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My Last Run
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Hazel, that isn't good about the crops and the storks. Poor things.
swittle, I don't like smartphones either. I do have one but have never used its "smart" functions. I have a PC for that.
As last week, I took two days off running and did half an hour on the elliptical and then strength training - leggy rehab on Monday and back and arms yesterday. I was feeling my achilles very slightly after Sunday's run so I am not keen to poke that bear with a stick, so to speak. (It felt fine this morning although groin was niggling again...not terribly badly though).
I did a 7 mile run, returning to the alphabet roads (a series of roads beginning with the letters A through J) in Tooting for a bit of speedwork - pushing on the alphabets and then catching my breath on the top and bottom bits. I recovered a little then did a longer push along the top road before heading back.
I was considering a push up a road called Nimrod that links Tooting to Tooting Bec common, but it felt a bit too laboured on the uphill bit, and I was then was distracted by a ginger cat in the middle of the path so stopped briefly to give him a head rub.
I do need to get back to running hills again - the question is how to do it without annoying my hamstring.
Weather extremes, such as in NW USA & Canada only strengthen the case for planet Earth getting warmer - close to 50 deg. C is unimaginable!
Cal, I like the idea of the alphabet roads. I live in the 'Dales', streets such as Ashdale; a no. of Bootle streets are named after Oxbridge colleges, an attempt to add some character to the docklands that thrived mightily last century. Oriel, Keble, Brasenose....
Talk of speedwork puts me to shame, and I admire the discipline it clearly requires.
9.30 last night, a dull, grey end to a warm, sunny day; a quite welcome drop in temperature and light WNW breeze made for a pleasant one-hour outing: the final 1.5 miles along firm, level beach seemed to be at a faster pace than the rest...but without some natty gizmo, I'll never know...
Lovely photo, swittle.
A fairly easy-paced 8 miler today. I decided to head over past Tooting Bec to some small green spaces I'd visited on walks but hadn't managed to run, and pottered through those. I saw a coal tit, a disinterested fox (he/she ambled out of my way and didn't seem at all bothered) and then finished at the big pond (they call it a lake, but it's a big pond really) on Tooting Bec where I spent a few minutes looking at the birds. There's a new coot chick, some well grown moorhen chicks whose feet are disproportionately large compared to the rest of them, some new tufted duck ducklings (small, black and fuzzy) and a couple of new Egyptian geese - not sure how long they'll last as the existing pair are very territorial. As for those, their goslings are now full grown and just lacking the rusty eye spots the mature geese have.
Woodland trails can be enjoyable, especially for cover from heat & rain but roots have been the cause of many faceplants!
Dog related episode last night by the radar tower: an America pit bull cross bitch decided I'd make an interesting project, 'buzzing' me time and again as I stood. Barking was excited, not particularly menacing, but the dog was Labrador height, well muscled...and its 'owners' sat unmoved, watching. The dog took a dump down the beach, and I spoke to them about the breed and the 'joy' of stepping on faeces - the woman was barefooted. The whiff of 'herbs' and sound of lamentable dance music from a tinny phone nudged me into continuing. The other dog, also a pit bull cross, came over, sniffed, wagged and sat down.
A minute over the hour, beach, Freeport, lakes and leisure centre, interconnected by trail & beach.
swittle, with you on the woodlands. Tooting Common has woods and I'm always a lot slower going through there than the other bits, even without meaning to be. I named one of the Strava segments "Triptoe through the tree roots".
Good job those dogs were not aggressive.
Gym day yesterday so decided to do a time trial/tempo of sorts today: Two miles to warm up then 5K tempo. I was hoping for 9 min/mi on the tempo and got quite close (9:06 then 9:08) but faded on the final mile. This is, however, the first sustained effort I've made since my injury, so it's to be expected. Effort was at the level where I was breathing quite hard but not at the sawing logs stage. My VO2 max is obviously well done from what it was so it's going to take some work to get it back. (I can't believe I ran for nearly 4 hours at this pace a year and a half ago). Could feel the knee a little, but hamstring didn't kick off, so that's a positive.
Funnily enough my trip to hard core log country had no lasting effects in my interest in them! I do like trees though. Those lumberjacks are seriously fit guys (and girls - 'lumberjanes?).
Cal, you are on the comeback trail. Re Vo2 max, do you get a read-out from your Garmin? My impression (from one or two folk I know) is that these are rather inflated and a tad flattering. I know of other folk who have had the 'proper' Vo2 test to exhaustion and I hear it is not at all pleasant.
Well a frustrating time for me. I was due to run a 5k race tomorrow and contacted the organisers a few days ago who assured me that entries on the day were almost certainly going to be OK. I checked their website just now and they are now not accepting them. I'm glad I checked or that really would have been a miserable waste of a journey. Of course worse things happen at sea, so no big problem - just a bit of an anti-climax. The £15 'saved' is being spent on a book........assuming Waterstones haven't run out of stock. (I'm having that sort of day.)
Anyway, it could well hose down with rain tomorrow and.......... (I was going to write 'I rather hope it does', but that's very mean!)
Sorry about your race - I hope you get your book!
I ran another (training) half marathon this morning...I'd initially thought I might run to Wimbledon Common and do a circuit of the trail race course, but it would mean a longer run, plus some climbs (no matter which way I approach it, I always have to run up a big hill to get to the common, and then there are the hills on the common itself) and I didn't feel ready for that. Instead, I opted to run down to Battersea, through the park, along the Thames (which I've not done for six months), along part of the Wandle and then back home via Mead Path and Tooting Common. It was quite humid but that brought out the smells of all the flowers along the way, and then it started to rain near the end...didn't mind that, though, as it cooled me down.
My Vo2 readings (taken from times achieved on 5K runs/2k rows) are spookily similar. Talking of which my current 5k time running is 22.29.9 and for rowing it's 22.30.4. I'm not sure what it reveals (probably that I'm a half decent runner for my age but a mediocre rower).
However, today's 10K @49.28 was a little less than half decent, with my usual fade over the second half. I just don't do enough long runs.
The NHS physio's knee and leg exercises were a huge benefit and got me back 'off' the road again - I still do all the strengthening work before & after.
John, I'm waiting for 5k times in your running & rowing to be identical! And sub-50 for 6.21 miles is definitely smileworthy.
9.30pm, and the rain was 'gentle' and 'from heaven' [Bill Sh.] Beach and trails to Burbo Bank were for my own private use - but the car park was inexplicably packed. The rain had added 'give' to the trails and more traction in the fine sand. Down the beach, the line of the sea veers gently towards the bay, and long stretches were covered in a film of water. Rubble swept down from the coastguard station [a sea barrier made of the ruins of bombed out Liverpool in WW2] and sadly stranded jellyfish were regular hazards. By the leisure centre, I met a chap with 2 dogs who I often see - said he was pleased to see me 'Doing a bit"! And these were the only living beings in an hour, not counting the car occupants!
As with the last two weeks, I did back to back XT days...30 mins elliptical plus lower body rehabby stuff on Monday and then 35 elliptical/10 cycle ergometer plus upper body weights yesterday. I was intending to run yesterday but the weather was crap so decided against it.
The benefit of that was that I was fresh today and got out nice and early for a MLR. This was another explorer run, going out to Pollards Hill (somewhere between Mitcham and Norbury). Thing with places named Hill is that you never know whether there's going to be an actual hill or if it's more of a gradient. When I got there, I figured it was the latter, as it started with a rec that had a fairly gentle upward slope. But then I turned a corner and there was a big, steep grass hill which (when I checked on Strava afterwards) is 18% in the middle. I started off attempting to run it with short little steps, but ended up walking at the top. I am so unused to hills at the moment that I admit I was struggling, but given that I shouldn't really be running hills like that at the moment, I'll give myself a pass. The view from the top was really good, anyway, so I stopped to admire it for a moment before carrying on.
I then passed through Norbury Hall Park, which I've not run through before - it's rather small and mostly taken up by tennis courts, but there are a lot of nice trees.
From there I found a footpath which then turned into a railway bridge which I also walked (I usually walk any stairs I encounter on a run, partly to save my knees and partly because I'm convinced I'll catch my toe and fall chin-first into the steps above) but it came out into Norbury Park so I cut through there. Streatham Common was on my way back but decided against that as I figured running more hills wouldn't be in my best interest at this point.
By the time I got back I'd run 10 miles, mostly at a reasonable pace (aside from the warm-up mile, the one with the hill and the one with the railway bridge, I was averaging around 10:20). My HR is also returning to pre-injury levels (it did get up to 170s on the steep hill but was mostly 150s for the rest, which is normal for me). So I definitely seem to be getting back somewhere to where I should be.
I'm at the opposite end of that spectrum (as possibly is Swittle?) in that 90% of my runs involve slogging up and down the same stretch of prom. This is mainly a great benefit as it's flat, car-free and the sea is of course great to run by. I'm certainly not the only one as I see a number of 'regulars'. So the only real variable is the weather and in particular the wind. So today's 5k = 11.02 (out) and then 12.34 (back).
As they say in football, a game of 2 halves. And I know which half I preferred!
John, the coastal park is where I'm usually found stretches from the docks 4 miles along the coast to the river Alt estuary. Dunes, trails and open fields stretch inland from prom & cycle path up to a mile, so there's plenty to explore. Popular with me because of so much off-road terrain: better for my aching knees, hamstrings, calves etc. :-)
10pm before I set out last night - only a few people about until I got north of the leisure centre, where a very civilised beach party was in full swing: young people and families too! There were some mats on the beach that *might* have been solar panels. Busy back at the leisure centre car parks but I was soon picking my way over lumpy going at the foot of the dunes. 62 mins.
That's a late run...I was tucked up in bed by then! Those mats might have been the reflector ones that help you tan evenly. Not sure why anyone would take solar panels to a beach!
I was going to run yesterday but after three nights in a row with less than 6 hours sleep, it didn't seem wise to attempt the planned tempo as speed plus inadequate rest would be inviting injury. So I did that today instead. Chose a different route than last week (round the outskirts of Wandsworth Common and then home via a few quiet roads...I did have to cross a main road but it was quiet enough that I managed that without having to stop). After two warm-up miles I hit the first fast mile in 9:10 - a little slower than I'd like but I was just getting started. I managed to scrap under 9 for the next one and then hit 8:37 (around HMP) for the last one. So better than last week...no fade in the final mile but it did feel more like a sprint than something I can sustain for 13 miles. Still, I've made good progress this week so I'll take it.
My late departures are prompted by the adverse any temperature over 18 deg C has on my breathing and 'wellness' while I run. There's another reason: my resilience in the face of comments or similar from passersby has dropped in the past year or so. Now, I know my running style and gait are unusual but no more so than any other person's. After sunset, few people are around; fewer still risking the sinking sections of the beach.
Practice in running multi-terrain as the light falls certainly helps, as does a bright headtorch. After 5 minutes last night, I chatted for maybe a quarter of an hour with a man & his daughter about the diversity & richness that beach & coast bring. Back to the session: past the leisure centre, trails to the start of Burbo Bank, and then returning way down the beach to a point where I had to backtrack 400 yds or so to cross the 'slough of despond' safely. After that, a breeze over the coastal trails & back to start at Beach Lawn. Just over the hour, breathing settled and no sinking or tumbles!
I opted to have a crack at the route I'd planned last week up to Wimbledon Common and around the Wimbledon Trail Series route. It was a complete fail (navigationally speaking).
It didn't look that hard when I checked the map from when I ran it in 2019...how wrong I was. A comedy of errors including:
1) Overshooting the first turn and then, realising my error, still taking the wrong path and ending up on the A3.
2) Getting so disorientated that I mistook the Kingsmere lake for the Queensmere.
3) Missing the Queensmere altogther and therefore the Rifle Butts hill.
4) Turning off the path onto what I thought was the Rifle Butts only to find myself trying to scale a slippery slope that got so steep I had to resort to all fours. It was not a path.
5) Running into the playing fields instead of around them and somehow managing to do a loop the loop.
6) Thinking I knew where the Toast Rack (path) turn was because I'd found it on my own once before. I did not.
7) Stacked it on a tree root trying to find the aforementioned Toast Rack it so I had to go home with dirt all up one side of me (fortunately the ground was soft so I wasn't hurt, aside from my pride).
On the plus side, I got some practise running around the common again (which is a lovely place to run - saw quite a few bunnies today as well as a heron), and I covered 15 miles which is the furthest since January. Pace was terrible on the common due to the terrain, trying to figure out where I was going and stopping to (firstly) check a map board and (secondly) asking for directions, not to mention picking myself up after falling over. It was decent on the way home until I got to the last couple of miles. The penultimate mile goes uphill...not that steep but a grind when you're tired as it's quite long...so I slowed a lot there and then didn't have much energy left for the last mile. I did consider stopping at 14 and walking it in but told myself to man up and I'd be home quicker if I ran. Pretty much the same self talk I use during marathons.
Cal, 15 miles is something to be proud of. I am cursed with a terrible sense of direction and would get routinely lost in the metropolis. In fact when I worked there (Holborn) I often did. (Even if I ask directions, I simply can't take them in, nod politely and then get lost again.)
5k for me today: 22.12 and my best for a while. Hopefully I'm getting a bit of form back in time for the return of Parkrun.
Great to see you back to some good running Cal. An 18% hill would leave me shuffling (or walking depending on the length and ground). You earned that break at the top for a look at the view. Good tempo run too (like the progression). Have you ever tried doing tempo intervals with time rather than distance reps? I liked doing these. 'Fraid I giggled a bit at today's navigational errors - sort of thing that would happen to me. I would like to have a go at orienteering (popular here) but with my sense of direction I would be pretty hopeless. Hope you are ok though after the fall and well done on the 15 miles.
Well done on the 5k JB. Don't know I'd enjoy the wind on the promenade but otherwise see its benefits.
Shame indeed about the comments swittle.
Decent week of running for me - I have (just) signed up for an autumn marathon at the end of October so I have got stuck into a new round of training this week. I'm starting off with reduced mileage compare to what I was doing in recent months in the hopes of getting in good quality and not just quantity. Also ordered new shoes and several pairs of socks at a decent price so a good start to the day I guess. I'm still getting out every day nonetheless - just not too far/fast on off-plan days. Highlight of the week was a 4 mile tempo run in 28:33 - hit my planned pace well and got a bit of confidence back after my most recent attempts at hard runs didn't go well (mostly conditions, 2nd jab and a lack of PMA). Weather is still a bit temperamental - a lot more rain than there normally is at this time of year but at least no heatwaves (yet..).
John, awesome...I'm a good way off what I'd consider a decent 5K time, but still a couple of weeks left to claw it back. Some of it, anyway.
Pleased to note your improving 5k time, JB.
Taking on a Mara is a big step but your core training and aggregate mileage stands you in good stead, Hazel. There are a few events popping up in UK but the use of 'waves' detracts from the foundation & character of a race imo. I can run a time trial any old time and in any place I care to run it. Still, I've not run an event since 2014, and, tbh, the prevalence & persistence of the Covid-19 virus will keep me away from parkrun too. A mile or so of prom is now covered by 100s of tons of sand, so either a new route or much council overtime will be needed.
Well, Cal, you certainly do not lack ambition! As I've said before, I never considered S London particularly hilly but the closest I got to any off road was walking on Clapham Common or going to music shows in Herne Hill or Brockwell Park. The university of London's sports grounds were at Mitcham: rugby, cricket, football etc. but it was a slog from The Strand and I soon became too fond of the wastrel's life!!
Y'day evening saw the now established hour of trails, paths and beach, the dullness of the day edged out by blue sky and a light SW breeze. the Slough of Despond had receded almost to the radar tower, so down to the estuary - almost - I went!. After that, perimeter of the docks, then cutting across between the lakes for a second beach section, before tippy toeing careful down the 'lunar; foothills of the dunes & back to Beach Lawn Gardens. Phew!
Swittle, I was the 1973-6 intake so I'm a youngster! I stayed one of the Kings halls - Camberwell I think? Very impressed with your degree title! Mine was simply 'Government'. The early 70s were pretty grim; but nothing like as grim as what we (and students especially) are going through now.
7k for me today. Wanted to dip under 33.20 and managed 33.12 so job done. Mrs JB did 5k in 34.41 - she's anxious about Parkrun and doesn't want to be overtaken by hundreds.
Live athletics tonight from Gateshead on the BBC. There is life after football!
With parkrun, I've found it's generally so that 'the party is at the back of the field' - and Mrs JB can be reassured that there will be people waiting to register her achievement and her time - no cut off here!
swittle, there are plenty of hills where I am - Balham itself isn't hilly but I don't have to go far to find some monsters. Ran a few today, in fact.
Had my usual two days off post-Sunday (this is only since coming back from injury - I'll be back to one day off soon, but I felt pretty beaten up after my Wimbledon misadventures). Elliptical and lower body rehab on Monday, then 20 mins on the cycle ergometer plus upper body yesterday (elliptical was busy). If I keep using the hand cycle thing I'm going to have shoulders like a kayaker.
Today was a near repeat of my run last Wednesday, including Pollard's Hill, which I was ready for this time. Managed to get up it without walking this time, though not sure I'd call what I was doing a run, exactly. I just kept telling myself "short quick steps" and I made it.
I changed it up a little after that - I took the longer path through Norbury Hall Park (I didn't realise I'd taken the short cut last week as it was my first time through) and then a different path through Norbury Park, up to Streatham Common (another hill) then decided on the fly to go up my old frenemy, Hill Path, which is a real bastard. I took it slowly.
Unlike last week, I did throw in some fartlek-ish surges here and there and picked up a couple of Strava trophies on the quieter segments (most of which I'd created myself - I am a prolific segment creator). Annoyingly I'm just 1 second off a crown on Pollard's Hill so I will have to go back and get that once I'm a little fitter.
Anyway, this will be a slightly lower volume week, with my Wimbledon Trail race next Wednesday evening. I'll likely do a shorter run on Sunday - 10 or 12 miles but no more than that.