club run

up early to clear room for decorator - and then make him cups of tea through the day!

a massage this afternoon - and a chance for a natter about the Run for Glory programme - masseuse gives me the inside story!

club run this evening - three of us this week, V69, ex lady sprinter and me. We deicde on a shorter run than last week as XLS tried to do a 5 miler at the weekend and blew up at 2 miles - went off too fast - and dropped back tothe fun run - she needs to rebuild her confidence.

so 3.4 miles, 43:33, 12:54 mm AHR 148

definitely a threshold run and just under a minute quicker than planned marathon pace :>)

after FLM, XLS and I will try and do a plod together in the week, when possible and V69 and I might also do some LSDs together - would be good to keep the long runs going

Running long

It's a good job I didn't see the weather forecast this morning!
MrBeanz took me out to about 14 miles from home for me to run back.
It was drizzling when we set off so I decided on cap not woolly hat and Aldi gilet not Ron Hill fleecy gilet - good decisions both.
So out in Derbyshire and of course the route starts off UP. I decide a warm-up walk is in order! I plan to run at MHR 140 instead of 145 to see if that helps me survive better at the end.
All seems to be going ok though I seem to have hydrated too well and need to find a convenient hedge - which I do in mile 3.
Soon after that the valley opens out and I discover there's a strong wind from the south and I'm running into it and it is full of water!
Running to HR and walking at the end of each mile are soon abandoned - it's much better to run than walk in this weather.
So I plod along ticking off the miles, wringing out my gloves periodically and trying to keep energy levels up. With a mixture of lucozade, High 5 qels and glucose tablets.
13 miles happens as I reach killer hill so I decide to walk the last bit.

13.8 miles 3:11:46 AHR 137

I am on the road again so more numbers when I get home.

Mile	Pace	AHR
1	13:56	127	5 min walk then run
2	13:09	136	uphill
3	12:58	138	phew more comfortable now!
4	13:53	140
5	13:33	144	aagh into the wind and rain - got to keep running
6	13:16	143
7	14:06	138	pause to wring out gloves - again
8	13:13	139
9	14:03	139
10	14:12	136
11	13:52	140
12	13:57	138
13	14:21	137
0.8	16:32	130	walking up the hill
13.8	13:53	137	3:11:46 1763 Calories!

away again

After the euphoria of Wednesday night’s run I have been away from home – first a couple of days in London – including meeting up with a blogging buddy for a couple of hours – that was GOOD.

 

Then on Friday evening it was off to Cardiff – arrived to pouring rain – no surprise there it is Wales after all.

I asked on the forums where might be safe to run in Cardiff and was advised that the Taff Trail was OK.

 

So this morning I was up bright and early to explore Cardiff – and it was a lovely morning too – rather unexpected.

 

I ran up the River Taff, through a park along a cycle path, crossing the river a mile or so up and weaving my way back down the other side of the river.

 

Lots of wildlife – including zillions of squirrels, great tits, chaffinches, a cormorant on the river – and a jay, first one I’ve seen close to for years; and I heard a woodpecker – but couldn’t see it (I never can).

 

And I ran nearly 3 miles too – on the return half my HRM was registering crazy numbers – up to 222 – and these numbers did fall if I slowed down – and if I stopped to measure my pulse it did seem to be very high and fell rapidly – so I am not sure what was going on there?

 

A long working day with lots of walking and stairs leaves me feeling weary – but I would like to run down the river in the other direction tomorrow morning – to see the new developments around Cardiff Bay.

 

It probably depends on how long we take to eat dinner tonight and whether it is raining in the morning!

a double AND a PB!!

what a difference a day makes!

woke up to the most glorious morning - clear sky, light frost, just the weather for running - but it is club night on a Wednesday and it will be dark by then

but I had to run in this so I decided to run to WW - a mile each way over a seriously killer hill

I did it in 27:26 and it was not actually as steep as I anticipated - though I did walk a little as I didn't want to knacker myself for tonight

which was just as well, because there was there was just me and the Vet from our slow group - so we set off and he decided that since I was going so well we'd extend the route a bit

most of the route is off road on a cycle path, so well lit and a nice smooth surface - ok tarmac but it is bettter than cronky flagstones, of which there are lot on the footpaths around the club.

after about 3 miles I get into the groove and enjoy myelf - working hard but because it was flat, I am able to keep plodding without walking at all - and only pause to walk at a couple of road crossings :o))

Mile	Pace	AHR
1	12:59	136	includes stepped footbridge
2	12:22	142	best mile ever I think!
3	12:27	142
4	12:50	140
5	12:47	140
5.32	12:42	140	1:07

I think that would be classed as a threshold run probably.

So a PB? Well yes, my best ever mile, I think ,and also the furthest and quickest I've run without pausing - a very happy beanz tonight!

swimming to recover

legs were a bit achey yesterday afternoon, but OK this morning

mrbeanz has the day off today and was off to the gym early - what to do? gym? treadmill? recovery run along the river path? swim?

swimming won - haven't done that for ages and I plan to run Wednesday and Thursday at least this week, so a swim it was

on the way there I discovered my goggles had escaped from the bag, so it was back to the old days of swimming without goggles, and I now have sore eyes to prove it!

I had the same toxic 20 moment when I thought I'd stop, but decided 500 m was not enough so kept going for the full km.

So 1 km swum - in the time I would run 5 km!

A cup of coffee while I wait for mrbeanz and watch Dean Macey win gold - yay!

Can I change to the half please?

Dear Mr Bedford,
Please would you transfer my place in the FLM to the FLHM as I feel it would suit me better
Thanks
Beanz
later.....

Oh there ISN'T a half marathon on the same day? - well, I'll just have to try and run the whole way then ..


Seem to be recovering from the cold - and not feeling so miserable and tearful

However not sure about the running .....

Time for a long slow plod - 3 hours is due

mrbeanz was not going my way so it was an out and back, rather than the drop off and run back

So I ran out for 1½ hours and back.

Mile	Pace	AHR
1	13:37	132	warming up downhill
2	13:20	136
3	13:15	135
4	13:17	137
5	13:35	137	try a gel - yuck
6	13:47	135
7	14:11	134
8	13:30	133	buy a lucozade
9	13:33	138
10	13:41	135
11	14:16	135
12	15:30	130	heart OK legs struggling
13	15:23	127	this hill doesn't get easier!
13.21	17:16	119	13:58 AHR 134

I have to say the prosepct of doing as much again daunts me at the moment - maybe I have to think about going a little slower - but then I'd be on my feet even longer!

The first 10 miles were done in 2:15:49 which is 13:35 rate - I need to do 13:45 rate for a 6 hour marathon - so ... without th ehills maybe I can keep goin on my run a mile make up the difference mode which I used today based on 14 mm - and ended up (including the slow stuff ) with 13:58 mm.

Hey Ho

plodding in the park

I should have been doing a long slow run with Pixie today but we decided earlier in the week that the lurgy meant this was not a good idea

I plan to do the run on Monday, so I wanted a little plod today to see whether that is likely

So after a lie in and a cup of tea in bed (thanks mrbeanz) it was up and out to the park -with its undulations
But this was not about speed just about getting out there.

And off I went, realising after a mile or so that I was very hungry - this running before breakfast is all very well when I run at 6.30 but after a lie in it means 13 hours since I last ate!

Anyway 2.5 miles done, some of it walking up the steep bits but it was good to be out there and I wondered why I don't just get out there every day for a few miles instead of up the main road - oh, I remember it's those hills:

What impresses me about this is the accuracy of the plot - this is from memory-map and the symmetry of the elevations on teh out and back bits are pretty good.

oh, and it also shows there isn't much flat stuff around here!

so it's true then

I am doing the London marathon - at least the mag has arrived this morning so I must be


but I feel blobby and stuffed up with cold


and difficulty in concentrating on anything

and I should be working

bleurgh


and I am finding it hard to believe that 3 hours is long enough for long runs for a 6 hour marathoner

and anyway I haven't done many long runs at all - in the past 6 weeks just a 2 hours, a 2½ hours and a 3¼ hours otherwise piffling things

and it's no good saying you've done a marathon so you know you can do it - I don't have any doubt that I will get round, but if I don't make a better fist of it than last time I will have wasted the last three months in not loosing weight and not training properly


bleurgh ....................

I've got a cold - or is it manflu?

I am all stuffed up with a cold - but I don't do colds so its a bit of a shock to the system

I think it must be a result of getting over tired with all teh rushing around - and not taking the cod liver oil, vitamin C etc

Not gone to my chest yet so I will be off to the club tonight to plod.

A week at home with time to run I cannot afford to miss the chance for proper plods.

Later
Teenebanz wanted to go to the club again, so we went, and I did run - there was a very cold wind - in our faces as we went up the hill, so a tough start, a bit slower than last week, but I survived

what: club run 3.5 miles
time: 46:56
pace: 13:23
AHR: 143

better

managed to get to the gym this morning before catching the train

focused on the tready and keeping going - usually the toxic twenty gets to me, and I dip out but I was determined to stay with it and do some work

so took the speed up in 0.1 km/hr notches until my HR was up above 75% and then came down again ...and up again ... until 5 km done

then a mile or so walk in each direction in London - where the sun was shining

and home at last

Peterborough tomorrow and then home for the rest of the week

phew ..

worn out

absolutely shattered - did nto run this morning

its all a bit of a struggle


and a meeting in London tomorrow - will try to go and plod on the tready at the gym first

running away

away rather a lot at the moment, so having to fit running in when I can

Wednesday
Club night and teenbeanz came too :>))

I had expected that the girls I took out last week woudl be there but they weren't so a chance to go out with the other 'slow group' who drag me a long at a faster pace than I would do on my own - and prove to me that I can run a bit faster than feels comfortable!

This week the group is MV69 (most recent half marathon 2:30 but used to be much quicker) and a lady who sprinted as a school girl and only just getting back into running and loving it - call her ex lady sprinter XLS - she goes off quicker than me but each time we go a bit further with us she is running into the unknown, so at the moment I have the edge in endurance if not pace! Off we set, XLS at the front MV69 chatting away and me chugging at the back - wishing I had done some warm up before we started. MV69 congratulates me on the fact that I am getting quicker thanks to going out with them, which is true, but I do wonder whether he thinks I don't run from one week to the next!

After the usual toxic twenty I am beginning to enjoy it and keeping up with XLS much better - I think she is beginning to struggle once we get past about 2.5 miles, but we all keep going with no stopping - even the traffic lights don't allow a breather!

As we come into the home straight we pick up one of the quicker men who is warming down - so he drags us back rather quickly. I had planned to run a bit past the club to take me up to 4 miles but was rather out of breath and teenbeanz was just coming in so I called it a day.

what: club run 3.6 miles
time: 46:52
pace: 12:56
AHR: 145

No hanging around tonight, I took teenbeanz home and then had to drive to Peterborough for a three day meeting with an early start in the morning.

Oh and teenbeanz had a good run too - not too fast for him as a mid week run,but a good way of getting a long easy in to his week.

Thursday
Up early in Peterborough for a recovery run. I do wish they woudl send us to the same hotels more than once - yet again a different hotel and I have to suss out a run. I had printed off a bit of the OS from multimap and reckoned I could use a cycle track.

And out I went - heavy legs after last night, but it was good to be out in the fresh air and not cold at all. I soon foudn the cycle route and it was rather good - through a wood, but open enough to feel safe and a soft bit alongside the tarmacced path - presumably for horses, but good to run on to as it was mostly sandy rather than muddy. I saw a few dog walkers, cyclists and just one other runner - a rather fast lady.

Plodding at recovery HR meant a very slow plod, but good to be out.

what: recovery 2.6 miles
time: 36:49
pace: 14:26
AHR: 129

Friday
Did not run - had not slept well, anxious about the days ahead. As it turns out I probably should have run as my anxiety turned into stress and a not good day.
Resolved to have an early night and run on Saturday - so eat in my room - did not need the company.

Saturday
Up early to run, a light drizzle, but hey we don't mind running in the rain and snow is forecast!!

Started on the same route as Thursday, but took and option of a change in direction, and onto a muddy path by the river. A colleague had told me he had crossed the river in the village near the hotel, so I thought 'I must be abel to get back across the river later'. As I plodded further and there is no sign of anything but fields and woods, I thought 'at what point should I decide to turn back and retrace my steps?'

And then I cam to sluice gates and the feed to the canal - now I had river AND canal between me and my target! But soon there were bridges and all was well.

I must look at the OS to see where I went!

I felt SO much better for the plod - must do this more often. And get some off-road shoes for the mud.

what: steady 3.4 miles
time: 47:42
pace: 13:51
AHR: 138


At last I am home again.

Teenbeanz is off to race tomorrow, Fradley 10k - weather permitting, I plan a 1:30 plod.

a longer run at last

Sunday
Club hosting the last of the Sunday league XC runs today, so teenbeanz and I went down to marshall. I took the camera as it was a beautiful snowy morning. Failed to take any pics inthe park or of the race, but sad physicist that I am I had to take this one of the 'frost shadow'.



Monday
I haven't done anything longer than 6 miles for a month, and most of the runs in the last month have been around 3 miles as I have had to squeez them in before work.

So it was time to just get out there and do it.

So a 2:30 run was on the schedule so @ 14 mm that was about 11 miles, so I got up very earl;y for porridge and then was ready to go out with MrBeanz when he went to work - dropping me off just under 11 miles from home meant I HAD to run home. After the usual warm up 20 minutes and plenty of stretching it felt good and the planned 14 mm were not materialising - trying to keep my HR at 135-145, which is reasonably comfortable, I was running rather quicker than I expected. Ah well, I seem to be getting fitter at last!

So the numbers:

Mile	Pace	AHR
1	13:11	137
2	13:23	138
3	12:33	140
4	12:44	140
5	13:05	139
6	12:43	141
7	12:37	138
8	12:41	137
9	12:57	135
10	13:29	139	start of killer hill
11	16:12	128	walked most of this mile
11	13:14	137	2:25:45

I have not done that pace on a long run before, so wonder whether I was going too fast? The elevation looked like this :

Perhaps not as undulating as my other recent long runs over this route:

see what I mean about undulating and killer hill?

and the average paces for those were :

14 miles at 13:53 AHR 134

9 miles at 13:36 and AHR 135

Perhaps I am getting fitter if I can run for longer and faster at a slightly higher HR?

Doh!

Friday
Currently working in Coventry.
Up early this morning to run. Kit on ready to go - but no shoes :-(
How stupid can I be?

Had my new copy of RW in my bag and lo and behold - there's a running shop 10 minutes away (actually the ad. says 2 minutes but that must be at 3 a.m.)

A phone call confirmed that they have Asics 2110s in my size, so I sneak off at lunch time and buy them. Well you can never have too many running shoes can you?

Unfortunately I couldn't take advantage of the lovely day to run, as the meeting ran on until very late.

But I will be up in the morning to run before work.

later on Saturday ......

I managed to get up and run at 6.30 - very frosty and not much time as we wanted to start the meeting early so we could all get home at a reasonable time.

2.3 miles done and arrived back with a frosty hat and gilet!

But I felt soo much better for it - and a colleague told me he could tell I had run because I was much more relaxed and less inclined to crabbiness!!!

Its the club home XC race tomorrow so teenbeanz and I will go and marshall - he isn't a member and I am not running XC - yet.

It would be nice to jog down there and back, but that would mean standing around for an hour or two in just running kit and getting cold, so will go out and run first.

great club running!

how could I have thought of not keeping going to my club?

great run this evening

arrived to find one of the fast ladies had brought her teenage daughter and friend to run - TD has asthma and consultant has suggested that running would help, so please could she plod round with me?

Of course a real pleasure - wasn't in my plan but that doesn't matter

It turned out really well

a couple of the other slower ladies were there and one wanted to do one lap of the 2 mile course, the other to do two

so we set off together and TD and friend and I did a run walk - ie we ran for a minute, then we walked briskly til TD had a enough breath to gossip, then we ran for a minute then ... for 2 miles, the girls went to sit in the warm until Mum had finished and I went and did a speedier 2 miles

So I had done a proper warm up instead of zooming off too fast and having tight calves and the second lap was the fastest I've ever done it - a real result!

Mile	Pace	AHR
1	14:11	130	downhill
2	14:38	131	back up
3	12:22	147	down again
4	12:25	153	up again - keeping each other from walking!
4.20	13:24	140	53:50