Diary Of A Road Runner » Regular Runs

3 Mile Regular Run – 27:30

Road-Runner-Rob — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:37:48 +0000

Nice 5k run which will plan in as regular run – down Stockport Road, nice trail section through the woods, then the massive incline up Stockport Road to build in a bit of a hilly section to practice both running up when tired, and also running the last k fast off it, finishing off at Town Lane. Good practice for the mixed nature of races

And imagined Becky with me in the woods, before she ran off to chase squirrels in the trees yonder

Gentle 5 Mile Regular Run – 45:20

Road-Runner-Rob — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:41:01 +0000

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.

Freaky 5k which may have been 5.3k

Road-Runner-Rob — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:33:13 +0000

Garmin went haywire so not sure exactly how far I ran or what the real pace was. First k was about to tick over in about 5:30 when my Garmin flipped back to 700 metres and ended up clocking the first k in about 6:30 – felt I was running faster than that, in fact that is my dead, dead slow pace – and all the other k’s were evenly paced around 5:30 mark, so I added an extra 300 metres to the completed distance for this run. Overall time was about a minute slower than I would expect for 5k, so seems as if I did gain the 300 metres. Thankfully it wasn’t a serious time trial, but is funny how Garmin sometimes does that.

Did struggle a bit at times on this run, with heart hammering, but was good to complete.

A quicker 5k, 27:32

Road-Runner-Rob — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:52:06 +0000

Was a lovely bright sunny day so I decided to complete my week’s running today and relax on Sunday. Did another 5k, set off at what I thought was a sedate pace and did it in 5:07! Then suffered a little bit later on for that. However, got through the last k in 5:22 and kept going through the pain barrier, and was pleased to finish in a quicker time again, with an average pace of 5:30/k, so am running at sub 55 10k pace with not much running in the legs yet. My CV system is responding well, heart didn’t feel too hammery, and I felt I recovered quickly today.

Will have a rest day or two as am aware I’ve been building up quite quickly – but then I am coming back from a previous base of decent fitness and leg strength, so can probably take a few liberties!

Faster 5k and Felt Easier – 28:08

Road-Runner-Rob — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:12:28 +0000

Went out for another run, for the first time going on one of my old routes instead of sticking to the comfort zone of more or less going round the block in case part of me packed in First k ticked over in 5:31 then had a couple of slower ones before I consciously had a go at upping the pace at times in the last 2, and did them both sub 5:30/k. Felt really good though at times tough, but was nice to be getting up a bit of speed instead of trotting within myself because of legs or lost fitness.

For the first time since last year, I felt a rush at about 4.5k when I was going fast, and it felt really good, and set me up for the rest of the day

5k of rain and pain – 28:49

Road-Runner-Rob — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:25:39 +0000

My first 5k since the fateful Dec 28th run when my shins exploded in the cold weather!

This time, have built up gradually to this epic distance, and the legs seem to be responding.

It was an oddly tough run, the first k felt very hard, and the Garmin ticked over in 6:16 – way off my normal pace of late. Not sure if it was having one of its haywire moments as I finished overall with an average pace of 5:45/k, but the main thing was I was suffering a lot in the early stages, but ran through the pain barrier – partly because I had a bit of a personal issue to work through, and was feeling in a stubborn mood and thought I might as well take it out on my CV system. So managed to keep going, and at times felt quite good, and was pleased to complete 5k. Now I just need to keep building things gradually, and my 5k times are usually a good indicator of where my running fitness is, so hope to get back to around 25 minutes, then can start thinking about speedwork and 10k’s and one mile PB’s

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

Road-Runner-Rob — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:54:20 +0000

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

A cold 10k – Hard work but 54:57

Road-Runner-Rob — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:56:18 +0000

After Tuesday’s heroics and some swimming in between, decided to run another 10k at an even pace, to make it my highest mileage week for quite a while (a mere 12.5, but better than before!). Was tough in places, didn’t feel like I was going quick, and no heroics over last k, as some was up hill, but wound down at the end to finish in 54:57, another big improvement, without really pushing it (and only my second trot out at this distance since the injury)

Clocking up the swimming miles almost daily really seems to be helping to get my fitness up there, hopefully it will pay dividends after Christmas and into the spring racing season, as long as I can stay injury free – will keep building slowly.

Impromptu 10k in the rain – 57:00

Road-Runner-Rob — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:59:01 +0000

Had a stressful morning, and was already running late, by the time I got my kit on my window was closing in (had Uni later). So, I was going to do a half hour run and make do with that, trouble was I headed out on a usual run route, and kind of got carried away and by the time I realised I had gone too far, I had already done 6k – so I decided to run back to the main road and get a bus, by which time I had completed 10k.

Sprinted the last k and the Garmin was flying along – 4:40, which was good for the last 1k of my longest run for a couple of months.

On the Comeback Trail – 8k 44.47

Road-Runner-Rob — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:33:50 +0000

It’s been a while since I posted to my blog, though I did start running again about a month ago after problems with shin splints (or something like that)

Needed to rest the leg so took up swimming and have become quite adept at front crawl, which as certainly helped maintain fitness. Also doing proper breastroke. Started running again, some very light 5k’s and intend to slowly build back up to pre-injury levels.

Today’s run was my longest run back, I have been quickening up over 5 and 7k, and just added an extra 1k to today’s run, hopefully with a view to getting back up to 10k, then longer runs, but not too much too soon.

Am also keeping up with the swimming as cross training, and enjoying the balance. I didn’t want to post all my little runs, as they are just comeback runs really, but now I have some running fitness back in my legs, I will begin winter training in earnest and once again keep up with this running blog