Running

[olivertruby]

New 5k PB

Smashed my previous best, ran a 16.41 today at Hull Parkrun, didn't feel very good in the warmup but it all fell together in the race and I took 15 seconds off my previous best! Then did 6x600m afterwards at sub 5k pace, felt great.

[olivertruby]

Running well in the cross country league still.

Monday was an easy 30 minutes followed by a session in the gym, Tuesday was a mid-week medium long run, at 11 miles. Felt pretty fatigued from the gym and lack of sleep.

Today I raced in the cross-country league, and comfortably took 4th, I put in a half mile effort on the first lap and dropped 5th and 6th, which was maintained, but by the las lap there was a big gap back to 5th so I eased off. This should hopefully secure 4th place in the overall standings for me now.

Tomorrow is intervals before a rest on friday, and then parkrun with an interval session after on Saturday, before a fairly short long run of 16 miles on Sunday!

[olivertruby]

Hard weekend of solid training.

Yesterday (Saturday) I raced parkrun, only managed a 17.07 for the 5k. But did 4x600m at sub 5k pace so it was a great overall session. Today was my long run, which I injected a fast finish in, with the last 10k at projected marathon pace (6:17/mi) it was hard work and lovely when it was finished!

[olivertruby]

Still running strong.

I did a 10 miler today, had a bit of fatigue in my legs but I've had 4 pretty big days so no surprise, I'm busy tomorrow so I've got a day off.

Last night I ran 6 miles, at a nice comfortable steady pace, the first 3 were 6:50ish, with the final 3 in the 6:20s, felt very nice to be running comfortably at a good pace again. There's definitely something satisfying running sub-7s well inside the comfort zone...

I've got an important XC race on Thursday, so I'll be giving that everything, then an easy slow 5 on Friday as recovery. Saturday I'll be racing Hull parkrun, aiming for about 17 minutes, then I'll be attempting an interval session straight afterwards, and see how my body reacts, it may be a way of getting a great VO2 max workout in, I always feel just a 5k is too short, although I race it hard, it's just not enough for a days training.

I've got some new trainers coming so I'll be trying them out on Sundays long run, which will be 18 miles.

[olivertruby]

Excellent weekend of running

I ran well yesterday in the South of England XC Champs, it was really hard going in the mud and hills, difficult enough just to keep moving forward! A great workout though!

Today I did my long run in seriously poor conditions, it was so wet and cold, but got through it and felt great still at the end, even went fastest in mile 17, I've been consciously holding back to a more sensible pace in my long runs and it is definitely paying off.

[olivertruby]

Running well again.

I've been really pleased with how I've been going in the last few weeks. Especially yesterday, at a comfortable HR I managed to average 6:48/mi which is a good solid pace, for such a cruise. Today is the South of England XC Champs. So I'm not going for any special placing but just to run to the best of my ability, and use it as a really hard training session!

[olivertruby]

New year, same motivation.

It's been a while since I posted so to quickly sum up what I've been up to, I went to America for a week at the beginning of December, to run the Orlando half marathon, it was a brilliant trip and an awesome race, pretty well supported and a flipping hot day which maybe cost me slightly, but very pleased with my new PB of 80:01, and a great target for me to break 1.20 at Silverstone, my target for London is 2.45-2.50 so I'm going to aim for about 1.18-1.19 at Silverstone and see how I get on.

I've also now started training for the London marathon, following P&D's schedule B from the original book (road racing for serious runner), which goes between 40-60 miles. It's a fantastic book and it allows you to build the plan around your own lifestyle and commitments.

The long runs are going great, I had to miss one over Christmas when I wasn't very well but I managed a 16 miler yesterday and although my left calf was pretty tight I felt pretty good. I went out today for a quick 5 miler as a bit of a recovery effort, and felt exhausted, hopefully I'll be recovered by tomorrow which is the Norfolk Cross Country Champs, which I'm looking forward to but I haven't targeted it, which I will do next year, so I'll see how I get on!

[olivertruby]

New 5k PB!

1 week and 2 PBs, had a great week of training and not really eased it up at all for the 5k this morning, and went sub-17 for the first time at Hull parkrun! I'm over the moon to break the 17 minute barrier which I didn't expect to come this year! 

It felt great, after a decent warm up, I set off a bit too quick and paid for it a small bit towards the end but it didn't stop me from breaking the 17 minute mark, running a 16.58, excellent result! The only issue in the race was I felt a bit sick having eaten a banana right before the race I thought I was going to be sick around the halfway mark!

Maybe without a banana I can go even quicker by the end of the year..

[olivertruby]

New 10k PB

i set a new PB over 10k Yesterday, and felt like I was hardly trying! I ran a 35.44 which is 30 seconds quicker than I have ever ran before, it makes me think I may be able to stretch to a sub-17 5k. I'm racing a 5k on Saturday so I'll prepare fully on the morning and see how I get on! I'm almost certain I'll PB but if I can get under 17.10 I'll be over the moon!

Nice run out this evening to assess how I am post-race, my legs felt good and no residual fatigue which is a great sign, I really hope I can replicate the shape I was in yesterday! After 5k I felt great so discarded my initial pacing plan and stepped it up and equalled my current 5k pb in the second half! Which is just incredible because I always considered my 5k time (17.25) to be the strongest of all my records! It definitely shows the quicker paced running and extra interval sessions I've been doing are definitely paying off! And the plan I'm currently following is essentially a 5k plan so we will have to see how I get on! But I think a sub-17 could definitely be on the cards by the end of the year!

[olivertruby]

First run with a club

I ran with City of Norwich club last night, it was a good route, running around the streets of Norwich, it's a bit of a trek over there but they have a much higher quality of runners than any of the nearer clubs, so thought I would join them. 

We did about 8.25 miles at an average pace of 6:34 which is about marathon pace, so a decent marathon tempo session. I did enjoy it so I've joined the club so I can go all the time now. I'm not going to be able to make it every week but every few weeks will be good for motivation etc.

I've got a VO2 session to do today, I'll probably go about just before 3 so it's still daylight when I finish!

[olivertruby]

Cross-country racing in Oxford

Had a great race at the Oxford Mob Match yesterday afternoon, it was 2 big laps up a very steep hill, over the top and steep back down the other side! It was great fun and I was sick at the finish line so shows I left it all on the course!

Went for a solid run today, averaged 160 HR, (Z2) and ave pace of 6:54, legs felt very good, which was brilliant considering the race yesterday, didn't have any fatigue so that's a plus. It's been a good week of training, 45 miles running and 2 hr cycle on Friday, 12 miles of the running were racing too, so hard miles!

[olivertruby]

More XC Racing.

Back running after my short break, Thursday and Friday was good 10 milers, Monday and Tuesday were both 9 milers, with Monday having an interval session thrown in too (10x200m) Today I was initially disappointed with 10th place but it was a slower course than last time and I averaged a faster speed, (6:06/mi) so it was actually a good pace! Especially since I backed out toward the end when I didn't think I could catch the guy ahead, maybe I could but I've got another race Saturday and didn't want to ping my calf! All round good week so far, maybe 11 miles tomorrow then cycling on Friday probably!

[olivertruby]

Back running after a short break.

I've had a bit of a break for the last week, after my marathon fatigue and also slightly pulling my calf at last weeks cross-country! There's another cross-country next week in the league, and then another elite one next Saturday which will be good fun! Managed a nice 10 miles today and felt weary after having so much time off! Not lost any fitness I'm sure but feeling paranoid about it still! Back in fighting force in no doubt I'm sure, Leeds Abbey Dash is the 17/11 so I'd like to be in good shape for that!

[olivertruby]

Cross-country season has started!

Today was the first race of the Cross-county season, managed 5th overall, I think our club A-team did fairly well too I think we might have had 3 inside the top 10, which will give us some good points!

I bought some new spikes last week, because my last cross-country race I did in regular running trainers with elastic laces and lost my shoe twice in the race! I bought the Saucony Shay XC, which are super light and great to run in! They look pretty flash too!

Next race is Saturday against Cambridge Uni and Eastern Athletics. I'm having a bit of a week off training this week, aside from the races. Because I did a half marathon on Sunday, and with it being so soon after my marathon, and then those big miles in the week following, it was a bit much, so decided to give myself a bit of a break. Plus I'm doing 12 hour shifts for a week starting from tomorrow so I think I'll need it!

I'll be back out running probably Sunday or maybe Monday, my body just needed a proper rest. I've got a 4 day weekend next week so I will be able to get some decent miles in there! 

[olivertruby]

More solid miles

Ran a very good 10 miler on Saturday, initially planned to go with Amy, but she wasn't feeling very well so ended up going on my own, legs felt fatigued but managed decent splits, average around the 7:00/mi, I seem to have recovered ridiculously quickly from my marathon last week, maybe my legs are just used to big miles nowadays? Even so it was a very quick turnaround, 1 week on and I'm feeling fresh.

I actually ended up running 70 miles in a rolling 7 day period with my marathon in the middle, which is just unthinkable, let alone which such quick miles in the marathon. Very impressive recovery rate.

I've got a half marathon this weekend, which I would like a PB, so I'm going to take it fairly easy later this week, Thursday and Friday will be days off I'm sure. Today I did a 5.5 miler, I was contemplating going further but I'll do 9 Wednesday instead, just hope the weather is as nice as it was today!

Tomorrow I think I'm going to do intervals, my quads were feeling a bit worn out today, no great surprises really, but maybe a shortish interval session tomorrow to sharpen up for Sunday, and then nice easy 9 on Wednesday. 

I'm currently following a plan to get me to peak well for the Orlando Half in December, which means I probably won't be at my very fastest for Leeds 10k, but I will still give it all I've got and go as close to the 36:00 as I can, fingers crossed with good weather and a clear run I might go underneath which would close the year off excellently!

I've also got 2 cross-country races next week, one on Wednesday for the winter league, and then a representative one on the Saturday.

[olivertruby]

More decent miles

Just a quick post, reviewing my run from today. Ran with Amy again and averaged 7:11 for 10.65 miles, felt really good and comfortable! I think it's psychological because I tend to struggle to hold similar paces when running solo! Especially in the dark! More than likely the combination of having a partner and running different roads! I'm going to try and hold similar paces for my next training block and see if it brings better improvement because my gains have slowed a bit, which is naturally going to happen, but maybe just to try and shake it up a bit! And include more threshold running and intervals, i will probably try and put together a plan each week based on what I would like to do that week, its possible to swap it around but doing it at the start of the week makes it more realistic to follow rather than putting it all down month in advance!

[olivertruby]

First run post-marathon

I've been very wary after this marathon to see how my body is, it's especially key after such a big race, it can potentially take so much out of your body. Last time I went back into fast sessions too quickly and injured myself, nothing serious, but enough to be very annoying! I went running Yesterday, with Amy, for the first time since May(?) and was hitting great splits, (av7:08/mi) for 8 miles. So a brilliant workout, and I felt much more comfortable at that than I thought I would so close to a marathon. My right Achilles gave me a bit of grief early on but eased up and was fine! I think it's okay now but still better to be overly cautious following a race like that! It's my birthday today and I'm going to do about 10 miles today, with Amy again, probably similar pace to yesterday, maybe push on a little towards the end! But overall I'm feeling very good, and I think my body is getting much more used to these gruelling trials! The XC season starts soon and I'm keen to place well in the overall leaderboard, which means staying injury free and putting in good results every week! Although I'll only be using the sessions as hard training, I'd like to do well in the rankings, I missed out on 4 of the summer league races which potentially cost me 1st place so I'll be aiming for that this year!