Back from my hols

Just before I went away for my holiday, I had been running a Fartlek session on a Thursday, and going great, but then I experienced a sharp pain in my right calf, so I pulled up and walked back, not wishing to cause any further damage.

So I took the whole of the next week off to recover, and then went on a camping trip to west Wales for a week.

I had glorious weather, particularly on the last two days, and so I headed off one day to walk the coastal path.

The walk was quite rugged, and particularly hilly, and I ended up walking 15.4km (9.5 miles), but most importantly, without a single twinge from my calf.

So last night I was confident that I could run the 7 mile Malpas Mixed Bag route without any problems, and as it turned out, that was the case. It went without a hitch or any twinges.

And time wise I was happy with an average pace of 9:15 min/ml .

I really now need to look at upping my mileage and getting up to 13 miles without struggling in the last mile or two, so I'm going to head out after work on Friday for a 10 mile run.

As I am intending to run on Friday, I have offered myself as a volunteer for marshaling at the Riverfront Parkrun on Saturday morning.

Then on Sunday, it is the annual Rack Raid, a 13 leg relay from Grosmont, Monmouthshire to Henllys, Cwmbran. Unfortunately I didn't get picked to compete, so I am supporting two of my club mates by taxiing them to their start position at White Castle, where they will then run the leg to Abergavenny, then taxi them home again.

The final runners should be crossing the finish line about 12 hours after the first runners began and where we will all meet to cheer on our club mates, enjoy a BBQ and a drink.

Thursday Club Speed Session

With occasional heavy showers, and the odd flash of lightning and clap of thunder about, the decision was made for us not to do a session in the open spaces of the Celtic Manor Resort golf course. Instead we jogged to the Roman amphitheatre to begin a Fartlek session.

Fartlek, which means "speed play" in Swedish, is a training method that blends continuous training with interval training. Fartlek runs are a very simple form of a long distance run. Fartlek training “is simply defined as periods of fast running intermixed with periods of slower running."

We were divided into three groups, with the fastest guys & girls leading the way. I was in the third group at the rear with the rest of the plodders.

Dave and Tania sped off a little bit quicker than the rest of our group, and so I decided to try and keep up with them.

The idea of this session was that we would run the 4 kilometers or so to a particular gate at the far end of the cycle track, stop for a quick breather, then run back to the start at a faster pace.

Checking our pace, we could see we were doing about a 9:07 min/mile, and that was comfortable, although we did have a heavy rain shower on the way which thoroughly soaked us.

Reaching the gate, the middle group were there recovering and we waited for the arrival of our group.

After standing about for a couple of minutes in wet T shirts, we were beginning to feel cold, so we decided to head back to the starting point.

Very gradually our pace quickened, and I remember looking at my watch at one point and it said 07:30, then a little further on a more normal pace of about 08:30.

With only about one more mile to go, ish, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my right calf, and so I decided not to try running through it, for fear of making any damage worse, and so I slowed down to walking pace and walked all the way back.

This was the type of injury that plagued me last year, and it is caused by getting a knot in one of the three muscles that make of the calf, then that knot binds to another muscle and pop, I pull up with a sharp muscular pain.

This time it doesn't feel too bad, so I won't run for the next week, and the following week I am on holiday, so I have two weeks to aid recovery, and then hopefully I can get back to it again.

Just to finish off, I would like to congratulate my friend Tania on her selection to the CRC B Team for the forthcoming RACK Raid on the 4th of June. Well done Tania 👍

Tuesdays Club Run

So as usual on a Tuesday, I met up with the usual crowd at the club for an evening run, and this week it was the Reservoir Run. Six miles, of which I think about three of those felt like they were all up hill.

I did say to the group that I was happy just to have a gentle plod and not go full bore into it, especially as that is what I did in the race on Sunday in Bristol.

It all began gentle enough, and Tania and myself found ourselves shoulder to shoulder at an easy pace.

Tania had been saying lately that she just wasn't, "feeling it", and as runners, we've all been there, so I was happy for Tania to set the pace.

As we got into the run, and we were still running on the flat, Tania picked up the pace, and then we hit the hill that would take us up to the reservoir, which is really the water works.

Now hills are not my forte, well, running up them anyway, and Tania is usually much quicker on hills than I am, but I managed to keep her just a few metres in front of me.

Finally, we reached the top of the hill, and as they say, what goes up .......

The downhill stretch was great, in fact when I checked my watch and saw that we were on a 8 min/mile pace, I had to say that we should slow down, as we had one more hill to go before we reached the club house.

The run was tough, but enjoyable, and the company was great as always, and, we completed the 6 miles in under an hour, and considering that hill, we were pleased with that.

This Thursday is our usual speed session, and God knows what awaits us then.

Thanks Tania for your company and a great run 👍

Great Run Bristol 10k

Yesterday I took part in my third Great Run Bristol 10k.

I do like this race as I prefer to run on the flat, rather than the hills, and this route is certainly flat. There are only two small hills, the first at about a half mile in, and the second less than a mile from the finish.

And this year it was great to run with my fellow CRC mates, Sam Howells, her daughter Alice, and Fern Powell. My thanks go to them for making this a great morning out. And Alice is a star in the making, completing the course with a sub 50 minute time. Usually there are a few runners from my work place, however I was the only one from the company taking part this year.

I've been running really well over the last few weeks, getting a PB at the 5k Riverfront Parkrun in a time of 0:26:35, a new course PB at the Tredegar Park Parkrun, and running the Leisure League race last Tuesday at Bryn Bach Park, Tredegar in 0:51:15 for a distance of 5.93 miles. With that last result I knew I had it in me to complete the Bristol 10k in a new 10k PB time of around 53 minutes. My previous PB was gained at the hilly Caerphilly 10k race in 2015 with a time of 0:55:56.

Anyway, I ran with a GoPro Hero 4 Session camera attached to my chest, which worked well except that my swinging hands were in shot all the time, so maybe I'll purchase a shoulder mount and see how that works. In a little while I'll upgrade this camera to the new Hero 5 Session which has digital stabilisation, so the video footage should bounce around less.

So here is the video.

So my running plans for this week are to do the usual club run on Tuesday night, which is the Reservoir Run, which is a hilly route, but then they are all hilly routes. You can't get away from them in our part of Wales.

Then on Thursday the club hosts a session with the local C25K ( couch to 5k) group, for new runners to get them running up to 5k distance, so I shall assist with that if I can get there in time, and then follow that with the club speed session.

Instead of running the 5k Parkrun on Saturday morning, I'm planning to do a longer run, maybe around 10 miles along the canal from Newport to Cwmbran and back, as I need to increase my distance in preparation for the half marathons I've registered for. More about those in a later post.

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Until next time, happy running fellow plodders.

Steve

Welcome to my blog

Hi, and thank you for taking the time to look at this blog.

If you are a runner, young or old, (I'm old), then hopefully you will find this blog of some use to you, or a good read.

This blog will contain pictures and video, not just of me, but of my running friends from Caerleon Running Club, which is located in the village of Caerleon, (the Romans called it Inca when they settled there nearly 2000 years ago), near Newport in South Wales, UK.

Why am I the purple plodder? Because the CRC wear purple coloured race vests, and I'm not the fastest of runners, more of a plodder.

Caerleon Running Club at the Bryn Bach Parc (Tredegar) Leisure League Race May 2017

So, to begin with, I am running in the Great Run Simply Health Bristol 10k on Sunday 7th May 2017, and this will be the third time I have run in this race.

I think my best time here was about 57 minutes, but I'm looking to beat that this time.

Hopefully next week I shall be able to post a few pictures and some video and let you know how I got on.

Steve