Overdone it?

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  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    I see muddy popping up on strava, I can't work out if he is selectively posting runs or just not running that much still. He seems to be progressing so I assume it's the former. 

    Is Bob still in and out of calf issues? 

    I need to get back on s and c work, let that go since February. 

    I've been doing a smuttering of easy runs, no more than 5m. Slight set back mid-week, I thought I had really bad hay-fever Tuesday then work asked me to do a covid test and was positive. Ran ok Wednesday, felt crap yesterday but it was a rest day and feel quite a bit better today so will just crack on as scheduled. 

    As a pick up yesterday though I had my e mail off England masters confirming my selection for the marathon team for October. Means I'll have to miss London and run Chester. 
  • muddyfunstermuddyfunster ✭✭✭
    edited May 2022
    I haven't been selectively posting runs up on Strava @DT19 - just not running very much. Recovery from running has been taking ages post-covid so I was finding if I went out with my club on Tuesday nights, I was pretty much ruined for a week. Before that I was suffering with sore shins and that was limiting the number of runs I could sustain. So I've tried to build back even more slowly just recently. I've put together something of a mileage progression the past few weeks to go from one run a week to three runs a week. Also upping my walking mileage to try to shift a bit of weight.

    I've done three weeks of consecutive parkruns within the latest training reboot, running 20.03, 20.06, and 20.48. The last one was on Saturday and I just felt knackered after 19 miles in the preceding 7 days and didn't push at all. The other two were maximal efforts to see where I was at fitness-wise but on different courses.

    (Also need to read back on the thread now)
  • Tommy2DTommy2D ✭✭✭
    Congrats DT, that's great recognition for all your hard work and some compensation for the crap marshalling at MK. 

    Bob has had another couple of minor calf injuries but is running pretty well, although he did have to drop out of the 5000m at the County Champs with three laps to go on Saturday as was feeling light headed. He's fine now  though. think he's hoping to get back to the middle distance stuff this year. 

    Good to see you back at it, muddy. ~20 mins for parkrun is a pretty decent base to be starting from. 

    Something a bit different for me on Sunday; the 3000m at the County Track and Field championship. I've only ran one 3000m race before and that was abut 9 years ago and I think my time was around 12 minutes (it was a 'come and try' track racing event and wasn't recorded on PO10 or anything) so quite fancied getting an official time down for this distance.

    Got to the arena somewhat later than planned and then had a frantic few minutes trying to find where to pick my numbers up from, pin my numbers on, find the toilet, a bit of a warm up and then get to the start line in time to be bollocked for having my number too far down my front and to put it on my chest (and then they wonder why track races don't attract that many people). Bit of faffing around with that and then helping one of the quick teenage lads from my club sort his number our before managing a few strides in the back straight area. 

    Up to the start line and I'm a good 15-20 years older than the rest of them and there's chat about aiming for 9:15, which compared to my aim of sub 11 minutes suggests I'm in for a bit of a tough time, so edge my way to the outside of the curved start. Bit more shit banter and telling off from the officious track dude and we're off. Settle in at the back of the back just off the shoulder of one of the teenage lads from my club and before long we're back round to the start where handily there's a fella calling out times; 1:21 - 'heck that's a bit sharp when I'm aiming for about 88 per lap' I think to myself, so ease off slightly and the gap to my club mate grows; as the other 7 pull away. Feel like I'm working hard but not on the point of detonation and the laps tick down. It's quite handy having the clock at the finish line and matey at the start line/200m line calling out times as I just work on ticking each 200m section off in 44 second chunks. 2 laps to go and I'm gaining ground on my club mate which gives me a bit of focus. The wind in the home straight seems to have doubled in strength since the opening lap, coming up to the bell I can hear some shouts and I can tell the leader is close to lapping me / finishing, but I make it to the line ahead of him, quick check of the  course clock and I have about 90 seconds to get sub 11 but the chances of catching my club mate have gone. Work hard round the last lap and coming up the finish straight I can see the clock tick over to 10:50, bit of a gallop to the finish and stop my watch on 10:58, fingers crossed the official time is below 11.

    Bit of a chat with club mates etc and a small cool down before watching a few of the sprints before heading to off to check the results. As I'm checking a lady from Devon Athletics thrusts a gold medal into my hand much to my amazement/amusement/bemusement; v35 age group winner  :D! Time confirmed as 10:58.19, which I'm happy with especially off the back of minimal running and just an increase in strength / resistance training. Slightly embarrassed with the medal as I'm clearly not the fastest v35 in Devon but suppose I can only race the people who turn up. 
     
    Email today from the club secretary who is also involved with the organisation of the County Champs to inform me that, to my amazement, my time yesterday is the championship record for v35 age group. I'm assuming that not many people run in the 3000m but I don't care, I'll take it!
  • SkinnyPart2SkinnyPart2 ✭✭✭
    Well done DT and Tommy.

    Age Group County Championship record - not sure we've had one of those on the thread before. 

    I'm guessing we might have had an English Masters selection before (muddy?) although I can't remember it.

    Pleased to see you back at it muddy although sounds like you're really struggling - no point doing more than you can manage and the walking sounds like a good compromise.

    I went out to run long last night and blew up and had to walk jog home - managed to drag out the run bit to 2 hours (14.33 miles) and total was 17.2 - not really sure how much of the final 2.9 was running and how much walking but felt a bit woozy by time I got home and devoured the fridge (including a big bowl of cold haggis, neeps and tatties which I shovelled in with my hands and it tasted gorgeous).

    If I'm going to run long after work obviously need to work a bit harder on my nutrition during the day.

    Still intend to do a report on the Dawdle but got top boss from US over here this week so under a bit of pressure preparing for his visit.

    Cheers, Skinny
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Tommy, that's an excellent race day there, you sound like some kind of 'accidental hero'. You'll have to have a look at what other v35 records and crowns are knocking about to take down. Did you also get a v35 club record? 

    Skinny, yes, if you're off out gor a 17 miler on a Monday night, particularly if it's humid there like it was here, then you need to eat well. 

    I believe Muddy did not long before the world closed down, as a v45 half vest. 

    Muddy, sorry to hear it's been a struggle with one thing and another. Did you have a particularly bad dose of covid? 

    First day negative for me after 7 positive. In spin, we've been building up for 8 weeks to do a 20 ftp test and this week was test week. As I was still slightly positive yesterday I stayed away. Following a negative today went to the 8.30 class. Having run easy throughout it, suddenly working at threshold level was quite a shock, lungs were burning from the off but still put in a decent score and was the highest in the class, about 20% higher than the next highest. 6m easy later today. Hot my first tempo run tomorrow post mara so will get a good gauge from that where I'm at. 
  • Tommy2DTommy2D ✭✭✭
    Thanks both. 

    DT - no club record as our club just splits between 'Senior' and 'Veteran' with no distinction within the veteran category; I'm about 90 seconds short of the veteran record set by a V40 a few years ago so I suspect that it is unattainable!

    Skinny - that sounds like a long way to run after a day at work, well done for grinding it out. 

    DT - good effort on the power test so soon after Covid. Good luck on the tempo tomorrow.  
  • Mr VMr V ✭✭✭
    Tommy - nice work on the v35 win and age group record! I've always fancied doing a 3000 but for some reason have never managed it.

    Muddy - sorry to hear of your post covid struggles. Glad you are making some progress now even if it's slower than you would like.

    DT - sounds like recovery from your marathon is going well. What's the next target?

    I've been building back slowly post op and just starting to make some progress on the mileage now. Managed 25 last week and should hit 30 this week. I seem to have lost roughly a minute per mile in terms of fitness but hopefully it will come back quickly enough with some consistency. 
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Mr v - did you have general anaesthetic? I recall looking into it when I had a minor op in 2017 and it does mess you up and affect fitness for a while. 

    Tempo went surprisingly well yesterday  given it was warmish as well. 3m went 6.17, 6.14 and 6.16 then 5 x 1 min off 1 min at 5k pace was just a bit of a smash. Spin first thing this morning and some s and c later. 
  • Mr VMr V ✭✭✭
    DT - I did yeah and I felt pretty wiped for a good month afterwards so sounds plausible. I think I've put on about 5kg as well which will also be contributing. 

    Nice work on the tempo effort. 
  • Tommy - are you really that young (v35) !?  ;) Congratulations on the course record !

    @DT19 Yeah I had a lot of pain with it, thrombosis like, and was positive for ages. Weird thing was the fever came and went very quickly, and I didn't have even the slightest cough but I was left super tired after any exertion.

    Great mileage Skinny, pretty sure with all the hills you'll be getting some stealth  intensity work too. Are you tempted to test your fitness on a parkrun any time soon ?

    I did nearly 25 miles last week as follows (3.1,3.5,Rest,5.5,3.1,5.75,4) marking 7 weeks of mileage increases. I feel like if I did a cut back week I'd probably stop running again so it's not quite the happy habit I had before.



  • Tommy2DTommy2D ✭✭✭
    Just! I am a v39.5, not long until I'm v40 

    Glad to see you're on the comeback trail 
  • SkinnyPart2SkinnyPart2 ✭✭✭

    Great mileage Skinny, pretty sure with all the hills you'll be getting some stealth  intensity work too. Are you tempted to test your fitness on a parkrun any time soon ?

    I did nearly 25 miles last week as follows (3.1,3.5,Rest,5.5,3.1,5.75,4) marking 7 weeks of mileage increases. I feel like if I did a cut back week I'd probably stop running again so it's not quite the happy habit I had before.



    I'm hoping the hills are adding strength more than speed but both would be great!

    I'm doing a 15 mile fell race on Saturday (Threlkeld to Helvellyn and back again) but then on 7th June I'm planning on running a 5k race with no specific training which should give me an indication of whether all this slogging up hills slowly and down scarily (but not scarily fast) is doing me any residual benefit or not.

    Last week I ran 15.5, 0, 0, 0, 7 (two loops of a small fell - c 2000ft ascent), 5.4 at 7:15s (not sure why I ran so fast), then 5 with 18*steep grassy hill sprint up and down in 3 batches of 6 with half mile jog in between). Total 33 miles.

    On the hill sprints I excitedly transferred to garmin connect expecting big ascent and got 490 feet - haha, pathetic.


    On the cut back and worried about the habit loss I fully agree - I've found the run every day thing quite useful to force and drive the habit. Keep going and you'll get there in the end.

    Also funny that when one is doing low mileage every decimal point counts - when you're running 50 a week you would never include the 0.1s.

    Cheers
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Strange old virus,  muddy. Seems to have  no consistency to its impact on folk. I literally just had a 4 day cold and tested positive for 6 days. Seem fine afterwards now as well. 

    Skinny, good luck Saturday.  

    Interval session Tuesday, 5 x 1k then 5 x 400m, was a really struggle, probably just out of habit of working at that effort. 

    5m tempo yesterday averaged 6.09 and felt very good with moderate effort level. Splits were 6.10, 6.10, 6.13, 6.05 and 6.03 and quite enjoyed it. 

    Up at 2am for a 6am flight. Through security and sat down with a cup of tea at 5 to see the screen change to 'delayed, next update 9am'. On about my 5th cup of tea now and ready to sleep! Long day incoming. 
  • SkinnyPart2SkinnyPart2 ✭✭✭
    4:33 or 4:34 for my 23 mile dawdle with 4600 feet of ascent - top 20 but results not out yet. Target was sub 5 so happy with that. Might write a report when I get back from Turkey, might not :-) - lovely day out though and got happy contented and sore muscles today.
    Brief Derwent Dawdle report from way back on 30th April (Distance, Ascent and time above) 

    I'd done some training and run/walked up a few fells (prob max on any run 2500 feet) but although I'd done a few +45 mile weeks my long run had only been 14 miles so was a bit short of both hill specific training (up and down) and also long run distance.

    The race is open to walkers and runners (walkers set off an hour earlier) and is basically a high level route around Derwent Water except that it starts at Braithwaite which is a flat 3 miles away from Keswick and 2 miles from the foot of Cat Bells (probably the 5 miles extra that caused me to run out of steam).

    So 2 miles road, one mile straight up Cat Bells, walked, harum scarum back down to the lakeside dodging walkers and their poles (I learnt during this that better to not shout than to shout - if you shout 'coming through on right' at least 50% of people move to their right), long stony drag up beyond Castle Crag and then round the back to Rosthwaite and first aid station (about 10 miles).

    I think I was about 10th here and expected a quick sit down and a bit of cake whilst I refilled my water bottles but as I'm filling my bottles the woman who had just passed me set off running again so being naturally competitive I didn't even go inside the village hall but set off following her. 

    Up super steep path to Dock Tarn (I ate my miso rice balls here), super rocky section down to Watendlath and then follow the rocky path down to Surprise View and the second aid station (about 15 miles) - I did most of this section with a man who passed me on way up to Dock Tarn. He'd done the 'Bob' (took me a while to work out what that was) and perhaps another seed has been planted.....

    Made the rookie mistake of leaving my map on the table after grabbing some flapjack and putting tops on my bottles but fortunately knew most of the way.

    On down the road to Ashness Bridge and then up the hill to Walla Crag in a little group of 4 of us - got cramp twinges in my right hip flexor going up here which I thought might be a problem but smaller strides seemed to help and it eased off.

    Fast down, then about 5 miles flat left, on to the lake side and through Keswick and back to Braithwaite. My 3 companions slowly ran away from me one by one as my stride got shorter and shorter and my walking periods more and more frequent but obviously I made it in the end.

    12th out of about 300 but I would guess half were walkers and didn't strike me as a runners event - more of a fun day out in the fells (but if you were running the paths were so stony and rocky that you didn't dare look up and admire the views).

    Threlkeld to Helvellyn Fell Race Report from Saturday to follow
  • SkinnyPart2SkinnyPart2 ✭✭✭
    edited May 2022
    Threlkeld to Helvellyn Fell Race Report

    This was a proper fell race, 15.5 miles along the classic Helvellyn ridge and back again with 5500 feet of ascent and a small field of 135 runners most of whom had probably spent their running lives going up and down the fells.

    As for me well I've been trying to do a bit of hill work once a week since about the middle of March and even 15.5 miles on the flat would be testing me distance wise. I'd also been suffering with a fluey cold since Monday which I hadn't properly shaken off but I decided to give it a go and the initial climb would at least clear my sinuses!

    The race base is at Threlkeld Cricket Club which is a delightful spot nestled beneath Blencathra with a view across to Clough Head with the steep direct path up it's face we were about to undertake visible from the pavilion. ((photo below Blencathra not Clough Head).

     

    Anyway there was no cricket going on just lots of sinewy folks wandering around and queuing for toilets.

    I was hoping for sub 4 hours as that would save me the ignominy of being last based on previous results - it's a long time since I worried about being last on the start line of a race. There was also a cut off time of 2 hours at the third checkpoint which sounded generous enough but not a formality (in the end the last runner had 24 secs to spare!).

    The way fell races work is that you have to check in (in this case with an electronic wrist band) at certain peaks but how you travel between those points is up to you (provided it is on foot (or your bum)). You also have to carry mandatory kit so I had 2 * 500ml water bottles, full body waterproofs, long sleeved base layer, compass, whistle, map of the route emergency provisions all packed and so survived the kit test before the start. The sun was out though so all most of these things were going to achieve was making my back super sweaty. 

    As I was worried about my health, my relative fitness and suitability to the event and my navigation skills I stood somewhere near the back of the pack and off we went along a narrow road for just under half a mile before we started to rise towards the bottom of the real climb directly up Clough Head. I was a bit frustrated along here because, whilst all these people may be brill at going up fells, they weren't the fastest on the flat so felt like I was jogging on the spot at times - mind you most of them probably knew what was to come.

    This first easy mile still had 396 feet of ascent and took me 10:47 - the next had 1440 feet of ascent and took me 29:50 just breaking the half hour 'barrier' - steep, brutal, went on forever and my calf actually cramped at the top less than 2 miles from starting - a new record for me.

    Anyway now on the ridge it was simply a matter of running down then walking up the next bump, gradually gaining height as went along the ridge. The views were absolutely stupendous but most of the time I was looking at my feet because either I was running down fast, it was rocky (most of the time it was grassy underfoot) or because I didn't dare look up to see where I had to get to next.

    Halfway up second slope I did have an amusing conversation with a fellow competitor who asked me if I ever questioned my life choices :smile:

    Between the second and third checkpoint I was able to follow a better route someone took which saved me about a minute and I passed lots of people who had passed me earlier which felt good (and a little bit like cheating except of course navigation and route are part of the race).

    Top of Helvellyn in 1:57, lots of calf cramp twinges all the way back but generally passing the odd person rather than being passed and then got to the top of Clough Head for the return down the steep path.

    It was like going off the edge of the world. As you approached you could see the path you were on, you could see Threlkeld and the fields below but nothing in the middle where you knew the path was - the initial bit I took quite carefully but a runner ahead of me was managing it faster so I went off the loose rock path and zig zagged down the grassy tussocky side of the path passing him and another runner who I had interchanged positions with a lot during the race.

    Then back along the road in small careful steps trying not to cramp up completely to arrive back at the cricket club in 3:29:17 - yay!

    1:57 to Helvellyn, 1:32 back - note not all downhill coming back. 88th out of 135 - happy with that.

    They publish all the splits so I know that at top of Clough Head after 2 miles I was 101st so although I was shattered for the whole run other people were more shattered.

    Food consumed during race 4 salt tablets, one 85g Kendal Mint Cake, 3 gels, one zero tablet that should really be dissolved in water but I was out of water, 3 banana pancake sandwiches with honey and salt. the 2 500ml bottles really weren't enough liquid with no water on course (even naturally) and would maybe carry an extra if did it again.

    DOMS aplenty but nowhere near as sore on Sunday as I was after the Dawdle and have run 3 miles yesterday and today.

  • Mr VMr V ✭✭✭
    DT - hope you weren't too delayed and you are managing to run without melting.

    Skinny - great read there. Sound like very enjoyable events. It's hard enough walking up Helvellyn so I can only imagine how tough running up there must be! What's your next big target? Are fells your main focus now?

    33 miles for me last week which is the most since the comeback started. Included a parkrun 20 seconds or so faster than the previous one 2 weeks ago. Will aim for 35+ this week. I get married on Friday so there will be plenty of nervous energy to burn off!
  • SkinnyPart2SkinnyPart2 ✭✭✭
    Mr V said:
    What's your next big target? Are fells your main focus now?

    33 miles for me last week which is the most since the comeback started. Included a parkrun 20 seconds or so faster than the previous one 2 weeks ago. Will aim for 35+ this week. I get married on Friday so there will be plenty of nervous energy to burn off!
    The big target for this year is the Lakes in a Day 50 mile event with 13,000 feet of ascent in October but Saturday was probably my last competitive fell outing before then as I need to spend lots of time in fells building up strength but still being able to do some more the following day.

    I am however going to try and do the four race 5k series in Carlisle, starting 7th June, to establish if this fell running/walking is destroying my pace and hopefully keep some speed in my legs for next year.

    Congratulations on your forthcoming nuptials. Are you having a big do or just a little one?   
  • Mr VMr V ✭✭✭
    The 50 miler sounds brutal! It'll be a great sense of achievement though and definitely a big target to keep you motivated. I'll be interested to see how your 5ks go given your recent focus.

    Thanks! There's about 60 at the day do so fairly big without being huge. 
  • Well done on those runs Skinny. I've had a little hankering for doing something more trail-y more often, but the dangerous aspect of these things, and the requirement to carry so much stuff on my person puts me off. How did you feel with so much load to carry ?

    I forgot to congratulate you on becoming a grandfather too. I tend to be mistaken for one at the school gates ! Hope all is going well.

    I did a benchmark parkrun last week. Was happy with it not feeling like death throughout and came in for my fastest in over two years at 19.46. I was still wiped out for two days afterwards though  :'(

    Good luck with the wedding Mr V
  • Thanks muddy - yes lots of risk of picking up an injury more serious than a bit of a strain when you're flying down a hill over rough stony terrain and you sometimes can't see exactly what your feet are landing on.

    On the equipment side though I just bought a Montane Gecko VP 12 running pack and you don't notice it anywhere near as much as you think you would. You're obviously travelling a lot slower than you normally would run anyway but they fit well and enables you to drink on the move.

    Thanks - everything great - he was round last night for my birthday - he's a cutey!

    Sub 20 well done - onwards and upwards.
  • Hope wedding went well Mr V and that you and Mrs V are currently relaxing in some sunny, warm, scenic spot somewhere in the world.

    3, 3, 0, 8, 8, 4, 15 for 41 miles last week. No hill stuff to give my legs a chance to recover.

    The 5k race is actually Wednesday night not Tuesday so an extra day for me to get the 15 out of my legs. 
  • muddyfunstermuddyfunster ✭✭✭
    edited June 2022
    Happy birthday Skinny ! I cannot imagine running 15 miles now. My longest was 7.8 last week with 26 miles total. I returned to a parkrun course (one with built in hill reps) that I last ran in November and came in about a minute quicker at 19.54. It felt comfortable and as a bonus I could run the day after too (but only 30 mins).

    I saw that Mr V got a decent long run in on Sunday which impressed me for sure as I was imagining a Saturday wedding.

  • The pain of that sprint finish captured in a photo.

    May be an image of 3 people
  • Sorry there is a whole race report before that sprint finish photo that I posted and appeared, then I edited it and saved and the whole post has disappeared. GRRRRRRR
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Skinny, is this from the 5k race? How did you get on? Belated happy birthday and congratulations on becoming a grandad (though I think I did congratulate you when you first shared). 

    Mr v, congratulations on the wedding, hope it was a good day. Looks like you've not made it yo honeymoon yet? 

    Muddy, looks like you've upped the running and the paces a bit recently from strava.

    In the end we were delayed 25 hours, which included a night in a hotel in Bristol and a flight from there Saturday morning instead of brum. It was all quite tiring, however we've already received about 45% of holiday cost back in comp and that's before my complaint was lodged! 

    Got back yesterday morning having travelled through night so pretty tired still. Run 5 times there, 4 on treadmill and 1 outdoor run which was horrible in the heat. 

    8m easy yesterday and 5 today. Racing Sunday, leg 18 of Welsh castles relay of 8.8m. It'll be a good marker of where I'm at prior to starting again on the road to Berlin next week. 

    Entered a half marathon for 14th August which looks fast, Newark in Notts, which I'm hoping Tommy will know about and agree is fast?

    Midweek 10k on 20th July around Worcester pitchcroft and considering a parkrun 09th July. That gives me 4 weeks Saturday to get a bit sharper and drop the holiday weight. Hoping I can hold sub 6mm pace this Sunday as that'll be a good starting point. 

    Received my England vest yesterday and had to send it straight back as had a red mark front middle. The perils of white kit! 
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Race was hard going but hung in there without blowing up. 8.9m at 6.05mm average. In my mind I thought 6mm was a good outcome so not far off. Finished in 8th place. A top 10 finish is always a good marker in this race. 

    My hr average though was only 170. I'd expect it to be 175 ish so suggests I'm not quite fit snd sharp enough to push myself to edge. 

    Good marker though, 15 weeks ftom Berlin. 
  • SkinnyPart2SkinnyPart2 ✭✭✭
    edited June 2022
    Well done DT - that sounds a magnificent effort but I guess you're a sub hour 10 miler now so possibly a bit slower than you would have expected at full fitness? Was it hilly?

    Last week for me was 3,4,8 (incl 5k race see below), 0, 6.8, 26.22, 0. For 48 miles total.

    The marathon was off road and carrying my full ultra bag with 1600 feet ascent - roughly ran 10, walked 5 with a bit of juggling around uphills and downhills. Took me 4:45 but at least that way it's just like a long run and you're up for running the next day (I only didn't because I had a boozy Saturday night). The first half was gale behind and took 2:17 so the second half into the gale took 2:28.

    Anyway 48 miles is a bit of a cheat because 6 or 7 of them will have been walked. Aiming for about 13 hours for the Lakes in a Day which is another 8 hours - sounds like a very long time after Saturday (although I'll be moving slower). A good week nonetheless.
  • Castle 5k Series (Race 1 of 4)

    As I've already written a long version report of this race that disappeared this one will be shorter.

    I had the usual pre race uncertainty around pacing because I don't do any faster sessions in training so other than a few 21 min parkruns around end of Feb I hadn't run anything faster than a 7 minute mile in 2022. But I had similar mileage in the previous 20 weeks to the first 2021 race when I ran 19:14 so 6:10 - 6:15 felt like the range to set off in and see what happened.

    There was a strong breeze but I've run in a lot worse. This was the race last year when a 64 year old broke the world record for his age and he was on the start line again presumably hoping to break the world record for a 65 year old.

    Off we went and after about half a mile a couple of local targets were 10 to 15 secs ahead and my breathing system was letting me know that it wasn't used to this kind of pace. Looked at my watch to see 5:48, chuckled and backed off hoping that I had realised it was too fast before the local targets had.

    Through 1 mile in 6:10 and sure enough I breezed past both the local targets (who I had expected to beat me) during the second mile 6:05. Whilst my legs felt bearable the rest of my body was really hurting but I just locked my eyes onto a guy ahead who was drifting back towards me.

    The finish is on the running track (nice and bouncy) and I caught him on the top bend with about 50m to go - as I was debating whether or not I could be arsed to run around him he drifted out of his lane and spotting the gap gave me some extra energy to sprint past him (see photo above).

    Mile 3 6:04 and 5:21 pace for scraps round the track for an 18:43. Very happy with that and only 10 secs off my all time 5k PB from 2016.

    It would seem that walking up fells as part of long runs is having some benefit. It was also first time I had run in my Nikes since last September but my form was much better for the whole race so think I'm building some stability and calf strength through the off road stuff too - all round a very positive night.

    The 65 year old did break the world record again with a 16:35 which was only good enough for 8th place - won in 15:14 with 5 going sub 16 - I was 24th. Pretty fast times out of a total field of about 150.
  • Skinny - Great result. I suspect next time out your pb will tumble. Not only do you find a bit extra when you get a bit close to it, but you've still got adaptations coming through from your last few weeks of work. Following it up with a marathon though !!! Recently I've also had a few chuckles when checking my effort in that first 400m of a parkrun and going ... yeah, think I'll cool off on that now. My fastest ones have been evenly paced.

    DT - Good work on the Welsh Castles relay. I'm on moderate efforts still, averaging around 130-135 bpm. Benchmark parkruns being run at around 158 bpm (threshold). I'm following the advice of my watch that seems to think it can give me a balanced fitness programme. I haven't found any reason to disagree with it's suggestions so far, to be fair to it. Tonight it's recommending a workout for the first time in ages, 20 minutes of marathon effort with 15 minutes of cooldown and warm up.
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Skinny, that's a solid effort. You do seem to be able to get yourself into good running shape much easier than most. I'm sure that pb is there for the taking. 

    Sunday was 10s per mile off my 10m pb pace from November. I think though in the current circumstances I'm not too worried. My hr suggests I had more to give, just not quite sharp enough to squeeze it out. 

    Muddy, sounds good, paces must be coming downwards then whilst hr sits at that level. 
     
    So the watch just tells you each day exactly what to do including specifics on a session?

    Legs have been a bit stiff this week following Sunday. 5m at mp on Tuesday was a bit of an effort. I'm moving tomorrow's session into today to avoid worst of the heat. 

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