Run Forrest

gramar

Sunday evening was tempo run time.
I didn't really feel much like it but donned the shorts for what I think was only the second time this year and went about warming up over 2km mixing in a few strides and the like. I was hoping to run 5km in under 22min without having to give it everything but by halfway I was probably pushing harder than I wanted to be. The turn back into the wind killed me though and I held on for another km to make it 3.5km before pulling the plug. I could have eased off and then tried to pick it up again or just trotted to the finish but I had no appetite for it so left it at that.
4:24
4:15
4:24
2:12 (500m)

Not a great run for someone hoping to run 21:xx in two weeks but there are a few mitigating factors and I won't change by goal time because of it.

HigginsJ

What race you targeting for the 5k?

gramar

HigginsJ wrote: »

What race you targeting for the 5k?

Just a local one here in town J, hardly worth flying over for!

HigginsJ

gramar wrote: »

Just a local one here in town J, hardly worth flying over for!

Best of luck with it, look forward to reading about your 19:XX finish!!

gramar

HigginsJ wrote: »

Best of luck with it, look forward to reading about your 19:XX finish!!

It won't happen in two weeks time! I ran this course last year in 23:15 or thereabouts so getting around under 22:00 would see me a few months ahead of where I was this time 12 months ago. It's more or less flat and if conditons are ok I'm fairly confident but as for under 20mins at the moment it just wouldn't be physically possible.

gramar

No run midweek. Got home late enough and it was either raining or looking like it was going to. There was a storm worthy of the apocalypse as I was driving home but it cleared up for long enough and I headed out for a few easy km's. I'd given blood an hour before so didn't want to do anything other than a leg loosener.
5.5km in 29 odd minutes. I wasn't showered and back downstairs and it was lashing again so well timed.

gramar

1km repeats. After the usual 2km or so warm up at varying paces I set the watch to 1km off 90 seconds rest.
I thought it best to start off easy at around 4:30 pace and try and knock off about 5 seconds per km as I went along.
Got through this ok and it went fairly closely to plan though I have to say I was as knackered after the last km as I have
been after any training session or race I've done. About 300m into the last km I felt I was way off the pace but saw 4:11
and somehow managed to pick it up a bit from there. The legs feel fine and have more running but effort wise I'm at the limit.
4:27
4:22
4:18
4:09
4:06

HigginsJ

Do you do a cool down run following the km repeats?

gramar

HigginsJ wrote: »

Do you do a cool down run following the km repeats?

I don't do much of a cool down, usually about a km after repeats and maybe none at all if it's a slow run. The other day after repeats it I had about 800m left to the end of the track when I finished so walked trotted that and then about another 400 home so again just an easy trot and a few stretches although I must admit I probably don't stretch as much as I should.

Yesterday evening was long slow run time. I decided to do a 15km loop that I've walked and cycled before but never ran. The first km was all uphill and it levelled off after for the next 2.5km before a steep enough downhill to the start of a long winding flat stretch.

At about km 7 I stopped at an old chapel to get a drink from the fountain. After taking a few drinks I noticed the 'UNTREATED WATER' sign and had visions of caustic diarrhoea but I was still thirsty and didn't fancy another hour with nothing to drink so nothing short of a skull and crossbones would have dissuaded me.

About 10.5km in I knew I had to turn back left up heart attack hill. This is about a 1km climb with some very steep sections that would make Sean Kelly wet his cycling shorts. I managed about 300m and saw the pace creep over 7min/km and as the steps became so short that they stopped being steps I slowed to a walk for about 200m until it eased off. Looking at the watch later and doing a few sums it's about a 10% gradient in parts.

The last 3.5km or so passed off without incident. I was feeling fine along here other than a bit of tiredness in the legs particulary the quads. A lovely evening for a run through some lovely countryside and the only other living creatures I spotted were a fox, a rabbit and a deer all enthusiastically chased by the dog.

15km in 1:25:01.

gramar

I went to a park in town this evening.
7km in 37 minutes. There is heavy tree cover all the way around so the paces were a mile out.
I kept it steady around 5:20min/km for the first 5 yet the graph on the polar is up and down like
a fiddlers elbow. I upped the pace progressively over the next 2 always feeling in control but
having serious concerns about keeping a 4.20min/km pace up for 5km on Sunday.

HigginsJ

Best of luck Sunday, whats the plan between now & then? I think 4:20 average is well achieveable for you, especially as training looks to have gone well.

gramar

HigginsJ wrote: »

Best of luck Sunday, whats the plan between now & then? I think 4:20 average is well achieveable for you, especially as training looks to have gone well.

Thanks J. The training as lacked a bit of consistency as I missed a a week or so last month and a bit of intensity so I'll only get out what I put in which I wouldn't expect to be too far under 22min all going well.
There's nothing I can do that will make me run faster so I just need to avoid what might make me run slower! I'll do a few easy km on Friday evening with a few strides and as for running that'll be it. Try and avoid temptation on Saturday night as I'll be in town for a while and get a decent sleep.
Looks like conditions will be good and it's more or less pancake flat barring one short climb early on so it'll be all about how much I want to hurt.

gramar

I wasn't overly optimistic about Sunday's 5km and I had a few niggles during the week that did nothing to allay those doubts.
I had some discomfort again at the back of my left knee on Tuesday that lasted for a few days and then on Wednesday my right
hip which has been dormant for months decided for no reason to give me a few reminders and to cap it off I woke with a sore throat
on Friday.

By Sunday though I woke up feeling fine and the only niggle I had a was the niggling doubt of not running a very good time.
Physically I was fine and the day was pretty much ideal. I got a decent warm up done of about 3km mostly easy running and
a few strides and made sure to get to the line about 10 minutes before taking my position a few rows back and hopefully
avoiding most of the slower starters. There was one in particular that I passed about 200m in swearing as the hot early pace
caught up with her. She must have started pretty much on the front row and a typical example of quite a few at every race
whose imaginary ability is a lot better than their real ability.

The first 600m were flat before a short climb of about 200m before it eased off and then a long drag quite a bit longer than I
remembered that took us to the 1.5km mark. There was some respite here and we went downhill until nearly to the 2km
mark meaning I could pull back a few seconds and recover at the same time although coming to the bottom I felt a stitch
coming on but it cost me no time as I had enough to be worrying me including a pain somewhere in the left kidney area but
both were ignored and took the hint and buggered off with themselves.

From here it was 3km and flat all the way to the finish. I just needed to find my stride and keep turning it over. It's that easy.
If the watch wasn't much use through narrow streets before it was positively useless along here under the cover of trees so
the pace and splits were a mile off most of the time. I heard a few watches beeping at the kilometre markings while according
to mine I still had another couple of hundred metres to go. I was in no state to do any kind of mental arithmatic to work out
paces so I just ran.

Coming up to the 3km instead of turning back towards town I half thought about continuing on to where the car was parked.
This was beginning to hurt. I took the turn though and no-one was more surprised than me when I felt myself pick up the pace
a little along here. There was slight panic when we took a left at a roundabout when I expected to go straight as I thought for
a moment this might mean a hill but fortunately that wasn't the case and I passed the 4km marker and cajoled myself into
pushing hard for 4mins and getting this done.

I was picking off more now (although many were 10km participants) and turning left in the home straight with about 400m left I
was going at a decent pace and passed under the arch and into cathedral square. I didn't see what was on the clock as I think
my sight and other non-vital bodily functions were beginning to shut down so my legs could keep moving and I was just glad to
be done. I will rephrase that. I was absolutely fcuking delighted to be done.

A look at the watch told me 20:32. Not bad. Better than expected and well deserved for the effort and pain I'd just self-inflicted.
The chip time was the same although the watched measured 4.66km so I've no idea of the splits and it doesn't really matter.

HigginsJ

Great stuff well done........ on the time and surviving by the sounds of it

gramar

A bog standard 5km in 24:21 followed by a few strides. Had I more time I'd have gone for longer but was glad just to get out.
Something I don't usually take notice of but 413kcal burned. 50 more than Sunday and I know it was 3 minutes more but surely
the race pace/effort would have burned more.

HigginsJ

gramar wrote: »

A bog standard 5km in 24:21 followed by a few strides. Had I more time I'd have gone for longer but was glad just to get out.
Something I don't usually take notice of but 413kcal burned. 50 more than Sunday and I know it was 3 minutes more but surely
the race pace/effort would have burned more.

Do you wear the HRM strap with the m 400, maybe take a look at the average heart rate.

gramar

HigginsJ wrote: »

Do you wear the HRM strap with the m 400, maybe take a look at the average heart rate.

I haven't worn it for ages...since last summer I'd say. I think of it the odd time and mean to put it on but never remember. It was only out of curiosity I ever wore it and wouldn't use it to train based off heart rate in any case. I think it would only frighten me to see how high it gets!

gramar

After the thunder storms finally decided to clear off I headed out for a few easy km.
It was a makey uppy session that started with 2 easy km followed by:

1km @ 4:30 pace
800m @ 4:15 pace
600m @ 4:00
400m @ 3:45
200m @ 3:10

45 secs/1 min rest between each.

Didn't push too hard on any of these but would be a good session as a pyramid and pushing a bit more.
Didn't plan for it but it worked out at 5km on the nose.

gramar

10km 49:53...started off slowly and upped the pace slightly as I went along.
First 5km 25:54 Second 5km 23:59
Went out at 9.30am but it was already getting warm and humid and I was sweating buckets.

gramar

I gave the pyramid type session another go this morning. It was already warm and humid the legs felt a bit tired.
I did 2 easy km and then 1km 800 600 400 200 only today I was going to complete the pyramid with another 200 400 etc
and finish with 2km easy to bring it to 10km.
1km - 4:25min/km
800 - 4:10
600 - 3:50
400 - 3:38
200 - 2:58
200 - 3:02
400 - 3:38
600 - 3:43
800 - 4:02
1km - 4:20

I was tired finishing and skipped the 2km...doing a half trot half walk for a km and a few stretches.

gramar

Thursday 1st - headed out after work for a few easy km's. It was fairly warm at about 7pm
so after a 1.5km to 'warm up' up it was a straightforward easy 5km in 26:50.
Friday 2nd...later getting out after the thunder and rain had cleared. 3km where I progressively upped the
pace from 5:15 to about 4:15. That was followed by 500m in 3:46 pace then I tried a mile for the first time in
a long time managing it in 6:29. That's a long way off my best of 5:52 and even accounting for the puddle dodging
and less than full effort it still means there is a lot of room for improvement. I did half dozen 12sec hill sprints to
finish. The session had been a bit of a mess up till then so I thought why not?
Saturday 3rd - I was feeling it slightly in the legs after Friday and wanted to do a few km just to aid the recovery. After 1km to warm up I did 4x1km intervals upping the pace from 4:30 for the first one to 4:11 for the last.
Sunday 4th - Today was to be a long slow run of maybe 10 or 12km. I was in town so went to one of the parks and after all
the rain sloshed around. All was fine till about 3.5km in when I started to feel really hungry. Everything else was fine but I was
running on absolute empty and was ready to pull the plug right there but kept going and ended up doing 8km before leaving it.
There is a running track just down the road I'd been meaning to go to for a while but I wasn't sure it was worth my while seeing
as I was starving but went anyway. I haven't ran around a track since I was about 15 so I enjoyed the novelty of doing a few 400m repeats,
5 in all to bring me up to 10km. The first 400 was to get my bearings at just 5min/pace then picked it up to 3:36 before giving it a proper go
for the 3rd rep at 3:19 the 4th in 3:21 and an easier rep to finish in 3:27min/km pace.

My top speed was 2:53 in the 3rd rep. I was watching a video yesterday of Eliuds Kipchoge's attempt at a sub 2hr marathon who ran
an average pace of 2:51....for two hours. The mind boggles.

gramar

Some evenings are made for running and yesterday was one of them.
Sun going down, warm with a light breeze, absolutely ideal conditions.
Nothing special planned just a few km. I don't get out enough midweek
and need to do so more to bridge the gap between weekends.
I did the first 5km in just over 25min starting easy and picking it up a little
as I went along before pushing a bit more for the last km 4:01 before some
strides and leaving it at that.

gramar

Thursday 8th June...A km to warm up then stopped after 15mins as I wasn't sure what to do next so ran another 18mins all around 5min/km pace.

Monday 12th...another make it up as you go along pile-a-sh?te run. I knew I wouldn't get out till at least Friday so felt I should do something.
2km @4.30min/km followed by 500m @ 3:46 500m @3:42 1km @4:21 500m @ 4:50 and picked it up for the last 500m @ 3:47.

Friday 17th - 10km ...set out at 5:30 for the first km and wanted to keep it there the whole way. Km 2 came in at 5:05 so that plan sailed off out the window like every other one does. The next 7km were 4:45/50 and the last 4.24. 10km in 48:51.
Comfortable all the way and there's a 10km in about 3 weeks that I'm confident of doing in under 45 assuming it won't be in the 30's on the day.

gramar

Back out this evening. An easy 2km only upping the pace for the last 300m to get the legs ready for some 500m repeats.
The goal pace for these was going to be an easy 4min/km off 2min rest. I planned doing 8 and told myself I'd only be allowed
go faster for the last one.
Amazingly the first 3 came in at 1:59 followed by:
2:01
1:58
2:00
2:02
1:49 ...here I ran 190m over. Just about where I expected the watch to beep for 500m I met two cyclists and in the 'hello's
and how's it goings' I didn't hear the beep and stayed running until I knew I had to be well beyond 500m before stopping
the watch. After about an 800m cool down I was walking back home and a few young lads from the village of about 11 or 12
were playing football on the pitch so I joined in for half an hour. A half an hour of fun that will be a full day of soreness tomorrow.

gramar

5km easy. Quads were a little sore from yesterday. Again intended to keep this at 5:30 pace and was 5:25 for the first km
and 5:05 or so for the rest. Nothing new there.

gramar

Wednesday evening…a midweek run to maintain some regularity.
Warm enough even at 9.15pm and set off easy enough for 4km all around
5:10 or so. Km 5 came in at 4:55 and then picked it up for 500m at about 4:25min/km
and the last 500m at 3:45. Took a bit to get into this probably a combination of poor
sleep a long day and the heat. The next outing is a 5-a-side football match on Friday
night and though I think I’m in reasonable shape the stop/start nature of this will
be tough enough and I'll be asking some muscles to do things they haven't done for a
long time.

gramar

I went out Saturday evening for a few easy km - 7 in all on a hilly enough out and back route. I took a knee to the thigh on Friday night and had a bit of a dead leg which I felt for a while but it eased not too long into the run. Surprisingly it was the only soreness as I had expected the groins and glutes to suffer a bit from the hard surface and the unsuitable footwear. I haven't a clue that the score was but told we lost by 2 or 3. I contributed with 3 goals but undid my good work by probably being the direct cause or 4 or 5 of theirs.
7km in 36:56.

Back out Sunday evening. Lacking a bit of energy and the humidity didn't help.
3km easy before alternating between 500m fast and then recovery until I had 6km done. I say fast but it was about 4.30min/km so less slow might be more appropriate.

A whopping 19km in 3 runs for the week.

Seeing as my main target runs are two 5k's in late September/early October I don't think there is much point training too hard now with it being almost 3 months away so happy enough to keep ticking over and doing the few races I can as they come up.

gramar

It was going to be a proper long slow run tonight or bust.
As God was my witness I was going to keep above 5:30min/km all the way.
I did for the first 2km and then God witnessed me run the next in 5:26...followed by
5:21, 5:26, 5:25 and 5:25 before I steadied the ship and finished with
5:31, 5:36, 5:38 and 5:34.
Enjoyable easy running ...11km 1hr & 37 secs.

gramar

Decent breeze behind me so I sailed along for the first 5km. Kept an easy pace so the 5km back into the wind felt fine.
A definite first for me doing 10km with all km's coming in within 9 seconds of each other.
The fastest being 5:09 and the slowest 5:18. The furthest I've run is 16km but I'm fairly sure I could do a HM at that
pace in the same conditions. Away for the weekend and though I'll bring runners I doubt they'll see the light of day
until next Monday or Tuesday.

gramar

I wasn't much in the mood for a run this evening and a short easy run was about all I felt up to doing. For some reason despite myself I ended up doing a hilly run of 11km. I never really felt comfortable but at the same time after a couple of km I was in the groove and kept plodding along.
11km @5:30min/km avg.