Overall I am pleased with how this year has gone. At the start of the year I went for a check up at my doctor who said I needed to lose weight. I certainly didn't take it lightly as if the doctor says it then its time to do something about it! So I did and when I got sent down to work in Leeds the next day I joined the gym in work. In the 6 months I was down there although I did lose a stone, it was difficult because I was eating out every night. So when I got moved back to Edinburgh I decided to give running another try. In the past I volunteered a lot in park run and ran every now and then. This time I decided park run was the perfect way for me to get back in to running and see my progression, so the volunteering had to take a back foot and I managed 15 park runs, improving my time by nearly five minutes since starting back in August. Although I was running 2-3 times a week, I was still not losing weight. So when I saw a challenge in November to basically stop eating crap for the month I took it on. This would be the first time in my life I've ever taken up anything that resembles a diet. But it worked! Through a lot healthier eating and continuing the running I lost another stone.
December I chucked the diet out the window to an extent and have not gone out for as many runs as I would have liked to, but I have still managed to maintain my weight at around 13 stone. According to the BMI calculator I'm only 5lbs off a healthy weight but I really want to get down to about 11 stone as I think that would be a good running weight so that is one of my goals for 2015.
Which leads me on nicely to my other targets for 2015. Like many runners deciding what races/distances/training runs to do can change like the wind. I've toyed with the idea of attempting to do an autumn marathon next year but I think that is too soon for me yet. So for now I'm thinking of making it a parkrun/10k year. I would like to visit some new parkruns while getting back to volunteering again. My main aims for park run next year is to join the 50 club both in terms of runs and 50 times volunteering (maybe even at the same time?!). At the moment I am sitting at 31 times running and 39 times volunteering. So that should be a realistic target.
For the 10ks I plan to do the Balfron 10k in April, Mens 10k in Glasgow in June, Great Scottish run 10k(if things go well I may change to half marathon) in September and the Kielder 10k in October.
Time goals
Bronze: sub 1 hour
Silver: sub 55 minutes
Gold: sub 50 minutes
Hope everyone has a wonderful 2015!
Saturday 27 December 2014
Saturday 22 November 2014
Solid progress
Its been another bunch of good weeks and I'm pleased to report more progress. I have now got a 4.5 mile run in the bag with no stopping and a Pollok parkrun done in under 30 minutes - 29.34 to be exact. This even beats my flatter Strathclyde parkrun PB by 10 secs. I just wonder how much damage I can do to my course PB on my next visit? I also forgot one of the benefits of running which was brought home to me in the last week. Going to Scotland games and then running as soon as the final whistle goes and running for the train; not having to queue at the station and getting home way earlier as I would otherwise! I also visited the other side to parkrun too and marshalled a couple of weeks ago and cheered on all the runners.
Today it was back to business at Pollok park run, as I tried to improve on last weeks time. When I got to the park it was chucking it down but when the time came the rain had cleared. I settled into a good pace and was pleased with the overall effort I gave today. That's the thing about Pollock. The first kilometer is downhill/flat so it really should be the fastest kilometer of the race. But at the same time my general policy is not to go off too fast so its a bit of a dilemma how fast to go for starter!
Anyway today I came in at 29.08 which means another season best :-)
Today it was back to business at Pollok park run, as I tried to improve on last weeks time. When I got to the park it was chucking it down but when the time came the rain had cleared. I settled into a good pace and was pleased with the overall effort I gave today. That's the thing about Pollock. The first kilometer is downhill/flat so it really should be the fastest kilometer of the race. But at the same time my general policy is not to go off too fast so its a bit of a dilemma how fast to go for starter!
Anyway today I came in at 29.08 which means another season best :-)
Saturday 25 October 2014
Target Achieved!
In my last post I set myself a few goals for the end of the year. One was a sub 30 minute 5k, the other was to run 6 miles comfortably.
The last few weeks have been mixed. I was on holiday for a few weeks in which time I tried to keep to running 3 times a week and push the distance up to 4.5 miles which I attempted a week last Thursday. I managed 3 miles before I was done in and had to walk. This was a predominately up hill route for these 3 miles so I wasn't too discouraged. This run however did take a while to recover from and I decided not to do the parkrun that Saturday instead opting for more of a rest.
Fast forward to this week and I still hadn't run. After 2 weeks off, adjusting to being off work had left me very tired and found it hard to get out the door. This morning there really was no excuse and I headed down to Strathclyde Park for my 25th parkrun. I felt fresh and ready to go. I started off at the back of the pack as usual and set in to a steady pace. I found early on that I was overtaking more people than usual. It was only in the last kilometer that I slowed and few folk overtook me. While the rain stayed off, it was a battle into the wind on the way back so I thought a course best was off the cards today. However when I got home I was delighted to get the email through saying not only did I get a course best but I had also cracked the 30 minute barrier! Finishing in a time of 29.44.
Now the plan is to break the 30 minute barrier at Pollock parkrun and get that 4.5 miler in the bag without walking which I realise may take a while longer.
The last few weeks have been mixed. I was on holiday for a few weeks in which time I tried to keep to running 3 times a week and push the distance up to 4.5 miles which I attempted a week last Thursday. I managed 3 miles before I was done in and had to walk. This was a predominately up hill route for these 3 miles so I wasn't too discouraged. This run however did take a while to recover from and I decided not to do the parkrun that Saturday instead opting for more of a rest.
Fast forward to this week and I still hadn't run. After 2 weeks off, adjusting to being off work had left me very tired and found it hard to get out the door. This morning there really was no excuse and I headed down to Strathclyde Park for my 25th parkrun. I felt fresh and ready to go. I started off at the back of the pack as usual and set in to a steady pace. I found early on that I was overtaking more people than usual. It was only in the last kilometer that I slowed and few folk overtook me. While the rain stayed off, it was a battle into the wind on the way back so I thought a course best was off the cards today. However when I got home I was delighted to get the email through saying not only did I get a course best but I had also cracked the 30 minute barrier! Finishing in a time of 29.44.
Now the plan is to break the 30 minute barrier at Pollock parkrun and get that 4.5 miler in the bag without walking which I realise may take a while longer.
Saturday 4 October 2014
Pollock Parkrun 294
Today was a bit of a strange one as I really thought I'd run better than I thought. It was almost half the usual crowd of runners today at Pollock park run due to the great Scottish run tomorrow but it still felt like it took a bit of time to get going at the start. Due to this, the field spread out a lot during the run though and on the second lap I was pretty much on my own with no targets to pick off. I felt good today while still feeling I was giving a good effort and had the added bonus that I didn't walk a step today unlike 2 weeks ago. So when I got home and saw my time, I was surprised to see 32.29 which is nearly a minute slower than 2 weeks ago which involved walking. Maybe I could have pushed it more in the second lap but you always need to have something left for that final incline.
Ian left a good comment on my last blog about setting goals which I have been thinking about a lot. My main aims for this year are to finish a park run in under 30 minutes and run 6 miles comfortably. If I can do that I'll consider a spring half marathon and rejoining my old club Giffnock North.
Ian left a good comment on my last blog about setting goals which I have been thinking about a lot. My main aims for this year are to finish a park run in under 30 minutes and run 6 miles comfortably. If I can do that I'll consider a spring half marathon and rejoining my old club Giffnock North.
Sunday 21 September 2014
It's been a while...
In fact over 3 years since I last posted! Since I stopped running I lost fitness pretty rapidly and the weight piled on. When I did try to get back into it, running a mile was tough and I found I had to walk, losing the motivation again in the process. Why is this attempt to get back into it different? For the first 6 months of this year I was down in Leeds where they had a free gym in my work which was basically on the floor below me. So really there was no excuses. I didn't run, just used the cross trainer and rower. But it was good to feel that buzz you get from exercise again.
Last month I went on a couple of hill walks which I found very tough and took me half of the next week to recover from them. So I decided I really need up it and get out running again. I thought I'd throw myself in at the deep end and try Strathclyde park run. I'd never done it before but knew it was flat especially compared to Pollock park run. I was surprised and pleased that I made it round without stopping. I have made it down to Strathclyde 3 times since and yesterday I was back at Pollock parkrun. I had to walk yesterday but still managed a time of just under 32 minutes. At the moment I'm experimenting with my runs during the week to see what days are best for me in terms of recovery from previous runs and trying not to do too much too soon.
It has been great to see all the faces again that I have not seen in years and receiving all the encouragement from fellow parkrunners. I feel park run is really pulling me out of the lazy hole I found myself in and I really hope I can keep this going now...
Last month I went on a couple of hill walks which I found very tough and took me half of the next week to recover from them. So I decided I really need up it and get out running again. I thought I'd throw myself in at the deep end and try Strathclyde park run. I'd never done it before but knew it was flat especially compared to Pollock park run. I was surprised and pleased that I made it round without stopping. I have made it down to Strathclyde 3 times since and yesterday I was back at Pollock parkrun. I had to walk yesterday but still managed a time of just under 32 minutes. At the moment I'm experimenting with my runs during the week to see what days are best for me in terms of recovery from previous runs and trying not to do too much too soon.
It has been great to see all the faces again that I have not seen in years and receiving all the encouragement from fellow parkrunners. I feel park run is really pulling me out of the lazy hole I found myself in and I really hope I can keep this going now...
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