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.