Run after Beavers: Janathon day 20

If I could count helping at Beavers for Janathon I would, because I sure as heck didn't fancy exercising afterwards. But I did anyway, found it best to get changed as soon as I got back so I didn't have the opportunity to procrastinate and end up doing 5 minutes of sit ups.

I decided to run to Wilbury Hills in Letchworth, which is about 5 miles and on lit roads so I wouldn't need a headtorch. I also decided to try out my new trainers.

Oh my goodness,  I forgot to mention yesterday that I have new trainers! I have new trainers, Brooks Glycerin 11 in bright blue.

In view of the new trainers I also decided to make the pace easy and focus on foot strike and that sort of technical stuff I pretend to know about.

The pace was about 9:40 average and I ran 5.7 miles, which I'm happy about.

Check out my 5.7 mi Run on Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/243785583  

Keeping it together: Janathon day 15

Halfway (almost) through Janathon and I'm still holding myself together, just.

This morning I had my usual Pilates class. We did a lot of stretching, which felt really good at first until the stretches progressed into a hundred with out-turning knees and "STRAIGHT LEGS SARAH, I know you can do it". I definitely know about my glutes, inside thigh and knee muscles, and shoulders. Not so much core work today so I will do something ab-focused tomorrow.

This evening was run club. I was prepared to do a run-walk with the beginners and then a run alone later, but Pete said he would run with the beginners so I could do my planned 5 miler (thank you Pete!). I ran with Tracey, Ed, and John, who are all much faster than I am but slowed down tonight so we could have a social run (for me it was a tempo run!). It was really good and we chatted the whole way about challenges for this year and events people are doing. My shins were hurting before we even set off (I desperately need new trainers and as soon as I have written this blog I am going to browse Sweatshop online) and I thought my knees were going to give way at one point, but I managed the run without feeling exhausted. Which I'm really pleased about. Apart from the leg pain. I think I need a massage or to get my foam roller out. Both those ideas terrify me.

Speed training

Tuesday run club was speedwork at both sessions.

At the beginners session we ran to a local underpass and jogged down the slopes and then attempted some speed up the inclines. The beginners need a bit of encouragement to run fast. I usually use the "shout loudly" approach, although I was quite kind this time because we had some new club members and I didn't want to put them off. I didn't really achieve much speed, because I was at beginners in a "support role".

At the intermediates session, we ran to a local open road and did 4 x 200 m sprints followed by 2 x 400 m sprints. I don't like sprint intervals so I didn't really give it my all, blaming my lack of effort on "post-race recovery". The 400 m intervals weren't all that bad really, we ran 300 m and then had to "kick" with 100 m to go, and I did manage that OK.

Wore the New Trainers again, they are starting to feel like part of my foot rather than a tight uncomfortable lump of plastic.

Low HR recovery run in new trainers

I felt quite good on Monday after Baldock Beast, my legs weren't stiff and the only ache I felt was in my glutes, which is a good sign because it means I'm finally using my arse when I run.

I was at a loose end in the evening, my husband usually runs on Mondays but he was having a rest day because his legs are hurting him (I keep telling him not to run so fast...). I decided to go for a recovery run, keeping heart rate under 140 bpm.

My aim was between 4 and 5 miles, and I ran 4.8 miles in the end, to Arlesey and back (at running club, we call this The Arlesey Loop, and we hate it because it involves running to Arlesey, no other reason).

My first mile was a bit fast, and HR jumped to 160, perhaps I had some race speed in my legs still. I managed to slow myself down and ran the next 4 miles at 10-10:30 min/mile pace. HR was much lower than 140, sometimes I was struggling to reach 130, and I put this down to tiredness and eating my tea about 90 mins earlier (I had horrible heart burn and reflux, delightful). And being in Arlesey.

I wore my new Adidas Supernovas to wear them in a bit more, they are feeling less tight than last week (they hurt my foot a bit towards the end of the club run on Thursday), but I don't want to risk a run longer than 6 miles in them just yet. I might not wear them for MK Marathon in fact, my pair of New Balance have miles left in them and would be OK. We'll see...

A Challenge: Beat The Husband

My husband started running in January, just a mile or so at first, and now he's running 5 km. I'm very pleased he's enjoying running, but he's annoying the hell out of me because he's so damn fast. He won't take any advice about varying his runs and doing a longer slower paced run, and he won't wear my Garmin so he can accurately see what pace he's running. He's just irritating!

Tonight he was home late from work (so I missed run club). He went straight out for his "fast long loop" run, as he calls it, 3 miles in 22 minutes tonight. I'm impressed he has the energy to run straight away after a day working in (and commuting to and from) London, but he finds it best. Anyway, he got back from his run and challenged me to run the same distance in the same time after my Pilates class. Well, I do like a challenge.

I decided to break in my new Adidas Supernovas, since it's about time I started using them. I was feeling a bit sick at the end of Pilates, lots of getting up and down in the class had made me feel dizzy, plus I'd eaten before I went. But I set off on my first mile anyway. The shoes are so light, I was stumbling at first because I wasn't used to how they landed (they feel narrower than my old pairs), and I was able to lift my knees much higher to run, which unbalanced me too.

First mile completed in 7:54, not bad. The second mile started down Hitchin Road, which is downhill. I was flying at this point, despite not really being able to see properly. My jacket was flapping around and I had sweat dripping down my face. Lovely. But I hit Valerian Way at pace, and raced past some chap with his headphones in, who made a startled "hmmmph" noise as I passed him. Second mile in 7:18, which is my fastest mile for about a year! I was running out of steam and road at this point, so only managed another half mile (7:15 pace).

2.5 miles in 18:49 is pretty good for me. Extrapolate it to 3 miles and I'm only 30 seconds behind my husband. HR averaged around the high 150s (although it was at 165+ for the last 1.5 miles), which shows I might have been able to give more, but nausea, dizziness, and sweat-blindness didn't really help. Love the shoes though, I reckon it's down to them!

(PS, no knee pain!)