Finding My Inner Runner

I've been having something of a hectic time, so haven't had time to share this one. Last year, I clocked up the 1,000 mile mark on 30 December. This year, I hit that particular landmark on Saturday. I'm not running more often this year, still typically heading out 3-4 times a week; the difference is the distances. Last year I was averaging around 30km each week with one run being 10km or longer, but the rest being much shorter. This year, I'm averaging around 40km each week, with 10km being my starting distance. My average run distance this year is just over 12km compared with 9.5km last year. My goal is to run 2021km this year and I currently have a wee bit over 350km left to go. As an "after work" runner, I'm now moving into the night run season, which brings its own challenges. The Hi-Viz vest and headlamp have been dug out of the drawer (haven't been needed yet, but I suspect by next week they will) and the merino base layers have already ma...

Having given last week a miss on account of the fact that my legs were still feeling a bit sorry for themselves after taking on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks the day before, today it was back to my familiar stomping ground of Vogrie Country Park for the second time since Parkrun returned to Scotland a fortnight ago. Last time out, I set an all-time Parkrun PB of 25:58; this week I was a wee bit slower at 26:49 but, actually, I was happier with this run. It felt better, my pacing was much more consistent, and I wasn't dead on my feet in the finishing funnel. Maybe it's something to do with running in a group (which I almost never do) but it's funny that I can comfortably pace 10k - HM, but 5k often catches me out. It possibly also has a lot to do with the fact I seldom run less than 10k and today was only my fifth run below that distance this year. Anyway, I digress. It was a lovely day. The early autumn sunshine was pleasantly warm, the track was generally dry underfoot and, all in...

Back in March last year, when parkruns got cancelled and lock down started, I was a year on from starting C25K and my average distance per run was around 8.75k. Skip forward to today and my average over May, June and July (so far) is now about 12.5k/run. It has, in fact, now been over 6 months since any run has been under 10k. I don't say the above to brag, simply a recognition of the fact that for someone who just wanted to keep his fitness up between rugby seasons so that I didn't dread August rolling around each year on account of increasing age and it getting harder to pick up again each season, I really am amazed at how far (literally and figuratively) I've come since deciding to give Couch to 5K a try back in March 2019. I have had the good fortune to be active and have a reasonable degree of fitness all my life, but it's fair to say that now, in my 50s, I'm probably in the best physical shape I've been in my entire adult life, and it's all down to me ...

Two years ago, having finally shaken of the tendonitis that had put paid to my first attempt at the Couch to 5k plan, I finally put all the excuses behind me, laced up my shoes that had been gathering dust since I unboxed them at Christmas, and started my running journey in earnest. There were a couple of "training runs" along the way, but I completed the programme in May 2019 and quickly moved on to JuJu's 10k plan which got me to 10k on 1 July that year. Before 2019 was finished, I'd get to 10 miles in October and my first HM in November and, by the time the bells rang in 2020, I'd clocked up over 500 miles. Then, 2020... Well, actually, from a running perspective, it turned out better than anticipated. Yes, OK, so the final parkrun was a year ago this weekend just past, and all the organised events I'd entered were cancelled or postponed until some indeterminate point in the future, but running, it seemed, was an escape and helped my cope with the whole...

I realise that there are still a few days left, and I need to squeeze in a 30 minute challenge run before the year is out, so my total will probably edge up a little further, but yesterday I hit the 1,000 mile mark for running in 2020. It has, for all of us, been a very different year from the one we were probably looking forward to at this point last year. For me, I suspect running is one of the things that has helped most in getting me through it. Back at the start of 2020, I set myself some goals: See how much lower I could take my 5k PB below 28:38 Get my 10k PB below one hour from 1:03:49 Get my 10 mile PB below 1:45:00 from 1:49:29 Get my Half Marathon PB below 2:30:00 from 2:30:23 Complete the equivalent of John o' Groats to Land's End (874 miles) by the end of the year. As the year passed, my runs increased in length and duration, and I ticked the goals off one by one so that they now stand at: 5k - 26:36 10k - 58:19 10 miles - 1:34:29 HM - 2:05:46 John o' Groats -...

I opened my 2020 running account on 2 January with a fairly leisurely 10k. It was only 10 months after I'd started my Couch to 5k Journey but, having already completed my first Half Marathon distance  and getting my 5k PB below 30 minutes in November, I was pretty chuffed with the progress I'd made so far. My plans for 2020 didn't really come to much at that point. This was before many of us would discover just how important running would become over the course of the year, but I had some vague goals; keep chipping away at my 5k time, get my 10k under an hour, bring my Half Marathon time under 2 hours 15 and, in addition to Parkrun, take part in a number of the organised events locally. The  distance/time goals would be achieved, but sadly every event (including Parkrun) would be cancelled. The one thing that was becoming obvious was that both my pace and stamina were definitely increasing. I had set a very vague goal of averaging around 100k per month, but I was exceeding ...

Sometimes this running thing throws up occasional pleasant surprises; the unexpected additional distance or the unintended PB. Today's surprise was discovering that I'd managed the "holy grail" of negative splits. I wasn't aiming for a fast time; I'd already done a 7k+ session with my Sunday morning running group and this was simply a solo after-group session that has become my traditional "scenic route" home from the park where the sessions are held. The route is one that I have run many times (although usually in the other direction); a mixture of roughish forest path and hard packed dirt former railway foot/cycle/bridle path. I wasn't putting any real effort into it; just simply zoning out, plodding along enjoying my surroundings. I wasn't paying any attention to the timings when each kilometre split buzzed on my wrist. The was no "pressure" on me to achieve a particular time, pace or distance. The thing with doing a route that i...

I suspect it's not the actual running we're missing; since many of us can just go out and run when the mood takes us so long as we are fortunate with our health and the COVID-19 restrictions in our particular part of the world allow us to do so. It's possibly not even being able to run in a group; since as much as I enjoy the social side, I tend to be a solitary runner. For me, what I actually miss is being able to have something to judge my performance against. Not my overall position on the weekly email (although that has its own value), but the arcane calculation that is the age adjusted performance and how it varies from run to run. Then I discovered that Running Heroes has a weekly 5k challenge. OK, so it's on a Sunday rather than a Saturday, but it gives you a leader board and age tables and all of those little things that turn a run into a "non-competitive" competition. It's not really the same, but it is nice to feel that you are part of gro...

That pretty much sums up today's run. The distance, 5k, was OK. The time, 32:15 was nothing special but by no means poor based on my usual pace. I certainly want trying for any form of PB either on terms of distance or time, but I still felt somewhat deflated after it. If it had been my plan simply to run 5k, I'm pretty sure I'd have been happy with it; box ticked, achievement unlocked, job done. The trouble was that, while I had no specific distance in mind, I had set out expecting, no, intending to run further but by the time I got to 5k, my enthusiasm had evaporated and I plodded wearily home as my 5 minute cool down. As I said, not a bad run by any standards, and one that I'd normally be happy enough with but today has just felt a bit flat; which, given that one of the reasons I run is for the lift it gives me, makes this one all the more disappointing. Ah well, I'm sure normal service will resume soon.

As I mentioned in my last post , my plan for this evening was to take my new shoes out for their maiden run. By some strange coincidence, today also happens to be Global Running Day. To mark this occasion, I decided to run the same route that I did for last year's event . The result was that this year I ran it a whole 7 minutes faster than last year. My time of 27:22 was a new 5k PB and was 37 seconds faster than my previous best, set at the end of March. How much of that improvement is down to the shoes, and how much is down to having had a break from running since I completed my #MilesForMind  challenge on Friday is a matter of conjecture, although they did feel decidedly springier than the pair they replaced have felt in quite a while. Anyway, it does seem like an auspicious start and hopefully it won't be the last PB I set in them.

At the start of the month I set myself a #MilesForMind target of 75 miles. Having started my assault on that total on Saturday 2 May with a half marathon, twelve runs later, I completed the task tonight with a 5k in glorious sunshine to bring my total to 75.59 miles. It's not impossible that I might squeeze one more run in over the weekend to stretch my total further, but those will be bonus miles; the target I set myself has been achieved, and I'm feeling decidedly chuffed with myself. To anyone reading this who still has to reach their own target, good luck over the next few days. Happy running and stay safe. If you feel like "congratulating" me, please do visit my Just Giving page and give whatever you can.

If you were to ask me what the weather was on any given day last year then for 364/365 of them I'd be guessing. The exception was 7 May 2019. To narrow it down, it was about 5:30pm on that date. It was raining. Why is this fact etched so firmly in my mind? Quite simply, 7 May was the day I'd been building up to for two and a bit months. I'd been psyching myself up to it over the last few runs. May 7 was the day I was going to graduate from Couch to 5k; and it was raining! Not heavily, but it was definitely wet. Having been building myself up for as long as I had, I wasn't going to let some trifling precipitation dampen my spirits so I so off. I got to 30 minutes having covered 3.8km and, of course, I kept on running; running until I got to the fabled 5k mark . It took me 39:20. Yes, I broke the rules. The 10% rule was never going to hold me back that night. I'd graduated and I'd run 5k and I was supremely chuffed with myself (it would take another 40 ...

I am aware that "slow" is a relative term. Running 5k in a time of 33:06 isn't even particularly slow for me, even if it is almost five minutes off my current PB; and for some people it would be a pace they aspire to achieve. The point was, after the exertions of my half marathon effort on Saturday, followed by a 20 mile cycle on Sunday, today was always going to be about easing myself out at a steady pace and running well within my limits. There were a few aches and niggling complaints, but on the whole I got round my chosen route without too much strain.  The fact that it was a pleasantly mild evening with the early evening sunshine streaming through the branches as I wound my way through the woods certainly played a part in my general sense of well-being. Birds were calling overhead, squirrels scampered through the branches, even the local cattle seemed to be enjoying a quiet evening. Nature, it seems, is completely indifferent to the struggles we humans are curre...

Following on from setting a new 5k PB of 28:04 on Monday evening , my intention tonight had been a fairly leisurely recovery run, just to shake off the working-day cobwebs. My legs, it seemed, had other ideas. The first kilometre is frequently an extension of my warm-up and is often a fairly sedate affair. Tonight, I was aware that I was moving at a slightly faster pace but was taken by surprise when the kilometre mark was passed with only only 5:57 on the clock. The second kilometre passed in 5:50, and the third in 5:22. The fourth kilometre on this route is quite tough as it starts with a short but very steep climb before undulating up and down for most of the rest of its length. Surprisingly, despite this, I completed it in 5:56. The final kilometre is fairly flat. I kept telling myself that I could slow down, but my legs were having none of it. My watch buzzed; the time for that final 1,000m was 5:33, and Strava informed me that it was my third fastest 5k in a time of 28:38...

How many times have you found yourself thinking: " I know what, I really quite fancy doing some sprint intervals tonight "? If you're anything like me, I suspect the answer is quite possibly almost a resounding " NEVER!! " Strangely, however, despite Monday evenings usually being set aside for my weekly long run, intervals are what I found myself doing and, shock horror, despite the number of times I have expressed my dislike for such an activity, I actually quite enjoyed them. I selected the Couch to 5k Week 1 workout on my watch and off I went; jogging the walking bits and sprinting the running bits and, lo and behold, I set a new 5k PB of 28:04 in the process. I'm almost certainly going to suffer for this tomorrow, but it was worth it.

I wasn't meant to run tonight on the grounds that I was supposed to be refereeing a 7s tournament  tomorrow. Unfortunately, due to the deepening Covid-19 crisis, the SRU have taken the step of cancelling all domestic rugby in Scotland until further notice. While this is no doubt disappointing to many, it is an entirely sensible and understandable step to take in the circumstances. Combine this with the fact that no one knows for sure if parkruns will be held tomorrow (and no one could blame anyone if they were cancelled), it meant I suddenly found myself at something of a loose end. Fortunately, there is a virtual 5k challenge (courtesy of  New York Road Runners ) happening this weekend (there's also a half marathon challenge, but there was no way I was doing that tonight); so I laced up my trail shoes and went for a leisurely lollop along the old railway path and through the woods, and added another 5.15km to  Team HU 's total for the  Vitality Running World C...

Given that they don't come around very often (the next occurrence being until 2048), I suspect, like many people, I was quite glad that Jorge hadn't decided to turn up yet and gatecrash this very rare parkrunning event. Dunbar has a reputation for being the sunniest place in Scotland (and that's not really the low bar that many of you might think) but today it was overcast and grey and quite chilly. It was, however, dry with only the lightest of breezes. Conditions underfoot were decidedly muddy and slippery in places, so it was never going to be an especially fast run, but that didn't matter. Looking at the split times, it is almost possible to pick out the muddier stretches from those sections that were firmer. Today's time of 31:11 was my second best for the Lochend Wood's course , but for once I actually managed to get my pacing right and was able to get through the dreaded 3.5-4k stretch, where it frequently all goes wrong, without mishap. My cust...

The evenings are definitely drawing out again... After Tuesday evening's effort where I did my best 10k of the year so far, and second best 10k ever, tonight I went out and did exactly the same thing for 5k. Completed in a time of 29:09, which is my first sub-30 minute 5k of 2020. Decided to redo the Week 1 podcast of Couch to 5k but with jog/sprint alternations instead of walk/jog; and jogging the five minute warm-up/cool-down sections after having done a warm-up and before doing an actual cool down. It sounds more complicated than it actually was and I may have been a little quicker if I hadn't stopped briefly to explain to one of my neighbours that I wasn't actually training for the London Marathon... Anyway, it definitely felt good to get a "fast" one under my belt; and a pleasant surprise to be back indoors before the streetlights came on. The only down side is that I have to run even further to complete my 30 minutes of activity, but I guess that...

We all have them; those runs where they only good thing we can say about them is that they're done and we can put them behind us. It was still light, dry and, by the standards of the last week, reasonably pleasant when I left the house this evening. 45 minutes later, it was dark, I was soaked to the skin and chilled to the bone. Monday night may be my "long run" night, but I wasn't staying out in that for one second longer than I absolutely had to, so when the 5k mark brought me to the end of my street, one very quick cool-down walk (not that I really needed any further cooling later), and I was happy to call it quits for the evening. I think I can safely say I have never been so happy to get out of my running stuff and into the shower as I was tonight (and I say that as someone who got caught outside in a thunderstorm back in August). Generally, I don't mind a bit of rain when I'm running, but when it's being driven horizontally into your face b...

So, with Storm Dennis heading in my general direction, but not yet making a menace of himself, I decided to head out along the coast to Dunbar to make Lochend Woods the venue for parkrun #15. It was grey, it was a bit damp, but the winds had still to pick up and, all in all, it wasn't too bad a morning for me and the 55 other runners who headed out. I decided, today, to do something a bit different. Usually, I just go out and run, and see how it goes, but today I thought I'd try and work a little on my speed. The Lochend Woods route is one of the flatter routes near me, so it fitted with my experiment. I'd taken the various weekly programmes of W1 - W4 of the Couch to 5k programme and turned them into workouts.  Instead of walking and running, the idea was that I would comfortably jog what had been the walking elements, and then pick up the tempo for the running sections. I'm not actually all that bothered about my pace, but I thought it might be interesting to ...