Month 2 of this blog...and it's day 1 so I'll start off with my goals for the month...
17th October
Soooo...I'm gonna try again, a 10km run back from my german lesson to home. Fingers crossed eh?
Well, I managed it. Things were touch at go at the start, my right leg still felt heavy but I slowed the pace, and kept it slow, and kept going. In the end it took me 1 hour 10 minutes to get home (my course PB is 1 hour 2 mins). What's kinda weird is that, having finished, it's my left foot that's iffy...not my right leg. It feels like I've got metatarsals again although it's no where near as bad as it was. Tomorrow's a rest day so I'll see how I feel on Saturday.
Monthly Goal (160km) 99km remain.
15th October 4km
Not as far as I'd intended but after 4km my right lower leg was starting to wood up - I know that doesn't make much sense medically so...well, it didn't feel responsive - it felt as though everything between my right knee and right ankle was made of wood....so I cut the run short (it was meant to be about 10km). I don't think I need to rest it as such, so I'll maybe run tomorrow night and/or Thursday. Anyway, 4km is 4km. I gotta say though - my monthly goal is gonna need some significant attention paying to it in the second half of the month.
Monthly Goal (160km) - 109km remain.
10th October 21km
A slow short run that turned into a "slightly" longer run than intended. Overall very slow but I'm OK with that as I'm more focussed on getting the miles back up right now. I'm actually writing this the morning after and, as I sit here, I can certainly feel my calves throbbing. A lot of stretching will be needed today me thinks.
Monthly Goal (160km) - 113km remain..
8th October 11km
Had a nice 11km run tonight. From the Prater, to the end of the Hauptalle, back down and then ran home. Ran with Lila for most of the run, nice and slow but still enough to work up a good sweat. She bailed out at the 9km mark and I upped the pace back to Swedensplatz. Went from running a KM between 8 and 11 mins per to just over 5 minutes per. Felt good.
Monthly Goal (160km) - 134km to go.
3rd October
Goal 2 achieved and in a new PB time of 25 minutes 52.7 seconds so that merits a "woohoo!".
As for my first goal - well, I've just gotten back from a 10k run in a pretty reasonable time so that's a good start. If I include Tuesday's run that's 15km down, 145km to go.
Last month I'd set myself a target to run 180km by the end of the September but I failed. I only managed 126. Plenty of excuses but none of them real. Anyhoo, as a result, I'm gonna knock 20km off the amount and try again so - if you're wondering why, it's cos I add 20km when I make a goal, subtract when I don't. I've successfully completed three of these things since June (a 120, a 140 and a 160km) and the 180km goal was my first failure. Still, as the Germans would never say "Scheiße passieren"
Goal Numero Uno - run 160km by the end of October. I'll get back to my 4 runs every 9 days - 3 x "normal" and 1 x LSR (it's the LSR I really want to get back to) starting Thursday the 3rd*. I'll take it easy at first, as I don't want to have metatarsals again so I play 3 x 7km and 1 x 11km for the first week.
*If you're wondering why the 3rd and not today...that leads me on to..
Goal Number Duo - run the Vienna Night Run 5km (that's tonight!) race in a PB time. That means 29.04 or quicker. It'll be my first official time and it's gonna be awesome! 17,000 runners, setting off in 5 waves. More to follow.
And that's it.....for now.
Monday 30 September 2013
Vienna Night Run 2013
The Vienna Night Run 2013 - my first ever race.
2nd October
The timing website (here) is back up. The quickest, recorded, time was 14 minutes, 35.5 seconds! That's just astonishing! FWIW the current world record is 12 minutes 37.35 seconds (set in 2004 by Kenenisa Bekele). And now, with no further ado....*drumroll please*...my time (I need to scroll through a few pages)...
*time to lean forward, Top Gear style*
25 minutes, 52.7 seconds!! That's a new PB for me! Woot woot!
1st October (PM)
And that's the run done. My first race complete. What can I say about it? Well, I got there early, with a friend who was also running (although she was in a different group) so had time to kinda suss out what was what and where was where. Come 15 minutes to my start time, spotted movement in my colour (I was group yellow) so I kinda went with the flow (bearing in mind it's all in German, which I can't speak). That left me in the middle of about 5,000 people (they recorded 19,000 entrants running in 5 waves) all trying to get as close to the line as possible whilst stretching, so lots of flailing limbs.
And then we were off!
The first 1/4 of the race was a gentle downhill, which was nice, in a way, but we were all really bunched up still so there was a hell of a lot of ducking and diving, dodging and weaving. I gave up on the inside line almost immediately - whilst running the outside is a lot longer (it's a 3 lane road with tram tracks on both sides) it was quieter, easier to run, easier to over-take, and more relaxed.
After the downhill section came a flat section, yellow group was starting to space out by now and folks were starting to find their own pace so things were more relaxed and the run continued in that theme as we rounded the next bend and onto the "hill" section - a very gentle, but quite long (roughly 1km) climb which slowed a lot of people (including myself) down. Here's where the walkers started to appear but I continued to run, continued to over-take most whilst being over-taken by the few. I was pretty happy with my pace and, at points, was really happy with my running style - being able to stride - to stretch out the legs and kinda lope along at what is, for me, a good pace.
At this point we're running past the Opera, and other mildly famous buildings in Vienna, so loads of eye candy, both on and off the "track" was to be seen. Anyway, back to the race...with the hill finished we rounded the penultimate corner (there's only really 4) and could see the lights of the Rathaus (it marks this years finish line) shining in the distance. I found this pretty useful as it let me know roughly how was there was to go and gave me the confidence to pick up the pace a wee bit (I'm kinda guessing here as I've yet to check out my split times (something I'm doing right now so let's see eh?). Time times are taken from Endo.
Kilometre 1 - 5.04 This was pretty much all downhill but very busy
Kilometre 2 - 5.04 Along the flat, more space to work with
Kilometre 3 - 4.54 Starting to climb but, for me, a very good time
Kilometre 4 - 5.10 Saw off the end of the hill and back onto the flat
Kilometre 5 - 5.09 I'm pretty happy with the consistency.
And I crossed the line. Endo saw a time of 26.26 which is good for me. If it's accurate, and I'm still waiting for the official race time, then I'm gonna be looking at a new PB for me. Fingers crossed eh?
And now it's time to insert a few pictures....
1st October (AM)
Wow! The queue for the stuff was huge! Took longer to get my gear (t-shirt, goodie bag, timing chip) that it did to enter Russia or America) - just over two hours. Pretty ridiculous. I did speak to another fellow "queuer" and he told me that it wasn't typical, that it's normally organised far more efficiently.
And now for some pre-race eye candy..
And an over-view of the course - it's a 5km run around the Ringstrasse in Vienna. It's a 3 lane road that encircles Vienna's 1st district - we get to run past the Opera, the Rathaus, Parliament and other buildings that I've been told are probably famous....It pretty much traces the old city walls so here's a picture of Vienna, with those walls, that's much nicer than a google map. Follow the wall, in a clock-wise direction, to follow the race.
30th September 2013
Well, tomorrow is my first race. It's a 5km, short distance but big race for a few reasons. Tomorrow night some 17,000 folks will be running around the Vienna Ring, and I'll be one of them. I spent the last two hour queuing for the race-number, the chip, the t-shirt and the goodie bag. Tomorrow I'll tie on the chip and tomorrow night I'll run. My current PB is about 29.05 so I'd like to beat that.
More to follow :)
2nd October
The timing website (here) is back up. The quickest, recorded, time was 14 minutes, 35.5 seconds! That's just astonishing! FWIW the current world record is 12 minutes 37.35 seconds (set in 2004 by Kenenisa Bekele). And now, with no further ado....*drumroll please*...my time (I need to scroll through a few pages)...
*time to lean forward, Top Gear style*
25 minutes, 52.7 seconds!! That's a new PB for me! Woot woot!
1st October (PM)
And that's the run done. My first race complete. What can I say about it? Well, I got there early, with a friend who was also running (although she was in a different group) so had time to kinda suss out what was what and where was where. Come 15 minutes to my start time, spotted movement in my colour (I was group yellow) so I kinda went with the flow (bearing in mind it's all in German, which I can't speak). That left me in the middle of about 5,000 people (they recorded 19,000 entrants running in 5 waves) all trying to get as close to the line as possible whilst stretching, so lots of flailing limbs.
And then we were off!
The first 1/4 of the race was a gentle downhill, which was nice, in a way, but we were all really bunched up still so there was a hell of a lot of ducking and diving, dodging and weaving. I gave up on the inside line almost immediately - whilst running the outside is a lot longer (it's a 3 lane road with tram tracks on both sides) it was quieter, easier to run, easier to over-take, and more relaxed.
After the downhill section came a flat section, yellow group was starting to space out by now and folks were starting to find their own pace so things were more relaxed and the run continued in that theme as we rounded the next bend and onto the "hill" section - a very gentle, but quite long (roughly 1km) climb which slowed a lot of people (including myself) down. Here's where the walkers started to appear but I continued to run, continued to over-take most whilst being over-taken by the few. I was pretty happy with my pace and, at points, was really happy with my running style - being able to stride - to stretch out the legs and kinda lope along at what is, for me, a good pace.
At this point we're running past the Opera, and other mildly famous buildings in Vienna, so loads of eye candy, both on and off the "track" was to be seen. Anyway, back to the race...with the hill finished we rounded the penultimate corner (there's only really 4) and could see the lights of the Rathaus (it marks this years finish line) shining in the distance. I found this pretty useful as it let me know roughly how was there was to go and gave me the confidence to pick up the pace a wee bit (I'm kinda guessing here as I've yet to check out my split times (something I'm doing right now so let's see eh?). Time times are taken from Endo.
Kilometre 1 - 5.04 This was pretty much all downhill but very busy
Kilometre 2 - 5.04 Along the flat, more space to work with
Kilometre 3 - 4.54 Starting to climb but, for me, a very good time
Kilometre 4 - 5.10 Saw off the end of the hill and back onto the flat
Kilometre 5 - 5.09 I'm pretty happy with the consistency.
And I crossed the line. Endo saw a time of 26.26 which is good for me. If it's accurate, and I'm still waiting for the official race time, then I'm gonna be looking at a new PB for me. Fingers crossed eh?
And now it's time to insert a few pictures....
1st October (AM)
Wow! The queue for the stuff was huge! Took longer to get my gear (t-shirt, goodie bag, timing chip) that it did to enter Russia or America) - just over two hours. Pretty ridiculous. I did speak to another fellow "queuer" and he told me that it wasn't typical, that it's normally organised far more efficiently.
And now for some pre-race eye candy..
And an over-view of the course - it's a 5km run around the Ringstrasse in Vienna. It's a 3 lane road that encircles Vienna's 1st district - we get to run past the Opera, the Rathaus, Parliament and other buildings that I've been told are probably famous....It pretty much traces the old city walls so here's a picture of Vienna, with those walls, that's much nicer than a google map. Follow the wall, in a clock-wise direction, to follow the race.
30th September 2013
Well, tomorrow is my first race. It's a 5km, short distance but big race for a few reasons. Tomorrow night some 17,000 folks will be running around the Vienna Ring, and I'll be one of them. I spent the last two hour queuing for the race-number, the chip, the t-shirt and the goodie bag. Tomorrow I'll tie on the chip and tomorrow night I'll run. My current PB is about 29.05 so I'd like to beat that.
More to follow :)
Tuesday 17 September 2013
September 2013
Heh, with no events to drive postings/updates I found myself wondering what to write about but, at the end of the day, it's pretty easy. Running. That's what this blog is all about after all. So...
September 2013...(didn't start this monthly update until the 18th...)
30th September
Total mileage for September 2013 - 43 miles. That sets the benchmark, I guess....low but, what with my "injury" and voluntary rest, it could be worse :).
The Spartathlon was this weekend :) Maybe next year...
My German lessons are about 11km away from home so I've taken to taking the Ubahn (underground) there and running back. It's a nice run that crosses the old Danube and the new, goes past the Prater and the UN before crossing the Danube canal into the first district of Vienna. Takes about an hour (my PB is 1 hour 2 minutes) and has a lot of opportunities for breaks (pedestrian crossings etc) which give me time to stretch.
As I was running yesterday (the 17th) I could feel some twinges, a few aches and pains in my shins, and I still can't curl my left big toe so I'm thinking about taking a rest day today - which means, I hope, that I won't....but I might...it's raining as well...almost.
What I need is to re-establish a pattern of running that compliments the run back from Rennbahnweg. incorporates some "official" rest days and still returns about 50 to 60 KM per week. It's a work in progress....
Well, bugger! Sort of. I was running back from German today (18th Sept) and got to about 3.5km when the aches became too much. I could kinda sense that if I continued the ache would move to pain so I called it a day. I'm gonna take the next two days off now and try again on Saturday. It could just be my legs getting used to the new insoles. That's my hope anyway. Oh, I also took the precaution of popping into my local decent shoe shop and getting some cheap-ish insoles (that provide support for my high arches) for my walking boots.
25th September..
Picked up my shoes again and went for a very slow, fairly short (4.5km) run along the canal. My stride still feels strange but the run felt OK and I was able to sprint and stretch. I'm beginning to suspect that I really need to vary my speed a lot more, and work in more hills, so as to avoid only being able to run at XX speed all the time. Food for thought..well, for me anyway.
26th...
Did a run around the Ring with Lila. Went real slow, stretched a lot along the way and it felt pretty good. Whilst the Ortho said it'd take about 5 hours to get used to the new insoles I reckon it's gonna take three to four times that. Still, things are much better now (with them) than before (without them).
September 2013...(didn't start this monthly update until the 18th...)
30th September
Total mileage for September 2013 - 43 miles. That sets the benchmark, I guess....low but, what with my "injury" and voluntary rest, it could be worse :).
The Spartathlon was this weekend :) Maybe next year...
My German lessons are about 11km away from home so I've taken to taking the Ubahn (underground) there and running back. It's a nice run that crosses the old Danube and the new, goes past the Prater and the UN before crossing the Danube canal into the first district of Vienna. Takes about an hour (my PB is 1 hour 2 minutes) and has a lot of opportunities for breaks (pedestrian crossings etc) which give me time to stretch.
As I was running yesterday (the 17th) I could feel some twinges, a few aches and pains in my shins, and I still can't curl my left big toe so I'm thinking about taking a rest day today - which means, I hope, that I won't....but I might...it's raining as well...almost.
What I need is to re-establish a pattern of running that compliments the run back from Rennbahnweg. incorporates some "official" rest days and still returns about 50 to 60 KM per week. It's a work in progress....
Well, bugger! Sort of. I was running back from German today (18th Sept) and got to about 3.5km when the aches became too much. I could kinda sense that if I continued the ache would move to pain so I called it a day. I'm gonna take the next two days off now and try again on Saturday. It could just be my legs getting used to the new insoles. That's my hope anyway. Oh, I also took the precaution of popping into my local decent shoe shop and getting some cheap-ish insoles (that provide support for my high arches) for my walking boots.
25th September..
Picked up my shoes again and went for a very slow, fairly short (4.5km) run along the canal. My stride still feels strange but the run felt OK and I was able to sprint and stretch. I'm beginning to suspect that I really need to vary my speed a lot more, and work in more hills, so as to avoid only being able to run at XX speed all the time. Food for thought..well, for me anyway.
26th...
Did a run around the Ring with Lila. Went real slow, stretched a lot along the way and it felt pretty good. Whilst the Ortho said it'd take about 5 hours to get used to the new insoles I reckon it's gonna take three to four times that. Still, things are much better now (with them) than before (without them).
Monday 9 September 2013
Well, I picked up the insoles this morning and took them for a wee 10km run this afternoon (just got back).
The good news is that, whilst I can still feel a bit of weakness in my left foot, I can stand on tip-toe so, fingers crossed, the insoles, and the additional arch support they provide have resolved the issue.
Huzzah! :)
I'm gonna take it easy for the first 5 runs (10km ish max per run) and continue to monitor my metatarsalwossnames. Providing things haven't worsened I'll throw in a couple of 15km hill runs and then, assuming success, I'll work my way back up to my long runs.
28th September
Just a quick update - after about 70km my legs still aren't back to what I'd call normal. I've had to (or feel that I've had to) practically learn to run all over again, starting with 5km runs. I'll admit that I overdid it at the start (those 10km runs back from my German lessons were probably a mistake).
Oh :) and it's the Spartathlon this weekend :) so good luck to everyone taking part.
The good news is that, whilst I can still feel a bit of weakness in my left foot, I can stand on tip-toe so, fingers crossed, the insoles, and the additional arch support they provide have resolved the issue.
Huzzah! :)
I'm gonna take it easy for the first 5 runs (10km ish max per run) and continue to monitor my metatarsalwossnames. Providing things haven't worsened I'll throw in a couple of 15km hill runs and then, assuming success, I'll work my way back up to my long runs.
28th September
Just a quick update - after about 70km my legs still aren't back to what I'd call normal. I've had to (or feel that I've had to) practically learn to run all over again, starting with 5km runs. I'll admit that I overdid it at the start (those 10km runs back from my German lessons were probably a mistake).
Oh :) and it's the Spartathlon this weekend :) so good luck to everyone taking part.
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