10 Days and a Better Place... and Bin Day!

In a Better Place

Well, 10 days ago, my post title, "Not in a Good Place", led to my daughter asking was I ok. Sorry, and thank you for caring :)
The place I was in was frustrated and annoyed at where my training had gone as a result of injury and sickness taking 4 weeks out. I had gone from 14km a few weeks previous to 3k and with the Half Marathon only 5 weeks away.

10 miles on

Today was the first day that I felt comfortable that my post-cold chest problems where safe to go out and with only 3 weeks to go I wanted to get back to long duration (I did slot in a slow 7km last week).

Still enough time to recover if anything went awry, I decided to aim at getting back up to 13km but accept that I'd walk for a few minutes every 15-20 mins to recover and keep stresses on chest and limbs reduced.
It was hard work but the walk intervals were surprisingly effective. When I'd been out about 40 mins, I decided to forget distance and, continuing the rest intervals, to aim to be out for at least 1hr 30min. If I could do that, I could work on the last couple of weeks getting up to 2 hours on the road which should prepare me for the 2hr 10min to 2hr 25min I hope to be managing on the day.
Things continued well, though by 1hr 20min I was forcing myself on and I chose a route home which should take a further 20 minutes. I started to suffer a little with the IT band issue around 90mins so ran more carefully and resisted the temptation to push even further.
Having added another walk interval it was approaching 1hr 45min as I neared home and checking my watch realised I was unexpectedly close to that magic 10miles (16km) which would beyond anything I had ever run and temptation took over adding a swing round an extra road in the estate.

Freezing cold bath after stretches on return home and I am remarkably intact though somewhat drained of energy. Absolutely delighted with today and the end game definitely feels achievable though I may not manage my original target 2 hr 10min.

km: 16.41 (10.02 miles)     Duration: 01:50:02     Average Speed: 8.95

Bin Day

Don't you just hate running on bin day? At least this road was quiet at this time of day but on busy main roads it's a real pain going on and off the kerb watching for traffic.

 

Sponsorship

Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.



Not in a Good Place

I set out in July 2017 with a grand plan to arrive at 20th May 2018 fit, healthy and uninjured. Spreadsheets and trackers prepared and a training programme that delivered a 5% per week increase in distance from the 5km I was running up to the 21.09km required on the day.

My first target was the Wilmslow 10k in November '17 which went well; then in December I started to build steadily from 5k. I am lucky to have time to train in the day and gradually moved up to a routine involving 3 activities per week; a 30-40 minute treadmill run followed by 20 min swim; a road run of around 30 min; and a long run which increased each week.

This all worked fine until about 4 weeks ago when as an minor hamstring issue was clearing, I was delighted to reach almost 9 miles on my long run. During this run I started to have pain outside and below my right knee which I was to learn was IT band related. This meant I had to back off training and give it a rest but then, as I started again I contracted an awful cold which went to my chest. I was living on Lemsip for a week and after 3 weeks am still 'clogged up'.

So, the crux of the matter is, 33 days to go and I'm back down at 3km! Hopefully, as the chest clears all the previous hard work will let me get back on target but I now have to increase distances at far more than 10% per week to make it. I know adrenalin will push me on the day but I do not want to end up injured and spoil my summer.

Introduction - Half in 130

In May 2012 I was little over 1 year from reaching sixty years old and I decided to try to mark the occasion with a better than 60min completion of the Great Manchester Run 10K (story at 60@60). Before that I had last run in 1976 in a 1.5ml cross country race for leaders in a south Manchester scouting event.
Well I did it, 58:18, and thoroughly enjoyed the day. What had been expected to be a one-off resulted in me growing to love running and since then I have completed several 10Ks and enjoy my local parkrun.

So, now 5 years later, it's my 65th birthday in May and I decided to try for the Great Manchester Run Half Marathon to celebrate. Time isn't really important but as the Half is around twice a 10K I'm going for twice my age so 130 mins.

My next post will be an update on progress so far.

Sponsorship

I am embarrassed to ask for sponsorship when just doing something I enjoy but this one is hurting and taking a lot of will power to maintain training so I feel ok asking people for sponsorship to give me that extra push and this is a great cause.

If you would like to support this amazing organisation feel free to do it via my JustGiving page below.
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.