Week 3 of sub20 5K training

Week 3 kicked off and I was ready to hit it hard and make up for the lost training opportunities of last week. A busy week in prospect though so fitting in training was going to be another challenge...

Monday - The wife's birthday so a difficult day to justify spending too much time out pounding pavements. Unfortunately I had to be at work while see took a well deserved day off, knowing we would be going out in the evening I was up bright and early for an early morning run.

The plan was for a 5K run following a 400m hard (approx sub20 target pace 4min/km) and 200m easy (approx 5.15/30min/km) rhythm. 

However I didn't feel particularly great, my stomach didn't take kindly to being up early and being out running before it had had enough chance to go through its daily routines, if you get what I mean. So the long and short pf it was that my run was cut short as I aborted my session to head for home and to seek solace in the comforts of the bathroom. Its possible this intestinal discomfort had something to do with the visit to Choccywocydoodah (see my last post for details and more importantly photos!)the day before, its no wild idea to think that eating close to my own body weight in chocolate goodies didn't have the best affect on my stomach.

I probably managed 4 x 400m sprints with 200m rest periods and with a bit of a warm up and a cool down so not a completely wasted session but not a super high intensity workout that I had hoped for. 

Monday evening was a bit more enjoyable though, a few drinks then a tasty meal in the local Thai restaurant. 

Tuesday After a bit of a late night last night and a work function in the evening today was allocated as a rest day as there was no opportunity for training which was why I was all the more frustrated that yesterdays session hadn't been as hard as I had planned.

A slight panic set in when I realised I was meant to be heading over to Hackney Marshes parkun on Saturday for a race with running buddies Chris and Tony. Its these two guys with whom I am undertaking this sub 20 5K challenge and although the challenge is really against the clock and in trying to beat the 20 minute barrier the underlying challenge is the race between the three of us. I had some how missed this date in my diary and knew I was seriously underprepared to run any kind of race at the weekend, oh well I would just have to see how it goes!

Wednesday - Tuesday evening was spent staying in a hotel in West London following my work function and there was no way I was not going to take the chance of going for a morning run in Hyde Park when it was only a few hundred metres from my hotel!

A 6.3K fartlek run in a rather glorious early morning wintery Hyde Park was a very enjoyable way to start my day. The run included some drills, some faster sprints and a kilometer in 4.14min which felt pretty good.

The evening also ended on a high with a gig by one of my favourite bands Reverend and the Makers at one of London's most amazing venues the beautiful KOKO. An awesome band giving a typically high energy performance, so much so I was still buzzing the next morning despite getting to bed late and having to get up early.

Thursday - An early start with work and a late finish but I still had time and energy for an evening run. 

The plan was to really test out my 5K pace with a view for gauging what was possible for Saturday without tiring myself, so after a half Km warm up I launched into 2 miles aiming for a sub 21 minute 5K pace. I concentrated on my pacing and breathing and pushed myself without going flat out, the result? A pace of 6.48 min/km which is pretty much a 21 minute 5K, and it felt comfortable enough so not bad, not bad at all on the back of a less than ideal week or two of training. 

Friday - Rest day after last night and wanting to rest ahead of Saturday's race

Saturday - Wherever you were on Saturday I am sure you had bad weather, freezing temperatures, gale force winds, rain and in many cases snow. So what lovely weather to get up early and go out for a run!

By the time I had headed over to Stratford the cold sleety rain was pelting down and Hackney Marshes were a wet and miserable sight under a grey and groggy sky full of rain.

We managed to hide out in the cafe until it was time to head to the start line where brave runners and even braver volunteers assembled while trying to some how stay dry and not be blown away by the gusty winds.

The race that followed was somewhat challenging in the weather conditions but it was far from unrunable. After the first mile my pace was about 30 seconds slower from where it was on Thursday evening despite feeling that I was pushing the pace as hard as I could. at that point I knew this was not going to be a good run and nothing anywhere near the area of sub 20. 

I had targeted a time of 20.40 pre race which was based on Thursdays session but that completely disappeared out of side as I eventually finished in a despondent 21.38. What made it worse was that Tony was around 10 seconds ahead of me and Chris another decent distance ahead of him. Even though we were all well short of our sub20 aim I was disappointed to come last.

Its easy to suggest the conditions attributed to a slower time for all of us which is partly true but I really wanted to put a finger on why I was not only so far from my aim of 20 minutes but also not even close to my PB of 21.00. My evaluation is as follows:

• A serious lack of running and of miles in my legs, which is an obvious explanation from my schedule the last week or two.
• The weather really took a focus off the race, rather than 'getting in the zone' I was more concerned with battling the elements. So this is a good reminder to stay mentally focused on the task in hand and to try and block out external distractions.
• Sub20 is a massive goal and will require a lot of work which I just haven't been able to commit to in recent weeks.

I summarised this run with the phrase 'sometimes running is shit', meaning although my training hasn't been great I felt I was better than my performance and I did not get up early on a Saturday morning in the cold, wind and rain to run 30 seconds plus outside of my PB. Running is a cruel mistress that sometimes kicks you when you are down, but whatever happens you can never cheat running you will never get out what you don't deserve.

Sunday - Rest day, much work to do....


This blog covers my training the week of 16 - 22 November 2015

Day 7 One week completed!

Today's run: Afternoon - Longer - pavement (and at times water!)- 6.32km - 32.47mins

Wow what a week, seven days of running done 43.17km distance covered and over 4 hours of running completed, quite a week!

Today's run was always planned to be an afternoon run the constant rain throughout the morning meant I kept pushing my run back hoping the rain would subside. Not that I am adverse to running in the rain its just that I would prefer to go out and enjoy my run when its not raining and as I have already ran in the rain a few times this week I was hoping bright and dry weather conditions. 

It was not to be though, it was rainy, it was wet and pretty horrible!

I headed out along the footpath through the Ingrebourne Valley country park. The river Ingrebourne was swollen and flowing high up its banks to a point I have never seen before, not only that but the path was sodden in places and got to the point where it was so flooded I had to detour. 

The detour took me through a less scenic housing estate but it did provide me a decent incline to run up for several hundred metres. 

I was so wet by the time I got home and was glad to jump into a warm shower and pop on a nice big hoody before settling down for a relaxing Sunday evening. 

After seven days it seemed like a logical time to reflect on my runstreak so far: 

The reasoning behind my challenge can be found here, the basic aim of my challenge is to try and raise awareness and funds for Pancreatic Cancer during Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. 

The week started off with a longer run of 8.52km as I started my challenge off with a bang. In all honesty I wasn't sure how I was going to fare with all the running. I didn't feel in the greatest shape, my diet has been pour and the weekend had seen me eat and drink more than my fair share of goodies and alcohol celebrating my wife's birthday. I was also concerned with my calves, which have always been my problem area where running has been concerned. They were experiencing a lot of tightness and pain in the front of my legs before running and mostly during my runs as well making runs painful and not very enjoyable.

Day 2 saw me hit the gym in the morning and then head out for a evening hill session where I covered my minimum target for the challenge of 5K. I felt OK in myself considering I had trained twice and was running on the back of a longish distance form the day before.  

Day 3 was my real challenge as I was determined to combine my usual Wednesday evening boot camp I attend with a friend with my running. This meant I had to head out for a run before work so I was out pounding the pavements before 6 am. An experience I really enjoyed and I look forward to repeating soon. Boot camp in the evening was really a struggle though as I to find any strength or energy in my legs. 

On Day 4 I gave myself practically 24 hours since my last training session on the previous evening before running. I headed out in the evening for what I presumed would be a slow and steady 'plod' around. Actually I found it to be a great run where I felt stronger and fitter than I could ever have imagined after training so hard in the previous few days, this was the run where I really started to feel the positive affects of consecutive days running. 

It was Day 5 where the week changed and took on a whole different meaning. I receive the exciting news that I had been shortlisted to the final 50 runners of all the thousands that had applied for Runnersworld magazines Asics target 26.2 challenge. If its not something you are aware of it is a competition to find 5 runners to run towards their targeted finish time in the Paris Marathon in 2015. The prize is not only VIP entry into the Paris Marathon but loads of assistance with training plans and advice from specialist coaches. What an absolute dream to be part of! The days run then felt like the most important run of my life as I felt such a sense of pride and excitement as I went out running. I felt like Mo Farah or some other successful Olympian feeling 12 feet tall bursting with pride but I know I didn't appear any different to anyone I passed despite how I felt inside. 

Yesterday and Day 6 was a classic Saturday run, heading out running before relaxing in front of an afternoons sporting entertainment on TV. This is the run I have found hardest as I struggled to get going and felt pretty tired and lacking in energy. 

Thank you for reading, any tips on how to train effectively during a runstreak would be greatly received, happy running everyone!  

Lessons learned from running this week

Rabbits move too fast to be photographed.

Trail running is not kind on your lower legs (thanks nettles and thorns).

Running consecutive days is a case of mind over matter.

Sweat in the eye is possibly the worst ailment a runner can suffer.

Always focus on your footing on a new trail path.

Running in the rain is a recipe for disaster in terms of chaffing.

Running in the rain requires more preparation and respect.

I should be more equipped for running in the rain after living in England all my life!

Running in the rain

People often ask me 'do you run in the rain?' And I usually say 'if I have to run then I will run whatever the weather' and this morning was one of those times when I had to run.

This morning was the only opportunity I would have this weekend to get a run in so out I went in the rain. I really wanted to get out for a good run to build the momentum my intensive training this week and to make sure I covered a landmark aim of 50K mileage this week. 

My usual barometer of whether it is too wet to run or not is the birds. If there are birds out and about then I usually take that as it not being too wet and OK to go out. 

And today there were a fee birds around the garden so out I went.

It was damp and drizzly to start off with but needless to say the rain intensified soon after I started out!

My paths were flooded in places which resulted in soaked through trainers which is tiring on your legs carrying the extra weight in your trainers.

A wet running selfie!

I think I captured the conditions!

I never know what to wear in the rain and cant say I have any specific wet weather apparel. 

I opted for an under layer long sleeved top but I never know whether to go for more or less layers and material? 

My aim for this morning was to cover around 12K but I readjusted that to just getting out for a run and maybe going for 5K or 30 minutes. 

Once I got out and was throughly soaked  I had to convince myself to keep going and turn out some decent mileage. So I pushed myself towards covering a nice round 10K. The thing I find with running in the rain is once your wet your wet, yes the rain is horrible but when your soaked to the bone you kind of get past it.

My other concern with running in the rain is chaffing. Sorry to lower the tone and if you are of a delicate disposition please skip on. 

When running in the rain and once my shorts get wet I find they chaff on my legs something awful. I know its par for the course with wet clothes but it is quite irritating and can get sore and painful over longer distances. I have struggled to figure out how to combat it though and as it is just the odd time when running in the rain it is something I will have to grin and bare but any advice would be gratefully received.

Nice weather for ducks! (Well geese!)