Faster

annapr

Well done on the PB and on coming home to vote! Enjoyed your race report

Firedance

Well done on your first race! I bet you're hooked now & looking for the next one :-) great report

tailgunner

Thursday, 28th May 2015

3.11 miles
34:08
10:59/mi

Managed to keep this nice and slow. Legs aren't feeling too bad after Tuesday, any soreness was mostly gone by the end of the run. No long run this week on account of the race, so will stick to short, easy runs for the rest of the week.

nop98

Nice work on the PB, tailgunner, and a great report. Looking forward to more over the next months! Any other target-race in mind? And good job doing slow recovery runs.

tailgunner

Thanks. Yeah I have a 10k in July and a half marathon in October. Nothing else planned yet, but really enjoyed the 5k the other night, so will probably do a couple more this year.

tailgunner

Tuesday, 2nd June 2015

7 miles
1:09:41
9:57/mi

Ran this way too fast again. Usually it's a case of not being disciplined enough to slow down but I think for this one, I just wanted to get it over with. Probably the first time I've ever felt bored on a run.

It didn't help that I did no more running last week. No excuses really, was simply more interested in eating/drinking over the long weekend. Back to the normal routine now anyway, so hopefully just a temporary blip in motivation.

On the upside, it did feel quite easy, and I'm still feeling quite fresh today.

Ososlo

Just to say a proper congrats on your first 5k. That's a pretty damn fine time for a first outing. My first 5k race was over 10mins slower than that:eek:

I read your report when I hadn't proper internet access to post and meant to get back to you so sorry for the delay!!!

You're doing brilliantly.
Any target in mind for the 10k? Which race is it?

tailgunner

Thanks! The race is the Gloucester 10k on 12th July, so plenty more running to do between now and then.

I'll be happy to finish in under an hour, but haven't decided how far under I should aim for yet. I'm not really following a proper training plan, just increasing mileage gradually each week, so I'll decide closer to the time.

tailgunner

Wednesday, 3rd June 2015

3 miles
31:04
10:21/mi

Would normally have a rest day after a long run, but I'm a bit behind schedule this week. Found it quite tough at the start, but that was probably to be expected. Enjoyed it once my legs loosened out.

tailgunner

Friday, 5th June 2015

4 miles
35:43
8:56/mi

An intentionally faster run for a change. It felt like I was hanging onto the pace by the end, but the splits were quite consistent, so happy out.

Nearly ended up in the River Thames at one stage due to a deranged cyclist, but managed to avoid disaster at the last second.

tailgunner

Monday, 8th June 2015

10 miles
1:43:54
10:23/mi

Not sure what happened there really... was planning on doing 7 or 8 miles but just kept going. Really nice route, mostly trails, so that kept things interesting and prevented me from going too fast. Was absolutely wrecked after it, but well worth it.

Ososlo

Lovely 10 mile run!!

Just wondering about Friday's. Did you ease into the faster pace gradually or just start running sub 9 min miles straight off?

You're flying it!

tailgunner

On Friday I did about half a mile at an easy pace, then 4 miles at the faster pace, then another half a mile easy. Didn't track the warm-up or cool-down so not sure of the exact distance for those. I guess in hindsight I probably should have spent a bit more time warming up in particular.

tailgunner

Wednesday, 10th June 2015

4.01 miles
40:49
10:11/mi

I was thinking that an extended long run would need an extended recovery run, so was planning on doing 5 miles. But after about 10 metres I decided that was a ridiculous idea, and 4 miles would be more than enough. Had a few niggles for the first couple of miles, but managed to run them off by the end. Legs are feeling much better today.

tailgunner

Friday, 12th June 2015

4 miles
35:55
8:59/mi

Miserable, wet, muggy weather this evening, and I was in no mood for running. Convinced myself that I'd enjoy it once I got going, so eventually coaxed myself into getting out the door.

Hated every minute of it. My inner optimist is a damn liar.

tailgunner

Monday, 15th June 2015

5 miles
51:01
10:12/mi

Have been pushing myself quite hard for the last couple of weeks and am feeling it physically, so I'm going to take it easy this week. Think that was sensible, as it felt like I'd ran a lot farther than 5 miles after this. Will do a couple of easy 3 mile runs later in the week, so should be well recovered by the weekend.

tailgunner

Thursday, 18th June 2015

3 miles
31:29
10:29/mi

Happy with this, though it was a struggle to keep it slow. Have a slight niggle in my right knee since last week - thought I'd shaken it off but was starting to feel it again near the end of this.

I tried foam rolling, but after wriggling around on the floor for 10 minutes, I was getting nowhere. Will have a look on YouTube for some guidance later.

RonanP77

tailgunner wrote:

I tried foam rolling, but after wriggling around on the floor for 10 minutes, I was getting nowhere. Will have a look on YouTube for some guidance later.

Be very careful foam rolling around the knee, my physio warned me about it, she said you can do damage.

tailgunner

Friday, 19th June 2015

2.19 miles
20:26
9:19/mi

Plan was for an easy 3 miles, but I was feeling really good so thought it would be no harm to do a tempo run over the same distance. Was trotting along nicely until about 2 miles in when the niggle in my right knee suddenly became a lot more than a niggle, forcing me to stop. Walked for a few minutes, then tried a very slow jog, but no dice. Had to hobble home.

Got several very funny looks during this walk of shame. Was thinking "I realise I'm drenched in sweat, but give me the benefit of the doubt that it's not from walking!", till I got home and my girlfriend informed me that there was a large fly mashed into my forehead. Nice.

Leg was very sore for the rest of the evening, and it's not much better today. Can't even bend my knee properly without pain, so I've definitely done something nasty to it. My own fault really. Anyway, no more running till I can get a physio appointment. Hopefully will get sorted in time for the race in three weeks.

annapr

hope the knee isn't too serious... good luck with it.

tailgunner

Went to the physio this morning and she's confident my knee issue is nothing serious, so that's a relief. I had held off running on it since last week, and it feels like it's back to normal now, but she recommended leaving it another week just in case.

Apparently I need to do way more stretching and foam rolling than I had been doing, as most of my leg muscles are quite tight. She said something about a "weak core" as well, but I'm sure this was a faux pas, and she actually meant "incredibly strong core"...

Anyway, will hold off making a decision about the race until I'm able to run again, but it's not looking good!

tailgunner

Got the go ahead from the physio to ease back into running again, so did a few walk/jog intervals around the local park. Never thought I'd be so happy to run for 10 minutes without any pain! Hoping to increase this to 30 minutes before I go back for a final physio session next Thursday.

The race next weekend is definitely out, so the main goal for the time being is to gradually build my mileage back up, and hopefully be in a good position to start a half marathon training plan at the end of the month.

Firedance

great news tailgunner, sounds like you are being sensible by building back up slowly, easy does it for sure and enjoy

tailgunner

Monday, 6th July 2015

2.01 miles
19:42
9:49/mi

A few laps of the local park. Ran really easy for the first 10 minutes, then increased the pace a bit to dispel my fears that faster-paced running was the cause of the knee problem. No niggles whatsoever. Did a couple of strides after, and then loads of stretching and foam rolling.

tailgunner

Wednesday, 8th July 2015

3 miles
30:00
10:00/mi

RunKeeper had a canary early on, so these stats are a complete guess apart from the duration. Anyway, a solid 30 minutes of pain-free running around the park, with some strides after. More stretching and foam rolling as well - it's becoming a proper habit now which is good.

Another physio session this morning and everything is looking good. Still have a bit of weakness in the right knee compared to the left, but it's improved hugely over the last couple of weeks. Nice to see the benefits given the expense!

Have just taken delivery of a Garmin Forerunner 220 this morning as well, so can't wait to try it out.

tailgunner

Friday, 10th July 2015

3 miles
32:28
10:49/mi

Found a brand new route by turning right outside my house instead of left. Who knew?

Took the new watch for a spin and must say I'm delighted with it. No problems with GPS, and the chest strap was nowhere near as uncomfortable as I was expecting.

I'm a little unsure of how accurate the HR results are. It's saying my average was 172 bpm, with a max of 193. Figured that was a random spike, but looking at the data afterwards, it actually does increase gradually to that figure (and coincides with reaching the top of a hill I found - a rarity in Oxford).

I was working fairly hard, but not killing myself, so the results seem quite high. I did forget to wet the conductors before I put it on though... no idea how much that might have affected things. Will have another go on my next run.

tailgunner

Monday, 13th July 2015

4 miles
42:02
10:30/mi

Ran the first mile nice and easy (10:55) but the rest were too fast, closer to 10 mins per mile. Think my watch shows current pace rather than average pace by default, which is throwing me off a bit. Will play around with it.

Average HR of 169 bpm which I was originally putting down to forgetting to wet the chest strap (again), but that's wishful thinking to be honest. Need to slow down and get fitter!

Feeling a lot more confident about the knee, and my legs are in much better shape generally.

EDIT: I'm probably worrying about the HR more than I need to. I guess it's neither here nor there when I don't know what my max HR is.

tailgunner

Tuesday, 14th July 2015

2 miles
21:49
10:53/mi

Short run just to experiment with the HR monitor again. Average was 164 bpm, so not much difference running slowly. Think I'm done with experimentation for now, might come back to it in a few months.

Off to Portugal for a week tomorrow, hoping I stick to the running plan!

tailgunner

Saturday, 18th July 2015

3.14 miles
31:39
10:05/mi

Too hot to run in Lisbon so I skipped Thursday's run. Out by the coast now and it's nice and cool in the evenings, so I have no more excuses.

Lovely out-and-back run along a coastal cycle path that was notably devoid of cyclists. A slight drag on the way out meant gravity did most of the work on the way back, so I was able to sit back and enjoy the views.

tailgunner

Monday, 27th July 2015

6 miles
59:00
9:50/mi

Well due to holidays, birthday celebrations, music festivals, illness laziness, I didn't do any running since my last post.

Finally got back out last night and ran 6 miles far too quickly. Not sure what the exact time was, as I accidentally discarded the activity on Garmin, but happy to have run a proper distance for the first time in ages.