Richmond Park

Today I went running with Womble, which made a nice change as I haven't run with anyone (apart from in a race) for ages now, not having been down the club for quite a bit. I'd never done the route before, but I knew it having run through Richmond Park before, and spent a fair bit of my life around Kingston. Here it is:

What surprised me tpoday was how consistent my pace and HR stayed. Okay - there are hilly bits, and I let my HR go up on them, but for the vast majority of the run I was bang on 140bpm at 6min/km pace. Ridiculously consistent, in fact - I thought my Garmin had busticated or something!

Anyway - it was an exciting run - and about a mile after we entered Richmond Park, who should we see but Sonia O'Sullivan, running in the opposite direction. She looked so relaxed running it was annoying! Womble and I both looked at each other and said "Was that Sonia O'Sullivan?", so I guess it was. I've seen her in Bushy Park before, so I suppose she must live locally.

Anyway, a great run, the HR climed a bit towards the end, and we finished with a stretching session and then some pizza and salad and strawberries - yum!

A Faster Pace

Decided to go out on the Nonsuch Route (with a minor variation lapping the old house building in the middle of the park) and take the route up to 10k. I also decided to go for a target HR of 150, but to let this drift over if necessray. It was a much more enjoyable run that way. It came in as a total time of just under 55 minutes, which isn't bad considering it was a bit longer than the usual six miles. There's more in the tank too. Here's the route:

And now - here's the figures:

Intervals

Well, I had planned to do speedwork last night, but I've had a rough few days and CBA'ed, plus it was scorchio, so I left it until this morning. Today - I've woken up with more bounce in my step, and have sorted out a couple of things that ere hanging over me. Then - I went out to do some intervals.

I thought long and hard about this - I couldn't face going to the track, but wanted a route that didn't cross any roads. Turns out the block I live on is pretty much ideal - near as damn it a half mile round, only one road (and I can use that as my start point) and only a smidge off flat. I decided not to do crazy, and just do four reps, with 400m hard and then 400m recovery. It'll be easy in a few weeks but for now I'll stick with it, and maybe work up to 500m and 300m and then 6 and 2. Here's the splits - there's one duff one in there in the middle!


So - how did it feel? Well - bloomin' good! Yes - my legs were pumping hard (good to feel), and so was my heart but it felt great. Sure - I struggled towards the end but it was great to get out there and run hard, rather than zombie shuffle half the time as has been the case with sub-140 runs. Personally, this is something I enjoy a lot more and psycholgically feel more motivated to do.

I will still be mixing in slower runs, just not as slow - as these really bugger my gait up and may lead to injuries. Bike training is going to play a part over the next few months, and I can work on getting rid of cardiac drift on the bike, whihc should translate (at least in part) to the run. Maybe then I'll return to 65% max HR and it won't be with such a fecked up gait :o)

Monday and Tuesday

Legs were a bit sore after the 10k, so Idecided to do a recovery run. This wasn't originally in the plan, but I thought it might loosen my legs up a bit, and I think it helped a lot. I decided to stick to the sub 140 bpm HR thing again, although I'm really not convinced it's helping! On reflection I think maybe sticking to one min/mile slower than 10k pace would give me a decent recovery run without risking the lack of running form that seems to occur with sub 140bpm.

Anyway - turns out that my HR seemed to be down a bit on the runs of last week, and I managed the first half pretty comfortably, and I reached the turnaround point at just over 9:30 min/mile average. Of course - this shot up immediately I turned around.Can it really be the weeny inclines of Nonsuch Park causing this?? I resolved to take the scooter to my turnaround point one day and then run my route to home and back to the bike - i.e. run today's route (an out and back one) in reverse, to see what happened. Should be interesting.

Anyway - the times didn't come in at all badly, and I narrowly missed getting back home in under sixty-one minutes, which would have been a first. These figures are done from SportsTrack, as I'd left the watch on kilometre splits from Sunday's race. It tends to measure slightly differently, and showed me reaching six miles in under 61 mins, but that's just an anomoly with this software. TC shows 1:01:11:




So - not a bad run, but it did really give me a lot of twinges. Seems to be the way with running this slowly, it means I run with a poor style, and my right ankle aches more, and my foot rolls in, even with the kayanos.

Tuesday - and I wanted to swim, if for no other reason to cool down. I've had a rough few days mentally, for reasons I won't go into here, and really needed to get out of the flat, even though I didn't want to exercise. I said "just do half a mile in the pool", and nearly gave up after that, but pushed on to do a mile, and then an extra 20 lengths to give the two kilometres. I managed a stretch session as well, which eased the running aches, and did a few upper body weights.

I was toyign with going to the club to do some hills or speedwork tonight, but it's simply too hot, so I may well do some intervals round the streets on my own. Would be good to get down the club and meet some more new peeps, haven't been down there enough lately.

Elmbridge 10k

Well - I can't say I started with high hopes after the run two days ago, and after brekkie I got an awful lot of phlegm coming up for some reason - I'm starting to wonder if it's nerves or something! I busied myself watching the German Ironman thread on the forums, and left wondering if Plummie had made it out of the water. turns out he did :o)

Anyway - off to Elmbridge, cursing the heat, but the clouds started to gather and I seriously expected rain. As it turns out we didn't get any, but it did cool things down, even though it was still pretty muggy. Better than blazing sunshine anyway.

I milled around, chatting to Sutton runners and internet peeps, and then before I realised what was going on we were lined up t o start. My Garmin lost my HR and I only just managed to adjust the strap before the hooter went. I set off, feeling I wasn't runnning fast but was struggling to breathe. "Bum - it's not going to be a good one". Then I glanced at the Garmin and saw that I was running 4:15 for a kilometre, so slowed noticeably and the HR recovered and I felt better - working hard but not too uncomfortable.

My plan was to run about 4:45 - 4:50 for the first 5k, and then sit on 5:00 kilometres until 7k, and then run about 5:10s to 5:15s for the last three, using the buffer I'd built up in the first half. This worked well, and I built more of a buffer than originally intended. Here's the splits:

So - halfway, and now I could afford to slow. I knew there was a drink station coming up soon from the last time I ran this, so decided to keep up my pace until then and then walk through, and hopefully still hit 5 minutes for that kilometre. The water station was a bit further back than i remembered, at about 5.6km, but I managed to pour a cup of water over my head and drink a cup in about 12 seconds, so probably didn't lose much. That kilometre came in at 5:02.

I found myself passing a lot of people who'd passed me at the drink station, and felt comfortable. I foudn out from therun on Friday that I could run okay at that HR, so although I slowed a little when the HR neared 180, I did keep up the same pace. That kilometre came in at 4:56, and I decided in the eighth one to slow a bit to make sure I didn't really crash and burn. As it turned out I probably needn't have worried, I kept going well, and even managed a fab sprint finish. I didn't feel like I'd accelerated much - but the time says otherwise!!

So - overall dead chuffed - my doom and gloom predictions after Friday's run didn't come to pass, and I was pleased with the way I managed to hold my pace past three miles. yes - there is some HR drift, but it's very gradual, and given the closeness of today not at all bad. My second half is still slower than the first, but there's only two splits over five minutes and then only just, and one included a water station!

Totally Addicted to Pace!

Got the Elmbridge 10k coming up on Sunday, and today I decided to do something different, and rather than shuffle along doing base training, I decided to welly it. I enjoy my running more that way, even though it hurts more, and to be honest, it's improved my times in the past. I'm still fed up with heart rate drift, but perhaps if I can get a bit more speed at the top end, I can come back to training at a lower rate without having to constantly stop, which is what realy pees me off. Anyway - for today it was pace!

I actually started out a bit slowly, finding my feet so to speak, as I've really lost a feel for running at a faster pace. The first kilometre is actually a bit slow considering it's slightly downhill, but hopefully in a race I could get round that. Here's the figures:

The first half felt good, and although the HR did climb, it did so slowly, and on the flat I was really putting in some good speed as I flew along West Drive. This felt good! I got to the railway bridge just short of Nonsuch Park, which made me pant quite hard - this is the side of things which seems to be an issue - my HR shoots up on short slopes and takes too long to recover - maybe more reason to train more at the high end?

Anyway - I coasted the downhill, and into the park. It was great to be able to keep going here, even on the slight upslopes, and the third and fourth kilometre splits were looking great. I decided to stop at three miles (4.86 kilometres) rather than push on to 5k, as I wasn't quite sure where to take the route! Might work out a slightly longer one that allows me the option so I can make up to a full 10k.

The return journey saw the HR start to climb from just under 170, and I felt like I was working harder. It oscillated a bit for the next couple of kilometres, and then the upslope over the railway really hit me and as the HR climbed to past 182, it really kicked in and I took a short break. The down slope felt great though, and I was flying up to the end of West Drive, and the short but steep hill. A crowd of parents and kids completely blocking the pavement outside the school did nothing to improve my mood, and again I took a short break here, but then sped down the rest of West Drive. Mulgrave Road felt tough, but I kept pushing myself.

The final section was tough, as I'd let my HR get too high and it was uphill (slightly) but enough the really start to hurt my lungs here. A shame I couldn't get a time closer to 48 minutes, but the atmosphere was once again very muggy and made it hard to breathe.

So - to Sunday - can I break 50 minutes? I've done some good training runs, and the Bushy Park 5k time does leave me with an awful lot to spare, but that was set in less muggy weather, and if it's like it is today then I may struggle. There won't be nasty little upslopes to really burst my lungs, and then leave me in severe oxygen debt and need to recover, which I suspect will also help. Then again, it's at 10:30 so it'll be hotter. All in all I think it'll be a close thing. Give I did 50:42 at Dysart, and I've got rid of a lot of the effect of the chest infection, and done a month's training since, it will be disappointing if I can't knock at least a minute off that time, if not more. I'm wishing I'd done at least on fast tempo run per week now.

It's odd - 50 minutes never used to be much of a barrier to break, I did it in my first ever 10k, and although I'm a smidge heavier now, I wouldn't expect it to be quite so tricky. Still - I haven't done that much solid training, pre FLM I was just slowly building up the mileage, it's only the last two months when I've got down to more regular training.

Catch Up Time!

Well - the weekend went well, and is documented elsewhere, so I won't give any more details here. Suffice to say that camping there the night before didn't exactly go well, and I started TW feeling knackered - which isn't good when you're going to be up all the next night!

I took Monday off to recover, and most of Tuesday, with a gentle swim midway through the day, although that ran into a family session which made it hard work to swim amongst the assorted pool furniture and polystyrene crocdiles and stuff!

Then last night I ran the Nonsuch six route, but got a bit of the ball of the foot pain again using the Kayanos, so this morning I ran it again using 2100s, which felt odd at first but I think I settled into them okay so they didn't give me any problems with the foot. Something to think about.

Both runs were odd - rather than a few quick miles and then a sudden slowing, I did find it harder to keep my heart rate down, and even had to walk in the first mile both times. Admittedly that was on uphills, but my HR just seemed four or five bpm higher for the same effort this time! Here's the figures - I forgot to press stop on the first one so there's several minutes of me walking around at home!

18/7/06

19/7/06

The odd thing is that although the first half was distinctly slower than the sessions last week, the second half is at much the same pace, so overall it's a far more even pace. I'm still coming in slightly under eleven min/mile though - which is pretty crap, and does not bode well. Apparently this is probably fat burning, and suggests I'm not very good at it! Then again - isn't fat burning what happens when you hit the wall, which is supposed to be a bad thing!

In theory getting better at this will make me a better endurance athlete, as there's only so much glycogen in the body, but it could be a long slow process. At the moment I find it very frustrating having to stop as the HR goes up. I think I might once a month find a track and just run a few kilometres to see what my time is at 140bpm on a completely flat route - as slight hills make such adifference that it's very hard to see how I'm doing comparing one mile to another. Mile five has several uphill bits that will explain the slightly slower pace.

Pre Trailwalker

This weekend sees me as one third of the support crew for TrailWalker, a mad 100km walk across the South Downs, and my lounge is full of all sorts of kit and mallarkey. Yet I still bet I manage to forget something crucial!

Yesterday I went to the gym and swum 2000m. Although there was supposed to be a family swim time, it kept pretty quiet until the last ten lengths, and the swim went exceptionally well. I even did a times 400m, which came in at 6:56, which is amazingly quick considering I didn't feel that I was swimming particularly well. I did wonder whether I was two lengths short, but even so that's still around a time of 7:30. I absolutely must go to the Rainbow which I know is 25m, if I can do a similar time there then perhaps I'll believe that the gym pool really is 20m!

This morning I went out on a run. More base training, and once again, the first three miles went beautifully, but then, as usuall, after around half an hour, the HR crept up, and was hard to keep down. Here's the stats:

Mile four isn't too bad, but then there's a massive slip to a pace of outside eleven minute miling. Not good! I had to take reguklar walk breaks at this stage, and this continued, even on what was fairly flat bits. The route was basically the Nonsuch Park six, but I added on a few extra loops round the back of Stoneleigh. Must try and remember it and do it again for comparison.

My theory is that somewhere shortly after hitting mile three, I switch over to burning more fat, and that's when my body starts to struggle, hence the HR goes up quite dramatically. My planned solution is thus to do more long runs - in the hope that I can train my body to cope with this and be better at fat burning.

At the moment, whatever's going wrong is really getting me down - I like to run freely, not having to stop because a HR monitor is nagging me too, or at a slow shuffle. I'm developing a nasty ache in the ball of my right foot, and while it doesn't go completely, I'm convinced it isn't as bad at a higher pace.

Having said that - the figures for the first three miles are a fair bit better than for the last run, so at least that's good - it's after the three mile point that it all seems to go to pot :o(

A Stone and a Half Gone

Right - well the good news is that this morning, I have lost a stone and a half! That's since the beginning of May, so works out at roughly two pounds a week, which is hopefully maintainable. Still wish it would come off me tum before the other bits though. ANyway - it's all less to carry round my runs.

Talking of which - I went out late-ish last night and did the six mile Nonsuch route. I deliberately left it as late as I could, to see if the lower temperature affected the cardiac drift (or whatever it is). Here's the figures:

Must confess that the breathing did feel tougher, not sure if that's a pollen thing or what. I took all the usual stuff - anti-histamine, flixonase, and the ventolin beforehand.

Anyway - the first half was definitely faster - probably nearly fifteen seconds faster per mile than before, in spite of stopping for a walk break mid-way through the park, which I don't usually have to do. The second half I did slow quite dramatically again, so even though it's marginally faster than the previous run (by 52 seconds), nearly all of that gain is in the first half, and there's a very definite raising in the heart rate for the same pace. So - the problem is still there! I'm hoping that training removes that, but so far I'm a long way from convinced. If it enables me to run a faster pace overall though at the same heart rate, then it's a good thing for the shorter distances - but it still leaves me with a problem over things like half marathons and stuff.

TrailWalker this weekend, so not much more training before the start of next week. I think I'll fit in a swim today, and rest the legs, and then perhaps one more run early tomorrow before the mayhem starts!

Let's Slow this Down a Bit

Right - well having read a few articles on base training, I decided to go with the 180 - age and then tweak formula, used by the rather nifty triathlete Mark Allen, and originated by Phil Maffetone, as detailed here. I've tried this before and got fed up with it, as walking is not why I run, and that's what uhas happened in the past. Still - my Nonsuch route is a lot flatter (although it does have some upslopes), but I'm willing to give it another crack. In many ways it's how I've been training the past couple of months, just using the 70% formula, which gives me 150, but this gives me nearly 10% lower at 137 (or 140 if you add in a tweak). Anyway - here's my graph.

As you can see, I have managed to keep the heart rate fairly level!However, if you look at the mile splits (below), you'll see that the pace was slowing! Now - to some extent, miles four and five do tend to be slower/at a higher HR as there is some incline, but even so. Steady HR and pace slowing amounts in my opinion to cardiac drift - as if I'd kept the pace up the HR would be going up.

Maybe I should expect this to some extent - not having run at that HR for some time, maybe it'll take me a while until the heart rate stays flat and I run at the same pace. I've heard people say that this has happened to them. I do however wonder whether overheating and dehydration may play a part. I do try to stay hydrated, but ultimately, it is hot out there and I'm fairly large, which means I don't cool as well as somebody smaller. So where does that leave me? Possibly my underlying heart rate might be okay, but it's just the overheating that's making it go up. It'll make it hard to judge the effectiveness of the training.

The run only included a few short walk breaks towards the back half, and then only on the upslopes. I did feel like I was...not working harder so much, but not "flowing" along so smoothly, and rather than a pleasure, the running became a bit of a chore. The first few miles were great though. I'm just not sure what is happening! It's not exactly a sudden change, but there does seem to be a definite point past where things get harder. Maybe I'll try a track session (dead flat) to take out the effect of the hills, and see how that goes.

One final element to the day - I've been down to see Lindi from the RW forums and have collected my bright yellow pirate kit :oD I've tried it on and it does look decidedly camp!

Heavy Reading

I decided yesterday that since my new career direction doesn't have a lot to do with computing, I'd clear the computing books off my bookshelf. Must admit there's only a handful I'd used regularly, but even so, it was quite an emotional experience, leaving something that had been such a large part of my life for so long behind. I'm sure I'll still dabble!

Anyway - then this morning, I realised that 20 pounds weight disappeared. Now that sounds pretty good just as a number, but I thought I'd like to see how much it was. I didn't have any weights handy, so I thought I'd use the books that were kicking around on the floor after yesterday's tidyings! Anyway - that's the pile - for those who are interested, it's the same height as a two litre bottle of lemonade!

I'm now half way towards my original target, although I do intend to keep that target a bit fluid - if I feel I still have some to lose (i.e. "spare") then I'll keep going, or stop short if that seems right too. Right now I still feel there's enough spare to reach the target or possibly go beyond.

Eight Mile

Right - well, I was planning a swim today with Annajo from the RW forums, but she had to pull out, so I decided to save the swim for another day (or later today) and go for the long run instead. my legs were still twanging a bit from the BPTT yesterday, so I wasn't sure how wise it was, but I set out anyway, thinking of doing eight but possibly ten if all went well. It was another two days running on the trot, which was good.

The first few miles went really well - I was running well within myself, and yet my heart rate was under 130. Question was - would it stay that low? It did seem noticeably cooler today, which might have helped. I reached the end of Mulgrave Road in under eight minutes, and my legs were turning over really smoothly :o)

What happens now? Always a big question as at times my HR has started to climb at this point, but today it didn't, other than would be entirely reasonable considering an increase in pace or an upslope. Today it didn't, as can be seen from the figures.

I reached the far end of West Drive really going well but still with my HR just peeping over the 140 figure, and headed for Nonsuch. I crested the railway bridge, which usually sends the HR up to 150 and I have to slow, but today I maxed out here at 146, and hit the downslope to the Park feeling great. SHortly after entering the Park, I hit two miles, and the second split was 8:47! I knew things were going well :oD

The third split is a bit odd, as the Garmin lost the signal from the HRM, and in my efforts to get it to pick up again, I hit the lap button, so it's a tad short. I should have hit it again as I hit mile three, but didn't, so the splits from there on in are one mile apart but 2.61,3.61 etc.

It was after this that the HR started to climb :o( Slowly at first, but my running just didn't feel good. I'd gone from ticking over nicely at 145 or so but still sticking to sub nine minute miles, to struggling to keep the HR down without dropping back to over 9:20s. My legs didn't feel as fluent either. I really wish I knew what was happening at this point. It was about this point where I suddenly felt wobbly on my last six miler as well. I exited the park, HR still okay but feeling I wasn't running as quickly, and deviated from my usual route to add in an extra loop. I was tempted to continue with a six miler, and stick the two miles extra on the end, as then I'd have a direct comparison, and on the first half I thought I was way better than any recent runs as the HR had stayed low. In the end I stuck the loop in the middle. The route can be seen below.

This is where I got the shock - I'd fondly imagined that the back of Nonsuch Park would be pretty flat, but actually there's some horrid hills stuck in there, and my HR climbed quickly as I got into oxygen debt, and I had to really slow drastically to bring it down. Whether the chest problem has made this particularly bad or if it's just something I need to train for (not done hills or much speedwork), but this bit really killed me! It was quite nasty road as well, rough pavements and those islands in the middle to stop cars using it as a rat-run, which meant I had to twist and turn a lot. Half way round here I resorted to taking walk breaks, as the HR wouldn't stay below 150, even if I did slow right down.

Then I crested one hill, and had a nice downhill, but had the wind in my face! Great news! The HR went down, but not as much as it might have done without the wind. I was finding running harder work now, which was odd as the first few miles it had felt very easy and I felt as if I could have kept it up forever. Something changed in there though - just not sure what :o(

Anyway - then it was back onto the Nonsuh bit, and although the HR was still a smidge high, it wasn't too bad. The pace for the last couple of miles is pretty much the same as on 20th June, which isn't bad considering there's an extra couple of miles in there, and confirms my idea that I'm running better. I do wish I didn't have that loss of form though - the last half is noticeably slower, and given how easy I felt on the first few miles, it seems odd. What is going on that makes me suddenly "fizzle out" like that? What's almost more disappointing is how my form suffers as well, although perhaps if I kept the speed up and sacrificed HR, that wouldn't happen, but that isn't the objective. Yeterday at Bushey Park, with the legs turning over, felt great :oD Maybe they're still tired from that, my right quad was cramping a bit from five miles or so.

Anyway - rest day from running tomorrow I think - will see how the legs feel in the morning. I think I'll fit that swim in, possibly a bike ride, and then do Pilates and Body Pump in the evening.

Oh yes - and weight hit 94kgs today as well :oD

Bushey Park Time Trial

Right - well this was a bit of a late decision running this - I first started to look at the thread on the RW forums last night, and only made my decision to run it this morning (well - I gave it some thought last night, and set the alarm so that it was possible). Anyway - the day started well, as I weighed in at 94.3kgs. All that training I've done over the last few days finally showed some results! The next target is 93.3kgs, as that will be a stone and a half lost. :o)

Anyway - to today's race. I'd decided to do the splits in kilometres, so I got some more feedback. I set this up last night, and was glad I did, as in the end I was in a bit of a rush. Then I set off on my scooter to Bushey Park. Details of the race website are given here, and here's the course.

I got to the cark park no problem, but struggled a bit to see the registration desk, but once I'd asked someone it was very quick and easy. I met up with a few people from my club and the forum, and before much longer it was time to start. I set off at quite a quick pace, but felt I could get quicker and should have started further forward. The field was small though and soon spread, so it didn't hold me up, and within another thirty seconds my chest was pounding and I was worried I'd gone off too fast!

I slowed a little and settled to a steady pace. I glanced at my HRM and saw that my HR was in the high 150s, so about 75% as calculated by Karvonnen. This did creep up slowly throughout the race, as can be seen in the graph below, but that was okay over a 5k. I'd have to slow down more for a 10k!

I glanced down and realised we were approaching the 1km mark, and my time was around 4:35. This was perhaps a fraction too fast as it was under 7:30, but I thought "let's see what happens". At around this point I got passed by a woman who was running with a King Charles Spaniel on a lead, and although I decided I had to catch them, in the end I never did. Not this time anyway.

The kilometres went by, and I was pleasantly surprised that although I got a dry throat, I could keep up the running speed pretty well, although the pace displayed on my Garmin was dropping gradually from 4:38 through to about 4:45, but not hugely. The course winds a bit around a cricket pitch, but it wasn't long before we hit the home straight, which is about a mile long, and rather tiring as you can see such a long line of runners stretched out in front. I realised half way down here that as long as I did a decent last kilometre, I'd break 24 minutes (my initial target), so was chuffed at that. In the end, I managed a final burst and came in at 23:13. It showed up as slightly short on my Garmin, but there were a lot of trees about so I won't set too much store by that as I know others have found it to be an accurate course.

A quick chat to other people, including Puffing Bertie, Kath (la Presidente), and some Sutton Runners, and then I headed home. I've just realised that although I'd changed the display to show kilometres, I hadn't set the auto-lap feature to do the same, so the figures are for miles, which is irritating! Ah well, the figures are still good, and the pace is pretty constant, even though the HR is going up. I'm managing just over 7:30 miles all the way :o)

Right - well it's two weeks to Elmbridge, and I'm feeling very positiive about breaking 50 minutes if the weather's not too hot. Not that I'd do it, but a repeat of today's time for the first 5k would give me 26:47 to run the second 5k, which is four and a half minutes slower, or nine minute miling! I'm pretty confident if I just knock 20 seconds per mile off my pace that it should be a lot more comfortable and I hope I'll be able to maintain that pace for 10k. I must learn (or re-learn) the kilometre equivalents of eight minute miling, and for seven and a half and seven too! I think the lack of extreme heat today also helped a lot.

Two weeks to go, and I plan to fit in a couple of long runs (say eight miles) and some speed sessions. I noticed after my last blog entry that I'd actually run two days in a row, and could have run yesterday as well quite happily, although I was starting to think about today's run so decided against it. I'm so pleased with how my legs are standing up to it though. Maybe now's the time to invest in another pair of Kayanos - they seem to work! On the other hand though, I do think my gait might be okay (plus I've lost weight) with the 2100s, so I might give them a try on a run at some point too.

Compliments to the organisers of today's run - it's free! Well organised, a lovely atmosphere, and definitely one I'll be doing at least once a month :o)

Thursday

I decided to sleep in today, rather than run early. I had a hunch that it would stay cool, and I was knackered! Must admit I rather drifted all morning, although I was kept busy with a flurry of emails re TrailWalker, which is now all sorted (just got to do the thing now, but that'll seem like the easy part!

Anyway, around half twelve I decided that it had cooled enough to head out for a run. I set out feeling comfortable, and even felt rain on the back of my legs. "Great", I thought, "it's going to be lovely and cool". I realised soon afterwards that actually, the "rain" was just water squirting out of my drinks bottle, but even so, it did seem to be a lot cooler than the past few days.

I was going great, and the HR was staying well down, in spite of maintaining a decent pace. I had to stop to adjust my HR monitor about quarter of a mile in, which was annoying, and it was a little touchy a couple of other times - hope this isn't going to be the start of problems with the Garmin :o(. I ploughed on, and actually had trouble getting the HR up much above 140 unless I was on a hill. My 70% figure is 150, and this was more like 63%, which is okay but it's time I worked harder! It felt so good that I decided to add a couple of miles on to my usual six miler, and do an eight. Time to go over-distance so I don't fizzle too much towards the end of a 10k. - Elmbridge is only sixteen days away!

I continued to feel great going into Nonsuch Park, and my mile splits reflected this - HR not much above 140 and yet I was doing each mile in nine minutes, which is the best for ages. I decided to have a quick drink at around the two and a half mile mark, and set out again feeling a bit sluggish all of a sudden. I struggled on, but quickly decided that the eight miler wasn't a good idea. I noticed that although it was cool, I was sweating profusely, far more than usual, and decided to just go for the usual six miler. When I got to the half way mark, I felt giddy, so I lay down on the grass and hoped it would go away. I was on the verge (ha ha!) of phoning for help, or at the very least walking back home.

Suddenly though, I felt better, and I tentatively set out on the run home. I had half expected to feel lousy again very quickly, but it held off, and my splits stayed good. Even the hills early in the fifth mile didn't faze me too much, and I felt really strong, fair bounding along West Drive - a nice flat section. Again though - the split was good :o)

The final mile, and I had to decide if I was going to do my usual sprint from just under a half mile out. I decided not to - I was going so well I reckoned I could beat my 57 minutes (this has become a target time lately) without making the effort. From quarter of a mile out, I realised I had a chance of beating 56 minutes, but it would be tight, so with 0.1 of a mile to go I put my foot down. I must do some speed work sometime - it's still in there, but I need to make the legs stronger so I can keep going!

Anyhow - I got under fifty six minutes - the run actually hit six miles slightly before I got home (unusual) and then I managed to hit the button on the Garmin briefly once indoors, so there's a couple of other daft "laps" at the end if you look at the figures. If you take these off though, I did it in 55:44, over a minute quicker than just before Dysart, and with a shorter sprint at the finish (perhaps a further 30 second swould have come off if I'd sprinted from the usual place?). Most importantly though, my HR is level to what it was that day or lower, except for a few minor blips. This is more how it should be - training is meant to improve things!

On the down side, in spite of exercising like a loon, my weight has stubbornly stayed a smidge either side of 95kgs - grrrr! Surely it's due to drop!

Wednesday Evening Update

Well - today's been a busy day!

Not content with doing a run at stupid o'clock, I followed it up with a swim. Now - the only slight fly in the ointment was that there qas an aqua-aerobics class starting at 12, so I dashed down to the pool rather sharpish. I'd decided (following the 2/4 of a mile the previous time) to go for a full mile, as I hadn't done that for ages. That meant 80 lengths of the 20m pool. I broke it up with sessions in the sauna, as to be honest, I find it boring!

Anyway, the first 60 lengths went fine, but around quarter too, the pool started to gill up with older peeps, who were just standing round chatting at random points in the pool, making it like a bliddy obstacle course! This continued as the time drew on past ten to, and rings of grannies nattering formed as well. The few of us trying to swim lengths were havign a real battle. I did keep going until the 80 mark, but was glad to get out. I'm sure I swam the other nine metres easily avoiding people - why can't they just stay out of the pool if all they're going to do is chat?

I had a sleep after that, and then back down the gym in the evening for a body pump session, which I really enjoyed. I kept the weights down slightly but even so came out sore. Good to be back doing that again :oD

Finally - Some Cool Stuff!

Well - this time I cam good on my promise to get out there and run early. I was up at quarter to five, had a drink and done the various bits and bobs by quarter past, and set off. It was gorgeous and cool, although I did notice that I did feel a tad warm fairly quickly, but nothing like on previous days.

The heart rate stayed pretty low for the first mile, and I reached the end of Mulgrave in 8:19, which is a bit slow, but with the HR still around 140. What was good was that it stayed down, and the average heart rate for the first three miles was way below what it had been on the previous run, as the figures show.



What was slightly surprising was that my pace was also a smidge slower, but I felt like I'd be able to keep it up without the HR going up, so I wasn't too bothered. I reached the turn around, had a drink, a quick stretch, and then headed back. Within about 100 yards I realised that the phone was ringing (the alarm for normal getting up time - still set from work) so I stopped to switch that off, and then got underway again. Another half mile, and a large dog bounded up to me, barking loudly. I decided to stop, much though I resented it. The owner was nowhere to be seen, although I did hear a voice through the trees call the dog, which bounded off. I yelled "Control your dog", but I'd much rather have spoken directly to the owner. Anyway - another stoppage, but my HR was higher from this!

Under way again, I felt good, and definitely nothing like how I'd felt on the last run when it was decidedly warmer. I turned out of Nonsuch Park, over the bridge, and then up West Drive where my HR peaked on the short but sharp climb. Just past this point I was aware of a loud pattering sound to my right. What on earth was it? A few seconds later I got my answer, as I was caught by some wonderfully heavy drops of rain - they were actually fairly warm, but it cooled me down and was great to run in. I had a big grin on my face for the next quarter mile!

I got the mile five split, and realised that I wasn't slowing as badly as usual, but decided to keep the HR down. About 0.4 of a mile from the end, I realised that I had a chance of a fairly decent time, and decided to welly it, as in any case it would be a better comparison with previous days that way. In the end I came in bout a minute slower than Monday's run, but with the HR consistently lower. :oD

My weight first thing was 94.9kgs, and then I had a couple of big drinks, and drank fluid as I ran. Even so - I was actually down to 94.6kgs when I got back, which just shows how even on a relatively cool day, you can lose fluid very quickly.

Tuesday Update

Right - well after the bike ride last night, I went to the gym to do Pilates, Body Pump (dropped the weights down a bit as I hadn't done it for a few weeks) and then a nice swim. Only trouble was I couldn't find my goggles :o(. It felt really weird swimming feeling the water round my eyes, and then when I did open my eyes, not being able to see anything more than indistinct shapes. It didn't help that the pool was fairly crowded as I didn't have as long to avoid people. I ended up whacking my hand on the end of the pool twice, and gave it up as a bad job after ten lengths.

Then this morning - back to the gym and another swim. Three quarters of a mile this time, which was great, and I could have kept going. The tinted goggles I'd brought along instead worked a treat, although I'd still like to find the original ones I fearthey've been taken (I checked to see if any had been handed in). They're quite distinctive, as the replacement strap doesn't match the rest of them as it's not coloured. Ah well - I may well not see them again, but never mind.

Swim times were really good. Has my technique improved that much? Okay - a twenty metre pool means more push offs than in a 25m pool, and the glide from that certainly helps, plus it means the last five metres of any length where the push off has run out just don't exist, but even so. From memory my PBs were:

100m - 1:49.1
200m - 4:09.2

whereas today I managed

100m - 1:30.2
200m - 3:18.2

I do think my technique has improved though, but I'm quite surprised that it's that much. Okay - the shorter pool would help, but that much? I'm going to a 25m pool this weekend, so I'll get the chance hopefully to see what times I can do.

Weight is down to a recent low (several years) of 95kgs. Part of that might be dehydration, but I'm guzzling non-caffeine drinks like there's no tomorrow, so I'm not sure what else I can do!

The plan was to run early, but I didn't in the end, so I'm hoping it's going to be cool late evening like last night. The legs don't feel too bad at all in spite of yesterday's run and body pump.

Gadget Central!

Hi there fellow gadget lovers (put on geek specs and anorak).

Just been out with the cadence unit for the Garmin - which seems to work fine. It doesn't seem as accurate as the Cateye that I left on the bike, as it doesn't update the display as often, but it seems pretty much on the money other than that - and of course the big plus is that I can upload the data to the computer. I went about 0.7 of a mile, so not enough to get any significant lap data, but I did however produce the following graph:



Now - anyone know how to adjust the axes on the graph? It seems daft having the cadence one go down to -50 (pedalling backwards??) or the min/mile going up to 40, just because I started out from zero. Maybe the trick is to press the start button once I've got going? Wouldn't make much difference to the stats but would improve the graph. Not sure about the cadence though!!

It was only a three minute ride, so not too strenuous!

Up with The Sun!

An early start for me today. I did have the alarm set for 5am originally, but then decided not to be so daft! A shame in a way, as it was probably a lot cooler. In the end I got started about 7am, which wasn't too bad, but was still heating up by the end of it. I drank plenty of liquid before I set out, but again didn't have any food. Would have had to eat it about 5am not to feel bloated by it when I ran.

Anyway - here's the graph showing the comparison between this and the run on the 20th June. This time it's a lot closer as I deliberately amde the effort to keep the HR down.

That's all very well, and the graphs are quite close most of the way, but since it's HR plotted against distance, it doesn't show that today's run was two minutes slower, plus of course the one on the 20th was just a few days after London to Brighton, and as I commented at the time, my legs felt dead. Not sure quite what's going on - is it the heat? I honestly can't remember whether it was hot that day or not, but we have had a long spell of hot weather, so it's likely! Then again it was at about 5pm, so I would have eaten.

Anyway - here's the figures. I had hoped that the training, the inhalers, and the various anti-inflamatories would have helped make me run faster by now, not slower, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

Apart from that, I swum half a mile yesterday, and fixed the cadence thingy onto my bike. Must get out there later and give that a go.

EDIT:

Right - well I've looked at the figures a bit more, and come up with the following. Even comparing today (Monday's) run again Saturday - which I thought was crap in itself, there's a few clear oddities. Have a look at miles 3-5 - the HR is the same on both days, but my time is 20-30 seconds per mile slower. I'd say it was hotter at the weekend, as I ran later, and I had more to drink before setting out as well today.

Early Run

Decided to head out early - about 8am - to get a run in before it got too hot. I think I should have got up at 5am! It was still pretty hot, and my heart rate was up to 140 very quickly. Maybe I'm just getting used to running quicker and not cautiously shuffling?

I'd done some maths based on my maximum heart rate seen at Dysart (192) and the resting heart rate of 52. I had actually got this lower, but only briefly, so I won't count the 49. It also makes the maths simpler! Basically, Karvonnen says to take the difference (140) and then add percentages of this on to the RHR. That means 70% isn't just 192 x 0.7, which comes out to 134, 52 + 0.7x140, which comes out to 52 + 98, or 150. So that's what I tried to stay below, although early on I was trying to keep it in the lower 140s.

Anyway - it all went smoothly - I forgot to note the time at the far end of Mulgrave Road (I was on the Nonsuch route) but all in all it wasn't bad. I did toy with the idea of doing an eight miler, but I had some tension in the quads - odd really, I had that after Dysart but I assumed it was because I'd worked harder. I reached the half way mark in 9:10 miles, which was disappointingly slow considering. Maybe I needed some fuel inside me? I'd just had a cup of tea and headed off.

The run home wasn't too bad - the usual slight rise in HR necessitating slowing down. In spite of the maths above, i decided to welly it the last quarter mile and see if I could scrape under 57 minutes, and I just managed it by a second!

A bath and breakfast of stewed apples with sultanas went down a treat! It doesn't seem to have had the usual effect of making me dash for the loo, so maybe that's partly why my weight seems a bit up this week. Hopefully it'll go down soon!

It's interesting to compare the graph for this to one from a couple of weeks ago (not Dysart) that was over the same route. Here's the graph - today's run is in purple - and most of the time the graph seems higher, for reasons that aren't really apparent. Okay - a couple of weeks ago, I did the run 15 seconds slower, but that really isn't enough to make the HR lower like that. I had hoped as my breathing improved that things would be better, but so far I don't seem to have got there :o(