Train in vain

Many of my posts mention the weather. In Britain, talking about the weather is pretty much a given, so we shouldn’t be too surprised with this.

I talk about the weather because it’s the main thing I can’t control when planning what workouts I’ll do in the week. Since setting up my site I’ve written about a scorching summer, a mild autumn, and some strong, bitter winds in the past few weeks.

But there’s many other factors that affect what I do and when. The big one is work. For some reason I’m compelled to go to work all day rather than carve a massive section out of it to run ten miles away. There’s also family, but I can be a bit more flexible with them. As long as I can get up early enough and tiptoe downstairs quietly enough and get out the door without waking anyone then I’m ok!

Even just the drive to do something can be a barrier and while I sing the praises of exercise and the positive impact it has on our wellbeing, sometimes life can be overwhelming. On bad days, just getting out of bed can be hard enough, how can we expect ourselves to jump out of the front door in a brightly coloured top and run around the park smiling at anyone you see. 

A lot has been written about young people unable to find jobs, unable to buy their first house, being told to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Things are different now, and the toll of our digital lives on our mental health emerges. The digital world can be a wonderful place, but our 24/7 reliance on screens perhaps isn’t.

I’ve been wondering how we can accept our good days and bad, embrace them as part of our journey through life, and try to step back and see the bigger picture. I’ve written about how I need a goal to get motivated – a half marathon or 10k race with a pb to beat.

At the start of this year, I weighed more than I wanted to and decided, as a new year resolution, I would downsize my body. I weighed myself every day and recorded it in Garmin (I also kept the data in my own spreadsheet because I’m a bit of a nerd), and focussed on my seven day average, rather than the daily numbers. My weight went up and down all the time, but the overall trend was downwards, which boosted my confidence no end.

Can we learn from this? Is there a way to track our trends over time – specifically our fitness, or our progress towards a goal, simply by taking the data we have and using it in a less granular way, a step back to see the bigger picture. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on how we can do this and ensure positivity prevails, even in the face of some miserable days in our path?

Tempo tableau

Autumn is clearly in her final knockings, with leaves torn from trees and mulched into a paste on the pavement; wind whipping up from nowhere to blow all the bins over on bin day; the sun, visible for a few minutes while you hastily get your running kit on, and then disappearing behind thick clouds from the minute you get outside. Yes, winter is on us, and it’s time to hunker down and hibernate for a few months. 

Or not. We could always head outside and battle the monster, right? I’m currently increasing my running miles each week, getting back towards the fitness level I was at a month or two back.

It’s straightforward to fall out of fitness. Much like gravity helps you off a ladder and quickly down to the floor, going on holiday for a couple of weeks where the beers are three Euros a pop certainly takes you quickly in the wrong direction. The body likes fat, and likes storing it where it can. Perhaps it knows winter is coming. Perhaps it’s seen the rising energy prices!

I went out for a tempo run this week. This is one of my favourite training runs as it really feels like you’re preparing for a race. For context, a tempo run is one that starts slow for around ten minutes, then fast paced for a sustained period, and then a cool down at a similar pace to the start. That fast pace section is not supposed to be 100% effort, but it can definitely feel like it towards the end.

My tempo splits were reasonably short this time, a couple of km each, but I managed to keep to the timings fairly accurately – the fast section was around 4:30 min/km on average (although dropping off towards the end!). It was a simple run that I managed to fit in my working day, but one that took me away from routinely increasing miles on easy runs, and into something of a more formal training program. 

And just as the season changes from autumn to winter, as the winds blow colder through the streets, I felt a change. A change in my own psychology, a change in how focussed I am on my goals, and a change in my desire to develop some structure in my training and to get outside and run. 

I just might need a hot chocolate when I get back ok!

The hardest run to run

We’ve all started things we’ve never finished, for me that’s the job around the house that I’ve overcommitted to. My limited DIY skillset is fine for an Ikea wardrobe, or putting up shelves (straight-ish. Never put anything that might roll on a shelf and it’s probably ok), but beyond that jobs will get started, but have no guarantee they’ll get completed. I am always keen to have a go, but sometimes I can underestimate their complexity, or the specific tools required for the job.

But let’s not dwell on part hung curtain rails hanging out of crumbling walls, no! Surely we go out running to get away from all this internal bother.

Do we ever start anything from a fitness perspective and not finish? Fitness is not a do it once and it’s complete, so the answer is always yes. And no. We aim for a never ending cycle of continuous improvement – running a little further, lifting a little more, jumping metaphorically through a slightly higher hoop over time. Starting something without finishing, for me, a goal driven person, would be entering a race and then not competing in it. A DNS. Very frustrating if it is injury related, very disappointing if it’s because of a lack of fitness. But that’s life, these things will happen. 

The thing that I started and didn’t finish recently is my training through the Garmin Coach on my watch and the Garmin Connect app. I’ve written about this before, and the reason behind it was that I didn’t feel confident running four times a week, and when asked if I wanted to run a bit further, I always opted out of it. Coach Greg would send me out on a five minute warm up, a ten minute run, an optional extra ten minutes, and then a cool down. I’d only ever do the first ten, although if it was pitched as a twenty minute run, I’d happily have done it. 

I tried the Garmin Coach again recently, to check the type of things that would feature in a 5k training plan. I’m not planning on sticking too close to it, but as an example, some useful thoughts on tempo runs came up straight away. There’s always space to learn and gain insight from different sources.

But we need to talk about the fitness test at the start of the Garmin Coach. When you sign up with a coach, the first thing they get you to do is a 5 minute benchmark run. Five minutes doesn’t seem too bad, but when you’re running as fast as you think you can go for that time, it hurts. And it hurts everywhere! 

The problem is (once again) psychological – why would you need any sort of pacing if you’re only going for five minutes? Also, as this is a benchmark run, it feels really important to show that coach what you’re made of – which translates as “go as fast as you possibly can”.

But you do need pacing, and the coach probably doesn’t care that much if you’re a little bit slower – after all, it’s an app which will base your training plan accordingly.

After going flat out for those five minutes, finishing the benchmark run feels like an achievement in itself. But it’s a run so hard it can almost turn into the leaky shower door – a job started but not finished!

For snow run

Running in the winter is a tricky pursuit. There’s a few safety aspects of running in the dark – you never know who’s lurking around the next dark corner; a safety aspect of icy paths or, as we have at the moment, paths covered in wet, slippery leaves; but also getting out in the elements. 

Safety is always first – I never run where I can’t see, or too close to the river in the dark. Basically, if it doesn’t feel completely safe – don’t bother with it. Nor do I carry anything worth mugging me for, if someone really wants a sweaty running top then I guess they could have it…!

The weather is still fairly mild at the moment, so the motivation to go running isn’t too hard to find yet. The other morning it was raining, and I stared glumly out of the window waiting for it to stop before I went out. This is peak autumn running behaviour – there’s no room for attitude like that if I’m to train over the winter. 

I recall running a half marathon a few years ago and a couple of days before there was an enormous snowstorm across the country. I’d expected the race to be cancelled as I’m sure similar ones across the country were, but the frequent emails from the organisers all stated that the show would go on, they were working round the clock to ensure we could run.

I wasn’t massively happy. While I’d done my training and got myself to a good level of fitness, the snow outside my window didn’t inspire me to get out there in shorts and a t-shirt and trot round for a couple of hours, taking in the sights of one of our historic cities. 

The morning before the race, I went to a local sports shop and bought a thermal top and leggings base layer. I found them constrictive and unflattering, but at least I had something to go under the flimsy PE kit I’d been planning to wear.

The organisers had done a fantastic job of clearing the 13 mile course and while there was still havoc being caused across the country, a couple of thousand runners made their way around the course unhampered by the snow, now piled up at the sides of the roads. 

The base layer top has come out a few times since then, not so much the leggings. But now, as I stare outside at a grey cloud passing, perhaps they would bring the psychological boost I need to get going. The top will be even more unflattering and restrictive than it was a few years ago, but I’ll be warm. And perhaps it gives me another goal to achieve – simply fit comfortably into my running gear.  

Bit of a stretch

I’ve been thinking more about how I can add some more variety into my training. I’ve said it before, we’ve all said it before, this means cross-training. 

I’m reasonably fit, but I’m geared entirely for running. The bits of me that need to move for running can move pretty well, forwards and backwards, causing the relentless gasping for air as I go. The rest of me isn’t quite so in tune. The classic groan-as-you-sit-down/moan-as-you-get-up routine. 

I’ve written about swimming and cycling as cross-training, but this week I’ve been thinking a bit broader and have targeted some stretching exercises. Apart from some stretches before and after a run, I’ve never taken on a specific stretching workout. As an intro I turned to my watch for guidance. 

I found a couple of useful options under workouts on my watch: Yoga and Pilates. I wasn’t entirely sure what the difference is, or which is the right one to choose, so will have a go at a workout of each. 

I decided to start off with Yoga. There’s a workout on Garmin Connect called Yoga for Runners, the perfect thing for me. Two things from this in hindsight: firstly, this is an intermediate level workout. I am not an intermediate level yoga-ist, I’m barely a beginner. Secondly, the workout lasted half an hour, a duration that can be referred to as “a long time for a beginner to do yoga”.

Looking down the list of stretches before I started, I counted 91 individual poses. There were ones I’d heard of (Child’s pose, Cat Pose, Thread the Needle Pose), one’s I hadn’t (Peaceful Warrior Pose) and technical ones I liked the sound of (Standing Single Leg Forward Bend with IT Band Opener). There was no sense of irony lost on me that the final one was called Corpse Pose lasting a minute (or possibly eternity). 

The workout went as well as could be expected. I didn’t know most of the poses and struggled to meet the demanding timeframes set by my watch. It displayed very helpful graphics of the movements as we went along but with sometimes only ten seconds to do them, we’d already moved on to the next one. 

It’s all a learning thing though, and I can’t expect to be good at it immediately. It clearly needs time to get familiar with the routine. But it felt ok – the range of muscles and bits of body worked out was excellent and it felt good that this was designed for runners. It’s something I’ll return to in the off days, and hopefully will see benefits in my running from it in the future.

With stretching now ticked off I can move on to… no, wait. There’s another: Pilates for Runners; a 30 minute intermediate workout. Oh well, next up then, some pilates!

Going slower to go faster

I went for a run this week. That doesn’t sound too surprising given the majority shareholder subject matter of my site, even given the name of my site, however this run was special as it was marred by a preceding period of systematically undoing my fitness – a holiday, if you will.

It felt odd to pull on the old running shoes again after a break,  but I was keen to understand if I really was back to square one with my running potential. 

I’d set myself a goal of running 5km in 26:40 – the thinking behind this was that to get to my target of 21:40 it would be a straightforward task of knocking a minute off each kilometre. I could achieve this by simply running a bit faster. I wonder if the professional running coaches have picked up on this amazing insight!

The run went well. It was hard in places, but overall it went well, and I went round in my target time with reasonably consistent splits.

The biggest benefit of the run was a reminder of how important it is to do something for positive mental health. After a couple of weeks away from work I’ve felt relaxed and completely de-stressed. This stress has gradually re-emerged this week as I’ve been back in the cut and thrust of my job. Getting a break from it, even to go red-faced and wheezing around the park a few times had a massive benefit on my outlook.

While it’s important (for me at least) to have goals and set targets and to aim at continually improving fitness levels, it’s even more important to take the time out for some self-care, and a step back from a reality that never stops. 

So take that break, let the reality trundle along without you for a while; after all, there’s one thing that us runners are good at – catching up!

Get back (to where you once blog on)

Here we are again, following a two week break on holiday with the family I feel less fit than when I left, slightly wider round the middle, in need of another fortnight away in a health spa, but all the more better for it! Running, writing, app development have all taken a back seat in favour of sun, good food, and multiple trips to the bar. 

But it’s now time to get back to where we were before we went away… so what was that then? Dusting off the notes from last time, it looks that I was committing myself to smashing a ten year old personal best time of my local Parkrun. No harm in that then, best get back to it. 

I’ve decided on a couple of goals to get me going: with my target time at 21:40 (really?!), I’d like to run a Parkrun in a few weeks to set a benchmark. First up though will be an initial 5km run this week with the aim of consistent splits of 5:20/km, ie 26:40 in total. Not sure if I can hit that now so may take a few runs to get there – must start somewhere though.

Right now I feel a stiff and generally not in great shape but will write on that first run back later in the week.

It’s great to get away but also good to come back and pick up on life. In my case this is back to running, back to writing, and especially getting all the updates from across all the other sites I follow here, looking forward to reconnecting.

And we’re off…

I mentioned in my last post that I’ll be taking a break from the blog for a couple of weeks. Having now firmly pritt-sticked my new running goal in place, I’ll look to reflect on this over my short absent period and look at how I can embed the learning from my last race into this new goal (basically a bit of revision from my notes to myself posts 1 – 4 ).

Exciting times as we head into the dark, damp, dreary period of winter training. Let’s get going… in a couple of weeks of course!

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back soon for more of the same, and of course will look forward to reading what everyone else has been up to too.

Challenge Anneka

Following my last post, this one was going to be titled “for the habitual voyeur” and then the next one next week would be called “of what is known as…”, with a theme of Parkrun throughout the three. Setting this out earlier in the week, “Confidence is a preference” is absolutely fine for a post title, but I now have buyer’s remorse and can’t go ahead with this weeks proposed title, fearing it infers I’m some kind of regular Peeping Tom.

Moving on then, Parkrun. It’s not about you joggers who go round and round and round… well, actually, it really is. 

The Parkrun I’m talking about is a couple of laps of the local park and my personal best of 21 minutes and 40 seconds means I need some serious split times of 4 minutes and 20 seconds just to break even. 

This needs some proper thinking then. 

My last running goal was a new years resolution thing, so will look at breaking my old Parkrun record at some point in the new year. I reckon I’ll need at least an eight week training period running up to the race, built on the back of some baseline fitness. 

You’d think I would have that baseline fitness already, having come off the back of that 10km race not long ago. While I’ve not been out running much and have been enjoying the less healthy side of food and drink recently, I’m sure I’m still reasonably fit. However, I will be taking a planned break from the blog and from running for a couple of weeks, so will likely have to rebuild from that point. 

No problem there, I just have a timing thing to work out – the beauty of Parkrun is that it’s weekly, so completely flexible how I aim for it. 

When I’m back and running, there will be around eight weeks to Christmas. This gives an opportunity to hit the Christmas Eve Parkrun. More likely, I’ll look to start training proper in the new year and an eight week training plan to take me to March-ish. 

Which means an eight week period between now and Christmas to get that baseline fitness back up ahead of the festive cheese-eating season! 

Confidence is a preference…

If you look back over my recent posts you’ll have seen my yearning to go back to running for fun, going back to a time when I can run with music blasting in my ears, without a care for pace, distance, or direction. 

Regretfully, this doesn’t appear to be the case in reality. There are two things going on here:

1. I haven’t been for a single run “for fun” since I completed my target 10km race a couple of weeks ago
2. There are a series of photos taken of me a few hundred metres from the end of that race, and in those pictures I am smiling; possibly even grinning.  

Point two here is interesting – the race was fun! The race was hard, but I was enjoying it. I had no music on, I cared a lot about my pace and where I was, I was focussed on getting that time. 

While I would like to go back to running for the sake of running (and I really do), I’ve come to the conclusion that I need a good boot up the bum in the form of a goal to get me there. 

This week I’ve been thinking about what that goal could be, what is a realistic goal that is going to inspire me as much as the 12 year old 10km pb challenge has done?

To answer that, I looked up some of my old records. And one stood out. 

Parkrun. I haven’t been to Parkrun for a long time (I think I wrote about this previously, life is different for me on Saturday mornings these days), but when I last did, I set a time. A good time. Possibly too good of a time. 

Ten years ago I ran the 5km race in 21 minutes and 40 seconds. It feels like a pace far above what I could hope to achieve now. But it is there isn’t it; it’s a goal. I’ve just beaten a twelve year old record for my 10km time, so why not this. 

Sounds like it’s time to start a meticulously detailed training plan again – perfect!