorts! After much time spent swimming or snowed in, and all that palaver, the sun was out today and I managed a 4k trot around the block.

I have been building up with a few very short runs – starting out with a couple of one milers, and slowly increasing the distance until I am running positively long distances at 4k. But it is still an important milestone, as my shins seem to be appreciating the gradual buildup, even though my lungs and heart are hungry for more.

Soon I will be able to think about running more than 5k, and will start to think about upping the pace and meeting challenges, but first things first – get myself back into the running habit, and make sure I don’t do too much too soon and end up laid up again because of it.

Cold but sunny today, felt good to be out running, and just enough to not have to supplement it with a swim. Maintained a fairly steady pace at 5:44/k and that is faster than the 6:17 I was running about 10 days ago, so the pace is naturally coming back.

Thought it was about time I dusted off my running blog again

Back to running – a little bit!

What with sore shins, swine flu, Christmas and then the snow, my running plans have been somewhat scuppered. I did try a 3 mile comeback run when it was freezing, but the cold, coupled with the lack of running, annihilated my poor shins which went very sore.

So on the advice of a running pal, I am now trying to get going again with a few gentle one mile trots. So far so good today – did a 10 minute mile, was barely breathing hard, legs seem ok so far – despite following the run with a 1750 metre swim. I am a duathlete

Will see how legs are tomorrow, and slowly up things if ok – the trouble is, I have been keeping my CV fitness going with the swimming, while my legs have got used to not running – so I have probably ran a bit too far for my legs, together with the cold, in previous attempts.

Onwards and upwards, although my beloved Trafford 10k has been moved to February, and I fear I will not be ready, but need to look at the race calendar soon.

Am entered for the Great Manchester Run, at least

A Rainy 12.1K along the comeback trail – 1hr 13 mins

It’s been a busy week since the race on Sunday, my uni course has now started, and I have been socialising a bit as well, together with work and what have you! Managed to swim 40 lengths on Tuesday, and aim to build in some swimming as cross training while my leg gets fully back to normal.

Wanted to do a bit of a long slow recovery run today, so warmed up indoors, then set off at a very gentle pace on the Bredbury and Hyde circuit route. Rain helped keep me cool, and at the gentle pace I was running at, I didn’t start to hurt until near the end of the run, and even managed the hilly parts quite well.

There is still something up with the leg, but it seems to be reacting well – will just have to avoid anything too intense in the way of speed work or harder paced long runs for the time being, until I am sure the leg is up to it.

But felt great to be back out running in the rain

EDIT November 22nd – This run turned out to be too much for the leg, which reacted quite badly over the next few days. That’ll teach me to go out doing 8 mile runs with shin splints