The Virtual Runner Running Blog

The running is still going on.  I must say, it was a bit difficult at first but it is getting easier each time.  In fact, today was my long run and I managed 14km (even though Garmin only recorded 12km).

Here is a summary of the runs I’ve done recently from Garmin Connect:-

Today (31/01/2010)

28 January 2010

27 January 2010

24 January 2010

21 January 2010

I’ll keep running and I’ll let you know how things are going. 

I was wrestling around and playing with my wife earlier today and I think I’ve thrown my back out a bit.  Same side (right) where I always get the sciatica.  I’ve been stretching it all evening and it’s feeling okay-ish.  I’ll just keep up the stretching and ibuprofen and it will be fine.

As far as the Fredericton Marathon (09 May 2010) is concerned… I’ve registered!  $60.00.  I have no idea what that equates to in good ole British pounds but I know it’s pretty cheap compared to some marathons over here!

Fredericton Marathon, garmin forerunner 405, long run, pains and niggles, training

Tonight was my first 5km event and it took place in the dark!  Very very good atmosphere and a very good event.  I recommend it to everyone!

For the hour or so before the event there was music which was all halloween themed as well as refreshments.  Your entry fee gets you your race number, chip timing, free skeleton t-shirt, headlamp and a mug at the finish line.

It was really good fun and everyone had a great time.  There was a lot of chatter amongst the runners during the whole event and you don’t normally get that in the daylight races!

You can find more photos by clicking here.

I had my time at about 27 min and 13 secs according to my Garmin.

Well done to my wife for coming out and supporting me again.  She’s a fantastic woman!

And my little boy was there too… way past his bed time!

garmin forerunner 405, halloween 5 nite run, race or event, race report

That’s right, I’ve gone and purchased a nice new pair of running shoes.  The arch of my right foot has been bothering me so I thought it was about time to move on from my Adidas Supernovas.

I got myself pair of Asics Kayano 15s and I wore them this evening to running club.  I did my interval training in them and they felt pretty good.  It was nice to have the cushioning again; something that is missing from my Adidas shoes.

The Kayano’s were reasonably priced at £85; which isn’t that bad considering they are usually £115 – £120.  They’ll be coming out with Kayano 16s soon so that probably explains why it is possible to get the 15s at a discount.

Running club (Reading Roadrunners) went well.  Me and my mate Tony (yes, I’ve mentioned your name again) went to use the track for the first time in months.  We have been going to where the club meets the past two Wednesdays, however the track wasn’t open because it was being renovated (looks good now).

I took Garfield the Garmin with me and we decided to try out one of the workouts that I put on it.  They were 5 x 400m repeats with a 200m recovery inbetween each.

It was hard (according to Garfield) for us to maintain a steady pace during the intervals.  We knew this because Garfield kept beeping everytime and a message appeared on the screen saying we needed to slow down.  Us?  Slow down?  Jeez, I would have thought speed-up instead!

I’m happy with our 400m paces because they are all close to 5 min per km and they got progressively quicker (5:12, 5:06, 5:03, 5:01 & 4:55).

Overall a good run.  Tomorrow morning I’m off to the gym again and I’ll do some cycling and a bit of weights.  Friday will be a steady run and then long run on Sunday again.

I’m thinking I’m going to need to re-adjust the days I am running because at the moment I’m only able to run 4 days a week and that isn’t enough.  I need 5 days! 

Running club is great, however because it is in the evening it messes with my overall weekly schedule.  I usually run first thing in the morning and my long runs are always on a Sunday.  Before I went back to running club I would run on Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri & Sun.  Now, since going back to running club I can’t really run on Thu mornings (can I?) because I had running club less than 12 hours previously the night before.  This means that going to running club is actually reducing the amount of mileage I am doing but adding more quality.

I am now going to have to entertain the idea of running on Sat mornings.  Probably not until after christmas though.

Time for a cup of tea….

asics kayano, garmin forerunner 405, intervals, reading roadrunners

I got to use my Garmin today on my long run around dinton pastures.  It has my pace as much slower than the Nike+ records it and I suppose that’s good.  It will help me to push myself a bit harder in training!

Overall it felt like an okay run; however I did suffer from shin splints in the first 4km which was pretty annoying and painful.  They went away once I got warmed up.

garmin forerunner 405, long run