Easy run Thursday, deliberately chose to skip Fridays run. Saturday had an attempt on a 5k pb at Rushcliffe parkrun. Overnight heavy thunderstorm leaving the ground wet, hence Rushcliffe rather than the faster and flatter Long Eaton course. Long Eaton gets waterlogged too easily. Cool and overcast at 0845, sun breaking through at the start at 0900. By 0912, half way though on a pb time humidity had climbed to 100%, we all suffered. I was in so much trouble at the end, clinging on, that I missed the fact that one of my friends was timekeeping. I saw one but not the other. Lots of grovelling later in the day. Missed a pb by 55 secs. How bad was the second half!!

Nice 9 miler this morning followed by a 2k with the boys at the junior parkrun. Used a Respibelt on the 9 miler. Interesting experience, it was set up on the lowest compressive setting and it felt as though I was running with a mild asthma attack. It was definitely hard to breathe with it on. Will use it for another 3 weeks in this microcycle, then rest for 3 weeks and reuse for another 3 weeks. Hoping this will enable me to go longer at easy paces on the legs whilst stressing the aerobic system. My eldest took another 60 secs out of his 2k pb, for the first time he went off and did his own thing, I linked up with him at the finish 90 secs after he finished as I followed home my youngest. The youngest missed his pb by 10 secs. Looking forward to the first proper week of FM training. Enjoy yourselves

@eyethree As with C25k, as you increase your distance each week in B210K, you might have to slow down some. Speed will come later once you have built up a running base. Have fun!

No running for me lately. 43 miles on the bike on Friday with a blazing 15.7 mph pace. Too much celebration yesterday! Might convince myself to ride later today, maybe. (It's hot!)

@eyethree which program are you following?

Welcome back Diana, nice to read your hubby has started C25K. I hope the rains let up so you can get our more often.

Yep you're nuts Robbie! Glad your runs are going well for the most part and you're listening to your body about when it needs rest. The Respibelt sounds interesting, not sure I'd ever use one myself. Glad your kids are doing well with the running too.

Definitely need to slow down as you go longer @eyethree once you're through b210k then worry about speed.

You still got out there for a ride Ceci!

It's been a while since I updated here, so lets see how it goes...
Monday morning started with a run home from the mechanics after dropping the car off for repairs.. oh gods were my legs like lead! Nothing hurt, just everything was heavy and weak. That was only about 5k, so I headed out again in the afternoon, things felt better that run. Still ended up with walk breaks that run too.
Tuesday I went out trail exploring, and things are looking good to make a local 50k+ loop on the trails with a friend. Got home to find I was like 3.1km away from clocking 200km for the month, so after some facebook cajoling by friends when I posted up about it, I went and knocked out a quickish 3.7. Good run, but I had my shoes too tight and I'm still dealing with issues on my left foot due to that. Too much pressure on the top of the foot type thing.
I skipped my friday run to give my foot a rest. parkrun on Saturday was helping a friend run in her 50th run. We didn't PB, but did smash her target of sub 24, coming in around 23:20.
Sunday started my training sessions to do with the vVO2max study/sessions. After having blood taken and sorting out the HRM (as I forgot my own) we got going, with a slightly over enthusiastic warmup, then it was 60mins of 5:25/km pace for me (I am the slowest in the group) I averaged 5:20/km. After the session we had blood lactate done and then did the cool down back to the Uni. We had more blood taken, were given 3 days food, including the ridiculous amount of I had to eat before getting more bloods done.
Today was interval hell, which I failed pitifully IMO. Target was 8 reps. 4min on, 2min active recovery. I was meant to be running at 4:10 pace. Although I am sure I hit that pace during the intervals, not a single interval did I hold 4:10. My best were both 4:15, with some dropping to 4:30. I couldn't get my pace alerts to function on my watch, so I was having a hard time to figure out if I should be running harder or not. Oh well I've got 3 weeks until I have another attempt at it.
Tomorrow is a rest day, then it's a rolling tempo type session on Wednesday.

I rode almost 16 miles yesterday. This morning I woke up an hour before my alarm, so I went to the National Park for a run- 5 mi in 50:23. It was very nice, not too hot yet.

i haven't been able to run for 6 days now. i think i'm slowly losing my sanity over it. first it was to take it easy on my ankle, so the plan was to go out for a third 5k run before starting my 10k training. then my forest caught on fire and we have terrible air quality! i have been stuck inside snapping at everyone like a caged animal. i went for a speed walk tonight despite the haze and ran 1k of it out of sheer desperation. i'm guessing i will need to do some catching up when the air clears. how long can i go without running before i start to lose some of the gains i made?

taeliesyn wrote: »

maggiekat7 wrote: »

i haven't been able to run for 6 days now. i think i'm slowly losing my sanity over it. first it was to take it easy on my ankle, so the plan was to go out for a third 5k run before starting my 10k training. then my forest caught on fire and we have terrible air quality! i have been stuck inside snapping at everyone like a caged animal. i went for a speed walk tonight despite the haze and ran 1k of it out of sheer desperation. i'm guessing i will need to do some catching up when the air clears. how long can i go without running before i start to lose some of the gains i made?

The bad news is some minor gains are lost in as little as 3 days, others can take longer. The good news is, it shouldn't take you too long to get back to where you were, only a couple of weeks at most.

Oh, that makes me so sad. The bright side is it won't take too long to get back to where I was. Certainly wish I hadn't given away the treadmill now!

Sorry about your ankle @maggiekat7...and your forest fire

@fit4life_73 - what made running outside more difficult? Was it the outdoor temp or was there a difference in effort required? I haven't used a treadmill....I think part of why I've taken to running these past few months is that running outdoors also serves some sort of meditative/escape function that indoor exercise (elliptical) hadn't been.

I tried out Week 1/Day 1 of the Zen Labs 10K trainer this morning...it was intervals of 10 minute runs/1 minute walks. It didn't sound horrible at first, but was actually really challenging once I was trying to complete the 4th interval. My miles are taking about 11-12 minutes, so not horrible but definitely room for improvement.

If you are unsure about how to proceed, the zenlabs b210k is a continuation of zenlabs C25k. It uses the same methodology, still running 3 days a week but extends you out. The same rules apply, slow down if you need to. At the end redo the 5k and just see how much faster your 5k time has become. It's another 4, 5, 6 weeks (senility has set in) but gives you a recognised programme to follow. Then decide what you want to do and pick up a training plan to suit. After a while you will understand what works or doesn't for you and you can start tailoring. But make sure you have some fun.

Good luck on your continuing journey

I had an appointment with a physiotherapist yesterday. Actually 3 of them! My appointment was with a student and the only thing he could find was a slight weakness in my right hamstring. He discussed it with one of the other physios and they decided it was my knee ligaments. She then examined me and agreed it was my knee ligaments. While he was giving me a friction massage to break up adhesions we could hear her discussing my case with another physio. They were confused because my pain was lower down than usual with ligament damage. She then came back and examined me again and decided it was actually my hamstring that was the problem. The other physio had then to come and examine me as it was an intriguing case! The pain I was getting was where my hamstring attaches to the top of my tibia. The doctor had banned me from running till I saw the physio, now I am banned for another two weeks until I see the physio again! I should just about have time to prepare for my 10k in September before I get injured again, lol!

Glad to see some new people, welcome!

Glad to read everyone's running (and cycling) seems to be going well, hopefully I'll be back in a couple of weeks.

@taeliesyn that 5:25 pace is still not slow, I've tried a similar session to that last cycle and could not hold a slow recovery at 6:20/km. All hats off to you. Looks like you are going to really push your 5k time down again with your latest training regime. Have fun

And you're right "Embrace the suck" Every tempo or sprint interval piece I keep having to push myself, it's on those sessions that having a training partner to push me would really help. One of the few downsides to running solo. I know they do me good and I feel great afterwards but the during is a real battle between body and mind.

I wish I could find someone near me to run with! My friends are either way too fast for me, or they perceive that I am too fast for them. (That makes me laugh every time!) I chose to sit on my sofa last night instead of taking advantage of a break in the rain. That might mean I'll have to run at the gym today.

Awesome run, @eyethree!

It is still raining here, so I went to the gym for a bike/ run/ bike workout. After 20 minutes vigorous on the bike, I ran 2 miles (walked 2 laps after the first mile), then did another 30 minutes not quite so vigorous on the bike. My time for the 2 mile run, not including the walking laps, was 18:19. Unbelievable! Maybe someday, I'll be that fast outside!

More rain here so ran Couch to 10k Trainer W9D1 on the treadmill @4.5mph. Four 10 min runs with 1 min walks between. Stopped at the end of run 3 since dinner was ready and family was "WE ARE STARVING MOM!"

I would heartily recommend Matt Fitzgeralds 80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster By Training Slower. It is repetitive in places but well worth the read. It has helped me and is the book I go back to if I need some guidance. I have used MF to convert an ultramarathon training programme into something I can understand. Have fun