Keep Running, Running, Running...

I've been away, travelling round the UK, mainly for weddings but managed to squeeze in family as well as a Parkrun and a 10k in sunny Blackpool.


When I can wake up when I'm on holiday, I love me a little bit of Parkrun tourism and seeing as we were in the Lake District, the temptation of a picturesque 5k was more than enough to tempt me from a comfy bed and hit the trails.
Keswick Parkrun follows an old railway route and even starts from the old platform (James!), heads over a few bridges (a bit dodgy) as well as including a couple of hills. You meander, following the river and to be honest, it's a lovely 'there and back' Parkrun and one I wish I could do weekly.

Not knowing how trail the trail would be, I went with my actual trail running shoes and stuck to somewhere in the third quarter of the starting pack - also mindful that I had a 10k the next morning that I wanted to be fresh for.
Started off slow and found my rhythm whilst taking in the surroundings and making sure I didn't face plant onto the rough ground that threatened to trip you with big rocks strewn around.
After hitting 2.5k, I remembered reading that the second half of the route should be quick, so I picked up the pace a little. After I had tackled the last major incline, I realised what they meant - what seemed fairly flat at the beginning was actually now downhill - and so the pace was upped again, still a comfortable stride. With three people in front, a maintained pace and had a mental battle about whether to overtake or just settle "10k tomorrow, no need to push, just stick with it. Go hell for leather, sprint sprint sprint!". So yeah, I sprinted past the trio to the finish and managed to finish in 29:49.

The next day, we set off early to get to Blackpool in time for the 10k & made it in enough time to have a toilet break at my sister's, and then head up to the start with her and my niece without leaving excess time to stress myself!

Actually feeling pretty calm about heading into a race in the heat, we crossed the start at snail's pace for whatever reason and after half a minute we got up to a pace of around 9:30/mile. Not going for a PB, I stuck with my sister although truth be told, it felt like a faster pace than I would have set off at!
Sticking with her, weaving in and out of slower runners, we bombed down the prom from North Shore down towards the Pleasure Beach in what felt like an eternity before 5k appeared.
It was at this point I lost my sister in the crowd at the water station (I don't stop at stations unless it's crazy hot) as I continued the pace we set at the start.

What I had forgotten from last year was that just because you're at the seaside, doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be flat and at Blackpool, you don't realise there are any hills until the end where they then seem never ending.
Powering through each of the final hills, the finish was approaching and I had prepared myself to pick up the pace once I could see the finish, and then once again to sprint finish. Somehow, I found an extra gear on top of my usual sprint and made sure I overtook a couple of people at the line, including Fred Flinstone.
According to my Garmin, I finished in 58:31, but due to the autopause at the start, I was expecting the chip time to be slightly different. It was, but recorded 59:15 which my friends, is finally a sub 1 hour 10k for me!

Honourable mentions to my sister who, with a bad ankle after 5k still smashed it in 1:01:23 and my niece who ran her first ever 10k distance in 1:05:10. Amazing achievements!

Now I'm home, it's time to get back training for the final few weeks before London...sub 59...?

Hilly McHillyface

Unless you're a sadist and not a runner, I'd say that the very notion of a hill on your running route sends a shiver down your spine.

What may seem like a small mound to most people, is an incline steeper than a very steep thing and more formidable than Donald Trump's imaginary Mexican wall.
And when you're a runner in your stride and you start the laborious task of making your way to the top, the hill starts growing, the end that looked oh so near gets further and further away by the step!

How do we conquer this?! Say the voices in my head. There's only one thing for it...HILL REPEATS

I'd always avoided hills, or at least made sure they had a minimal incline, until last year when I started at Panshanger Parkrun. It's a trail course with a fair few varied hill types making it one of the reasons I'm sure I cut my 5k to under 30 minutes for the first time.

But that's not hill repeats! I hear myself cry. Bear with me, I'm purely highlighting how I've come to realise that hills make you/me/us a stronger runner!

Okay, so, hill repeats - sprint up a hill for x amount of time/distance, x amount of times with a recovery period at the end of each sprint.
For example, my set today was as follows:

• 10 minute warm up jog (very easy)
• 8x (80-90% effort) sprint up 5-6% incline for 40 metres
• 1 minute recovery after each sprint (walking back down the hill)
• Slow jog back to the start for cool down with a bit of stretching

Once a week should be fine, mix up the number of sprints you do, the distance and for the recovery, I'd up it to 2-3 minutes - I'm not sure 1 minute was enough today!

Personally, I'm going to up the distance to 60 metres next week with 2 minutes recovery, and try to be more consistent with the speed and effort on each rep.

Look at me sounding like an expert, lols. Give it a try and I'd be interested if you have any other tips? I use Kinetic Revolution for my resources and I think that you should also!

Nobody Said It Was Easy

Gosh, these posts are getting longer and longer apart, aren't they? I promise I'll try to be better at talking to myself.

So since my last post, there's been a steady progression back into the fitness lark. I've been going to Yoga every Wednesday, which for an anxious person, is a great achievement in itself but it also means getting up a 5:30am to get the gym. I'm not a morning person, but I've actually enjoyed getting up for Yoga. Well, enjoy is expanding on the truth, but I do actually enjoy it when I'm there!

Last week I also took part in a 30 minute 'express circuit' class and that was an experience. So much of an experience that I realised 2 things:

1. I'm really not fit enough for mid-high intensity activities
2. I no longer know how to use a skipping rope

And then the day after, DOMS. Oh the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)

It seemed as though my body had forgotten how to walk, how to function even, from the waist down. It was like Bambi on ice but with more pain. But in a weird way, it's that good kind of pain. The kind of pain that reminds you that although you think you did everything wrong, you obviously still worked out some muscles!

Parkrun has been revisited, albeit just the once so far, and today (Wednesday 15th) a 5k in the lovely sunshine around St Albans. It felt good to go out, and I'm slowly but surely feeling the joy of running again.
It was a shaky start today, legs felt heavy and I thought I was feeling a twinge in my knees but decided it was psychological. And it was, reassuring myself as I went round; 'it's your second run in 8 months. Walk a little if you need to, these are steep hills. Make up for it on the final stretch.'
Yes, I have a fragile mind as mentioned before but it's the beginning and we go again and again until we succeed. There will be hard days, there always are, and I am my own worst enemy but we'll get there...we ARE getting there.

My friend's post on Tumblr reminded me that we are all different; different levels of fitness, shapes and sizes and to just be comfortable in what YOU are doing. So do that, be more confident in yourself, even just a little bit.

In the immortal words of Zooey Deschanel:

"You gotta be kind to yourself. Badadadum, badadadum"

Sunny Side Up

Is there anything better than lazing on a sunny, mild Saturday in March, with a brew and breakfast?

Gudetama is my spirit character

Well yes my friends, yes there actually is, in my opinion that is. Not many things mind, but there is one little treat that I managed to finally drag myself back out for; Parkrun.
The popular, volunteer led, event that takes place at 9am every Saturday (pending acts of God), is the perfect start to the weekend. and all those feelings came back today.
Everyone is welcome and it doesn't matter what you think your ability is, or even what it actually is, you should definitely go and check out your local one!

Having not run for 8 months and not being in the best frame of mind, when one had woken from one's slumber, I almost changed my mind. However my wife convinced me to go as she wanted to go for a walk with F, And anyway, I had some new kicks to try out, we'll get to that in a bit.

It was my first time taking part at the Stevenage Parkrun, usually attending the Panshanger Park Parkrun and it was a perfect day for it. The sun decided to make an appearance and it was pretty mild all round, perfect running weather.
The course here is mostly paved, with only one section through the mud (compared to Panshanger, which is a complete trail route) and involves 2 laps of the lakes. There are some deceptively steep hills which makes it challenging, especially the final hill... genuinely thought I was going to vom 😷
Thank Odin's beard that I didn't!
The volunteers were as usual really friendly, cheering everyone on and the whole thing worked seamlessly. Even with the 2 laps it will definitely contend with a visit to Panshanger.

So shoes, Zapatos, Schuhe. What better way to try and convince yourself to get back into running than BUYING ALL THE KIT. Okay, so not all the kit, but a lovely new pair of running shoes, trail shoes to be precise. I figured that for wet days, Panshanger can get very muddy and I want confidence in my shoes that I won't face plant into a boggy puddle! So I went and bought myself some Skechers GOtrail and they did the job perfectly.
Bias aside, (because there isn't any, I honestly wouldn't wear them if I didn't like them!) they made me feel confident and surefooted through the small amount of mud at Stevenage.

Skechers GOtrail

They were as comfortable as the other shoes in the GOrun range, probably one of the comfiest, and a great choice for even if there's just a small patch of mud to run through. Looking forward to seeing how they handle the terrain at Panshanger Park!

Finally, a time of 33 minutes was not for me to be downhearted with, I'm mainly happy that I got round with no mishaps after 8 months of no running.
As I started writing this, I was lazing, with a brew and a hot cross bun, and a big smile on my face that I'd jumped over my first hurdle.

Breaking The Blues

I've been quiet recently, mainly due to nothing to report, but also because I've been slowly (very slowly) trying to get myself back to exercise. And busy with life, very busy. Who thought a child would occupy so much of your time?! (Disclaimer, I did know, just joking)
The reason that it's slow progress is mainly from a psychological aspect rather than any early injuries, thankfully!

Speaking of which, I always find it amazing how much of an impact the mental side of exercise can have on performance. Psychosomatic ailments can be such a hindrance to training and enjoyment of the fun of running. A large percentage of ability in running, in my opinion, is psychological and we've all had days where we don't feel up to it or find it really difficult to give it our all.

And it is this topic that I find really affects me. Not being very confident, it doesn't take much to knock me down, and having put up with back problems for 2 years (which really ground down my morale) and then suffering a recurring knee injury, I have completely forgotten any love I had for running. I've forgotten the thrill of getting up for Parkrun on a Saturday morning and the excitement of a booked race (Vitality London 10,000 in May).

A lack of confidence leads a person to a lack of motivation, the inability to find or make time. It's then all too easy to back out of any loose plans made, to convince yourself 'I'll go tomorrow' - which as most of us know, tomorrow never comes.

I have had a taster at the gym; partaking in a swim (god that was difficult), yoga (need to book again, 6:30am though...) and a Goal Setting appointment. The latter I feel (I hope) will give me a solid foundation to help me with running, whilst helping to protect my back and in turn, again hopefully, reduce or even stop my knee injuries.

Now, if I could just get over the hurdle of getting up earlier to go to the gym before work that would be lovely...if you've got any suggestions on how to do this, bearing in mind I have a small child and love my sleep, I'd welcome them with open arms!