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Day 45–Obsessing with the Mileage

It wasn’t just because I’d uploaded nine years of running data to Strava that I was obsessing over mileage on my run. A quick look on Fetcheveryone showed that if I ran 16 miles this evening and then 6 or so tomorrow evening then I would break my all time record mileage for a calendar month. It wasn’t going to be easy though as covering the F1 testing meant that I couldn’t leave for my run as early as I’d have liked to. I think I left even later than I did on Tuesday, requiring a 6:41 opening mile and then half a mile at 6:12 pace to just make it to the club before they left.

Thankfully there was a couple of miles of easy paced running where I could recover from those early exertions and concentrate on the miles ahead. I wasn’t concentrating leaving Queen Elizabeth’s Park though, having splashed our way through I stopped my watch to allow all the runners to pass, I forgot to restart my Garmin. I didn’t realise until I neared Belton House, which turned out to be around 1.2 miles but at the time I wasn’t sure how far I’d lost.

After four or so easy miles, on the dark lanes towards Londonthorpe I put in a couple of quickish miles, made harder as they were all uphill. Thereafter I settled in a small group of three, running between 7-7:10 minute miles along eerily misty narrow country lanes. We maintained this all the way back into Grantham which was significantly quicker than in previous weeks and gave a good workout. Once in Grantham I tried to add some miles to bring the run up to 16. I had to guess somewhat, and ended up around a third of a mile short.

Legs were pretty good, although right abductor was still tight at times and the right hamstring is pretty sore to touch after I found some tight and tender spots during some Stick massage.

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Day 44–It’s A Good Way To Unwind

Another long day behind the computers following the F1 test in Jerez meant I knew that it would be pretty late before I would be able to get out for my run. As I briefly went outside at around 7pm to test the right hamstring (which tightened up at the end of yesterday’s run) I  briefly winced at the iciness of the wind and recalled the days not so long ago when I would be able to run the very pleasant Spanish circuit at the end of the day, basking in T-Shirt and shorts weather in late January. A far cry from this evening, where apart from not reaching out for the extra thermal tights (Still unused this winter) I was full thermal spec.

I’d been a little concerned by the hamstring all day. Thankfully it showed no discomfort from the off and indeed the only discomfort was the on going abductor / right groin tightness. In getting ready to run I must have been lost in my thoughts for around 1km into the run I realised I wasn’t running any hi-vis clothing at all. This was ironic (in the Morrissette sense) as I’d just signed off my 111/2 hour stint on the computer with a Facebook comment on a lively thread discussing the merits of such attire. Being in the you’re better of being seen than being dead camp I had little choice but to loop round back to home and pick up a bright yellow reflective bib, which maybe about as useful as paper armour in protecting me against a 12 tonne truck but gives me at least the comfort I did everything possible to be visible.

Of course to the H&S purists I threw away all the good work of being visible by wearing earphones and listening to music and listening to it in the dark!  I tend to find the inspirational side of music more beneficial when I just want to knock out some easy miles rather than trying to bust a gut during a tempo session, and so it proved this evening when the beloved Sansa Clip set, as always, on Random Play, knocked out a succession of cracking tunes, kicking off with what may be my new favourite running track:

Ok I realise that restrictions mean you cannot play it in here, but the sentiment was there. You can click and enjoy on YouTube, and work out why it was that before I knew it 7:30 miles had become 6:52 miles and not long after 8 miles had been covered and I was back home. Job done. Mission accomplished. Think about the next run.

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Day 43–Well That Was Quite Quick…

The day was long covering the opening day of F1 Testing at Jerez, at the computer for 6:30am and not able to leave until exactly 12 hours later. I put on my running gear in double quick time and headed out with barely a stretch to try and catch the, club, who were set to leave for their intervals session in around 6 minutes, when it normally takes me 11 to get to HQ…. As it was I just caught them leaving, I needed to visit the bathroom so I said I’d meet them in a minute. It took a 6:10 mile, after a 6:27 to catch them just as they stopped outside the pub.

The session hadn’t been finalised but it was decided to do 6 x 1 mile with a 2-3 minute recovery. I let the others have a 40 second or so head start for the first interval, I needed to stretch. The first mile felt really quick as I caught and passed all my club mates. Normally the mile in this direction is a fair bit slower than the return leg as it climbs 10 or so metres, but when I finished the mile the Garmin clocked 5:25, nigh on as fast as anything I’d done in the other direction and around 30 seconds quicker than normal. I felt though like I’d over-exerted myself somewhat, although I quickly recovered.

Then I turned around and realised why the mile was so quick. There was quite a stiff wind blowing, in the opposite direction to the usual prevailing wind, which had aided us significantly on the upward stretch and would hinder us on our return. And so it proved on the second rep, which turned out to be the equal slowest of the night at 5:30. Reps three and four were hard work clocking 5:30 and 5:29 respectively. At the end of the fourth rep I even felt a little nauseous, as well as feeling the right abductor.

Knowing that I had only two reps left I put aside any tired thoughts and worked hard on the fifth rep, clawing back time after a sluggish opening 800 meters to clock 5:27. The same happened on the sixth rep – I was averaging 5:38 at the halfway point before I put in a sustained effort to finish with a 5:29 rep. On this rep the right abductor and possibly right hamstring began to tighten significantly. Once everyone came back from their final rep and we began to jog back I decided to say my goodbyes, one because I still had a little work to do at home, and secondly because I felt the abductor was sorer if I ran slower.

I came home with at an average of 6:45, finishing the 10.5 mile run in a barely believable 5:59 per mile average. I don’t think I’ve ever run a training session that quickly. Hopefully the right leg will respond to a little massage and stretching, and another day in front of the computer tomorrow.

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Day 42–When Running Feels Easy, It is So Good….

I put in a longer than usual Monday run as the rest of the week and the F1 test in Jerez which I am covering means finding time to run could be a haphazard affair. The legs felt good from the off and when the Garmin beeped to tell me the first mile split, I was surprised to see it read 7:30 as that continued a chunk of hill and I was putting in no effort.

The good times continued, splits in the low seven minutes until I changed direction at Barrowby and the headwind became a tail wind, soon enough the splits were sub-7 and edging closer to 6:30 as the run continued, stopping for a brief pit stop at the leisure centre. With only a dull ache in the right groin, helped again by some last minute massage to the hip before leaving, the temptation was to continue on and on, but I had work waiting so had to call it a day at 10 miles, averaging dead on seven minutes per mile.

I just hope that work doesn’t mean that is as good as it gets for the rest of the working week.