Juneathon day 23 - back in the saddle

So the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed the lack of Juneathon posts from me for day 21 or 22. I could fabricate some kind of attempt at exercise, or try and claim a brisk walk to Pizza Express as exercise but the truth is that I fell of the Juneathon wagon and haven't done anything the last two days. No running for a couple of days is no bad thing as I've still been having pain in my thigh, but I could probably have done something else if I'd really put my mind to it. 

Still, no use crying over spilled milk - I'm back in the saddle now and very happy about it. I'm going to Glastonbury on tuesday evening and it would have been VERY easy indeed to call a halt to Juneathon now, having missed a couple of days, since I'm not going to be able to carry it on at Glastonbury (unless briskly walking across a field carrying my own body weight in cans of lager, or spending two hours jumping up and down to the Rolling Stones counts). With that in mind then I'm pleased to have done something today. Bearing in mind my thigh problem I took it relatively easy and stuck to the treadmill. As always the plan was just to do 15 minutes, then 20, then 4k, then 5k and so on... Just as I got to 30 minutes and was about to press stop Daft Punk came to my rescue once again and kept me going for another 10. No major issues with my thigh whilst running, so assuming everything's ok tomorrow I will try for a gentle jog outside. 

Juneathon day 23 5.43k in 40 minutes

Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 20 - more strength training

Not much to report today. I resisted the urge to run and instead did another strength training session focusing on arms. I fully expect to have to get someone to cut my food up for me tomorrow. I still have some twinges in my thigh when I move in certain positions but nothing too bad, and my knee is almost better. The plan is to run again with my friend Oliver tomorrow. I'm hoping that four days of very light running / no running at all will be sufficient to give me back my running mojo. We will see. Anyway, no time for a longer post tonight - thursday night is cribbage night and I've got some pegging to do.

Juneathon day 19 - strength training: turns out I don't have any strength

Another day of not in the zone. I decided yesterday that I wouldn't run today, for fear of making my adductor problem worse. I have a number of things coming up for which I really need full use of my legs so in this instance discretion is the better part of valour, and means a day off running. I toyed with the idea of walking but that seems like a pretty puny substitute for running, plus it's really hot outside... So, after a massive amount of humming and hawing I decided to try some strength training (which I know will make the boyfriend very happy indeed - all the weights and other instruments of torture in the man cave belong to him).

A reminder of all the scary weights
in the man cave

 

Since I started running again in January all I've done is run. Running, running and yet more running. I know I need to mix it up a bit, and I also know that if I had a stronger core and all that other stuff then I'd be less likely to get injured etc etc. In short, I know that strength training is a good thing. But I really, really don't like doing it. That said, I do like the results. Years ago I had a personal trainer who used to make me do lots of weights, in addition to running (hello Kate, if you're reading!). During that glorious time I actually developed something approximating the very baby beginnings of a six pack (perhaps a two pack?) and had lovely toned upper arms. All good. 

Running 4-5 times a week regularly since January has given me thighs of steel. Seriously. My thighs are pure muscle. Muscles which are actually visible to the naked eye rather than hidden under a layer of fat. They are AWESOME. Also my arse is fairly steely too. This is all good. However it would be better still if the rest of my body matched - abs and arms of steel are quite some way off. Still, all that's needed is a few press ups, sit ups etc and job's a good 'un, right? Ahahahahaha. 

So it turns out that I have pretty much no strength at all in any muscles other than my thighs. It's a wonder I have the strength to get dressed in the mornings. My boyfriend doesn't have any weights light enough for me to be able to do a significant number of repetitions of anything. Never mind, I thought, plenty of exercises for which you can use your own body weight. If only it were that simple. Press ups? Can't do any (although to be fair I could perhaps have done some from a kneeling position but my knees still won't let me kneel on them). Sit ups? Just about managed 20, moving an infinitesimal amount barely visible to the naked eye. The plank? Much as I used to hate the plank with every ounce of my being, there was a time when I could hold it for a minute. Now - 10 seconds felt like quite a stretch. Oh. My. God. 

My pride has taken quite the beating in the light of this feeble performance. Not helped at all by my mother (68) informing me that she can do full press-ups now (from the toes and everything!). Room for improvement, and I will certainly try and build strength training in as a more regular part of my routine once Juneathon is over. In the meantime, I really hope to be able to run again tomorrow rather than have to torture myself further. One glimmer of hope in all of this is that the prospect of running for 90 minutes doesn't phase me at all now, whereas it would have filled me with horror back in the day, two pack or no two pack.  

Juneathon day 18 - epic fail

So it seems as though there really is something wrong with my right thigh - the internet tells me it's the adductors. After yesterday's puny effort I decided to take it deliberately easy today and stick to the treadmill. Did 10 minutes at 8kph but then had to slow down to a brisk walk. I've been having twinges in the same area over the past few days and had to stop running altogether for about two weeks back at Easter time because of a similar injury. Today's pain was something that I probably could have run through if I'd really wanted to but, because I've been injured there before in a proper not-being-able-to-get-out-of-chairs way, I decided discretion was the better part of valour and didn't push it.

I upped the incline and plodded away for another 20 minutes at a brisk walk. It feels like a fail but I still managed to cover 3k, got my heart rate up and felt the burn in my calves so I guess it's better than nothing. I'm going to Glastonbury next week and have a 10k race a couple of weeks after that so I really don't want to be injured for either of those. Might be a couple more days of walking in store to keep on track with Juneathon - we'll see how it is tomorrow.

Day 18 3k in 30 minutes
Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 17 - not in the zone

Today was a struggle. I really, really wasn't in the zone at all. I put off going out all day and when I finally did muster up sufficient motivation to get off my arse everything hurt. I started with the intention of going for a fairly gentle 5k but it soon became clear that even that would be a challenge. My calves felt very tight today, on top of which my knees are both sore from my fall on saturday night and my right knee in particular complained a lot about being forced to run. I often have twinges in my knees when I run but I think today's were clearly related to falling so heavily on them. I've also been having twinges in my right thigh for the last few days, which was also a problem today. It wouldn't have been enough to stop me running if everything else had been on top form but added to a list of complaints it was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. I pottered round the block - a fairly puny effort but another run which definitely wouldn't have happened without Juneathon and I'm pleased to have at least done something and not broken my streak. Back on the treadmill tomorrow I think.

I wasn't sure of the etiquette of posting pictures of one's injuries but since my boyfriend posted pictures of his bloody knuckles (boxing injury) on his blog I figure it's ok to show my knee to the world. People of a nervous disposition - look away now. Knee fetishists and perverts - knock yourselves out.

As is always the way, it doesn't look
like much but it hurts like hell.

Day 17 - 2 k in 13 minutes
Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 16 - nearly out of the running after falling over like an old lady

Last night I was out in Lancaster with Jill, an old university friend who lives up there. On our way out for dinner I slipped on a wet patch of leaves and went crashing to the ground, knees first, in a highly undignified manner. Luckily no one else was around to see me go down, so I didn't have to do the whole 'I'm fine! I meant to do that!' thing that you normally have to do when you fall over in public. Just as well because it was really incredibly painful.For a moment I didn't think I'd be able to get up, and not crying was an effort of iron will. I was absolutely certain that when I looked at my right knee I'd see a bit of bone sticking out, or at least some blood or some other visible sign on injury. Instead, nothing. This is one of those annoying times where it hurts like hell but there's no external sign of injury with which to gross people out.

I thought it very telling that almost my first thought after I fell was 'oh no - this is the end of Juneathon' and I was absolutely gutted at the prospect of not being able to run. Fortunately that's not the case. After sleeping on it it's clear that nothing's broken, it's just bruised. So, Jill and I went out for a gentle run this morning to test things out. It doesn't hurt when walking or running (or at least no more than my knees normally hurt when running) and is only sore to the touch. Kneeling on a wooden floor doesn't feel so great, and I've probably missed my chance of playing for England, but apart from that I'm basically fine. Phew.

We went for half an hour around Lancaster - a really beautiful route. Although Jill lives basically in the city centre you can be out in fields within a few hundred metres of her house, which makes a really nice change from the industrial complexes and housing estates that I generally run through these days. Another social run and a lovely chance to catch up. All's well that ends well.

Day 16 - 4.65k in 30 minutes
Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 15 - half way!

Half way through Juneathon. I am absolutely delighted to have made it this far. Just a short run today. I'm up in Ormskirk visiting Jude and fellow Juneathoner Steve. We had planned to go out this morning for a longish run. The figure of 10k was mentioned at some point. It didn't happen, largely because last night Steve and I went out in Liverpool.

We ate tasty Japanese food. We saw a screening of LCD Soundsystem's Shut Up And Play The Hits. We went cheesy dancing. We got home at 3.30 (yeah, we've still got it!) During all of this much alcohol was consumed. At various points in the evening there was lager, sake, plum wine, bitter, more lager and vodka. It's just possible that we may have overdone it very slightly. Consequently neither of us jumped out of bed this morning feeling very much like going for a run.

After a slow morning of lounging about drinking tea and moaning, we eventually mustered up sufficient motivation to get out (this is another run that definitely wouldn't have happened were it not for Juneathon) and managed a fairly tentative 4k, not helped at all by the heavens opening just as we set off. Still, a run is a run and it all counts. Another one in the bag.

Day 15 4k in 26.03

Juneathon day 14. Hills. Oh my god, hills.

Very short of time this morning so I decided to go for a quick run around the block incorporating a few hill repeats. I've run up hills (well, probably more shallow slopes than hills - does a railway bridge count as a hill?) before when out on ordinary runs but I've never made the hill the point of the run before. I know it's a good idea to incorporate hill training into one's routine but that feels like something that only hardcore runners do (wait - I've been running every day for two weeks now. Does that make me a hardcore runner?) and I've always been a little nervous of trying it. Rightly so, it turns out. 

Deceptively hard work

I am 'fortunate' to live more or less at the top of a hill so there are hills of varying degrees of steepness in every direction around our house. Today I warmed up with a brisk jog around the town and then headed for Oxford Road. It's a straight slope up for about 225 metres. When you're walking up it the slope feels pretty slight so I wasn't too worried. Hollow laugh. For the first half of the first run it felt perfectly manageable. Then it suddenly got hard. Then it got really hard. Up and down three times by the end of which I could hardly breath. Gosh - hills are hard work. 

The devil's hill

Then I decided to finish things off (almost literally) with a run up Castle Street. This is about 150 metres but really substantially steeper than Oxford Road. Getting to the top of Castle Street was the closest I've come to feeling like I might throw up after a run since I was forced to run cross country at school. Oh. My. God. 

Looking at the stats I see that Garmin estimates a whopping 13 metres of elevation. This cannot possibly be right. All that pain for so little gain? I can't believe it. 

So, in summary this looks like a pretty puny run by recent standards. A fairly short distance at a slowish pace. But don't be deceived. This was the closest I've come to dying from over-running (if that's a thing) since I started running again. 

Day 14 2.24k in 15 minutes

Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 13 - social running

Today I ran at lunchtime, 5k with my friend Oliver. Running with someone else is fairly unusual for me. I'd say I probably run 90% of my runs on my own and certainly so far in Juneathon I think I've run all but two alone. Oliver is training for the British 10k (which I have now signed up for too). We ran together a couple of times this time last year so I know his natural pace is significantly faster than mine and I'm grateful to him for sticking with me rather than haring off like a rat up a drainpipe leaving me in his dust (slightly mixed metaphors there but I think it works).

We ran a steady 5k at what, for me, is quite close to my top pace for that distance. The big benefit of doing this with someone else is being able to check that what I think is conversational pace actually is conversational pace. With the best will in the world it's hard to replicate the feeling of a real conversation when you're running on your own. Even though the pace was fairly quick we chatted all the way around and it never felt difficult to maintain the conversation. This makes me think that I may be holding back a little on the pace and there could be another faster gear to be explored. In the last kilometre we ramped it up a little and ran a few hundred metres down a long straight in Regent's Park at something like 4.30 per k pace. That felt fast but doable, and even at that pace I was still able to talk although not quite as easily as at 6.30 per k. All in all a good run in pleasant company. More of this, please!

Day 13 5k in 30.05
Runningfree stats

   

Juneathon day 12 - the motivational power of Juneathon (and Daft Punk)

There is absolutely no way in the world I would have done any running today if it hadn't been for Juneathon (let's face it, I would have done well to keep a running streak of more than 3 days going if it wasn't for Juneathon). Today I really wasn't in the zone at all. I originally planned to run first thing this morning. That didn't happen. Then I told myself I'd run at lunch time. That didn't happen either. I finally forced myself onto the treadmill just before 7 this evening, motivated in no small part by having put quite some pressure onto fellow Juneathoner Steve Hanlon to go out and run earlier in the day so as not to break his streak, only for him to lock himself out of the house and spend most of the afternoon wandering the streets. Oops. After that I would have felt like I was really letting the side down if I hadn't run myself.

As usual I eased myself onto the treadmill with the idea of just doing 15 minutes, then once I got going I decided to go for 30, but towards the end of that time I ran into a rich seam of Daft Punk on Spotify, culminating in Giorgio by Giorgio Moroder starting up with two minutes to go. I have mentioned before the awesome motivational power of this track - I just cannot get enough of it and it took me up to exactly 5k. Job done.

Day 12 - 5k in 37.36
Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 11 - slightly too short long run

My legs were feeling pretty good today after a couple of dodgy days, and I'm happy to see that it's possible to recover from achiness whilst still keeping running. I had begun to worry that running every day would mean my legs getting sorer and sorer each day until I couldn't take it any more and would have to retire permanently to the sofa. Hopefully that's not going to be the case. Also, I'm going to be at Glastonbury at the end of the month and it's going to put a considerable dampener on things if I can't walk by the time I get there. 

This is a busy week so today was the only feasible day for a long run. After the frustrations of running slowly with the heart rate monitor at the weekend I decided to just go for it today and not worry about pace. The first 5k or so felt very hard going. My legs were heavy and my calves felt very tight. For a good while there was a woman running in the same direction on the other side of the road, a little bit behind me but slowly gaining. When she eventually passed me I determined not to let her get more than about 20 metres ahead so I sped up, and was able to maintain that faster pace for the rest of the run. Thank you anonymous woman for your motivational help!

I really wanted to beat the distance I ran on sunday but unfortunately I misremembered it as 12.39 when actually it turns out it was 12.79, so I fall less than 200 metres short which is VERY annoying. On the plus side I've covered almost the same distance as on sunday but taken 22 fewer minutes to do it, which I am very happy about indeed. Sunday's average pace was 7.56, today's was 6.16 - that feels much more like it. 

I passed quite a lot of other runners today and said (gasped) hello to all of them. I've noticed that women running in pairs hardly ever acknowledge a runner coming the other way whereas most other people, men or women, generally do. No idea what that's about, but how hard is it to make eye contact and at least grimace some kind of greeting?

Day 11 12.51k in 1.18.26

Runningfree stats

Junethon day 10 - longest running streak ever!

In last year's Juneathon day 10 was the first day that I missed, and once I missed one day it became easier to miss other days. In short, it was the day that the rot set in. So, running on day 10 in Juneathon 2013 means not only that I beat last year's performance but also represents the longest continuous exercise streak of my life. I know there are people doing Junethon who have run every day for weeks, months, even years so a 10 day streak is not very impressive by those standards, but for me it's nothing short of a miracle. And as if that isn't miraculous enough, today I got my run out of the way before work. What's happening to me??

Anyway, it's become apparent that the only way to maintain a steady moderate pace is to do it on the treadmill so I started the day with a 30 minute recovery run. As you can see the treadmill isn't in such a lovely location so all else being equal I'd rather be outside, but the it does serve its purpose in enabling me to fix a pace and stick with it (as well as still being able to run when it's raining - actually going outside to run in the rain being something which still feels impossibly hardcore). In case you are wondering, all the scary-looking weights equipment belongs to my boyfriend who is properly super-fit and spending his Juneathon lifting heavy weights and beefing up until his shirts won't do up anymore. Each to their own.

Amazingly my legs feel pretty good today after the exertions of the weekend so I added to the good work of the morning run by walking from Regent's Park to Waterloo this evening for a meeting. It's about 5k, but my route was considerably longer as I had to go in and out of most of the shops I passed en route (just to get the mileage up, you understand.) And then to top all that I ran up the escalator at Marylebone Station (breaking my strict No Running For Trains Policy) so that I could get there in time to see my train leaving without me on it. That there is why I have a No Running For Trains Policy - running for trains just ends with you being the hot, sweaty, out of breath person watching their train depart. Much better to take it easy and pretend you never wanted to get that train anyway. Anyway, missed train aside, a good day.

The delightful man cave. Not at all reminiscent of the kind of
thing you'd see in a serial killer movie.

Day 10 4k in 30 minutes

Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 9 - pain!

Well it turns out that I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the power of the slow running, because I woke up this morning barely able to move my legs. Pretty much every part of my legs ached - toes, calves, knees, thighs - the works. I had to inch down stairs one step at a time. This is the most that my legs have hurt since I started running again at the beginning of the year. Most odd. I took it pretty easy for most of the day - knitting, watching TV, snoozing - basically all activities designed to be performed with your feet up on the sofa.

There was some talk with The Boyfriend of perhaps ditching running for today and cycling instead. I'm a nervous cyclist due to a serious accident when I was at college, so the fact that I seriously considered this option shows how sore my legs were. That said, I'm not sure how much training benefit there would be from riding my bicycle. It's a Pashley Princess - the kind of bike you'd generally expect to see Miss Marple riding with a basket full of puppies, cut flowers or fresh bread on the front. It only has three gears and weighs about the same as a small family car.

Built for comfort, not for speed.

Anyway, the general leg pain got slightly better as the day went on and I really wanted to run so as not to break my running streak so in the end I decided to go out for a gentle 30 minute jog and just see how it went. Once I got moving I felt perfectly fine so ended up actually going for a fairly fast 5k, not far off my personal best. Whilst I am delighted with that, I can't help feeling that I'm going to be paying for it tomorrow. Already, less that twenty minutes after getting back, my legs are back to being as painful as they were this morning. I think I may be back on the treadmill tomorrow, assuming I haven't lost the use of my legs completely.

Day 9 - 5k in 30.06
Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 8 - running slower than I ever thought possible

I mentioned a couple of posts back that I was experimenting with using the heart rate monitor to moderate my runs. With that in mind I've just read the supposedly definitive guide to the subject (if you had told me six months ago I would be buying and reading books like this I would have laughed in your face).

By John L Parker Jr - father of Ray Parker Jr (possibly...)

Anyway, the author suggests that most people run their slow runs too fast and their fast runs too slow. His  system boils down to alternating fast and slow runs, and the pace should entirely be governed by your heart rate. On slow runs your heart rate should never go above 70% of your maximum, and on fast runs you should be aiming for consistently above 85% of your max (I've simplified it a lot but that's the gist).

Slow runs are where the fat burning happens - I'm all about the fat burning - and also how you build up endurance over longer distances. So, today I went for a long, slow run. And boy when I say slow do I mean slow. To keep my heart rate below 70% of max meant 'running' at an insanely slow pace, for most of the run a full 2 minutes per kilometre slower than I usually run. The outward leg of my run is very, very slightly uphill and during that part I had to walk several times to keep my heart rate down. For the rest of it I was running at a pace which can barely be called running.

At one point a father with a child on his shoulders, another in a buggy and two massive bags of shopping passed me. Old ladies with walking sticks passed me. Couples out for a romantic Saturday afternoon stroll passed me. Basically everyone passed me as I shuffled along at a snail's pace. Hell, snails were passing me. To be fair, John L Parker did warn that this would happen. The idea is that over time your endurance and general fitness improve and so does your pace, so you find you can cover longer distances at a faster pace but while still keeping your heart rate below 70%. That day cannot come soon enough in my book.

Today's run actually represents two personal bests, for duration and distance, but I don't feel very triumphant because the pace was so slow. On the plus side I did spend at least an hour in the fat burning zone so I feel fairly positive about the prospect of pizza and home-made ice cream for dinner this evening (vanilla and pralines - nom). As ever it's swings and roundabouts.

Day 8 12.69k in 1.40.43
Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 7 - yep, still running...

So we are a week into Juneathon. So far I've run 41.7 kilometres which is, by quite some margin, the farthest I've ever run in a week. The fact that I am still blogging a week in is awesome too. Last year it was the blogging that went before the running.  

I would have preferred to go out this morning and get my run out of the way before it got too hot but I had no clean running clothes so had to wait till this evening for some dry kit. Hmmm - could Juneathon be just the excuse I need to buy more gear? Time was ticking on so I went for fast (for me anyway) and short - about 3.7k with an average pace of 5.40 minutes per k. I'm happy with that and plan to work on sustaining that kind of pace for longer distances. It feels fast enough to count as proper running. I've got a slight twinge at the top of my right thigh now which I hope isn't going to turn into a thing. I had an injury there quite recently which put me out of running for a couple of weeks so it would be very annoying if that were to happen again.

Once again Spotify really didn't help - today it seemed to be on a bit of an 80s power ballad trip. My pace will seem all the more impressive when I tell you that I had to sustain it to the soundtrack of REO Speedwagon's I Can't Fight This Feeling. I may have to have a tighter edit of what's on my starred list (no idea how REO Speedwagon got on there in the first place. Ahem.)

Very annoyingly my Garmin seems to have had some kind of a hiccup so I can't post the proper lovely stats with map and everything - have had to enter the basic data by hand. Anyway - here are the stats:

Day 7 3.7k in 20.56

Running free stats

Juneathon day 6 - I got up early!

Well, they said it would never happen - I actually managed to get out of bed early for a run. Anyone who knows me will know that this is nothing short of a miracle. I am very, very dedicated to the art of the snooze and it takes a lot to get me to give up even so much of a minute of sleep time. However, I'm heading to Cardiff today for a full day of meetings and have no idea what time I will be back this evening so the only way to be sure of fitting in a run was to get it done this morning. Much as I love my bed, I really didn't want to wuss out of Juneathon this early in the month. Getting me out of bed at 6am is testament to the awesome motivational power of Juneathon.

After yesterday's epic speed-fest (by my standards, anyway) I went for the treadmill today. Although it's boring as hell, a big benefit of the treadmill is how much easier it is to regulate pace. I wanted to be sure I ran at a genuine slow recovery pace without being tempted to sneakily speed up. So, I set the treadmill to 8kph and plodded away. Actually the first few minutes felt quite hard, to the extent that I thought I might have to stop (although I think this was more mental than physical) but then I tried the 'just another five minutes' trick, which turned into 'just up to 3k', then 4k and then 5. I'm pretty pleased with that.

Usually when I'm on the treadmill I use music to keep me engaged.This morning I tried the Today Programme. Suffice to say, I'll be going back to using music in the future.

Day 5 5k in 37.30 minutes

Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 5 - I'm on fire!

Well, just back from 9k out with the boyfriend. To say I am pleased with this run would be a massive understatement. I am over the bloody moon. 

The intention was a fairly gentle 10k. We ran considerably later than normal and so at about 4k in I was suddenly ravenously hungry and worried I was going to run out of petrol before we completed the route. Then at about 6k I completely unexpectedly got the urge for speed. I ran my 7th kilometre in 5.26 - I think this is the fastest kilometre I've ever run, certainly outside - and followed it up with another sub-6 minute k. I know this isn't particularly fast for lots of people but for me it counts as really flying along. And the cool thing is that I really felt pretty much invincible, it certainly wasn't easy to run at that pace but it wasn't particularly hard either. A sub 60 minute 10k feels doable now. I've done it on the treadmill before but never outside. 

Tomorrow I need to get up and run before work - never a natural early riser, this is a prospect which fills me with dread - so I really hope I don't pay for this evening's run with too much stiffness tomorrow. So far so good though. 

Day five - 9k in 54.50

Runningfree stats 

Juneathon day 4 - hot weather!

I had a very ambitious plan to get up early today and run before work. I'm really, really not a morning person so this plan was always doomed to fail. Instead I brought my gear to work and ran 4k around Regent's Park at lunchtime. I had planned to do at least 5k but was beaten by a combination of super-hot weather (by the standards of what I'm used to running in, anyway), a raging thirst and a desperate need for the loo. I'm happy with the pace - 4k averaging 5.58 mins per k, and covering the last kilometer in 5.26 which is very fast for me. It's the kind of pace I'd like to be able to sustain for 10k but I'm away off that just now. I wish I had run a little further but I'm happy to have got out and done something.

Spotify got stuck on a bit of an 80s groove today, playing me three OMD tracks, one Fun Boy Three and Dead or Alive before moving onto Foals. I doubt any DJ ever has followed You Spin Me Round with Foals. It made for an interesting mix, but not necessarily one conducive to running. A new playlist may be in order.

The view from my office window. It really is a lovely day

   









Day 4 4k in 23.53
Runningfree stats

Junethon day 3 - treadmill intervals

I took to the treadmill first thing this morning, despite the lovely weather, as I wanted to try and measure an accurate maximum heart rate (still playing with my new toy...). I did this by running 3 intervals of increasing craziness culminating in a minute of running at 13kph which is the fastest I've ever run on the treadmill, indeed it may be the fastest I've ever run full stop. It's the kind of pace I imagine I would only achieve in outdoor running if I were being chased by bears. Since I certainly couldn't sustain it for much more than a minute it would probably be easier just to let the bears take me and be done with it. It seems crazy to think that people run at that pace for any kind of distance at all. Anyway, all's well that ends well - my heart rate sky-rocketed, and I didn't go flying off the back of the treadmill into the garage wall. That's a win. The second part of the heart rate monitoring experiment was much more pleasant - measuring a resting heart rate whilst napping in front of the lunchtime news.

Day 3 - 5k in 29.45
Runningfree stats

Juneathon day 2 - slowing down even more

Day two of Juneathon and I'm still playing with my new heart rate monitor. The aim for today's run was to cover 5k whilst keeping my heart rate below 70% of my heart rate reserve - the level that seems to be recommended for recovery runs. What I've learnt from this is that what I've previously thought of as an easy recovery pace is actually far too fast. To keep my heart rate this low I had to slow down. A lot. My natural instinct is generally to hare off like a rat up a drainpipe so to keep the pace as slow as needed wasn't easy. I'm also naturally blessed with an insanely competitive nature so found it pretty much impossible not to speed up whenever I passed another runner, not wanting anyone to think that my snail's pace was the best I could do. It's pretty easy to see when I must have passed someone by looking at the heart rate graph.

Spotify, as if mocking me, chose all the most crazily motivating fast running tracks from my running playlist (Rocky theme, Eye of the Tiger, a whole heap of super-fast Chemical Brothers and Primal Scream tracks) in a desperate attempt to get me speed up. I may need a new play list for future recovery runs to guard against this. On the plus side, both today and yesterday Spotify randomly spat out Daft Punk's Giorgio by Giorgio Moroder as the last track of the run. This, it turns out, is an absolutely magnificent track to run to on a sunny evening. Ideally you'd want to be listening to it running along a beautiful beach somewhere I think, but for now the industrial estates of Aylesbury will have to do.

Day two - 5k in 36.03
Runningfree stats


 

Juneathon 2013 day one

So I'm having another crack at Juneathon this year. The deal is that you commit to running (or some other form of exercise) every day and blogging about it. Last year I did ok on the running - managed about 25 days - but not so well on the blogging. Let's see how it goes this year.

Last year I came at Juneathon from a standing start, having not run at all for at least a year beforehand. This year things are different. I've been running regularly since January and it's going pretty well. Last saturday I ran the Great Manchester Run (10k) with friends, and we're now signed up for the Great Birmigham Run (half marathon) in October. I'm feeling very positive about my running at the moment. I've made sporadic attempts to get into the running habit over the last 10 years or so but it has always felt like extremely hard work - the idea of being able to cover 10k with ease, let alone a half marathon would have seemed ridiculous. However regular running since January has paid off (it seems the secret of getting better at running is to run more - who knew?) and for the first time ever in my life I can now cover 10k with ease and a half marathon feels possible. It's not necessarily a pretty sight and I'm very far from being fast or elegant but hey, I'm happy.

My aim for this Juneathon then is to consolidate what I've done so far. I'd like to increase my regular training distance from 5k to more like 10k. I'd like to get a little bit faster. I'd like to lose some weight. And I'd like to stick with it. It should be doable - the only fly in the ointment (so far) is Glastonbury at the end of the month, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Today's run then - the aim was to go a steady 10k, not push the pace too much, and to try and keep my heart rate below 80% of max (first time out of the blocks for my new toy - heart rate monitor). It went well. The pace felt easy all the way around. I resisted my usual urge to hare off like a rat up a drainpipe. There was more in the tank when I finished. Passed two other runners as I went round and managed a cheery hello to both. A good start all round.

Day one 10k in 1.3.16
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