Posts Tagged ‘sutton park’

h1

Last Week: w/c 27th July

August 3, 2009

I’ve discovered that cross training when you have no money and no bike is harder than it seems. Now that I’m no longer near the university gym I can’t do a pay-as-you-go gym session, my bike is 200 miles away in my parent’s garage, and I didn’t do any body weight exercises at home for the first half of the week because between my 100 press up challenge and last Sunday’s basketball training, my upper body is still sore. This means that, yet again, the first few days were a complete write off, though I finally decided it was time for a run on…

Thursday: No pain in my knee since Tuesday so I decided today was a good day to test it out. Unfortunately, it started to pour as soon as I stepped outside so I got a tad wet, but never mind. My asthma was playing up slightly, but I put it down to the drop in temperature due to the rain. A few twinges in my knee at 3.5k so I decided to make it a short run and headed home. 4.6km in 28:11.

Ally disaproved of my plan to climb in the boot of the car and have a nap.

Ally disaproved of my plan to climb in the boot of the car and have a nap.


Friday: Went to Sutton Park today and I was looking forward to a nice long run. My knee didn’t agree. I set off OK but it started to hurt less than a km from the car. If I had been smart I would have turned around and gone back, but I wasn’t, so I carried on. I knew I wasn’t going to get as far as I wanted so I did a little off-road exploring in the woods to keep me entertained. Turned out to be muddier than I thought, which slowed me right down. Asthma kicked in big time just before the 4th km, to the point where I actually had to stop. Got back to the car, did an extra km and then called it a day. 7km in 47:45. Looks like I’m back to square one on the knee injury front though.

Saturday: Archery this morning, and I was doing a lot better than last week. Bow shoulder was a bit sore, but I think that was from the press ups I did yesterday – I took regular breaks anyway, I really don’t need another injury. In the evening I did 9 sets of 30 bicep curls (15 each arm) with a 5k dumbell whilst watching TV.

Sunday: Basketball today – we did some layups, dribbling and picking drills followed by a game of 3 on 4. Hard work, and my arms are feeling it, but really good fun. Did my press ups exhaustion test when I got home. Only managed 21 so I’m going to repeat the last 2 weeks, but on the middle collumn instead of the easiest one. How’s everyone else getting on with the challenge?

Total Run: 11.6km

Only 34 days until the Lichfield 10k. According to Geraldine at Lichfield Health and Fitness Club ‘the hill’ that I’ve heard about is a real killer so I might have to find it and attempt it before the day, though the way this knee is at the moment I think any training will be good! I’m still trying to rope people into doing the Great Capital Run the week after the Lich 10k. If you fancy a 5k in London then sign up and let me know so we can meet up!

If you haven’t seen it already then check out the ‘Gear’ page in the menu on the right. It’s still a work in progress but should give you an idea of what I have…and no, that wasn’t an invitation to rob me next time I’m out running.

I’ve also added post rating, so you can now give each post stars out of 5. Just open up the post by either clicking on the post title or view the comments and the stars will be at the bottom. Thanks.

Posted in Progress | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

h1

Last Week: w/c 15th June

June 22, 2009

My Monday posts are likely to get a bit technical, now that I’m trying to work on my 10k times I’m paying more attention to how fast I am throughout my run. Feel free to do what Scribs does and just ignore all the numbers :-)

Monday: I wanted to know just how much of an effect my slow attempt at the hills in Sutton Park had on my 10k time so I took Charlie the Garmin. I started off well, at tempo pace, running the first 3 kms in 6’05″ (warm up), 5’48″ and 5’46″. I did the next 3 kms at base pace and still managed to get to the half way point at 30’29″. I thought I was going to be able to keep it up for the full 10k but I got a stitch at the 7th km and ran a 7’00″ and a 7’39″ km, bringing my final time to 64’42″. Still pleased that it was 3 minutes quicker than before though.

Tuesday: I was determined to do better than Monday, so I headed out for another 10k. Started with a strong 3k again, then slowed down a bit to attempt to maintain something around the 6’10″ mark (thank you virtual training man) but was let down again by my 7th and 8th km (6’54″ and 6’37″). Still, I did better than yesterday, managing to get home for 62’17″! Very happy!

Thursday: Cold and wet today (of course, it starts raining the second I step outside) meant that I had fleeting feeling in my fingers and toes and an excess of snot (thanks to raynauds and asthma respectively). I had already decided on a leisurely 5k but decided to try a negative split in an attempt to get used to a faster pace. I made it home in 29’29″, which I’m reasonably pleased with (for a training session that was planned whilst doing it anyway!)

Friday: I fully intended to do a 10k at base pace today but my legs were sluggish and heavy and I found myself jogging instead of running. I decided that if I wasn’t going to maintain a decent pace then I would at least put some effort into the distance and so managed 12k in 78’07″.

Sunday: Ally and I went back to Sutton Park and did the same route as last time. Knowing that I could push myself more than last time I set out with the intention of letting myself speed up on the downhills to compensate for the slow uphills. I made it to 5k in a little over half an hour and then to 6k in a little over 36 minutes. I decided to give it everything I had and try to break the hour mark. I got to 9.1km at 55 minutes and still some hills to go but I really went for it and managed to get to 10k in 59’50″. I now know that I can do it, so it’s just a case of repeating that in 3 weeks time!

Total Run: 47km

Gym buddy Baines

Gym buddy Baines


Good news all round this week – I feel like I’m really getting somewhere with my 10k times. Unfortunately we also have some bad news. Claire, my little ginger journo, has left the Green House for pastures new (or old, she’s moved back in with her parents). I’ve lived with Claire for three years but it’s only really been this year that we’ve been proper gym buddies, I’ll miss you Baines! You can keep track of her happenings on her blog.

It’s also worth noting that this week is the last chance to buy a RoadID whereby 10% goes towards my sponsorship goal. If you buy a RoadID through this blog after this week then the 10% will go towards whichever charity I run for next year. If you’d like to buy one (and I think they’re a great idea, especially if you run on your own) then please click the button on the right hand side of the page. Thanks.

Posted in Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

h1

Last Week: w/c 8th June

June 15, 2009

Monday: I had decided that one week of being ill was enough and I was going to go do something. I went to the gym with Claire as I was still a bit unsteady (strange vertigo dizziness all week) and thought it safer than trying a run. I did 6km (28 minutes) on the exercise bike to start with and then 2km of easy intervals on the treadmill. Probably shouldn’t have done the running at the end but it felt good to get the blood going!

Wednesday: I wanted to try another run, though after the rather wobbly 2k on Monday I was under strict orders from Coach Ally to use the treadmill instead of going outside. Probably just as well. I had intended to do 7k but in the end left it at 5 (30’30″).

Thursday: I had already said that I would go back to the gym with Claire, and I was still unsure as to how far I could run, so it seemed the sensible option. As it happened, both treadmills were taken when we got there so I entertained myself on the ergo and the exercise bike until one was free. I did my first km at tempo pace but got horrible stabbing pains in my abdomen, much like I did a few months ago, and so had to stop at 1.3k. Defeated, I did another km on the bike and then a pretty massive weights session. I was still tiring quicker so I might not have been completely over this illness. Well done to Baines though, who is now up to 3-1 intervals on the treadmill (3 mins running to 1 min walking).

Friday: Had arranged to do a 10k in Sutton Park with Ally and stayed over at his on the Thursday night to get to the park at a reasonable hour the next morning. It was a great day for it, nice and sunny but not too hot. I actually managed the distance, which was good, in 67 minutes. I used the Garmin so I know it’s pretty accurate. It’s not quite as quick as I would have liked but it felt good so I’m happy with it.

Saturday: Decided I needed a day off from running. Went to archery in the morning (as well as Friday evening) and got back into the swing of things. Competition on Sunday morning so I needed the practice!

Sunday: Didn’t get back from the archery competition until 3pm, but decided to join Scribs on his ‘challenge’ mile. As it happens we did a 5k in 32’45″. Scribs’ ridiculous pace kept me from falling back into my 10k pace (thanks Scribs), though we had a few walking breaks as he isn’t used to exercise the distance.

Total Run: 23.3km

This week I signed up for a place in the 2010 Bupa London 10,000, which takes place on 31st May. I’ve put my estimated time as 55 minutes, so I have nearly a year to get it down to that! I’ve also signed up for a smaller event – the Lichfield 10k – on 6th September this year. I put my estimated time as 1 hour, and I know there’s a good hill in it, but it looks like it could be fun.

Posted in Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »