This post originally appeared on Ben’s old blog, Running From the Physio.

Late yet again for my training review. This week (not the week I’m writing about) has been pretty difficult and tiring, so there was no mid-week topic blog either. Bit gutted, but hopefully I’ll keep on top of it better next week.

Tuesday: 3.09 miles @ 9:07 min/mile
I managed to get out before work again, for the second week in a row, and had a pretty good run. I still don’t find it easy to wake up that bit earlier to get myself out, but it is definitely nice to then have the evening free. On this occasion, it was even more important to make sure I ran in the morning, as I had a sports massage booked for the early evening, and I figured I was unlikely to want to go straight out for a run after that!

Wednesday: 2.20 miles @ 8:10 min/mile
This was one of those odd, and rare, runs in which I felt like I was running slowly, but in fact when I looked at my time, it turned out that I had run pretty quick! The sports massage from the day before only really showed in terms of highlighting how much my calf muscles ache (massage was limited to quads and hamstrings!)

Thursday: 6.35 miles @ 9:24 min/mile
On a cold Thursday evening, I managed to drag myself out, wearing three layers on top, and gloves! I generally don’t like wearing gloves (or a hat) to run, but on this occasion I needed them. I consciously slowed myself down a couple of times during the run, as it felt like I was running away from myself a little. My knee niggled a little bit, but nothing serious. This was my last run in January, and for the third month in a row, I set a new record for distance: in total I clocked up 89 miles during the month.

Saturday: Parkrun, 5km (3.11 miles) @ 7:48 min/mile
For the first time in quite a long time, I ran with someone else at the parkrun. One of my mates from football came along for his first time (though he ran two or three half marathons last year, so he’s no newbie to running). He hadn’t run for a few months over the winter, and doesn’t generally run such a short distance, so it was a little bit slower than I had been running recently, but it was fun to run with someone else. I peeled off halfway through the second lap and finished the run on my own, and given that the time was still under eight-minute miles, I can’t complain that it was slow!

Sunday: 10.20 miles @ 9:25 min/mile
The furthest I have ever run! My previous furthest was 10.1, and when I initially mapped this route out planning it, this was also going to be about 10.1. But, given that I was feeling okay at the end, I added on a small stretch to just give myself that little boost of knowing that it was the furthest! Okay, so the next weekend has 11 miles planned anyway, but still. I was aching pretty badly for a lot of this run, but beyond that I was actually surprisingly okay. Maybe my body is really starting to learn to keep itself together.

This post originally appeared on Ben’s old blog, Running From the Physio.

A week in which I probably certainly ran too fast…

Tuesday: 3.09 miles @ 8:53 min/mile
For the first time in a while, I went for a run before work. I am very much not a morning person, so this is usually a big no no. However, juggling running, baby duties and my wife’s exercise regime is becoming increasingly difficult, so I thought I had better try and compromise. I’m aiming to do all of my two and three mile weekday runs in the mornings, but it might take a while to convince my body to agree. The run itself was reasonably good, my calf muscles suffered a little bit due to the lack of a warm-up in the cold morning air.

Wednesday: 2.20 miles @ 8:32 min/mile
This run was also meant to be before work. It wasn’t. I’d struggled to get to sleep, and as a result I was unwilling to give up my duvet in the morning. In retrospect I guess I could have taken it with me, but I guess my wife would have been less than happy with this arrangement! I then had a pretty long, full-on, day at work and had absolutely no desire to go for a run. Given all of that, I was not expecting good things. But running can surprise, and this run was like a little hug bubble. I slipped into a “zone” and just ran, shaking off all of my daytime worries. This so rarely happens that I was sorely tempted to keep running after my two-mile lap, but I resisted, figuring that my training plan works both ways.

Thursday: 5.97 miles @ 8:37 min/mile
As I described on my RunKeeper description for this run: “Either my recovery week has worked miracles, or it’s really messed up my timing.” This was the fifth run in a row in which I ran sub-9 minute miles. Which isn’t particularly fast, but it is certainly faster than I’m meant to be running on my training runs. Still, the run was injury- and niggle-free, so I’m not complaining.

Saturday: 3.14 miles @ 7:15 min/mile
Not a parkrun. As I was volunteering at my parkrun this week, I had to run later in the day. I uhmmed and ahhhed for a while over whether I should go at my normal training plod, or push along at a parkrun-esque pace. I chose the latter. I’ve been carefully making sure that I don’t push too hard during my half-marathon training, mostly because the emphasis is on keeping myself in one piece and just getting the damn thing done. As a result, I’ve not just let myself run hard outside of a few races and parkruns. So this was fun! I was pretty chuffed with my time, especially as I was running alone.

Sunday: 8.96 miles @ 8:47 min/mile
The downside of running hard at half past four on a Saturday afternoon is that I was really aching before I even went out for my long run on Sunday! Again, my pace was quicker than 9 minute miles. My left knee pain returned during this run at various stages, and at points was very painful. That said, towards the end it was almost non-existent, and it was gone completely within a few minutes of finishing. I also suffered from some pain in my left foot itself. It felt like my shoe-lace was too tight, but it might also be due to the loop lacing that I have tried since getting these shoes. I’m considering whether to lace the left shoe normally while leaving the right shoe looped, but I don’t know if that would feel weird.

This post originally appeared on Ben’s old blog, Running From the Physio.

So, as I mentioned before, this week was a “recovery week”. This is a new concept to me in running, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I’ve never really strung together more than two weeks of proper running. And secondly, I’ve always sort of made up my own training plans. This time, having been completely overawed by the array of different plans I could choose from, I adapted a custom plan generated by Runner’s World’s SmartCoach. In my fifteen week plan, it inserted three easier weeks; the first one was the week commencing 16 December, when in place of my normal runs, I ran 3 miles each time. I didn’t really notice that though, partly because I was still running distances that I was comfortable with, and partly because I slacked off over Christmas anyway. So with the mileage now ramping up towards the limits of my past failed training, and the cumulative effect of sticking to a plan for a change, I was really, really looking forward to this week!

Tuesday: 3.95 miles @ 9:00 min/mile
This run felt a little odd: normally at the moment I am running two miles on a Tuesday, so in actual fact, my nice, easy recovery week started me off tougher than usual! I was starting to worry whether my training plan was in fact just lulling me into a false sense of security. But actually, four miles is a pretty comfortable distance for me, and this run went pretty well. As documented, this was the first run on which I used my new running shoes, and I had a bit of teething trouble with them. In general though, this was pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: a decent, pretty easy recovery run.

Thursday: 4.10 miles @ 9:05 min/mile
Somewhat lacking in imagination, this was actually exactly the same route as I ran on Tuesday, but the other way around, and with an extra lap of my estate slotted in at the end. Call me silly, but it annoys me when I go out planning to do a four mile run, and then map it and find it was only 3.95 miles. In my head, 3.95 miles is a three mile run. I know. It’s stupid. Anyway, stupidity aside, the pace was pretty consistent with Tuesday, and was also pretty comfortable. My trainers started to feel more like running shoes than clown shoes, which I reckon is a bonus too!

Saturday: Parkrun, 5km (3.11 miles) @ 7:25 min/mile
However much I tell myself that at some point I need to start taking it easy a bit on the parkrun to make sure that I don’t get injured in the run up towards my half-marathon, I don’t listen. I more or less adapted the same tactic as the last couple of weeks: I slotted myself behind I runner I figured was around my pace on the first lap, and then sped up or slowed down as I felt appropriate on the second lap. I think overall I probably pushed a bit too hard this week, especially given that I hadn’t really had anything to drink since getting up to feed my daughter at half six. I’m not a morning person, especially at the weekends! All that considered, I probably shouldn’t have been as disappointed as I was with my time. Especially as I’ve only completed the course quicker than that twice.

Sunday: 4.12 miles @ 8:15 min/mile
Either my recovery week has proved extremely good for me, and my pace improved accordingly, or I’m mismanaging my pace! I know in many parts of the country, Sunday was a bit horrible, but in Somerset it was gorgeous. To be honest, I was a little disappointed that I was only running four miles, but I figured that I should stick to the plan. I took advantage of the weather by running along the canal, something I have rarely had the chance to do recently as I mainly run at night. One downside of the plan was that everyone else seemed to think that it was a good time to walk/run/cycle along the canal as well, which did mean that I spent half the run dodging around people.

Oh, and the dogs. I have nothing against dogs, or dog walkers. But I’m nervous around dogs: I wish I wasn’t, but I am. So what should have been a completely lovely, tranquil run was actually a lovely, tranquil run frequently interrupted by periods of anxiety as my mind went something like:

Oh my God: it might kill me!

• A dog.
• Is it on a lead?
• Yes. -> What if it is let off the lead, or the lead extends, or it jumps at me as I go past because the path isn’t wide enough to avoid it.
• No. -> Arghhhhhhhhh!

Which was a little silly, because most of them were pretty much the same size as my three-month-old daughter.

As for the run itself, dogs aside, it was too good: I enjoyed the weather, the scenery and the running. As a result of this, I ran at a much more natural pace than I have been lately, and so probably went a little too fast. But I don’t care, because I enjoyed it!

Next week, I’m back to my training plan as standard: unlike at Christmas, I’m not going to be able to find an excuse to continue the easy runs. Which is good, because while it is nice to have an easy week from time to time to help recovery, I’d go mad if that was all I ran. Oh, and my half-marathon would be a write-off!

This post originally appeared on Ben’s old blog, Running From the Physio.

A little late, but they do say better late than never… right?

Tuesday: 2.21 miles @ 8:37 min/mile
This run last week I used a heart rate monitor to control my pace: no such control this week. My concern over my left knee had risen by this stage, and I had found that running quicker seemed to control it reasonably well. So rather than follow my training plan, which dictates that this is a nice, slow recovery run, it just ran it at a comfortable, but reasonably quick pace. Either because it was a short distance, or because of the pace, my knee was actually fine. The time included a stop towards the end to give a couple some directions to Travelodge (actually, because they caught me right near the end of my run, I was a little boggled and just said I didn’t really know and wafted them generally towards the Toneway. Good look to them walking along there.)

Wednesday: 2 miles
This run was scheduled in my plan to help gain distance without making any of my other runs too long. However, because I was worried about my knee, and wanted to give it as much recovery time as possible I skipped this run.

Thursday: 6.38 miles @ 9:10 min/mile
This very much felt like the mid-week medium distance run that it was. My legs were weary from the week’s work, and Thursday itself had been a particularly long day. Again, my knee held up better than I had been expecting, with just a niggle over the last mile or so. The route was a familiar one and generally, apart from the heavy legs, it was a decent run.

Saturday: Parkrun, 5km (3.11 miles) @ 7:12 min/mile
Somehow I ended up arriving quite late for this. I left home at more or less the same time as usual, but the cold weather, rather than spurring me on to keep warm, seems to have just frozen my joints during the walk. That said, it must have worked as a bit of a warm-up, as the run was pretty good. After quickly collecting my Sweatshop voucher, as I talked about in the last post, I headed over to the start. I decided to sit on the shoulder of a runner that I knew generally finished about 30 seconds ahead of me for the first lap, and see how I felt. In similar fashion to the previous week’s run, I stuck with him for the first lap, and then naturally felt that I could go quicker on the second lap, so stepped past him and headed off on my own. The course was a lot drier than it had been for a while, and that probably helped to contribute to a personal best of 22:27. I could certainly have pushed harder towards the end as well, which gives me great confidence for being able to break the seven minute mile at some point soon (although I don’t want to risk injuring myself with the half marathon less than two months away now!)

Sunday: 8.40 miles @ 9:19 min/mile
This should have been the same route, but in reverse, as the previous week, but I messed up a little straight out of the house, and ran the wrong way! Because of this I added about quarter of a mile onto the route. The weather was pretty horrible, I went out later than I meant to and it started raining/heavy drizzling soon into the run. By the end I was looking for any excuse to shorten the run, and kept feeling phantom pains in both knees, but I resisted and ran the planned distance. In general my left knee has been feeling a lot better, both during this run, and throughout the week, so I’m confident now that with some management I can keep it together!

This post originally appeared on Ben’s old blog, Running From the Physio.

Nothing complicated; hopefully a reasonably quick review of the week’s training runs. I’m now into the seventh week of my half marathon training plan, and after the exertions of the Stoke Stampede last Sunday, and a couple of cheeky quiet weeks over Christmas, the week saw a return to some heavy mileage.

Tuesday: 2.20 miles @ 10:03 min/mile
This run was exciting in some ways, and very boring in others! It was the second time that I used my new heart rate monitor, that my parents got me for Christmas. The first time I used it, I just tracked my average heart rate, but didn’t really know what to do with the information that I was getting. After that run, I did a bit of research into how HR monitors can be used to help training and racing. As a result, for this run, I set maximum and minimum heart rates on the monitor, set to beep if I exceeded them in either direction. The hope was, that as a slow recovery run, the heart rate monitor would help me to run slowly, something I’ve always had problems with. (I like to run fast, irrespective of the distance or the type of run I’m meant to be doing: this might be one reason I’m so prone to injury.)

The HR monitor certainly did its job. After some initial wobbles, when I wasn’t sure if it was recording properly, and so more or less sprinted for a while, I settled into a dreary, dull and doddery pace. For the first two-thirds of a mile, I kept hitting the maximum mark, and having to slow back down again, but after that I learnt the right pace and settled into it. On reflection, I probably need to run slightly quicker, so for the next slow run I use this for, I will probably set the maximum slightly higher, but on the whole I was pleased with the results.

Thursday: 7.32 miles @ 9:12 min/mile
Thursday is meant to be my “tempo/interval/hill/something interesting” run. I’m not very good at those sorts of runs. I tried it for a few weeks okay, maybe just once but never really got the hang of it, and then the mileage had built up to the point where the distance itself was a challenge. As a result, this was just a “roughly seven mile, as fast as I can be bothered, but not too fast or too slow” run. My legs were tired throughout the entire run, and mentally I was quite daunted by the distance, due to a combination of the easy weeks over Christmas, and the 10 km race on Sunday. Nonetheless, I ran reasonably well until the last mile or so, when my left knee started to hurt quite badly, particularly if I tried to raise it too high. Shortly after the run the pain subsided, but I remained worried about it.

Saturday: Parkrun, 5km (3.11 miles) @ 7:34 min/mile
The best day of the week: parkrun day! Perhaps the only thing to consistently successfully get me out of bed before 9 am at the weekend, it is fair to say that I enjoy my weekly parkrun. I generally run it with a friend, Al, and his son, but they didn’t arrive in time this week, so I ran alone. The first lap I settled around another pair of runners and happily ran their pace, but second lap I kicked on a little on my own. The course, as has been the case for a few weeks, has a few diversions and alterations to avoid us running through the River Tone. Even so, the course remains exceedingly wet and muddy, as evidenced by the back of my t-shirt (right).

I had gone into this run extremely worried about my knee after the trouble it gave me on Thursday, but I had no problems at all, and all things considered I was very happy with my time: not a personal best on the course, but given the weather a very good one for me.

Sunday: 8.15 miles @ 10:29 min/mile
The long run. And long it was: the longest I have run since October 2012. And after that run, I was injured for the best part of four months! Despite having had no real issues with my knee during my parkrun, I yet again went into this run worried about my knee, and unfortunately they were justified. I first started really noticing the pain around five miles in, and adapted my run to minimise the pain: I slowed down, and shortened my stride length. I continued on around the eight miles, and it never got too painful, although I was always aware of it there on the edge. Having slowed down because of my knee, I ran a pretty slow time, and fitness wise it didn’t really strain me at all. After the run, I looked back for the exercises that my physio gave me when I had knee issues last year (after that October 2012 run.) I completed those, and hopefully by the time I run again next week, the issues will have subsided.

Otherwise, this run went reasonably well: mentally I wasn’t too fazed by the distance, and kept up a reasonably positive dialogue with myself (I don’t listen to music when I run.) I remain positive about my chances of remaining fit for the next couple of months in order to complete my scheduled half marathon, although I might have to adapt my training schedule a bit if the knee continues to give me trouble. Only time will tell!