Rob's Running Blog

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!!!!!

A Flying 5k with a Perplexing Time of 27:15

Wanted to do a quick 5k to blow the rust off the legs, and wanted to do the first couple of k as a warmup then go all out for a few k. Didn’t quite go according to that plan – ran the first km in 5:44 which wasn’t bad for a warmup pace, and then did the second k in 5:19 and then really started to put some strides in – except the quicker I went the slower the Garmin seemed to register for a while – I sped up to a very fast pace and the Garmin said I was doing something ridiculous like 7 minutes per km, and it was only when I slowed that it went under 5 mins per KM, I think something went wrong on that KM because I felt I was going faster having warmed up, but that km clocked over in 5:27 (I suspect it was longer than 5k though). In any case I slowed down for a maintenace penultimate km, and then again, in the last k, I wast putting in some huge bursts of speed and the display went under 4 mins per km as i powered into what felt like my fastest pace in a long, long time, I felt the Garmin was slowing down, I seemed to cover two road junctions and it barely moved, and then I finished the last km in 5:16, so at least on this occasion my last km was the fastest, as it should be, am just not sure where the two slower kms came from as I felt I was going fast all the way – so will just put it down to the vagaries of the Garmin (I would upgrade my 105 if I could afford to!), as I felt this run was a lot faster all round than the similarly timed one of last week.

In all, although I am only managing one fast run and a long run per week at the moment, due to time constraints, I feel I am slowly improving, and if I can manage today’s pace for 10k it would mean a sub 55 10k, which now seems a reasonable target for the City of Manchester 10k in a few weeks

5k in 27:36

Was a run that was late in the week and late in the day – managed to hit the school run after trying to run home from the libary – quickly realised running with a gym bag with a heavy book inside was not going to work very well

Set off pretty quickly with a 5:16 first km and then slowed to about 5:30 pace, eventually slowing to 6+ pace as I got tired in the latter stages. Not close to the 26 I did in the 5k race the other week but then it wasn’t a race and I didn’t have a warmup or someone to tuck in behind, but felt good to be out running again and get a bit of pace up.

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…

5k in the sun – sub 29 remains elusive this year!

With more running in my legs I was hoping to be able to run around 28 for a 5k time trial, but it was not to be, although was my fastest run in a month. Admittedly a couple of big hills on this route stopped me going sub 29 for the first time, and so the run is not to be grumbled at – was nice to run consistently at sub 30 pace and just get the legs used to going a a bit of speed. Hopefully the longer runs, and some shorter quicker ones, will all come together and get me close to 55 minutes on race day…

I have entered a 5k race (East Manchester Legacy 5k) the weekend after the Great Manchester Run so hopefully can aim for a time at that!

A hot and sunny 5k in 29:48

Had a bit of trouble to start with, as Garmin would not pick up a signal – then realised batteries had run down completely so it needed to be tuned in from scratch, so waited a bit for that, was lovely and hot and sunny.

Got going, felt like I was flying most of the way, but I think the longer run was still in my legs as I was struggling near the end and only just managed to do sub 30 (have done 29:01 recently). Was good to run a little faster and feel comfortably running at what is currently a tempo pace.

I think next run out, is definitely time to lose the light tracksuit bottoms, and bring out the shorts for the first time!

Flying 5k Tempo Run! 29:01

Experimented slightly with breakfast today, had a banana and pure porridge with some pure fructose thrown in (am going to try glucose as is healthier apparently).

In any case, I wanted to do a sub 30 5k, so set off feeling good, and was feeling OK by the 1k mark which I managed in under 6 minutes. Then came the long incline to the top of the Haughton hill, which slowed me down, then it was coasting for a while, with intermittent bursts of exuberant running speed. I had to reign myself in a little to make sure I got the end at some points!

Felt another burst of speed near the end and wound down and stopped the Garmin on 29:01 – sub 29 should be easy next time I try it!

First k was quick, then there were a coupld of sedate ones, and the last 2 were both well under 6 minutes, which bodes well.

Seems the strategy of the slightly slower longer runs followed by a quick session, has worked on this occasion – and of course maybe the breakfast experiment had something to do with the running too.

A Faster 4k in 24:23

Set out hoping to do 4k in sub 25. Was quite sunny but a bit cold to start with. Was warmed up after 1k and started to go a bit faster, and after 6:20ish first 1k, did the second and third in 5:56, which is the fastest I have run consistently since January. Slowed in the last k but was really struggling and hurting by that point – the moderate increase in speed was tantamount to an exponential increase in discomfort but I managed to keep going

A frrreeezzing, but faster 5k in 30:20!

Got some sleep last night, and had a bit of a lazy morning, but actually decided to do some meditation for the first time in ages, which really made me feel quite relaxed and expansive. Then it was time for the run. It looked pretty cold outside, so I put my Nike running beanie on, and went out, and by heck it was freezing, I ended up shivering as I walked along while the Garmin found a signal.

As I set off a bloke and his dog on the other side of the street appeared to try to start racing me, so I set off quite quick – but to my suprise I was able to maintain this pace (6mins per k) without going into shock so it ended up as a bit of a tempo run. I did slow later on, but managed to stay well under 6:30, and by the end, even though I was starting to tire, I was able to inject some pace and did the last k in 5:45. I had hoped at one stage to get sub 30 for this 5k, but was to miss that by 20 seconds coming in at 30:20. Still, it was over a minute off my 5k in the week, so the fitness seems to be coming back in leaps and bounds – just need to keep gently upping the distance and the speed and hopefully can think about maybe doing the Salford 10k, which is a bit of an emotionally charged race for me in more ways than one.

It certainly was cold today – normally I take off the beanie at about 2k, this time it felt cold enough to keep on all the way round, and only whipped it off when I’d stopped!

Sub 30 5k – a Near Death Experience!!

Kind of a Tempo run, in that the intention was to run hard, ie sub 6 mins per k pace (which is hard for me at the moment!). Haven’t done the Haughton Estate circuit for a while so decided to run that. Set off and felt fine, looked at Garmin and seemed to be going a tad too fast, slowed a bit, but the initial incline into Haughton Village took it out of me a bit and I was breathing hard all the way after that. At 2k and 3k I just wanted to stop, and was ready to scream, and when I got to 4k I just had to keep it together, keep it together, just keep going!

At one point I thought I might go sub 29 but I was slowing and didn’t have anything left to do a faster last k, so just keep going as best I could and eventually staggered to a stop with the clock showing 29:38. No idea how I ran faster than that the other week! It took ages to recover and I didn’t feel great for a bit – crazy!

At this rate, I can’t believe I will get close to 25 mins for 5k, let alone quicker than that, so will just have to settle for sub 29 as my next target and chip away at it. A few lifestyle changes coming up might help – really need to cut out more fats and other stuff from the diet, and maybe when my spare tyre deflates a bit I will find the running easier