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!

First run in 5 days as I've been on holiday.  Legs felt rested but rest of body seemed to be tight due to lack of movement for the vacation time.  2.38 miles were at 7:29 pace so getting faster each week!  2.38 at easy pace which I didn't time.  

5K race on Monday night, hopefully, so will be interested to see where I stand.

3 in the am, 3 in the pm.  All easy as I was leading jog groups!  Lovely weather at last.  Looking forward to local 5K tomorrow night.  Haven't entered yet, but you can enter on the spot.  Nice flat 2- laps.  Will probably be tired on a Monday night but will do my best!

Nice friendly and actually quite big race in my local London Park.  Lots of club runners -- a real running nerd fest (in a good way )--  and fast field.   I imagine the winner will post a 15:xx.  This is a series that takes place on Monday nights throughout the summer, so I am using them kind of as training runs to practice pushing myself and dealing with race nerves.  I always get really nervous at these 5Ks for some reason, even though nobody really knew I was doing this and there was nothing at stake at all.  I just wanted to do well.

Easy enough course.  Totally pancake flat  2 laps on wide, traffic free park paved paths.  Warm with a breeze, so perfect conditions, really  

I ran 22:02.   Not quite as quick as I hoped, but this is my fastest time since 2007 (still a minute and 7 secs off PB ...how did I ever run that fast?). I put on a spurt at the end for a sub 22:00, amazingly finding a new gear I didn't realize I had, but not soon enough. Arg.  Those 2 seconds.  Oh well.  Maybe next week,  now I know the course.  

 Not a fast time, but 7th woman over 30.  9th woman overall.  214 runners, not sure how many women.  Missed out n a "top 7" medal by 2 places.

To and from gym.  Way back a little quicker than way there.  Hot weather, but I'm not complaining.

Feeling a bit off form this week.  After the race on Monday I felt nauseated and it has continued on through the week.  Can't just be from running, as usually that kind of sick feeling goes away after a couple of hours...and surely I can race 5K at 7:05 pace without a total body shutdown!  So maybe a bug?  Skipped my tempo run on Tuesday and also did not run today as feeling wipe out.  That coupled with overdoing it on the strength work and quads feeling literally (and I do mean literally) like I've run a marathon. 

Gotta start getting in some lower intensity longer runs (at least one a week, anyway) to mix things up a bit!  Am thinking running 5-6 times a week is, as usual, going to be too much for me and aim for a good for.  Would love to get a spin class in there somewhere, but can't seem to find the time slot. 

Oh, I was 9th female on Monday night.  214 runners total (not sure how many women).  The top 7 get medals so I just missed out. 

Slow to the gym.  On the way back I did a different session.  Runner Faster intervals. AP was only 7:54 as I guess there were longer recoveries, but the faster intervals were some of the hardest/fastest I've done and I struggled a bit.  

2m am and 2m pm.  Hardly ran any of the miles of my jog groups myself as I was standing there timing them in out and backs, shuttle runs, hill reps, etc.

45 seconds slower than last week, and it felt harder.  The one redeeming factor is that the top 7 women get medals in this race and I came 5th!

Hip and knee bothering me in last mile. 

After last week's race I felt nauseated and it lasted for days.  Again this week, about 3 hours after the race I felt really sick and had the worst night's sleep because of it.  Not sure what is going on there.  I've had this before but not this bad.  Almost not worth it, medal or no medal! 

Knee bothering me so just 2 easy am and pm with jog club.  Supposed to be doing a 10K in a month.  Half marathon at end of summer looking uncertain now.  Have bought a knee strap.  Sadly could not do my Mon night race series tonight.  It was only a 2miler, too, which I was looking forward to.  Will attempt a run tmw.

Jog clubs.  3 in the am, 3 in the pm, approx.

My knee is still bothering me after running, but responding to anti inflammatories.  I feel sacral/hip pain,too.  Went to a physio who diagnosed patella tendonosis, which is what I thought, but said hips, legs, spine, etc. all symmetrical and good.  So over use, not structural.  

Well, the physio said no running, but not too bad so I was a bit naughty and tried 3 miles.  Seem to have lost all my fitness and just really struggling suddenly.  Weird.  Wish I brought my Garmin as maybe pace was good.

Knee felt fine running.  Painful about 1/2hour post.  Then OK again.  Possibly from anti-inflamms masking symptoms.

Looking into spinning to maintain fitness and build some cardio strength.  Went about 10 days ago and it was good.  Could do everything except stand up and pedal.  Sitting down was OK.

Not sure what the plan is going forwards now, as am supposed to be doing a 10K pacing some other runners for a finish, as well as a charity 5K in July.  I guess I'll do those but not race them.  But I reckon the Sept half is out of the question now.  Bummer.

3 easy in the am, 3 in the pm.  Jog club.  Felt strong in the morning.

I don't think it's quick accurate to call these "easy" miles.  But determined to put in something close to 2/3rds the distance of the 10K I am doing on the 20th, I managed just over 5 miles in the heat of the day at a dismal pace.  But miles they were, so there you go.  Felt fine afterwards. Just a bit hot out there today.  

This was actually a charity fun run -- Race for Life 5K. Very hot out there for runnings (high 80s in the sun) and I put no pressure on myself and ended up 9 minute miling my way around.  Knee is not great.  Have been going to spinning a bit, but generally the summer heat and bum knee hae put me in lazy mode.

Race

First casual run for a while.  2.36 miles to test my knee.  Seems OK.  Still possible I could do the Ealing Half marathon on Sept 29th and just go for the finish rather than a good time.  Will keep the option open.  Felt strong today  -spin must have worked --  although not sure of pace.  May have been slow.  

On the curve

Hm.  Decent 5.5 with no problems and felt strong.  Am reconsidering Ealing Half.  Will press on and leave my options open.  At least I know I'm 10K ready potentially, anyway!