Why a runstreak doesn't work for me

What did the twelfth day of Christmas bring me? Sore shins and tight Achilles it seems. What started as a way to catch up on missed runs turned into a run streak and has ended with me jettisoning the idea. It has at least confirmed something that I knew already, I need rest days. 

Run #1

The weekend started with a bit of parkrun tourism. We were due to meet with Paula's folks in Southwold so I wanted to take in some tourism en route. We originally thought we were meeting near Thetford Forest so a bit of replanning led us to Ipswich instead. 

It turns out this was the penultimate Saturday at the current location for the Ipswich team and they were met with a lot of parkrun tourists and a record attendance. The course was two laps, with a 30/70 split between gravel path and grass. It would be fair to call this my least favourite type of run, soft and heavy grass!

I started reasonably well, expecting a 25:00 on this course due to it's nature & no faster. My first kilometre was around the 5:00 mark, four more of these & I'd hit my target time. The course then started to go around a watery area, with some nice big puddles to avoid, single file traffic almost & I could feel myself slowing to the pace around me. Once out of that section I realised the rest of the lap was off road. An up & down to get to a lap of a football field, followed by another up & down to get to the same point, then a lap of the cricket field.

Struggling through Ipswich parkrun

I already felt like toast before the first lap ended & despite a downhill start to lap 2 didn't have any great momentum. My five minute splits were now up in the 5:20/km range & although everyone around me appeared to be struggling, I felt like I was going backwards. By the off road section of the second lap both Achilles were painful. The only slight bonus being less shin pain due to running on grass.

Ipswich parkrun - A weak finish

I could barely muster a sprint finish & crossed the line in a resigned fashion, 26:34 being my worst result since February & probably the most disheartening given I'm only one month removed from a PB that was 2:35 quicker. I've had a good year with parkrun, 19 events more than doubling my total to 35, but this was not the way to sign off a year.

Slower & Slower & Slower.....

The course was unforgiving, probably quicker on a dry day, but not one for an attack on a PB. Despite all of this the event was well managed & run. Will be worth a return to the new course at some point to see how it compares.

The Eat #1

From Ipswich we carried on up the A12 to Southwold to meet with Paula's folks. This meant that at least two seaside staples would be ticked off: chips & ice cream.

Billionaire's Shortbread from Two Magpies

Chips were scheduled for lunchtime at the pier so we marched up to the town centre itself. We stumbled upon The Black Olive Deli & acquired some cheeses, olives & scotch eggs for consumption in the evening. Two doors down was the Two Magpies Bakery, where I decided immediate sustenance was needed in the form of a festive sausage roll & cakes for afternoon tea were picked up.

Two Magpies Bakery, Southwold

Of course one of the reasons to visit Southwold is pay homage to the Adnams brewery & distillery. They have an excellent shop local to us, but the one in their native town boasts an even wider selection of goods. I'm not an overly keen pint drinker, but the Spindrift blonde ale is always worth picking up. Mrs H added some Cider to the basket & then we found the World's best gin. Although Santa had been kind enough to add 3 gins to my collection, it would be rude not to sample the gin & perhaps make a purchase.

Gin before midday is always an interesting prospect, but you could taste straight away why it had medalled so well. This meant a bottle had to be added to the basket & with some Chorizo Jam  to be saved for a later occasion.

Fish & Chips on the pier, followed by ice cream made for an excellent day, shame the run at the start had to spoil it.

The Run #2

Sunday was going to be a day for simply maintaining the run streak, getting an easy mile under my belt. We were staying at the High Lodge resort near Southwold & to wake up to a nice frost made me a bit nervous about the lack of layers I had packed.

An early morning frost at High Lodge, Suffolk

I threw on an extra t shirt underneath my long sleeve top & decided to run from our lodge to the entrance of the golf course. My father in law had told me it was only half a mile......

After 1.4km & with the entrance at least a further half kilometre away I decided to turn back! Although I was running easy, I had not intention on it getting out of hand! Despite the easy pace my shins were painful throughout & that pain stayed with me throughout the day as we headed up to Norwich to take in the delights of Alan Partridge's home town.

Even after a mustard bath (courtesy of the Colman's shop) to ease my pain I still felt wretched in the evening.

A mustard bath anyone? Known for being anti inflammatory

The Conclusion

On the drive home (was going to include a lap of Norwich whilst singing to Roachford but Paula vetoed this!) I pondered my current situation. My run streak stood at 11 days, yet the easy days weren't worthwhile. Getting out for just one mile seemed like a lot of effort for little reward. If anything I was getting reduced returns as I went. My legs feel more & more tired, both Achilles are displaying signs of tendinitis & both shins are painful. The fact that every injury I experience points to tight calves should be a message.

At first the run streak was a means to catch up on lost runs. Then it became something to do over Christmas to keep the festive calories off. Given that my weight has gone up 3lbs in a week I think it would be fair to say that as plans go, it was a poor one!

So with all of that in mind, this run streak is done. It was worth trying, always nice to change up training a bit, but this change has turned out to be negative. I'm now going to take a couple of days off until the NYD parkrun in Chelmsford, ice & stretch regularly. I've learnt what I knew already, that I need rest days to allow for everything to recover.

This isn't sitting in a field waiting for Paula to pick me up, but it is a realisation that when something doesn't work, it's better to change it than risk further injury.

The 7 days in a row achievement from Nike+, for the first & last time!

Runstreak: Day 9

Nowt much to report today. The Run was what runstreakers call a rest day run. The goal being to register a mile to maintain the streak.
So that's why I did. Just under 2 miles mid afternoon to escape my working from home.
Tomorrow I take this streak into double figures......

Boxing Day tempos

After a day of gluttony yesterday, today's schedule of tempo running was very much needed.
I sat through the Boxing Day test match highlights, in a way thankful that we weren't there! The moment they were over I headed out into perfect running conditions. The aim of today was five sets of tempo. 4 minutes at tempo pace with 2 minutes in between at easy pace to recover. This gave me scope to get to Elsenham & back. The roads and pavements were quiet, only two other runners seen. I found myself feeling like I was struggling at a higher tempo pace, yet my Nike watch was suggesting all was fine. I think I had a bit of a lull during the third and fourth repetition, yet recovered to finish the set with decent pace.
These speed work sessions are key to increasing my comfort levels at faster paces and hopefully also provide stamina for the long runs. This morning everything went reasonably well. The run streak is extended to 8 successive days, I've never been this consistently active and hope to continue it into 2014.
No eat to write home about. Today we'll be clearing up left overs from our past two days of hosting.
This weekend sees a change of plan. We're going to be further east than planned, so my parkrun of choice is likely to be Ipswich.

Xmas food & run double bill

In an attempt to not fall asleep in a post Xmas lunch food coma I thought I'd add a few notes on my running and consumption over the festive period.

Xmas Eve Run

With stormaggedon forcing me to work from home on Xmas Eve I decided to head out after completing some morning training. By early afternoon the worst of the weather had passed and I was able to enjoy a bit of sunshine. The kilometres were just easy paced, but it allowed me to maintain a run streak into a sixth day. The calories burnt also gave me some free consumption in the evening! Completing the run also brought me past the 3000km mark. Not a bad effort in 3 years and 7 months. That's 300,000 calories approximately or as I prefer to measure 6000 fingers of Kit Kat!!!

Xmas Eve Eat

We were joined by both sets of parents to celebrate Xmas Eve. We laid on a full spread of food, including some homemade sausage rolls and a cheeseboard including a mere 9 varieties!!
The highlight of the cheese board had to be a blue of Dolcelette style, Blue Murder from Scotland (even better when you say it in Scotch), I picked it up from the exceptional Rippon Cheese near Victoria station in London. The sausage rolls benefited from a bit of chutney included and a sprinkling of smoked salt, crushed garlic, dried onion and seeds over them. Very moorish and plenty left over!

Xmas Day Run

Once presents with Mrs H had been exchanged I headed out for some lazy Christmas morning km. I had intended to take on the loop, yet more heavy rain overnight left me running 10 minutes only to need to U turn, there's no point taking on large puddles and ruining the feet.
After the U Turn I made a small loop around Stansted, passing my in-laws on their Christmas walk. Another 5km banked, no great pace, but miles in the legs. Now my run streak stands at 7 days in a row.
My only concern at present is a bit of pain in my shins. It could be the start of shin splints, I need to give it some research to see how best to treat them.

Xmas Day Eat

What better way tocelebrate Christmas than to gorge on food? I got back from the run and served up Eggs Benedict for four, a well earned  fuel for the earlier effort.

After an hour or so to relax it was time to prepare Christmas lunch. The two rib of beef had been picked up from the Butchers at the weekend. To complete the spread we added roast potatoes, honey glazed carrots and parsnips, leeks, green beans, peas, stuffing and some rich gravy. The meat was perfectly rare and the rib tasted great. 

If that wasn't enough we'd bought in desert. After putting in the effort for the roast it was time for a hassle free follow up. A Choux ring of epic proportions was shared between all. Now it's time to sleep it off, allegedly tomorrow is a tempo day....

The commute double up

Sometimes it's nice to shake up a routine. After four consecutive days of running I fancied adding a fifth. Normally an early shift makes a morning run a non starter.
Today, with the weather due to turn nasty later in the day I decided to jump straight out of bed into my running garb and combine my commute with a run. This meant to a run of two halves. First a short saunter down to the station, 1.22km in 8 minutes. Not much faster than my usual walk to the station in all honesty!!
The change in routine also meant avoiding the tube and heading straight into Liverpool St.
My GPS had synced even before leaving the station, so I was straight into a step from the forecourt, no hanging around for those pesky satellites! I never take a direct route to Westminster, too much traffic and consequently stopping if you stay north of the river.
Instead I headed south as quickly as I could, although a poor decision to go via Southwark Bridge rather than Millennium had me stuck at lights for an age. Once over the river it allowed me to drop onto the riverside path. This was perfect. No traffic! This meant my pace increased from plod to easy and I was soon heading into Westminster with views of the Eye and Parliament. 5km in 32 minutes isn't going to set the world alight but it was a nice start to the day. Running with a backpack is always a challenge, whether it adds a huge amount of time is doubtful.
Number six tomorrow?

A frustrating weekend

How about a nice 5k PB to go into the Christmas period on a high? Would be great wouldn't it? No concern about that extra three turkey legs, the entire pack of After Eights or the gluttonous amounts of Mulled Cider.
Well, that happened this weekend. Just not for me though.
Instead the weekend presented me with a mixed bag of crap running, good running, silly fines and some unexpected comedy.

The Run #1

Saturday morning meant a trip to parkrun & a return to Oak Hill. Our friend Joel was aiming to take on the 30:00 barrier for the first time, whilst Fergie was pacing him & seeing if an luminous orange Christmas jumper would be sufficient to divert planes from their course to Heathrow. I fancied taking on my PB, the course at Oak Hill is gentle, no major surprises.
I felt my start was reasonable, a 4:55 first kilometre, just outside of where I'd want my pace to be.
I then appeared to hit a wall. The remaining 4k were just a shambles. I was sluggish, heavy, felt like I was running through treacle. Even berating myself on the 2nd lap did nothing. It appeared the more effort I put in, the less I got in return.
The result was a 25:32. My worst parkrun since June. It would be easy to blame the weather, the take away the night before, a crap night's sleep, a combination of the three. But ultimately I was just crap.
Luckily there was some good fortune amongst us. Joel not only broke the 30:00 barrier, he emphatically smashed it with an awesome 29:22 effort. New years day in Chelmsford is next on the agenda for both of us.
To compound the misery we then received a parking ticket on the way home! Turns out 15 mins of free parking is not something Enfield offers!!!!

Some Comedy....

After heading into work to clear some paperwork I was reunited with Mrs H for a trip to celebrate New Year's Eve.
Yes, New Year's Eve. At the BBC no less. We were attending The Horne Section NYE show for Radio 4. Somehow we ended up in the front row. We then seemed to attract the attention of our host, Alex Horne. For a listen of our awkward, yet bizarrely funny experience on the radio, tune into Radio 4 on NYE at 2330, or NYD at 1500 for an extended version. I suspect my mother will be asking for a CD to send to all of the family!!

The Eat

We finished the evening by bracing Oxford Circus and some crazy rain & diving into Ping Pong. Over some dim sum we had a giggle at the silliness of the evening. Mrs H is still convinced I played a part in us being in the front row!

The Run #2

Could Sunday rescue the weekend? This was the forth consecutive day of running and it nearly didn't happen. I got myself into my kit, opened the curtains to see rainmaggedon. After a quick scan of the forecast I went back to bed for an hour and headed out in near perfect conditions at 9am.
The plan was 70 minutes of easy pacing. What a difference 24 hours makes! Today I had no issues with rhythm, breaking in a shiny new pair of Adidas Supernova Sequence 5's as I went. The time required allowed me to merge two of my favourite routes, the loop & a trip to Elsenham.
Time & distance wise it was my longest outing since Copenhagen. I felt reasonable throughout, a good way to put the parkrun debacle to bed and look forward rather than backward.

I might even head out for a run tomorrow to make it 5 in a row......

Project Catchup #2

To allow for maximum confusion, today being Friday, I completed Thursday's run this morning.......
4th run of the week and we've not even reached the weekend! The plan for today was five sets of 3:2 fast:easy splits, bookended by some easy time for warm up and warm down. With time being a key factor, I chopped the easy sections to 5 minutes at the start and about 4 at the end to take me home.
Despite it raining heavily last night, the skies had cleared, meaning for not ideal conditions underfoot. It is day's like this that baselayers come into their own, allowing me to stay warm without the need for lots of unbreathable layers.
I was happy with my pace on all five fast intervals. Wasn't perfect, but enough of a push to be more than satisfied with the efforts. After a lung-busting game of squash yesterday it was the perfect follow up.
With the Oak Hill parkrun tomorrow it appears that apart from a 60 minute easy run I have caught up with my schedule. A good week so far.

Project Catchup

One of my many poorly conceived ideas was to run streak my way back to parity on my training plan. Sadly this came to a halt after a run streak of 2 days. A dead on 9am meeting yesterday meant I couldn't complete the 60 mins I wanted and take a slightly later train. The later train always runs into issues and I end up in the office past 0900. Not to worry, I packed my running gear with the intention of a lunchtime run following a morning of meetings.
Unfortunately the last meeting included lunch and after four hours of meetings my enthusiasm for a run had evaporated.
I then decided to take an early train home and run to my swimming lesson. Not quite the hour I desired, but miles in the bank. A three and a half hour commute not only nixed the run, but also the last swimming lesson of the year. I'd like to thank the driver who decided to take on a level crossing. Even after that cleared the winds decided to add some trees to the line for good measure.
All in all, yesterday was a write off. 60 minutes easy lost.
The good news is that I completed Saturday's run on Tuesday and Tuesday's run today (Thursday).
On Tuesday I escaped the office at lunchtime and took on some pacing. 20 minutes of steady, 10 fast, bookended by easy. Running in London always added extra challenges, such as traffic lights and steps, on the whole though my pace was excellent and I was able to move through the gears with ease.
This morning the target was 40 easy, followed by a quick turnaround to make the train. I was a bit ploddish to start with. Pace wasn't with me, not a huge concern as the goal today was to bank miles, not effort.
Tomorrow will be time to take on Thursday's run, despite it being Friday. Then the weekend brings a trip to Oak Hill parkrun and an easy Sunday. This will leave Project Catchup at -1. Perhaps a cheeky run on Monday????

Where has the running gone?

The lack of content in the past week is sadly a true reflection of my running. Ready for a list of excuses?
Thursday - into work early to resolve a couple of issues
Friday - incapable of running early morning following a lack of sleep post Xmas party
Saturday - car being serviced at 0830, sleep catch up left no time to get out
Sunday - was all dressed ready to run. Then my work phone rang and a 4 hour trip to the office buried that idea.

So by week 2 my Helsinki plans have been momentarily derailed. Hence why this morning I donned the 010's, the floro jacket and got out to pick up where I left off last week.

This meant some hill sprints. The plan was to take on ten repetitions. I headed out and after waiting nearly 5 minutes just for my Nike GPS to try and work I eased into a pace. Having had nearly a week off I decided to take 10 minutes to warm up and got myself to the bottom of one of the local hills. After the first climb I realised that ten reps would be out of the window and to just keep going as long as possible. I aborted after the fifth climb, easily the weakest set of hills I've done.

As poor as I felt, it was better to be out there running than have another day of inactivity. My current plan is to make up on the missed days and get back to normality.

With the absence of running over the weekend you'd think that I'd perhaps cut back on the eating? Think again!!

On Saturday, with our car at the garage we headed into Bishops Stortford. This meant I could get a Knead Food sausage roll. Normally we get to Stortford in the afternoon and I miss out on the awesomeness. With time to kill we got a chance to take a seat, relax and take on the epic KF Sausage Roll. This was the first time I've ever used a knife and fork for a sausage roll, yet when it is essentially half a pig wrapped in pastry, cutlery is required! Didn't need to eat until the evening!!!

On Sunday, having got back from work it was time to get creative in the kitchen. Cheese on toast is always popular in our house, I decided to take this to another level with an attempt at Welsh Rarebit. I used a Hugh Fearnley Whatshisname recipe off the beeb website. Using some honey mustard, Innis & Gunn beer and some very mature cheese I put together the cheesy goo. If anything the dish was spoilt by having too much topping! Mrs H wasn't a fan, but I consumed so much I had a cheese headache (similar to brain freeze).

A big weekend of food, now a big week of running to follow.

An easy weekend

A successful end to the first of twenty six weeks on the road to Helsinki. In terms of training I think it's the first week I've managed all four planned runs. There was a slight change yesterday as I decided not to work so the planned parkrun was deferred and replaced with an easy run.
The weekend afforded me some daylight, allowing me to rediscover the local routes normally unavailable due to the shroud of early morning darkness.
Yesterday I was back on the loop. A nice, undulating 7km lap of Stansted. I intended to run easy, but found my pace to be good throughout. This meant I was able to push the pace in the final uphill part of the run.
Today I decided to take on a lap of Elsenham. Again the pace was meant to be easy, this didn't seem to be the case though. I seemed to have rhythm and every five minute section was more in the steady range, 5:30-5:40 per km. In fact I was back in Stansted even earlier than planned. As I was intending to run for an hour this meant adding distance. It was only in the final ten minutes that my pace slipped slightly, negotiating the last climb home.
As weekends go, it was an excellent one. To have two runs in which I had plenty of capacity for pace and a good rhythm made for a very positive couple of days. They'll be ups and downs along the journey to Helsinki, it's these good days that need to be remembered.
With a successful weekend behind me it was time to indulge on some food. This evening we entertained Paula's folks and treated them to a speciality of mine; a slice of Americana. We laid on a spread of pulled pork (slow cooked in beer for nine hours), three cheese Mac & Cheese, slaw & some spinach blanched in garlic to ensure at least some greenery!!! I might need to double up the sprint sessions next week to make up for the stodge!!

Tempo time

A short but sweet review of my tempo training this morning. I woke up at my new 0535 wake up time and made sure to find my gloves as the frost had taken a hold overnight. Despite the temptation to just watch the Ashes I felt it would be better in the long term to get some tempo training under my belt.
The plan provided the blueprint, 10 minutes easy followed by six sets of 2 tempo / 2 easy. Then another ten easy to wind down. My first three tempos went well, I found the pace to be good. I then started to favour my Achilles. With that in mind I stuck to the six tempo plan, yet got home as soon as possible to stretch out once completed.
My tight calves are continuing to cause issues, I need to stretch with the good times, not just the bad. I'm still having to wear trainers to work as the tightness is also cause the base of the Achilles to flare.
Decent pace but the need to ice, stretch and roll is always there. Kidding myself into believing that I was injury free was foolish.

Helsinki training day #1

Day one of a twenty six week training plan. Not a day to miss. I've managed to book a squash game for 9am though so I'd need to ensure I was out and back in time to make an early train.
With that in mind I fell out of bed at 0535 and put myself into my runners. The plan starts easy, just 30 minutes easy. I got myself out of the front door at 6am and went on a loop of Stansted. My pace was easy, if anything on the slow side. I was just happy to be out and rather than push the pace I wanted to nurse a slightly dodgy Achilles.
So that's day one done. Not a run I'll remember at the end of the Helsinki efforts, yet banked miles for the future.

2014 Training Plan

One day removed from the MoRunning 10k & a lazy Sunday has given me an opportunity to put together some plans for the first half of 2014.

The aim for 2014 is to finish the Helsinki City Run with a sub 1:50 half. With this in mind the 26 week plan includes:
10 parkrun events
71 hill sprints
3 10k events
2 half marathons
1 10 mile event

The plan also includes plenty of rest! Here's hoping the calves don't betray me!