another long run

After a couple of weeks trying to do long runs without the TP we got together again today for 12 miles.

We do most of the run off-road, round a country park, with a variety of routes to give different length loops. We reckon that if we get into FLM we'll be able to do quite a lot of long runs here before we get bored - just going the 'long way round' to get there from TP's house, and back!

After a warm up three quarters of a mile we ran the rest - rather slowly but without walking :>)

The trouble is it was nearly a minute a mile slower than we'll need to do in three weeks time. And the cut-off looks pretty serious from the website.

The good thing is that TP seems to enjoy the runs as much as I do - and she is talking about continuing after Amsterdam, ticking over until FLM training starts.

quicker :>)

Only managed a little plod inthe week.

Out today on my own - TP was racing again.

Didn't really plan route properly so did not go as far as I should have done.

It felt hard - but it turns out I was running a bit quicker than I have done recently. I did 7 miles and five miles in the middle were all at a pace quicker than I need to do in Amsterdam :>)
I found it hard to keep going on my own without TP, maybe because I was going a bit quick. I really am not good at judging pace, I am just so used to it always being a real effort, I can't do 'running easy'.
Runnerbeanz and his squad were doing a whistle run on Thursday - a kind of fartlek where the coach controls the intervals, shorter hards with longer recoveries to start with and as the runners drop out and it whittles down to the hard core the hards get longer and the recoveries shorter. I watched for a while and there did not seem to be a perceptible easing off when the whistle went for recovery, but you could see more effort when he blew again for the next effort. Oh to be young and fit and run like that! I am pleased to say that RB stuck in there and held on for the full session of 36 minutes. And then he did a hills session yesterday. XC here he comes!

Later ...
Runnerbeanz went out before lunch and did his long run - I thought he was wimping out when I went out for mine but he did it - nearly 8 miles, further than me and he has nothing longer than 10k in his sights (sigh).

ouch!

A short plod early on Friday - I was worried about getting back for work, and various other things so did not go so far as Tuesday.

Step down week this week so I planned to do 7 miles - TP is off doing Mablethorpe 10k so was on my own today. Not going too badly, though first running mile was a bit quick. On the way home I met some lady runners coming the other way, looking at them, wondering if they were going to acknowledge me when I tripped over a speed bump - on the footpath!!
Landing flat on my front rather took the wind out of my sails and in spite of my frontal cushioning I managed to graze a knee and take a lump of skin off my elbow - so was a bit bloody by the time I'd done the last mile home - I ended up doing 6 not 7 as I decided I didn't need the extra mile today.
[Oh and the lady runners did stop to help, although they had run past without a smile previously]

ditch the bleep

I think Saturday's run has given me confidence at last.

Managed ot get to bed in time to get up and run this morning - there were stars in the sky at 5.15!!

Walked for about 3/4 mile then began to jog - felt ok but HRM was beeping - so instead of walking I turned it off!
And ran, pausing for stretch at a suitable bus shelter and then ran most of the way round the (undulating) route - 4.5 miles done, 30s / mile quicker than last time for the same route and AHR 8 higher. The three running miles were at the pace I need to run Amsterdam to avoid the cut-off :>)

keeping going

I have not run all week - long days at school followed by preparation for the next day left me with not enough sleep to get up early and run.

But today is long run and fortunately I have a plodpal to make me get out and do it.

She texted me to say could we do our 10 miles this week and step down next week as she has a 10k next week.

So 10 miles to do and it went like this.

Walk for just under a mile to warm up
Plod for a mile then stretch.
Run for 8 miles with NO WALKING.

how good is that?

OK it was slow but hey it was not walking.

I have NEVER run more than 3 miles without convincing myself that I can't possibly keep going. How did this happen?
Well plodpal is running easy, so she chats the whole time - and I answer in short breathy sentences.
It was mostly through a pleasant country park on decent paths and only very slight undulations.

And once I realised I had done more than 3 miles, I just thought I can do this - and kept going :>)

injured:<(

New shoes for new term.
Identical to the pair I had last year.
Except a slightly higher heel cup has dug into the back of my heel and I now have a leaky hole just where my running shoes stop. I forgot the pain until I put my shoe on this morning.
So having made it out of bed at 5.00 to run, I discover it is too painful.

Will have to go back to the old work shoes for school - hopefully it will heal easily and I can run tomorrow instead.

And use this time now to do some prep.

reality sets in ....

Back to work 'proper' today and reality has already set in.
I did not do enough work in the hols to get me far enough ahead, so I am back to the last minute stuff, burning the midnight oil - which means not up early enough to run.

LSR

With the emphasis on the slow.
Out with training pal again and 9 miles done and dusted. Slower than last week - but after the first two miles I hardly walked at all - just for a drink and when we met TP's OH running the other way with the dog and the dog was confused about who to run with!
I even managed the inclines. TP is great at encouraging me - she can chat throughout up until the 'new territory' bit then she goes quiet.
It was so good running with someone and not feeling I was really holding them back - and most of it was off road, so it was good place to run too, but I am not sure I would do it on my own. At about 5 miles when she observed how well I was doing, and I realised I was actually enjoying it and not thinking about how horrid it was, I found myself persuading her that we could do long runs for FLM together!!
Er I think that means I need to make an entry. [Of course at 2 miles I had wondered why I had even entered a half!]

not tri-ing

Some of my waister pals - and other forumites were doing Matlock Tri, so I went along to support - it would have been rude not to.
It is a seriously undulating course for the bike followed by a run up High Tor and down again - with a pause to admire the views at the top. Needless to say I stayed at the bottom to enocurage and take photos as they came through transition.
The three Waisters made it to the finish line in good style - and for Ellie, her first Tri, it was a great result - she enjoyed it and plans more!

And so today its back to a routine of sorts, the teenbeanzes are in school and MrBeanz goes back to work tomorrow.
So I was up reasonably early to explore another 4 mile route - one which should be ok to do when the mornings get earlier and darker. Turned out to be 4.3 miles, with a long downhill near the beginning and a long gentle drag back home. Unusually my quads felt the downhill section - usually my routes are more undulating so they have time to recover.
Trouble is I am incapable of doing that 'stand on one leg and stretch the quad behind your back' stretch.

long run

Its a club outing to Amsterdam and lots of folk are doing the half, including a few first timers. One of those, Y, is someone I used to run with when she started a couple of years ago, now she's a bit quicker than me. But she didn't seem to have a schedule for building up her distance, so I invited her to come out with me.
So we went out yesterday for a planned 8 miles. It went well - it was slow enough for her to talk almost all the way round - but quick enough that I could only answer in short phrases. Although there was an occasional pause for breath on my part, with a minute's power walk, I kept it going much better than I would have done alone.
It was overall a little slower than last week's run with b-z. I had done about half a mile walking warm up before Y arrived and an extra half a mile after I dropped her off at the end - so 9 miles for me.
I am still not confident of getting in in 3 hours though it is still 6 more long runs to the race.

good run ... bad run

On Tuesday I had a good run - 4 miles of which the middle two (flat) miles were well within my target pace for Amsterdam - this warming up by walking the first mile seems to be hitting the spot :>). b-z commented when we were running on Sunday that it doesn't get easier as you get better - it hurts just as much, you just go quicker. I suppose that is what happened on Tuesday - I didn't feel those two miles were particularly 'good' I just suffered to better effect!

However today ....
MrBeanz's car needed to go for a service, I needed to run, but also to go to school for GCSE results. So the plan was take the car in and run home. I worked out how I could easily make the route nearly 4 miles, by incorporating one of my usual runs. But even after a mile or so of walking my right leg just did not want to know about running, and trying made my back ache, so I cut it short and just walked for 2.5 miles - but briskly (for me) 16 mm pace.

Ah well, you can't win them all.

partying

Back from a good weekend with b-z and womble

It was great to put faces to a few more forumites and chat to some that I had only ever seen as a blur at races.

And b-z and I even managed a run this morning - womble couldn't come because she had to look after her other guests!

A plod of 1.75 miles to Richmond Park and then a 4.3 miles loop in the park where we came closer to deer than I had ever been - maybe too close as they were young stags. We also passed about a dozen female and young red deer. We were distracted by the noise from the local flock of parakeets. We couldn't see the bright green colour but their shape and noise gave them away.

Overall nearly 8 miles plodded and walked - the mile walking warm up seems to suit me and plodding with b-z kept me going and showed I can plod at a higher HR than I thought - I will up my range again for my next run.

not running

I'm going down south tomorrow, to a party - don't often do parties, but fortunately there will be at least two people I know and both are good friends.

But as I go through London I thought I should take the chance to see something.

I remember seeing a review of a play with Patrick Stewart, it turned out the play was at the Chichester Festival, so that's out. However in hunting for that I came across this , a fascinating insight into the mind of an actor.


Patrick Stewart is perhaps one of my favourite actors. I love his voice.

There was a picture of him in my form room last year (it is an English classroom and he's been at Stratford recently) the girls were amused that I preferred him to some of their heart throbs such as Johnny Depp.

A funny thing happened .....

It was going well, a mile walked; a mile run without ANY walking (and uphill at the end).

I was just struggling up a steep bit of road a little old lady was just standing at the top of her drive with her zimmer frame. She called out to me so I went up to her rather breathlessly and she asked if I was going to the shops - I am not sure where I was concealing my purse and shopping bag in my lycra, but I said I was passing, so she asked me to get her some fruit pastilles!

So an extra undulation 0.2 miles each way and my good deed done.

I am not sure how long she had been waiting for a passer by. She could have been there some time as not that many people walk, they all travel by car - I didn't see any other pedestrians along most of that road - maybe she was much younger when she first went out there!

Anyway 4 miles done.

Running in the rain

Yesterday I got up late and it was persisting. And I didn't run. I felt cross with myself all day, but still didn't run.

So this morning I had to get up earlyish to tidy up for the cleaners. But I dressed in my kit so I had no excuses. And went out in the rain - had forgotten that it is actually quite good running in the rain - once you've made it out the door.

While we were on holiday eBeanz spent a long time giggling over Guy Browning -who has a column in the Guardian How to .... As a non exerciser eBeanz particularly liked this article . And read this out to us runners:

After a strenuous work-out, you get a great feeling of wellbeing. This is due to the release of endorphins into the bloodstream, which are the body's natural smugness generators.

I was reminded of this as I ran in the rain - the smugness factor increases even further when you run in the rain, it makes you feel even better about having done it when all the couch potatoes wouldn't even go out to the bin 'cos it's raining'.

Oh and the run? I walked the first mile - briskly in just under 16 minutes. Then stretched my calves. Then ran - trying to keep the HR at 142 without going over. The first running mile was the quickest for a long time (12:42) at the time it felt horrid and now I know why!! Maybe it was too quick because the next one had a higher AHR but was slower. And then I was back up the hill and on the steep bits my HR was in the zone even without breaking into a run - though I did try to run.

and another thing

for those long distance people amongst you

You may have noticed girish who comments on here - he has recently completed this little run

Which should be enough of a challenge for you - you know who you are!

back home

Back home this morning and catching up with things. Although I could post while away I did not have the web - just email.

So reading Highway Kind today reminded me of something I read in this article while I was away.

'short and generally superficial blog posts are a commodity, and it's difficult to make yours any better than thousands of others. It's hard to build up any user loyalty that way. "One longer post beats many small pieces given superficial treatment, which will essentially be free, so maybe you can get people to pay for it - maybe not in money, but in a registration, or whatever."'

HK certainly provides us with thoughtful, longer, running blog posts- though I suspect he is not going to start charging us for our 'customer loyalty' - and even when I do not reply they have always provided food for thought - I think we must be of an age too as so often the post has resonances for me.

eBeanz ( nonrunningteenbeanz has decided that this should be his name as a chap who is determined to make a career in computing) comments that while much of what Nielsen says is sense, his site is in fact simply poorly designed - and that he should not make a virtue out of the poor design.

Recovery run?

After my 'long run' yesterday I wouldn't normally run today, but we pack up tomorrow morning so I decided it would make sense to run this morning and keep it steady.
A recovery run should be run at a lower HR, right? I've been trying to run at 135-142 recently so I needed to keep in that zone as a max. But every time I began to jog my HR zoomed up to 160+. After trying to slow down in line with my new approach, I found that the only way to get it back down was to walk - then it dropped fairly readily back to 125ish. Then a slow jog would send it shooting up again. This went on for the first two miles. Eventually I managed to keep it down while jogging slowly. And nearly 3 miles done.

Slowing down

In line with comments from Womble, I am trying to slow down! That may seem impossible but what I mean is that I am trying to keep running when my HR rises - trying to get it back down without having to walk. I have always said that I only have one running pace, so I am trying to find some variety.
Running here at CP is a good opportunity to try this out as it is not too undulating. So today's long run of 6 miles wasn't quick, bnt was enjoyable.
MrBeanz is improving gradually and hopes to be able to walk up to the restaurant tonight.
I am currently UNO champion, but languishing in third spot in the Scrabble league - after years of training them up the TeanBeanzes are providing real competition :))

Ups and downs

The weather still holds so I am sitting outside writing this.
Unfortunatly MrBeanz has done something to his back (an intermittent problem) so he is almost immobile. Poor chap.
But that is no excuse not to run. We woke late this morning so I didn't go out to run until 11. I feared it might be too warm but there's plenty of shade in the forest. 3.4 miles done. While I don't think I am a slave to my Garmin, I do like to know the numbers - so being able to just wander somewhere new and know that you've done the required miles is great.

Not many books read, but crosswords completed and several games of UNO and Scrabble played.