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

It feels it!

I thought today's run was quite slow, because I felt like I was struggling at times. I've got a bit of a cold and that means my nose is fully of runny snot. Yuk. However, looking at the times, it wasn't too bad: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/303670313

The first kilometre was 5:10, but I was already having to blow my nose as I ran. My apologies to any car drivers going past that had to see that.

The second kilometre felt much slower, I was having to breath deeply to fight off a stitch, but it still came in at 5:12, even being on an uphill slope.

I started then taking it easier on the third kilometre, but still came in at 5:22.

The fourth started with a bit of downhill, and then the undulating bit, and I was feeling tired by now. But 5:26 is still pretty good.

The last kilometre though I was struggling. A couple of times I felt like just stopping and walking to get my breath back, but managed to (just about) keep going. So getting a time of 5:31 there is pretty good.

Overall then, 5.07km in 27:04, with an average speed of 5:21min/km, which I'm happy with.

Although thinking about it, those times include the time it takes me to get my phone out and stop the timer. For the 5k themselves it took me 26:41, or 1601 seconds. Which gives me an average of 320.2 seconds a kilometre, or 5:20min/km and that extra second makes all the difference

Well, today was supposed to be 2 lots of 8mins at race pace, with 5mins walk/jog in the middle: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/304524621

That didn't quite work out.

For the first 8mins my average pace was a little high, at about 4:42min/km and I could have kept that up for a bit longer, not much, but a bit.

My walking/jogging pace for the next 5 mins was then around the 5:30 / 5:40min/km mark. Which should have been my race pace.

And for the last part, I was around the 5:45 / 6min/km mark, which should have been my walk/jog pace. Unfortunately, by this point I was really quite tired and short of breath, which is why it was slower.

I *definitely* started out way too quick, and am now in dire need of a shower.

Actually it doesn't seem half bad to have kept up those sort of paces at well above race pace.

If you have to do the 2X 8 mins again you might find it a help to do it over the same course again as you'll know where 8mins running will take you, and where the 'end' is. That'll be a help to judge the pace you want.

I surprised myself yesterday with my little two miler. I hadn't expected to do better than last time after I'd laid off for about three weeks, but I still managed a few seconds off the time. It was a bit touch and go though.

Deke

We're actually lined up to do 5k run, 1k walk and 4k run tomorrow. The training programme only calls for the 5k, but we fancy then doing the rest to get a sort of benchmark 10k time

We might be being a bit mad

Well today was a surprise. 10k total, run 5k, walk 1k, run the last 4k.

First kilometre was nice and steady, slight uphill bit to start with, took it easy but still got 5:33.

The second kilometre took it easier, had a little bit of breathing trouble, not helped by a car on the road with dodgy exhaust fumes, and with the uphill slope being noticeable, the kilometre was 5:49.

For the third kilometre, it felt a lot more pleasant as we were away from the road and into the park, and we'd settled into a good pace, with 5:38 which was a bit of a surprise as my knee was starting to ache a little and if it was a mid-week training session I might have slowed or stopped.

The fourth kilometre was uphill a short, steep bit to start, then downhill for a bit before the undulating stretch in the trees, and my breathing was a little ragged here. But getting 5:46 was still good and well inside my aim.

The fifth kilometre was the long downhill stretch in two parts, with a good flat bit at the end, reflected in the time of 5:05.

And then we walked for a kilometre. This was a deliberate choice we made before going out, as we wanted to ensure we were both totally rested and ready to continue. I was glad we stopped when we did, although I could have done more it would have taken longer to recover my breathing. As it was, I was ready to go again after about 500m, but we still walked the full 1k, but we were able to walk reasonably fast so it only took 9:44.

The seventh kilometre, and our legs felt like lead after the walk. They'd started to tense and stiffen, so we started out moderately slowly before getting up to a comfortable pace. This was all pretty much flat, and took 5:39.

The eighth kilometre was uphill on a long, steady slope and my breathing was needing my focus here, but at 5:55 it was still inside my target.

For the ninth kilometre we headed back into the park and knowing we were doing a moderate pace, we tried to pick it up again and managed 5:32.

The tenth, and last kilometre was pretty much downhill all the way, which allowed me to get my breathing under control and try and speed up a touch, not quite a sprint finish, but a lot faster than I was expecting at 5:37.


Overall, 10.05km in 1:00:43 with an average speed of 6:02min/km. Including walking for 1k.

That is a personal best for me, previously I've only done 10k as part of the Great Manchester Run and my best time for that was 1:05:56 back in 2010, last year was 1:08:48. So not only have I managed to do 10k during training to get a rough benchmark of where my fitness currently is, it's a personal best.

That's absolutely brilliant

Well done, but for goodness sake don't overdo it and crock yourself for the race.

Deke

Oh, I'll definitely make sure to take it easy for the next day or two

It felt really quite good after it though, could have carried on for a little bit more if I had to, but was very glad to stop

Today's run was set to be 30mins easy running, so I set out to try and make sure it was easy, and that I wasn't ever having to focus on my breathing. I wasn't worried about distance, just keeping it a nice easy, gentle run for 30 minutes.

The first kilometre felt really slow. Uphill a little to start with, and I don't do hills well still, and it came in at 6:00 dead. Seeing as I've been able to get my first kilometres almost a minute faster than that, it's now wonder that it felt slow, but it wasn't about speed today.

The second kilometre was the long, gentle uphill slope and again felt slow, but not as slow as the first. Plus I still wasn't even having to count my breathing, and it came in at 5:52 so that wasn't too bad. Still able to get me around the 10k in under an hour at this pace.

Next it was off the main road and heading in towards the park, a bit uphill, not too much though, and that took 5:28. So, speeding up a bit but still not even having to think about my breathing.

Fourth kilometre started with a steep uphill bit, then a longish downhill, before the twisty undulating bit through the trees, and it all took 5:51. Slower that the last kilometre, but that short uphill bit at the start made itself known.

The fifth kilometre started with a little bit of flat, then the long downhill bits, before the flat again for the second half, and came in at 5:54. I was making sure to not speed up on the downhill bits, because then I have a tendency to stay sped up on the flats, so taking it easy and still not having to focus on breathing, and it's not too bad a pace.

I decided then to speed up for the last minute and take it at race pace, focussed on making sure I was breathing steady and stepped it up a bit, and it was quite easy to do.

Overall, 5.26km in 30:36 with an average speed of 5:49min/km.

I think I could have easily have kept the easy pace up for another few kilometres at least too, which is encouraging.

I couldn't remember what my training was supposed to be today, so I decided to do kilometre intervals.

The first kilometre I set of at a moderately easy pace, building up a bit of speed towards the end to warm my lungs up and get myself into the run. And to find out what would be a comfortable fast pace. Came in with focussed breathing at 5:16.

For the second kilometre I slowed it down a bit to the comfortable pace, and came in at 5:27 which isn't bad at all if that's a pace I can keep up for 10k. But I don't think it is yet.

I sped up for the third kilometre, mostly to push my lungs and breathing, and to see how long it'd then take to recover. It was quite quick too, at 4:53.

I started off walking the fourth kilometre, which is downhill at the start, and could have started running again at around the 3.5km mark but held on a little longer, until the 3.75km mark when I was bored of walking. The fourth kilometre came in at 7:55.

Then I started running again, which was downhill for the first half, and then on the flat for the second. I pushed it again this time, to see how well I'd recovered my breathing, and the answer wasn't very because I was glad to stop at the end of the fifth kilometre, but a time of 4:56 wasn't too shabby at all.

Overall though, 5.03km in 28:42 with an average speed of 5:42min/km. My faster speed is definitely getting faster, and my moderate/race pace is starting to feel more sustainable. So a good run today, especially as I had a knee brace on yesterday.

I wasn't able to go out running this weekend, because I was out drinking instead.

So today's run was to try and do 5k at as steady a pace as possible, aiming for 5:30 a kilometre.

The first kilometre was absolutely fine, nice and gentle and came in at 5:29, which was pretty good as I wasn't sure what the pace actually would be. Kept it up for the second kilometre, but with the slight uphill slope it came in at 5:32, which is still really good seeing as I wasn't using any form of pace measurer.

Half way through the third kilometre though and I started to get a stitch, which I was then trying to keep at bay, so 5:40 was slower than I wanted, but still not too far off. The fourth kilometre had a bit of downhill, so I could get rid of the stitch, and then the undulating twisty bit, where it came back, but that came in at 5:28.

The last kilometre was half downhill, and then half on the flat, so we picked up the pace towards the end and came in at 5:18.

Over all 5.06km in 27:51, with an average speed of 5:30min/km, exactly what I was aiming for. And considering I didn't have anything other than the kilometre times over my headphones, I'm pretty happy with that. And, I think if I hadn't got that stitch I could have carried on for a couple more kilometres at that pace too.

I did my 40th ParkRun yesterday - one of my aims for 2014 is to earn my "50" red T shirt, so I'm well on target for that. yesterday's time was 27:44 - a minute off my PB but I was happy enough with my form.

This morning I'm taking part in Norn Irn's first ever Canicross event - running with your dog. My cocker spaniel, Minerva von Thunder (Mini for short) usually accompanies me on the ParkRun, so she's well used to the 5km distance. But the trail style run will be quite hilly, so I dont think our time will be very fast.

Anyhoo, sun is shining, time for a carby breakfast!

I don't think I'm up for the park runs yet, even though there's one in the park I run in.

Good luck today though! Let us know how it goes

I've not been running for a few days because my knees have been twinging, and I don't want to damage them.

Park Runs are for everyone! We have people who push buggies and come home in about 35 minutes, we have couch 2 5K graduates doing their first ever 5Km run, as well as the more experienced and faster runners. The use of technology is astonishing - your barcode is scanned in at the end of the race, which then records your time, position, an age graded percentage, and there are oodles of tables of fastest times, points for running etc. I get my result texted to me about an hour after the finish. We had our first anniversary a couple of weeks back - I came 2nd in the table, even though I'm not particularly fast, just because I run so often. The lady who came 3rd has a PB of 35ish, and is in her 60s, but she's there faithfully every week.

This morning was GREAT fun! 100 gorjus doggies of all shapes and sizes, a bit noisy to begin with, but we set off in waves of 10, and once round the first bend I was running more or less on my own. Stunningly beautiful scenery - the grounds of Castleward which is a NT property, on the shore of Strangford Lough. It was tough run- steep hill at the end. And I missed a turn off point at one stage (note to self, keep one ear-phone out so you can hear marshalls yelling at you.....)

At the end all the dogs were knackered, so it was much quiter. I'll definitely be looking out for more events like this.

Wow, the Heaton Park run has grown a lot since I last looked at it: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/heaton/results/latestresults/

410 participants isn't a small Saturday morning run. I'm going to do their course today, normally I don't because it's got a nasty hill towards the end, but it'd be interesting to see how I stack up.

So, today's run then was a little, er, hilly: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/312889189

I also started out too fast, it felt comfortable, but definitely too fast. So with the flat and then downhill bit, the first kilometre was 4:45.

The second kilometre I tried to settle the pace down a bit, but it was mostly flat, and then a short patch of uphill, but still a 5:01 time.

I was starting to get a bit out of breath for the 3rd kilometre, which was a little undulating to start with, and then flat, and came in at 5:25.

The fourth kilometre ended with a horrid hill, and I ended up having to walk the majority of the hill stretch because my breathing wasn't coping well, but 6:02 with a walk isn't too bad.

The last kilometre though was tricky, it was the undulating bit around the back of the hall, and then uphill towards the end. I had to walk for a couple of short stretches too, to get my breathing back under control, so came in at 6:09.

Overall, I felt knackered. 5.01km in 27:43. With an average speed of 5:32min/km. So definitely not my normal pace, but not too bad considering the hills involved.

Today's run wasn't great: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/313347864

I thought I'd do roughly the same course as yesterday, but tackle the hill near the start, not near the end. Ans also try and keep a steady pace.

The first kilometre was pretty good, mostly flat and 5:23. The second kilometre was then uphill for the start, and undulating for the second half. So I was a bit surprised that it came in at 5:49.

The third kilometre was mostly flat, and came in at 5:12 which was faster than I'd have thought, so that's good. The fourth kilometre was downhill for the first part, and then flat and by now I was getting tired, but it came in at 5:19, so that was quite good.

The fifth kilometre though... I had to walk for a short while to get my breathing under control, and then it was up and down hills for a bit, but even with a couple of short stretches of walking, it came in at a very slow 6:21. Much slower than I thought it would, although I was feeling very tired of limb during it, something I've not felt since not long after I took up running, just running out of energy. Normally it's my breathing that makes me slow down or stop.

Overall then, 5.05km in 28:29 with an average speed of 5:38min/km, slower than yesterday. Perhaps two 5k runs in consecutive days isn't ideal.

Does doing the Eastleigh Under 9's 2k Fun Run count?

<BB<

Definitely!

Wednesdays are my big big calorie burner- it's my day off, so I usually take the dogs for A Big Walk. Today we did 5 miles by the river and country roads, and mapmydogwalk says it burned 500 cals. My running club trains on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I was expecting a long run this evening. But it turned out to be sprints, fartlek, and a bit of strength work on the mucky football field.

I have my first 10k race next weekend. It's the titanic quarter 10k, so it's run around the docklands where the ship was built, meaning it's nice and flat. I ran it 2 years ago in 1:13, last year in 1:03, and one of my 2014 targets is to get a sub hour 10k. I'd better get some miles in over the next 10 days!