Day 6 Pre Rugby Run

Today's run: Morning - Gentle/Recovery - pavement - 5.16km - 30.23mins

Today as it is a Saturday I had considered heading over to my local parkrun as I haven't done one in months, but as it has been rainy the last few days I decided to give it a miss as it will be wet and muddy. 

So instead I opted for a short little gentle run ahead of a planned longer run tomorrow. I headed out this morning so I had plenty of time to crack on with a few weekend chores before settling down for an afternoon in front of the TV watching a great sporting lineup. The line up this afternoon including Wales v New Zealand and England v Samoa in the rugby autumn Internationals and Manchester United v Arsenal in what promises to be a tasty premiership fixture.

I chose my running top this morning with the rugby in mind.

A little something to provide some extra motivation for my run!

The run itself was very straightforward a gentle little jog round trying to maintain a nice steady pace. My legs did feel somewhat stiff and struggled to get going until after a few kms but towards the end I was feeling good.

My only slight injury concern is a bit of a niggle with my back as it is feeling painful and stiff in the mornings and takes some time warming up to feel normal. I am sure its nothing major but I will keep an eye on it and make sure I stretch it and warm up properly before each run. 

Thank you for reading this short and sweet post to read further about my runstreak challenge please read here and for my latest incredibly exciting running news please read yesterdays Day 5 post. 

Day 5 A momentous day

Today's run: Evening - Hill sprints & fartlek - pavement - 5km - 26.23 minutes

Day 5 of my runstreak turned out to be a momentous day but not for my actual run.

Lets get the run out of the way first, I went out on a pretty miserable, dark, cold and rainy evening and did just 5K of a few hill sprints and some fartlek around the park.

Again I really enjoyed my running and felt really strong and fast with plenty of energy in my legs.

I really feel this runstreak is suiting me! 

The big event of the day was not the run though but a telephone call I received in the morning. The call was to inform me that I have been shortlisted in 50 runners to attend boot camp in Birmingham next week for Runners World's target Asics 26.2!

If you don't know about the challenge you can find out about it here. Basically it is a competition to find 5 runners over 5 different marathon finishing times with the prize being VIP entry into the 2015 Paris Marathon. 

I can't believe that out of the many thousands and thousands of runners that must have entered I have been lucky enough to be selected in the 50 runners for boot camp! 

It is going to be amazing! Regardless of whether I get through to the final 5 to go to Paris even the boot camp stage next week will be great, to train with some specialist running coaches and to meet with other runners.

I couldn't believe how excited I was once I received the call, I was shaky and couldn't concentrate at all, lets just say I didn't get much work done for the remainder of the day! 

I don't know as yet the full details of what to expect from boot camp next week but I have already planned my journey to Birmingham and booked my train tickets. It is going to be a long day! But worth it!

I will be leaving home at around 5am to get to the training venue for 9am and wont get home in the evening till around 9pm! 

My training plans for the week ahead have all gone out of the window now! I still plan to maintain my runstreak but will be taking it easier as my focus is now being in peak condition for whatever lies ahead at boot camp. 

Thank you for reading and thanks for all the messages of congratulations for Asics 26.2 as well. Well done to everyone lucky enough to be selected as well and I look forward to meeting you all! 

Please remember my runstreak is in support of Pancreatic Cancer raising awareness for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month, if you would like to donate please visit my JustGiving page here.

Day 4 Starting to feel the strain

Today's run: Evening - Long(er), slow(er) and steady - pavement - 8.12km - 42.33mins

First off I must say I am loving this runstreak at the moment! Although I am only just starting off I am really enjoying the continued focus of running everyday and it is having a great affect on my running and I am probably enjoying my running as much if not moret han ever!

Today's run I was expecting to be tough after yesterdays morning run and evening boot camp session but in actual fact it wasn't too bad at all. 

Although I felt a bit stiff this morning I felt I had recovered well from yesterdays exertions. The double session yesterday definitely made me feel the strain, the early morning run was a drain having to run so early in the morning and my energy for the evening boot camp session was pretty drained. 

Boot camp last night consisted of a lot of skipping, I am not a great fan nor actually a great skipper. Although it is a great cardio exercise I unfortunately do not possess the right levels of coordination for it to be a particularly effective exercise and I tend to usually both look and feel like a hyperactive spider in a constant state of half running, half falling in a perpetual cycle of almost tripping over all of his legs. 

The main circuits of last nights training was a split circuit of two sections, firstly using an exercise step, 30 seconds of tappers, bomb jumps and side lunges (all leg intensive exercises designed to build dynamic power) followed by alternate skipping sets repeated 4 times. The second circuit was then again using the exercise step this time a combination of 30 seconds of incline pressups, tricep dips and decline pressups again intersected with skipping and again repeated 4 times. 

So all in all 8 sections of skipping! I was sick of holding the damn skipping rope come the end!

My energy levels particularly in my legs were clearly diminished on my usual performance and I could feel my legs at times just not having anything left to give. I know its all good as pushing tired legs to keep going when they have had enough will only make them stronger. 

I started off aiming to progress slow and steadily but soon warmed up nicely and felt stronger as the run went on. 

My route was planned to take me around 7 or 8km and in the end I completed 8.12km with a decent pace of just over 5 minutes per km with a strong and fast finish.

As well as the obvious physical challenges running for so many consecutive days posses there are also the more practical implications such as needing a high amount of kit.

Earlier this week I was forced into doing an emergency batch of washing made up almost entirely of running socks! Almost 50 socks all washed and ready to wear most of which to be fair have seen better days!

So thats day 4 done and I am already feeling the benefits of my more intense training as I feel stronger, faster and fitter.

Day 3 Early morning run and Evening boot camp

Today's run: Moring (EARLY!!!) - Gentle/Recovery - pavement - 5km - 30.51mins

The first big challenge of my runstreak, combining Wednesday evening boot camp with a run. The only thing for it was a seriously early pre-work run.

I often run in the mornings but usually its either at the weekend so therefore I don't need to get up that early or its heading off from my gym in London so by the time I have commuted into London I have been awake an hour or two and feel pretty alive and awake.

But this morning I was up early and headed out for a run straight away.

I got up at 5.30, had some water, half a banana and some coffee got myself changed and got ready to train. From previous experience I have learnt early morning running is a little easier after a bit of a warm up so I jumped on my exercise bike for a minute or two to get the blood pumping in my legs. After a quick loosen up and stretch I headed out...

The last time I ran at this hour was in the summer of 2013 when I was training for my one and only triathlon. 

It was dark when I headed out but not that cold, I had wrapped up in abase layer and a woolly hat and didn't feel cold but could feel a slight chill on my neck and face.

My legs didn't feel too bad at all as I started off and I tried to maintain a slow, steady pace with the aim of knocking off my 5Ks in 30 minutes.

The experience of the run was refreshing as it was so quiet, still and peaceful out on the streets with hardly any traffic and only the odd hardy dog walker.

One of the aims of my runstreak was to push my self out of my comfort zone and to make me run more than I normally would and to run in different situations outside of my normal routines and this run certainly falls into this category.

It is something I should do more often though as I found the peace and quiet very relaxing and enjoyed the accompaniment of early morning bird song.

I was thankful that it wasn't raining as yesterday was a very rainy day with the rain still falling when I went to bed last night. Yesterdays rain had mixed with the abundance of fallen leaves to create some slippery patches on my route which were tricky to identify in the early morning darkness. Other than this though the run was very enjoyable and rewarding and I completed my 5K in 30.51 feeling good and invigorated.

After an early morning run a decent bit of breakfast is definitely in order!

I still managed to head out to work at a reasonable time safe in the satisfaction of having safely completed day 3 and the pride of having had an enjoyable productive early morning.

Thanks for reading, I hope this goes someway to perhaps inspire you to an early morning run? 

Day 2 - Run to the hills

Today's run: Evening - Intensity/Hills - pavement - 5km - 23.33mins

Day 2 of my runstreak consisted of an evening run after a morning weight session in the gym.

My run was a high intensity shorter run up and down some hills. The road just off where I live is a nice dipped road with a decent hill coming out of each side which although not overly steep provides a decent slope to run up at pace.

The elevation graph from my mapmyrun provides an idea of the elevation changes and it is a common place for runners to train using a variety of different routes up and down the hills.

I was aiming for a decent pace of below 5 minute/km so I was really happy to finish with a split pace of 4.41 minute/km.

Tomorrow will be the first real challenge of my runstreak as I head out for an early morning run before work and then go to boot camp in the evening. Not only will it be tough running the morning after I have ran in the evening but also training twice in a day on top of maintaining my runstreak will probably be hard!

So day 2 completed and my first run done in my new running tops courtesy of Pancreatic Cancer UK who I am raising money for while aiming to raise awareness of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. My JustGiving page is available here if you would like to donate.

Thanks for reading, thanks for following and thanks for the support!