Rob's Running Blog

5 Miles Tempo in the Early Evening Sun – 48:20

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! 🙂

5k in 30:58 – Getting some pace back in the old legs!

Had to go to Ashton to bank a bit of cash, so decided to get the bus in running kit and then run back.

Wasn’t the nicest of runs, route mostly clogged with traffic and therefore fumes, and plenty of obstructions and speeding lunatics steering chariots of deadly metal as fast as possible for no reason, though one or two were polite enough to let me cross.

Had to slow down at one point when my pace was edging under 9 minute miles as didn’t want to risk any injuries again, but was happy to dip under 10 minute mile pace for most of the run and feel comfortable running a bit quicker with no niggles, hopefully building back up slowly will see me ready for a good outing in the Great Manchester Run in May!

A 5 mile birthday run – 47:16

Had the week off running after a disappointing race and some soreness in my ankle when bearing weight, so wanted to get a run in, even though it was my birthday, not sure I have run on my birthday before!

Set off at a very gentle pace after a chap on the road had joked I should be running dressed in shorts! Legs felt a bit painful, not sure why, knees were protesting a bit but it settled down and first km ticked over in about 6:30. Decided I was in the mood more for 5 miles than 5k, and planned a route accordingly, as I hit the road towards Hyde a boy on his back high fived me, which was nice, and then I took the uphills without too much pain, and once 3k was completed I felt strong and moved up to a tempo pace. I felt the odd protest in my right leg, but kept going, trying to keep cadence up and stride length a bit shorter, and was hitting 5:30/km pace. At one point a little bou started racing me and kept up a good pace for a bit so I told him he was really fast, who knows, I may have inspired a future Olympian!

Had to stop for traffic in the latter stages, and started to hurt around the 6km mark, but kept up a decent pace and at one point the garmin was showing 4:25/km pace though I couldn’t keep that up consisently. I thought I had run really well and might be in with a shout of a season’s best, and clocked 47:16. I checked it against previous runs and it wasn’t quite a season’s best – in fact the 3rd fastest 5 miler of the season, a little bit of my 46:45 in May, and still way off my 40:01PB set in 2010 I think. Still, it’s hard to tell from this run, as I had just had a week off and normally feel very rusty, so for all I know a few more runs and I could see some improvements.

Unfortunately my right leg seemed to flare up a little bit afterwards, did some stretching but will have to keep an eye on it, as I would like to keep running, even if I have to slow down – it’s hard to judge what I should do sometimes!

5k Tempo Run – 27:39

With the City of Salford 10k less than 2 weeks away, my plan is to do a small taper, and cut back on mileage while still doing some speed workouts, so by the time I get to race day, the base miles will be doing me good but not still in my legs, and my body will be used to going out of the blocks quickly!

Had to have 3 days off as after the long run at the weekend I was still getting the intermittent sharp pains in my left leg. My theory is it might be some residual referred pain from my back from when I fell, and may have a bit of a pinched nerve back there, or it could be any number of things, but rest seemed to benefit it!

I set off gingerly at first, but there was no immediate reaction from my leg, and after a very short warmup of slowish running, I started to pick th pace up bit by bit, testing my legs out. There was a bit of a calf twinge before 1k was up, but nothing major and it didn’t recur. I clocked the first km in just over 6 minutes, and then I was hitting 5:15 pace and quicker for most of the rest of the run. I was breathing hard and noticed the Garmin going under 5 mins per km at times, even though I wasn’t going flat out (comfortably hard, but not race pace). I struggled a bit on the last km, and the last few 100 metres was uphill, which slowed me down but I managed 5:37 for the last km when I felt I had slowed to a crawl.

Am not sure on this evidence I could get near running 10 sub 5 minute kms, but you never know on race day, I will do a few more fast runs to keep my legs ticking over and see what happens! There was no recurrance of the sharp wobbly pain in my legs, my right ankle felt mildly niggly, but OK, so not sure what it was all about really!

5k Time Trial – 26:55 Season’s Best!

Not done a 5k time trial as such for some time, with a proper warm up and going hard, so thought I would give it a go!

Managed to time it so I hit the school run, but it was entertaining. Did a couple of Km warm up, during which it stopped raining, then took a breather, turned off the fast pace alert on the Garmin, and set off hard downhill on the Town Lane circuit, which is pretty good for time trials, though not completely flat the slopes up and down cancel each other out, though I end up cursing the uphills by the end!

Did two laps and then took a detour so I could run the last couple of km flat. Was really hurting by 3km and had to dig deep, trying to maintain my running form even when my lungs were screaming at me that they couldn’t really give my legs any more oxygen. By the last km I was within the sub 27, only just, and went as fast as I could to make sure I didn’t get cheated by the Garmin missing a few metres!

Ended up with sub 27 in 26:55, hard work but a season’s best! splits were:

5:19
5:27
5:14
5:29
5:22

So fairly even paced, the slower ones were where I hit the uphills and the last one I was on the verge of collapse!

Did a very gentle 1km jog to cool down a little!

A Flying 5k Season’s Best – 27:20

Had an odd afternoon and did some bits of decorating (mainly trying to get a bit more of border off the room I am converting in a therapy room and trying out my new paint!), and needed a run to clear the cobwebs away, but not having eaten properly earlier decided a fast 5k would be the best option rather than a medium to long run.

One of my left toes was a bit painful so trimmed he nail, then got out into the cool evening air. Set off at a brisk pace, wary of going too fast but not wanting to go too slowly either, and felt fine, with the first km ticking over in 5:37, which is pretty fast for me these days, and I just aimed to keep that going, figuring if I ran around 5:30 per km I could come in at around 27:30, although not having done a fast 5k for a bit, couldn’t remember what my season’s best actually was at that point.

Second km ticked over in 5:33 and I was on target, though just slightly starting to wonder if I could maintain that kind of pace for another 3k. While my intention was just to maintain pace, when I felt good I just seemed to quicken up, and this was revealed in the splits, as the next kms were 5:30 and then 5:19. By the last lap I was starting to struggle just a little and really breathing very hard, and was really glad to peter out to a well deserved stop, clocking 5:17 for the last km and 27:20 for the 5k, which is a season’s best by some margin. I checked through the Garmin history to see if it was a season’s best and came across a 26:33 5k in February, which puzzled me until I realised that had been an intervals session and I had been running those 1k intervals pretty flat out, so to be under a minute away from that on a continuous run seems a good sign of progress!

So all in all a good, fast hard run which left me breathless and shows my running is starting to get closer to where it was a couple of years ago!

A Garmin-Affected 5 Mile season’s best – 46:45

Had a few days off and have been quite sedentary, playing computer games and watching tennis generally, so felt I needed a workout!

Got my kit on and entered the cooler, cloudy air, and waited for Garmin to find a signal. Set off at a sedate pace and felt a twinge in my right calf, then an odd sensation, so stopped to give it a quick massage and then carried on, the first km ticked over in 5:50 even with the stop, so far so good! Felt the pace picking up and figured if I could maintain that kind of pace I would be in for a season’s best time. Felt myself getting quicker, and tried not to overdo it, then heard the Garmin bleep and checked the split – 5:26 for the 2nd km, but hang on, the total distance was 1.98 – and it stuck on that for a while.

The Windmill Lane hill was next but didn’t slow me too much, in fact I powered up it and continued my general paciness, so was a bit dismayed when the 3rd km ticked over in 6:30 – something had gone a bit wrong with the Garmin at some point. I figured I would just try to maintain my pace and see what I ended up with. After this glitch the kms seemed to tick over in more expected times, just around the 5:30 marker all the way through. I passed some runners none of whom seemed willing to acknowledge my smile or thumbs up 🙁 Though some drivers let me cross in front of them so they got the RoadrunnerRob thumbs up 😀

I was starting to slow in places but just tried to maintain form towards the end. The killer motorway bridge really took it out of me, followed by the Denton Rock incline, and then it was just keep going as best I could! Finally got near home and stopped the Garmin in 46:45. It was a season’s best, but only by 4 seconds; I felt I had run quicker than earlier in the month. Strangely enough, although my splits were on the whole quicker for this run, the total time was slower… So I think the anomaly was with that 3rd 6:30 km, the Garmin counted all splits as 1km but somewhere in there I seemed to have run an extra minute, or about 200m at my pace. So although I can’t offically say I smashed my season’s best, I think the fact I ran at a quicker pace more consistently is what I can take from it, and all is boding well for the next race, though I wish my calves would stop being so niggly!

4k run – 23:17 – rather blew up at the end!

Had just planned a relatively easy 5k after Monday’s exploits. Although cloudy, felt a little muggy too so the sun was seeping through the clouds in places…

Set off and felt pretty good, did the first km in 5:59 and the next couple in 5:35 ish, but by then was starting to breathe really hard and my legs were getting rather tired. Half way through the next km I was reduced to a trot and decided to cut the run short, the last k was 6:03 so I was really slowing and there was no benefit to forcing the issue, as it always seems to happen that the first run back after a long run is like trying to run on a tank that hasn’t quite filled back up.

I plan a gentle 5 miles on Sunday, a couple of easy runs in the week, and then it will be race day!

A Sunny Sub 28 5k! But only just – 27:59

A pleasant sunny day prompted me to run a bit earlier, as I realise I need to get out of the habit of early evening running if I’m not going to feel half dead when I set off at the Great Manchester run mid morning!

My weekend plans have been a bit disrupted, so not sure whether I will now get a long run in on Sunday or Monday, but the plan was to do another brisk 5k, then rest up for 2-3 days before a long run.

Set off and felt pretty good, varied my route a little but kept to nearby streets. The first km ticked over in 5:58 so a slight improvement in doing the first km in under 6, then the next one ticked over in 5:45 – not super fast, but I noticed the Garmin pace creeping up and up so elected to just maintain my pace for the time being rather than going crazy. Was aware of keeping my strides short and heel striking so as not to put too much stress on my calves.

The next km went over in 5:30 and now I felt I was motoring along, wondering how close I could get to the 28 minute mark. I imperceptibly gained a bit of pace, but was now starting to breathe hard, but comfortably and happily so. With 2k to go I decided it was worth seeing if I could just run a little quicker and go for that 28 minute mark, and the penultimate km ticked over in 5:22, not a bad pace and at one point the Garmin pace went under 5 mins – bit too fast at this point! As the last KM began I nearly collided with a builder built like a brick crap house coming out of his van, his reactions in moving out of my way were rather slow, but am glad we didn’t smash into each other, after all he had a helmet on…

Thought I might be in with a shout of the sub 28 and I picked up the pace, breathing hard and feeling like I was flying along, with 100m to go I had 30 seconds left, and when it got to 50 metres and 15 seconds I sort of eased off a little thinking I had it in the bag, and then time went sort of weird as it sometimes does.

I heard the Garmin beep and staggered to a stop without remembering to stop the Garmin, but when I checked back the 5k lap marker was at 27:59 – a sub 28 5k in the bag and another season’s best.

And my calf was OK with that kind of pace, and even with some extra pace at the end. Don’t want to push it too much, and that may well be my last pacey run before the Great Manchester Run, but so far so good. Next plan is a nice long slow run and then I will look at the weeks leading up to the race and decide how I want to play it!

5k Tempo Run in 28:30

Had a busy day and needed to blow the cobwebs away. Got kit on and it felt a bit cold – had to faff around with my shoe as felt like I had a stone in there but couldn’t find it. Garmin got a signal quite quickly and I set off at a briskish pace, getting my lungs working quite quickly, but mindful not to go off at a crazy pace.

First km ticked over in 6:08 and I had to slow a little when I seemed to be touching 5 mins per km, but then the kms ticked over in 5:44, 5:34, 5:35 and a blistering last leg of 5:24. Still only about 57 minute pace for 10k, but then again a season’s best and fastest 5k for quite some time (would have to check back for how long, but it seems a while). I guess sub 28 before the Great Manchester Run would be a good target to aim for.

Still not entirely confident about my calf, every time the pace starts picking up I seem to be mentally bracing myself for an explosion of pain. I guess all I can do is keep building the pace gradually and maybe experiment with some pace towards the end of the race, rather than risking not being able to start.

So far so good, though!