Archives for Tempo Runs category
Posted on Apr 29, 2012 under 5 miles, All Weather Running, Tempo Runs |
This was the weekend the spring weather turned to winter, the weekend the storms came, the air turned chill, slates were blown off roofs and it poured to the point of floods.
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!
Posted on Feb 26, 2012 under 5 miles, Health, Tempo Runs |
Just when it all starts coming together, my calf goes TWANG!
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.
Posted on Feb 22, 2012 under 5k, Tempo Runs |
After the last two “easy” runs have turned into monumental struggles I was feeling some trepidation about today’s run and was in two minds about running at all. It was pouring with rain and an afternoon with a book seemed like a good idea, but after meditating I decided I would just give running a go and see what happened, and decided to run 5k at a tempo pace, as whatever happened, it would be over quicker! I think there is some weird reverse running psychology going on with my easy runs, in that in expecting them to be somehow “easy”, I end up setting up a false expectation and then when the perceived effort goes up I am not really prepared mentally to put up with it as I expect it to be “easy” whereas running is never going to actually be as easy as a walk in the park (unless your Mo Farah going at my pace, which would be a walk in the park for him, ha ha!)
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!
Posted on Jan 26, 2012 under 5-10k, 5k, Tempo Runs |
Set off at a briskish pace and had to slow a little since I knew I needed to warm up my legs and lungs. Felt fine at about 2k though was still heading for over 30 mins, increased the pace and after a frustrating stop at a main road crossing sped up quite a bit.
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!
Posted on Jan 15, 2012 under 5-10k, 5k, Tempo Runs |
Had spent Saturday dog sitting for a friend, and was up early this morning, and hadn’t really planned a run, but I had some time to spare so decided to get out and do a quick 5k. The weather was very cold so for the first time I put on gloves, and also my Nike running beanie, to keep out the cold a bit.
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!
Posted on Dec 14, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Tempo Runs |
Bit of a weird run, as on my last 5k outing I was trying to slow down and ran quicker than on this run, where when I felt comfortable I was trying to speed up!
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.
Posted on Dec 01, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Regular Runs, Tempo Runs |
Not run since my 4 miler on Sunday, and had a quiet slot this afternoon, so went out for first daytime run in a while.
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!
Posted on Jun 29, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Milestones, Season's Best, Tempo Runs |
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!!!!! 😀
Posted on Jun 17, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Tempo Runs |
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 🙂
Posted on Jun 10, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Regular Runs, Tempo Runs |
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.
