It all began at 8 AM on Saturday when I left home to run down to the Riverfront to help out with the C25K course at Parkrun. The weather forecast did show rain, and the forecast did turn out to be correct as there was a little bit of rain in the air as I shut my front door behind me, and I was glad that I'd made the decision to wear my waterproof jacket. The three mile ish run was easy enough, and I just took it really easy as I had plenty of time and I was in no rush.
Once again I was helping with the C25K course, and being week # 2 the recruits were running for 1½ minutes, then walking for 2 minutes.
Group # 3 C25K 2018
Again we had a good turn out. There are those that cannot make the group runs on either a Saturday or some during the week, and so they are encouraged to get out and run alone or with friends. I was going to help out with last weeks Thursday evening run but a motorway accident delayed my return home and unfortunately I missed it.
Once we had finished running, the three groups finished their session with stretching and I took my leave and joined up with friends Sally, Rachel and Maddy for a six mile run, which was the same run as the one I posted about last Tuesday.
Still the rain was coming down, although not very hard, and I was feeling alright and enjoying the company and the chat. It is so much nicer to run with others and chat away, you just don't notice the miles ticking by so much.
About an hour later, we had arrived back at our starting point, I said goodbye to my companions and began my final leg, the run home. But by now the rain had begun to come down that much harder and my waterproof jacket was waterproof no more, and I could feel the wet seeping through. My feet were already wet as I had no choice but to run through some puddles, but at least my feet were not cold.
I headed home along the canal as it is a flatter route, and instead of turning into Bettws Lane and following the tarmac footpath into the estate, I carried on along the canal path, partly because I enjoy looking at the wildlife, and partly because I miss a stretch of incline that way, and I'll do anything to miss any kind of hill.
I reached my final point along the canal where I had to cut off and head into the estate, but there was no avoiding one particular stretch of hill.
Finally, 2 hours and 52 seconds after I had begun, I reached my front door and I stopped the GPS on my watch. I was soaked through to the skin but at least I wasn't as cold as I had been on the previous Thursday.
Now that I am running the longer distances, I thought it was time for me to purchase a hydration vest, and my running pals had recommended the Camelbak range, so I had a look on line to see what was available and which type would suit me best. I don't drink a great deal of water during a run, so I didn't need to carry 2 litres of water with me, and to have a vest that had pockets for me to carry keys, phone, mp3 player and any other bits and pieces, including a £10 note in case of emergencies, as well as keeping my hands free, was what I needed, so I ordered the Camelbak Circuit, which appeared to suit my needs perfectly with a 1.5 litre capacity.
This was delivered to my work on Friday and so I was able to try it out on my Saturday run. I have to say that it felt perfect. The bag itself is light and comfortable to wear, (in fact I barely noticed I was wearing it later in the run after I had drunk some of the water from it), and it didn't move on my body at all. I was able to carry everything I needed to within its pockets. Absolutely brilliant!
Another good thing came out of this run, and that was the lack of hip pain. You may remember that I had said previously that I was getting a lot of severe hip muscle pain, (the gluteus minimus), and so for the last couple of runs, I'd done less mileage, as was recommended to me. Well, after last Thursdays run with Tracey, I had no hip pain at all, only a light, dull ache, possibly due to the much slower pace? So that got me thinking that maybe I'm trying to run too quickly, and that is why I'm getting the pain, so I would do the same on this run, and I deliberately slowed my pace, and blow me if it didn't work, I had no pain at all, only a light, dull ache which I can cope with. So now my confidence has been boosted and I can see no reason why I can't make 20 miles in training.
Tuesday's club run was called, "Eddie's pub run", because it passes most of the pubs in Caerleon. It's a simple route that incorporates many of our other club winter routes.
Each mile got quicker
With only a few hundred metres to go to the finish, I could hear running footsteps fast approaching from behind me, which could only have come from one of the faster runners in the 7 PM group catching me. There was no way I wanted to be overtaken by one of these guys and so I accelerated and probably ran the fastest 200 - 300m of my life. The runner behind me was Matthew and when I checked the stats on Strava later, I had run that segment in 06:22.
Jenny and I have missed our speed sessions the last two weeks as Jenny has been unwell with a dicky chest and a cough. But on Wednesday evening we got back down to it with one of our usual Fartlek sessions, running loops at the Riverfront, but this time we were also joined by Ann from Caerleon running club. So it was a fast pace along the long straights, then a slow recovery as we crossed the bridges.
My heart rate graph shows it was up and down like a yoyo
Thursday is usually the club speed session, but lately I've had weekend commitments and so I've had to do my long run on a Thursday evening, but this week I'm going to do that on Saturday. So after having helped out with the C25K group last night, I joined my club mates to do 400m sprint reps on the Caerleon cycle track.
Looking at that heart rate graph, I barely touched the red zone 5 area, which I find surprising. At the end of last year or the beginning of this year I'm sure it would have been up there in the red. But I have noticed that my heart rate has steadily been falling and my speed has been increasing, so it is all good.
This evening I am going to the gym to do a core strength session, then Saturday morning will see me running to Parkrun to help with the C25K group before putting in some long miles on my run home.
So until next week guys and gals, keeeeeeep running 😃
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