Sunday 18 January 2015

Parkrun #2 17/01/15

19:28  36/1219 7th MV40-45

An odd one, this time. I was going to start nearer the front  but with about two minutes to go to the start I suddenly found about another 150 people in front of me. Where did they come from? There were also pacers this time and once the starter set us off I saw the 20 minute pacer almost 100 metres in front of me as I dodged and weaved to try to find some open space to run in. It was well over a kilometre into the run before I got near him and cruised at the back of the pack until halfway, before pushing on a bit. Like last week, by the time I got to the playground I was barely hanging on but |I managed to hold off a couple of fast finishers for 36th place and a failry solid sub 20 time. There were quite a few more MV 40-45 runners so I got pushed a bit further down, but a good run, nonetheless. I think with a clear run in the first kilo that there might be a free 10 seconds to be had but I think that it's going to be fairly mediocre gains (if at all) for a few weeks.

Cycling has been very limited. My short commute rides on Monday and Tuesday, a 45 minute turbo last night and another one tonight. Small gains but its something.

Sunday 11 January 2015

Parkrun #1 10.01

20:06 33rd 4th MV

A great start considering I've done no speed or conditioning work for a very long time. I did a slow warm up lap to try to get my legs firing before the off. It was dry but very windy, with a nice tailwind in the 2nd km and a headwind in the 4th. The usual cavalry charge down the first straight when I left everyone burn off and by the first turn I was overtaking a steady stream of runners. I felt great through the first 3kms and knowing the wind was going to be in my face very soon I worked hard to get in a pack of 10 runners about 10 metres ahead. Instead of sitting tight for a bit I kept going and so found myself pretty exposed afterwards. The last km was just about hanging on. I was exactly a minute slower than my last parkrun, but in the circumstances it was great start to the year.

I've ridden a couple of 1 hour rides home from work and a couple of other runs for the week, so steady if unspectacular week of training.

Saturday 3 January 2015

Muppet

So I got everything organised last night to go and do my first ParkRun of the year. Printed off my barcode, charged my Garmin, got my kit ready, set my alarm. A great night's sleep and I woke myself up at 7am. Only it wasn't 7am. It was 8:50am.  My alarm clock had decided to have a wobbly owing to some duff batteries so yes, I missed the start of the ParkRun which starts at 9am precisely. Vexed doesn't begin to cover it. Anyway, a gentle 5mile plod at 8:10 miling instead so not all bad.

Onwards.

Thursday 1 January 2015

2015

I suppose that I should look back at the year and write a load of posts about the mileage and time that I have spent training, but I can't be bothered. :-)

The last 8 weeks have seen very little going on with my training and hence the lack of blog posts. I've been doing a couple of runs a week but nothing structured and cycling has been even more random and sporadic. My Van Nic lies broken in the garage after I managed to decimate one of my shifters owing to a very inconveniently sheared gear cable. So even if I wanted to get out and ride it, I couldn't. I have attempted a couple of very half-hearted turbo sessions as a compromise with mixed success. The turbo dungeon has been a particularly dreadful place to be this winter.

I have set myself one goal for the year and that's to do 30 Park Runs. My Saturday mornings are usually free and if I can commit to one 25 minute session per week then that's better than nothing. Yes, I want to ride a sub 60 25 tt and a few other things but I will worry about those things as and when and running is just a lot easier to do at the moment.

If anyone finds my mojo then please return it as soon as possible. Thank you.