I Did It! Great Manchester run 2013

58:18

Sunny Manchester

This post is a little late as, somehow, the urge to blog faded as I crossed the finish line in 58:18. Any feelings of needing a fallback 10km to acheive 60@60 were gone in elation and my focus suddenly transferred to heading off on holiday a few days later. I was indeed now sixty years old but at this moment I didn't feel it.

Thanks to all who sponsored me in support of St Ann's Hospices which has so far resulted in £404.50 contribution to this magnificent organisation. My Mum and Sheila would be well chuffed.



A Sunny Day Out In Manchester
The day was most enjoyable, a beautifull sunny Manchester morning greeted us at Piccadilly Station and we headed into Piccadilly Gardens to pass time until our start. I was amazed that the local trains into town were overfilled with runners and their families, it began to dawn on me just how big an event this is. "Us" refers to my daughter Gillian, who has a couple of 10k's under her belt and had travelled up from London to take part having entered whilst still living in Manchester, and Lynne, my support team (and wife).

We passed a pleasent half hour in the gardens grabbing a bit of sustinence including a gingerbread man from Pret', the cost of using their toilet, then headed our separate ways. I was in the Blue wave starting at 11:25 and keen to stay with my estabished routine took a stride walk in the side streets for 5 mins rather than joining the group warm up. I joined the pack about 3/4 back.

Injury Scare Over
My injury scare descibed in my last post led me to doing no training at all other than a swim in the days before the run. It wasn't until I made the first few tentative steps past the Start line that I was releived to discover that all was well.

The Run
At the start, the pack filtered slowly forward to the line and I was able to get directly to pace though dodging and weaving to maintain it. The pack was dense and the need for wing mirrors and eyes to side and back proved to be hard work in spite of having tried parkrun to experience starting in a pack.  This need to pay huge attention to those around, sometimes having to plan a swerve right across the pack just to go forward a few feet, proved to be a lot of effort. I was wearing my trusty heart rate monitor and was alarmed at how high my rate was compared to the same pace running on my own.
I had learned that my pace drops after 6-7 km so planned to maintain a little over 11kph for the first 6km. The last 4km has a gentle uphill gradient and the temperature now after 12:00 was high in the sun. It was good to have the leeway to slow a little 2-3km from the end.
I was alarmed to be experiencing a heart rate of 209 bpm and slowed as much as I could just to try to stay under 200 which was still way over the 175 I had set as an alarm as too high. I wasn't out of breath and felt fine and had it not been for been for the HR monitor I would have turned in an even better time. It was only fear that stopped me sprinting at the finish. I've blogged previously at length about my experience with the HR monitor.

Afterward
The three of us found each other and headed off to queue for a table and had a nice lunch before heading for the train home to share a bottle of chilled fizz in the garden.
I was pleasently susprised to feel great after the run. The following morning my ankles were a bit 'clicky' and  48hrs later the muscles on the front of my thighs were a bit sore but that was the worst after affect that I experienced.

What's Next?
So, it was a buzz, I sincerely hope to do more and certainly keep going with some running including parkruns. I was asked on facebook, "What's next, 55 at 61?" to which I answered, "Maybe 70 at 70?".

 The big result is that I have proved to myself that 60 ain't washed up so I'll declare my sixties to be my new forties and endeavour to keep a bit of twenties in my head.

Finishers: Gillian (55:48) and Dad (58:18)

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Double Injured With Days To Go!

I know I said that was my last post before the run but, unbelievably after all this prep', I am injured only days from the run.

Injury #1
My wife and I took the tent for it's first outing to Snowdonia at weekend and in the middle of the night I was trying to get my sleeping bag zip from underneath me arching my legs and felt a 'ping' in my leg at the back above the knee.  It still hurt a little during the day though not badly.

On return home a little research said hamstring (yes, I have got this far in life and not been certain what  'hamstring' injuries were even though I now realise I've had several; all minor).

Injury #2
On Monday morning I considered the hamstring was OK to run and headed off for a 6km. As it was one week now to the run and I was going to use a route with hills and go a little faster than for the run then ease off for the week with a gentle treadmill & swim planned for Wednesday pm.
This route and speed turned out to be a very bad decision. The training run seemed to go comfortably with an 11.3kpm average speed but after I stopped I realised that the old achilles problem had returned and the hamstring was pulling and a couple of hours later I knew I was in trouble. In restrospect, unconciously protecting one may have exacerbated the other.

Panick Stations
Sick with regard to my state with less that a week to recover I went full on for RICE. Monday and Tuesday I moved very little, applied frequent Cold pads and Ibuprofen gel to supress inflamation and wore gentle elastic bandages whilst resting my leg up on the settee whenever able. Tuesday pm I started to carefully stretch the limbs to assist correct fibre healing and took a gentle walk.

I'm now at that point where if I could forget about it I would walk without any limp but I keep over compensating. Stretching is more comfortable and there is very little pain in either injury points more a feeling of stiffness. Carrying on with home treatment, stopped the cold now and moving toward massage and heat.

59:59

Hopefully, with care and gentle work I'll be ok for Sunday but I have abandoned my evolving hope of sub 55 and will just be happy if I can acheive my primary target of sub 60.  59:59 will do just fine!


  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Over 60

60 years was reached last Saturday; now for the 60 minutes.

Up An Age Group

Sat 4th May was my last parkrun in the 55-59 age group, I hope the 60-65's take it easy on me. I was aiming at keeping to 30 min but ended with a 28:18 as my phone App packed in so I was guessing pace. Pleased anyway.

I Am Ready?
I'm feeling in a good place and am even thinking I may not just achieve the 60 mins but beat it. My last couple of longer road runs have gone very well. I completed an 8km (5ml) run on Monday at a pace that would come over a 10km line at 55 minutes.

Hot & Sunny
The previous Tuesday was hot and sunny (yes, this year!) and was my first run in those conditions. It certainly takes it out of you but my pace was still good for 10km in 59.58, a bit too close to my target 60 though.
I hope it is nice for all the supporters that turn out but I'd prefer the temperature not be too high on the day.

Training Continues
Still mixing road runs with Treadmill sessions of around 40 mins followed by 20 lengths of the pool and everything is feeling good.  My heart rates which have consistently concerned me also seem to be dropping.

One Week To Go
It's only a week and 2 days now to the Great Manchester Run and I am looking forward to it with optimism that I will achieve my goal.

I am getting a few more sponsors in now but just a reminder that I am supporting St Ann's Hospices and this is you final call to add your support.

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Less Than 1 Month To Go!

No. 19044 Blue Wave
It's suddenly here; less than one month to go to the 2013 Great Manchester Run on Sun 26th May and my number and timing chip have arrived in the post.

Training Update
Last week I took on a current comfortable road distance but added a little pace to test myself out. The result of this was 6km in 33m which is a good sub 60min pace at 11kph.
I again used the heart rate monitor to avoid overstretching but took less notice of it only pulling back when over 170bpm.
I felt really good after this run although the old left achilles was making itself known the following days. This led me to give Bramhall parkrun a miss at weekend and delay my next planned road run with a few days rest.  I had intended a gentle gym session but I'd run out of payasUgym passes and by the time I had processed Tesco vouchers to buy them it was too late. I went for a 3km walk instead.

10k Achieved
On Tuesday I felt ready to go for 10km distance which I had wanted to achieve about 4 weeks before the run. My intention was to keep the pace a very easy jog going purely for distance and hoping not to have any walk breaks. I felt good on a gorgeous bright but cool morning and I jogged steadily throughout and was delighted to pass the 10km mark at 1:04:22. This means I only have to trim four and a half minutes which I'm sure I can do.

10km seemed a long way but only in time, I wasn't physically struggling so much as in danger of becoming bored. I guess that will be different on the day as running in a group is so much different.

I am very lucky where I live and parts of my routes extend into countryside. At one point I was running toward a gorgeous backdrop of the green hills of the Western Pennines as I passed fields of horses. There is also a lot of urban road and housing estates but this adds variety which is great.

After Effects
At the end of the 10km and that evening I felt like my legs had had a good workout and I was weary but generally in good condition. I could feel some tenderness around my left calf muscle to achilles tendon so iced that.
The following morning my ankles felt a bit 'clicky' and my leg muscles felt stretched but otherwise not bad. 48hrs later, my calf is a little sore reminding me that I have to be careful after injuring myself a year ago but it feels like a few days' rest is all that is required.

Cadence & Playlist
I have been running with my phone music library on random so have had no pace assist from the beat.
My next project is to select a playlist for the big day so I'll be measuring the BPM of various tracks and testing out what keeps me steady. Prepare for some dodgy tracks!
I found this free program very good for calculating BPM of tracks in my Windows library Abyssmedia BPM Counter.


DON'T FORGET TO.....
  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

On Target

Since my last panicky post when I had had to give up a run for the first time, things have progressed dramatically though admittedly with a couple of scares.

Target Pace Hit
Yesterday I completed a 5km road run in 29m 35s. This was great as I had set out aiming to be close to but under 30 min's. As well as getting the pace spot on I finished in good condition. I'm not sure how much further I could have gone but I certainly could have continued at that point.

27:20 5k parkrun
The previous week I managed to scare myself. I took part in the Bramhall parkrun again, with the same intention as yesterday's run, to be under but close to 30 min's. I was amazed to turn in a 27:20 !! Whilst this was exciting, it was faster than I had intended. Bramhall is a hilly course and I have to remember that I am almost 60 and have not been a practicing athlete over the last 25 years. My heart rate was sky high at the top path on the second circuit.

Scary Bit
I felt fine after the parkrun but that evening felt weak and odd and when I went out for a walk rang home to say where I was as I felt dizzy and concerned. That night I was worried with palpitations and generally feeling unwell. By the next morning, to my relief, I was losing my voice and clearly had some sort of virus. I did absolutely nothing for the next few days but felt ready for a treadmill session by Thursday when I ran a continuous 30min session with no adverse affects.

Additionally to thinking I had a virus, I thought back to the end of the week preceding. Thursday I had done a 7.5ml hike helping check footpath condition and repairing marker posts on the edge of the Pennines. Later that afternoon I did 35 Min's on the treadmill and 20 lengths of the pool. Friday I shifted a load of heavy gauge 3x2ft flagstones which was a real chest muscle workout. As preparation for a faster than intended hilly parkrun, this was probably not good. More lessons learnt.

Finding The Pace
I seem to be homing in on a 10k 60min pace now. One indicator is that my heart rate on the flat after more than 15 min's is between 165 and 170 bpm. Higher and I'm going too fast and lower too slow. Trying to pin down how it feels; if I jog along slowly flat footed I travel about 9.5 kph, just a slight feel of toe pressure on take off takes me to 10kph (target) but an actual feeling of launch takes me over. Still working on identifying pace but as long as RunKeeper updates me every kilometre I seem to be getting it now. My phone had packed in again on the 27:20 parkrun and was giving me no feedback otherwise I would have pulled back a little.

Next Steps
Repeat 5k's aiming at 29:30; take treadmill to 40 min's and insert faster intervals; take road runs up toward 1hr and then 10km.

5 Weeks time = Bupa Great Manchester Run

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Running On Empty

I set out Saturday morning with a nice 5km route intending to up my speed slightly to break 30 min.

A Bad Start
I always stride walk for 5 Min's to warm up and as I approached my start point I began to set up a Runkeeper Activity on my phone. I noticed that the GPS kept going in and out but didn't think much of it. I started running and the first voice prompt said zero distance so I stopped and cancelled it. I did this a further 2 times before abandoning the App and relying on my watch and route only.

Running On Empty
As soon as I began running I realised that I felt as if I was running on empty and that moving away from the normal steady pace I have been using I had no concept of current pace. It turns out, when I checked afterwards, that I must have been doing about 12.5kph instead of the 10kph I was trying for; no wonder I was knackered but with no App running I had no feedback on my pace. I've got to sort that out.
My diet over the previous 24hrs had been very poor for reasons I'll skirt around and I think this was the reason for the 'running on empty'.

Defeated
16 minutes into the session, I realised it was stupid to carry on. My heart rate was sky high (low 180's) and I was drained. I decided to push on to 20 Min's and then stop and walk home. An advantage of circular routes with home in the centre as opposed to out and back is that if you take on an injury you can shortcut to home.

Valuable Lessons
I still achieved a 4.13km run so it was in some ways a good session but it was my first time feeling I had to give up. I think the poor diet in the previous 24hrs leading to running on empty was a valuable lesson. Now I know that trying to speed up a bit went very wrong so I need to practise pace change. I should have known I was going too hard by the high heart rate which does seem to be a good indicator of current effort so I can try using that a bit more.


Runkeeper Sorted
My Runkeeper App is now working again after force closing the App and clearing data before restarting and logging in anew. I suspect a new release of either Runkeeper or GPS Status had clashed with the other but all seems well now.

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

A Scottish Interval

Less Than 2 Months To Go
The bupa Great Manchester Run 10 km takes place 26th May, less than 8 weeks away! My target is to complete it in better than 60 min.  (If you are up for sponsoring my please use the link below.)

1st Through Run 5km
Previously, I have programmed walk intervals in all sessions but last Saturday I completed the Bramhall parkun 5 km as a continuous run. Quite happy with 30m 34s at this stage but look forward to breaking 30 min next time and achieving a 10km in 60min pace for the first time. This represented an improvement of 34 places and 2 min 24 secs on my last event 23rd Feb.

Scotland
I lost a week of training last week during a trip to Scotland. I took my running gear but it was FREEZING and I succeeded in always finding an excuse. (Photo near Glen Coe)

Training Plan
Continuing with my 3 sessions a week.

1. Gym: Treadmill 40 min session followed by 20 lengths of 20m pool.
2. Road: Increasing toward 1 hour, extending run intervals with walk intervals less frequent.
3. 5 km: Some weeks a parkrun others a 5 km road run. 

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Time Investment in Training

Investment of Time
The biggest thing I hadn't comprehended is the investment in time required to maintain a training plan.
I am trying to fit in 3 sessions per week, a Road Run of up to 1 hour, a Treadmill session of up to 40 min's followed by a 20 minute Swim and thirdly a 5km Run (sometimes parkrun). All of these individually take longer than the activity alone suggests.
It is also amazing how many weeks for some reason 3 activities is difficult to maintain. Illness and injury can be an issue but holidays, weekends away, extra work and social demands have a surprisingly large impact.

50 Minute Road Run
Work up to it, have a drink, put on running gear.
2 x 5 mins warm up and cool down stride walk added on to 50 mins actual activity.
On return home, drink, stretch, shower and dress.
Total, approx  1hr 30min.

Gym and Swim
Work up to it, have a drink, find everything and pack bag.
10 mins each way drive.
Sign in, change into run gear, up to 50mins on treadmill including 5min warm up and cool down.
Change from running gear to swimming, 20 mins in pool, stretch, shower and change.
Total, approx 1hr 40min.

5km Run
Work up to it, have a drink, put on running gear.
Approx 30 min running plus 5 mins warm up and cool down stride walks
On return home, drink, stretch, shower and dress.
Total, approx 1hr 10min.   (* If parkrun, add 20 mins return journey to this.)

Additional Injury Time
Due to my still recovering achilles, I frequently feel it necessary to apply a cold pack after the run adding a further 20 minutes to above figures.

Training Plan Overheads
It has to be said that I am a bit anal in this area. It shows that I like mucking about with data and it costs much more time than in needs to.

MS Excel
I plan my training and record all my activities including interval speed, duration and distance. From this I can see my overall pace, distance and run-walk ratio. I enter actual performance after each activity from Runkeeper GPS record. All this data allows me to forward plan and monitor progress.
If I plan to run 3 x 15 min and walk 2 x 2 mins I can input this with my known paces and see exactly how far I will go in distance allowing me to plan a pleasant route on Google Maps rather than randomly extending or cutting short my route whilst out.

Runkeeper
Before each run I will input my interval plan, e.g. run 3 x 15 min with 2 min recovery walks. Runkeeper then gives me audio prompts and records my actual performance.
After each GPS recorded activity, I update Runkeeper comments on the web. In the case of the Gym activities I manually input my performance on the treadmill and in the pool.

Bupa Great Run
Totally unnecessary but I also manually add all activities completed to the Bupa Great Run training plan.

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

I Have A Plan

I am now running 5km easily at a low pace and with planned walk intervals.
With 2.5 months remaining to prepare for my 10km in under 60 minutes, this is the plan for the next few weeks .....

The Plan
3 Training Sessions per week: Road; Treadmill plus Swim; 5km/parkrun.

Road
Gradually increase time out toward 1 hour whilst decreasing walk/run ratio. Keep speed at jog pace and concentrate on keeping HR controlled.

Gym
Keeping to approx 40 min treadmill sessions, decrease walk/run ratio and start to up run speed slowly. Follow by 20 lengths swim (0.4km).

5km / parkrun
 Using 5km as base distance and some weeks taking part in a parkrun; decrease walk/run ratio dropping from 2 walk intervals to one and then continuous. Once comfortable, begin increasing speed to a good 60min 10km pace and maintain.

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Incapacitated

Feeling The Burn
After my first parkrun a little over a week ago, I initially felt fine but by evening my throat and the top of chest were burning and I was coughing viciously. I couldn't understand how I could react so badly and I continued to worsen through Sunday.
All was explained on Monday when it was quite clear that I'd picked up a virus with jelly legs and feeling drained and ill in addition to the now violent coughing fits. By Monday, my wife was clearly following with the cough and, sure enough, was off work the next day and the rest of the week.
We had gone into Manchester for a meal and theatre on Friday night so guess we picked up something either there or on the public transport.

A Week I'll Never Get Back
A full week of illness followed for both of us with virtually no sleep and agonising coughing fits. Everything stopped other than consumption of  Lemsip, Honey, Lemon, Ginger, Paracetamol, Benelyn & Ribena, no work and certainly no training.

Another Monday
The aches had finally gone and apart from the now less vicious cough and a running nose I did actually no longer feel ill.
I nipped out for a 4km jog Monday afternoon which went OK though left me very tired.  Tuesday, I tried again and, again, it went OK but I was clearly not recovered yet. 9 full hours sleep Tuesday night!

So, yet again I have lost a week in my training plan and having had to step back a little from where I'd already reached. Hoping for a Treadmill & Swim session tomorrow, If only I could see the back of this cough. I think it's going to be a while before I'm completely right again.


  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

I Think I Got Away With It

Parkrun Goal
I'll say at the start of this, my first major goal has been for a while to complete a 5k parkrun by the end of February.

So I Lied
In my last post I said that I had reached 5k of actually run interval distance on the road but actually, when I re looked, I'd only hit 4.58! However, last week I definitely exceeded it with 5.33km run / 6.63 tot.  This was a really good run, I kept my heart rate below my target of 165 most of the time. My first run with music as well as RunKeeper, I wasn't sure if the apps would run together or drown each other out but they're fine. Music may have helped with HR.

Have I Blown It?
I thought I'd blown it following this extended run. I had not run for over a week prior and probably should have dropped back a little in my training plan.  We had been away to the island of Cumbrae west of Glasgow and circumnavigating the island we did do a 10.4Mi (16.7km) Walk followed by a 10.4Mi Cycle so we hadn't been idle, but I hadn't run for over a week.
After the 240Mi drive home in a pair of trainers with stiff backs I was suffering ankle pain and then, already a little worried that I had a problem, we spent a day walking the concrete floors of furniture shops and the Trafford Centre.
So, at the start of last week, my left had an issue up to and into the calf and my right had tenderness low down. Classic hurt first thing and OK during exercise as I'd had when the tendons were injured. Beginning to think that parkrun next week may not be.

I backed off any training early this week but by Thursday thought I could risk a treadmill session with a drop in duration and pace. I did an easy 3km followed by ice on left achilles as precaution. Still hoping for Saturday parkrun.
Friday seemed OK but by now I'm paranoid, scared of exacerbating any injury, not wanting to abandon my parkrun before end of Feb goal, feeling every real or imagined twinge.

Friday Night - Saturday
I decided I must go for it, so Friday evening I prepared my running kit before we headed out to the theatre in Manchester.
For a 59 year old, I was stupidly nervous of approaching my first parkrun, not knowing what type of athletes would be there, would I look an idiot taking it easy. Would I get in someones way and spoil their run?
Overnight I realised I hadn't got my bar code which I printed back in April before tearing my achilles.

parkrun
I parked 5 min away 15 min early and headed down to the start which all seemed quite relaxed then off for 5 min warm up fast walking feeling a little more comfortable. Achilles feeling OK.
I determined not to let myself over stretch and do some damage so set RunKeeper to tell me to do 6 min run / 2 min walk.  Got myself at the back so I would not be drawn on by the speed of those around me and then off. Easy first 6 min then embarrassing 2min walk. No one else walking at this stage and all the little kids are heading past me. I'm in danger of walking behind the whole field. By my 3rd interval, I'm passing some stragglers and a few others are walking.
Bramhall is quite a hilly park with some steep inclines and my heart rates are crazy, generally 175-180, 185 peaking on uphill sprint to 195! I keep trying to slow down but I feel great and am not particularly out of breath.
My last 2 min walk interval is signalled when there are only a couple of minutes left. My inner child finally won and whilst I did walk it was only for one minute after which I sprinted up the final hill and down to the gate. (What an idiot!)
Anyway, it's Sunday morning now, the day after, and I Think I Got Away With It! Achilles are feeling fine. Knees are a bit knackered but I think all is well. First goal achieved and it feels good.

Result
32:52 which I am actually pleased with given that I was forcing myself back. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and will be back for more. I was last (14th) in my age group and 350th in a field of 392 so I didn't finish way behind everyone as I had feared.
Feeling more optimistic about a sub 60min 10km at the end of May.

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

A Smile May Be Worth 2 Heart Beats

Good Progress
I had 2 really good sessions this week with good distance/duration progress and dramatic improvement in run / walk ratio. Only 1 month ago I was just managing 3 x 4 minute run intervals on the treadmill compared to 4 x 8 minute run intervals yesterday.
Road running sessions 1 month apart, 4 Jan and 5 Feb have gone from 2.2km (18min) to 5.9km (41min).

Saturday, Road
A major goal reached with the run element alone exceeding 5 km, this was by far the longest session I have achieved so far.
I set off with my new toy, (Heart Rate Monitor or HRM - see last post), with the intention of keeping my heart rate (HR) below 165bpm. Once I started running, it went straight up to 172 and I had to force myself to slow down and relax to achieve 165.
On each interval it would be higher and I would again pull it down to 165. There was a noticeable increase uphill where I had to accept that 170 was unavoidable
At 165 I'm at a slow plod run from which it would be difficult to go any slower.

I was actually a lot fresher on return home after this session even though it was my longest road run by far. I felt I could have gone on at end of each 5 min interval. Mind you, my fitness must be improving so maybe I would have been OK this week anyway.

Tuesday, Gym
I was intending a road run but with snow on the ground and a generally foul day I headed off to the gym for treadmill and swim. Today was to be 4 x 8 Min's, a considerable push forward.

Knowing that during my last treadmill session I was exceeding 175bpm, I set out aiming at keeping below 165. I started by reducing the gradient I had been training at from 2.3 down to 1.6 but I was also keen to increase the speed to more like my road speed in my search for answers to the apparent effort difference between road and treadmill.
On my first 8 minute session at 10kph I managed to keep between 162 and 165 which pleased me, however, my second 8 resulted in 168-171 with peaks to 173. I decided to drop speed a little for third 8 min to 9.5kph and at first this seemed manageable maintaining 165 but by halfway through I was around 168 with peaks to 171, still, this was going in the right direction so for my fourth 8 min I reduced to 9kph with a fairly satisfactory 164-166 with an odd peak to 170.

Through none of this was I out of breath or struggling and my 3 minute recovery walks at 5kph got me down to 118, 125 and in the last one 134. These represented recoveries of 30-40bpm from steady which is re-assuring for health purposes.

Heart Rate Questions and Lessons
My HR during training is significantly higher than the default Cardio fitness recommendations on websites I have visited. Reading these, most suggest that I should be aiming mid 130's for the type of running I am doing at my age. I am 30bpm above this. This acknowledged, my resting HR is very low for my age suggesting I could use a lower age in tables but even this only permits me 140's leaving me still 20bpm over.

Searching through forums, there are loads of other people reporting 165-175 and describing the same situation of a comfortable breathing state and good recovery but unable to lower further without stopping running altogether.
A figure which keeps appearing is that HR defaults should be treated as having +/- 24 bpm error as everyone is different.  I could go for testing my Max Heart Rate to find the correct parameters for me personally but that seems unnecessarily taxing and I see no health benefit and some health risk in testing it without medical supervision so will give that a miss.
I will carry on monitoring and using the HRM as a way to avoid over taxing myself. It will be interesting to see if it does lower as I get fitter still.

Noticed to appear to make a difference:

• Thinking HR down whilst looking at the display seems to work 2-3bpm
• Relaxing shoulders (even if already feeling relaxed)
• Breathing out smoother rather than blowing out
• Thinking a bounce in step so that stride extends slightly and foot fall frequency reduces
• Relaxing my face into a smile seems to drop 2 bpm on the treadmill!  :)

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Be Still My Beating Heart

5 km and Counting
On Monday I surprised myself by reaching a significant milestone with a 5.05 km activity. 5.0 km is the distance in parkrun which is my first race goal and I hadn't expected to reach that distance that day but due to running faster than planned, I covered more ground. It did include warm up and cool down which were both 5 min's so really it was only about a 4 km activity, but hey, GPS had 5 km on it when I got home so I'm having it.
Today I clocked 4.95 km on the treadmill, excluding warm up/cool down in a session of 4 x 7 minute runs with 3 min walk intervals.

Until today, I have been treating warm up and cool down as part of my cumulative activity. To be honest, until a few weeks ago I'd have only been out 10 min's if I didn't. Anyway, now I'm in the area of 5 km, I will exclude those so that my records show actual activity distance and duration only.

Heart Rate
For reasons associated with fascination with data, Decathlon's website, discounted kit and impulse spending I have ended up with a cheap Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) watch.  This is proving entertaining but also slightly concerning.
My resting heart rate is about 54bpm which for age 59 is pretty darned good. However, when it comes to training the figures appear rather high. In a steady and not that taxing 4 x 7 min treadmill session I was recording a high of 175bpm on the runs reducing to 135bpm by the end of each 3 min walk interval. Now, the drop of 40 is great but everything I've read infers that I should be aiming at highs of about 132bpm where I'm currently over 170bpm.
I shall experiment over the next couple of weeks and update you.

I am hoping to use the HRM to solve my puzzle of the different effort between road and treadmill. I feel I'm putting about the same effort into 11.5 kph on road and 9 kpm on the treadmill with a 2.3 gradient set.  In theory, I can correlate these by using my heart rate to identify the same effort. I'm actually quite excited about this which I realise is pathetic.


  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Heading For The Goal

Progressing
Progress has been excellent since my last post. My Treadmill sessions continue to extend and 2 more road runs have given me a lot more confidence. As yet, my errant achilles are remaining intact.

The following distances and times include 5 min warm up and 5 minute cool down walks.

• 23rd Jan 2013: 4.5 km of which 2.9 km was running. 31 mn overall / 15 mn running
• 17th Jan 2013: 4.0 km of which 2.2 km was running. 29 mn overall / 12 mn running

I am gradually improving the ratio of run to walk with my latest road run being 3 x 5 min running with interval walks down to 3 min. I think I'm going to stick at 3 min recovery walks for a while now while extending the run interval duration.

Goals Set
As I mentioned in early posts, I am using the excellent Runkeeper App to track my progress. Yesterday I finally entered a couple of goals, the Great Manchester Run 10k is on 26th May and my ultimate goal and I have given myself a goal of completing my first 5k parkrun by 24th February.


  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Cramping My Style

Cramp!
CRAMP for God's sake! I thought I'd torn something in my calf but the Osteopath tells me I just had a severe localised cramp, probably partly due to dehydration after sitting around in too hot rooms drinking too much booze for 2 weeks over the Christmas holiday. It still took a week to stop hurting, cramp or no cramp.
Properly hydrating now and swigging tonic water for good measure as the Quinine really helps with cramp.

Off Down The Road
Back to training again now and Saturday saw my 3rd road run, well walk/run anyway. 3 x 3 min runs with 4min walk intervals and 5 min warm up and cool down - I'm still scared of the achilles so am forcing myself to be careful.
This road run was a major milestone as the distance and time equalled my disastrous first outing back in April when I injured myself. 

• 12th Jan 2013: 3.7 km of which 1.7 km was running   27m overall 9m running
• 22nd Apr 2012: 3.6 km of which 1.7 km was running   25m overall 8m running

Training Halted Again

Training halted again, calf pain this time. On the 18th length of the pool last Friday I suddenly had pain in a knot inside my left calf muscle. I haven't risked any runs since but I did go for a 7 mile hill walk on Sunday which caused it to hurt sometimes. In M&S last night, I was having no trouble then just out of the blue it hurt again when I moved after I'd been hanging about waiting for Lynne.
It doesn't hurt most of the time but poking around in the calf locates a painful firm area. I think it's improving but I've been up a ladder pruning trees this morning which pulled a bit occasionally and was hardly resting it.

Getting worried as the weeks keep disappearing and I'm not even at 5 km yet. Most recent progress was to 3 x 4min runs split with 3 min walk on treadmill.   (1.7 km actual run in 2.57 km overall)
On the positive side, achilles feel fine after all this time.

Received my first sponsorship this week which is great. Feel free to join in below.