Week 5 of sub20 5K training

Firstly I will be honest, sub20 is not happening, well not anytime soon. If you are reading this blog for advice on how to run a sub20 5K this is not the place for you I'm afraid. However if you by some weird choice of reading materials are looking for a blog about how not to improve your 5K time and run a sub20 5K then welcome this is very much a blog for you!

The start of December this week has seen me embark on an #adventrunning challenge. I am aiming to achieve the standard advent running goal of 30 minutes of exercise, in my case mostly running on every day between the 1st and 25th of December, yes that's right, running everyday on the run up to Christmas and also running on Christmas Day itself. Running on Christmas day I know is not everyone's (including my wife who is yet to be fully happy with my running endeavours) idea of fun but whats 30 minutes before the festivities kick in?

At this time of year it seems everyone is embarking upon an #adventrunning challenge or a festive related #runstreak of some sort. I suppose it is a bit tedious that everyone on social media seems to be doing the same thing and runstreaks are not the unheard of phenomena that they once were.

There seems to be a fair amount of criticism against runstreaks so I thought I would just explain the reasons why I am running everyday for almost a month:

• To challenge my own perceptions of what my limitations are 
• To help offset my festive indulgences 
• To keep me motivated to run during a busy time of the year 
• To get stronger and fitter from the increased amount of running 
• To get into the mindset of having running as an integral part of my schedule ahead of marathon training 

So on to what my training week this week has consisted of:

Monday - Rest day - bracing myself for the runstreak ahead

Tuesday - Runstreak Day 1. 31.45 minutes totaling 5.9K.

Another early morning 6am session consisting of a mile jog to the park, 4x300m sprint intervals followed by 4x200m hill sprints lit up by my head torch.

It was a good session where I felt strong and faster than I have in previous early morning sprint sessions.

The main talking point of the session was a fight I had with a bush, I say fight I ran into it and it attacked me with its prickly thorns, so more of an assault really. How did this happen I hear you ask? It was very dark and I was too busy checking my splits on my phone while jogging on a recovery run.

Honestly, it really is a worse injury than the photo conveys

Wednesday - Runstreak Day 2. 32.11 minutes totaling 6.6K

A 0.8K Warm up followed by a 5K session of 400m sprint/200m easy and 5 minute cool down jog.

Another good session that felt pretty good and I certainly felt some improvements in speed and strength but seriously hampered by lunchtimes pineapple upside down cake.

Thursday - Runstreak Day 3. 37.47 minutes totaling 7.7K

Working form home again I took the opportunity for lunchtime run and followed the same route as I did last week and aimed to knock a few minutes off my time.

I ended up taking over 2 minutes off my previous time with a 7K run in 32.47 which is 4.36min/km, I found this a very pleasing performance as it was a really hilly and tough route and I felt much more comfortable running at a higher pace for a sustained period.

Friday - Runstreak Day 4 - 30 minutes 5.3K a gentle recovery jog, saving my legs for tomorrows parkrun.

Saturday - Runstreak Day 5 - 21.55 parkrun plus plenty of time warming up & cooling down.

I headed off to Ilford Parkrun to put my legs to the test to see if I could translate my good training sessions into a good race time.

Ilford parkrun is my 5th parkrun venue and represents the nearest most convenient flat course at my disposal. Set in the lovely surroundings of Valentines Park its a pretty flat 2 lap route which is probably a little too twisty and turny to be super fast but is an enjoyable route.

My only grievance was the start of the run not kicking off until 9.07! I know its not a big deal and things can easily run behind time but I am quite a stickler for good time management.

The race itself was again a disappointment in terms of race time as I finished with an official time of 21.55. My 5K time was actually about 21.30 as the course went slightly over 5K, this is something I think I need to address as it is not the first time I have ventured a couple of hundred metres over 5K which is an important aspect to address when aiming for a specific time.

My race performance was OK, a first kilometre split of 4 minutes exactly followed by splits between 4.13 and 4.18 upset only by a 4th split of 4.28 caused by a shoelace malfunction.

Again as with my last parkrun at Hackney Marshes the weather was not ideal, although the rain held off it was still pretty windy which would have had an affect on times.

During the run I felt like I was really racing and pushing hard and it is becoming obvious to me now that I am obviously just not fast enough and not doing the right kind of training to deliver me the sub20 time I crave.

I still have two weeks until my sub20 showdown with my running buddies Chris and Tony, so there is work to be done, lets see what I can achieve!

Thank you as always to all the support and advice on my running from blog readers and from Twitter and especially from the incredible #UKrunchat community.
This blog covers my training week of 30 November to 6 December

Week 4 of sub20 5K training

This week was really about realisation, realising that sub20 is not going to happen anytime soon. I know I am pretty far off achieving this goal and the main reason for this is just not being able to put enough training in.

My goal now is still to aim to improve my 5K PB between now and the end of the year as well as starting to turn my attentions towards my first event of 2016 which is likely to be a half marathon in February or March. 

Here is how my training turned out this week, again not a great week of running with too much other stuff going on but I did manage to get out running on 5 occasions. 

Monday - This was my big speed work session of the week, 1K warm up followed by 8x 400m sprints with approximately 200m recovery jog in between and a 1.3K cool down to finish off. 

My splits were 1.34, 1.27, 1.30, 1.29, 1.30, 1.37,1.34 and 1.46.

Splits 3-5 were slightly downhill which were reflected in the slightly quicker times but the last three were also on a slight incline so again reflected in the slightly slower times. 

I found the session really enjoyable but tough going, it was only the last effort that really killed me and left me running on empty.

A friend I spotted by the side of the path while I was catching my breathe on a recovery jog.

Tuesday - Working from home on a rare occasion I took the opportunity to head out for a lunchtime run. In these winter months its great to be able to head out for a run in the daylight and I felt fortunate to have this opportunity. 

I completed a 7K run aiming for keep my pace comfortably below 5min/km which was a challenge as my legs felt pretty tired from Monday's tough session.

Not a bad way to spend a lunch break and a great way to keep me energised through an afternoon of spread sheets.

Wednesday - Having ran on Tuesday during the day it then meant I was able to run on Wednesday morning rather than if I had ran after work on Tuesday I wouldn't have wanted to then do a Wednesday morning session as I like to give myself a bit more rest time. With working late on Wednesday evening a morning session was my only chance for a run so I was again glad to have had the opportunity of working and running form home on Tuesday. 

I have found running at pace in my early morning sessions really tough going so rather than a structured session I opted for a fartlek run. In all honesty the differences in pace were not as vast as they should have been and it still felt like a good session and I finished a 5.3K run with an average pace of 5.25min/km.

Thursday - Rest day

Friday - I needed to squeeze in another early morning session and was unsure of what to aim for as I was conscious of not wanting to plan a certain session and then be disappointed with not being able to complete or execute it due to feeling below par in the early morning.

As things turned out I felt really great when I headed out so I quickly decided to run 3x1km sprints and managed splits of 4.13, 4.12 and 4.20. While I was pretty pleased with these times they are a way off sub 20 5K time, realistically I know I could have gone quicker if it wasn't an early morning run but at the same time I know I am no where near comfortably running sub 4min/km splits which is the requirement of a sub 20 5K. 

Saturday - Away in Cambridge with work so a day off running.

Sunday - After a busy and enjoyable two nights away in Cambridge, the evidence of which you can see above, I headed out for an early evening run felling slightly sluggish from my weekends indulgences.

My only aim was to run around 10K at a decent pace and I soon set upon trying out a new route while trying to crack a sub 50 10K.

Conditions were incredibly windy which definitely hampered my efforts however the wind at my back on the last K felt incredible. In the end I just managed to creep under the 50 minute barrier with a negative split.

Overall a decent week of training and a week where I felt like I got somewhere near a balance of enjoying life, dealing with the pressures and constraints life throws at you but also getting some decent training time in. 

And so to the week ahead where I plan to keep up my running and even kick on a gear as I have decided to take part in #adventrunning which is a runstreak of 30 minutes of running or at least exercise on every day for the first 25 days of December. Its a challenge I am looking forward to, the hardest part will be negotiating with the wife to be bale to get away for half an hour on Christmas day!

This blog covers my training for the week 23-29 November

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

Week 2 of sub20 5K training

Following the success of my week 1 training blog of my journey to sub20 5K I planned to follow this up with weekly updates. However time has crept up with me and I haven't had time to post as regular updates as I would have liked,so although the we are already into week 3 here's an update on how things are going so far...

Week 2 was not quite such a successful week of training so this blog will be more of a reflection on how sometimes despite the best will in the world training just doesn't go to plan and life gets in the way. It's times like these you have to acknowledge life isn't just about running and training, life's there for enjoying and you need to embrace whatever comes your way.

So here we go, be warned this training blog will contain minimal running! 

Monday - I knew training opportunities were going to be at a premium this week as I was away with work. Firstly heading up to Leeds for two nights before flying over to Belfast. With needing to pack for two conferences and only being allowed to take hand luggage unfortunately there was no room for running kit to be packed.

So Monday morning I rose early and headed to my local park for hill sprints. A mile warm up run there, 5x200m/45secs hill sprints and a mile jog home, a good session! At least if the rest of the week was a complete training failure I had got this session under my belt and miles banked in my legs. 

Tuesday - After a long day travelling on Monday luckily it wasn't a too early start so I was able to do an improvised circuit session in my hotel room.

5xsquats/press ups/crunches x5 as a warm up then some circuits of lunges with some ab and core exercises before finishing off with 3x1minute sprinting on the spot. 

I will be honest it was a half hearted, tired session and not really a quality workout, but still better than nothing! 

On Tuesday evening after a long day working at our conference a decent dinner was in order and so we ended up visiting the local meat liquor branch. It was my first visit to this awesome establishment and I thoroughly enjoyed my buffalo chicken burger.

I didn't have my phone on my so photo courtesy of https://pickyglutton.files.wordpress.com

Wednesday - Again not such an early morning start so again I repeated a circuit session, this time a bit shorter with less lunges and more press ups and crunches.

Thursday - A late flight on Wednesday night to Belfast, an early morning start on Thursday and a late night flight back home Thursday evening meant today was assigned to a rest day as there was no chance of anything else!

Friday - I was looking forward to a run today on a well deserved day off but the day didn't work out that way. I was wiped!

Completely kanckered from getting home after 1AM, four really busy intense days out and about, then I had to catch up on some work and not to mention having to go birthday present shopping for my wife!

I also felt pretty shit as a few cooked breakfasts in the week and eating junk food at conference really felt like it had taken its toll even though I had taken it easy and not over indulged myself. It's interesting to feel the effects of swapping my usual healthy snacks with biscuits and eating richer, fattier foods for a few consecutive days. 

Saturday - A 8.7K run, this was a run I entitled my 'post conference I'm really tired, I have been away all week eating crap' run.

Is it just me or do you feel after a period of bad eating or perhaps a period of drinking such as a boozy weekend you need one run to get over it? A run to sweat things out of your system before you get back to normal training? Well this was one of those runs!

Sunday - So Sunday, a chilled out day? A long run? Nope it was the wife's birthday weekend and a trip into London was on the cards and not just any trip a long awaited trip to Choccywoccydoodah. If you haven't heard of this place well let me tell you it is a Chocoholics dream. A small arty chocolatier with a few stores in London and Brighton selling fancy chocolates and serving up chocolatey delights in their cafe.

The mouth watering menu

Their chocolate milkshakes were truly amazing

Our chocolate feast

I cant believe I didn't run on a day when I was eating like this! I really should dedicate a whole blog post to our visit as it was amazing and I would highly recommended a visit if you haven't already been.

So week 2 finished with not a lot of good training and far too much bad eating, but hey ho! Life is for living and for enjoying yourself and sometimes as hard as you try you just can't fit training into your schedule, its just not meant to be.

Week 3 ahead and I am ready to hit it hard and make up for lost ground this week, on wards and upwards!

This blog covers my training the week of 9-15 November 2015

Week 1 of sub20 5K training

So this week was my first specific intensive training for my sub20 5K attempt which is my current challenge with running buddies Chris and Tony.

Having had a week to recover after my Chelmsford marathon PB, a week to ramp it up a bit this was my first week to really kick on.

Heres what my schedule looked like for the week:

Monday - I was so pumped up I really wen for it!

1K warm up, 5x400m intervals averaging around 1.30, 1K cool down, then 10x stair sprints, press ups, 5x stair sprints, press ups, 3x 10 squat jumps a 1K jog home and then a quick abs blast.

I utilised a local walkway over a motorway for my stair sprints and squat jumps.

Tuesday - Early morning circuits - star jumps, crunches, rowing crunches, press ups and plank work. 

Wednesday - The plan was for an early morning speed session but it was tipping it down, dark and cold I can take, dark, cold and wet was a step too far so I opted for staying inside for a circuit session instead. 4 circuits of 25 squats, 25 press ups, 25 crunches and 15 arm dips within a target time of 20 minutes. 

Thursday - Conscious of not just wanting to focus on shorter runs I thought I would pull out an old session I used to do, run for an hour with the aim of covering 13K. I finished with 12.5 which I was happy with as I knew I wasn't in shape to trouble 13 and I went out far too fast on my first K so knew I couldn't sustain my target pace. In the end the second half was a real struggle and was so tough. 

Friday - Rest day - It was much needed as after a tiring week with work and training a bit harder I was feeling knackered. 

Saturday - The plan was for a benchmark 5K race at Hackney Marsh parkrun to get an idea of where we all were with our times. Earlier in the week Tony had unfortunately had to pull out and come Friday I decided to opt out as well as it had been a really long week and I was out for drinks on Friday night. An early morning start for Parkrun on Saturday morning was never going to go that well. 

As it turned out I rather over did things on Friday night so Saturday was a write off for everything not just running. I dint get out of bed until about 3, not my finest hour but you have to let your hair down every once in a while.

Sunday - Not feeling great I just went out for a 'takin' it easy run', I covered 8.5K in 45 minutes which was a 5.15 min/km

Reflecting on the week

Reflecting on the week I think I overdid it a bit and have over trained, my glutes, hamstrings and groins were screaming at me for most of Thursday and Friday. My feeling worse for wear following Friday night I think was also partly due to being a bit run down and tired from the week as well as from the drink. The thought of also feeling some post marathon fatigue also occurred to me, maybe I had pushed too hard too soon after the marathon?

Reflections of a different kind

With the nights and morning for that matter being so dark I have been wearing my Tuvizo reflective gear.

I am not sure what to call it, a belt, a harness, a vest, nothing quite seems to do it justice. It is however very comfortable to run in and I feel like I am really visible to traffic and it does the job of keeping the wife happy about me being out in the dark.

If you are out running in the dark this winter remember to stay safe, wear something reflective, be seen, be safe!

So after a tough but successful week my next week is going to be slightly more challenging as I am away with work from Monday for four nights in Leeds and Belfast. We are only taking hand luggage so no room for running kit which makes me sad. Maybe the rest will do me good and I will just have to try and squeeze in some circuits in my hotel room when I get the chance!