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!

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!

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!

Perfect weather for a run then… In fact I was quite sanguine about going out and doing a swift 5 miles before having a nice quiet afternoon, so I went out and in about 10 seconds my whole body was numb with the cold. I thought about changing but thought I would soon be running and would warm up – and then the Garmin decided it would take about a mile of walking before it found a signal. I set off, aware my bladder was twitching in the freezing gusts of wind (I know, TMI) and so after 1k I stopped the Garmin and nipped into the shopping centre toilets.

Set off once the Garmin found a signal again, there were many points where I thought of aborting the run and just going home. But I soldiered on and ran into some really nasty headwinds. Drivers took pity on me and let me cross the road. At some point I found a rhythm and thought I might make it up to 5 miles, and noticed my pace was increasing imperceptibly. One lap was helped by gusts of wind behind me, but beyond that it seemed to be my legs that were turning over nice and quickly, although still with pretty short strides.

The last 2k were run in 5:45 and 5:42 which was promising, I felt good and the time was 47:57 – the fastest 5 miles since I did sub 45 in April 2010 when I was at 10k PB fitness – since then I have not managed to run anywhere near that fitness level, so it is hopefully a good sign that my running, apart from the blip with the calf, is starting to progress and I will be able to think about some kind of target soon. Still looking at sub 55 for Great Manchester Run, which in today’s evidence might just be possible!

After the other day’s successful intervals session, and realising I wouldn’t be able to run much in the coming week due to some commitments, I decided a nice afternoon 5 miler would round off a good week of running. I didn’t set out to run it fast, or as a tempo run, but just wanted to get some miles under my belt which would take me just over 10 miles for the week – nothing over ambitious in that, really.

Set off at a slow pace and felt pretty good, first KM clicked over in 6:03 and thereafter I just seemed to start getting quicker without really trying. KM’s were ticking over nicely and though I was breathing hard I felt I could sustain it. At one point I was overtaken by a ten year old girl with her dad encouraging her on a bike, this may have been a bad omen and maybe I should have turned back then!

Kept going and with just 2.5k to go I was feeling great, running at some pace and feeling I would shatter the season’s best 5 mile time. There were some hills coming up, and I had thoughts of powering over them rather than dreading them, when suddenly my right foot landed and there was an explosion of heat and a tearing sensation in my calf. A few steps later I stopped, and had the presence of mind to stop the Garmin and realise that was it – RUN OVER. I massaged the calf but it hurt a bit to walk, and I needed to walk some distance to get to a bus stop, as I was quite a distance from my house and it was either walk about 2 miles or get the bus.

Eventually the bus came and I got home, but still quite a bit of pain in the calf, so took painkillers and put some ice on it. Checking the stats I had gone through 5k in 29:08 and had plenty left in the tank, so I seem to have finally got over the breathing and heart rate problems I had the other week, reached a point of feeling very fit and ready to go to the next level, when bang, or twang, something in my calf tears and now I have no idea how long I will be sidelined before I start the whole process of trying to get back to fitness YET AGAIN.

It feels like my body doesn’t want me to run sometimes. I guess I will have to hope this calf tear running injury is not too bad and that I can keep up the fitness I have worked hard to gain by doing some swimming.

In any case, I slipped out into the rainy streets and the Garmin got a signal almost right away, just walked a bit to warm up then set off expecting to suffer. A lot. Went at quite a quick pace and the first km was under 6 minutes, then followed the major downhill part which helped me recover a little, and did the next 2k in 5:37 which was a consistent pace given the hills and wind.

The big hill at 3.5k took it out of me somewhat and result in a 6.22 km, then just had to hang on. Looking at the Garmin I was starting to back pedal as I thought my season’s best was sub 29 and realised I wasn’t going to make that, and by the end I was more or less spent, but did recover quite quickly and felt really good for having pushed the pace all the way through the run, and hanging on when it felt really tough.

Turns out that the 29:18 is actually one of my fastest times for 5k since last summer, and I haven’t gone under 29 minutes for some time, and given the way I felt on the last few runs, this was at least a sign that the runs are paying off and I am starting to build some speed endurance.

Sooner or later I won’t have to say that sub 29 is my next target, maybe a time trial on the flat could see me break that barrier. We shall see!

Felt I might be in with a shout of sub 29:30 but not even a last frantic 5:35 minute km could get me there, although the last 3 kms were all under 6 minutes and I had an average pace of 5:57. Looks like the 29 minute barrier is going to be significant and the heady days of running sub 25 are still some distance away, so that remains a goal to reach by the spring!

As I walked out of the house a lady runner jogged passed, and as the Garmin found a signal very quickly I elected to see if I could catch up to her, as she seemed to be heading in my planned direction anyway, and it took my mind off how cold it was. So I set off at a bit of a pace, nothing too crazy, and could see myself steadily eating away at the distance, which started off at about 300m. I clocked the first KM in 6:07 so was going a bit faster than recently, but nothing too mad.

In any case, I was soon catching up my unofficial pacemaker, my lungs and legs were starting to work, and I was ready to switch up another gear and go flying past her. At this point, she looked around to cross the road, saw me, and must have read my mind or thought I was a mugger, as she just went kind of whooooosh! and legged it up the incline far faster than I was willing to go. At that point she went left and I turned right, so I hope she enjoyed the rest of her run

There was a big downhill for me to coast down then, and I was warmed up by this point so the gloves and hat came off and I settled into a pace that was comfortably hard, although the uphills made it seem very hard at times. At one point I felt I might have to stop after a steep incline but carried on, and felt that sub 30 was really on the cards, but I would have to maintain the pace, so I pushed as hard as I could and breathed deeply to feed my legs and heart with oxygen!

A glance at the Garmin and I knew I was going to do it with plenty of time to spare, I trotted to a stop and stopped the Garmin, and saw that I’d not only done it under 30 mins, but under 29:30 too in 29:29, which is among my fastest times for 5k since my injury last year. Still haven’t gone sub 29 since last summer so that will be the next target, and I will continue to mix up longer slower runs and shorter faster runs for the time being, before starting to think about race season and speed work and intervals!

Think the first KM was a bit long, set off with a purpose and ran hard all the way, with the intention of getting sub 29, so felt a bit cheated when I was almost 20 seconds over instead. Ran the first 3 kms all slower than the last 5k, the saving grace was a 5:35 last KM where I was able to put on a consistent burst of faster pace.

Thought I might actually do it when the Garmin said 4.92 with 15 seconds to go, but almost 30 seconds later the Garmin finally bleeped and so did I! Felt good to feel like I was running at a faster pace even if I wasn’t actually going any quicker for most of the run.

Will need to try to fit in another couple of runs this week if possible.

Saw some nice Christmas lights, one had a whole 3D Santa’s Sleigh lit up outside the front of their house.

Seemed pretty cold as I set off, having had to fiddle with Garmin as had somehow got it set on bike/kmph mode without having touched the settings!

Felt I was going a bit quick and the first k ticket over in 6:01 – not far off my fastest pace of late, and I tried to slow it down but ended up putting in consistently under 6 minutes for the next 4k, including a couple of 5:36 kms which is pretty fast for me at this stage so it can be called a tempo run I think! Slowed in the final km as this pace took its tool and it took me a while to recover, but I do seem to be picking up with every run, and hopefully th 2 month layoff won’t have taken off too much fitness, and I definitely feel I am running more comfortably than I was over the summer!