Running

Running well this week, especially now that I've got a Garmin to give me some structure. Yay!

Knightlancer, you're a beast. That is all.

Been back to the running this last couple of weeks after a lazyish spell and a week's holiday of sea swimming and not much else.

Still feeling a lot of stiffness on the lower calves having switched to a forefoot strike a few months ago. weirdly, although it feels tight while I run, I seem to be recovering a lot more quickly.

Got lots of general tips from friends after my last trithlon run fail. Have been concetrating on standing tall and straight, not twisting my hips, keeping my feet under me, taking quicker shorter strides, not reaching forward with my legs but pushing back off each stride... stuff like that. Combined with the forefoot strike and having lost a bit of weight it seems to be coming on. Slowly but I think i'm improving.

Oh and I picked up some new Nikes cheap from the classifieds here, found they had way too much arch support which was digging into my foot and causing discomfort. Was about to freecycle them when i had a brainwave, got some scissors and cut the offending area out of the insole. Sorted.

Nice run this afternoon in the storm, furthest I've ever gone, 5.8 miles. Got the Royal Parks half soon so need to step it up a bit, but today felt OK - some soreness setting in towards the end, which won't be fun when I need to go another 7 miles on top!

http://app.strava.com/runs/19680010

Running happiness is a new Garmin Forerunner 101 and a training programme :-).

A slow, 6 mile run which included a few hills to make up for missing the hills session on Thursday. Including a 2 mile warm-up and cool down made for an excellent run overall. Average pace was 9.55, quicker than the training assistant on the Garmin so I'll adjust the pace for future Sunday runs accordingly.

Legs aching nicely.

Got this Regent's Park 10k coming up on Sunday, figured out it would be a good idea to try and do the distance beforehand considering the last time I ran much more than 5k was back in June. Best 5k time is 22:30 (and improvements on that have trailed off) so I was pretty pleased that I managed the 10 in 47:20.

So I'm feeling pretty confident for the weekend, with the only downer being I managed to develop a blister on the sole of my right foot. Fortunately it hasn't burst (and I avoided the obvious temptation to pop it) so hopefully it'll have healed up by the weekend but I'm annoyed I'll have to skip any more last minute training.

I bought some blister plasters, but is there any point using them if it doesn't burst and isn't sore? Also got vaseline, which I'll use on Sunday in the hope that it reduces the friction what's caused it.

Incidentally, has anyone done one of the Regent's Park 10s before? My main concern is bike parking, not being sure of what locking facilities there are at the hub, or how many people will show up. Any help with that or other advice would be much appreciated.

I can't help with the bike parking but can give you some thoughts on blisters. I've used blister plasters before and during a blister and had no problems, but then I have to ensure I use double-lined socks.

My suggestion would be to plaster up on the day, but I would canvass other opinions too :-).

Good luck for Sunday.

I say burst the fucker, cut away the dead skin and expose the new skin to as much fresh air as possible before the race.

#notadoctor

Nice run this afternoon in the storm, furthest I've ever gone, 5.8 miles. Got the Royal Parks half soon so need to step it up a bit, but today felt OK - some soreness setting in towards the end, which won't be fun when I need to go another 7 miles on top!

http://app.strava.com/runs/19680010

Hmm, was smug about this on Saturday. Then yesterday I went for a short jog, got a mile, and my legs practically stopped working. Walked the mile back home with tears in my eyes, they were that painful. Pride comes before a fall and all that. What was I doing wrong?

I say burst the fucker, cut away the dead skin and expose the new skin to as much fresh air as possible before the race.

#notadoctor

This is what I do. I have fugly feet now.

Me too, but I don't get many blisters any more...

Just loose toe nails...

Seems to be sorting itself quite nicely. Apparently the liquid inside an unburst blister is white blood cells doing their thing so I guess it makes sense to leave em to it.

If you're not going to run on them, leave the blisters. If you're going to be running on them, drain them.

The fluid is serum - the part of blood that contains no blood cells.

#drwikipedia

Pop the fucker.
First run into london for a while... Didn't go perfectly, was faster than usual but ended 1/2 a mile earlier than usual due to epic calf pain.
New running style will do that I guess though/ I've been barefoot running quite a bit recently- its playing havoc with my calves- in a good way.
3 weeks or so to first half marathon, not as fit as would have liked- also not enjoying running much either- which is annoying.

I had to give away my place in the Regents Park 10k this weekend as I've been running twice in the last month :(

Need to get more motivated/be less injured.

Also, I dreamed last night that I was in a 10k cross country and led round the first lap. I was pipped at the post but ran like a gazelle up the endless steep muddy slopes for most of it. It was great.

I woke up with sore legs.

Incidentally, has anyone done one of the Regent's Park 10s before? My main concern is bike parking, not being sure of what locking facilities there are at the hub, or how many people will show up. Any help with that or other advice would be much appreciated.

I did a Regents Park 10k earlier this year. There is no bike parking at the Hub itself, but quite a few bike stands on the paths around it. The Hub has changing rooms and lockers for keeping your gear in, so very handy. It's a nice little 3 lap run in a great park. Enjoy!

I used to lock my bike near the mosque on the west side of the park when going for a run there. I can't remember whether there were racks or just lamp posts. Regent is my 2nd favourite park in London. Enjoy the run!

Because everyone loves a graph:

(Link, as the embedding doesn't seem to be working.)

Decided yesterday that I hadn't been trying hard enough and upped my interval pace.

Running 5 x 1km with 90 seconds rest in between.

I also discovered a few extra bpm in my heart, topping out at 191.

I felt a little out of breath.

Ran a reasonably comfortable 5k PB first thing this morning, perfect last run before Sunday. Set off aiming at 7:15/mile but found myself having to keep an eye on the pace cos I kept speeding up. Splits were 7:18, 7:12, 7:04 with the remaining tenth of a mile at 6:36.

Pretty pleased with that as final preparation. Think I'll stick with the plan of trying to run Sunday's first 5k at ~7:20, would be happy if I could keep that pace throughout instead of going off quicker and paying for it. In theory that'd give us 45:30, which I'd be delighted with.

Will keep you posted...

^^ All the best.

46:42

Bit disappointing, had nowt in the legs this morning compared to the running I've been doing recently. Certainly felt like my pace was off by at least 10 seconds/mile, which would've given me a time I'd be much more satisfied with.

Comparing today with the 10k I did as training last week, they were pretty much the same pace (3 seconds/mile faster today), but my average heartrate was 6 bpm lower than previously. Guess this is good since it suggests I'm getting fitter, but what would cause my legs to feel so crap I wasn't able to push myself more?

As for the race itself, start was very crowded and on a pretty narrow path. I'd got myself in amongst the running equivalent of nodders so spent the first mile on the grass trying to get past them. Course is good although it's amazing how running suddenly adds 'hills' to places you previously thought were flat.

Hopefully the winter series over the next six months will be less busy, especially as I've just enthusiastically signed myself up for the whole lot of 'em.

New Parkrun PB yesterday, 26:12.

Well done.

Did a c.35 miles yesterday along Kennet and Avon Canal from Bath - was meant to be 56, but I've had a back problem which flared up really badly, and can't move much today. Should have stopped at 21 mile station as it was clear I wouldn't finish and was making the injury worse, but it was such a lovely course and such a great day I limped on to the next station. Not a great decision, but a lovely place to run.

Well done all.

My running went a little to pot during the week as I only ran on Sunday, Tuesday then yesterday morning. This morning I did my 6 mile at a relaxed pace and enjoyed it very much. Av pace turned out to be 9.02, which was quicker than last Sunday but last week's route was hilly whereas this morning was fairly flat.

I think I've earned myself some alcohol today.