I have been banging on about my injury problems for what seems like a lifetime to me, so goodness only knows what any remaining readers out there think.
I'll try not to repeat all that too much, suffice to say that they started a year ago, the last occurrence was in November and I have tried to come back slowly over the weeks and months since.
Before last weekend my best parkrun since injury was an 18:18 two weeks earlier at my last parkrun.
I turned up at the weekend hoping to just beat that time but almost a bit nervous of the pain I would have to go through to achieve a new "comeback PB". But I knew I could do that.
I had decided to go out hard again and try to stay ahead of schedule. In the past I would always do the second half of my parkrun faster than the first and finish with a sprint. Due to injury problems a sprint finish is still very unwise, so I am currently trying to run exactly even paced laps to end exhausted.
I was trying to do a fast sub 3:30 first km and then stay at or around 3:40 per km to secure my target time.
I did a slightly quicker 3:27 first km and felt strong, so decided to stay as far ahead of schedule as possible.
I have to be honest that by the next km marker and those that followed I was too punch drunk to have any idea or possibility of calculating my km splits. But I was sure I was ahead.
I did manage to get a one lap split time in my head of 8:53 (my fastest first lap ever), so I knew I was well ahead of target.
The problem of being so far ahead is that it raised the possibility of beating my 17:49 PB. I decided to ignore that possibility and just knuckle down as I was still feeling strong.
I was firmly in 5th place at this stage, well ahead of 6th and at least 50 metres behind 1st to 4th.
With about 1km to go I noticed that I had closed on positions 2 to 4 (1st was long gone). At this stage it actually became a race for me rather than about time.
I decided to power past those three runners in one quick effort so tgat they had no chance to stay with me and with 500 metres to go I had a good 20 metres lead over them. A quick look at my watch suggested I would be within a second or two of my PB.
I was now trying to defend my second place with first far too distant a possibility. I gave it everything for the next minute or so and with 250 metres to go I was completely out on my feet, running with my eyes closed and gasping for air.
I somehow got myself to the finish line, held on to second place and a quick glance at my watch suggested it would be an equal PB or slight improvement.
When the text came through I was delighted to see that I had a new PB by 3 seconds! How did that happen!
I think this was the first time I have punched the air with delight at the sight of my parkrun text. That was the thrill I got from finally getting "back to my best" and from achieving a parkrun PB after all those months of injury!
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Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Friday, 9 March 2012
Sport Relief Mile "training" with my 3 year old
After a fairly swift (but comfortable) double parkrun yesterday (21:51 and 21:30), for a respectable 10km time of 43:21 and with parkrun tomorrow morning, I had planned to take a day off from running today.
My 3 year old daughter had other ideas!
She has just taken me out for 2 laps of the block, which (according to google maps) is roughly 1.02 miles. I'm not sure that "roughly" is the right word when you give mileage measurements to two decimal places. Anyway, we ran just over a mile.
She has taken me out...and I do mean "she takes me out" as she certainly tells me in no uncertain terms that we are going, the route we are taking and the number of laps. She even decides the topics of conversation. So, as I was saying, she has taken me out to run round the block a few times over the last couple of years, but this is the second time as part of her "training" for the Sport Relief mile. She loves it so much and is clearly glad of the excuse to get me out for a run. I have to say that I really don't mind at all either. We enrolled my 7 year old son and there is no way my 3 year old daughter would have allowed us to prevent her from doing it.
Her last run was a mile around the block a few weeks ago where she ran it in about 14 minutes, without stopping! 14 minute mile pace sounds pretty good to me for a 3 year old!
Well today, she blew that away and did it in less than 13 minutes. Pretty amazing. She even stopped a couple of times this time. To wait for me of course! I wish I could pick my mile pace up by a minute between training sessions!
The best bit about all of this is the delight in her eyes, the enthusiasm with which she does it, the fact she came home to tell her mum all about it, the fact she has just told me that she wants to go every day, twice a day!
Better than that, she has just come into the room and is doing laps of the table, telling me all about her running, sorry no, she says she is jogging. Great stuff! Though I am starting to get dizzy as she laps me every 10 seconds or so, she must be getting dizzy too.
Such a special time, being out running with my 3 year old daughter! I can't remember when the Sport Relief mile is, soon I think, but I hope she doesn't lose the enthusiasm for running after that, because I had a great time and am looking forward to the next time. Tomorrow she tells me!
My 3 year old daughter had other ideas!
She has just taken me out for 2 laps of the block, which (according to google maps) is roughly 1.02 miles. I'm not sure that "roughly" is the right word when you give mileage measurements to two decimal places. Anyway, we ran just over a mile.
She has taken me out...and I do mean "she takes me out" as she certainly tells me in no uncertain terms that we are going, the route we are taking and the number of laps. She even decides the topics of conversation. So, as I was saying, she has taken me out to run round the block a few times over the last couple of years, but this is the second time as part of her "training" for the Sport Relief mile. She loves it so much and is clearly glad of the excuse to get me out for a run. I have to say that I really don't mind at all either. We enrolled my 7 year old son and there is no way my 3 year old daughter would have allowed us to prevent her from doing it.
Her last run was a mile around the block a few weeks ago where she ran it in about 14 minutes, without stopping! 14 minute mile pace sounds pretty good to me for a 3 year old!
Well today, she blew that away and did it in less than 13 minutes. Pretty amazing. She even stopped a couple of times this time. To wait for me of course! I wish I could pick my mile pace up by a minute between training sessions!
The best bit about all of this is the delight in her eyes, the enthusiasm with which she does it, the fact she came home to tell her mum all about it, the fact she has just told me that she wants to go every day, twice a day!
Better than that, she has just come into the room and is doing laps of the table, telling me all about her running, sorry no, she says she is jogging. Great stuff! Though I am starting to get dizzy as she laps me every 10 seconds or so, she must be getting dizzy too.
Such a special time, being out running with my 3 year old daughter! I can't remember when the Sport Relief mile is, soon I think, but I hope she doesn't lose the enthusiasm for running after that, because I had a great time and am looking forward to the next time. Tomorrow she tells me!
Saturday, 11 February 2012
After a week off, another comeback PB!
Unable to run at parkrun last week and only one training run in the last week didn't bode well for today's parkrun.
The freezing temperatures and the multiple layers on every part of my body also suggested a fast time would be very hard to come by.
Two weeks ago, at my last parkrun I got my comeback PB of 19:21. I was really hoping to beat this today. Beating it at all would have been fine, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about a sub 19 minuter.
I set off as fast as I dare with all my recent calf strain problems. This saw me lose 10-15 seconds on the people I used to start and run with. But after that I seemed to maintain the distance to them.
Aiming for 4:45 (19 minute pace) at the halfway point on the first lap I found myself about 7 seconds ahead of schedule. Money in the bank! I obviously then kept a consistent pace to the halfway point, completing the first lap in 9:32. This is on I thought.
So attention now well away from comeback PB and firmly focused on sub 19! I have to say that I felt really good considering it was my fastest lap for 4 months.
The first half of the second lap I just held position and pace. Then the last half lap I decided that to avoid the need for a fast finish, that was the time to make sure of the sub 19 and picked up the pace accordingly.
Reaching the normal 1 minute to go point I knew I had done it with a few seconds to spare and actually eased off a little to ensure no injury risk.
I finished with a time of 18:52 for another comeback PB, beating the previous one by 29 seconds! Another huge improvement. This equals a time I did in October and is my fastest since mid May last year! 9 months ago.
I have had a great day as a result, finally feeling close to getting back to my best.
I'm volunteering next week, and then the web upload, so I'm hoping that another week off makes me come back with similar enthusiasm and determination as did so well for me today!
The freezing temperatures and the multiple layers on every part of my body also suggested a fast time would be very hard to come by.
Two weeks ago, at my last parkrun I got my comeback PB of 19:21. I was really hoping to beat this today. Beating it at all would have been fine, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about a sub 19 minuter.
I set off as fast as I dare with all my recent calf strain problems. This saw me lose 10-15 seconds on the people I used to start and run with. But after that I seemed to maintain the distance to them.
Aiming for 4:45 (19 minute pace) at the halfway point on the first lap I found myself about 7 seconds ahead of schedule. Money in the bank! I obviously then kept a consistent pace to the halfway point, completing the first lap in 9:32. This is on I thought.
So attention now well away from comeback PB and firmly focused on sub 19! I have to say that I felt really good considering it was my fastest lap for 4 months.
The first half of the second lap I just held position and pace. Then the last half lap I decided that to avoid the need for a fast finish, that was the time to make sure of the sub 19 and picked up the pace accordingly.
Reaching the normal 1 minute to go point I knew I had done it with a few seconds to spare and actually eased off a little to ensure no injury risk.
I finished with a time of 18:52 for another comeback PB, beating the previous one by 29 seconds! Another huge improvement. This equals a time I did in October and is my fastest since mid May last year! 9 months ago.
I have had a great day as a result, finally feeling close to getting back to my best.
I'm volunteering next week, and then the web upload, so I'm hoping that another week off makes me come back with similar enthusiasm and determination as did so well for me today!
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Another week, another comeback PB
After smashing my previous comeback PB of 21:23 last week, bringing it down to 19:56, I knew it would be really tough to get another one this week.
I would have settled for any improvement over last week, but to be totally honest I had 19:30 in the back of my mind. It's been a fair few months since I was able to do a parkrun at that pace, so I wasn't certain I had the fitness to do it, irrespective of how the calf felt. But I was prepared to give it a good go.
The problem I have at the moment is a lack of confidence in my calf. This rules out fast starts and sprint finishes, and calls for fairly even paced running. I worked out 3:54 per kilometer, and very luckily I was lent a Garmin to help me.
A fairly fast start and the early downhill stretch got me nicely ahead of target with a 3:48 first km. Right there and then I knew it was possible and mentally committed to sub 19:30.
Six minutes later and reaching the halfway point in 9:45 (exactly half target time) and now feeling the effects of running at that pace, I started to feel slightly annoyed with myself for the earlier mental commitment. But a deal's a deal and once committed I am not one for backing down easily, so it had to be done.
The 4th km was not good. I drifted out to over 4:00 pace and very quickly realised that this was the time to go for it or miss it! I knew I had the comeback PB in the bag, but could I go sub 19:30 too?
Knowing I couldn't risk a sprint finish it had to be a hard last km. On lifting the pace and maintaining it for 3 or 4 minutes I felt that on the limit, on the verge of sickness, heart pounding feeling you get when you get close to your limit. Even though this can be a horrible feeling, it is one I have always found addictive. This is the best bit of exercising for me. I know I'm wierd!
Somehow, not only did I manage the comeback PB and to break 19:30, I finished in 19:21, my fastest time for months.
Unfortunately I now have to wait 2 weeks for my next parkrun and to continue my comeback PB streak.
Still another 90 seconds to get back to my very best, but for a while I'll be looking at 5-10 second improvements each week. There is a long way to go, but no rush to do it.
I can't wait to give it a go again in 2 weeks time.
I would have settled for any improvement over last week, but to be totally honest I had 19:30 in the back of my mind. It's been a fair few months since I was able to do a parkrun at that pace, so I wasn't certain I had the fitness to do it, irrespective of how the calf felt. But I was prepared to give it a good go.
The problem I have at the moment is a lack of confidence in my calf. This rules out fast starts and sprint finishes, and calls for fairly even paced running. I worked out 3:54 per kilometer, and very luckily I was lent a Garmin to help me.
A fairly fast start and the early downhill stretch got me nicely ahead of target with a 3:48 first km. Right there and then I knew it was possible and mentally committed to sub 19:30.
Six minutes later and reaching the halfway point in 9:45 (exactly half target time) and now feeling the effects of running at that pace, I started to feel slightly annoyed with myself for the earlier mental commitment. But a deal's a deal and once committed I am not one for backing down easily, so it had to be done.
The 4th km was not good. I drifted out to over 4:00 pace and very quickly realised that this was the time to go for it or miss it! I knew I had the comeback PB in the bag, but could I go sub 19:30 too?
Knowing I couldn't risk a sprint finish it had to be a hard last km. On lifting the pace and maintaining it for 3 or 4 minutes I felt that on the limit, on the verge of sickness, heart pounding feeling you get when you get close to your limit. Even though this can be a horrible feeling, it is one I have always found addictive. This is the best bit of exercising for me. I know I'm wierd!
Somehow, not only did I manage the comeback PB and to break 19:30, I finished in 19:21, my fastest time for months.
Unfortunately I now have to wait 2 weeks for my next parkrun and to continue my comeback PB streak.
Still another 90 seconds to get back to my very best, but for a while I'll be looking at 5-10 second improvements each week. There is a long way to go, but no rush to do it.
I can't wait to give it a go again in 2 weeks time.
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