h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Decided to do some Park Run tourism today, and joined Bangor for their inaugural event. It was packed! The course itself is quite narrow at points, with a few sharp twists and turns, and I found myself getting hemmed in a lot on the first lap, difficult to overtake. Mini got her lead tangled in a waste bin, then decided she was doing a triathlon and jumped in the duck pond! And my shoe lace came undone and I had to stop to fix it. But I used a woman wearing a "100 park runs" T shirt as my pacer, and came home in position 100 at a respectable 27:27.

Was freezing cold, though, having got rather wet, and the half hour journey home wasn't pleasant.

Nice time, especially with the dog I've stuck an entry on participating in a mass run into Peer Review, would appreciate any comments: http://h2g2.com/review_forum/A395589/conversation/view/F48874/T8308304/page/1/ :)

Today's run was pretty good, seemed to be nice and gentle to start with, and then at a good pace towards the end: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/316144456

The first kilometre was gentle, tried to make sure I kept the speed low and came in at a pretty good 5:18.

The second kilometre though I could feel my breathing a bit short, the road was a lot busier than it normally is when I go running along there, but it came in at 5:14, so even better.

Then off the main road for the third kilometre and I slowed the pace a little to get my breath back under control after the fumes, but coming in at 5:34 wasn't too bad.

The fourth kilometre started a short uphill bit, which was a bit slow, then a downhill slope so I was able to get my breathing nicely under control, and the kilometre came in at 5:31.

The fifth kilometre had a little flat bit to start, and then the longer downhill stretch followed by the flat. My breathing was sorted at the start of it, and with some downhill I was able to get a nice pace back up, and it came in at 5:16, the same sort of pace as the first two kilometres.

Overall, 5.04km in 27:17 with an average speed of 5:25min/km which is a nice time for me

I thought as a "treat" I'd take the bike with it's camera around the route I usually do for you all to see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPL5nyx0Epc&feature=youtu.be

Have fun

Tonight's run was tough - maybe it's not a good idea to attempt 10k 2 days running (pun intended...)

I have really sore shin splints. I asked the coach what I should do, and he said "Try some ice". I'm choosing to believe that there was an implicit "in yur gin and tonic" at the end of that sentence.

Bizarrely my shin splints have been hurting today. I found putting my feet up and opening a couple of bottles of beer is helping

Today's run was pretty good: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/317737014

Started out gently for the first kilometre, trying to set a "race pace" that I was happy with, and managed it in 5:33, so I think that seems to be my settled pace now.

The second kilometre up along the main road, and I could really feel the traffic fumes. By the time I turned off towards the park, my breathing was a little laboured. But 5:13, and it's the uphill slope was a good time.

Managed to get my breathing sorted on the third kilometre, focussed on getting back to the race pace, and came in at 5:25.

The fourth kilometre had the short uphill bit to start it, then the undulating, twisty bit, and my breathing was a bit stretched again here, but 5:28 was a pretty good time.

The fifth kilometre has the long downhill slope at the start, and I pushed a bit on that to try and make up some time before the flat. I was struggling to keep going towards the end though, I think my body's got used to this route and knows when it wants to stop, usually a few hundred metres before I do. But 5:10 for the last kilometre was a good time, helped by the hill no doubt.

It was a bit of a faff getting my phone out to stop the timer, so the overall 27:15 for 5:06km doesn't quite reflect the 5k time of 26:49. But the average pace of 5:23 min/km is pretty good. And after a walk for about 500m I was feeling like I would have been able to start running again.

Had a not-very-good ParkRun on Saturday. Decided not to take the dog, as I'd have to do Sunday's Titanic Quarter 10k without her, so I was trying to simulate the conditions as far as possible. My headspace wasn't improved when one of our coaches said to me half way round lap 1 "Are you not running tomorrow? You're mad!" I hadn't even thought of tapering to the extent that I would miss a ParkRun - I mean, I regularly do a 10k run on a Sunday. But it knocked my confidence, and I barely made it in under 30 minutes.

Which then prompted a whole wave of self-doubt, with the negative voice in my head screaming:

"You can do the distance, but not in the target time. You can do the speed, but not over the distance. You won't have canine-assist. There's no trees to inspire you en route. You did this race 2 years ago in 1:13, last year in 1:03, and now you think you can knock off a whole 3 minutes? It isn't even 3 minutes, it's 3 minutes and 40 seconds......."

And so on.

It was great this year to have a running club to meet up with before hand, take photos etc. The slightly damp morning gave way to sunshine, and I (wisely) ditched my long-sleeved under shirt. I got muself into position and pressed START on MpaMyRun as the hooter went. Unfortunately it couldnt pick up a GPS signal, so I had no idea of my pace. Never mind, I told myself - don't think, just run.

And I did, giving cheery thumbs up to any of my club that I passed (it's an out-and-back race). As I crossed the finish line the elapsed time was 1 hour and 42 seconds. I knew my chip time would be less, but I didn't think it would break the hour.

So a few hours later when the official times came through by text, I whooped with delight - 59:57! A whole 3 seconds under the hour!

That's brilliant! Well done

I'm aiming for under an hour myself for the run in May, but I keep getting that same nagging doubt voice at times when I'm out running. My times have been around the hour six, hour nine last year. And I keep thinking, knocking off a whole ten minutes is a heck of a task.

Today's run would pretty good, I was thinking of trying to do a full 10k, but it started raining quite heavy so I cut it short at 7k.

The first five kilometres came in at 5:32, 5:30, 5:35, 5:45 and 5:33 then around the 5.6k mark I slowed down to walk for a bit. The idea was to get my breath back, get a bit of a rest with a quick walk for a bit, and then carry on. I started running again just after the 6k mark, so that kilometre came in at 6:37 which wasn't too bad considering I walked a fair bit of it. And then the last kilometre took me a while to get up and running again, my legs felt really heavy and my breathing took ages to get into rhythm. But it was alright by the end of the 7k. I could have continued at that pace, for the next three kilometres, and that one came in at 6:02.

Overall, 7.26k in 41:58 with an average pace of 5:47min/km. So not too bad at all.

Today's run was really good. Took a different, random route out and about so that I wouldn't be thinking "almost there" when seeing landmarks: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/320731291

So, the first kilometre was along the road, slight downhill slope and came in nicely at 5:19. The second kilometre was along a very busy road, slight uphill slope and came in at 5:30. Breathing over those two was absolutely fine.

The third kilometre turn off the main road and was down a mud track. There were a few parts where I had to nip in and out of trees off the path to get around massive puddles, but came in at 5:28. The fourth kilometre saw some even bigger puddles, and then turn off the track and into the park and uphill for a bit, so 5:46 wasn't too bad, especially as my breathing was a little pushed now.

The fifth kilometre was more uphill, avoiding the long horned cattle, and then around the undulating bit through the trees, and came in at 6:04. The sixth kilometre started with a long downhill stretch, followed by a long uphill stretch which I ended up having to walk a little bit of near the top to get my breath back in shape. But this came in at 6:01 so I wasn't too disappointed with that.

The seventh kilometre was a long flat followed by a long uphill stretch, which I admit I walked the uphill bit, and that came in at 6:36. The eighth kilometre started on the uphill and was then back around the undulating bit through the trees and came in at 6:44. As you can probably tell I was getting rather tired by now.

The ninth kilometre was flat to start with, then a long downhill stretch and which I took advantage of and managed 5:42. And then the last, tenth kilometre was up and down for a while, then mostly flat. Because I knew I could manage it if I pushed, I pushed and just about managed to get in at 5:54.

Meaning, overall, 10km in 59:54

That's the first time I've ever managed to get under an hour over 10k, and I'm rather happy about that

Congratulations. It's great when a plan comes together!

Have a .

Deke

I think I'll have a few later

Well done!

I managed to pull something in my calf at training last night. I'd already been at a dance calss in the morning, and on a hilly dog walk in the afternoon, so it could just have been too much.

So, rest and ice for a few days

Ouch!

I think I'll be resting for a few days myself

Took a nice gentle run on Sunday morning, and was back to training last night for a 3 mile run - aiming to keep at a 10 minute mile pace, and I threw in a few sprint intervals along the way. Twas quite enjoyable!

Oooh.... we have a h2g2 running club!

I have a 10k in Easter Monday, but I've had a recurrence of a long-standing ankle stability problem which means I probably won't be able to run this week and there's a chance I might not be able to run on Monday. It's maddeningly frustrating... just when I thought I might finally be over it.

Hopefully rest will see me sorted for Monday, but after that it's back to the physio for me...

I did a short, but quick run yesterday: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/323259421

Was still a bit sleepy from my weekend drinking, so didn't fancy a longer run. So, a quick run to the shops. It was the first time in a while that I ran with a backpack, just a small running rucksack that I've got. Was a bit annoying though as I've lost a bit of weight since I last used it (through all this running) and had to pause and tighten up all the straps.

The run itself was mostly flat, with a short but slightly steep uphill stretch and then a longer downhill stretch. Also, the park I run through was very busy, seeing as it's the school holidays.

Today's run wasn't great. Somewhere close to awful actually: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/323824722

The pace was good to start with, perhaps that was the problem because it was a lot hotter today than it's been for a while. Also, much later in the day and there were a lot of people out, which meant a *lot* of cars on the road. If anyone claims there isn't air pollution from cars, they should run along one of Manchester's busier roads.

First 3k was pretty steady, but from then on it felt like I was walking half the time

Today's run was amazing: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/326178861

It was the old route that I used to use to run into town, with a big long downhill stretch, but we then carried on further into the city centre, around and about the streets for a bit, and then back out of town and back up the slope.

The first kilometre was a bit of a faff, trying to work out a good running pace, seeing as my nose was partly blocked and it was freezing cold. But 5:40 was quite a respectable time.

The second kilometre we seemed to settle in nicely, and came in a quick 5:09, even with a small uphill slope. The third had a bit of a downhill stretch, and then we were on the start of the downhill, and this came in at 5:20.

Kilometre four was the long downhill slope, and we were lucky with the traffic lights at junctions so we came in at 4:48. The fifth kilometre was then mostly flat, but with lots of side roads which we were again lucky with traffic on, and that came in at 5:21.

Kilometres six and seven were in and around the city centre, but we were still lucky with the traffic and got two very respectable times of 5:03 and 5:02.

Then we walked for about 250m as we were both starting to feel the prodding of a stitch. Once we were under way again we were both feeling much better, and kilometre 8 came in at 5:47, including that walk.

Kilometre 9 was a bit faffy in and out of roadworks, but still came in at a very good 5:16. The tenth kilometre was back out of town, and finished with about 500m of uphill on the slope we came in on. And knowing we were near the end we were both hoping it'd come soon, and it did in 5:45.

Overall, 10.08km in 54:08 with an average pace of 5:22 min/km. The 10k itself was in 53:11, a totally shocking time for me