Posts Tagged ‘training’
September 28, 2009
In Ally’s blog post last week he set himself a goal of doing 40km during the week. Not wanting to be left out, I decided to match him and so this week was all about racking up miles with very little consideration to pace. As it turned out, Ally didn’t push at all this week and I found my planned Sunday run to be overruled by packing for holiday.
Monday: Easy 9km in 56:55. I put my HRM on for the first time in ages and got an average of 157 – only a little bit lower than June’s average of around the 160-163 mark.
Tuesday: Had intended to do a 14km run at 6:00/km pace. 20m out the front door and my legs felt heavy and I got a stitch…then I forgot the route. I decided not to let this annoy me too much and in the end I decided to finish the slightly shorter route I was taking and let my body pick the pace. Turned into a 12.5km in 1:19:36. Was quite a struggle and my feet hurt when I got back. Hope I didn’t make the wrong choice in shoes.
Wednesday: No running to give my feet a break. Basketball in the evening was a rather small affair with only 5 of us there. Still a good session, with some layups, passing drills and some 2 on 2.
Thursday: 14k in 1:28:18 today. I had intended to do this much quicker but it just didn’t happen. I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast (went out just before 1pm) and I’m still getting used to the distance. Still a good run though.
Friday: An hour of 1-on-1 basketball with Ally in the afternoon. I was going to go for a run afterwards but ended up cutting Al’s hair for him :-)
Saturday: Last of the postal league competitions at archery today. We had the option of shooting either a Long National (80 and 60 yards) or a National (60 and 50 yards) and, after the trouble I was having at 70m last week, I chose the National. It went pretty well, scored a 520 and had no problems holding the weight of the bow after 6 dozen shots. Pretty cold out there today but indoor season will be starting when I get back from Egypt so at least we won’t have to battle the weather!
Sunday: As I mentioned, I had planned to run this morning but a bad night of not sleeping and the need to pack before basketball meant that I never actually got out there. Basketball in the afternoon was a bit of a let-down. Only Ally and I turned up to practice, the hall was double booked so we were put into a smaller gym, and then I found that I had a puncture so couldn’t play. Managed to get a couple of minutes of 1-on-1 before we decided to call it a day.
Total Run: 35.5km
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, garmin, kit, outdoors, training | Leave a Comment »
September 23, 2009
I don’t mind running for the sake of running, otherwise I wouldn’t do it, but what makes running interesting for me is having a goal and working towards it. Starting many years ago with ‘I want to try running’ then again in 2007 with ‘I want to be a runner’, in 2008 we had ‘I want to finish a 5k race’ and so on.
My long term goal at the moment is to complete a marathon in 2011. I can’t give an accurate goal time at the moment but I’d rather it were closer to 4 hours than 5. Given the chances of getting a ballot place for London, I’ll probably apply for Brighton instead and then maybe try London another year.
Middle term (is that even a phrase?) goal is a half marathon in under 2 hours. I’m pretty sure I’m going to apply for the Great North Run next year so I have a whole 12 months to prepare! I don’t have a back up race at the moment, so if I don’t get into the GNR I’ll have to have a look around (or try to get a charity place). At the moment I can run about 12 or 13k without my legs getting too tired, and I’ve never run more than 16k, so I’ll need to work on my long runs to extend this.
Short term I have a few, more modest, goals. In May of next year I have the Bupa London 10,000 and intend to shave a couple of minutes off my 10k time. I also, rather embarrassingly, struggle to run too far without taking a walking break. Some of the time it’s because of my asthma, but some of the time I do it out of habit. I can do a 5k without walking fairly easily and so my immediate goal is to start doing 6 and 7km runs without walking, so that by May I’ll be doing 10k without walking.
So there we have it – this is what I’m aiming for!
Posted in Discussion | Tagged bupa 10.000, EIA, half, health, marathon, motivation, race, training | Leave a Comment »
September 21, 2009
Decided to take a bit of an easy week this last week, for the sake of my battered toe (in an attempt to keep my nail) and my motivation.
Tuesday: I took Monday off after the Great Capital Run. Partly because I was tired from a very long day and hadn’t yet caught up on sleep and partly because my ankle was sore from the race (I have left over scar tissue from a bad sprain 7 years ago). It was overcast and windy outside, though the thermometer insisted it was 15 degrees, so I decided to just do an easy run and not worry about pace or times. I did 6km in 37:54.
Wednesday: No running today, but I did go to basketball in the evening. Layups, shooting, some maneuvering stuff and a game. Good session but I’ve yet again managed to pull my thumb back when missing a pass. Not the same hand I hurt last season either. Hoping it heals up pretty quick.
Friday: Another easy 6k, just to tide me over. I did the same route as Tuesday and came back in 37:26.
Saturday: Archery in the morning. Spent most of the time shooting at 50m and then a few ends at 70m. While I was there I signed up for the last of the postal league competitions next Saturday morning. 70m was a bit of a struggle so might have to increase the poundage on my bow.
Sunday: Basketball today. Got there half an hour early to do a bit of shooting practice. As it turned out, there were only 5 of us there today so we did less in the way of drills and more game playing, as well as talking through some picks.
Total Run: 12km
Both Matt and Scribs have posted their versions of a race report from the Great Capital Run. Go check them out.
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, great capital run, injury, race, training | Leave a Comment »
September 14, 2009
Tuesday: I’d taken Monday off as I was surprisingly sore after the Lichfield 10k. Today I went to the track with Ally for a not-so-intense interval session. My ankles were still sore and a small tear in my left thigh was being a bit niggly, so I just did a couple of warm up laps, 30 minutes of 200m on 200m off (12kmph and 9kmph respectively), and then a couple of 100m sprints and a 200m sprint to finish up.
Wednesday: Just a quick one round the block in an attempt to work out pace for Sunday’s 5k (and break in my new trainers – will post about them soon). Did 4.3km in 24:53 (5:47/km). Really want to get that down to 5:30/km for Sunday.
Friday: After Wednesday’s short run I was finding I still had a few aches left over from Sunday’s race, so I decided to take Thursday off and persuaded Ally to give my legs a massage. By Friday morning they were feeling pretty good so I headed out for a long and slow run. Ran 14km in 1:28:39 (6:30/km pace).
Saturday: Day off running to give my legs a chance to recover from yesterday’s 14km before the Great Capital Run on Sunday. Spent the morning at archery tuning the pressure button on my bow. No aches, even though I haven’t been for a few weeks. Weighed it once I’d finished and found it was only 31.5lbs (draw weight – how much it takes to pull the string back), might have to wind that up a little bit.
Sunday: Great Capital Run in Regent’s Park today. Little bit cold for my liking but it was a good event and I am happy that I ran it at a decent (for me) pace. Official chip time for the 5k was 27:17. Race report on Wednesday.
Total Run: 29.9km
Commisserations to WBA who lost to the Wolverhampton Rhinos 40-33, I heard you played well though!
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, great capital run, intervals, kit, lichfield 10k, race, track, training | Leave a Comment »
September 11, 2009
I haven’t really talked about this event much on the blog as it’s been largely overshadowed by last week’s Lichfield 10k.
The original plan for this was to get as many people involved as I could. Ally and I signed up quite early, and I managed to convince my running convert friend Matt to join us. I asked Scribs on a whim, knowing that he could run the 5k reasonably easily but wasn’t a big fan of running (and I quote “Like walking…but shit”), and he surprised me by signing up as well. I attempted to convince Baines too but that didn’t last long, and last I heard she couldn’t make it.
We then found out that Ally couldn’t do the race, even though the entry form asks whether you’re a wheelchair entrant. This annoyed me a little bit, particularly as he’d already paid and it wasn’t until Ally contacted the race organisers to confirm he was OK to take part that they told him he couldn’t. /rant
The gimmick of the event is that it’s based on The Ashes, whereby you either run for England, Australia or ‘the rest of the world’. My complete and utter lack of knowledge or interest in cricket didn’t really matter as I chose to run for England. Everyone that crosses the finish line in under 40 minutes gets included and (as I understand it) the fastest average chip time of all these people denotes the winning team. This will be my first event that uses chips for all competitors, and also a first for staggered starts. I put my estimated finish time as 25:01-28:00. I think Scribs is in the pen behind me, and Matt is behind him. I quite like the idea of a staggered start as people dodging was one of the things that annoyed me about the asics British 10k.
As I’ve been running in excess of 5k for some time, finishing is pretty much guaranteed, short of getting lost on the way or horrific mid-race accident. The only problems here are logistical ones. I recently found out that there are no trains to London on Sunday morning, which means that I’ll have to drive and find somewhere to park. Bleh.
I’m not sure about my time. When I entered the race I hadn’t predicted that I would have to take time off because of injury. On Wednesday I ran 4.3km at something close to race pace. It turned out to be 5:47/km, which would give me a finish time of 28:55. Not quite what I was hoping for, but much quicker and my asthma gets in the way. As such I think I’ll be happy with breaking 28 minutes but not too upset if it’s between 28 and 29 minutes.
Anyway, Scribs is coming round tomorrow for pasta, and then an early start to drive into London to meet Matt. I’m very much looking forward to it, and I just hope the weather is good!
Posted in Discussion | Tagged EIA, great capital run, injury, lichfield 10k, outdoors, race, training | 4 Comments »
September 7, 2009
Tuesday: I’d been planning to run all day and it just wasn’t happening. By 5.30pm the facts that I had a race in 5 days and that I hadn’t run the day before could no longer be ignored and I set out for a short run, concentrating on maintaining some sort of decent pace. I ran 4.3km in 25:06 (a 5:50/km pace).
Wednesday: Rain for most of the day put me off running. I know I should have gone out anyway with this race coming up, but chickened out. In the evening I did alternating 5 x 10 hammer curls, shoulder presses and bent over rows, then alternating 5 x 15 bicep curls and 5 x 10 shoulder presses with Ally’s 5kg dumbbells.
Thursday: I knew I needed to do a longer run before the weekend so went out for something I hoped would be close to 10k (yeah, I was too lazy to check the distance on the map first). As it turned out it was 9.85km but it took me 1:03:00 to finish it.
Friday: Decided to run to Wall – a run I’d only done once before – for a bit of change of scenery. And a change I certainly got :-) Far too much roadkill for my liking, freshly manured farmland (not really the smell you need when running), a few close encounters with speeding cars and an overly enthusiastic passenger in a car passing me. All good fun, and it kept me entertained as I was trying to keep to my 6 minute/km splits. In the end I managed it – 11.5km in 1:09:07 – and was very happy. This was the first run since my knee injury that I’ve felt went particularly well. Definitely the boost I needed for Sunday.
Sunday: The Lichfield 10k today. Well organised and good fun. Managed to finish in 59:26 despite the walls that someone left on the course the hills. Race report on Wednesday. I had about 90 minutes at home in which to shower, change, eat and get my stuff for basketball. We then spent a good 2 and a half hours there, as Ally and I stuck around to shoot and play a little one on one.
Total Run: 35.65km
Not much time to bask in post-race satisfaction as we have the Great Capital Run on Sunday. I need to do a quick recalculation of pace for this one, so I’ll be doing some intervals either on the streets or on the track.
Posted in Progress | Tagged basketball, great capital run, injury, intervals, lichfield 10k, race, track, training, weights | 2 Comments »
August 31, 2009
Sorry for the late post today. I just got back from a weekend camping and food and shower came higher on the list of priorities than the blog :-)
Monday: I had booked in for a spinning class at the gym, but arrived just as it started (a combination of Ally’s rather dodgy “it only takes 20 minutes to get there” and being stuck behind some very slow drivers) so went into the main gym instead. Did a 10 minute warm up on the bike and then alternating sets of two-handed tricep extensions with a 6kg dumbell and some tricep dips off the bench.
Tuesday: Finally made it to a spinning class and promptly lost half my body weight in sweat, as per last Wednesday’s post.
Thursday: Went to another spinning class. We had a different instructor this time and she did things very differently – concentrating on keeping the resistance high and going slower. I didn’t enjoy this way quite as much but it was still a good workout. I took the CX and measured my heart rate. If you can’t quite see the picture, I started off (after the warm up) at about 100bpm, got it over 160bpm about 13 minutes in and peak at 178bpm a couple of times.
HR for Spinning on Thursday 27th
After the class finished I did 3 sets of 10 two-handed tricep extensions (8kg), bicep curls (8kg), and tricep dips off the bench.
Friday: I was planning to run in the afternoon, but spent most of it putting it off. A few quick downpours and ominous clouds didn’t help matters. In the end I bullied myself into going out and managed a rather nice 7.5k in 46:42. I tried to keep the pace up in preparation for the 10k next week.
Sunday: Ally and I went camping on Saturday so today’s run was along the Thames to Hampton Court Palace. It was a 10k out-and-back which took and embarrassing 1:12:26 – which I can only attribute to a bad night’s sleep (or lack thereof) and having not eaten anything before I set off.
I started on the left hand side, went to Hampton Court on the right (north of the river) and then back again.
Total Run: 17.5km
Outdoor thermometer stuck to the window
My latest investment into running gear is a thermometer. This might seem a little odd, but one of the biggest factors influencing my asthma is the temperature. I’ve been trying to work out the lowest temperature I can train at but don’t have an actual figure. This way I can find out the cut-off point for running outside and allow me to work at lowering that ever so slightly. It was only cheap so I’m not sure how accurate it is yet, and I’m not sure how long it’ll last – but hopefully it’ll still help.
Less than a week until the Lichfield 10k. I think any hopes of a decent time are off so I’ll just go along and enjoy it. I’ll still do a few longer runs during the week to try and get my stamina back up to something decent.
Posted in Progress | Tagged EIA, garmin, gym, lichfield 10k, spinning, training, weights | Leave a Comment »
August 28, 2009
Since moving house a little while ago I’ve had more ‘face time’ with the traffic than before. Whereas before I had the luxury of running down a canal path away from the roads (I say ‘luxury’, but ex-housie Scribs was mugged there a few weeks after I moved away), I now do most of my running on the city streets.
I try to do routes that don’t involve crossing the road too much but it’s innevitable at some points. There are only a few pedestrian crossings so a lot of the time I’ll slow down to a jog while I wait for a gap in the traffic and then sprint across. I tend to prefer this to the crossings as I don’t really like to stop, but there’s one road that is so busy I have to. A few runs take me on roads without pavements, in which case I make sure I run on the right hand side of the road and occassionally have to stop and hug the hedge when a car comes along.
What I’m getting at is that I’ve come across some very diverse reactions from drivers. Some will see me coming and let me cross in front of them without having to break my stride. I can only assume that these people are either runners themselves or just really nice people :-) Others will speed past with barely an inch to spare. I’ve had cars stop in front of me (to let left hand lane traffic through on small roads) and give me evil glares, and even a close encounter with a Land Rover who’s driver blatantly wasn’t paying attention to the road.
The one thing I’m finding hard to get used to is people beeping at me. Particularly when they wait until they’re right behind me. If I have my headphones in then I’m usually in a world of my own and a car horn a few meters away will bring me right out of my reverie, usually with a jump and a look akin to that of a rabbit in headlights. It’s just not called for people!
If I’m going to run on the road then I know I’m going to encounter traffic, but they never cease to surprise me…
Posted in Discussion | Tagged outdoors, training | 2 Comments »
August 26, 2009
Yesterday evening I had my first go at a spinning class. It’s something I’d been wanting to try for a while and finally having a gym membership I thought I’d give it a go. This is what I wrote when I got home last night:
Wow, what a workout! So, from the top then…I introduced myself to the instructor guy , who helped me set up the bike. The place got very full very quickly, full of fit-looking twenty- and thirty-somethings in expensive workout gear. We were all facing a mirrored wall, which I found rather disconcerting, as I’m not particularly small and would soon look extremely red compared to my white vest. It was all good though, as Instructor Guy turned out the lights as he turned up the music. What we were left with was a sort of momentary sensory deprivation, where you can’t see anything until your eyes adjust and you can’t hear anything except the amazingly loud music.
It took me a while to understand what Instructor Guy was saying through his too-loud mic in a too-small room but following everyone else I soon managed to put it together. 10 minutes in and I was having the time of my life – I’d worked up a real sweat and was really giving it all I had. Half an hour later and I’m concerned that my lungs are going to somehow leave the rest of my body.
Luckily for me (and my lungs) it was only a 45 minute session. We’d covered 3 different cycling positions and thrown in some close handed press ups on the handlebars for good measure. The lights came back on, we stretched, and then the cleaning lady came in with a mop…I’m glad it wasn’t just me that was sweating like a waterfall then.
I was expecting my legs to be sore today but they’re fine, which is pretty handy for if I decide to run later.
I booked in another class for tomorrow evening on the way out (thought I’d do it before the high wore off and I chickened out). I’m thinking of taking my HR monitor to see what I get up to. It’s just a shame that this will be the last chance I get to spin for a while.
Posted in Discussion | Tagged EIA, gym, spinning, training | 6 Comments »
August 24, 2009
Last week was all about getting my fitness levels back up to scratch without overdoing the running and risking hurting my knee again.
Monday: Went to Ally‘s gym with him and signed up for a 2 week membership. Stuck around for a bit and did a short workout – 20 mins on the bike at around 80% max HR, 10 mins on the treadmill (just over a mile) to test my knee, and then a very brief stint in the freeweight section.
Tuesday: Back to the gym, just for cardio this time. I did an hour on the bike at 70% max HR and 3k on the treadmill at 6 min/km pace. Feeling the effects of too long doing nothing. Felt great when I was done though!
Wednesday: Third day at the gym. I ran a 33 minute 5k (6 minutes on, 1 minute off), stretched, did a couple of the resistance machines then onto the bike, where I did 30 minutes at 65% max HR and then 10 minutes at around 82% max.
Thursday: In my attempt to get the most out of my 2 week gym membership I decided to try out the pool. It’s quite small, especially as aqua class was on but there were only a few swimmers so plenty of room. Not knowing how long the pool was I kept going til I ran out of time (Ally was in the gym upstairs). I found out later that the pool was 20m long so had covered 1km.
Saturday: Had intended to go to archery today but a bad night’s sleep and a niggling shoulder problem persuaded me to stay at home. In the end I decided that a run might make me feel better so I headed out with the intention of doing a bit further than Wednesday’s 5k, but not by much. In the end I did a 6.5k route in 43:28. I really opened up my stride in the last 400m, pushing around 14-15kmph and it felt really good. Starting to feel more confident about the race.
Sunday: Basketball today. Not quite as good as last week, I couldn’t quite seem to get the picks, but a good time nonetheless. Annoying blister on my thumb from the push rim :-(
Total Run: 16.2km
As you can see, I tend to do my HR zone training on the bike in the gym rather than running…purely so I can concentrate on running instead of looking at my watch. Throughout the week I’ve done a bit more research on heart rate zones and talked to Ally about it. At some point I plan to go back to the track and try to work out my max HR more accurately.
Posted in Progress | Tagged gym, lichfield 10k, resistance, swimming, training, weights | Leave a Comment »
