The Virtual Runner Running Blog » dinton pastures

Mortimer 10k, Long Run & Puffy Knees

The Virtual Runner — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:52:02 +0000

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

The Virtual Runner — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:58:33 +0000

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!

19k and a cold

The Virtual Runner — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:54:37 +0000

First thing first. Yesterday I began the next phase of the 100 push ups training schedule. First I had to perform another “test” to see where I was at. So, I got down on the floor and did a whopping 31 push ups (sarcasm). That is only an increase of four since my original test before this started a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, the workout for yesterday seems to go back to less then previous and went as follows:-

Set 1: 17 – Easy Peasy
Set 2: 19 – Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy
Set 3: 15 – Still easy
Set 4: 15 – Easy
Set 5: To failure (Max 20) – I did 26 and it was of course hard.

Now that the workouts have suddenly become easier I’m questioning how this program will get me to 100 push ups in a few weeks time.

As for running (which is the main point of this rambling), I decided yesterday that if the weather today was okay I was going to go to Dinton Pastures (although there are no pastures there) to run around the lakes and get my 19k long run done outside. I thought it would be a nice break for my treadmill legs.

When I got up this morning I had a bit of a congested right sinus and upper back part of my throat had that slight burning sensation that precedes a head cold. I thought “to hell with it, I’m not going to let this stop me so close to the half-marathon!”. I checked the weather and it said it was going to be grey and cloudy all morning but no rain. Sounded good to me.

I had a nice breakfast of porridge and multivitamins followed up with fish oil (tablet form) and lots of fluid. I got the baby boy up out of bed because I could hear him upstair kicking around and talking to himself. I got the baby boy sorted with a bottle and some spongebob on the tv and I went upstairs to get ready and wake up my fiance.

Now for the run itself, I’ve done it a couple of times before and I’ve mapped it out. One lap of both the main lakes is approximatley 5km so I thought I would just do about 4 laps (of both lakes) and that would be my 19k (random photos of the route for you in the middle of this posting).

When I got there I walked in a little ways first so I could find a place to stash my water bottle. I don’t like carrying the damn thing whilst running so I had the bright idea to hide it along the route and I could have a drink every lap.

Obviously I didn’t want anyone to see me stashing my bottle anywhere because someone might have nicked it or let their dog piss on it or something. Who knows. The only problem is, as this is the UK, there is no actual countryside or parts of the country where you can actually go and be alone. No matter what idea you have to go somewhere there are always other people there. So it took a few minutes before I had an opening where people weren’t walking their dogs past my secret spot.

I stashed my bottle eventually, set my iPod and started off on the run. It was a really nice run and I took it easy the whole way and tried to get a feel for what my “easy” pace is on the open road. Obviously it’s different when you don’t have a treadmill telling you your precise pace whilst running. I tried to keep my pace around the 05:40 min per km mark the whole time because that feels relaxed enough to me and my breathing is quite easy.

During the run I thought I would see quite a few other runners, especially as it is the run up to the Reading Half-Marathon at the end of the month. In fact, it’s pretty much marathon season as there are many marathons and half-marathons during March and April in the UK.

I didn’t actually see that many runners. Maybe two. Everyone else was wearing wellies (rubber boots) and walking their dogs OR pushing a push-chair (stroller) and walking their dogs etc.

On the first lap around you say good morning to people but after that when you pass them over and over again, what do you say? I just smiled and kept going.

The weather held out and it never rained and the air was cool. Overall it was one of the best runs I’ve been on in a long time. And to top it all off I managed my 19k, which means that was the longest training run I’ve ever done. I was (and am) so proud of myself. It felt like such a great achievement.

After the run it was a walk back to my secret water bottle location and a walk back to the car where I stretched and changed in to my hoody for the drive back home.

After my run this morning and for the rest of the afternoon I have been completely knackered. I mean, does everyone feel like this after their long runs? I do replenish my fluids constantly and I have carbs and banana afterwards etc, however I am yawning an hour after the run and I’m utterly exhausted. I even have to have a nap in the afternoon for an hour or so too.

I’d be curious to know if there are other runners out there that experience the great fatigue at the end of a long run and how they manage during the rest of the day without looking like some sort of zombie.

As for my virtual run across Canada; I’ve updated my site with my current location and I’ve updated my mileage. You can view my current location by clicking here.

I’ve now passed Montreal and Ottawa and I have covered the following distances:-

Distance covered so far in run across Canada: 1490.87km (926.43 miles)
Distance covered so far this year: 367.15km (228.14 miles)
Distance covered since I started running: 2872.24km (1784.72 miles)

As for non-running related matters, my baby boy is getting better and has been dutifully taking his antibiotics three times a day. He’s a much cheerier boy now and we are planning to take him to the doctor again this week for a follow-up to make sure the infection is cleared up.

Don’t forget, it’s the first day of the month:-

White rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit.