November

Only did 2 parkruns this month but it has been far from a bad month. On the first Saturday of the month I was down to volunteer at Pollok parkrun doing number checking. I was quite glad I did as I had been ill the few days before and was not up for running.

The second Saturday I did Pollok coming in at 30.30. I really don't know how I managed it as I was feeling rubbish from 1k onwards but unlike previous attempts where I would stop and walk I just kept going and managed to get round. So you could call it my best worst parkrun this year :-)

Then the week after I decided just to lie in and go running in the afternoon.  It was a bad one and this time I had to run/walk from about 1.5 miles onwards.

Then this Saturday I was heading up to Creiff to celebrate my Dad's birthday but I knew I could still sneak in a cheeky parkrun before hand.  So I was off to Strathclyde parkrun. I wouldn't say I really attacked this parkrun but gave it a reasonable effort. I remember overtaking quite a bit.  There was this really tall guy I overtook in the last km and although he was moving quickly he was barely lifting his legs off the ground, where as I felt like I was giving it a lot more.  All of sudden in the last 200m he sprinted past me - I did think he was holding back! The good news from this run was that I finished in 28.23 in some pretty wild weather. A sub 28 is not far away.

I have mentioned 3 runs here which would normally be the end of the post. But sorry. It is not the end of the post.  I managed another 7 training runs on top of this.  Making it easily by best month so far this year. Yes there was some bad runs but there were good runs too. Especially today where I managed 4.5 miles in 45 minutes. The best thing about it was I was getting faster all the way round and still felt good at the end.

I get the sense December is going to be a challenging month if weather forecasts are anything to go by. But with a lot of good training done in November. If I do have a good December it is going to set me up really well for 2016.

October

Well this month started well enough with the Kielder 10k which has its own post.

The following week I was down at Strathclyde parkrun. It was a good steady run and I was pleased to dip below 29 minutes for 28.59.

The next week I made the trip up to Callender park to run my second Falkirk parkrun.  After the first time I really wanted to conquer that hill this time.  So I started off slower.  Maybe a bit too slow as when I looked behind me after 100 meters there was only 5 people behind me. But I stuck with the plan and found when I began climbing up the first hill I was gradually overtaking people.  When I got round to that hill this time I had plenty of energy and managed to get to the top without walking.  So mission accomplished.  I had a look at my time when I got home and it was 31.23 which was actually 12 seconds slower than my first time there. So maybe I could have given it a bit more here.  Still really enjoy running at Callender park though, it is one of my favourites.

Last week I was back Pollok park where it was raining quite badly right up until kick off.  So there were a lot of puddles throughout the course.  Meaning it was slower going but fun all the same coming in at 30.27.

This week I have been on holiday and it has given me time to reflect on my running for this year and also plan what I want to do going forward.  I managed 3 runs on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. No parkrun on the Saturday though due to a dodgy night sleep.  It is actually the first Saturday since April where I have not run on a Saturday, most of course being parkruns.

Anyway back to analysis of this year.  When you look at my times compared to end of year last year.  For Strathclyde parkrun I have improved by about 20 seconds.  Then for Pollok parkrun I have come close to beating 29.08 I recorded last year but never have.  Now don't get me wrong, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing all the parkruns this year.  But I have not been improving at all.  Now it is obvious why and I have been saying it in my posts all year about lack midweek runs.  But its almost like I can just turn up and get round 5ks and 10ks at slower times and be happy with that. I know doing 3 miles a week may see improvements for starter but from past experience you need to put in the work if you want to get faster.  Now I think its time to challenge myself more which in turn will spur on the motivation to get out more, but at the same time will mean less parkruns.  I'll see if it works and if not I can always go back to doing "At least I got out there" parkruns once a week.

September

I managed 3 parkruns this month. The first one was at Falkirk's Callender park. I have been to the park twice before for the National XC's and it was just as good as I remembered. The parkrun course was of course different but thoroughly enjoyable. I read the course description on the website before hand and just mentioned that there was a wee hill, so I was confident that I could start a bit quicker.  So that's what I did and it was pretty flat round the first k, as I made my way round the lake.  The course then turns into the woods and up a gradual climb which just went on and on. At the top I was so exhausted I was struggling to run down the other side! I did though and followed the route round getting myself ready for the "wee hill".  As I approached it, I looked up and said to myself "this is not wee!!!"  I have no doubt been up way harder hills in my time but I just was not prepared for this at all and I was still recovering from the gradual climb.  So I just decided to walk it.  When I got to the top I actually felt better and was able to run comfortably the rest of the run coming in around 31 minutes.  Definitely one of my favorite parkruns I have done.

The next week I opted for a more flat run so I was down at Strathclyde. I knew from the start that I wasn't really on my game today to try and beat my PB at the event so just toughed out a 30 minute run.

The next week I was at Pollok Park, I wouldn't say I was going for it here either but I certainly felt better than the previous week.  I wasn't really expecting a good time but was surprised with a 29.21 which is only 11 seconds off my best at the course this year so was very pleased with that.

Yesterday the plan was to do volunteering at park run in the morning then a longer run in the afternoon. Well one of the two went well!  And that was the volunteering. I had a great time with my marshall buddy Steve and meeting various other people including John Kynaston for the first time whose blog I have been following for years and has provided much inspiration in that time and was not short of good advice for me about running in the chat we had.   Also met John Softley who just hit his 250th parkrun.  The run in the afternoon I was just going to take easy and do about 4 1/2 miles. but I got to 1 1/2  and just had no energy.  So just walked and cut it to 3 miles. I was meant to to do Kielder 10k next weekend and was hoping for a good easy run yesterday to prove I could get round ok. But this has put doubts in my mind especially as its such a long way to go too. So may just end up at a parkrun.

August

August on the whole has totally rocked! :-)

First parkrun of the month I went to Victoria park in the westend of Glasgow for the first time.  Its a pretty much flat 3 lapped course with a slight incline in the far side of the park to where it starts.  I paced it pretty well and finished bang on 29 minutes. At the moment sub 30's are my aim so very pleasing.

Second parkrun of the month I was back at Pollok. I can't really remember much about this one but again I finished under 30. Just!  29.56 so a good solid run.

Third parkrun I ventured out to Springburn parkrun in the north of Glasgow.  I had a look at some other folk I knows times before it and it looked like the course is a about a minute slower than flatter courses. So I thought sub 30 might be pushing it.  This was again reiterated at the first timer briefing where the guy warned that it was an undulating course.  It starts in the middle of the course then you do 2 and half laps finishing nearly where you started.  The middle of the park is the highest point so its a downhill start.  Although there is obviously uphills they are very gradual, and it does feel like a flat downhill course somehow. I paced it well, not walking any, and finishing knowing I couldn't have given it anymore.  I went home to look up the results and expected to see 30 min something. Only to find 28.15! My fastest time since returning to running last August!

I was thinking of doing Pollok the next week but since I had such a good run at Springburn, I was curious what kind of time I could do at Strathclyde where I hadn't really given it a good effort there since last December. Most of my runs there this year have been comeback runs.  I really did start this run aggressively.  I managed until 3.5k to sustain the pace and then I had to slow a little. Unlike previously at Strathclyde there was a lot more people around me which helped keep me going. I made it to the line and thought that it was going to be a close call to match my previous best at Strathclyde which was 28.23.  ....and when I got home and checked my result?  28.05!  Another seasons best, fastest time at Strathclyde and best time since returning to running.

So today, could I get another good time at Pollok?  Well this one had a twist. As my mate from uni Stu decided to join me for his first parkrun. We had a chat at the start if he wanted me to run with him. But he said he'll just try and keep up and if its not happening I was just to go on as he has not done any exercise in quite some time. So we started together and I didn't start as aggressively as the previous week. We got to about 1.5k and Stu just said for me to go on, I wasn't feeling that great myself but went on hoping it would get better. I got to 3.5k and just had to start run/walking to the end. Just not my day. But even then got home and saw the result and got 31.51 so can't complain about that time at all since I did have walk breaks.  My mate Stu did really well too for his first parkrun finishing just under 34 minutes.

So overall a great month. I am down to do a trail 10k race at Strathclyde Park next week but not sure whether I'll do it or not given I was struggling quite a bit today. We shall see.

For anyone who reads this that does parkrun (or if anyone reads this lol) I found a cool thing on the parkrun website where you can see a list of all your parkruns you have done on the 1 page no matter where you did it and also shows you your best time from each year regardless of location. Just go to an event page for a parkrun you have never done before. Search for your name and voila!

June

June signifies the end to the first half of the year.  Its not been the best 6 months but its not been the worst either.  Going by month, my running has kind of followed a pattern with January being a good month, February bad, March good, April bad, May good...........June?

Well June stopped that trend well eventually.  The first weekend I was all set to head down to Ayr when I got a delightful infection in my wisdom tooth which was extremely painful. It shouldn't have stopped me running but it did. I found sleeping hard and instead of heading to park run I opted for a lie in instead.

But things certainly picked up the next weekend. With the Mens 10k scheduled the week after I wanted to do a dress rehearsal to see how I get on with the 10k distance, whether it was worth doing the Mens 10k and to hopefully act as a confidence booster that I could cover 10k having not gone over 5k in ages. So I headed for Strathclyde parkrun nice and early. I must have got there about 8.40 and walked to the start where I broke into a gentle jog.  I completed the 5k route in just under 33 minutes and actually felt ok.  I then waited at the start for about 15 minutes for the main event to kick off. Starting at the back, I had exactly the same approach as the first 5k, just nice and easy. Not surprisingly my legs were feeling it pretty early on but I persevered and got round in 32 minutes.  This is exactly what I needed. I now knew that I could get round 10k even if I did have a 15 minute break at 5k!  I knew it was going to be tough the following week but at least I had that in the bank now.

On the Saturday following since I wasn't running down at park run. I opted to volunteer instead as a marshal. It was also a good bit of light exercise for the Saturday before Sunday's main event.

My mum very kindly offered to give me a lift to the Riverside museum where the event started.  It is a point to point course, finishing at Glasgow Green. So I would have had to get a bus back to the start otherwise (thanks mum!) .  I was a bit concerned about which pen I was in as I had put down 59 minutes on the form which would have been more than doable if I had actually done any midweek runs. But I knew that I was going to be over an hour possibly an hour 10 minutes.  But luckily I was in the last pen out of 3.  The announcer guy was good although I found it quite funny how he kept saying that the first pen of runners were going to do it in under 35 minutes.  I had no doubt there would be a few that were capable of it but not a third of the field!  In the end there was 4 runners out of 1,300 who dipped under 35 minutes.

Anyway back to the race. I was pleased that I found myself at the right part of the field - ie the back!.  Once we got onto the road which runs parallel to the expressway the field spread out so you could run as fast or slow as you wanted. The first 2k I found very comfortable which was reassuring. The 3rd k I was starting to feel it a bit. Then the 4th k you go over the Kingston bridge which was a novelty as always.  Going into the 5th k I kept having a war with my head as 5k is usually the finish line but today it was half way. The course goes back over to the north side of the Clyde and up Buchanan street, along to George square.  George square was about 7k into the race and by now I was struggling.  I knew 7-9k were going to be the toughest and I wasn't wrong. I used the usual mental tricks to keep me going like counting and lamposting (just focus on the next lampost).

Just before 8k my mum was standing, cheering just before the arch which gave me a lift. 8-9k was a straight km and felt like it would never end. But it did I kept going and turned onto Glasgow Green for the final km. I didn't have anything left for a sprint finish but I didn't stop either. I was so happy to cross the line. My furthest run in 4 years and my first actual event in 4 years too.  I finished in 1.04.03 so now I have a target to beat.

This morning I was back at Pollok for my first attempt at a 5k since last months 29.14.  I was all set until I got a text from my brother asking if I was going to Pollok at 8 am.  He has not run for ages so I decided just to run round with him.  His daughter who is 3 also ran the first km and the last half km with us which was great. A true star in the making. In between I think my bro was struggling a bit but he kept at it and got round without walking.

So all in all a good month :-)

April

Well today was the day I was meant to do my first race in 4 years but unfortunately it just hasn't turned out that way.  The first weekend of the month I helped out down out parkrun, marshalling. I went out for a few runs the next week and had to walk after a few miles. I thought nothing of it, just putting it down to a bad run. But over the next few days I began to feel more and more unwell. To the point where I had to take sometime off work and visit the doctor.  Turned out I had a virus.  I kept thinking I'll be ok the next day. But days turned into weeks and I was only back in work Wednesday just past. So personally I think I made the sensible decision not to run Balfron today.  I still haven't run over 3 miles this year and it would of been my first run off not training for pretty much the whole month where I would have built up to this.

But I did get out down to Strathclyde parkrun yesterday and had a good run.  I started very easy and felt good as I increased the pace as I went round gradually picking people off. Finishing in 30.34.

I hope to have a better month in May and my target is to get back below 30 mins at Pollok parkrun and look forward to the Mens health 10k in June.

March

Since I wasn't in parkrun action in Feburary, I decided to ease myself back into it and head to Strathclyde park run for the first weekend in March.  It was pacer day so I decided to go with the 30 minute pacer and stick with it.  I felt comfortable all the way round and broke away from the pacer in the last kilometer to finish in 29.34.

Since that went so well I thought Pollok parkrun was the next logical step the next week.  But half way round the second loop I started to struggle and had to walk on a couple of occasions. I still got round in 30.22 though so maybe just went out too fast.

I decided the next week to have a go at Pollok again and struggled big time! I actually felt ill after the first lap and had to do lots of walking in the second lap and ended up recording my slowest time ever for any parkrun (excluding tail running) in 33.18.  Not sure what was up but it wiped me out for the rest of the weekend.

Today I really wanted to get back on top of things and headed back to Pollok for the 3rd time this month.  It was the first time they have used pacers and I thought sticking to the 30 min pacer would be a good aim.  That was until I started! She went zooming off and I just decided to run my own race from there.  Like all of my Pollok parkruns this month I found it tough going but this time, I paced it better and felt better so I managed to go all the way round without walking, finishing in 30.16. 3 minutes difference from the previous week!

Its now a month to go till the Balfron 10k and I'm starting to feel like maybe its just too soon for it since I am still not comfortably getting round 5ks.  I know exactly why. Its down to the fact that I'm just not doing any runs during the week, pretty much since the start of the year. I'm going to try and get out more in April but will need to motivate myself better and get myself into a routine.

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.

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...