Last night, just before I went to sleep, I spotted a Facebook post from my local ParkRun looking for pacers for 26th August. Maybe I was overtired or something, but I volunteered to pace either 32 or 34 minutes, then dropped off to sleep. I woke up with no memory of my insanity until I checked Facebook to find that I'd been assigned 32 minute pacing! Just to be clear, I have never paced before, or even attempted it! My PB for 5k is 26:06, and I tend to run 8:30-9:30 minute miles at the moment. A quick google told me that a 32 minute 5k requires an average pace of 10:17 minute miles, so I abandoned my plan for an interval session this morning and decided to practice pacing instead. I set out on my favourite local route, which (strangely as I'm a bit of a country girl) involves running across a busy motorway junction (on a footpath, I hasten to add!). I settled into a rhythm fairly quickly and set my FitBit to average pace, which I checked frequently. I then ran for 32 minutes, stopped my FitBit and checked my distance. This will probably sound weird, but I think this was one of my proudest running moments (and I've had a few!) - running 5k in 32 minutes, 6 minutes slower than my PB. But exactly the time I wanted and fairly even splits.
I'll be practicing a few more times I hope before the day, but this has definitely made me feel set up for success.
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Something unexpected happened this week. I found a running partner... A year or so ago, Ollie was my running partner but as his age has started to catch up with him, he's decided that running is on his terms these days and it's pretty much limited to a mile. Which is fine. He's my best buddy and totally adorable. After our other dog, Leia, passed away from heart failure in June 2016, I didn't think we'd be a multi-dog household again. But then Lexi came along. She belonged to a local family who didn't have time for her, and I umm'd and ahh'd before offering her a home. We had a 48 hour trial period. She was totally loopy, literally bouncing around the house to begin with. She arrived with us on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday morning we walked 1.5 miles and ran 1.2 miles. Then we walked 5 more times during the day! On Thursday morning we walked 1.5 miles and ran 2.5 miles. She started to calm down significantly. Today we walked 1.5 miles and ran 1.25 miles. I've been taking her on the school run (she loves being in the car and just snuggles down to sleep, which she was struggling to do at home initially), and in fact anywhere she can come with me, she does. This is a massive difference as Ollie hates being in the car and is leash-reactive, making it difficult to take him anywhere. Lexi seemed to have no "off" switch when she came to us, but it turns out that she does. She now settles happily next to me and is zonked out asleep as I'm typing this. She's tiny, I'm not sure whether she'll ever make marathon material (then again I'm not sure that I will!) - but she'll give it a damned good try! ParkRun tomorrow. Woof woof! P.S. Just realised I'm on day 37 of my running streak! This week has been hot (for the UK) and heat is something I don't really like that much, even more so if I'm running. But run I did - my highest mileage week to date, I believe.
I'm now 25 days into my streak and can see both pros and cons to running daily. This morning I set out before 7.30am for my planned 10.2 mile run and even at that time it was unpleasant. There were a couple of moments when I considered quitting early, and not because I'm a total wimp but because I was feeling so flipping awful! But I made it. I did run:walk:run intervals (4:1 minutes), and I think the walking saved me from quitting! I also managed to keep fairly even splits again which was nice. Yesterday's ParkRun wasn't much easier to be honest, but I made it round in 29:11, so not too terrible. I'd made a conscious decision not to push at all as I really don't want to make myself ill by pushing too hard in hot weather. Next week I am planning a low mileage/low effort week - Monday to Friday I am just going to do my 1 mile-ish circuit in the mornings. ParkRun is cancelled on Saturday, but I may turn tourist (not sure where yet!). My "long" run will be around 6 miles on Sunday. Hopefully I'll feel refreshed... I have decided to try a running "streak" - maybe for a month to start with. This means that I will be running at least 1 mile every day. I started on 25th May, so my initial aim is to keep it going until 25th June.
I noticed a distinct lack of streak support groups on Facebook, so decided to create one if anybody is interested in joining me! We turned ParkRun into a bit of a family affair this week. After Pickle's first attempt last week, his eldest 2 brothers decided to give it a go. Eldest bro Will decided to set off on his own, whereas Jamie started with me and Pickle. After about 1km, Jamie decided to head off alone as well. The conditions weren't ideal this week. Although the day had started with rain and thunder, the clouds cleared for 9am leaving it hot and humid. It was really too much for Pickle who struggled to even walk the course this week. The result was a 44:59 finish time and a sad Pickle. Will and Jamie fared much better - Will's time was 30:08 and Jamie's was 36:06. Once we had collected cake, Will said to me "No offence, but I think you're insane - I'm never doing that again!". Insane. I think I'll take that as a compliment :) In 8 weeks, Pickle and I are going to doing Race for Life together, something that he's been very excited about. Now that I've got a few ParkRuns under my belt, I thought I'd see if he fancied giving it a go, so I registered him and off we tootled on Saturday morning.
We had a bit of a wait before the start as he said he'd rather get there early and park closer (!!!), so we looked at the geese and goslings by the river and watched the rowers. What can I say? He kept going - even though his legs "hated him"! We were lucky that a rogue photographer was hiding in the undergrowth, so I have some lovely photos of us running (1st lap) and walking (2nd lap). With the end in sight, his little legs decided to get a second wind and we ran to the finish. Although I let him go through first, we shared a finishing time of 38:44 - not bad for a first time and a non-runner. A PB set...watch this space! Yesterday saw me, Dave and Pickle heading to the Green Park Royal Berkshire 10K and Mini Mile. Poor Dave had a gig on Saturday night, but still dragged himself out of bed after not enough sleep to be chauffeur and to run the Mini Mile (1 mile) with Pickle. Pickle had done his first ever ParkRun with me on Saturday morning (a respectable 38:44) - apparently his legs hated him (during and afterwards). We arrived bright and early at Green Park (before the crowds), but unfortunately the start of the Mini Mile (the first event of the morning) was delayed by about 20 minutes, which was quite frustrating. Nonetheless, Dave and Pickle eventually got underway and ran the course in 12 minutes (probably less as it took them a fair while to reach the start line). Pickle got his first ever running medal which is a weighty beast and should be approached with caution! Due to the delay in starting the first event, the 3k was also delayed, pushing back the start of the 10k run. Eventually at 10.45 we were off. I'd managed to squeeze in just in front of the 55 minute pacer and had a fairly fast start (for me) - my first 3 miles were sub-9 minutes. My aim was to beat my previous PB of 57:28, and I'd decided to aim for an average pace of 9 minute miles, which would have given me a time of 55:54 (I know it's a 10k, but I work better in miles). Just before the 6k mark, I was passed by the 55 minute pacer, and then slowed down by his "entourage" jostling to keep up with him - this was unfortunately at a narrow point in the course, and as much as anything I was aiming not to end up flat on my face! I'll admit that at this point I was pretty demoralised as I was quite hot and tired, and ended up taking my first walk break.
I watched him gradually move into the distance and annoyingly felt like I'd failed myself, which of course I hadn't - I was still averaging under 9 minutes per mile and was well on course to meet my goal. The last 3k were pretty tough and in retrospect I could have done with starting out a tad slower as my legs were heavy by now and I was feeling shivery. Finally just before the final 1km, we turned back into Green Park - the end was (metaphorically) in sight, although the downside of Green Park is that there is no shade. I will admit to several more short walk "breaks" in the final km, but finally the end was in sight and I caught a glimpse of Dave (the Pickle) waiting to cheer me around the final bend. I found a final burst of speed from somewhere and passed under the gantry with a gun time of 56:11. My chip time was later confirmed as 55:22, so extremely close to my 55 minute target time. Extremely proud of myself, but exhausted, we ambled back to the car, popped home for a quick shower then out for a well-deserved meal. On 1st April, I managed a 27:02 ParkRun, which was close to my PB of 26:27 - close but no coconut in this case. I pushed pretty hard, I felt pretty awful (see photo!) and I really didn't think I could have run it any faster. Fast forward a week, back at the start line and my trusty friend Andrew said to me "I reckon you'll go faster this week." My response was quite literally "not a chance" - I'd quite literally given it everything the week before and I didn't think I had any more in me. Added to which, I was feeling groggy and my lower back was stiff and sore. But, as is the way of group running, I set off fast and kept pushing. In fact, I had decided last week that ParkRun was destined to be my "tempo" training run of the week. As with the previous week, I started my FitBit then didn't look at it again as I ran - there was no need to check the distance as it's a set course, and looking at my time might either depress me or make me anxious to push harder. I followed my body and my breath (out of) and... Over the weekend I managed both ParkRun and a 10k short long run!
ParkRun was great - I hadn't managed it for the previous 3 weeks (felt like a lifetime) and I was well motivated by my friend and part-time training partner Andrew. We took it gently (he is nursing an ankle injury worse than mine, unfortunately) and got round in 31:55. My ankle is holding up very well, with only a slight ache after the 10k that was gone by the end of the day. So, that's almost it. This week I've run a 5k (Tuesday, 29:50) and I'm planning a gentle ParkRun on Saturday, plus plenty of yoga (today will be day 22 of "30 days of yoga with Adriene") and maybe some meditation, possibly a bike ride and/or swim. Not to mention a spot of carb-loading on Friday and Saturday! We also had lots of fun trampolining at Rush on Monday (where we were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves for half an hour - the joys of home educating). Bring it on... Last night I was babysitting, which was fine, except they said they'd be back at 11pm and they didn't get back until 12.20am! So by the time I got to bed it was around 1am. I woke up at 7am, so was really thinking I'd take it easy at PR today. That was my intention. Honestly. My mum says "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"... I started myself somewhere in the middle and LOADS of people passed me as well. But in the second mile I found my running stride and just kept going, and it was me doing the passing! It was a little muddy underfoot (but I was wearing my trail shoes) and the snow held off for the duration, which was nice of it. Really pleased with my time and a new ParkRun best for me... Distance: 3.11 miles
Time: 29m:02s Average pace: 9' 28" Fastest mile: 8' 59" Type of run: ParkRun (threshold) Cardio fitness score: 41 Events conspired against me this week and ParkRun was not a possibility. So I ran on my own (which isn't at all unusual for me). Well, me and a bunch of zombies. I set zombie chases to "on" (twice per hour) and both of those chases came in the first 5 minutes! But I managed to outrun the horde and escape the mind control, too...not a lot of people can say that before 9am on a Saturday. Now I just have time for breakfast, coffee (yum!) and a quick shower before becoming "football mum" for a few hours... Distance: 3.3 miles
Time: 36' 00" Average pace: 10' 54" Fastest mile: 10' 49" Type of run: Zombies, Run! (Easy run but with chases set to 2 x per hour) Cardio fitness score: 40 |
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May 2018
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