Mortimer 10k, Long Run & Puffy Knees

Last Updated on Sunday, 18 October 2009 03:52 Written by The Virtual Runner Sunday, 18 October 2009 03:52

Nice title eh?  I think one of the hardest things is trying to think of a damn title for each blog post.  It can be a bit of a challenge!

The Mortimer 10k is put on by my running club the Reading Roadrunners.  I’m sorry I forgot to mention it (it was in Sept) but I have been waiting all this time for someone to put the finish times on the site.  They only recently went up!

Anyway, it wasn’t chip timed or anything but they had my finish time this year as 00:55:59.  That is a pretty good time considering I felt like I was in more pain then last year.  I also managed to shave time off from last year’s 00:57:09!  Pretty impressive considering all of the hills.

I did my long run today with Garfield and it was slightly painful for quite a few miles.  I had shin splints for about the first 4 miles and I had to stop an stretch a couple of times to get the tightness out of my lower legs.  This always seems to happen to me when I get new trainers which are nice and cushioned.  Why is that?  If they aren’t cushioned I get other types of injury… I can’t win!

For today’s long run I started at my gym (Pulse-8) and ran from there to Dinton Pastures and back again.

I got to Dinton Pastures and tried to mix it up a bit with regards to the direction I ran around the lake and it was a bit difficult.  I think I’m getting bored with the scenery of Dinton Pastures!  All those people walking dogs…

Overall the run was pretty good (even with the pains) and I managed to keep an average pace of around 6 mins per km.  That is the sort of pace (or a little bit slower) that I would be happy with in the Brighton Marathon.

Now after my long run I am drugged up with Ibruprofen to help with the horrible “puffy” knee feeling that I’ve been getting lately.  I think I’ll need to concentrate a bit more on let weights/exercises on my non running days to build up my quads.  I think they’re getting a bit weak from all the running and it’s causing me a bit of knee trouble.  Jeez, if it isn’t one thing with running it’s another isn’t it?

I’m off to put my Santa suit on and lounge around the house…

Juneathon III and Birthday

Last Updated on Saturday, 30 May 2009 08:12 Written by The Virtual Runner Saturday, 30 May 2009 07:58

I’ve decided to join in on the Juneathon.  From what I can tell, it was started by someone JoggerBlogger knew and then he continued it on after that.  The rules of Juneathon are as follows (copied from JogBlog running blog):

• Run or exercise every day
• Blog about it (if you don’t have a blog, join the Facebook group and post your efforts there)
• Visit your fellow Juneathoner’s blogs and leave a comment in support (or call them a slacker)

So I first when to JoggerBlogger’s site and commented on his post.  I also joined the facebook group.  However, I was left off the list on JogBlog’s site for some reason.  I’ve decided I’m going to do it anyway and I’ll read the other blogs and comment accordingly as per the rules.  As I was left off the list though, I doubt people will find this one!  Oh well, what can you do.

I probably won’t be running every day during June but I’ll certainly incorporate some sort of exercise.  I’ve decided to give the 100 Push-Up training a go again and I’ve also bought a new book called “The Official British Army Fitness Guide” which as some handy exercises you can do at home.  Also, the one thing the book talks about at the beginning is having a good cardio base and running!  It’s a pretty good book to have I think.

I’ve added a lot more “planned” races and events to my calendar and you can see some of them listed on the right.  I’ve only actually paid for the Dorney Dash which takes place next weekend.  The other races are relatively local and I’ll probably just show up on the day and pay the £10 (or whatever it costs) and just run them.

As for non-running related matters, my lovely wife and I are off to London tomorrow to wander around (dinner etc) and to go to Madam Tussauds.  My wife says she has wanted to visit Madam Tussauds ever since she was a child, so that’s where we’re going.

We’ll be taking some pictures so I’ll stick some on Flickr so you can have a look.

Tomorrow I’m going to head off to Dinton Pastures early in the morning (06:30) so I can get in a run of at least 6 miles before we get ready to go in to London at about 10:00 in the morning.  I’m hoping it will be a long run but we’ll see how things play out!