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Moving on up ...
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SamforMayo wrote: »No point walking if your not window shopping! Hope toe is on the mend!
The toe was very sore on Christmas Day but after 4 sessions of the ice pack it had deflated and it was fine by the time I headed out on Stephens night for my run
. Will definitely lose the nail in a few months, I know the signs, but that's happened before .. not quite the same method as usual though! 0 -
Not a lot of running this week because the right leg has decided that even 60mins is too much for it
. Another sports massage on NYE morning, including a bit of education on recovery runs.
In the pub after the Christchurch bells a guy in the pub worked out that our table had a 'spare' woman and came over to chat. Took an interesting turn when he started talking about his marathons & the Race Series & DCHM 14 .. let's just say it's not often I can say I was miles ahead of someone
. In fairness it sounded as though he hadn't done much training for it...
Thursday 1st Jan: First recovery run of my life: 2.05 miles (paces 12:11, 11:51). Very gentle run in gusty weather.
Ok ... now the plans for the year ahead:
Goals for 2015- Do everything possible to stay injury-free (back-off on niggles, increase the amount of stretching & strengthening I do, increase mileage slowly)
- Maintain 25miles/week as base mileage throughout the year
- sub-3min 800m
- sub-22min 5k
- sub-47:30 10k
- sub-1hr 45 half
- run a marathon
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quick report from rehab central.
Friday 2nd Jan: 39:08 mins steady run: 4.08 miles @9:36 avg pace
Splits were 10:29, 9:51, 9:01, 9:01, had a gentle push from the wind for the second half. Found this run quite tough, not sure why.
Then on Saturday I couldn't get away to the gym during the day, and it was shutting at 6pm, so unfortunately (not sarcastic) no elliptical. Don't like the machine but wanted to do the workout....
Sunday 4th Jan: 45:00 mins easy run: 4.53 miles @9:54 avg pace
Splits were 10:27, 9:55, 9:38, 9:43, and 9:37pace for the .53. Wasn't all that much slower than Friday, but it felt very different. Headed out at 11:30am when the frost had melted and the sun was beginning to warm up ... and the conditions made for a very enjoyable run. Felt quite comfortable too. I was on a 45min time limit but I set up the run as laps close to home ... so even though I had to stop at 45mins, this time I was only 15 metres away from base.
Week of careful running, stretches, and some elliptical work coming up next week (polishes halo).0 -
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Brave doing the laps? It must of been tempting to stop a few laps early and go back to the nice warm home?
Not at all! I was disappointed that I had to stop, I'm dying to fully banish the injury & get stuck into 10mile+ runs. Laps were set up so I could get as close as possible to my 45min limit! 0 -
Not the most exciting weekly report ... bit of running, bit of elliptical, bit of stretching, bit of niggling. Had a cold for most of the week but didn't let that affect the training too much (Mo Farah take note).
Monday, 5th Jan: 70 mins elliptical, 6.28miles @11:08 average "pace".
Not my favourite pastime, not to mention that I spent the entire 70mins staring at a *wall* (the cardio hall was in the final stages of a revamp, and they'd shoved a few machines in various corners to tide things over). Kept the strides/min up at around 180 as is recommended. Only thing of note was that when I got back to my flat that evening I felt kind of wrecked. I had been pushing it a bit. So I guess there is hope that there might be some contribution to fitness!
Rule is that I can run every second day, so I was allowed to go on Tuesday. But I was flattened that evening and negotiated a delay-to-morning with myself. Am a bit stunned that I did go out and do the run the next morning, it's very rare I do any running before 4pm.
Wednesday, 7th Jan (8:30am!!!): 50:03 mins steady run, 5.45 miles @9:11 average pace.
Splits were 9:28, 9:13, 9:17, 9:12, 9:04, .45 @8:25. There was a bit of a wind factor for this run, so I pushed when I had to and recovered when I had the wind to my back. I was doing laps of a 1.06 loop (plus a tiny detour at the end), so the wind didn't affect the splits. It was nice to be running near 9min miles again
So after Wednesday I'd been arguing to myself that Thursday evening would be 36hours ... and that's equally close to 2days as to 1day .. so maybe I could slide out in the dark on Thursday night and do a run, and it would nearly fit the 2-day rule, I wouldn't really be cheating too much :rolleyes: ....
Anyway the leg was niggling on Thursday, so I was saved from breaking the rules.
Friday, 9th Jan: 45:01mins easy 4.52mile run @9:57 avg pace.
The rules are that every 3rd run is a 'cutback' of minutes, so 45mins for this one. Miles times were 10:02, 10:01, 9:59, 9:59, and 9:44 pace for the .52. I'd decided to pace this as an easy run after the niggling the day before, and just tapped my feet as gently as possible. It was lovely weather, bit of rain but not a puff of wind - obviously I got this in between the two weather fronts that we've been getting all the warnings about. To make things interesting I tried to get the mile splits as close as possible to each other .. did quite well except for the final .52 where I overcompensated for expected slowdown on a slope at the end.
The gentle pace worked fine for the leg during the run. Small bit of twinge that evening ...
Saturday, 10th Jan: 70mins elliptical, 6.14miles @11:24 avg pace.
I had trouble with the first 35mins, took me ages to get the balance right and even after that it didn't feel 'right' .. and I couldn't get the strides up above 165/min (with the same settings as Monday). Anyway the workout cut out at 35mins and when I got back on for the next 35mins, it went straight to 190 strides/min. I think my legs were cycling 'backward' in the first half, I've had that impression once or twice in the past ... even the 'right' way doesn't seem so natural so it's hard to be sure. Anyway another 70mins done.
Earlier on Saturday I'd done about a km of running as a spectator at the Edinburgh cross-country, jogging between viewpoints of Fionnuala Britton and the other runners
Hoped to do 50mins running this evening (can hear lovely blustery weather outside just now ...) but the leg was niggling a bit ... so I left it. No HTFU at the moment, "don't be an idiot" the rule for now.
weekly total: 9.97 miles, 12.42 elliptical "miles"
Have an appointment with an ecoli-substitute early tomorrow to give my muscles a workout tomorrow morning. I'll pick up the running Tuesday I hope.0 -
"Careful now"
Had a sports massage on Monday morning (she gave me the full-strength post-race going-over) so I had an excuse to dodge the icy air till Wednesday. And since I'm doing what I'm told these days, I followed instructions...
Wed, 14 Jan: 50 mins 'pyramid-tempo' run, 5.53 miles @9:03 avg pace.
The individual splits were 9:47, 9:01, 8:37, 8:32, 9:00, .53 @9:27 pace. Felt fairly comfortable for a tempo run and I was happy to see 8:xx coming up on my watch again.
Fri, 16 Jan: 55:06 min steady run, 5.9 miles @9:20 avg pace
Paces were 9:48, 9:17, 9:21, 9:14, 9:12, 9:04. Did this run in the late afternoon in 1C, coooooold. There was only a light wind but it felt very icy on the face when I was coming from the wrong direction. Passed a few lunatics who decided to keep their legs icy by wearing shorts-only. I'm not so tough after all...
Sat, 17 Jan: 70mins on the elliptical, 6.49 "miles" @10:47 avg pace
Done, not much more to say. Kept the strides/min up around 180 all the way through this.
Sun, 18 Jan: 50:01 min easy run, 5.13miles @9:45 avg pace
(Backing off on the minutes as per the rules) Just did this one as laps of a 1.06mile loop round my neighbourhood this evening. The leg was complaining a small bit during this one, but I knew that that was likely, it had been a little bit stiff earlier in the day. Didn't feel quite as easy as 9:45, probably down to the cold. Consistent pace except for a little surge at the end.
I live near Holyrood Park here in Edinburgh and in normal times a lot of my runs go through the park, and I often do a lap or two of the 5k circuit going round Arthur's seat. But I haven't been doing that loop for months because it has a 80m+ ascent & descent and I don't want to challenge the leg ... Anyway, I've been thinking that it'll soon be time to test it out. Had thought I might do it today but the leg was grumbling a tiny bit, so I stayed on the flat in my neighbourhood. But I'm hoping that maybe I can try it Tuesday or Thursday. There is a great view of Arthur's seat from the local Sainsbury's, and it was looking gorgeous in the afternoon sunshine when I was doing my shopping today.
weekly total: 16.56 miles running, 6.49 elliptical "miles"
Have been more disciplined with my stretching in the last week or two, I'm spending more time on that than the running :rolleyes: (or the running+elliptical). Added some strengthening too - calf raises when the leg feels good enough, and I did double-leg squats a couple of nights this week. It's just as well I live alone because I don't know how someone else could put up with it... doing the gluts stretches in the hall where there's carpet, hockey ball in the kitchen for my foot, etc etc
"day off" tomorrow (ie, only a load of stretches to do), then the week starts with 55mins running on Tuesday.0 -
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First run of the week out in the frosty weather. Did this one from work in the late afternoon so it was my first daylight run for ages. I wanted to put a bit of hill into this one, so I set out in the direction of Holyrood Park ... it was 0C so I was watching the pavements carefully. But no problems at all, dry pavements everywhere with a little bit of ice in the gutters and the corners. After 1mile I turned into Holyrood Park and started uphill onto the circular road ... the hill was looking every nice, with the landscape just a tiny bit silvery from the frost. This first half mile of uphill was slightly tough, but the rest of the run was comfortable. I took the downhill easy so as not to stress the leg, and took the later uphill easy too. The top lake inside the park was frozen, and all the ducks and geese that are usually there had vanished ... except for two swans on the bank, and one duck/goose stuck between two sheets of ice. I'm not 100% sure he was alive, but probably he was, he was upright in the water. Very few people out and about, only passed two other runners; few people out walking their dogs, and I got more smiles than usual for being tuff :cool:.
I came back out of the park and added a bit of a detour on the way back to the office to get the time as close to 60mins as possible; even managed to hit the garmin at the exact time, with no extra seconds.... then when I got back inside and went to write the times in my file I realised it was supposed to be 55mins ....
So I cheated ... but not deliberate. Will make Thursday's run 55mins to compensate.
Tues, 20 Jan: 60mins comfortable run, 6.18miles @9:43 avg pace
Splits were 9:41, 10:21, 9:09, 9:19, 10:26, 9:14, .18 @10:03pace. All over the place because of the hill. Effort was consistent.
Was a great day for a run, frosty air but hardly any wind. I had a great buzz after this one!
Was hoping I might get back on the 30-day challenge this evening but too late now, I'm just going to do the stretches, squats and calf raises and leave it at that. Going have to to start going in to work a bit early in future to compensate for the time I spend stretching in my office.... 0 -
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Sounds like a gorgeous run and tuff
Ps do we have to wait til Thursday to find out the fate of the duck/goose??!!
He'll probably have gone to Siberia by then! Though I did meet a bunch of geese later down on the grass on the lower side of the park ....
Running minutes are being rationed right now so I couldn't stop to check him out (not much I could have done about it as he was in the middle surrounded by "thin ice" (signpost))0 -
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Thanks - didn't realize those machines were "ellipticals". I'll give one of them a go at some stage!
I wouldn't rush to them .... (can be useful when you're injured thoug,h as they don't have impact)
The basis of 180 strides/min ("cadence") people talk about is because some studies have shown the best runners have this rhythm. I never count my strides when running but definitely my running pattern is slower than than 180 sessions I've done on the elliptical. I have noticed when doing intervals that it helps to think about moving the legs through more quickly (rather than increasing stride length).0 -
hillsiderunner wrote: »I wouldn't rush to them .... (can be useful when you're injured thoug,h as they don't have impact)
The basis of 180 strides/min ("cadence") people talk about is because some studies have shown the best runners have this rhythm. I never count my strides when running but definitely my running pattern is slower than than 180 sessions I've done on the elliptical. I have noticed when doing intervals that it helps to think about moving the legs through more quickly (rather than increasing stride length).
I gave one of those yokes a go for a couple of minutes. I'll have to practice a bit before I'd be able to do that cadence! Managed to hit 140/150 only. Naturally quite a low stride-turnover (if that's the right lingo) so it might actually be a good alternative workout. Thanks again!0 -
I gave one of those yokes a go for a couple of minutes. I'll have to practice a bit before I'd be able to do that cadence! Managed to hit 140/150 only. Naturally quite a low stride-turnover (if that's the right lingo) so it might actually be a good alternative workout. Thanks again!
Snap, I'm just back from a session on the yokes! You might have had incline/resistance a bit higher than me; anyway just getting the balance and rhythm right can be a bit of a struggle in the beginning. I think it's a very unnatural movement myself
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Think I'm going to maybe switch it up next time and try one of the hill workouts for a change.0 -
"Careful now" (con't)
So after the lovely hilly run in the fresh air of Tuesday, I had a delay of 1 day before the next one. Unfortunately I was having some little twinges in the leg on Thursday, so I held off an extra day (polishes halo).
Fri, 23rd Jan: 52.5min easy run, 5.41 miles @9:42 avg pace
Did this one as loops of the neighbourhood just-in-case of any leg grumbles, and made it an easy run; didn't even stretch it to its 55min limit. No point giving the mile splits as it was pretty consistent. Anyway a bit of tightness at the back of the calf in the last mile (not at the injury site), but otherwise all was well.
Sat, 24rd Jan: 90 mins Yoga/Pilates fusion in the morning... oh why did I book it! Crawled out of the bed to get to this and was close to dropping-off at the end when we were doing the peaceful centered wind-down.
65mins elliptical workout, 6.31miles @10:18 avg pace
Only 65mins instead of the usual 70 because the gym was closing and I didn't want them to actually come over and ask me to get out (was the last person off the machines). Despite being wrecked I kept strides/min up over 180 at a bit higher resistance than usual.
Sun, 25th Jan: 54:56min steady run, 5.93 miles @9:16 avg pace
Mile splits 10:07, 10:10, 8:58, 8:43, 8:52, .93 @8:39pace. Despite the times the effort was fairly consistent ... it was an undulating run with a decent wind factor as well, and the first 1.5 miles had uphill and wind-in-face in sync. Almost all at same effort, except the final few minutes when I decided I'd try to get myself all the way back to the flat under my 55min limit (and I did!)
weekly total: 17.51 miles, 6.31 elliptical "miles"
Stretching continues, and the calf raises, and the occasional set of squats to improve my weak bottom. Going to try to get into work for 8:15 next week so I can get a full batch of the stretches done before starting work. 0 -
Most significant development here is that I reconciled with James Dunne this week and will be keeping it up, but on a 60-day clock in my case ... I know my limitations :rolleyes:. Will be adding squats to the challenge. Running has been continuing according to the every-2nd-day script.
Monday 26th Jan: No running. Day-1 of the 30-day challenge
Tuesday 27th Jan: 60:00mins run, 6.54miles @9:10 avg pace
All over the place this one ... Have been hoping that I'll soon be able to think about heading back to "Tuesday intervals", so I thought I'd do this run with the middle section as fartlek to give my body some experience of "speed". Nice conditions for the run. I had 60mins for this one, and the middle miles would be faster, so I was planning for 1mile w/u, 4.5 miles or so fartlek, and 1 mile c/d.
Headed out onto my nice flat route (set up as laps) and ran the first mile as planned at 9:36, then into the first fartlek mile. But found this very tough, came in at 8:51 which seemed slow ... and I was already thinking of ditching the fartlek after this first one. 2nd fartlek mile was a bit faster but still difficult and I still was thinking of just ditching it. And similar difficulty *again* on the 3rd fartlek mile when I ended up having to stop and walk at around .7 mark after a longer burst .... anyway that was it, 3 miles of fartlek, and I finished the run at a more comfortable pace.
Splits were 9:36, 8:51, 8:24, 8:29, 9:37, 9:48, .54 @9:37pace.
Was looking back at some of my records from 2014 and it was a bit depressing to see much better paces than I'm doing now - even from earlier in 2014 when the mileage was relatively low. Looks like I've a while to go to get the fitness back. Attendance at Tuesday intervals is mostly club runners and other speedy people, so it'll take a couple more weeks before I show my face there I think ...
Wednesday, 28th Jan: No running. 75mins Pilates class.
Made a big mistake on Tuesday night by not doing the stretches after my run... or later that evening. Have been pretty good at stretching (and the calf raises, and rolling my foot, etc etc) in recent weeks, have been doing this during the day and after a run. So am not beating myself up about Tuesday eve .... but the leg was feeling stiff on Wednesday and also this morning, and maybe that's the reason why. Was not sure whether I should do the run today, but the leg felt better after a bunch of stretches and foot-rolling at lunchtime, so I gave it a try.
Thursday, 29th Jan: 61:00mins easy run, 6.23miles @9:47 avg pace
Headed out from the office before it got dark, exactly same route as Tuesday's run, lovely conditions, 1C but hardly a puff of wind. This was going to be an easy run, and could well be getting interrupted after a mile or two .. but the leg held up fairly well. Nice comfortable run and the paces were pretty consistent around the average. The paths were just beginning to frost up in the final couple of miles, and it was getting dark, so perfect timing to do it. Did the stretches before I had my shower.
For a good while I had been hoping to run a 10-mile hilly race on the 1st March, famous for its undulating route, its views, and the notorious spread of cakes after the run. Had not signed up but have been watching the entrycentral details over the past couple of weeks, and considering the state of the leg & the fitness ... anyway today the "Places available" slipped down to 2 ... and then to 1 at 5pm. Am *not* going to look again, I've decided it's gone. I'd only be going for the cakes, and to "get around", and I'd prefer to get myself into shape for a better performance.
Know this is loooooong, not to mention the stretching theme running throughout, so apologies to anyone who might still be reading the log. Am working late to make up for the hour and half of running & stretching & showering, so better get back to it. Then back home for day-2 and the double & single-leg squats. Very exciting life here :rolleyes:0 -
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Haha poor James, his head must be in a spin with all the rejection and reconciliation he gets
Don't beat yourself up about the fartlek either, weather conditions are not conducive to steady paces either. Clearlier mentioned a very doable - and potentially enjoyable - fartlek session of lamppost to lamppost surges (or every second, third etc) which might be a good introduction to pacier work. You are definitely making progress though...and am in awe of your iron discipline!0 -
Good work hillside!Haha poor James, his head must be in a spin with all the rejection and reconciliation he gets
Don't beat yourself up about the fartlek either, weather conditions are not conducive to steady paces either. Clearlier mentioned a very doable - and potentially enjoyable - fartlek session of lamppost to lamppost surges (or every second, third etc) which might be a good introduction to pacier work. You are definitely making progress though...and am in awe of your iron discipline!
My iron discipline!!!!. Hahahahaha! Did you not spot I'd already fallen off my every-2nd-day regime for the challenge? Reason I go on so much about the stretches is because I find it a struggle - not my usual way (never used to even stretch after a run); I'm doing my best but still am not doing them as frequently as the physio(s) suggested.
Anyway I was going to postpone "day-2" till today until I saw your post last night and then I knew I'd have to do it .. unfortunately a bit harder this time because I was paying better attention to technique. Also did another set of the bloody calf raises, and some double leg squats. Had a go at the single-leg squats and was wobbling all over the place and grabbing onto the doorpost, so left them for today instead - but am not getting anything much from the 2-legged version so will have to get the hang of these, could actually feel my bottom working even from the 5 half-assed attempts I did .
Thanks for the encouraging words both. Am about 30-40secs off my pre-injury pace for all kinds of runs really. But yeah, at least the number of days to re-injury seems to be increasing right now ... and the leg was only slightly stiff on the walk to work this morning which is a good sign.0 -
Mostly-successful bit of running this weekend. Had been given permission to test out a deviation from every-second-day/increase-by-5-mins
Friday, 30th Jan: no running
And nothing else either .... was not a day for James Dunne, but I fell off the stretching wagon today, not a single set
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Saturday, 31st Jan: 29:40mins run, 3.12miles @9:24 average pace
Started the day by cycling out to the parkrun to hand out the finish tokens and maybe scrape up a little bit of running karma. Cold cold day and there were a few stretches of the route which were pretty icy. Still there were over 500 people out there which is not too far off the max attendance for Edinburgh.
In the afternoon, I went out for a plain old flat 30min run ... deliberately shortened because I was planning to try a LSR the next day.
Sunday, 1st Feb: 8miles in 78:10 mins, 9:46 average pace
Headed out in daylight, returned in darkness. Cooold but not yet icy, and there was only a tiny bit of wind. All the splits were within 20secs of the average except for the first mile which included a big uphill climb and came out as 10:40. Little bit more difficult that I expect from the pace ... but great to have done 8miles! It's been a while ... Leg held up ok, bit of stiffness at the ankle in the final couple of miles, but I'll watch it.
day-3 of James Dunne challenge
weekly total: 23.89 miles!
Jan total: 70.65miles
Looking at that Jan total is very nice. Can't believe it's as "high" as that (relative to the injury). This is run-miles only, have not been counting the elliptical or including today's run or massaging the figures in any way...
Fell off the 3challenge wagon a *second* time by not doing day-3 on Saturday. So at this rate looks like I'm setting up a 90-day window :rolleyes:. Going to try to get 4 or 5 done next week to catch up to an every-2nd-day average....
Rest day tomorrow.0 -
First a confession about last week's report .... this is the way it *should* have ended:hillsiderunner wrote: »Sunday, 1st Feb:
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day-3 of James Dunne challenge
Had been planning to do JD3 Sunday night and then meant to get to it after my posting, but ... Still struggling with this side of things.
Last week's Sunday run had caused a bit of tightness to the outside of the right leg (not my injury site fortunately). Anyway this was still going-on on Monday and Tuesday so I spent a good bit of time on the foam roller, and postponed the next run to Wednesday. The sports massage therapist last month had already told me that because of my running style I need to be foam rolling my anterior tibs on the outside of the leg, which I'd never done in the past.
Tuesday, 3rd Feb: day-3 of 30-day challenge
Watched the inspirational video for day-3 a few times before I got to the exercises. Wonder if "Never give up, Never give in" was intended to have a subliminal effect ... definitely quite a few of us on here are immune. Despite the poor quality of the video, can still see that Steve Jones has a lovely pair of legs.
Wednesday, 4th Feb: 54:12min run with 3miles fartlek, 5.9 miles @9:11 average pace
This is a similar run to the one I did last Tuesday, but I took Dubgal's suggestion and structured the fartlek as a lampposts session. Went for sets of [5x(1 lamppost fast, 1 lamppost rec)] with 5-lampposts recovery between sets, and decided to be sensible and limit it to 3miles. Even though the mile-times for the fartlek came out slightly slower than last Tuesday, I felt more in control this week. Had the idea I might throw in some 2-lamppost sets at the beginning, but as I worked through it didn't feel any need to increase-the-difficulty. Details were:
1.5 miles w/u @9:45 pace, 3 miles (8:41, 8:49, 8:39) of lamppost fartlek, 1.4 miles c/d @9:35pace.
Have been in Dublin for the weekend visiting family, but managed to squeeze in a couple of runs. No James Dunne though. Was mad enough to think I'd maybe get day-4 done in a quiet half-hour while minding my niece and nephew yesterday ... ha! No chance....
Friday, 6th Feb: 60mins comfortable run, 6.23miles @9:38 avg pace
Did this one round Kimmage, Rathgar and back to HX, starting out late at 9:30. Lovely running weather with no wind. Nice bit of wildlife. I've seen foxes on runs a few times in the past, but this is the first experience of two on one run. I was about 4.5 miles into my run and halfway down Orwell Park when a huge fox came flying across the road and dashed into the garden of one of the mansions. Then about 5mins later I was coming up Dartry Road and another one was heading towards me on the path, trotting along casually at a comfortable pace:cool:. He turned into a garden just before I passed him, but no fear of humans here, he was looking pretty confident.
The mile splits were 10:22, 9:51, 9:19, 9:22, 9:31, 9:33, .23 @9:04 pace, though the 3rd and 4th mile felt just as easy as first two. Not sure what was going on here, there was only a mild hill factor. Think the Garmin might have glitched on the first mile.
Sunday, 8th Feb: 8.09miles LSR @9:38 avg pace, 78mins total.
The cold weather was back again for this run, but I got out before there was any frost. A fairly comfortable run, and my mile-times were very consistent, all within 10secs of the average.
weekly total: 20.22miles
The injury muscle de-stiffened a bit from midweek, which is a good thing .. but on the other hand had bits of twinges on the Friday run and also on today's. So still watching it. 0 -
The week started a bit late because I couldn't get out to do my run on Tuesday, so 2 rest days to start. Think the delay gave a boost to the Wednesday. And there was progress of a different kind on Tuesday...
Tuesday, 10th Feb: day-4 of James Dunne. *And* 3x10 double leg squats, 3x10 single leg squats each side. Loads of grabbing at the doorpost for the single leg squats but I did make a good effort to have the form right. Could feel the effect on my bottom on Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday, 11th Feb: 58:26min steady/fast run, 6.6miles @8:51 average pace
Hoped to do this during the day sometime but couldn't fit in it, and only got round to it after finishing work, Pilates, prevaricating (first time in a while for this ..), so headed out at 9:30pm. Plan was to run this at steady effort, doing laps of a circular route of just over a mile near my house. Garmin dropped out twice in the first 1.15 miles (had hit the lap button at .15 I was so annoyed it) and underestimated my distance so I'm not sure of the paces, but the mile there was around 9:15 I think. Then 5 miles without technical issues and I was able to increase the pace through 8:50, 8:53, 8:40, 8:23 and 8:21. Saw 7:xx on my watch in the early stages of that sixth mile. After this I was coming towards the end of my run and just ran a short section to get closer to the 60minutes... again the GPS dropped off and this time when it came back I was sure it was overestimating my distance for once. After I got home I did a bit of calculating with Walkjogrun and subtracted .05 off the Garmin total to get 6.6miles which I think is about right....
Ok - I would not have been *quite* as obsessed with the finer details was it not for the nice progress of this run. It was great to have some of the old pace coming back into the legs. A little bit harder than steady pace in terms of feel.
Thursday, 12th Feb: day-5 of James Dunne. Wanted to do the squats as well but this got done quite late in the 'evening', and I have a job, so I had to leave them. Had to put the foot down for a while at around 30secs on each of the 1-min balances which was a bit of a surprise...
Friday, 13th Feb: 60min multi-terrain mostly easy run, 6.22miles @9:39 avg pace.
Did this from work at lunchtime heading through the meadows and into Holyrood Park. I often run the loop road round the park but the plan for today was to try a small exploration of some of the trails. First mile bringing me up to the park was a mix of road and some grass and mostly flat: 9:40. Second mile was almost all downhill; nice and comfortable, didn't push to make up time like usual but it still came out at 8:36. Then for the 3rd mile I headed for the main trail which crosses the Park. This was my first time doing this in a run - the trail was flat at the beginning but about 2/3 of the way-across it started to climb and I really felt it ...mile 3 came out at 10:22. And I stopped and gave myself a reward of 10secs walking after that. The uphill continued for the start of the 4th mile ... I got passed by another runner and when we came to the lump for Arthurs Seat with the steep stairs going up, he turned in that direction; but I continued ahead to find my way out to the road. Was still suffering a small bit so I took a few more steps of walking while trying to find the best way out. Rest of mile 4 was mostly flat and it finished as I came round to the loch, which today was full of warm and happy ducks, geese and swans . There was a little bit of sun out at this stage and I was thinking I'll be ditching the windcheater & tights very soon. 10:58 for the 4th mile (though I'd seen 14:xx on the watch as I came onto the road around the .3 stage). Was loving the run at this stage with most of the uphill done. Then 5th mile *totally* downhill and I didn't feel I was pushing but gravity is very effective, 8:15. Final mile mix of flat and uphill 9:50 ... and the .22 again uphill at 10:37 pace.
Was mostly an easy pace except for the section around the mile-3 point and the final half-mile of the run. Ran on the grass verge for most of the loop road, so overall about half road, half grass/trail. I am signed up for a race to the summit of Arthur's Seat in June (with 6 other hills along the way) so I'm going to have to do a bit more of this stuff in the months ahead. Yippee! (I think...)
Plan for the weekend is two miles recovery tomorrow, and 9miles on Sunday if the leg says yes.0 -
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Just catching up on your log here H, glad to see you seem to be putting the injuries behind you.
And you were tempted on to the trails in holyrood! Good for you, what a fantastic place to run... Proper hills!
Thanks Anna. Fingers crossed but I'm not going to be posting any more Woo hoos or anything like that (not in relation to the leg anyway). Don't want to jinx it .... 0 -
Saturday Feb 14: 2.07miles recovery run
Bit more fcukwittage with Garmin at the start but it compensated itself again and it was just over 11min pace as it should be.
day-6 of the James Dunne challenge
Sunday Feb 15: 9.42miles LSR @9:36 avg pace
Splits were 10:28, 11:05, 8:47, 8:58, 9:11, 9:31, 9:07, 9:28, 9:41, .42 @9:33 pace.
Saw the bright and sunny weather outside so I left the tights on the floor where they fell yesterday, and went to dig out some of my summer gear. This was an undulating route, so the paces are all over the place: the 2nd mile was almost entirely uphill, and miles 3, 4, 5 and probably 7 had net downhill. Other miles flat or hill-balanced. Body took longer than usual to get into the swing of running today, that's why the first one was slow. No wildlife on this run but there were hordes of walkers out to experience the springtime; all wearing jackets and many of them still had their hats and gloves. I felt a little bit conspicuous in my shorts with the sunglasses on my head. And to be honest it wasn't warm enough to need the shorts... Felt fairly comfortable right to the end and didn't walk at all on the big hill, or any of the smaller ones
weekly total: 24.31 miles
3days of the James Dunne challenge (so far)
Will be doing another James Dunne session this evening so the count will end up at 4 I hope. Had a lot of trouble doing the eyes-closed balance exercises yesterday so might re-do day-6 instead of moving straight to the second phase. If anyone would like to suggest I could continue to day-7 and do the balances as extra, yes it did cross my mind :rolleyes:0 -
The shorts are packed away again after the rash outing on Sunday; lovely weather for running but I've decided the summer gear isn't needed yet.
Had Tuesday pencilled in for a bit of speedwork, but it was a windy day, so I pushed that back.
Tuesday, 17th Feb: 4.92miles easy run @9:43 avg pace.
Done on the flat, and was reasonably consistent given the wind factor.
Had been planning day-7 of James Dunne in the evening, but was late home from a pancake party so didn't have time for that. Did get the squats done though which are probably more important. Less wobbling than last week
3x10 double leg squats, 2x10 single-leg squats each side.
Wednesday, 18th Feb: 1.3miles w/u, 2x650m repeats, 1.57miles c/d (3.67miles total)
The original plan for Tuesday had been to have a try at doing "Tuesday intervals" on my lonesome (at lunchtime rather than in the evening with the group), to check how much speed I've lost. So now I had them lined up for Wednesday instead. And the wind hadn't gone anywhere .... The intervals are 5 loops of the same route on a 6min window (to cover the repeat and a walking recovery). Anyway I set off on my warm-up towards the usual corner. Had a greeting from one of the runners crossing my path along the way which is quite unusual .. and after he went past I realised it's almost definitely the guy who passed me on the Holyrood Park trail last Friday, and probably saw the steps of walking that day as well...
The repeats: got to the corner and did the first repeat, quicker than expected at 2:58. And I didn't feel too terrible in fact... then on the second repeat I was coming towards a huge Great-Dane-like dog off the leash at around 200m and I just pulled up to avoid any bounding. Started off again and pulled up for no reason about 150m later ... so I just jogged it back and threw that repeat away. After a couple of minutes wait I had a go at another repeat and got this in at 2:55 but I did feel pretty wrecked after that. Let myself off the hook, and did an easy run of 1.57miles back to the office. Both w/u and c/d were between 9:30-10:02 pace.
So, positives - the times for the repeats are only about 10secs slower than my best times in September before I got injured. Now the Garmin is probably taking a couple of secs to kick in as opposed to the stopwatch, and also I only did 2 reps, but maybe I haven't lost quite as much fitness as I thought. That's a surprise because my other runs are coming a good bit slower than before.
The negatives - I probably don't have much excuse to delay the return to Tuesday intervals.... Have not been looking forward to it because I am one of the slowest in the group, and even worse had been very unreliable with my attendance ... then just as I was starting to attend a bit more and make a tiny bit of progress, I disappeared without a trace because of the injury. The intervals are run by a lovely gentleman who used to run for his country long ago, so I don't like to be disappointing him any more than is natural for the raw material he has to work with :rolleyes:. But I'm going to have to return now and try to work my way up from the back of the class. Was on this basis that I allowed myself to ditch the reps early, I did a bit of self-negotiation & I'm to be lined-up at evening intervals next Tuesday night.
Thursday, 19th Feb: 6.22mile mostly-easy multi-terrain run, @9:50 avg pace
Exactly the same run as last Friday, same route, bit of extra wind though (which seemed to reverse direction half-way through!). The aim was to get through this without walking - I didn't succeed, but it was about .2miles later up the trail when I succumbed ... so a little bit of progress. Going to have to master this route and then I'm taking it further uphill! Overall a bit slower than last week. Posterior tib. was a bit tight in the second half of the run but nothing a bit of foot rolling won't sort out.
Have tomorrow off from running, and I'm kind of looking forward to it for a change 0 -
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hillsiderunner wrote: »Have tomorrow off from running, and I'm kind of looking forward to it for a change
Hope you enjoyed a nice quiet day! 0
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