Best do the old running round up for last week now!
It all started rather painfully. Two races in two days had taken it's toll and everything (almost!) south of my waist was stiff and painful; particularly my glutes and calves. I couldn't even walk properly.
All that meant that Monday was a rest day and on Tuesday I booked for a massage for the following day. I did manage to run Tuesday evening with Abbey. A shade under 7 hilly miles. Felt stiff at the outset then it slowly eased through the run, though running downhill I could feel it in the glutes and when faced with a short steep hill my calves felt absolutely dead.
The massage the next day wasn't pleasurable - the pain on massaging the knot(s) in my glutes was strong but hopefully it did some good and I did just over 7 equally hilly miles with Kirkstall that evening. That was done slightly slower, with a couple of stops en route, though my legs (and me in general) felt tired and not up to speeding up.
Rest was the plan for the remainder of the week though I did go out for an hour's bike ride on Thursday which also seemed to help the legs feel better.
I had thought of taking Beth out for a short run Saturday as she's only ran twice since July but other plans for her and the rest of the family precluded that, so the next run was the Harewood 10 mile trail race on the Sunday.
I did this race in 2006 and it was fairly tough - with a fair amount of climbing and downhills, 2-3 stiles, lots of narrow trails and a final mile that was almost entirely up a steep climb contributing to a course with a net ascent of about 120ft.
It was good running weather - bright, breezy and cool - and there was a good showing from Abbey with a dozen or more running it.
The first mile is pretty much flat overall and the second has a good descent and this, combined with my finding myself nearer the front than I intended led to the first 2 miles being over 40 seconds ahead of target pace (having used the road PB from Wistow as the target even though this was an appreciably tougher event).
Mile 3 was all uphill barring a very brief drop at the end and that immediately wiped out the time in the bank and put me about 7 seconds down overall. It also left me pooped for the undulating 4th mile as we headed across fields to the flatter environs of the reservoir and after 4 miles I was down by 22 seconds.
Theoretically that should have been the cue to speed up a little and claw that back - a couple of flat miles that would allow me to get some sort of rhythm going - but the legs still didn't feel quite able. Not sure if it was still after effects from the previous weekend, the early hills or the pace but I had dropped a further 30 seconds by the time I reached the 6 mile mark.
I lost more time in mile 7 as we left the reservoir across undulating fields before joining a narrow track where I spent a bit of time boxed behind a tiring runner. I'd felt very fatigued at the beginning of that mile but the slower pace on the trail allowed me to recover a bit, and whilst I lost another 30 seconds in that mile (now 83 behind) I felt good going into the friendly mile 8.
Here there was a gentle downhill for the mile and I was able to claw back 10 seconds. Then, in mile 9, there was a steady and occasionally steep downhill that I could fly down and in the process pull back another 35 seconds.
Had it been a flat last mile I'd have then had a chance at hitting the target but immediately at the beginning of the final mile you're faced with the first of two steep climbs going straight up ahead of you. Mind you, I'd used the road PB as a target but realistically I just wanted to be vaguely close - maybe within two minutes - as that felt like a reasonable comparison bearing in mind the gradient and terrain differences, and I was well on course for that.
The last mile consisted of the first steep rise for maybe a third of a mile, then 100m or so of flat, before another equally steep climb that's a little more than a third of a mile and then the final 400m that's at best flat or at worst a very, very slight incline.
The first climb was tiring but for the second I was able to pass a couple of runners and still have enough breath left to speak to another runner who laboured past me - presumably she didn't have enough breath as she completely blanked me and my compliment about her hill running skills!
I speeded up a little to the finish - enough to keep the runners behind at bay without wishing to pass the ones in front or go all out. Final time was 40 seconds slower than Wistow 3 weeks previously. That felt good and when I looked at other Abbey Runners times (who had done both races) they were all between 3.5% and 9.5% slower whereas I was less than 1% slower. Whether that showed that I could have done more at Wistow or that Harewood was particularly good I can't be sure but I guess its good news either way!
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Monday, 5 October 2009
Self destruction
Time for a post on weight loss and binge eating. Not had one of those for a while. Maybe it'll help in the future if I've jotted down a few thoughts now.
By the 24th of September my weight had fallen nicely down as far as 11 stone 9lb - the lowest I've been probably since my middle teens. I felt good. I was on track to hit my target of 11 stone before my 40th birthday at the beginning of November, and thought of myself as being 'about 11 and a half stone' and slim.
I then had a bit of a heavy few days food wise. This was partly because the in laws visited from Thursday to Saturday (meaning fruit pie, a meal out and a relaxed day or two), partly because I didn't run Thursday or Friday, and partly because after the races on Saturday & Sunday I felt like comfort eating and that I deserved it. I did mange to resist another meal out on the Sunday evening but that just led to a mini binge on cheese, toast & butter!
Net result was that on the following Monday Morning the scales said 12st 1 lb!
Now, I know that thats a 'false' weight gain - as much to do with water retention and the weight of the food in the gut after over eating as any genuine weight gain - so I didn't panic. Instead, I went back to basics of dieting and exercise and by Thursday morning was down to 11st 10lb.
Trouble is, that was the high point!
I did ok through the day on Thursday but in the evening went out for a curry with friends. It wasn't a weight loss day as a result but I resisted the temptation to buy illicit chocolate on the way home. Friday started with good intentions but by the middle of the day I was feeling tempted to nip out for a quick treat lunch out despite knowing I'd got a big (and rather nice) casserole for tea.
I resisted once more but again this led to bingeing in the evening - huge amount (8-10 slices or so) of toast and butter (again after a very large tea) plus assorted picking at cheese, snacks, dried fruit, fruit buns and some newly discovered digestive biscuits.
Saturday was even worse. During the day I had 6 chocolate bars and half a bag of fruit pastilles alongside many, many more slices of toast and butter, fruit buns, digestives and 3 decent meals!
On Sunday I ran a tough race and managed to limit myself to only the four chocolate bars and the other half of the pastilles alongside a huge roast dinner and - you guessed it - yet more toast and butter, biscuits and assorted picking.
The scales today were 11st 13.2 lb. At least its under 12, but the lost time and weight gain now mean even at 2 lb a week loss I won't hit my target until the 22nd of next month.
This pattern of weight loss and bingeing is long established so is there a trigger?
Possibly yes.
The following all seem to contribute to this feeling of wanting to binge and sabotage myself:
Stress - especially work and/or money worries - seem to leave me more open to wanting to comfort eat. Funnilly enough money worries leave me wanting to spend too!
Denial - it seems (from this weekend) that if I deny myself a treat (like the meals out) there's a fair chance my response will be to binge on other things which will ultimately be far worse. Worry is though, if I gave in to the initial temptation would the bingeing follow anyway?
Not exercising - not sure how much of a trigger this is but if I go for more than 2, maybe even 1, day without running I'm more likely to go into binge mode. Exercise seems to give me discipline (post 10 mile run mini binges not withstanding).
Complacency - when I've had a few weeks good loss and am feeling ahead of the game I seem to get tempted to go off the rails. Maybe that's a response to a too strict period or maybe its simple complacency. I don't know.
I do think that the likelihood of bingeing (and its severity) are linked to these triggers working in combination though.
I can even recognise them at play. Trouble is recognising them and finding a way of not acting on them seem two very different things and words and phrases like sabotage and self destruction seem very accurate.
By the 24th of September my weight had fallen nicely down as far as 11 stone 9lb - the lowest I've been probably since my middle teens. I felt good. I was on track to hit my target of 11 stone before my 40th birthday at the beginning of November, and thought of myself as being 'about 11 and a half stone' and slim.
I then had a bit of a heavy few days food wise. This was partly because the in laws visited from Thursday to Saturday (meaning fruit pie, a meal out and a relaxed day or two), partly because I didn't run Thursday or Friday, and partly because after the races on Saturday & Sunday I felt like comfort eating and that I deserved it. I did mange to resist another meal out on the Sunday evening but that just led to a mini binge on cheese, toast & butter!
Net result was that on the following Monday Morning the scales said 12st 1 lb!
Now, I know that thats a 'false' weight gain - as much to do with water retention and the weight of the food in the gut after over eating as any genuine weight gain - so I didn't panic. Instead, I went back to basics of dieting and exercise and by Thursday morning was down to 11st 10lb.
Trouble is, that was the high point!
I did ok through the day on Thursday but in the evening went out for a curry with friends. It wasn't a weight loss day as a result but I resisted the temptation to buy illicit chocolate on the way home. Friday started with good intentions but by the middle of the day I was feeling tempted to nip out for a quick treat lunch out despite knowing I'd got a big (and rather nice) casserole for tea.
I resisted once more but again this led to bingeing in the evening - huge amount (8-10 slices or so) of toast and butter (again after a very large tea) plus assorted picking at cheese, snacks, dried fruit, fruit buns and some newly discovered digestive biscuits.
Saturday was even worse. During the day I had 6 chocolate bars and half a bag of fruit pastilles alongside many, many more slices of toast and butter, fruit buns, digestives and 3 decent meals!
On Sunday I ran a tough race and managed to limit myself to only the four chocolate bars and the other half of the pastilles alongside a huge roast dinner and - you guessed it - yet more toast and butter, biscuits and assorted picking.
The scales today were 11st 13.2 lb. At least its under 12, but the lost time and weight gain now mean even at 2 lb a week loss I won't hit my target until the 22nd of next month.
This pattern of weight loss and bingeing is long established so is there a trigger?
Possibly yes.
The following all seem to contribute to this feeling of wanting to binge and sabotage myself:
Stress - especially work and/or money worries - seem to leave me more open to wanting to comfort eat. Funnilly enough money worries leave me wanting to spend too!
Denial - it seems (from this weekend) that if I deny myself a treat (like the meals out) there's a fair chance my response will be to binge on other things which will ultimately be far worse. Worry is though, if I gave in to the initial temptation would the bingeing follow anyway?
Not exercising - not sure how much of a trigger this is but if I go for more than 2, maybe even 1, day without running I'm more likely to go into binge mode. Exercise seems to give me discipline (post 10 mile run mini binges not withstanding).
Complacency - when I've had a few weeks good loss and am feeling ahead of the game I seem to get tempted to go off the rails. Maybe that's a response to a too strict period or maybe its simple complacency. I don't know.
I do think that the likelihood of bingeing (and its severity) are linked to these triggers working in combination though.
I can even recognise them at play. Trouble is recognising them and finding a way of not acting on them seem two very different things and words and phrases like sabotage and self destruction seem very accurate.
Friday, 2 October 2009
Had a rest day last Monday following Sunday's exertions then ran as normal with Abbey on the Tuesday - 6.7 hilly miles averaging (despite a slow first couple of miles) 7:45 a mile.
Next day I ran again, this time with Kirkstall Harriers.
They run Mondays & Wednesdays so there's the option to join them as second claim club as the training fits nicely around the Abbey nights. My thinking is that during the winter when its dark and wet it'll be difficult to motivate myself to go out and keep up with the planned marathon training but if I have routine club nights I'll stick to them.
Similar sort of run - hilly 6.77 miles with a couple of slow miles at first and a final average of 7:49.
Thursday and Friday were rest days ahead of Saturday's trail race, the Saab Salomon Turbo X in Sheffield.
That proved to be a very taxing race. It consisted of a 10 mile route through woods, up and down extremely steep hills (on all fours to get up some of them), over felled trees, through a couple of becks and also several hundred yards of mud filled trench with the stinking grey mass between knee and bum height!
I got round ok but it was far more tiring than the 10 miles (or time that was 30 minutes slower than my pb for the distance) would imply. Really good goody bag and Salomon technical running shirt though. I finished 94th out of getting on for 400.
The next day was the Horsforth 10k. I know, its crazy to do two races on consecutive days, but it was local and as I'd payed my money I wanted my t-shirt!
Trouble was, my calves and glutes were really stiff and sore when I woke Sunday morning. I don't normally get any post race DOMS so it showed how tough Sheffield had been the day before. I got there early, did half a mile warm up and had a really good stretch. I felt better after that - still sore but ok.
I still had a real dilema in how to approach the race though. Common sense said to run it very slowly but, muscle soreness aside, I felt good and wondered if I could get a pb on a relatively difficult course...
The course profile is 2 miles uphill from the start along narrow private road, then 2 miles downhill to the canal, followed by 2 miles flat along the towpath and a couple of undulations in the last 0.2 miles to the finish.
I started a bit further back than I intended and was boxed a bit for the first mile. The uphill was a real challenge to aching calves and by the end of the second mile I was 67 seconds off target pace. I accepted then that a pb wasn't on the cards but recovered about half of that time in the next 2 miles of descent.
The canal section proved to be the most difficult. By that time my legs felt uncharacteristically tired and, feeling the effects of the previous day, keeping close to pace felt mentally very, very tough. I managed to pass a few people and battle it out with a girl from Kirkstall (eventually giving in on about the 4th time she tried to pass me) which helped drag me along but I lost about another 8 seconds by the time the 9km mark was reached.
I speeded up a bit then though and had a sprint finish of sorts, probably passing another half a dozen people, finishing in 46:13. That's 10 seconds away from the pb but considering the course profile and my legs being shot I was very pleased!
Problem was that within minutes of finishing every muscle south of my waist was seizing up....
...but that's the story of the first half of this week!
Next day I ran again, this time with Kirkstall Harriers.
They run Mondays & Wednesdays so there's the option to join them as second claim club as the training fits nicely around the Abbey nights. My thinking is that during the winter when its dark and wet it'll be difficult to motivate myself to go out and keep up with the planned marathon training but if I have routine club nights I'll stick to them.
Similar sort of run - hilly 6.77 miles with a couple of slow miles at first and a final average of 7:49.
Thursday and Friday were rest days ahead of Saturday's trail race, the Saab Salomon Turbo X in Sheffield.
That proved to be a very taxing race. It consisted of a 10 mile route through woods, up and down extremely steep hills (on all fours to get up some of them), over felled trees, through a couple of becks and also several hundred yards of mud filled trench with the stinking grey mass between knee and bum height!
I got round ok but it was far more tiring than the 10 miles (or time that was 30 minutes slower than my pb for the distance) would imply. Really good goody bag and Salomon technical running shirt though. I finished 94th out of getting on for 400.
The next day was the Horsforth 10k. I know, its crazy to do two races on consecutive days, but it was local and as I'd payed my money I wanted my t-shirt!
Trouble was, my calves and glutes were really stiff and sore when I woke Sunday morning. I don't normally get any post race DOMS so it showed how tough Sheffield had been the day before. I got there early, did half a mile warm up and had a really good stretch. I felt better after that - still sore but ok.
I still had a real dilema in how to approach the race though. Common sense said to run it very slowly but, muscle soreness aside, I felt good and wondered if I could get a pb on a relatively difficult course...
The course profile is 2 miles uphill from the start along narrow private road, then 2 miles downhill to the canal, followed by 2 miles flat along the towpath and a couple of undulations in the last 0.2 miles to the finish.
I started a bit further back than I intended and was boxed a bit for the first mile. The uphill was a real challenge to aching calves and by the end of the second mile I was 67 seconds off target pace. I accepted then that a pb wasn't on the cards but recovered about half of that time in the next 2 miles of descent.
The canal section proved to be the most difficult. By that time my legs felt uncharacteristically tired and, feeling the effects of the previous day, keeping close to pace felt mentally very, very tough. I managed to pass a few people and battle it out with a girl from Kirkstall (eventually giving in on about the 4th time she tried to pass me) which helped drag me along but I lost about another 8 seconds by the time the 9km mark was reached.
I speeded up a bit then though and had a sprint finish of sorts, probably passing another half a dozen people, finishing in 46:13. That's 10 seconds away from the pb but considering the course profile and my legs being shot I was very pleased!
Problem was that within minutes of finishing every muscle south of my waist was seizing up....
...but that's the story of the first half of this week!
Monday, 21 September 2009
Four down - seven to go!
On Saturday I remembered that there was a 7.25 mile trail race on in Kirkstall so decided to substitute my planned LSR for that. That increased my planned races to 11 between 23/08 and 29/11 but now its done I'm still over a third of the way through.
It was a challenging but enjoyable race, starting with a lap of the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey's ruins, across Burley rugby union's pitches, a drag up the A65, down and along the river until the footbridge at Newlay, then across some fields to the canal which was followed until The Railway pub. That was just over halfway and the turnaround point.
From The Railway we headed over the ancient packhorse bridge across the river Aire and then broadly alongside the river before heading up a steep hill to a new housing estate and back to Newlay to head back up the valley to the A65 and a descent that reversed the opening 1.5 miles.
This featured paths that I didn't know were there but it was hillier than I'd expected and at one point - after the steepest section - I could feel the bile rising and was reduced to more of a shuffle for 100m or so. That particular hill immediately followed an undulating but long and general uphill track away from the river and I'd decided to take it easy up there. Trouble was a couple of Abbey supporters had positioned themselves there and their cries of encouragement made me feel I had to go onwards hard!
The other difficulty I'd had was that my Garmin had frozen just before I went to register. This meant I had to run with no guide as to how far we'd gone or what pace I was maintaining. This wasn't essential as I wasn't chasing a PB but it felt strange. Not sure if it may have helped me though as despite the terrain, the hills, the extra 1.05 miles and the twists and turns I completed it in 53:25 meaning my average pace was exactly the same as for the 10k PB in Sheffield a fortnight earlier!
I only ran two other times in the week. Partly because there was little opportunity to run with Bethan but mainly as I was taking it easy on the psoas.
I ran with the faster group at Abbey on Tuesday evening. The overall pace was 8:01 - faster than I ran with the slower group as you'd expect - but there were very few stops and those there were lasted only a few seconds, meaning we covered 7.28 miles in a couple of minutes under the hour. I'll stick with them from now.
Thursday's run wasn't so great. I did a little over 6 miles but it felt hard work. Opening mile was done in 8:20 and each one hereafter got progressively slower, yet each felt like I was running a minute a mile faster. That's the last two Thursdays that felt tough, but I've a plan to tackle that (more later).
My other fitness thing for this week was taking delivery of a bike on Tuesday. I haven't rode a bike in nearly 15 years and even through childhood didn't ride that often so I felt a bit nervy taking it out for a short ride on Tuesday. Yesterday I went out for an hour and a half with a friend and by the end of that felt alot better about hills/gears/bends/traffic. It was a nice ride round Bramhope, Otley Chevin, Guiseley, Carlton, Yeadon and back home. Also pleasing that my running fitness transfers fairly easilly to cycling.
Weight was also good news. By Friday I was down to 11st 11lb. I've over eaten and not logged since then but I'll be back on track today and hope to see a further drop this week.
Yesterday's run also gave rise to another idea.
I'm facing 16 weeks of long runs along the canal again before Paris*, starting in mid December. I like the canal side runs - traffic free, scenic, quiet, flat - but I do want some variety, espescially after my last 2 runs there haven't felt so good. I do have the Abbey run on Tuesday evening but need to do one or two more decent runs a week - especially while Beth isn't running as much )which had added in short, light 'filler' runs).
The solution: Kirkstall Harriers run Monday & Wednesday doing runs of 6.5 - 7 miles. I'm going to look into running with them and maybe joining as second claim club. That would give me another run, in company and of a reasonable length, that I could do each week assuming I did one or the other of the Mon/Wed with the Abbey Tuesday run fixed.
I'm in Birmingham on Wednesday but hopefully could get back in time to try a run with them this Wednesday.
If I do that as well as Tuesday plus the 2 races planned for the weekend that'll take me over 30 miles for the week even without warm ups, cool downs or a run with Beth. Only possible fly in the ointment is a trip to the physio today to check out the psoas where rest might be reccomended.
It was a challenging but enjoyable race, starting with a lap of the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey's ruins, across Burley rugby union's pitches, a drag up the A65, down and along the river until the footbridge at Newlay, then across some fields to the canal which was followed until The Railway pub. That was just over halfway and the turnaround point.
From The Railway we headed over the ancient packhorse bridge across the river Aire and then broadly alongside the river before heading up a steep hill to a new housing estate and back to Newlay to head back up the valley to the A65 and a descent that reversed the opening 1.5 miles.
This featured paths that I didn't know were there but it was hillier than I'd expected and at one point - after the steepest section - I could feel the bile rising and was reduced to more of a shuffle for 100m or so. That particular hill immediately followed an undulating but long and general uphill track away from the river and I'd decided to take it easy up there. Trouble was a couple of Abbey supporters had positioned themselves there and their cries of encouragement made me feel I had to go onwards hard!
The other difficulty I'd had was that my Garmin had frozen just before I went to register. This meant I had to run with no guide as to how far we'd gone or what pace I was maintaining. This wasn't essential as I wasn't chasing a PB but it felt strange. Not sure if it may have helped me though as despite the terrain, the hills, the extra 1.05 miles and the twists and turns I completed it in 53:25 meaning my average pace was exactly the same as for the 10k PB in Sheffield a fortnight earlier!
I only ran two other times in the week. Partly because there was little opportunity to run with Bethan but mainly as I was taking it easy on the psoas.
I ran with the faster group at Abbey on Tuesday evening. The overall pace was 8:01 - faster than I ran with the slower group as you'd expect - but there were very few stops and those there were lasted only a few seconds, meaning we covered 7.28 miles in a couple of minutes under the hour. I'll stick with them from now.
Thursday's run wasn't so great. I did a little over 6 miles but it felt hard work. Opening mile was done in 8:20 and each one hereafter got progressively slower, yet each felt like I was running a minute a mile faster. That's the last two Thursdays that felt tough, but I've a plan to tackle that (more later).
My other fitness thing for this week was taking delivery of a bike on Tuesday. I haven't rode a bike in nearly 15 years and even through childhood didn't ride that often so I felt a bit nervy taking it out for a short ride on Tuesday. Yesterday I went out for an hour and a half with a friend and by the end of that felt alot better about hills/gears/bends/traffic. It was a nice ride round Bramhope, Otley Chevin, Guiseley, Carlton, Yeadon and back home. Also pleasing that my running fitness transfers fairly easilly to cycling.
Weight was also good news. By Friday I was down to 11st 11lb. I've over eaten and not logged since then but I'll be back on track today and hope to see a further drop this week.
Yesterday's run also gave rise to another idea.
I'm facing 16 weeks of long runs along the canal again before Paris*, starting in mid December. I like the canal side runs - traffic free, scenic, quiet, flat - but I do want some variety, espescially after my last 2 runs there haven't felt so good. I do have the Abbey run on Tuesday evening but need to do one or two more decent runs a week - especially while Beth isn't running as much )which had added in short, light 'filler' runs).
The solution: Kirkstall Harriers run Monday & Wednesday doing runs of 6.5 - 7 miles. I'm going to look into running with them and maybe joining as second claim club. That would give me another run, in company and of a reasonable length, that I could do each week assuming I did one or the other of the Mon/Wed with the Abbey Tuesday run fixed.
I'm in Birmingham on Wednesday but hopefully could get back in time to try a run with them this Wednesday.
If I do that as well as Tuesday plus the 2 races planned for the weekend that'll take me over 30 miles for the week even without warm ups, cool downs or a run with Beth. Only possible fly in the ointment is a trip to the physio today to check out the psoas where rest might be reccomended.
Monday, 14 September 2009
A much better week.
Beth returned to the juniors running club on Monday so I went for a 4 mile recovery run that turned out to be rather more hilly than planned. I took a turn on a whim and ended up going through some hilly woods before running back to the club down and then up steep hills. Ah well, tested the legs a bit after Sunday's race eh?
Tuesday was my own day at the running club. I still hadn't got round to joining up with a faster group but the previous week that hadn't been an issue as a small group of us had broken off and ran at a faster pace but this week that didn't happen. I took the first couple of downhill miles easy but from then on was haring off on my own for each interval. A decent enough run but not ideal to have to wait so long between 'intervals' and probably not ideal for the other runners to see someone shoot away.
After a rest day on Wednesday I went out along the canal on Thursday evening. It was still and warm as we went through a mini Indian summer and I found it hard work. The psoas was very painful for the first few strides and then 'present' thereafter and I felt a bit pooped. I'd planned on doing anything between 5 and 6 miles and ended up doing 5. I decided to pass it off as the bad run before a good race.
Rest day again on Friday and then 3 very gentle miles with Beth on Saturday morning.
Yesterday was race day - the inaugural Wistow 10 miles. Preparation had been much easier than for the previous week and I was that organised I even took a packed lunch to avoid a McDonalds visit on the way home! Got there early, parked up, listened to the Archers (!) and had a little warm up jog between visits to the loo.
Jogged down to the start with some of the other Abbey Runners (there must have been about 15 there)and off we went.
It was a flat, figure of eight course mainly on exposed single track lanes. That made it essentially traffic free but occassionally the steady wind proved a problem (I swear it was never behind us). Mercifully the temperature stayed at about 15c and the sun hidden behind clouds.
I'd aimed to run at 7:40 to 7:45 miles throughout. That would give me a time betwen 1:16:38 and 1:17:30. Based on the 10k times that looked ok - though it was a decent stamina test - and the fastest 10 mile training run (with a couple of untimed breaks too) only averaged 8:14 a mile.
I quickly got into a steady pace aided by the Garmin's new setting of displaying average pace to date and covered the first two miles at 7:36 each. A little faster than planned but not too much. Mile 3 slowed a little to 7:41 and then a few seconds walk to drink water from a plastic cup in mile 4 kept that to 7:42.
That was the pattern for the next few miles. I kept my eye on the average pace as it crept from 7:38 to 7:39 and on to 7:41 at one point, again following a few seconds walk to drink once more.
By this time the field had thinned out alot. In fact, I don't recall passing anyone after the first drinks station until mile 5 by which time one guy had noisilly and slowly gone past me. By the 6.2 mile drinks station I'd passed two others and went passed the noisy lad again. As I reached 7.5 miles I realised I was very slowly gaining on the gaggle of runners I could see in the distance and shortly after passed one and was within 30m of the next. At the 8 mile mark I passed him and a minute or two later the one after him - though one of the two I'd passed at 5 miles went easilly past me - and was within sight of another.
He was passed just as we headed into the last mile.
All the way round the mile markers had been measuring 0.05 miles short and I hoped they'd stay that way - giving me a nice little time bonus - but the 9th mile had speeded up to 7:34 again after a couple in the late 40s. I seemed pretty much on track.
As we entered the village I passed another runner before drawing alongside another Abbey for a brief word or two of encouragement each way before pushing ahead. I then turned a corner and the finish was suddenly 20m ahaead.
I crossed the line at 1:16:52. Not quite down to the first target but easilly within the second. I was pleased - especially as I knew I could have pushed harder in the middle miles and hadn't gone for a fast finish at the end (last mile was 7:28).
I did spot that the last mile measured long, something that everyone seemed to be commenting on afterwards, so that not only was the time bonus lost but the final measurement was 10.04. Ah well - more evidence of a moral victory and the average throughout was 7:39!
The psoas pain wasn't too bad during or after nd seems ok today. I'll keep working at it and hopefully the absence of a race this week will help.
Diet wise, after a couple of weeks where I'd gone up and down but ultimately lost nothing I stuck at things more and was rewarded with being 11st 12.8lb by the end of the week. Yesterday was a post race binge (popcorn, ice cream, malt loaf, roast dinner, Eton mess, M&Ms, digestive biscuits etc) but I'll allow that guilt free. Aim this week is to get some 'space' under the 12st barrier.
All in all a good week.
Beth returned to the juniors running club on Monday so I went for a 4 mile recovery run that turned out to be rather more hilly than planned. I took a turn on a whim and ended up going through some hilly woods before running back to the club down and then up steep hills. Ah well, tested the legs a bit after Sunday's race eh?
Tuesday was my own day at the running club. I still hadn't got round to joining up with a faster group but the previous week that hadn't been an issue as a small group of us had broken off and ran at a faster pace but this week that didn't happen. I took the first couple of downhill miles easy but from then on was haring off on my own for each interval. A decent enough run but not ideal to have to wait so long between 'intervals' and probably not ideal for the other runners to see someone shoot away.
After a rest day on Wednesday I went out along the canal on Thursday evening. It was still and warm as we went through a mini Indian summer and I found it hard work. The psoas was very painful for the first few strides and then 'present' thereafter and I felt a bit pooped. I'd planned on doing anything between 5 and 6 miles and ended up doing 5. I decided to pass it off as the bad run before a good race.
Rest day again on Friday and then 3 very gentle miles with Beth on Saturday morning.
Yesterday was race day - the inaugural Wistow 10 miles. Preparation had been much easier than for the previous week and I was that organised I even took a packed lunch to avoid a McDonalds visit on the way home! Got there early, parked up, listened to the Archers (!) and had a little warm up jog between visits to the loo.
Jogged down to the start with some of the other Abbey Runners (there must have been about 15 there)and off we went.
It was a flat, figure of eight course mainly on exposed single track lanes. That made it essentially traffic free but occassionally the steady wind proved a problem (I swear it was never behind us). Mercifully the temperature stayed at about 15c and the sun hidden behind clouds.
I'd aimed to run at 7:40 to 7:45 miles throughout. That would give me a time betwen 1:16:38 and 1:17:30. Based on the 10k times that looked ok - though it was a decent stamina test - and the fastest 10 mile training run (with a couple of untimed breaks too) only averaged 8:14 a mile.
I quickly got into a steady pace aided by the Garmin's new setting of displaying average pace to date and covered the first two miles at 7:36 each. A little faster than planned but not too much. Mile 3 slowed a little to 7:41 and then a few seconds walk to drink water from a plastic cup in mile 4 kept that to 7:42.
That was the pattern for the next few miles. I kept my eye on the average pace as it crept from 7:38 to 7:39 and on to 7:41 at one point, again following a few seconds walk to drink once more.
By this time the field had thinned out alot. In fact, I don't recall passing anyone after the first drinks station until mile 5 by which time one guy had noisilly and slowly gone past me. By the 6.2 mile drinks station I'd passed two others and went passed the noisy lad again. As I reached 7.5 miles I realised I was very slowly gaining on the gaggle of runners I could see in the distance and shortly after passed one and was within 30m of the next. At the 8 mile mark I passed him and a minute or two later the one after him - though one of the two I'd passed at 5 miles went easilly past me - and was within sight of another.
He was passed just as we headed into the last mile.
All the way round the mile markers had been measuring 0.05 miles short and I hoped they'd stay that way - giving me a nice little time bonus - but the 9th mile had speeded up to 7:34 again after a couple in the late 40s. I seemed pretty much on track.
As we entered the village I passed another runner before drawing alongside another Abbey for a brief word or two of encouragement each way before pushing ahead. I then turned a corner and the finish was suddenly 20m ahaead.
I crossed the line at 1:16:52. Not quite down to the first target but easilly within the second. I was pleased - especially as I knew I could have pushed harder in the middle miles and hadn't gone for a fast finish at the end (last mile was 7:28).
I did spot that the last mile measured long, something that everyone seemed to be commenting on afterwards, so that not only was the time bonus lost but the final measurement was 10.04. Ah well - more evidence of a moral victory and the average throughout was 7:39!
The psoas pain wasn't too bad during or after nd seems ok today. I'll keep working at it and hopefully the absence of a race this week will help.
Diet wise, after a couple of weeks where I'd gone up and down but ultimately lost nothing I stuck at things more and was rewarded with being 11st 12.8lb by the end of the week. Yesterday was a post race binge (popcorn, ice cream, malt loaf, roast dinner, Eton mess, M&Ms, digestive biscuits etc) but I'll allow that guilt free. Aim this week is to get some 'space' under the 12st barrier.
All in all a good week.
Monday, 7 September 2009
Wow. Just spotted that last week was the lowest mileage week since the end of April/early May at only 14.49 miles, yet I feel fairly knackered right now!
During the 13.2 miles last Sunday I had some groin/lower abs pain that I'd had a hint of during the 2 races the previous week. By Tuesday morning it still felt a little sore and 'Fizz' one of the Paris veterans who is a Physio suggested it could be a sore psoas muscle. I looked it up and it matched the symptoms, location and cause so I've been doing stretches for that through the week.
I felt a bit below par during the day on Tuesday and by evening fleetingly considered not going out for the club run. I did though - mainly to test the psoas - which held up ok and I felt much better afterwards. It was a fairly easy paced 5.51 miles but it included the hill on Spen Lane that I'd last ran in March and found tough. On Tuesday it felt pretty easy.
On Wednesday I'd normally run with Bethan but we've got out of the running routine since the holiday in France and I'd decided to rest alot during the week anyway so that didn't happen.
Similar with Thursday - 5/6 miles planned but I dropped them for the pesky psoas and because I still felt under the weather.
I did do a short run on Saturday though. I joined the Virgin Active gym on Friday and did 2 x 1 mile on the treadmill. I found it hard work and couldn't do more than 1/4 of a mile at 10k pace. Between that and still feeling just a little ropey I toyed with the idea of skipping the Great Yorkshire Run 10k on the Sunday.
I didn't though, and duly parked up in Sheffield at 8am yesterday.
I'd been delighted with 46:33 at Birchwood a fortnight earlier and had decided that with no weight loss in the intervening fortnight I should go for 4:35 a kilometre to nose me under the 46 minute barrier. To that I added the proviso that if I didn't feel I had it in me on the day through muscle soreness or general malaise I could just trot round the remainder.
It was essentially an out and back course. The first kilometre was downhill fairly steeply and then there was 500m of undulating followed by 7km that was pretty much flat before 500m undulating again then a final kilometre that was relentlessly uphill.
I found it quite tough from the off. After the first downhill I had 26 seconds 'in the bank' as it were and didn't eat much into that as the race progressed but it felt harder work than it did 2 weeks ago - not that I was out of breath or anything just that I didn't feel too peppy and frequently felt negative.
The course wasn't exciting and the pace pretty even so little to report until the Garmin bleeped and I began the 9th kilometre, by which time I still had 24 seconds in the bank. I'd been warned the final hill was a bit of a killer but from 1500m to go I found I couldn't speed up and struggled to even hold the pace. I just about held the effort constant on the hills in the second half of that kilometre but i'd dropped half of the banked time.
The Garmin bleeped again for one kilometre to go and with me 12 seconds to the good and a strong finisher all should have been well but just getting up the hill felt really draining. I managed to speed up in the last 50m or so but it was hardly a sprint finish. Mentally I'd set my stall just to hang on in the final kilometre and when I looked at my watch as I crossed the line I felt deflated to see 46:04 - missed it by 4 seconds. I'm sure I could have found those seconds somewhere.
Interestingly the Garmin measured it long - with the first 10 kilometres being completed under 46 minutes but the additional 65m was what cost me. Splits were:
4:09 (6:40 per mile)
4:34 (7:21 per mile)
4:36 (7:24 per mile)
4:39 (7:29 per mile)
4:39 (7:29 per mile)
4:29 (7:14 per mile)
4:36 (7:25 per mile)
4:34 (7:21 per mile)
4:47 (7:42 per mile)
4:43 (7:35 per mile)
Then the last 65m at 6:02 per mile pace.
The official time rounded me down a little to 46:03 and as thats a PB by 30 seconds I should be pleased - especially as I didn't feel quite in tip top condition and the course had an extra 450ft of climb & descent compared to Birchwood, but having been on course all the way until the finish to breaking 46 minutes and running within the pace target on the Garmin I can't help but feel dissapointed not to have got under that barrier.
During the 13.2 miles last Sunday I had some groin/lower abs pain that I'd had a hint of during the 2 races the previous week. By Tuesday morning it still felt a little sore and 'Fizz' one of the Paris veterans who is a Physio suggested it could be a sore psoas muscle. I looked it up and it matched the symptoms, location and cause so I've been doing stretches for that through the week.
I felt a bit below par during the day on Tuesday and by evening fleetingly considered not going out for the club run. I did though - mainly to test the psoas - which held up ok and I felt much better afterwards. It was a fairly easy paced 5.51 miles but it included the hill on Spen Lane that I'd last ran in March and found tough. On Tuesday it felt pretty easy.
On Wednesday I'd normally run with Bethan but we've got out of the running routine since the holiday in France and I'd decided to rest alot during the week anyway so that didn't happen.
Similar with Thursday - 5/6 miles planned but I dropped them for the pesky psoas and because I still felt under the weather.
I did do a short run on Saturday though. I joined the Virgin Active gym on Friday and did 2 x 1 mile on the treadmill. I found it hard work and couldn't do more than 1/4 of a mile at 10k pace. Between that and still feeling just a little ropey I toyed with the idea of skipping the Great Yorkshire Run 10k on the Sunday.
I didn't though, and duly parked up in Sheffield at 8am yesterday.
I'd been delighted with 46:33 at Birchwood a fortnight earlier and had decided that with no weight loss in the intervening fortnight I should go for 4:35 a kilometre to nose me under the 46 minute barrier. To that I added the proviso that if I didn't feel I had it in me on the day through muscle soreness or general malaise I could just trot round the remainder.
It was essentially an out and back course. The first kilometre was downhill fairly steeply and then there was 500m of undulating followed by 7km that was pretty much flat before 500m undulating again then a final kilometre that was relentlessly uphill.
I found it quite tough from the off. After the first downhill I had 26 seconds 'in the bank' as it were and didn't eat much into that as the race progressed but it felt harder work than it did 2 weeks ago - not that I was out of breath or anything just that I didn't feel too peppy and frequently felt negative.
The course wasn't exciting and the pace pretty even so little to report until the Garmin bleeped and I began the 9th kilometre, by which time I still had 24 seconds in the bank. I'd been warned the final hill was a bit of a killer but from 1500m to go I found I couldn't speed up and struggled to even hold the pace. I just about held the effort constant on the hills in the second half of that kilometre but i'd dropped half of the banked time.
The Garmin bleeped again for one kilometre to go and with me 12 seconds to the good and a strong finisher all should have been well but just getting up the hill felt really draining. I managed to speed up in the last 50m or so but it was hardly a sprint finish. Mentally I'd set my stall just to hang on in the final kilometre and when I looked at my watch as I crossed the line I felt deflated to see 46:04 - missed it by 4 seconds. I'm sure I could have found those seconds somewhere.
Interestingly the Garmin measured it long - with the first 10 kilometres being completed under 46 minutes but the additional 65m was what cost me. Splits were:
4:09 (6:40 per mile)
4:34 (7:21 per mile)
4:36 (7:24 per mile)
4:39 (7:29 per mile)
4:39 (7:29 per mile)
4:29 (7:14 per mile)
4:36 (7:25 per mile)
4:34 (7:21 per mile)
4:47 (7:42 per mile)
4:43 (7:35 per mile)
Then the last 65m at 6:02 per mile pace.
The official time rounded me down a little to 46:03 and as thats a PB by 30 seconds I should be pleased - especially as I didn't feel quite in tip top condition and the course had an extra 450ft of climb & descent compared to Birchwood, but having been on course all the way until the finish to breaking 46 minutes and running within the pace target on the Garmin I can't help but feel dissapointed not to have got under that barrier.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Spent the Bank Holiday with the family watching the British Grand Prix athletics in Gateshead. We'd never been to an athletics meeting before and all thought it was excellent. £8 each to get in to see a number of recently crowned world champions at close quarters plus a load of freebies, free kids entertainment and events and even reasonable choice of refreshments. It puts football and even the great family game of rugby league to shame.
Still from one set of elite athletes to another athlete of rather more modest talent: me.
Last week's Tuesday evening run with Abbey Runners was replaced by a team handicap event with a neighbouring running club: Valley Striders. Its an annual event with 17 teams of 5 runners all drawn from a hat. Each team member is assigned to a different 'wave' of runners (A-E) depending on their 10k times and each wave sets off 5 minutes after the preceding one. I was selected in 'D' - the second slowest.
It was a toughish course - mostly cross country with a couple of stiles, gates, hills, and runs across fields before running the path round Eccup reservoir. About 5 miles all told.
I found it hard work. I'm not sure if my legs were still tired from Sunday but I ran 17 seconds a mile slower (though terrain would account for much of that) but still finished ina position that I was pleased with. I was 4th from the 17 in my wave, went past several runners from the wave before, would have been 7th in the wave above and was caught by nobody from following waves. It was a nice test and a change from routine.
The next day Beth and I did a sedate 3 miles along the canal.
Friday I decided to do 7.24 miles along the canal and it felt like hard work. Harder than the pace implied. It may be that I wasn't well hydrated and I certainly hadn't slept well the night before or it may be that I was still fatigued. Partly because of that I didn't run with Beth on Saturday.
On Sunday I managed 13.18 as an LSR. The overall time was fractionally quicker than I'd have expected but pace was highly variable and, again, hard work. It was also slightly painful in my groin - I'd had that all week after runs.
At the moment I'm not sure how to approach this week on the back of that. There's a 10k race on Sunday and then a 10 mile race a week later. I'm guessing I'll cut back the mileage and add more rest. I'll see how I feel after tonight's club run.
Weight has been a bit variable (literally) too. After the race at Birchwood I happilly over ate with the result that the following day I appeared not to have lost anything compared to the previous week but by Thursday and Friday I was weighing in at under 12 stone - within sight of my newly set target of 11 stone - but over eating Saturday, Sunday and Monday mean the weight today is ostensibly little different to this time last week.
Part of that was down to a meal out (and making a cake) for Sue's birthday so without distractions and with forthcoming races I'm expecting the scales to show me back on target soon.
Still from one set of elite athletes to another athlete of rather more modest talent: me.
Last week's Tuesday evening run with Abbey Runners was replaced by a team handicap event with a neighbouring running club: Valley Striders. Its an annual event with 17 teams of 5 runners all drawn from a hat. Each team member is assigned to a different 'wave' of runners (A-E) depending on their 10k times and each wave sets off 5 minutes after the preceding one. I was selected in 'D' - the second slowest.
It was a toughish course - mostly cross country with a couple of stiles, gates, hills, and runs across fields before running the path round Eccup reservoir. About 5 miles all told.
I found it hard work. I'm not sure if my legs were still tired from Sunday but I ran 17 seconds a mile slower (though terrain would account for much of that) but still finished ina position that I was pleased with. I was 4th from the 17 in my wave, went past several runners from the wave before, would have been 7th in the wave above and was caught by nobody from following waves. It was a nice test and a change from routine.
The next day Beth and I did a sedate 3 miles along the canal.
Friday I decided to do 7.24 miles along the canal and it felt like hard work. Harder than the pace implied. It may be that I wasn't well hydrated and I certainly hadn't slept well the night before or it may be that I was still fatigued. Partly because of that I didn't run with Beth on Saturday.
On Sunday I managed 13.18 as an LSR. The overall time was fractionally quicker than I'd have expected but pace was highly variable and, again, hard work. It was also slightly painful in my groin - I'd had that all week after runs.
At the moment I'm not sure how to approach this week on the back of that. There's a 10k race on Sunday and then a 10 mile race a week later. I'm guessing I'll cut back the mileage and add more rest. I'll see how I feel after tonight's club run.
Weight has been a bit variable (literally) too. After the race at Birchwood I happilly over ate with the result that the following day I appeared not to have lost anything compared to the previous week but by Thursday and Friday I was weighing in at under 12 stone - within sight of my newly set target of 11 stone - but over eating Saturday, Sunday and Monday mean the weight today is ostensibly little different to this time last week.
Part of that was down to a meal out (and making a cake) for Sue's birthday so without distractions and with forthcoming races I'm expecting the scales to show me back on target soon.
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