Monday 30 November 2009

More running!

Friday: 9.6 miles in a reasonably sedate 8.25 per mile. This was a deliberately slow run with no goal except stretching the legs and getting a few miles on the clock. Sadly, I had not anticipated shocking weather on Sunday and so missed out on the weekly hard session.

Monday: a PB for 10k on the treadmill of 44.10. Felt absolutely at full stretch and will need to put in some more serious work to get down below 44 minutes on the road (which is my goal).

Friday 27 November 2009

Wednesday

Tuesday: weights session

Wednesday: a brief six miles around Hyde Park. Nothing strenuous. 7.44 per mile. Surprising how suddenly 7.44 per mile is not much of an effort. Probably asking for trouble.

Monday 23 November 2009

Progress

Went for the full half marathon yesterday - 13.1 miles - and was delighted to complete it in 1 hour 41 minutes along the cycle path from Leatherhead to Dorking. This is a reasonably flat run with just some gentle undulations for interest. The run started out fairly badly, with seemingly no power in my legs for the first couple of miles and I have to confess that I took my foot off the gas a little as soon as I realised that this was not going to be a PB sort of day. However, I think I may have been the victim of glancing at the Garmin when the mph was low but I was actually moving reasonably well (how you feel and how you are running do not always coincide). I must have picked up some momentum somewhere however as I began to feel better the longer things went on and there was no single mile which was over 8 minutes. The last mile was amongst the quickest (7.37) and I really picked up the pace as I sensed that a decent time was in reach.

Recovered fairly well and ate loads.

Friday 20 November 2009

Intervals, schmintervals

Thursday: 8 miles around Hyde Park. No timer to hand but the watch says 1 hour, which would be a healty 7.30 per mile. Funny how difficult it is to judge pace without the Garmin.

Friday: a really exhausting 40 minutes of interval training on the treadmill. Alternating between 11 kph and 15 kph. Probably my hardest go at this yet, but do need to pluck up the courage to get to intervals outdoors.

VERY rainy weekend on the cards so another week without a really long run it seems.

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Summary

Friday, did 10 miles at exactly 7.30 per mile pace on the treadmill. It was not too bad except for the last mile. Bones ached for two days afterwards. Then managed to miss out on a run over the weekend due to terrible weather.

Monday: weights session.

Tuesday: a gentle run at 8.25 per mile for 7 miles. Just jogging really. I have become conscious that I am possibly doing too much too soon and will be burnt out by April.

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Hammer Time

After weight session yesterday, I thought it was time to do a short run with the hammer firmly down. So, 6 miles around Hyde Park in 43.46, which was very pleasing and equates to a sub 45 min 10k (which seems somewhat miraculous considering where I had got to in the summer - failing to even finish a 10k on the treadmill twice) and close to my treadmill PB of 44.44.

Monday 9 November 2009

Weekend

Friday: slowinsh 8 miles around Hyde Park just to get the legs unwound. Why do I run slower with an iPod on?

Sunday: 10 miles up to Cheam and back. First real day of cold runing this year and wore gloves the whole run (the first time that has ever happened). Only averaged exactly 8 mins per mile byt felt a reasonably quickish run and attacked the dreaded hills which had seen me off last Sunday.

Thursday 5 November 2009

Good news and bad

Bad news: I am not running in the Norwich Half Marathon. Decided that it was best not to push the point and give Will the chance to go to his friend's birthday party.

Good news: a 10k on the treadmill in 44.44. A PB.

Monday 2 November 2009

Half way there

A terrible week, involving postponement of several runs due to sore legs (Wednesday), a funeral and a party (Thursday) and weather (Friday). It's surprising how low you can feel if a few days go by without activity.

On Saturday I went out for a brief easy run of 6.02 miles in 46.35 or 7.44 mins per mile. I did not feel at my best and was really quite tired afterwards and feeling generally out of form.

On Sunday, I decided to bite the bullet and go for a full 13 miles at race pace. This went quite well, although I had to go along a hilly course (Ashtead to Cheam and back) due to weather in the early part of the day leaving the flatter course unavailable. Things went well for the first ten miles and I was at or around the target pace of 7.30 per mile for quite a while until the uphill section started. I suspect could easily have managed 1hr 40 mins for the full run under these conditions. However, the last few miles were a real hell and times plummeted to over 8.30 per mile. The final time was 1hr 43.03 at 7.56 per mile.