Category Archives: Running

Juneathon, Running

Running without music is slower

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…for me, anyway. My pace dropped today, so my 5k route took 33 minutes (as opposed to 31.5 yesterday, 30.5 on Tuesday). So its either that without the music and motivation of Runkeeper telling me my pace, I run slower, or I’m spiralling slowly towards taking forever to complete 5k. Both are probably slightly true, although I’ve been feeling biomechanically OK this week – no aches or pains limiting me since the weekend’s tough running slog. That said, the LSRs are still to come…

Another two bike rides and day 4 of Juneathon will be complete. Enjoying it – though the early mornings (especially pollen filled ones like today) are TOUGH.

Running, Training

Mood running vs forced running

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Running Matters posts:

I remember some advice from Joe Henderson about being flexible in your training and adapting it to how you feel on the day. He suggested you run for a mile (to make sure you had shaken all the inertia from your body) and then made a judgement. If you felt tired , then cut it short but if you felt good then why not go further or harder. In other words, within the overall framework of your programme, there should be latitude and you should try to work with rather against your body.

That makes good sense – I am constantly puzzled by how much my mood and vitality can vary from day to day.

I face this dilemma (who doesn’t?) – but at the moment, am forcing myself to run through running funks – and invariably come out feeling better.

The place where I fall down is differentiating a funk from some bio-mechanical issue – stiff muscles, sore knees, an upset stomach, a hayfever attack. In the latter case, I think you should listen to your body – but if I cut the run short because I wasn’t in the mood for it I think I’d end up stuck with an hour-max run limit (about 10k). Of course, I only do the LSRs at the weekends at the moment… so perhaps motivation comes easier.

What do you think, devoted LSR reader?

Juneathon, Running

Juneathon day 3

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Another 5k run (this time Runkeeper worked).

And another cycle in and out of work will follow.

Struggling to regain the routine of early rising / running / etc., and have been since the India trip disoriented me. Need to stay disciplined.

Need to also force myself back to a healthier diet. My “I’m always exercising so I can eat some junk” rationalization is holding me back a bit. No more worktime biscuits for me! The hungry feeling is a good’un!

Need to check how the others are doing…

Juneathon, Running, Training

Running is like golf

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So Heather tells me. And I see it – after a mediocre weekend of running, this morning’s 5k on day 2 of Juneathon was a relative joy – I’m afraid Runkeeper is struggling, so don’t trust the data – but the 10 minute mile pace I maintained was invigorating. I’m still not sure if its possible that I’ll be able to work it up to 9 minute miles for the 13.1 miles of the New Forest half, but I’ll work on it.

It is odd to me that despite mostly the same warm-ups, prep, conditions, etc. something in me reacts differently on different days and the difference to my run is tremendous. How do I make sure that I’m on top race form when I come to do the New Forest half? Current thoughts:

  • Careful diet in the weeks preceding
  • Gentle tapering off of training, low impact only in the weeks immediately prior
  • Lots of gentle pre-stretching in the days before

Any other tips? I still need a training schedule (and probably a running coach…). Recommendations appreciated.

Also today: 2x 5.5km cycles, in and out of work – another 40 minutes of exercise on top of the 30 minute run. And probably more stretching tonight. Bring it.

LSR, Running, Training

Weekendathon-not-quite-attempt

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Inspired by the thought of doing “Juneathon,” I thought I’d end May  by doing a “Weekendathon” – running 26 miles across the bank holiday weekend. However, this didn’t happen for a number of reasons:

1) I’m fresh back into running after a week of irritating and moderately debilitating hayfever, and whilst the antihistamine levels have now come level with my O2 sats, I’m still a bit enfeebled.
2) I’m not completely recovered from the India bug I had, and my stomach is still going a bit mental

So instead of doing 26 miles in 3 days I managed a measly 15.7 miles (a 5k and two 10ks) – and not in any particularly good time either (30 mins, 68 mins, 75 mins respectively – although was feeling properly ill for the last one).

Still, any running is better than none, and I take some satisfacation from the fact that I now consider a 10k a “short” run – that’s a reference frame I couldn’t have imagined having a few months ago. The Runkeeper stats for these runs, I’m afraid, are a bit unreliable – I thought the iPhone was playing up but as I had to have it replaced due to a faulty microphone (27 days from the expiry of my warranty, phew!) – it now seems that the satellites are to blame. Goddamn satellites, the cause of all the problems.

In other news / dramas, Rach has an injury and may not run the New Forest half-marathon with me in September! Oh noes! Sensei Paul’ll still run it “with me”, but given that he’s likely to complete it in about 1h20mins (and I’m not likely to finish in less than 2h20, despite the lofty goal of a sub-2-hour half)… well, anyone else care to join?

Juneathon, Running

Juneathon

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I was blitzing my way through a bunch of new running blog subscriptions (you’ll see some new links in the blogroll) when I discovered Juneathon, a virtual challenge to the running community to run (or exercise) and blog daily throughout June made by Cathy at Jog Blog. Given that @jimbocoyle and I share the authorship of this blog, we figured we could go for a joint effort at facing the challenge! Sorry if this is a bit of a cop-out… but it’ll improve the chances of a daily post for y’all!

Here’s our commitment to enter on JogBlog’s official Juneathon page.

I still haven’t conquered the hay fever so the first few days could be a challenge, but I managed a cycle today (another new personal best, probably the last for a while, we an average 12mph pace for the 3.5mile cycle, London traffic notwithstanding), so that’s a contribution ahead of June kicking off!

Running, Training

First attempt at Interval training

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It didn’t go so well. It turns out the longish gap since my last run (4 days), combined with 16 hours of flights, a mild stomach bug, moderate dehydration caused by the general hotness of the world and aforementioned stomach bug and the fact my last run was a half marathon distance meant I was a little stiff and slow getting started this morning.

Things didn’t start well when Runkeeper couldn’t get a GPS lock this morning – rather than having the dulcet tones of the Runkeeper automated trainer kicking off my running this morning I kicked in with some tunes and tried to do song-length intervals. This lasted all of 3 minutes, at which point Runkeeper kicked in and I realised that my hope of doing 3minutes ‘fast’ (5.30ish splits per km) and 2 minutes ‘steady’ (6m30ish splits per km) on rotation was a bit, well, optimistic. I forged on through the first half of the 5k run, my knees thankfully not causing me any issues whatsoever despite yesterday’s concerns, at a reasonable (if not quick) split of about 6m16 per km on average, and then it dialled back to about 6m30 by the time I finished the run.

Whilst my knees caused no problems, my left shin (which has never really given me problems in the past) stayed stiff most of the way through the first 4.5km, only beginning to loosen up towards the end. Am giving it a good stretch today and will try another gentle run tomorrow (and hopefully intervals again on Thurs) before a couple of LSRs this weekend in an attempt to restore normality.

Run record (edited to make up for Runkeeper GPS issues) is here.

LSR, Running, Training

Half marathon distance training run no 2

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Ouch. I keep forgetting how far 21km is. It’s far.

This morning, ahead of a trip to India for a family wedding I ran the ridiculous distance again – hoping to improve on my previous 20k+ effort. And I think I did – maintaining a split of 6m30 per for the duration of the 2h19 minutes I was running (that’s a LOT of running). The run data is on Runkeeper here.

It was tough going though – the first 10.5k were OK but the return trip got fairly gruelling. I’d foolishly opted for no vaseline as my new running shirts had arrived (needed to apply it mid-run when I hit the 12k mark) and my endurance began to flag then too – having maintained a target beating split of 6m16 per km on the way out, the return trip saw me lose a second or two per kilometer until I finished with the final average split. The voice prompts in Runkeeper continue to be an excellent motivating force.

I crossed the 13.1m barrier (21.1k) after 2h17 minutes or thereabouts – which means that the road to the sub-2-hour half marathon is pretty steep – need to shave a minute off my splits, give or take. But I’ve got time, and am planning on dialling some interval training into Runkeeper to help with my speed training.

Any tips from anyone out there? I’m continuing to subscribe to Sensei Paul’s school of thinking that any miles under my belt will help, even if the training is slightly haphazard, so pleased that I managed to achieve the distance again.

Racing, Running

Pre-race jitters

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I’ve entered my first ever competitive running event – man vs. banana in WRCF’s ‘Beat the Banana’ 5k run through Hyde Park. It’s tomorrow and I went on my first run post-half-marathon session on Sunday this morning — and it HURT. A 32 minute 5k is not going to beat the banana and I’m pretty anxious about it. Will do some deep stretching tonight, take the morning off running tomorrow and keep fingers crossed…

Wish me luck and watch out for a race report late tomorrow or Friday. Any tips on pacing myself? Or just sprint the whole way?