Laura's Running Blog

Yelling intervals.  Second interval on first set was hard, but then I hit the pace on second set, so must have been a matter of warming up.

No idea of pace as I'm still waiting for my new Garmin to arrive -- hopefully next week!

So this is my first week on this new blog site.  I was/am a member of another site, but I like the simplicity of this one.  The other site is busy, both in terms of content and number of users, so it just feels...well...crowded and a bit fiddly to use.  Too much information.  I like this one as it really seems focussed on running, miles and results.  I've read a few of the blogs, and here's what I've noticed so far:

A lot of members live in Utah.  Utah looks like a beautiful place to run. 

People are generally faster than me.  Some of you are really fast.  I'm hoping that will inspire me to raise my game a bit.

Some of you have large families and are still really fast (including mums of 4-7 children) which means I can no longer use my one child as an excuse for being slow or not to train! 

Quick 5K on the treadmill today at 8:51 AP.

The weather has taken a turn for the worse (that's not why I did the run on the treadmill, it's not that bad!) but I am contemplating gloves and wooly hat....in MAY.. and there's rain.  Kind of reminds me of how hard it can be to keep the running going through the winter here in England.  But also reminded me that it's easy to go running when you're in the mood.  The challenge is having the discipline to do it even when you don't feel like it.  Thought I wasn't in the mood today, but got in the mood after a few minutes.  More miles in the bank.

Fitness seems to be improving just from having done a bit more running this week.  Did easy 2.5 to gym then  2.5YD intervals on the way back.  Didn't really push hard on the intervals and still no clue of my pace but maybe 70% effort level if I'm honest-- can't wait for that Garmin to arrive.  

AM about 2 miles

PM about 3miles

Jog clubs that I lead, so nice super easy miles for me.  (I just stand there with the watch while they do the intervals and hill reps!)  Am debating doing a slightly longer run back to the train station after the morning ones and see how I hold up later that day when I have to get out there again.  Probably be fine but had to get back early today to sell a bike. 

Feel good going into the week ahead.  Motivated and inspired by my friend Vicki's 10K race today (44:31 on hills...2 minutes faster than my best time as my 10K needs work). I'm a bit envious along with motivated. PB* jealousy --  not good, I know.  She totally earned it!

*PB=PR (Personal Best is UK version of Personal Record in the USA, but you knew that already)

Adrenaline Junkie session, Richmond to Battersea.  About 5 miles.  Felt hard to start with although managed to hit pace for the sprints.  About 5 miles.  Garmin has shipped so should be here soon...

At the track with club.  Spurred on by Jo.  She's about 2 seconds faster than me, although it seems I can out-sprint her.

Garmin is here.  Can't wait to try it this weekend.

30 minute of hill intervals on this treadmill called the Curve, which doesn't use electricity.  It's runner driven.  It took a bit of getting used to, but I kind of love/hated it.  I mean, it was really hard, but also made hills a bit more fun as I watched the pace reader go up as I did the hill sprints.  Well, not much over 9:00 pace to be honest and the rest periods I was practically walking.  Seriously it took almost 40 minutes to do 5K.  But I have to admit it felt a bit more like running up a hill than a traditional treadmill.  

It's certainly a session I'd like to keep in my plan each week.  I should probably, eventually, try with longer intervals than a minute as the half I've entered has hills so it would give me an edge.  

Too bad this session has to be less than 24 hours after track work.  And followed by strength and conditioning.  

Oh well.  Sats and Suns I'm running pretty easy at the moment.

Glad I did this as felt like going home to bed instead of training. 

To and from gym.  Finally have some paces.  New Garmin!  So 8:28 easy on the way there and a brisker 7:54 on the way back.  For the purposes of this site I'm calling 8:00 marathon pace and anything much over that as "easy pace".  New benchmarks.

What's missing, obviously, from my training at this point is longer runs, but should be getting up there soon...

AM 3.28  PM about 3.  Jog clubs, easy miles for me.  Finally some sun, too!

At 9:30 pace on treadmill.  Not a great start to the week.  Took Monday off (as usual) but body felt so good after that I just couldn't bring myself to do my tempo run on Tuesday either.  Then today I ran half of usual Wednesday mileage, but at least it was a run.

Very busy this week and sorta stressed.

Club at track.  Almost didn't go but did go and ran well (Person of the Day award!)  400 in 83sec doing 5 reps of them.  Knee, hip, hamstring, which have been bugging of late, feeling much better.  It seems to go in and out.  Am sure it's something to do with SI joint popping in and out of alignment, but can't put my finger on it.  So random. 

To gym at 8:51 pace and back at 7:43 pace (a tad faster than last week).

Didn't managed to run yesterday due to work and appalling weather.  Short run tomorrow then on holiday and will probably take the opportunity to just rest before kicking off 4 month HM training program in earnest June 1st!