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Great mileage for May, Cal, and hopefully your achilles isn't too tender. I think you're right about the downhills and the affect that has. Take it easy on it.
Great weekly mileage, Hazelnut, and nothing wrong with turning off the alarm and going back to sleep. At least you got out afterwards.
An up and down week since last week. I decided to rest up a bit after my wobbles and so it wasn't until Saturday that I got out again. We decided on an easy run along the Adur (although I have to admit I'm getting Adur'd out as we've done it quite a few times recently). Normally we do 11K, but decided we'd push it out to 13K but going further along. Weather was warm and there seems to be very little shade along there, however we were keeping the pace sensible at 9min/mile. I felt fine until we got to 7 miles and then like Hazelnut I think I must have got dehydrated. Suddenly all the energy left me, my breathing became ragged and my stomach was cramping up. Told my partner to carry on and I walked/jogged the last mile back. I was fine after having something to drink, but I really need to get into the habit of taking water out with me in the summer.
That afternoon we decided to got out for an icecream. Went down to the seafront at Hove and it was exceptionally crowded. Large groups of people, far larger than 6, and very little evidence of social distancing. I'm not sure if it was residents or people travelling in. On the Sunday we had planned to run from Southwick along the seafront, parking by a cafe with the goal of doing an hour's out and back and finish with a bacon sarnie and coffee whilst sitting on the beach. No chance. The car park was absolutely rammed. This is in an area that of all the coastline to choose from is the least attractive. It;s quite industrial and has the water treatment plant, so not exactly scenic. We then drove a couple of miles down the coast to Lancing where we've done Parkrun a few times, but again it was completely crowded. So in the end, having spent an hour driving around, we gave up, although did go to a cafe near us for an undeserved bacon sarnie.
Yesterday I had a very rare morning without meetings so took the opportunity to get a threshold session in round the park. Much less crowded.
My ankle felt less testy than yesterday so I gave it a go - just 6 miles and in a fresh pair of shoes (this pair of Epics is an eye shattering neon pink). There was some low level grumbling from the achilles but the post tib was an intermittent twinging. Not great so I'll be monitoring it. But aside from that, I felt really good, so it's a bit frustrating.
I may try some speed work tomorrow as I know achilles is happier when I'm going fast and the Zoom Flys I use for that do seem to improve my gait mechanics.
Speaking of which, I just ordered myself an early birthday present - a pair of Alphaflys. Obviously I will not be wearing them until racing resumes but, well, couldn't resist could I?
Good to see you back out GD.I've seen the reports of the South coast being busy,still fairly quiet by me at the moment,police are still out in force.
Fantastic weekly mileage Hazelnut.That must be a first,a donkey going for a walk.Marzipan and dark chocolate sounds delicious,I'm not keen on energy bars myself,taste awful.
Swittle,well done on your first sub 10minute miles since your injury.Hopefully you'll have many more years injury free.There's plenty of 65+ at the running club,I really hope I'm still running strong at that age.
9.2 miles yesterday evening,all at MP.Then up early this morning for a 5.8 miles trail run along the river.Legs felt heavy from the run 12 hours before.Then had my girls out for a 10 miles walk and picnic,with an ice cream for a treat.Going to postpone my speed session until Thursday now,legs feeling tired.
10 miles here, with some intervals. I did 5 miles easy (normal easy, not slow easy) on the way to the shark fin (the three roads I use for tempos and 5Ks which make a kind of shark fin shape) then hit 5K pace on the long side and the bottom, and recovered on the other side. Did that four times - was aiming for 5 but legs were dying and niggles were niggling after the fourth time around so I decided that was enough and did a mile and a bit easy pace on the way home.
One of the guys in the club I introduced to that route has created a 5K Strava segment there called the Cal Jones Special, and I was very amused to come home and find I had got the female course record. My first Strava crown.
JD1 - a strong MP session for you, with trail fpr 'dessert'. Time was I'd log doubles like that when streaking but a run every other day is suiting me, apart from the heat.
Cal - strava royalty is among us! Good going :-)
Hazel - cooler weather from the Arctic, apparently, moving into GB & Europe. It'll suit me: ran at 9pm last night, with a good sprinking of people & dogs around the lakes &, less so, on the beach. Couple of breaks to correct my breathing - and the second half was much more settled, apart from slo-mo progress over inclined sand hills! 4.3 miles, 45:40.
A couple of young woman & I crossed paths three times in 15 minutes and I prepared my 'not stalking' speech. One said, 'No, you look so well. We;re only just managing to walk!' I thanked them and got back to my warmdown!
swittle, sand dunes must be tough! Nice going.
Nice session JD and good to fit on a walk and a picnic as well. It's certainly been the weather for getting outside and enjoying it, especially if it's not that crowded.
Nice couple of easy run, Hazelnut. The cooler weather is quite welcome at the moment. As regards hydration I really don't do enough of it. It's a big failing of mine I have to admit. It tends to be a coffee before a run. When we were doing the Sunday training runs I would be good in having something to eat a couple of hours before and making sure I had fluids, but I've let that slide. And are you demanding my bacon sarnie?
Weather more to your liking now Swittle? And do you generally have a need for a 'not stalking' speech?
Out this morning pre-meetings to get a 30 min hill sprints session in. I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone, so loaded the car up with the garden cuttings (the gardener arrived yesterday, first time in 2 weeks) with a view to nip to the dump first. Couldn't get in so did the run and then went back home to shower. From 11 I had 3 hours where I had no meetings, so decided to try another site. 15 min drive and couldn't get in there. Decided to try the first site, still no good. An hour wasted and I still have a car full of greenery, which I need to get rid of tomorrow. At least the hill sprints went well.
Definitely time to your vests away at moment,Hazelnut,temperature has plummeted over here.Is there any news about races starting again in Switzerland?
Inclined sandhills can't be much fun Swittle.It's much cooler now so you won't have to go running so late in the day.
Nice hill session GD.Regarding hydration,I always have water to hand,whether in work or at home,seems to do the trick.
5.85 miles this afternoon.Hit the trail along the river,but came off after a short while and found tracks and trails through fields,the terrain was very up and down,so it was a bit leg sapping.The cool weather made it a pleasant run.
The 5K was decent - 24:47 which I'm happy with considering I was running into a bit of a headwind on the longest of the three roads. I was working hard on this but I did keep a little bit back as I have the virtual Masters relay (and also another virtual club run, though I'll use the same run to enter both since they're both 5K) next week.
I didn't feel my achilles on the 5K segment but I did a bit in the cool-down, though it was back to quiet grumbling. Grumbling I can take - when it starts screaming I back off.
On the plus side, the posterior tib is behaving - I think the pain I had there was more of a trauma from some steep downs last Sunday than an overuse injury, so it has resolved, more or less.
I'll try a long run tomorrow and see how that goes.
Oh, and no mouse sounds since I caught those two, so fingers crossed there aren't more.
Well done on the mouse catching,Cal. Hopefully it is just the two of them. And well done on the 5K time, that is impressive. Glad the achilles has stopped complaining too much.
Sounds like a good couple of runs Hazelnut and good plan on doing the cooking then getting the run in before you eat. I'm sure rice and peas is delicious. Partner has introduced me to the delights of petit pois in our pasta meals. I'll reserve a bacon sarnie for you. This evening it's seared tuna steak on a tomato salad with asparagus.
Went to Saltdean this morning as we wanted a flat run. With the cooler weather and the windy conditions we also figured it wouldn't be as crowded as it was a couple of weeks ago. Wind coming from the west so we ran into for the first part, tough going, but strangely enjoyable. First mile was 10:02 and the strength of it kept us honest in terms of pacing. Although the effort was probably more. Certainly chilly to begin with, but quite pleasant when the sun came out. We turned round at 5K and headed back, which meant that not only was the wind behind us but we could actually hear each other talk. The perceived effort was a lot less as we got quicker, ultimately doing negative splits with the last mile at 7:53. And that wasn't us pushing it at all, if anything I was trying to slow down. We both agreed it was a really enjoyable run.
A speed session tomorrow and on Tuesday we have the first club run since lockdown. We can only meet as a group of 6 and must, of course, observe social distance rules, but good to meet up with others from the club. And my first experience of leading a club tun as well.
Hazelnut, glad the new shoes are working out for you. The family must have been amused to see you pass so many times.
17 miles for me today so, as I wanted to avoid stressing my achilles with too many hills, I opted for the Wandle trail. I ran the two miles to Earslfield and jumped on it there, then followed it along, through Morden Hall Park and then the next section. The first time I ran this I remember going through a nature reserve, but I didn't find that part the last few times I've done it so I thought I might have misremembered it. But no, today it was right there in front of me on the other side of the road. The only thing I can think was that there's been some works on that road and the entrance was blocked off, which is no longer the case. Glad I found it again as that stretch is really nice.
Saw two herons and a Little Egret (had to look that one up on the RSPB bird identifier) plus what may have been a reed bunting (ditto).
From there I continued along until I got to the part where I went wrong last time (went left at a road instead of crossing the road to the next section) and this time made it to Beddington Park, which is a lovely park and will be a great location for the parkrun, whenever it's allowed to start.
I then returned along the pebbly trail (saw a fox here) towards Mitcham Common, on a path that runs by Mitcham Golf Course (saw a bunny) and then onto the common itself.
Mitcham Common has a few roads running through it so it is divided into sections and I took a different route back through it and got slightly lost so had to stop briefly to look at a map. Turns out I was in a different part of the common to the part I thought I was in so once I got back to the bit I'd run before I was OK.
Then it was back past Figges Marsh (not a marsh, just a triangle of greenspace in Mitcham) to Tooting, up the Church Road hill and across Tooting Common and home.
I ran at easy pace but at the steady end rather than the recovery end, and I pushed on a bit for the last four miles which were all sub-10. Averaged 10:17 overall.
Achilles was a little grumbly but in a low key way so I'm not worried by it. I've been dealing with it long enough that I know when to back off, so the extra rest days seem to have helped.
42 miles for the week, so a bit of a cut-back, but not bad considering I only ran four days.
Good 6.6 miles, Hazelnut. Hopefully the wind has died down a touch.
Excellent sounding run, Cal. Great wildlife awareness as well. I wouldn't even know that a reed bunting was a bird, let alone what it looked like.
Speed session yesterday. Negotiated down from 10 * 400m intervals to 7 and decided to do this in Hove Park. We chose the lower level of the park for the intervals and ran in the direction of the finish at Parkrun, so we could at least imagine ourselves thundering in for a quick time. Changed the interval target times from 7:30-8:00 to 7:00-7:30, but 4 of the 7 were sub 7 mins. A good session, although my partner didn't enjoy it as much as the previous day and we discussing doing fartleks next time. Part of the problem was a particular group of people who decided to have a socially distant chat and chose to do it right in the middle of the path. They were the ones who then tutted as we sprinted past a couple of times. Oh well.
The evening meal was a Thai green curry, made from scratch, which I thought was rather tasty.
People who stand or walk slowly taking up the entire path are a real bugbear of mine, especially when they look at us like we're the wrongdoers. Grrr!
Anyway, Monday is usually a rest day but I woke up early so I decided I'd go for a run as my legs weren't really sore. A couple of steps in and I quickly realised it would have to be a recovery run because they felt like lead weights. So very slow - over 11 min miles. I can't say it was massively enjoyable because it was rather grey and a bit windy, but glad I did it.
Great long run Cal,some good wildlife spots as well,especially the Reed Bunting,their nests are amazing.
Nice run Hazelnut.I bet the family were timing your loops.
Great speed session GD,good sub 7's as well.I've noticed myself people taking the whole path up when talking,they look blankly at you when you approach them,instead of moving to the side to talk.
Been working some long days,so I could only get out in the evenings.Good interval session on Friday.1 x 3m and 1.5m all at 10kp.4.85 miles along the river yesterday evening,came across two llamas in a field which is a first.
quick vague background, I was 14st10 on April 1st and I run a mile and I was pretty much on all fours wanting to be sick. </div><div>2 months + on and I run everyday doing 3-5 miles depending how my body feels that same day in about 8.00-8.45m miles and around 13st now, so feeling great. </div><div>
</div><div>Now I read things saying perhaps I’m doing too much cardio and not utilising any HIIT and my weight has plateaued. </div><div>Although to be honest, it started off being about weight but I’ve reached my goal so now I’m trying to be fitter and better at running. </div><div>I have started trying to add small sprints but I start to feel my hamstrings tightening and go back to a small jog back home as an ex footballer for many years I know how frustrating it is when the hamstring tears. </div><div>
</div><div>Is perhaps a prolonged rest my best ally at the moment, I don’t want to lose my momentum of everyday running and risk losing motivation, but does anyone have any advise. (I run 1-2 miles prior to any sprint as a warm up FYI) </div><div>
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Well done on getting out, JD. Shame when work gets in the way of things, but at least you're managing to get some sessions in.
There's nothing wrong in introducing some cross training into your routine, GonnaRunna. Whether that's doing HIIT or just a different kind of exercise it does mean that your body isn't getting used to one thing. When the gyms were open I'd do weights a couple of times a week, which I always enjoyed and took as a break from just running. If it's improvement in running what are you looking for, speed or endurance?
That is some mileage you've built up there, swittle. I never thought to keep a running diary or even record all of my sessions. Before he left where I was working a mate and I tried to figure out how many miles we'd done along the towpath there. Given that we would generally run 3 times a week for at least 30 mins and did it for 5 years we reckoned it was getting on for about a couple of thousand miles over the same route.
Always wary about horses, Hazelnut. Especially when approaching them from behind.
Easy 30 min session this morning. Probably should have been a rest day, but I had no meetings until after lunch so took the opportunity. Could certainly feel the chill in the air, but at least the run was comfortable. Wildlife spotting was lots of magpies (I can at least recognise them). Chicken salad this evening.
'Bubble run' yesterday with other members of the running club. Likewise we can now meet in groups of 6 although running 2m apart. I had intended to do the 'tail runner' piece to ensure our slower runner had company, but as it was her first run for 3 months I think she felt she was holding me up and after a km she told me to just run on and she'd do her own thing. A fairly easy out run, we stopped a couple of times to regroup and then on the turn decided to run without stopping for the return. The pace definitely picked up from there. 11K completed in an hour, which made it relatively easy, and the commitment to repeat it next week. There is also talk of doing a 'bubble Parkrun' as well.
I had a back appointment just before. I think the way I was thrown around, effectively jumped on and parts of my body pummeled I'm surprised I was able to run at all.
Wow, swittle, that's a milestone!
Hazelnut, that sounds like a lovely run. Pancakes sound good too!
GD, I'm surprised you were able to get an appointment - sounds like it did the job though!
12 miles today - another mapping run. I wanted to check out Wandsworth Park which is down by the Thames, so I went via Earlsfield and King George Park which is next to the Wandle. Three things I learned on this run: 1) Wandsworth Town traffic is busy even before 7am (well, it is the South Circular) so crossing roads wasn't easy. I did a bit of an out and back in the direction of Putney on the way back just to get across the main road without having to stop (I don't stop for traffic if I can help it - I just keep running down the road until there's a gap). So I don't think I'll be trying this again on a weekday.
2) Found another tiny stretch of the Wandle that has a path by it alongside King George Park. Hadn't noticed it before as it's behind some flats. Not significant, but it is another piece of the puzzle.
3) I subconciously slow down when I'm not sure where I am. Turned the wrong way in Earlsfield somewhere and ended up doing a bit loop to get back to where I needed to be. Cadence was the same but stride got very short around this part - 11 min/miles. I guess because I'm looking around and not in the zone, as it were.
After years of confrontation with cyclists, walkers, dogs but not all that many horses, I declared an amnesty. I no longer tut or harumph or say something: it's not worth the risk of meeting a passing sociopath. The worst I get now: pitying smiles and the occasional guffaw...from people travelling more slowly than I - odd, that. ;-)
You're all logging considerably more mileage than I am but I suppose I have to wave those double-figure session farewell. Last Sat.: 7.3 miles, 1:13:02 to get to the 20 000. Ill advised and unnecessary - but you know how it is.
Last night: still warm at 9pm, helpful E breeze. 1st half, I made a couple of stops to regroup and wipe stinging sweat from my eyes - and clean specs! 2nd half, ran over 25 min. non-stop.
As an early bird I don't get much trouble from people - the only time I've been harrumphed at was when I left a run until 11am. A girl from my club runs in the evening and she's been spat at and all sorts. Seems the idiots like to come out later in the day.
So after a full day off (just did some yoga) I did a 2 mile warm-up, then the 5K, then 3 miles to cool-down. First mile of the 5K was alright but pace dropped in the second mile. Pulled it back slightly for the last one but only nudged under 25 minutes (24:58) which is slower than last week. I didn't feel too tired but legs definitely didn't have much snap. Perhaps the warmer (14 degrees) conditions made a difference - last week was severeal degrees cooler. That and my Garmin seemed to short-change me a bit - I definitely finished a little further along the circuit than last time, despite starting in the same place.
Oh well, it'll have to do. Hopefully I can do a bit better when I do the virtual Masters next week.
I always used to be delighed by a sub-25 but I guess my standards have gone up.
Anyway, ran back up the park, along the short bit of Wandle I found on Wednesday, into Earlsfield (turned the correct way this time) then back on the bit of Wandle up to Plough Lane. This stretch is nice but there are industrial areas either side and I noticed a bin lorry depot, which was oddly pleasing as I'd seen a whole convoy of bin lorries early on Wednesday morning setting off on their rounds and had realised the depot must be close by.
Anyway, turned from there towards Tooting and up a hill called Fishponds Road (there are no fish ponds on it) which runs parallel to the road between Tooting and Balham. The main road is lined with shops so I usually take Fishponds instead and quite enjoy pushing myself a bit, so I did that today and got a segment PR.
I finished by doing a slower mile around Tooting Common for 9 miles total.
Legs felt a bit heavy towards the end, probably because of the 5K yesterday, and I could feel my achilles somewhat so will get my Theragun out later.
Enjoyable run other than that.