Any more results? Let me know in the comments below.
I hope I didn't upset anyone by my "criticism" of snails and tortoises last week! It occurred to me that it was quite funny given that my Strava account at the moment is decorated with all sorts of snails 😁. We have an art trail in Brighton & Hove at the moment where 50 giant snails, decorated by local artists, have been scattered around town for people to find. They will be auctioned off next year to the benefit of our local Martlets Hospices. Here is "Persephone" by Manic Minotaur, currently resident in Hove Park. She really made me smile on my run last week!
This week, though, I'm going to be really stern!! Some of you have mentioned that you find speed work unpleasant, and there's no getting away from it, it can be nasty! But please persevere! While you're running, think about how good you'll feel afterwards, make yourself carry on when you feel like giving up, and perhaps ponder all these reasons why speed work is good for you:
★ It improves your running stride and agility
★ It helps build muscle and strength
★ It may increase fat burning
★ It's great for your cardiovascular health
★ It strengthens your bones and connective tissues
★ It increases your running endurance
All of this means that you will become much more efficient at the longer slower runs many of us enjoy most!
"No pain no gain" is a flippant statement though. Please be mindful of injury and make sure you warm up really well before a fast run. Have a warm-up jog, and let go of your ego with some high knees, bum kicks, sideways runs, jumps, lunges... have fun 😊
Have a wonderful week!!!!
ju-ju-, Sqkr, and roseabi xxx
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I was early out of the blocks again this week - in fact, even earlier as I wasn’t troubled by any wasps in my undergarments this time!
Following a slightly disappointing Parkrun on Saturday, where I thought I was on target for a PB but was 10 seconds off it, I decided to experiment with setting a pace rather rather than a distance on Runkeeper. To be honest I didn’t even know you could do that, as I prefer to just run as feels naturally right and have infrequent stats. It did the trick, and by setting a stat report for every 500m I ended up pretty much bang on. Clearly I need to get myself a running watch!
Week 2 came in at 48m50s, which felt really good and is my fastest ‘training’ 10k. Whoop!
Did you celebrate with a lager, lager, lager? (I did actually... my kid had a half day at school so I took him for lunch... thought I deserved a half)
I don’t normally run to music but thought I would today to pep myself up a bit. Spotify Running 170-180. Some of it was cheesy enough to rival the C25K podcasts and made me nostalgic for ‘You and Julie’. This was the highlight - youtu.be/lJQm7ykDC6I
I like the fave uncles So bad it’s good. Makes me titter cos my husband is everyone’s fave uncle 😁
Still on the subject. Born Slippy is just fabulous. Get it folks! Pigbag is another, which has a fab section at the end if you feel like putting your foot down Vroom 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️
Arms up at some bits where there was zero room. That street is like parcour territory. So many things to negotiate, it’s like a tricky trail Imagine falling down a coal chute. I’m such a clumsy oaf, it’s a distinct possibility I love this street, it’s like a history lesson 🤓
Well I had good news and bad news on my last long run. The good news was that I managed to speed my pace a little from 5:47 to 5:45 for 15k. The bad news is that 15k took it all out of me with the final hills and I did not finish my last 2k. I think I found my current threshold. 🙂 So I am out of our contest. But I’m happy that my pace dropped from 5:50 where I began this contest and even happier when compared with my last HM pace in May of 6:19. Also got a 5k PB on sat which was nice.
Did my run this morning. Got a time of 25:57 (5k), which is a nice steady increase on speed, so I am happy. I only hope I can keep the trend up for the next couple of weeks!
I think I should have set my goal to beat my 5k PB. I did that at Park Run last weekend.
Not sure about beating my PB on the 6.1k route from work, but I'll try again. So far the closest we got to my previous PB was still more than a minute slower!
Imagine the scene...i had the friday afternoon off...if i left dead on 12 that will leave me enough time to do half marathon, get back showered change and pick up the kid from Nursery at 3.
So i had some toast then some porridge at 11 that should keep me going....got all changed and ready while "working" and ready to sprint out the door. 12 oclock comes and i start to look for my keys, i look here and i look they're but nowhere to be found. I phone the other half and she picked up my keys and had her keys in her handbag.
I have no way to lock the doors so i mope around eat all the chocolate i can find and do some housework for the afternoon. I didn't have time to get out over the weekend only to do parkrun and parkrun jnr.
So this time have made fall proof plan, I have entered the Maidstone half marathon on Sunday! going to drop the kids off at my parents and then go for it. Its quite a hilly course and i haven't really trained for it, so it will be a steady one and no ice cream this time.
Sorry I missed last week.. not a good start, went to my brothers wedding and wasnt in manchester most of the week. I have the Manchester half this weekend so cant really push it untill maybe 2 weeks but did the route today, I stopped at 5k and got the time of 22:02. Also got a bit of a cold. Will try and demolish it when I'm recovered from the HM
Thankyou Tbae and Roseabi, oops it sounds like meant the wedding was a chore in my post . But no it was really nice and really happy for them! Had a great weekend in Sheffield too with the family. Tried some hill running and tried not to get lost.
Is there still room for one more in the challenge?
I have been enjoying the snails on strava!
This month is suppose to be recovery after first marathon last month but feeling fine so decided its time to set up a good goal (get as close to 60 min) for a 10km thanks to all the 10km races in Oct..
So far one week after marathon I managed a 1:10:05 29 Sep (base time)
Week one: 3 Oct 1:08:13 (Wed) & 6 Oct 1:05:15 (Sat) - I suppose we should choose Sat time
Week two: 10 Oct (Wed) a very windy race on a airforce base 1:03:56 (longer trail race this weekend)
Feeling good to know that the times are getting better even though the routes are completely different and the Wednesday races are in the evenings and weekend races have started at 6:30/7 now thanks to spring
Week three: Race on Sunday 21 Oct
Week four: I will have to do my own 10km as I have my next triathlon on the 28th
I started out slow to assess the damage from the marathon as the first base race was only 6 days after the marathon...
Two of the races I stuck with pace setters which helped me stick to a set time, even with walking breaks.
Each race came with different challenges and maybe they helped me build up strength for the next race?
I have no idea how last night (Wed) happened... wind was 30km/h which was helpful at times but for most of the race had me running sideways or attempting to catch up to other runners to use them as wind blockers as its not difficult to be taller than me
The next 10km race is apparently quite flat but have started up with specialised sessions from this week starting with fartlek on Tuesday, so maybe I should run with tired legs during a race...
It definitely helps being in a club - entries are cheaper (R50 for a 10km, R90 for a HM mostly) and the community here is the reason I run. And of course it takes you places you would never normally be able to run... i.e on a military base landing strip to Khayelitsha informal settlement to Stellenbosch vineyards.
This weekend I will be trying a new park run in Betty's Bay - Harold Porter Botanical gardens and on Sunday trying my trail legs in Stellenbosch. Cape Town has everything a runner could ask for
Did some fartleks today and got both 1km (4:40) and 1mile (7:40) PBs! Only ran 2.5 km "fast" (4:50) just to see what sort of pace I could keep up (sort of 75% effort) - so no 5k time to post this week just yet. The old marathon legs are now like pistons/coiled springs BUT my breathing is now the problem! Going to have to work on some fartlek/intervals to get the old bellows puffing a bit more I think. May not go for a speed challenge 5k this week as I have a virtual HM on Saturday, but we'll see. Running "fast" makes me want to puke, I'd rather jog 20km than sprint 5km!
This week I had a very enjoyable track session with the club and did 300m intervals, plus a 16k and 2x6k runs over the week. I was quite surprised at my pace for the 300m intervals - equivalent to 3.30/km. i’m hoping, over time these will help my 5k times. I ran the ‘hilly 5k’ today and managed a course pb in 23.22, in the mild windy conditions - so I’m pleased with that improvement of 18s
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so i mope around eat all the chocolate i can find and do some housework for the afternoon. I didn't have time to get out over the weekend only to do parkrun and parkrun jnr.
