February

In terms of months I have been running, this has probably been one of my worst. But in terms of months in general this has to be one of my favorites.

Out of the 4 parkruns on offer this month I ended up doing none. Not because I didn't want to but because life just got in the way.

The first one I was about to jet off for a holiday in India/UAE.  I probably could have just made it to parkrun on the Saturday. But for those who know me, know that I don't like to leave things to the last minute.  I was away for almost 2 weeks which meant another parkrun missed.  While I was away I did manage 4 gym sessions which was really all the exercise I did all month and 2 of them had to be cut short due to stomach issues.

Then when I got back I was all set for Strathclyde parkrun to break me in gently and my car wouldn't start so that was that one out the window.  Then this morning I woke up at 4.30am and my back was agony which ever way I lay.  So I had a very disrupted sleep and decided it would probably best to leave it today. My back does feel better now though.

I did expect this month to be more of a chill month but not quite to the extent it was.  But it was all worth it going to India and UAE which I had an absolute blast.

Here is to a fun filled, full of park running March!

January

This year certainly started off with a bang.  It was double parkrun time!  Not that I did one parkrun after the other but I was involved in both.  I missed the bells to get an early night so I was up fresh and early on New Years day.  Firstly I was helping out with marshalling at Strathclyde parkrun.  Then it was up to Tollcross parkrun to run it.  I couldn't quite believe just how tough Toll cross was.  The course starts off going straight up a hill and I was huffing and puffing after that!  There was various other hills round the course. But the main one you have to go up 3 times.  On the last lap I gave in and had to walk. I just had nothing left. I struggled round to the finish in about 30.30 meaning I must have been making the most of the downhills!  A great start to the year having finished it but boy did it take a while to recover from!  I skipped the park run on the Saturday and vowed to get more hill work in. I managed one hill session and that's been it for various reasons I'll go into.

On the 10th I was back at Pollok parkrun and was pleased to finish in 29.10 which is only 2 seconds slower than my best 2014 time at the event.  This showed that I had maintained my fitness from last year and I was in a good position.  Then of course illness struck and I was off work. It took about 2 weeks to fully get rid of it and I managed not to get frustrated at the lack of progress I was making.

The weather then had its turn on making it difficult to run. I made it down to Strathclyde parkrun last week which was fun.  They used the alternative course which was on the grass and is basically 2 times out and back.  I did find it tough though especially the 2nd time. Unfortunately there is no record of the run on the site as it looks like my barcode must have not scanned properly. But from working out my time from other results I was about 33 minutes. Slowest ever at Strathclyde but it was on grass.

Today I planned to do Pollok but it was cancelled so off to Strathclyde again.  This time they had an alternative route but it was 2 times out and back on the path.  It was a wee bit icy and very cold so I had it in my mind before the start I would just take it easy today.  I was pleased with just over 31 minutes and had plenty left in the tank.

Overall considering I've not really run much this month, I'm happy with where I am at the moment.  I've signed up for my first event - the Balfron 10k in the end of April and will be edging back to Tollcross as I get more hill work done.  I've had to change some other plans as the Kielder 10k clashes with Great Scottish run.  I've decided I want to do Kielder as I quite fancy doing the marathon one year and the 10k seems like a good time to check out the area.  Since there was a big gap between events I'm now going to do the Killin 10k in August

2014 review/2015 plans

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!

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 :-)

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.

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.

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...