Recovery Day

Legs were still a bit tight from Sunday’s race, so decided to take it easy today. Went for a Jog as opposed to a Run. Left the garmin at home, which after becoming obsessed with training PB’s was surprisingly liberating.

I need to find some routes with a bit less mud, unfortunately today’s choice contained a bit more rather than a bit less. So that one’s off my list. I’ve got a few ideas for the weekend route, but it will be a bit of a suck it and see approach.

Finally got round to hooking up with Garmin Connect. Check out my Ilminster 10k run here.

Also found a pic of me crossing the line on the Ilminster Lions website. Thanks for the good organisation on the day guys.

Ilminster 10k

When I woke up to the rain lashing against the bedroom window, I knew it was going to be a tough day. When I left home and passed a car in the hedge that had hit the standing water on the road, I suspected the worst. When the rain stopped and the wind dropped twenty minutes before the start of the race I was amazed.

Started off a bit too quick, and my pace was a bit up and down with the hills, but it went well. The rain may have stopped but we were still running through streams of water running down the muddy lanes. Managed to latch on to one or two slightly faster runners at various points which helped keep my pace up. Didn’t like the long hill from 3k to 5k, you’d think I’d be used to hills by now. Knees were fine until about the eighth or ninth kilometer, then I started to get the familiar pain in the outside of my left knee. Again it’s just when I get tired and I’m not running so well.

Finished in exactly 53 minutes, well pleased with that. Definitely counts as a modern day PB. Next race Boscombe 10k in three weeks.

Summer’s here?

18 degrees C, sunny, hardly a breeze. Must be summer? Nope it’s the last week in October, Halloween and Bonfire Night are just round the corner. Hard to believe, but true. Got really hot on the way back up the hill today, sweat making my eyes sting. It’s global warming you know.

Took it easy to start, tip-toed through the muddy bits halfway round, then attacked the hill on the way back. So first 2k was slowish, next muddy k was very slow, but then having saved a bit of strength climb back up the hill was probably quickest yet. Total time 33:05 for 5.13km.

Next run is Ilminster 10k on Sunday. Weather looks wet for Saturday night, hopefully will have blown through by Sunday morning. Still want to do about 55 mins, but depends on how hilly it is. Major concern is will I get back in time for the Grand Prix, or should I just find a pub in Ilminster with a TV? Decisions, decisions. Probably depends on whether or not the family come with me.

Where did the time go?

Did my short Stonebarrow loop this morning. Got round in 33m 29s which is about the same as last week, but half a minute down on my best.  So where have I lost that half minute? I put in a few short sprints, worked hard on the hills, generally felt good.  So where did it go? No idea. It was a bit slippery after two days of mist and light drizzle, so maybe some of it got lost on the muddy bits or being careful on the downhill slopes. Not sure.

However, I have a cunning plan. I’m gonna get me one of those new-fangled Garmin GPS wrist thingies. That’ll tell me. Been chasing various Forerunner 305′s on Ebay recently, not got one yet so might have to up my budget a bit. There’s a few more coming up in the next few days, so I’ll keep trying! Then I should be able to work out from one run to the next where I’m gaining or losing time.

On the racing front, looks like my next race will be the Ilminster 10k on November 1st. It’s all on tarmac, so I need to get out in my new Nike Triax 12′s to break them in. (Bargain from simplyrun.co.uk!)