Downpour

5th October
I've been keeping the mid-week runs small so as not to tax the legs too much, but I've have been adding an element of speed to them also.  This run was no different.

What a day.  I left work for a small run and the sun was out.  I was 400 metres into my 2.4km loop when the heavens opened and it just poured down.  When the first loop was over I was so wet their was no point in stopping so I went for another loop running one of the kilometres at speed, 3:50, under 4:00 again.  Happy days.

DCM Week 13: Long Run

I had to drag myself out of the bed this morning.  I had hoped to be out the door at 7am but it was just after 9am before the door closed behind me and only then becuase I knew it was just going to get warmer the longer I left it.

I walked the 500m to the track to warm up the Achilles tendon and then hit my 500m jog warm up.  After my stretches it was into the run, a nice 14kms easy.  I split the run into two 7km runs.  The first went well as I ran anti-clockwise around the track.  Once the first 7 were completed I turned around and ran clockwise for the next 7km.  The sun also decided to join me and it began to get very muggy with the high humidity.  When the last kilometre approached I felt I could run it hard but as I'm still having Achilles trouble I tried to make it quick but within the pace zone I've set of 5:45 - 6:22 m/km.  I finished the last in 5:47 joint fastest of the day. Covered in sweat I walked back to the house after another good run.

I felt I could have run longer if my legs were in better shape, my breathing and heart rate were good, I guess the McMillan Running Calculator is working for me.  I'm on for a PR tomorrow if I complete the recovery run.  It'll be the most distance I'll have run in one week.  I'm sure I'll have more of these PR's throughout the rest of the training.  So far so good.

DCM: Wk:14 21km Long

Thursdays 5km went out the window.  There was a family emergency and the run was totally forgotten.  I'm now into a very important three weeks.  The distance starts to creep up with today being a nice 21km.  I'm on holidays for the next three weeks also, in Portugal so I'll have to contend with the heat.  I hope this will make the run in to higher distances when I get home easier as the temperatures will be cooler.

I got up early this morning, early for me and ran what is probably my first run before 7am.  I have present my garmin before I left for holidays with the runs I need to do and with pace zones for the runs to ensure I don't run too fast and end up burning out.  Todays runs was nice and easy and clocks my slowest ever time for the distance, but not by much.  The great thing for me was that it was just my legs that were tired, the break during the week had help but my muscles are still recovering.  My breathing was good and my average heart rate was the best it has ever been for this distance.  I have ran this distance five times now, but never further.  This run was probally the most relaxed one I've done.

In two weesk time I'll run my very first 24km run, here.  It will be another early start.  I've been using Nuun hydration tabs for my long runs and they seem to be working.  While I'm still not enamered by the taste todays run felt nice, even in the heat and I didn't feel dehydrated during the run.  I'll see how this continues.

DCM Week 15: Long

Yesterday's run was a nice 15km on a lovely day.  When I woke up the sun was shining.  It's been a while since that has happened in the wet country of ours.  The weather has been pretty miserable in June and July, more like winter than summer, but yesterday was a glorious day.

A nice easy 500m warm up, a stretch and I was on my way.  I had put the IT band strap on my right knee as it was giving me a bit of trouble on Thursday's run and I had put a Nuun hydration tab in my water.  I had read about Nuun tabs on blogs and some bloggers swear by them so I thought I'd give them a go.  I had the orange flavoured ones.  The taste is like lightly flavoured water but there is a slight fizz also.  I'm not sure if I'm mad about the taste or the fact that as I run they bubble up so when getting near the bottom of the drink you get foam but they did seem to do the job they are meant to, in that they kept me hydrated on a warm day.  I'll stick with them until the end of the tube and see how I go.

The run itself was non-eventful except that my right leg must be getting too much work.  The IT band is currently fine but my Achilles tendon is very tender today.  I was supposed to run a 5km recovery run today but on account of the Achilles I've decided to rest up.  Next run is on Tuesday.  14 weeks and counting to the Dublin City Marathon.  Here's hoping the tendon will be in better shape by Tuesday.  If anyone has any tips on taking care of your Achilles tendon I'd love to hear it.

Race Report - Enniscorthy Half Marathon 2011

A bit late but here is the report of my attempt at the Enniscorthy Half Marathon, also called the Strawberry Half, which took place on the 26th of June 2011.

I arrived with plenty of time to warm up on an already warm morning in the town of Enniscorthy in Co. Wexford.  Wexford is famed for it's strawberries and they have a festival each year called the strawberry festival.  Last year they staged their first half marathon as part of this festival.  I was registered for the race last year but didn't run it as I picked up a slight knee injury.  This year I wasn't going to miss out again.

Parking was in a field beside the river, very close to the starting line.  I sat relaxed and then decided to jog the short distance, probably 500m or so, to the start as part of my warm up.  I was already sweating due to the heat and high humidity by the time I got to the start.  I had a feeling that this was going to be a tough race.  The temperature was 22ºC which is warm for Ireland but there was complete cloud cover and it felt very heavy.

At the start line I bumped into people I knew and we chatted about times and hopes for the race.  I was hoping for a PR, which meant I would have to come in under 1h 59m 30s.  I had decided to run with the 2hr pacers for the first 10km and then see how I felt after that.

The 2hr Pacers and their orange balloons

We all lined up and a gentleman climbed a step ladder with a loudspeaker to get us under way.  We ran straight to the first bridge and across.

Me "71" crossing the bridge

From here we ran along the river crossed back over the bridge and up our first hill with not even a kilometre done.  I should have realised from this point what the course would be like.  I've never ran as many hills in my life.

At least there is always a downhill

From here we left the town.  The two lads pacing were good craic and chatted away as we ran.  They knew the course really well and would let us know when the next hill was coming and motivate us through it, telling us to conserve energy and get the breath back on the down hills.  At 7km I started to feel a strong twinge in my left knee.  Not used to running many hills and with the road slanted and pretty much uneven my knees were getting a good going over.  After the injury at Christmas to my right knee and the length of time it took me to get back to running good distances I contemplated dropping out just in case I did some damage.  I decided that there is always an aid station, if I needed to I could stop there, and kept going.

At the 10km mark we hit our biggest hill and this separated those who were aiming for a sub 2 hours into two groups.  Once we got to the top of the hill my knee was giving me grief.  I decided that if I ran quicker I would be finished quicker and be in some pain for less time.  I picked up the pace a little, which actually helped the knee.  Maybe my form changed with  the change of pace, I don't know.  The clouds had broken at this stage and there was brushings of blue in the sky.  The sun was picking up in strength and the heat was making it tougher.  The water stations were extremely welcome when I came upon them.

12km in, just under 10km to go

From here with the heat the going got tough.  My heart rate was really high, it actually started higher than normal at the start due to the humidity.  All I could do was plod along.  Coming up to 16km and we crossed the bridge over the river that would mark our turn back towards the town.  What I thought was the last water station was here and I was so happy for the extra water.

Across the bridge and the return journey begins

From here it was 5km along a straight, main road.  I think I found this part the toughest of the course.  As tough as the hills were finishing by running 5km virtually in a straight line with nothing but a clear view of the distance you have to run in front of you was tough.  At 17km I could see the road looked like there was an incline up above.  At 18km I could see it was a hill and I was not prepared for this.  I thought this road was all flat for 5km.  My heart nearly stopped.  I was nearly out of energy and my brain was telling me to stop that I was going to collapse if I kept going.  I could feel I was over heating.  I had pushed my body very hard and was not sure If it would get me to the finish.  As I reached the crest of the hill a water station came out of nowhere.  I was never so happy to see a water station.  I drank half the bottle and poured the rest over me to cool me down.  I felt immediately better and my motivation came back.  I was going to finish and in a good time, for me, too.

Back down to the town we crossed the first bridge we crossed at the beginning of the race again and turned back to the finish line.  My knee was really aching now but not far to go now.  I crossed the line in 1:56:00 race time but a 1:55:36 chip time, a new PR.  Happy days

At the finish line, and happy to be there

From here I walked to the river and got in.  The water was freezing but me legs felt great for it.  A nice stretch out and walk to cool down and it was back to the car, a quick change and a 1 hour drive home.  Maybe there is something wrong with me but despite the toughness of the course I really enjoyed the event.

The only thing I could fault the organisers for is the t-shirts.  When I came across the line there were no more medium size shirts left so I had to take a large, no biggy.  Apart from this it was a great event.  The route was fantastic  lots of little roads and very scenic.  We passed lots of houses where people were outside cheering us on.  At one house a group of girls had set up their own water stand and were handing out cups.  Although I didn't take any I thanked them for their work.  There was a great buzz and atmosphere about the place the route was well sign posted.  It is a tough run but all the more enjoyable when you finish it.  It is also a small race at the moment with 414 starting it and 409 finishing.  I finished 244.  I hope to be back next year.

Juneathon - Day 14: Speed Workout

Today I didn't really know what I was going to do running wise.  I wanted to run at least 6km but how was still to be decided.  I was working until 9pm and when I got changed I decided to do a speed workout.  It had been a while since my last one.

The goal was a 1km warm up, stretching, then 500m fast followed by a 1 minute walk 8 times and then a 1km cool down followed by stretching.  In my head I said I wanted the target time for all 8 500m to be under 2:30 but as close to 2:00 as possible.  When the first 500m started I went off too fast and was unsure how I would mange 8 at that pace.  When I reached 4 reps I felt 6 is enough I'll stop after 6.  When I hit 6 I told myself there was only 2 more to go I had this.  Meanwhile I think my Garmin was playing tricks on me.  I could swear that the 1 minute walk was getting shorter and shorter.  Rep 7 came and went and then on rep 8 I decided to go for broke as the rain began to bucket down.

Finished and into a 1km cool down then stretching.  I felt great afterwards.  Good workout.  Here are my times:

500m:
1: 1:54.59
2: 2:06.45
3: 2:05.29
4: 2:09.38
5: 2:07.95
6: 2:05.34
7: 2:01.25
8: 1:53.63

Two of the 500m under 2 minutes.  Delighted

Juneathon - Day 12: Running

This morning the weather was horrible and I was not looking forward to my run.  It was dark, wet, cold and miserable.  I needed to run as it had been a few days since I did and I knew I would have to go out in this.  I can't believe this is June.

When the time came to run the temperature had risen a little and rain had stopped.  I didn't bring the gloves that I was contemplating in the morning.  When I got to my starting point I left my jacket in the car, the weather had improved some more, and set off at a nice pace.  The idea for today was to try and hit 15km.  I'm supposed to run a half marathon in two weeks and I haven't run further than 12km in almost two months.

The first 10km were nice but then the dreaded IT band, on my left leg this time, began to play up.  At 11km I stopped to stretch it out and again at 13km.  At 13.1km I stopped and walked the short distance back to the car.  I didn't want to push the knee too hard.  I did this in December and it resulted in one month trying to get past 2km without my knee giving in.  I'm hoping the problem is related to Juneathon and daily exercise and that my body is a little tired.  I'll know next week how I'm feeling when I run my long run if the half is doable or if it is better I sit this one out.  I hope next weekend is better.

Juneathon - Day 4: Running

Day 4 of Juneathon and time for another run.  It was another beautiful day and as I said yesterday the aim was to run 10km.  I decided that I would run along the banks of the local river and enjoy the morning.  When I started running, albeit sporadically the year before last I ran a lot up along the banks of the river as not many people would see how slow I was running.  I would usually run 3.5km up the river and then turn back.  Today  the aim was 5km up and 5km back, so I would see a new part of the track.

I decided to set out from work and run a 1km warm up, 10km run and finish with a 1km cool down, a nice 12km morning outing.  Here is how it went.

Warm up km: 5:41 followed by some light stretching.

2km: 5.33
3km: 5.27
4km: 5.13
5km: 5.22
6km: 5.18

So I ran the first outward 5km of the 10km in 26.53.  I found these kilometres tough going and when I hit the turn around and began the return journey I though of the quote that running is 90% mental and the other 10% is mental and tried to change how I was feeling to enjoy it.

7km: 5.18
8km: 5.07
9km: 5.03
10km: 5.01

With a kilometre to go in the 10km I realised that I was close to my official fastest 10km time of 52.31 and that if I pushed I might beat it.

11km: 4.51

The 5km return journey was done in 25.20.  Gotta love the negative split.  10km in 52.13 a new unofficial PR.

Cool down km: 5.23.  All in all an enjoyable morning.

Easy Run

I'm trying to get back into running after a small break, so up I got Saturday morning and met a friend for a nice easy 5km run.  It was a cool, breezy morning and we set off at a slow and easy pace.  The first 3km was at a nice easy pace and then I picked up the speed for the last two kilometres, finishing at a sprint.  Nice outing.  Now to start building up the distance again.  It was good to be out.

Quick Workout

I didn't have much time to run today but I did have time for a quick 5km.  We are having beautiful weather in Carlow and I really want to get out and run in it as much as possible before the rain returns.   I'm going to get out tomorrow morning for, hopefully, a longer run.  Loving the weather.

Hilly Long Run

This morning I joined the Carlow Women's Fit For Life group for a long run.  The Carlow Men's Fit for Life group has only just been established and as of yet doesn't do long runs as part of the group.  For the past two months I've been doing my long run alone, as the person I normally run with is injured so it was great to have company again for the run.

At 9.30am we met and began our run.  The run was at a nice pace and was on a route I never ran before.  The majority of my runs over the past year or so have been mostly flat as there are not many routes around the town that have hills.  Today's route went out of the town.  The weather was great and before long we had hit our first hill.  As I wasn't familiar with the route I wasn't really expecting any hills.  Today's run was really enjoyable and felt great.

It was the first time this year that I've run more than 12km without having my right knee strapped up.  With seven hills on the run I happy with how the knee held together and think as long as I look after it I should be able to run without the ITB strap from here on in.

Lisbon Half - Recovery Run

With my legs still a bit shook from Sunday I went out for a run.  I probably should have done this run on Monday but decided a family day out walking Lisbon Zoo was a better option that day.  I had forgotten to cut my toe nails before the half and some toes were not in great shape, but on the mend.  The legs were complaining that they didn't want this but I knew they really needed it.

The weather was great.  A cool 16ºC with a lovely breeze.  The idea was to try for 6km but if the legs were still too tender to cut that short.  I ran 1km and stopped to stretch and legs felt much better after that.  5km later I was back at the house and after a bit more stretching was finished a nice slow, easy run.   Feeling better today.

I've a 10km race in Dublin in just under 3 weeks time.  I learned my lesson after the last half where I had no races planned when it finished.  As a result I got lazy and ran only four times in the following 3 months.  That won't be happening this time around.

Race Report - Lisbon Half Marathon 2011

It's all over now and my legs are in recovery but here is how it all played out.

I woke up at 7:30am and had my breakfast of porridge, honey and banana, drank about 500ml of water, put on some suncream and waited to be collected.  My wife's brother João was also running the half and arrived just after 9am to bring me to the train station.  João's girlfriend Ana was taking part in the mini marathon, a 7km track on mostly the same route.  We got the train at 9:34am and had only one stop to go.  Anyone with a race number could use the public transport system free of charge to get to and from the race, which was great.  It was nice to be staying so close to the start of a race so there wasn't much travel time involved.  This, however, didn't prevent me from being late for the start.

I'm going to complain a bit here so apologies in advance for this.  We arrived at Pragal station and I left the group in search of a toilet.  I had hopes that this would be a well organised event but the toilet facilites were definetly lacking.  On paper there were a lot of toilet locations at the start, on the race route and and at the finish, unfortunatley at those locations there were not a lot of toilets, and each toilet had it's own queue, so you could be stuck a long time waiting.  I tried three toilets, all with no toilet paper, poor organisation.  Losing a lot of time at this point I decided to jog to the start as part of a warm up.  There were two large roads leading to the start and lots of space to jog until both came together in a bottleneck with a huge crowd trying to get past.  At this point I knew I would miss the start but felt that I would still have time to reach the gate I was looking to start in.  When I finally got through the bottleneck (there was a nice group standing in the bottleneck making it smaller having a group meeting with two organisors watching them, not moving them on) it was on to the start.

The race starting point was at the beginning of the bridge on the way into Lisbon and the race had already started.  My stretching was quick and brief, not really what I wanted but I was in a hurry.  I had assumed that one side of the bridge would be for the half and the other for the mini, but I was wrong.  I also assumed that they would start the race in waves with the faster wave first and so on, it seems I was wrong again.  I asked which side was for the half and was told both, it doesn't matter.  It also seemed that they started everyone together, I was 8 minutes late for the start, but I think if it was started in waves I wouldn't have had to wade through lots of people walking.  As a result I spent the first 1km run/walking as the majoity of people were walking, stopping, taking photos, meaning I had to weave between people and stop abruptly on a regular basis, more bad organisation.

Ponte 25 de Abril - The Race Start

OK, further complaining about the organsition of the event can wait a little... The Race.  I had said in my previous post that thoughts of a PR were shelved due to the weather, of course I was just saying that but still harbouring hopes it might be possible.  This half is considered the fastest in the world as it is almost totally flat with probably 100m uphill and 1km downhill outside of that flat, a great opportunity for a PR.  At the 3.5km mark we came off the bridge completed our little bit of uphill and then began winding our way downhill to the lower river level.  At 5km the mini marathon went to the right and the half to the left.  At this point there was lots of space.  It was also the first water stop and bit of live music.  With the temperatures at 23ºC it was great that there were so many water stations on the route, good organisation :-) and the live music along the route also was a welcoming factor.

Songs I heard sung live along the route:
Michael Jackson's Don't Stop Til You Get Enough
Phil Collin's Easy Lover
Katy Perry's Hot N Cold
Britney Spear's Toxic
Wham's Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode

Around the 8km mark we past the main square of Lisbon's downtown, Praça do Comércio.  Up to this point my race was going quite well and my pace was well on for a sub 2 hour half.  We turned around and ran back the direction we came from.  As soon as the turn was made the lovely breeze that had been in my face on the way up completely disappeared, replaced by a dead heat.  At the next water station I poured a bottle of water over me to cool down, a slight mistake as my t-shirt became really heavy, at least in the heat it didn't stay heavy for long.  At 10km I passed Hennessy's Irish Pub for the second time and I'm sure I could hear it whisper "Come in for a cool drink".  At this point my heart rate was also suggesting a break.  Shaking this from my head I plodded on.  At 13km we passed the point again where the mini and half orignally seperated and went the other direction.  We continued down this new stretch of road along the river towards Belém.  Along this route there are some great views.

The Discoverer's Monument

Torre de Belém

At 15km I was gone.  I stopped and walked each time I took a drink.  At 17km we ran by and past the finish line and it was tempting to jump the barrier and run towards it.  At 19km we reached the end of this long stretch of road turned around and ran back along the other lane.  Just over 2km left and the breeze had returned.  At 19.5km banana's and orange slices were handed out and the next 1km was spend making sure you didn't step and slip on any of the peels.  I pushed and pushed myself over this last stretch as a sub 2 hour was still possible but it was going to be close.  I ran through the finished line, tired, glad to be finished, with nothing left to give and collected my medal and finish pack in front of Jeronimo's Monastery.  In my opinion the toughest race I've ever run.  My son, my wife and her dad were there at the finish line to great me.  The finishing pack had two bottles of water, one energy drink, a carton of milk and a small museli bar.  I was so happy that my wife brought lots of sugary jellies for me to snack on at the end of the race.

Jeronimo's Monastery

At the end of the race with my free Chocolate Cornetto (I love Ice-cream, Wonderful Organisation)

Me and James celebrate the end of the race

Me and my wife Ana who gratefully brought jellies for me to eat.

Look what I won

I later got my offical chip time off the website 1:59:31 a new PR.

The classification gave me a finish of 4128 out of 6331 which is based on the offical time but on chip time I finished 3577, not bad, and out of the 23 Irish people who entered the race I placed 8th.  Out of the 2752 in my age category I placed 1663.

The trip home was an adventure.  We decided to get the boat back across the river.  The queue was long as there was no change in the public transport timetables.  At the weekends in Lisbon the public transport service is reduced and the day of the race was no different.  With 36,000 people decending on Lisbon, over 6000 for the half and the rest for the mini all with the right to free access on public transport you would think that the service would have been increased even just for the time of the race and two hours after but no.  Agression levels were high and two men had to be physically pulled apart while waiting for the boat amongst aqusations of skipping the queue.  I've been told a few times before that queue skipping is a big no no in Portugal and I saw evidence of that first hand.

We got home, showered, changed and the it was out on the tiles for the night.  We went for dinnner to an all you can eat Brazillian Restaurant called Chimarrão and ate until we were about to burst.  A couple of drinks later and a fun day ended.

Portuguese beer "Super Bock" in a Guinness glass, nice :-)

Despite some of the organisational hiccups it was a great day, a great race, great spirit around the place and wonderful sceanery.  I'd do it again, but hopefully on a cooler day.  If you made it this far, thanks for reading.  Hope you enjoyed it, I did.

Rising Temperatures

A few days ago I was contemplating a PR in the Lisbon half on Sunday.  I had checked the long term weather forcast which said sunny, blue skies and 18ºC.  Perfect for an attempt at a PR, or so I thought.  Three days ago the weather forecast stated 20ºC, two days ago it was giving 22ºC and yesterday on arrival in Portugal the weather forecast said 24ºC for Sunday.

This morning I ran a small 4km as my last outing before the half.  It was 16ºC out.  The past few runs I been doing at home have been in temperatures between 4ºC and 8ºC, granted I was well wrapped up.  Today was the first run done this year without a jacket and I could still feel the heat difference as I was out.  Sunday will be 8ºC warmer.  I've since revised my goal of a PR and will just go out and run it and see what happens.  I hope there will be a lot of water stations on the route.

I'm going into the city today to collect my race pack and my wife's family are cooking pasta for dinner tonight and tomorrow night.  I'll be making sure I get enough water in today and tomorrow and during the race.  I've even brought porridge from Ireland for breakfast the mornign of the race.  I'm also not having any wine until after the race.  I think yesterday was the first St. Patrick's Day in a long time that was a dry one for me, but I'll celebrate Sunday night instead.

Early Morning Run

The idea of today's run was to run slower than last weeks 18km but still at a good pace.  This was my last long run before the half, I'll be slowing it down from here on in.

Normally I would run between 10am and 11am on a Saturday morning but as my wife was off to Dublin today I needed to get the run in earlier.  I had my porridge and honey for breakfast, which is what I like to eat before embarking on a long run, drove to the shop and bought an energy drink.  After a few drinks drove to work where the run would begin.  The radio was talking about beautiful weather, blue skies in Dublin but outside in Carlow the fog was everywhere and still hasn't lifted as I write this.

At 8:35am I left the car park with my head fully awake but my legs seemingly still asleep and a little sore.  This was going to be a long run.  I have four road routes that I like to run around the town and today I decided instead of doing a loop 3.5 times maybe I should run them all and see how far that is. By combining the routes there would only be one stretch of about 750m that I would run twice.

The first 8km were far from comfortable, unlike Thursday's run but I battled through.  It wasn't until 14km that my legs started to respond and feel that they were up to the task.  I reached the front of my office and the Garmin showed 17.83km, not bad.  I ran a little further to hit the 18km and walked back to the car to stretch.  I felt the run, although tough, was at a comfortable enough pace, a pace of 05:33 min/km, which would give me a sub 2 hour half, happy days.  I was 1 minute and 24 seconds slower than last week, not much.

With the IT band problem in late December and a half training schedule that was changed almost every week I didn't think I'd be at the stage I'm at now.  Looking forward to Lisbon now.  Recovery run tomorrow, all going well.

Feeling Good

The Tuesday run was postponed as I went to Tai Chi again and felt that a run after an hour of Tai Chi was a little too much.  Last week the knee was sore after doing both so I postponed the run until Wednesday.  The idea was to run 5km without the IT band strap on Wednesday and another 5km on Thursday.

At 9.30pm I left the house and drove to where I work.  The route around the block where I work is about 2.45km long and there is a small up and downhill.  I got to work and the weather was still good.  For the first time this year I didn't run with a hat and gloves.

I ran the first 1km as a warm up, stretched and then continued my run with the aim of completing a total of 5km without any knee pain.  As I was running I was feeling good.  I passed 4km, my previous best without the strap, and kept going.  At 5km I was still feeling good so I decided to keep going.  At 7km still feeling good I was zig zagging around to make sure I was close to the car should I have to stop while continuing the run.  I got the 10km and decided to stop so as to not strain the knee, but I felt I could have run the half marathon that night.

I love those runs where you enjoy every minute of it and it feels steady, at a good pace and you could just keep going on and on and on.  It's been a while since I enjoyed a run so much.  Looking forward to Lisbon now.

A Little Bit Further

Saturday's long run got postponed until today as I was at a wedding on Friday and thought that a long run after a night of drinking might not be the best idea in the world.  As a result my Sunday recovery run got knocked off the plan again.

Today was a 13km run where I was looking to run each kilometre between 5:40 and 6:10.  The best I've managed this year is 10km and with my knee still not the best I was a little worried about this run, hoping for the best.

The day was horrible, I should have run yesterday, the weather was better.  The wind and rain were constant the whole run and the wind was in my face all the way.  I ran the first kilometre as a warm up and then spent some time stretching.  After another 6kms I stopped for another stretch and then changed direction to support the knee.  The change of direction made no difference with the wind that seemed to change direction with me and was in my face the whole way.  The end of the run was tough and my knee started to twinge again.  Lisbon is only 4 weeks away now, hopefully I'll be ready.

Despite the rain and the tough end of the run I was happy as I did hit my goal and all kilometres were in the target zone.

1km: 5:57
2km: 5:46
3km: 5:55
4km: 5:58
5km: 5:55
6km: 5:58
7km: 6:04
8km: 5:52
9km: 5:52
10km: 5:58
11km: 5:56
12km: 6:07
13km: 5:58

Pushing Out The Boat

Today was initially supposed to be a regular 5km run in my build up to the Lisbon Half in March.  Since I injured my ITB in December I've been taking it easy and trying to come back slowly in the hope that I would be ready for the Half.

I went to where I work as it is a 2.4km loop around the block, which I was going to run twice with a little extra to make up the 5km I needed for today.  I ran the first kilometre in 5:12 and then stopped to stretch.  I've been doing this for the past few runs, running the first kilometre to warm up and then stretching to make sure the knee was not pushed to hard and given the best chance to heal.  It was after the first kilometre that I decided that today was the day to check on the healing an push it for the last 4km.

I finished the full 5km in 24:21 which is the fasted I've ever run 5km.  It doesn't really count in that it wasn't 5 consecutive kilometres but I did manage 4:29 for one kilometre, which is faster than I've ever run a kilometre before.  I finished the last 4km in 19:10.  The knee caused no trouble, the heat rate was through the roof but it felt great. 13km planned for Saturday.  Great day

Wind and Rain

The weather was terrible today rain, rain, rain and then more rain.  I will admit I don't mind the rain too much, after a while running in it you tend to forget it's there.  Granted afterwards when you go to the car soaked you realise you were running in the rain. 

No the rain didn't bother me today but the wind did.  There were times I actually thought I was going to fly away.  I was running on a 1km track today and the 400m with the wind behind me was nice but when the wind hit me in the face I did question why I was out there.  At the end though it felt great to be out and to get the run in.  Saturday I hope to reach 8km.  We'll see.

Running in the Fog

The idea of running on the track is that it is supposed to be soft and a better surface for me to run on with an injured knee.  At -2ºC, with freezing fog, the ground was like a rock so I might as well have been out on the road.

Today was another good run, two in a row.  I found it a little difficult to break until I warmed up due to the cold.  Maybe I should have worm more layers but hindsight is a great thing.  There were three others running on the track tonight but with the fog I hardly saw them at all. I'm happy with 3.5km in 20 minutes but I need to take it a bit easier and slow down over the next few runs while trying to run longer.

The fog began to clear around the track as I was finishing the run.  It seemed to be the only place it cleared because it was a pretty dangerous drive home where I could only see 50 metres in front of me. I'm going to give myself a few days off to rest up and should be out for my next run on Tuesday.