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.