The week after my cross country race I did two hard sessions and then on my normal one mile jog to the gym on the Thursday I found that my chest just did not want to get out of first gear. This was a strange sensation - my legs were OK, my head was OK but my chest was not happy.
After a very slow and unpleasant jog to the gym and back I then had the next day off running. My chest was tight and sore and I was considering paying A&E a visit!
Thankfully the next day I felt better so the day after that I attempted a very slow 10 miler. I have never run 9 minute miles before with the feeling that that was all I could manage. Maybe this is how it feels to be over 70? Anyway my pace gradually picked up and I ended up averaging about 8:40 min/mile for the run.
Last week my chest gradually improved until yesterday I felt ready for another parkrun!
This went much better than my previous attempt, doing it in a solid 20:15 without feeling like I was quite giving 100% effort.
This morning I did 14 miles a 8 min/mile pace so things seem to be heading in the right direction.
Two weeks to go until Stockport 10 (miles) - a distance I have never raced before. In theory I should be able to 7 min/mile the whole thing but that seems hard to contemplate at the moment. Thankfully 7 minute miling in a race feels very different to 7 minute miling in training.
Sunday 24 November 2013
Tuesday 12 November 2013
Wardrobe Malfunction
After a good week's training last week I felt ready for the second cross country event of the season on Sunday. The weather was a very pleasant 8 degrees C with sunshine.
After the normal warm-ups I was happily making my way over to the start area when a club-mate politely informed me that my vest was on back-to-front! Oops! This would have been no big deal to fix except I had to unpin my number and pin it on again with only a few minutes before the start of the race.
I only managed to pin the number on at the top when the gun went and I had to start at the back. Oh dear! That is a lesson learnt there!
Starting at the back is fun as you do a lot of overtaking but it does mean that in the narrow sections you get stuck behind slower runners. Because of this the first mile of the two mile lap was done in about 7:30 minutes whereas on the next two laps I did it in 7 minutes.
After a very wet couple of weeks the course was extremely muddy and many stretches were pure mud baths but this is part of the fun of winter cross country! The second mile also contained a very steep hill but thankfully it didn't seem to last too long.
I gradually worked my way through the field, overtaking people on the flat stretches and eventually worked my way up into the top half of the field. However due to my slow start I was only the eighth placed runner in my club in a time of just under 46 minutes.
The next cross county event clashes with a race I am doing so I have two months now until my next one. In this race I am going to attach myself to a club runner who has been finishing a minute ahead of me and see what I can do.
After the normal warm-ups I was happily making my way over to the start area when a club-mate politely informed me that my vest was on back-to-front! Oops! This would have been no big deal to fix except I had to unpin my number and pin it on again with only a few minutes before the start of the race.
I only managed to pin the number on at the top when the gun went and I had to start at the back. Oh dear! That is a lesson learnt there!
Starting at the back is fun as you do a lot of overtaking but it does mean that in the narrow sections you get stuck behind slower runners. Because of this the first mile of the two mile lap was done in about 7:30 minutes whereas on the next two laps I did it in 7 minutes.
After a very wet couple of weeks the course was extremely muddy and many stretches were pure mud baths but this is part of the fun of winter cross country! The second mile also contained a very steep hill but thankfully it didn't seem to last too long.
I gradually worked my way through the field, overtaking people on the flat stretches and eventually worked my way up into the top half of the field. However due to my slow start I was only the eighth placed runner in my club in a time of just under 46 minutes.
The next cross county event clashes with a race I am doing so I have two months now until my next one. In this race I am going to attach myself to a club runner who has been finishing a minute ahead of me and see what I can do.
Sunday 3 November 2013
Marathon Recovery
Since my last post I have attempted a Parkrun, missed five days due to a virus and then just got back into hard training.
The Parkrun came three weeks after the marathon and I was hoping for a PB as this would be my first real attempt at a fast Parkrun since I started the marathon training.
However the night before the Parkrun I had felt the first signs of a chesty cough and although I felt OK on the Saturday morning before the race I soon started wheezing like an old man when I started running fast. My legs were fine but I just couldn't get the air circulating properly. In the end I was 30 seconds outside a PB but I can safely put that down to the virus.
You are not supposed to run when you are chesty so I then went four days without running. That was tough!
Last Thursday I did a 5 mile tempo, moving up the gears each mile from long slow run pace to 5K pace. The run felt great and pretty comfortable.
After 6 mile and 7 mile runs on Friday and Saturday I then did a longer progressive run today. This consisted of:
4 miles @ LSR pace
3 miles @ MP
2 miles @ HMP
1 mile @ 10K pace
2 miles @ recovery pace
I achieved all the required paces and felt controlled throughout. An awesome run.
I must now be fully recovered and can concentrate on my next race: a half marathon in January.
The Parkrun came three weeks after the marathon and I was hoping for a PB as this would be my first real attempt at a fast Parkrun since I started the marathon training.
However the night before the Parkrun I had felt the first signs of a chesty cough and although I felt OK on the Saturday morning before the race I soon started wheezing like an old man when I started running fast. My legs were fine but I just couldn't get the air circulating properly. In the end I was 30 seconds outside a PB but I can safely put that down to the virus.
You are not supposed to run when you are chesty so I then went four days without running. That was tough!
Last Thursday I did a 5 mile tempo, moving up the gears each mile from long slow run pace to 5K pace. The run felt great and pretty comfortable.
After 6 mile and 7 mile runs on Friday and Saturday I then did a longer progressive run today. This consisted of:
4 miles @ LSR pace
3 miles @ MP
2 miles @ HMP
1 mile @ 10K pace
2 miles @ recovery pace
I achieved all the required paces and felt controlled throughout. An awesome run.
I must now be fully recovered and can concentrate on my next race: a half marathon in January.
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