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Feeling a bit at sea myself. Just didn't feel right today...quite stiff and sore (I guess from parkrun) and low on energy. Tried going for a run but called it quits at three miles. Actually felt worse after rather than better.
John, hope that hammy is treating you well - chances of a Parkrun this weekend ?
Cal, been on those bad runs and powered through. Defiantly sensible to stop !
My body seems to be back to normal last 2 days after Covid. I'm hoping that is true but I'm still behind fitness of HM a few weeks back.
Jumped right back into the hard stuff rightly or wrongly on training. Rest day yesterday and calves still ache a little but big Interval session later. Planned 10k tomorrow may turn out into a rest day. I'd rather do the hard sessions and miss an easy run, again rightly or wrongly...
Organising a club time trial 5k in a few weeks. Everyone aims for a PB time and we'll do a staggered start so in theory everyone finishes more of less at the same time regardless of time/ability. We have a flat up and down path local so we'll pass each other a few times as well for extra motivation - seemed to have got people interested anyhow and have more signed up for this run than any other this year
Another 6 miles today...it was OK but my legs were strangely sore (not your usual DOMS). Not sure why as yesterday's activity was walking 2 miles to Runner's Need with a bag full of shoes for recycling, then 2 miles home again. Nothing too stressful.
Cal, sounds like you are struggling a bit?
DH, good luck organising the time trial. Sounds like great fun.
Not much going on here this week
Did a 30 mile plus bike ride. I found that tough. Also ran a couple of short and sharp hill sessions but very cautiously.
When I'm crocked for running I default to loony upper body stuff and I bettered my PB for a pull up/press up routine.
As well as various running shows on You Tube I'm also a bit addicted to the other fitness stuff. I think I missed my vocation as an army PTI!*
Will turn up at PR tomorrow to test the hammy.....
The standard for the running parts of the various admissions tests for the military is pretty low. They tend to attract gym monsters!
I am struggling a bit, honestly. I did Southall parkrun today (so I'm LonDone again). Felt OK, perfect weather and it's a flat course (maybe a bit too twisty for a really fast time, but still pretty quick especially as it's one that doesn't attract a lot of runners just yet). I was hopeful I could get back under 27 minutes (I did run 26:20 in December) but couldn't manage it. 27:22. My fastest time this year, but can't help but be a bit disappointed. I really need to get rid of that half a stone.
Park was nice though, and the volunteers were some of the most enthusiastic I've come across.
On that basis I'm not sure how fast I'll manage the Westminster Mile tomorrow. Probably won't even break 8 minutes.
JB: it is the first time I have done a 50k yes. Longest so far was a 47k alpine event (with quite a bit of walking over 2 high passes). The event I am doing is also sold in part as good preparation for a 100k a few weeks later here. I have my eye on this for in a couple of years time. Don't know how seriously yet though. Well done on the cycling - I did 30 myself yesterday - enough as I don't train on the bike. Will build a bit more distancewise in the summer though. I sometimes watch a daily fitness programme on the TV - usually in my pyjamas and drinking a mug of tea though! Hope the hammy is ok.
I had planned an MLR of around 11-12 miles on Thursday but I should start reducing my mileage so 10 miles instead (chopping a bit off of some runs). Better pacing discipline this time @ 8:30s. Today I did a recovery run of just over 4 miles to test my new shoes (Hoka Supersonic) in go-fast orange stripes. Much better than the pale pink pair I was also offered!
Half a stone requires a bit of work.
I'm lucky in that respect as if I don't run, I usually shed a couple of pounds. (My brother in law cycled the length of the country averaging 70 plus miles per day and weighed more than he did when he started!)
Hazel, good stuff. The 50km event could well be your ideal 100km preparation. Lost in admiration!
Well, today conditions were perfect and I did a proper warm up and felt great.I went off like a train, and did the first mile in 6.39. Then in the blink of an eye the bloody hammy went again.
I've got some serious thinking to do!
My concern today was putting my niggly bits under pressure, especially as I've done precisely no speedwork since Manchester with the exception of parkruns and a crap lot of strides when my knee was hurting. After yesterday's parkrun, I figured I've be doing well to get under 8 minutes.
Made sure I did my yoga and some stretching before I left the house, and I did a mile in Green Park when I arrived that also included a few drills.
The start was on the Mall and the route took us around the outside of St James Park before finishing in front of Buckingham Palace.
There was one adult wave, a lot of family waves and a parkrun wave (plus a couple of others...can't remember what). I was in the adult wave as it was the first to go, so I expected it to be really big, but it actually wasn't - maybe a few 100 people.
We started bang on 10am and then it was just a case of trying to go as fast as I could without blowing up. My left calf got a bit tight but other than that, I felt pretty strong and the distance markers (I noticed the ones at 800m and 400m to go) seemed to fly past. Once I turned the corner to see the finish I saw it was still under 8 minutes so I gave it as much as I could, until the point I was audibly gasping. I made it in 7:50, which I am pretty pleased with. This gives me something to build on going forward.
While I have the 10K tomorrow, I do have another mile race on the 12th, although it comes the day after the 5 mile trail race on Wimbledon Common so I doubt it'll be faster. But who knows?
So, London 10,000 today. Won't lie, it felt pretty hard. Given I'd done a pretty hard parkrun Saturday then the Mile yesterday, I guess I was asking a lot of my old bod.
As with the Mile, the race village was in Green Park and the start was on the Mall. Organisation was good and we started exactly when we were supposed to. I was somewhere between 1 and 2KM when I saw Mo and Eilish whizz past on the other side of the road...Mo was in third place then. Bit of a shocker that he wasn't able to get past Cross - I bet that was the latter's best day ever!
Eilish was mile ahead of the second woman...shame she didn't quite get the British record but she did get the Scottish one and I'm sure she'll keep trying until she does. She has very long legs...bet her stride must be three times what mine is.
The course is almost the same as the Winter 10K, aside from starting on the Mall and finishing at Buckingham Palace. (The Winter 10K has a couple of out and backs which I guess make up the distance). There was a bit of entertainment around the course (the usual drum groups, a choir, a DJ and so forth) though I admit I rather missed the penguins and polar bears.
A couple of miles in I was feeling my left hip a bit (TFL, I think) which is probably from striding out during the mile. Other than that, legs weren't bad but I was finding it quite hard going. It was simply a lack of speed endurance (I just need to dump the 7lbs I've put on since Christmas and do some actual speed work).
I came in at 55:39 so not awesome but not terrible by current standards. Winter 10K in Feb was 55:27 and it was warmer today, so pretty similar all things considered.
I did push quite hard so I was happy to get to the finish, but overall I enjoyed the race and would do it again (provided I could find another discounted entry...it's expensive otherwise!) But big, roads closed race with a medal and nice T-shirt for ten quid is a bargain.
Next race is the first Wimbledon Trail Series race (5 miles) followed a day later by another mile race, this time on a track. Didn't plan that well, did I?
My hamstring, as is the usual pattern, now feels better and even came through a tough little 25 minute hill session today. But this is not new. Tomorrow I'll test it on the flat....but defo not flat out! I'll just keep Mrs JB company on her 7 mins per km run and then do the same at Saturday's parkrun.
For this is new, cautious JB!
It's not yet too warm here, thankfully...temps in the teens, which is fine by me. Raining now, in fact, for the first time in a while.
Good luck, JB.
Not so good for me. Did a 4 mile recovery run this morning (12+ pace, very slow). Had some achey bits but it was OK. However, I've had real ache at the top of my left thigh for most of the day, not nice at all. Probably related to the left hip that was sore in the 10K. I've got races coming up so hope it's nothing serious. May need to ditch tomorrow's run if it's still aching when I wake up.
Cal, super events completed ! Remember if it wasn't hard we would probably not bother doing it. I've had this discussion with various people over the last few weeks. People who want to achieve and can menially adapt and push through to those who give up and can't adapt. It's an achievement for us to keep pushing above those who can't...
JB, certainly take it easy for a while. Some shorter, slow runs will help for sure...
I'm still finding the slow, longer runs frustratingly difficult but managed some shorter interval type sessions. First time yesterday with a running club around a track which was something new. Work is nuts and I needed that just to clear my head a little...
Managed Cardiff 5k in 21.26, ok but could do better. Cardiff Bay 10k coming up shortly in a few weeks where aim was sub-45 but that's unrealistic at the minute so plan on going out and enjoying rather than setting targets
As for me, I was a good boy and ran alongside Mrs JB on her standard 3 3.3 k run at 6.36 per k pace.
It was good for her as she knocked 45 seconds off her season's best and good for me and the hamstring behaved itself.
Child responsibilities stopped me from PR'ing last week but managed to get in a 10k easy this morning before work as I was relieved of the school run which is extremely rare ! So much cooler early...
Hopefully that means full recovery to have a good blast tomorrow at Pontypridd which is a new one for us...
Good husbanding, John. Did you parkrun today?
Took an extra rest day and my thigh ache eased, only to be replaced by a horrendous ache in the right glute. Stretching and rolling did little to alleviate it. Not sure why that came on as I didn't run the day before and while I did do a few butt exercises in the gym, there was nothing overly stressful.
Decided I'd do the parkrun today anyway, which meant a pretty early start. Got the tube, then a train (my clubmate joined me on the train - we'd not met properly before but she's a parkrun tourist and we both wanted to tick this one off) and then a drizzly jog to the park which included a shortcut across some fields. Distance was 1.6 miles in the end.
As it happens, there was another lady from Tooting parkrun there so she gave us a lift back home in her car (truthfully it took longer in the traffic than it would on the train, but it was nice not to have to run back to the station, and it saved us a fare).
The parkrun itself is a small one (less than 100 runners) which is always nice. It's two laps of a lake on trail, some of which is very stony and not that easy to run on. It also goes past a children's farm so I saw a few goats and sheep and an alpaca (and also a very farmyardy smell for a stretch).
Ran 28:48 so not my best time but given my aches and pains and the fact it was rather humid (the sun came out before the run started and it was rather warm), I'm OK with it (and it was enough for 7th female finisher - always nice to grab a top ten).
There was a slightly alarming bit when I'd finished and an older guy came in on wobbly legs and went full Foster in the finish funnel. Went over to him (along with the RD and other concerned folks) but he was more concerned about getting his barcode scanned than anything so it seems he was fine and had just overdone it.
Anyway, I've not completed all the parkruns within the M25 (Lon-Done Plus) until any new ones are added, of course. Haven't yet made plans for next week but I am pacing at Clapham the week after...first time doing that.
I wonder if it's in the same park that Glamorgan CCC used to stage the odd game. I went there to see them play Derbyshire where a youngster called D.Cork was playing!
Cal, you are Queen of the Parkruns. Sounds like a lovely course. Good time in the circumstances. Pacing is a scary responsibility! Hope the aches and pains are OK.
So yes I did do the PR. MrsJB made me leave my barcode at home so I would be tempted to chase anyone!
Instead I ran with her in the hope of an SB. And she did it: by 1 second!
A WV55 did a100.09% age grade. Amazing! A sort of world record. And she's quite local. An honour to be there really.
At Mrs JBs 6.30ish pace my hamstring was happy, until I lapsed into my usual pace and was immediately rewarded with a niggle.
This made me so grumpy that I took it out on my rowing machine which I've hardly touched of late. But somehow I rowed my best 5k time for nearly 2 years (22:36). I was gobsmacked.
Out of interest, what was the V55's time? Asking as I move up to that cat next month. Even at my best I only scraped a 70% once or twice...I'm doing low 60s at the moment.
Also volunteered at junior parkrun afterwards. Of course, it was lovely and sunny for that, and still is. Hmph.
Sorry to hear of your aches and pains. I had a - thankfully rare - migraine this morning. Now taking it easy.
Not sure about the lack of blisters from the long runs JB. Want a pic? I doubt it! Feet held up well actually until the last 2 but I think I will be saying bye to a couple of toe nails soon. Good work on pacing your wife. I can imagine the rowing machine got a bit of shock there. 18:20 for a VW55: wow! Hope you are feeling much better after your migraine.
Good words about achieving more than the people who give up DH. Hmm - I can surely put myself into the latter camp at times. Longer runs take time to build up mentally as well as physically in my experience. 10m used to feel like a slog but after a few rounds of marathon training it is a standard run nowadays. I just shoved your 21:26 into the McMillan pace calculator and it spits out a 10k of 44:31 so don't give up on the sub 45 yet. Hope you had a good outing at Pontypridd.
Well done on recompleting LonDone plus and your top 10 placing Cal. Parkrun queen is an apt name! Sorry to hear about the niggles plaguing you like that. Maybe aftereffects of the racing? I would think the marathon is long enough ago that that shouldn't be a problem now. What time will you be pacing parkrun for?
Easy week for me in the taper. I had planned to do a bit of speedwork on Friday but lost my motivation a bit on spotting next week's untimely heatwave prognosis. Cues grumbles and threats of DNS... Updated prognosis seems to point to a cooler weekend than 27-28 midweek. We will see. Anyway - I trotted around a few local undulating loops instead of the speedwork, pleased to take note that the legs felt fairly fresh and nothing hurt. Recovery trot yesterday of 4 miles and a final MLR of just under 12 miles today with around 5miles of my old mara pace. Enough to get the legs turning over a bit quicker without being too tiring. Just a couple of easy recoveries and a dress rehearsal to go next week.