Posted on Jan 04, 2012 under 5-10k, 5k |
Christmas and New Year seem to have really messed with my sleeping patterns (despite not partying, drinking, staying up, etc – just the change in normal routine has been enough!) and the pre-Christmas cold didn’t help with my running routine either!
So after my aborted attempt on New Year’s Day, I decided I needed to get out there and at least run more than 1.2KM or whatever it was, so I had porridge for early breakfast then hummus on toast and peanut butter for a light lunch, and set off for an early afternoon jog.
Was pouring down to start with so was glad to get going, maintained a steady sedate pace and was soon having to wipe rain out of my stinging eyes. When I got to 3k I was feeling puffy and a bit wobbly but managed to keep going, and ended up doing the 5k in a not altogether too bad 31:13, considering I just plodded along for the most part and the weather was truly awful.
Will no try to maintain a schedule and hopefully the running today will help me sleep later!
Posted on Jan 01, 2012 under Jogs |
Wanted to get a run in, but hadn’t eaten a lot, though did have breakfast. Was pouring with rain but thought a slow 5k would be possible, instead felt quite puffed after less than 1k and my body was telling me it was underfuelled, so headed back home quick to get some peanut butter on toast and will try again tomorrow!
Posted on Dec 27, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Easy Runs, Health |
First a cold stopped me dead, only lasted a mere 3-4 days, but running with a cold that was a bit chesty was out of the question, and then all my Christmas gatherings took over. Liz had an injured hip so our run around Tatton Park had been called off anyway (may have been just as well, our get together was delayed as it was when her car battery conked out at Sainsbury’s just before she was due to pick me up!).
In any case, Christmas came and went, and on the day after Boxing Day, decided a few days of bad sleep and fatigue might be helped by getting back to the running, so I went out into the relatively mild evening air and set off at a very sedate pace. Felt good at 1k, but just kept it nice and slow, and by 3k was starting to feel it. Had to hang on a bit for the final half a k and was ready to stop by then, but the enforced break doesn’t seem to have done too much harm and in a few runs time I should be flying again and attacking that 29 minute mark and raising my distance to 10k soon!
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 10, 2011 under 5 miles, Long Runs, Milestones |
Hadn’t been running in the week due to general Christmas busyness and also a cold trying to start off and on ever since last week. Felt quite rough yesterday so just rested up, then on the back of some personal stressful stuff, decided a run might help with my mood, so set off in the cold December Saturday evening with a vague plan of seeing if I could do 5 miles.
Started off on local streets as usual and decided to head up Windmill Lane, through the edge of Dane Bank and around to Hyde Road for the long stretch back. Felt strangely comfortable, albeit running at a pretty slow steady pace, and only felt moderately strained going up the hill on Windmill Lane at about 3k. Felt pretty good thereafter, though I did notice a few hunger pangs along the way.
Still felt good on the long straight along Hyde Road back into Denton, saw a lady runner and gave her the thumbs up and she greeted me verbally which was nice. Slowed over the steep motorway bridge, then with a KM to go started to speed up. Flew past a gang of laughing youths and a glance at the Garmin showed my pace to be 3:41per KM at that point but it didn’t last, although I still felt good I slowed down a little and although the last k was the fastest it was still over 6 minutes. Still, even that last burst of speed didn’t leave me too much out of breath and I only stopped because I had reached my target and didn’t want to overdo the increase in distance and risk injury.
In all the steady increases and rest periods I have been building in seem to be working and my running is going strong at the moment – this was certainly the easiest 5 miler I can remember running this year, so will be interesting to see how I get on when I start trying to run a little faster, but for now just putting in the miles is feeling good. 
Posted on Dec 04, 2011 under 5-10k, Health, Long Runs, Milestones, Season's Best |
I’ve got some really bad colds the last few winters, and notice this seemed to correlate with a period of injury where I had not been able to exercise. This winter I have been faring better and my running has been going well, but alas, recently I had a meeting with a colleague for an hour and a half of him sneezing and coughing in close proximity to me, and 2 days later I woke up with a mildly sore throat, the odd sniffle, and a few sneezes here and there, but thankfully so far no drained, tired, horrible feeling (despite some insomnia).
So, today looked to be pretty cold, about 3-4C, I had to put the heating on a little higher. When I went out for my run I could feel why – the outside doorhandle felt icy, and my breath was pluming around me. Even but the hood on my top up while the Garmin found its signal, then off I went on a planned 7k in the cold dark evening along puddled pavements.
I felt a little puffed out at first, despite the slow pace (6:30 per km) but got into my stride and took a long loping loop that had some inclines and declines included. At about 5k it started to rain pretty heavily, which was quite nice as I was pretty warmed up by then, and although the last km was a bit slower than the others, mainly due to having to navigate a lot of crossings and corners, I felt good and relaxed to a stop in 45:21, averaging 6:30 per km and while my body had worked hard, I felt pretty happy to have done a “long” run and even felt a mild endorphin buzz in the latter stages.
Now it remains to be seen whether running will help with this cold, it doesn’t feel too bad – I am hoping like a few other colds that have tried to get going, and failed after a run, that the effect will be the same this time, and I can prove the immune boosting power of running, if only to myself!
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 Nov 27, 2011 under 5-10k, Long Runs |
Technically my long run, of 6.4k, which is about my limit at the moment. Thought about doing 7k but decided I had already done enough in reaching 11 miles for the week and need to be careful about injuries.
Did this 4 miler a couple of minutes quicker than the last without consciously feeling I was going any faster, did need to slow down a bit at the end but could probably have kept going and felt mainly comfortable.
Not sure what my real goal is at the moment apart from the build base fitness back up. I guess I could try a one mile time trial sometimes, and there is the looming 10k with Liz to think about, I need to earn the feast she will feed me afterwards!!!!!
Posted on Nov 24, 2011 under 5-10k, 5k, Milestones, Season's Best |
Am not really going out to try to run faster, but just run how I feel, but seem to be getting a bit quicker on each run. This run was a bit of a different route than of late, taking in a gentle incline and a big downhill before some gradual uphill and downhill running and more uphill with flat to finish. The downhill probably wiped out the uphills, so may have not had much impact on overall time, but ran a little quicker than last 5k and felt fine.
Even overtook one bloke who I caught up with from some distance, mind you he was running with a backpack and was probably running 20 miles but it was a change from being overtaken and felt like there was a bit of speed back in my legs.
A long way to go till I am pushing sub 25 for 5k, but am at least running again and seem to be doing so fairly comfortably at the moment!
Posted on Nov 22, 2011 under 5-10k, Milestones, Slow Runs |
Evening running seems to be my thing at the moment and running in the dark has its charms – though one of these days I will go flying when looking up to admire the stars or a passing aeroplane flashing in the sky!
Ran this at a slow and steady pace, averaging just over 6 mins 30 per km, trying not to feel any pressure to try to run fast, but at least finding that kind of pace very easy and was hardly out of breath all the way. May try to up the pace once I can comfortably run 10k, but there’s no rush – can build base miles in over the winter and then look for speedier stuff as spring and race season approaches, then think about potential races or time trials in addition to the Great Manchester Run 2012.
