Archive for August, 2006
August 31, 2006 at 10:52 am · Filed under Running
We went back for a re-run of the Nike 5k training session in Regents Park last night. Both of us felt like seasoned pros this time - all the nerves had vanished - and we even felt cocky enough to skip the embarassing group warmup.
I ended up setting off a little behind the main group as I had to give the forerunner chance to pick up a few satellites. So far I have found the Nike chip to be unreliable at recording run times and I can’t stand running without the hope of statistics at the end.
I set off at quite a high pace and was tempted to try and catch a group of girls that were only a little way ahead. There’s that competitive edge coming into play again! I caught them at the 1 k mark but I was wheezing while they were chatting comfortably. Having passed them I had to keep the pace up despite feeling sick and breathless and generally pretty damn awful. This time it really did feel like school sports day. My chest was stoving in, it was so hot. My heart rate for the run averaged at 171 and maxed at 179 bpm so you can tell I was pretty uncomfortable.
The route isn’t very well signposted and as with last weeks attempt at the same route we all got lost at the 4k point. This time it appears I cut off the final corner which is a shame as it means my total distance was only 4.7k and given that I was running so fast I would have liked a proper 5k benchmark. I came in at 0:31:35 which I think would equate to a 0:33:50 time over the full 5k distance. This is my best pace so far, shame it felt so awful.
Have to confess to recovering with rather too much beer and another bag of chips - sinner!
Popularity: 6% [?]
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Tags: Forerunner, Nike
August 28, 2006 at 11:11 am · Filed under Running
Don’t you feel great when you start the day off with a run?
My thighs hurt, I’m struggling to stand unassisted, I think I will probably be stranded in my flat for a day cos I can’t manage the stairs and yet I feel wonderful. What an invigorating sport this running is.
Today I was supposed to be running ultra slow to keep my heart rate at 145 bpm but Shakti was cycling behind me shouting “yalla yalla” so inevitably my pace picked up. Actually my average HR turned out to be 154 bpm which seems pretty low for me but I’m sure this is a result of the lovely cool weather rather than my pace.
I took my favourite 10k route around the West London portion of the Thames, looping around Chiswick, Barnes and Hammersmith Bridges. These are two of the handsome bridges on the route:
Total distance: 10 km
Time: 1:14:37
Avg pace: 7:27
Max HR/Avg HR: 164/154 bpm
Popularity: 5% [?]
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Tags: thames
August 27, 2006 at 6:33 pm · Filed under Rambling
Sorry to keep blogging today, I’ve had a wee drink and now I can’t stop nattering away.
Yesterday I added a little world map image on my blog, it shows the position of all my visitors, the large view can be seen here and you can get your own here. I have little red blobs almost all over the world, I find it fascinating. One nice blob smack in the centre of India, another in New Zealand and a whole smattering across America.
I’m afraid I am completely intrigued, who are you guys? I want to know who that person was in India, what do you do, where do you live, where do you run? Blimey, I may have to remove the map, its throwing up too many questions.
So here is a plea to all viewers that stumble across this blog - please leave me a comment, let me know where you are, what you are up to and where your favourite run is. Put me out of my misery.
Popularity: 10% [?]
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August 27, 2006 at 5:54 pm · Filed under Running
As I was running along this morning, dreaming that my pace might actually increase enough for me to one day consider entering a marathon, it occured to me that I only ever run at one pace, regardless of distance. Yesterday I was using Jeff Galloway’s race predictor to determine my potentail marathon finish time - 6 flippin hours! Grief! I can’t think about entering a marathon until I could complete it in 5, preferably 4 hours and something (I would happily replace the something for anything in that last sentence) but 6 hours is seriously gruelling.
I’ve just surfed on by the runnersworld website and found myself attracted to an article discussing the advantages of heart rate training and particularly the system designed by Phil Maffetone. The link to the article is here, but I think you might need to be a subscriber to view it. The point that attracted my attention was that Phil made the comment that most beginners make the mistake of running all runs at the same pace regardless of duration. He suggests a period of running slowly in order to speed up and recommends a base training period of at least 2 months at a heart rate of 180 - (age), providing you are fit, healthy and have been exercising recently. For me that is a heart rate of 145 bpm, which seems very low for me. I currently find a reasonably comfortable run, averages about 164 bpm. Tomorrow I will make a point of checking out how slow I need to run to stick at 145 bpm.
Other people who have tried this method also found the prescribed heart rate to be painfully slow but those that stuck at it seemed to notice speed benefis in the long run. One woman improved her marathon time from 4:05 to 3:31 which is a major benefit.
I find these radical programs really intimidating. I run really slow as it is, suggesting I run at 145 bpm would see me practically walking and then I’d be back at square one. On the other hand, I see that my current heart rate is pretty damn high for an easy training run and maybe I would really benefit from trying something new. Hay ho I suppose this is what makes sports science so interesting - no hard facts - its all trial and error.
Popularity: 8% [?]
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Tags: runnersworld
August 27, 2006 at 4:50 pm · Filed under Running
I didn’t run yesterday, not sure why, I was feeling a bit under the weather I suppose and lethargic. I felt really restless by the end of the day though and nearly took myself out for a jog at midnight. Trouble is my routes aren’t really suitable for solitary night time runs. I made sure I was up nice and early this morning to ensure I got some running in.
I went out to Richmond Park with the intention of joining the Nike training run but I miss judged the distance to the start. After walking 6k and finding I was still miles off the start point, I decided to just turn around and run home again.
Its a slightly hillier route than I’m used too but I spent as much time descending as climbing so I still recorded my standard 35 mins for a 5k. I hope I’ll be able to get this down to 30 mins eventually. Richmond Park is quite a good area for running, you can see from the satellite image that their are plenty of route options across the park, I reckon I could get loads of different length routes here. I feel pretty lucky to live around here - I have some really scenic running and cycling routes on my doorstep, which isn’t bad for London.
It was a bit of a lazy week, I have felt a bit rough, but fortunately I haven’t actually come down with anything so I should be back on track next week. Tomorrow I plan to cram in a 10k run, Shakti has agreed to cycle alongside me with the Stumpjumper, she seems really comfortable on that bike.
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Week Commencing
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Distance
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Time
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Av Pace
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21/08/06
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13.03k
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1:31:46
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7:02
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14/08/06
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25.5k
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3:05:40
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7:16
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07/08/06
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11.4k
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1:23:24
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7:24
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31/07/06
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21.3k
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2:40:50
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7:33
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August Totals
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71k
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8:41:40
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7:20
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Popularity: 7% [?]
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Tags: Nike, stumpjumper
August 24, 2006 at 10:13 pm · Filed under Running
Ok that title is a bit melodramatic but I was certainly a bit disturbed on the day of my first Nike training run. It ocurred to me that I had somehow managed to voluntarily sign myself up for an event that could only prove to be as horrendous as school sports days. Horrible childhood memories came flooding back to me - I was the fat kid, somehow bullied into representing the form in the 1500m event. I always found myself lapped while my chest was caving in like a furnace.
The anxiety levels built up during the day, not helped by the tea-break crew who thoroughly enjoyed winding me and Occassional Gym Buddy (OGB) up. With two hours to go I was sat at my desk with a chronic stitch and I hadn’t even started to exert myself.
In rather an apprehensive mood OGB and myself wandered along to Regents Park to meet up with the Nike training team. We went disguised as regular park strollers so that we could walk straight on by if it all looked too terrifying for words. Turned out to be not so bad, just a tent and a handful of guys wearing what appeared to be their mother’s cami-knickers.
After signing up we were dragged into a warmup run. This is not part of my regular training schedule, I do not believe in warm ups. If the forerunner isn’t switched on and recording the distance and pace, then I’m not interested. Hopping and striding sideways just exhausts me before I’ve even started and it feels way too much like PE.
We got to start soon enough. OGB did his best to stick with me but in the end found it too painful and had to spurt on ahead. Thankfully that meant I could drop back down to a more comfortable pace without feeling like I was holding him back. I never understand how people manage to run with others, its so difficult to run at someone elses pace.
Regents Park is actually really pretty, I’ve never been there before. It’s a good place to run. The route turned out to be 4.97k and completely flat. I ran most of it alone. There were two girls ahead that seemed to be using me as their pacer. They would set off at a fair old pace and continue running for about 200 yards and then drop down to a walk. When I approached and they got within earshot of my puffing, plodding running machine, they’d glance at each other and shoot off again. This was repeated about 5 times, each time I was about to pass them they’d just shift up a gear and escape my wheezing form. Half way through the run the skies opened and the rain started bucketing down. My tormentors dived into the loos for cover and I took my opportunity and ran for the lead, (This isn’t a race remember - just a training run - I can’t help being so damn competitive). Deege on The Getting Buff blog has a funny entry on the nature of the competitive spirit.
Don’t you just love running in the rain, it makes everything so much more bearable. Pretty grotty at the end though, I was so wet that I chilled down really quickly.
Good fun event in the end. I’ll go again. Maybe next time I will try and avoid the lure of the pub at the end and the chips on the way home.
Popularity: 6% [?]
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Tags: Forerunner, Nike, OGB
August 22, 2006 at 11:19 am · Filed under Running
I’m off to the gym this afternoon so I’ll see if I can copy a few of these moves without breaking my neck:
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August 20, 2006 at 7:06 pm · Filed under Routes, Running
I really enjoyed the run this morning, I kept it steady and it was raining lightly so all in all I felt pretty comfortable. I turned the usual Chiswick and Hammersmith Bridge loop into a figure of 8 run to bring up to exactly 10k.
I had been a bit worried about my knee which still seemed wobbly while I was putting on my shoes but it stood up well to the run. All the same I have taken Steve’s advice and ordered some Glucosamine to repair my cartilage. I’ve got Shakti some too but I can’t remember if she’s got any cartilage left to repair after her op.
This weeks totals show a big improvement, I actually made it to the gym a few times to do some interval training on the treadmill. I’m taking the training seriously because the Nike training runs start next week, it will be the first time I’ve run with a group.
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Week Commencing
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Distance
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Time
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Av Pace
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14/08/06
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25.5k
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3:05:40
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7:16
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07/08/06
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11.4k
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1:23:24
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7:24
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31/07/06
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21.3k
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2:40:50
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7:33
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August Totals
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58k
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7:09:54
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7:24
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Popularity: 16% [?]
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Tags: knee, Nike, thames
August 19, 2006 at 9:59 pm · Filed under Running
Jack Osbourne - Adrenalin Junkie 2 has just started up again. I really enjoyed the first series, and found myself thoroughly motivated by his physical transformation . This evening chronicled his attempt to complete the ridiculously tough Marathon Des Sables, a 151 mile endurance race across the Sahara. I really can’t imagine why anyone would contemplate this event, it is clearly going to be unpleasant. Jack appeared to go into this race fairly blind. His preparations for the event included ocassional treadmill running for a maximum of 2 hours (10 miles). What sort of nutter would head out into the desert with such inadequate preparation? Predictably he didn’t finish, plenty of others did though which is probably more surprising.
In contrast to this gruelling event, my morning run just pales into insignificance, mind you I still managed to make enough fuss about it, huffing and puffing for the first 3k. From the splits it shows that I set off pretty speedy for me and only really started to enjoy myself when I slowed up and the rain started.
I’m being troubled with knee issues today. I don’t think they are actually related to the running, they give way on me a bit when I’m cycling, if I push too high a gear, but today I seemed to exacerbate the problem when I pulled my shoes off without undoing the laces. Pushing the shoe on without undoing the laces, hurts too, so suppose I will have to commit to not being so lazy. I’m a bit worried about my run tomorrow though, I was hoping to try for a 10 k run but I don’t want to injure myself.
Popularity: 5% [?]
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Tags: knee
August 19, 2006 at 8:45 am · Filed under Technical stuff
I couldn’t wait any longer, I had to find out what all the hype surrounding YouTube is about. That canadian girl started me off with a link to a haunting film about a giant little girl puppet. While I was there I came across my fave advert - the Tango/Bravia spoof:
I only caught it on the telly once, so I don’t know if Sony kicked up a stink about copyright infringements, and had it shifted.
Popularity: 10% [?]
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