Workouts - w/c 21 March, plus new IT band Issue.

I was sick for the first half of the week, and although I still managed to run 22km in total I didn't get to the gym at all.

• Mon - Sick
• Tue - Sick
• Wed - Sick
• Thurs - 10.5k (right knee/IT band really sore)
• Fri - Rest (right knee still in pain)
  
• Sat - 5.5k (mild knee/IT band pain)
• Sun - 6.5k (mild knee/IT band pain)

The worst thing is that my right knee/IT band has flared up. I'm having trouble with anything over 4km. This is really frustrating especially as the trouble I've always had with the IT band has previously been in my left leg/knee. I don't know if this is caused by the surfaces I run on, shoes, weak/imbalanced muscles, or something else.

So for the next few weeks I'm going to cut back the length of my runs (after an initial rest I'll start with a 3km limit and build slowly from there) and focus on a combination of resting, strength training (especially the hips) and stretching.

I'm working towards a 10km race in May, so it would be brilliant to have this under control by then. The thing is I have no idea exactly what I did to 'fix' the left leg - It just stopped hurting towards the end of last year and has been fine ever since.

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Video of the 2011 Knole Park 10k

Here is a video from last week's race posted on youtube by trekandrun.

At 6:41 you can just about see the wife and baby, and at around 7:30 you can see me picking up a post-race banana.




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A New Tech Toy

I had a few pounds given to me for my birthday, so today I bought myself a new toy...

A Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) - Kalenji CW 100

The Watch

I had originally gone to the shop (Decathlon) to buy a stopwatch. But as the HRM was only £15, just £2 more expensive than the stopwatch, I thought I should just go for it. The watch has a stopwatch function built in anyway, so if I don't want to use the HRM I can just use the stopwatch on it's own.

The Belt

I'll have to work out my resting heart rate and maximum heart rate, then work out my beats per minute training zones and then I'll be good to go.

btw.. The photos are borrowed from the Decathlon website.


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Workouts - Week Commencing 14 March 2011

Monday

A combination of my train running late and a sore knee from the previous day's race turned this into a rest day.


Tuesday

Chest, Triceps, Shoulders and Legs

• Push ups
• Machine Flyes
• Machine Chest Press
• Machine Shoulder Press
• Machine Leg Press (single legs and calf raises)

Wednesday

Interval Run (7.3km) on treadmill ( summary / no map )

1km Warm up
1 Minute Intervals
1km cool down

• Fast at 3.45 - 4.00 min per km.
• Recovery at 5.00 - 6.00 min per km.

• Crunches (with 5kg Ball)

Thursday

Back, Biceps and Legs

• Machine Rows
• Machine Pull Downs (both grips)
• Barbell Curls
• Machine Leg Press (Single Leg)
• Machine Calf Raises
• Crunches with 5kg Ball
  

Friday

Easy Run (5.4km) on treadmill ( summary / no map )


Saturday

I had planned to take part in my first ParkRun but my daughter came down with gastroenteritis so we stayed in bed with her all day at my parents' house.


Sunday

We were still away from home but as I had some of my gym clothes with me I thought I'd do 10k or so along the Thames. Sadly I screwed it up. Below is the list of things that either I did wrong or went wrong along the way.

- too fast at start (without a warm up jog) first two km splits were 3.45 / 4.10
- was too cold (only had my short shorts and short sleeved tech top)
- hurt right knee - IT Band, I think. (probably due to first point)
- uncomfortable holding phone in my hand (couldn't get a good arm swing going)
- earphones kept falling out
- accidentally turned off my GPS just after the 2km mark.
- was dizzy after run. Had swirly / fuzzy lines etc..

Hopefully I've learned some lessons. from that.

Anyway, I did approx 5.7km on the Thames Boomerang route. ( summary / map )

Music: Radiohead - The King of Limbs.

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Overall, the week was good until I reached the weekend and screwed up the Sunday run. For the last few weeks my right IT band has been giving me grief. The left leg was originally the one with that problem, I have no idea what's going on. I'll keep the leg strengthening exercises going, make sure I stretch daily and always make sure I warm up PROPERLY for my runs. Then we'll see if things get any better.

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Men's Health article - Reps

I just found this really useful article on the Men's Health website on the subject of reps and specifically 'how the amount of reps you do affects the adaptive response of the body'. It looks like the first in a series, so I'm looking forward to the rest.

Here

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Workouts - Week Commencing 7 March 2011

Monday

Back and Biceps

2km on the treadmill - I was testing the possibility of starting recovery runs on Mondays after my long Sunday run. 2km is really long enough to bother. For now I'll probably stick with Monday being devoted to some kind of strength training.


Tuesday

I had a sudden urge to curl up into a ball just before my planned gym session - So I did just that. But then I had another urge to do something so did some bodyweight squats, walking lunges, pushups and a few things with my dumb-bells - Triceps and shoulders.

Wednesday

Interval Training on the treadmill

7km in total - This week I did intervals of 1 minute (with a couple of 2 minutes thrown in for variation) using 5 min per km as my recovery pace and 4 min per km as my fast pace.


Thursday

Rest Day

Friday

5.1km treadmill run at fairly easy-moderate pace.

Then some strength work

• Dumb-bell chest press
• Skull Crushers

Saturday

Rest Day - Although we did go for a walk, approx 6km. Also played a little bit of football with my niece and nephew.


Sunday

Knole Park 10km Race - Details here


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Race: Sevenoaks - Knole Park 10km

This was my first 10km race. Before I get into the race details I'd like to say a big thank you to my wife (who blogs here - A Lime Less Ordinary ), firstly for supporting me with my running (especially the training, which often has me out of bed before sunrise). And secondly for taking lots of photos of the race.

the ladies

Firstly, the course, in Knole Park, was brilliant. It is a beautiful 1000 acre Deer Park, in Sevenoaks, Kent. We had some rain the night before which left parts of the course a little muddy, but overall it was fine. My wife heard someone complaining that a section of the course was too slippery, and therefore unsafe. I don't really have the same opinion - as far as I'm concerned it was a park/trail race, that was the attraction.

warming up

Anyway, the course was two laps of the same 5km loop with a little extra tail to accommodate the start/finish funnel..

the course map from the official race website

I started from somewhere near the back of the pack - I should know not to by now. So, yet again, I got caught up with people running much slower than my intended pace. 1st km was at 5.45 per km pace, and the 2nd km was at 6.12 per km pace - I can't even run that slow when doing 'slow' training runs! The sheer numbers of people (505) made it virtually impossible to pass smoothly so I spent a good deal of time on the verges running through the higher grass!

towards the end of the first 5k loop

Something unexpected happened at around 4km and 8.5km - My right shoelace came undone. Both times I had to swerve off the path to tie it up again. This may have had something to do with the timing chip, which was attached to my right shoelace, but more likely was my shoelace-tying style - in the future I will always use double knots.

it's all downhill from here!

I ran the first 5km in 26:14 - Well off my intended pace. There were two factors in the slow time. First was getting caught up for the first 2km with the slower runners. Second was the fact that the course has undulations, plus a very steep incline that has to be negotiated twice.

The second 5km I ran in 24:19 (if my maths are correct) - Much closer to my intended pace, but I hadn't taken into account the undulations when I was thinking about my target time.

So, according to my GPS timings, my total time was 50:33. I had been hoping for somewhere around 45 minutes, but considering the undulations and the slow start I'm pretty happy with it. On a flat, tarmac course I might have been around the target time. All good lessons for the future!

having my timing chip removed

A big positive for me: When I compare my split times for each km section (1st and 6th / 2nd and 7th, and so on) my second lap was faster than the first on each of the five pairs of timings.

the medal shot

My GPS data is on RunningAhead, as always!

Summary (including split times)

Map (check out the elevation profile.. 90 metres of height gain over 0-2km and again between 5-7km)

And one last positive, my fastest km was the very last of the race - I managed to knock out a 4.09. (In the three races I have entered so far, that has been my fastest km split)


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A workout that I fancy trying....

Here is a workout from the Men's Health website that I fancy trying.

They call it.... *drum roll* ..... THE ULTIMATE FAT BURNING WORKOUT - I don't care about headline grabbing names, but I do like the description of the workout.

I will add it to my to-do list (not that I actually have one).


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Taking Responsibility for Your Health

I was talking to my Mum today and the subjects of fitness, health and working out came up, as they quite often do.

Anyway, that got me thinking about each and every person's responsibility to themselves and their families to actively do something (or things) on a regular basis that contribute the their own health and well-being.



Wind the clock back 6 years or so: My waist had started to expand, mostly through eating crap and having an office job where I was desk bound for 8 hours per day (in fact, I still am). All it took was my waist size to increase by one inch and I knew I had to take action.

So why do people who are clearly heading down the path towards diabetes, heart disease and a mobility scooter not take action? Even with all the information out there about exercise and how to eat healthily I find it incredible that they continue on this path without doing anything about it.

I know that it's difficult to break habits, and I know that running seems like a lot of effort when you can quite easily crash on the sofa and watch some TV. But surely a little exercise and a review of your diet isn't that hard when you look at the potential rewards.

People love to take to the easy option, but is it always the right one? Of course not! So I say get up off your ass and do something. Stop sitting there stuffing your face with chocolate night after night and make a change. Eat better food and exercise - Maybe you would like to run but can't or don't know where to start, search the internet (or be retro and buy a book) and you will find the information you need to get started. Make small changes. Find something that motivates you, are you competitive? Enter a race and train for it.

The diseases of affluence are here for all to see, not a week goes by without some mention of them in the news. The funny thing is that it is not inevitable that we'll end up suffering from one or more of them. All it takes is the will to want to be healthy, not just now but way into old age. I do not want to be housebound at 50, 60, or indeed ever! Surely no one actually actively seeks that.

So you have a choice, you can do nothing and most probably fall into the trap of these diseases, or you can do everything in your power to avoid them. You may not want to run a marathon when you're eighty years old, but wouldn't it be great to know that you could?


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Workouts - Week Commencing 28 February 2011

Monday 28 Feb

- Chest and Triceps (and core)

• Push-ups (10/10/10/10/10)
• Chest Flye Machine
• Chest Press Machine
• Tricep Dumbell Extensions
• Tricep Barbell Extensions
• Skull Crushers
• Crunches (10 x 4 with a 5kg Ball)

Tuesday 1 March

- Back, Biceps and Shoulders.

• Pullups
• Machine Rows
• Machine Pulldowns (various grips)
• Dumbell Hammer Curl and Press
• Barbell Curls (Various grips)
• Bent Over Reverse Flyes

Just as I reached the end of my session the fire alarm went off, so we were all ushered out onto the pavement. I dived into the changing room to collect my belongings to avoid being late for work. Luckily I had an alternative place to shower.


Wednesday 2 March

- Interval Run on Treadmill (6.5km / 34.02) ( Summary )

• 1km Warm up
• 0.5km at 5.00 min per km (12kmph)
• 0.5km at 4.17 min per km (14kmph)
• 0.5km at 5.00 min per km
• 0.5km at 4.17 min per km
• 0.5km at 5.15 min per km
• 0.5km at 4.00 min per km (15kmph)
• 0.5km at 5.15 min per km
• 1km at 3.56 min per km (15.1kmph)
• 1km Cool Down

The recovery intervals may not be completely accurate, but the speed intervals are correct - I had to try to remember everything between fininshing the workout and typing this post.

Music: Gym background music.


Thursday 3 March

- Rest Day

Unintended - Didn't get to bed in time the night before so spent an extra hour in bed.


Friday 4 March

- Easy Run on Treadmill - 6.46km ( Summary )

• overall pace 5.26 min per km

Saturday 5 March

- Rest (Planned)


Sunday 6 March

- Long Run: 12.15km ( Summary / Map )

Music: None (I fancied a silent run)

Headed for the trail again but I left home too late and there were too many dogs out. I'm a bit paranoid about being chased or attacked so I cut the trail part short and continued on the roads. The good news is that my trail shoes feel great so I am happy to wear them for next Sunday's 10km race in Knole Park.

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February 2011

Running

Total Running Mileage: 97.1 Kilometres (60.3 Miles)

A good month for me. I've consistently put in three runs per week, I'd like to knock it up to four runs soon. I'm thinking about adding in a Monday evening or Tuesday morning run - Maybe that'll happen in March, maybe not.

I had my trail shoes delivered just before my last run this month, so I'm looking forward to hitting the trails as often as I can.

Yet again, I didn't manage to make it to a ParkRun. Could March be the month that it happens?

I was tempted to stick in an extra 3km run on the last day of February just to cross the magic 100km mark, but it seemed like I'd be cheating myself. So I'll just make 100km the goal for March.


Weights / Strength Training

Not much has changed over the last month. I'm still doing a pull day, a push day and a leg day in the gym. I'm happy-ish with that, although I am starting to feel that a change would be nice. Maybe something outside of the gym involving pull-ups using the branch of a tree and chest press with a log from the forest. I'll think about it and if I make it into a forest to strength train I'll ask the wife to take some photos and put them into a post.

My favourite exercise this month has been the walking lunges.


Here is a graph showing daily activity for the month:

• 12 Days containing Running Activity
• 12 Days containing Weights or Strength Training
• 5 Days of rest

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