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My Last Run
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The event I ran today was a low key one run by a local school. Lovely atmosphere but a low quality field, other than VW40 who won the 5k and was literally out of sight after the 1st km.
The stronger runners opted for 10k and my son won it.
I picked up 4th in the 5k (21.53) and got the prize for 1st male vet.
Enjoyable!
The 15% climb part is not that long, thankfully.
Grand weekend of running for you and your son as well JB.
Sensible approach to the parkrun considering the weather and the mid-week race Cal. Good idea to check out the ultra route again, you don't want to be adding on unnecessary distance.
Decent hike for me on Friday - only did the ascent though (just over a vertical mile in total) and got the cablecar down - we would have been caught by a big thunderstorm and I wanted to save my quads as well.
Saturday saw a 5 mile recovery and some cycling and Sunday a training HM. To keep things interesting I did the first 5k at an easy pace then alternated the rest between 1k harder and 1k easier. Went ok though I worked a bit hard on both bits.
To beat the heat today I did a run before breakfast and work - I had to get up earlier than normal and that on a Monday. I am trying to add in a bit more quality work into my training and reduce the mileage a bit so just short of 2 miles warm-up, then 5k tempo effort and another 2 miles of cool-down. Already quite warm so good idea to get out early even if it means higher humidity. 5k came out at 23:13 which is ok at the moment and taking yesterday's run into consideration.
On balance I'd opt for summer rather than winter. In summer you can avoid the negatives like you did today by getting out early.
In winter you run but you can't hide!
Bad news today. 5k hill repeats started with a sore knee and ended with a very painful knee......
Good run there, Hazel. I couldn't even manage a 5K at that pace when I was running well.
Very easy 5 miler today after a rest (well, walk and gym) day yesterday. Even stopped to stroke a cat and then pat a dog. Warm.
Good idea to put in some nice things in an easy run Cal. Warm could be a good opportunity for you to get in some acclimatization pre-ultra.
Standard Tuesday trot for me yesterday, plus cycled to and from the run, to being easy and from hard work. Warm for us too and breezy but bearable as the pace was easy. 6.5 miles in 1:02.
Today's effort was an 11 mile run with a few faster bits for flavour. I would've gone for 12 but colon kicked off again, so had to take a more direct route back. I did snag a couple of Strava crowns, though, it was a pretty good run aside from trying to hold in a poonami. Seems to be worse in this weather, probably because I'm eating a lot of raw veg due to it being too hot to cook. Will need to find an alternative next week as I don't want this happening during the ultra.
Knee a bit better so walked 5.5k
But not an ordinary walk: this with the 20lb vest and hilly.
It was an experiment: what training zones would this workout cover. Given every run would be zone 5 and walking wouldn't be zone 1, I wanted to see what would transpire.
It felt about right and when I checked out the data it was mainly zone 3, then 2 and even some in zone 1. So this is what aerobic training feels like!
Luckily this took place at 04 30 so few folk saw this loony in a weighted vest.
Seems we have had a mixture of good running, long running and some other issues ! Thankfully all still running though !!
Last few weeks has been mental with work, half term and a few days away for a festival. I now need to get back to a decent set of weeks. Set of 40x20s sprints yesterday and almost died in the heat, I looked like a drowned rat when I finished. Most of my runs have been squeezed in somewhere and rushed...
Best event of note was the Rack Raid. 100 mile relay race in teams of 12 running throughout the day. I got a stupidly hilly 12.6 mile section from Monmouth to Raglan. Again a silly hot day and the hardest race I've done. We however came first of the B teams and even beat a few A teams from loads of clubs in south wales - it was a great day driving around the stages and supporting the club afterwards...
Great start photo but the end was not so pleasant
Interesting thing to try out JB. Early start!
Hmm - you both look somehow stretched (?) on that pic DH. Seems you have been having a fun time. Great work at the relays. Hope you can get in some more relaxed running now.
Intervals again for me yesterday - another go at 5 x 800m off of 2:30 recoveries. I went out late again to avoid the heat and the lively breeze (it calms down in the evenings normally) and found pretty decent conditions. Decent lunch meant I wasn't too hungry. I normally run on a stretch of tarmac which is conveniently marked off in 50m sections but that is prone to being hot due to the surface and the railway line right next to it. It is also busy with cyclists (commuting and leisure route). Instead I again took myself off to a quieter stretch along a brook - this seems a bit cooler but means a less grippy surface - light gravel and dust, my shoes slipped slightly. I seem to be getting the hang of the session after a couple of goes, best rep was a 3:20, slowest was a 3:27. Ideally they should all be around 3:18 but at the moment it is better I get the session done at slower paces rather than try to storm 1 or 2 reps and then not complete the rest. I have never been one for fast running anyway, I can't get my legs to turnover quicker. 7.6 miles in total including warm-up and cool-down.
Hazel, good intense session.The one prob I don't have is leg turnover with cadence peaking at 230 plus.
But if your stride length is as short as mine it doesn't count for much!
5x 800 sounds hard work. I never go beyond 250 (coward).
Knee still bad. 99% sure no parkrun.
We've got our next club race the following week (Bevendean which Cal has done and is not one to forget) so hope to be in one piece for that.
The heat is hardly inviting right now.
All in all not feeling the love for running right now.
Good set of 800s, do you run recover or walk ? I agree tarmac'd areas at the minute add another 2/3c onto the temps. Unbearable
You still having injury issues John ? I wonder if it is all related with compensating and leaning on good muscles. You not seen anyone ? Apologies I've not read all posts properly...
I managed 15x 2min sets at 3ish this afternoon. Only time I can fit a session in and at the hottest point of the day. Started with run recoveries for a 3rd, then 50:50 then full walks - just too hot 🥵
I'm going to check out for a while and think things through..... (so no need to respond as I won't be looking).
Cheers!
Just read up on the bridge DH - interesting - thanks for the info. I generally slow jog interval recoveries but might start a recovery with a brisk walk if I have to. Speedwork at 3pm does sound nasty.
Rest day on Thursday (cycled). Out before work yesterday with 10k fairly easy with a few strides at the end. Again out before breakfast this morning for 11.5 local miles with plenty of downing and then upping. As I had already done 2 sessions this week I kept the effort levels sensible which meant a pretty sedate pace. It was actually quite pleasant this morning on setting off - quite fresh, it was only during the last half an hour that it got a bit warm and humid. Met quite a few dog walkers and riders and had one squirrel hop across the track in front of me but that was about it.
Spent the afternoon at Chester Zoo. Walked a lot.
Just a cycle today (50k though which is enough for me). We helped to rescue a young long-eared owl which had fallen out of a tree onto the verge and looked in danger of either being run over, eaten or dying of heat/thirst/hunger. Took a while to get someone out (Sunday lunchtime) but it got checked over and popped back up the tree. Interesting little thing.
Never been that close to an owl, hear them in the trees around the river every night walking the dog but never seen one. We do have a resident bat that flies around in the back garden we've named Batfink though...
Completed Cosmeston Lakes Parkrun which is a great course. Path, gravel path, trail and a few undulations - it has it all ! Also completed 14x800m for 23k total yesterday which was harder than anticipated ! Still have some blisters which that run has not improved. Latest plan has loads of speed involved and a definite few steps up from marathon training....
Another sweaty run yesterday evening - effort was gentle but the humidity was high even if the heat was actually quite bearable. Different route to what we normally do on Tuesday - with just two of us out I drove to my running buddy's place rather than both us driving to our standard meet-up point. We mostly plodded up and down diverse trails and forest roads in a bit of woods near his farm. Bit shorter than normal for a Tuesday but that didn't matter. I can pick up the missing mile on a different run or just drop it altogether. 5.4 miles in 56 minutes.
That's wonderful about the owl - did it try to peck you?
That sounds like a nice parkrun, DH.
Yesterday I couldn't run first thing as there was a downpour with thunder, but I did a slow 4 miles once it cleared, which was very sticky and unpleasant. Today was brighter and fresher so I did 6. I may do one more short run before Saturday's ultra, which looks to be hot (ugh). Groin is niggling, too, but I'll make it work.
Many people got trapped by that thunder Cal ! It is insanely sticky at the minute across Europe is seems. I can't see missing a mile will make much difference Hazel and no doubt other runs get extended some...
Confident for Sunday Cal ?
Increasing pace run yesterday from 5:00 > 4:00, 10s quicker sets over 2.5k, 1.4k, 1k, 800, 600, 400, 200 - Walk recoveries of 90s at the end, blowing and dripping...
I still have some really bad blisters I'm trying to solve which is impacting me as well from the Rack Raid hills. Achilles grumbling as well so may need a few easier days now
Would rather be smashing some speed work like you!
Sounds like a couple of easy days could help for both the blisters and the achilles DH. I find it interesting in your training that you tend to do fairly short speed bits (though with plenty of reps) rather than doing longer blocks of several km/miles.
Didn't fancy "proper" speedwork on Wednesday due to the conditions but did a hills session instead. Up and down a fairly local one 7 times concentrating on form rather than raw speed.
I would normally have a rest day on Thursday and cycle but I swapped that to cycling today instead as we had pretty heavy thunderstorms yesterday. Ran a 10k recovery instead. Even at an easy pace I had sweat dripping off of my chin due to the humidity. Nice. Now getting accustomed to just getting on with it in such conditions and backing off a bit if necessary.
Had a rest and easy day blister got much better, 8k session has made it not so better (again). 8x2min, 8x30s & 4x50m sprints. You say you'd prefer speed sessions but these are hard. Having said that completed an extra set that previous same session and felt easier... Clouded over thankfully but still oh so humid, absolutely dripping for ages afterwards
Moderate run tomorrow, easy long run Sunday...
I wouldn't say those short intervals are easy DH. Just surprised they seem to make up a lot of your training. I guess we have to get used to the dripping with sweat.
Nice cycle yesterday - other than a short sharp hill I don't normally have the courage to do - I forget to unclick my shoe and once committed I had to keep going as I was going so slowly I would have fallen over if I had tried. Wouldn't have been great for the punnet of cherries I was transporting, even if they were in my closed front carrier.
Managed to get up reasonably early today though with considerable help from the lady cat who thinks that before 6am is a great time for breakfast and for such a little thing can make a lot of noise. Does Bruno wait patiently for his breakfast?
Reasonably quick preparations and then a training HM according to the classic first half slower, second half faster. Managed to keep the pace down initially but was a bit quick on the second for just over 1:50 with stops for road crossings and water and just under without. Decent enough for now. The humidity has gone elsewhere for now so ok conditions, I was lucky to get back before the breeze picked up.
After this the walks got a bit longer than the jogs but I was hanging in there and finished in 7:43:44. So yeah, slower than anticipated but also very happy to have my first ultra under my belt.
I'm quite sore, a little sunburnt, chafed either side of my bum hole (ouch), but otherwise not bad. Didn't need a poop stop (got up at 4am to make sure I had cleared as much as I could, then took Imodium anyway) and didn't faint afterwards, so a win.
Got home, had a bath, a light meal (not much appetite) and two glasses of pink wine. Early night for sure.
Managed a 'small' long run of 17k Sunday. Got up at 6am to try and beat the heat - I failed, still melted
I am a bit sore but mainly just tired. I had a little walk yesterday then volunteered at junior parkrun, and today a longer walk and some very very light weights at the gym just to get blood into the muscles. After that I felt wiped out but I'm rallying slightly now. I think I'll need a while to recover, though I have Asics 10K in two weeks, silly me.
Hope you are recovering well - take it easy.
Bad luck to have it hot at 6am DH.
Heat has dropped a bit here fortunately. I took a rare complete rest day on Monday to recover from a long hike on Sunday (HM+ distance). Normally I do some sort of exercice on non-running days but had a bout of CNBA and also a few sore spots from the long km in walking boots. Gentle start to the running week yesterday with a Tuesday running buddy - 6.4 miles in my neck of the woods (of which there were plenty) with some nice trails and downs and ups.