The Virtual Runner Running Blog » running club

I’m still a runner

The Virtual Runner — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:04:11 +0000

Really. I am! I may not be considered much of a blogger by many, but I promise you I’m still a runner.

If you check out my current running log here:-

http://thevirtualrunner.org/blog/about-me/run-across-canada/

You’ll see that I have definitely still be running and maintaining a steady and non-exciting training regime. That’s the thing, it’s non-exciting at the moment. I mean, I know I’ve got a half marathon and full marathon next year but in my mind the real training won’t start until after xmas. Is that wrong?

Santa Dash

There is only another two weeks and I will be off to the Look Out in Bracknell, Berkshire with some work colleagues. We’ll all be dressed as a very pathetic looking Santa and walking/running to raise money for the Thames Hospicecare.

My Fundraising

I haven’t really focused on it yet, but my total fundraising at the moment is a whopping zero. That’s right, nought. So, feel free to donate. I mean, even £2 is nice! £2 is nothing? I’m done begging now…

Traumatising Movie

I watched The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas the other day with my wife. Very, very, very good movie. I give it 10 out of 10. Would I watch it again? Never. I simply found it way too traumatising. If you haven’t seen it then I won’t ruin it for you….

Visiting Family

We had family visit from Belgium for a week. It was really nice seeing them and we had a great time. We even took them to Legoland with us for my son’s birthday!

Growing Up

Not me, my son. He’s three! I can’t believe it. We took him to Legoland for the whole day and stayed for the fireworks display in the evening. He loved all of it. He’s such a good boy and he was so tired by the end of it he was falling asleep on my lap during the fireworks. Happy Birthday little boy!

Swine Flu

I’ve seen a lot of people in Canada posting things about the swine flu and everyone seems to be doing a bit of mild panicking and scare-mongering when it comes to the flu and the jabs. Frankly I think everyone should just calm down.

As for me, I’ve been invited to have the swine flu jab because I’m considered “high risk”. I have asthma. So, I’m off this coming weekend to get jabbed… I’m not looking forward to it at all.

I’m very annoyed that my wife or son won’t be having it but there isn’t much I or anyone else can do about that.

This week

Some usual running going on, however I’ll probably be making an appearence back at running club with my mate Tony on wednesday. It should be interesting, as long as it doesn’t pour down with rain! Drizzle I can handle…

Top Gear

I’m off to watch the rest of it…

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…

Mortimer 10k

The Virtual Runner — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:50:50 +0000

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while. I may have lost both my readers now!

I’ve still been running; however, there was a couple of weeks after the laser eye surgery where I didn’t really do anything except get fatter and allow my eyes to heal. I started running as soon as I possibly could so I could keep the weight maintained.

What’s been happening:

Mortimer 10k – I thought that I’d do the Mortimer 10k today because it is pretty local and also because I haven’t done many 10k runs this summer (even though I intended to). My wife was kind enough to push me along and make sure I did it as well.

It is a great race and put on by my running club (Reading Roadrunners). They put on a bit of a Fair and there are things for the kids and stalls selling things as well. It’s a great day really.

The race only costs £7.00 (on the day) and is a pretty gruelling 10k. There are some short steep hills and from about 6km to 9km it is all uphill! What a crazy and painful race. There was some walking going on today by me! I pushed myself on the hills as best as I could but there was no way I could run them all.

I think my race time was okay considering the hills, however I didn’t really time myself and there was no chip timing at the event. They’ll post the approximate finish times (someone at the end notes your number and the time on the clock) and I’ll know exactly what I did then. All I know at this stage is that it was under 1 hour and I’m happy with that.

Weights – I’ve decided to start doing some weights again and increase the amount of exercise I do in a week. Previously, I was running on Tue, Wed OR Thu, Fri & Sun (long run) which was about 4 times a week (sometimes 5 because I’d do Wed AND Thu).

Now I do something everyday except for Saturdays. I don’t run everyday of course but I’ve started incorporating other exercise on my non-running days.

Eyes – I’m getting more and more used to having my new glasses-free eyes. I know I’m getting used to it because I forget that I’m not wearing glasses! In fact, it was nice to go running today at the Mortimer 10k and not be wearing any glasses.

I’m looking forward to going back to running club over the coming autumn and winter months and not having to run blindly because of steamed up or wet glasses! In fact, me and my mate Tony tried to go to running club this last Wed but the track was not opened. The running club was running around the park instead. Tony and I opted to do our own thing instead and did about 5 miles easy around the park. The sign that was up at the venue said that the track would be open on 05 October 2009 so we’ll be able to go back to track sessions after that.

NFL UK – I found out that the Patriots are playing the Buccaneers at Wembley stadium on 25 October 2009 so me and my mate Tony are going! It’s going to be great and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve never been to an NFL game before and it’s cool to be able to go to a regular season game without having to travel all the way to america!

Running & marathons – I’m still running but with a bit more focus on what I’m doing. I’m conscious of the fact that my long runs need to be at a bit slower pace in order to cover 26.2 miles next April! I’ll work out proper paces etc in a few more weeks when I really concentrate properly on training for the marathon. Plus, I’m also hoping to purchase a Garmin Forerunner 405 in order to aid me in my training!

My Son – He is growing up way too fast and will be three next month! He’s so cute and funny and a lovely little boy (when he’s not naughty).

I’ll try not to neglect my blog so much going forward. I’m happy to report that I’ve been reading a lot of other running blogs though! All of the running blogs listed in my “Best Running Blogs”.

Take care everyone!

L-Day

The Virtual Runner — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:46:45 +0000

I was going to do one long post but I thought I would break them up with their own individual titles. Why? Because I can. I’ll probably write another about our weekend away down to Lyme Regis.

Today is the day I head into Reading for my eye laser surgery at Optimax. My 1st appointment is at 3pm and they’ll take the measurements etc I’m assuming. They said they’ll give me my actual treatment time then and it could be anytime from 3pm until around 6pm which means me and my wife may need to wander around town for a bit while we wait. I don’t mind.

I’m getting quite nervous and excited now. I mean, I’ve had glasses since I was about 13 years old and I don’t actually remember life without them. Having glasses was horrible when I was younger and I was very self conscious about them. Glasses were not the best thing to have when I was younger either because other kids made fun of people with glasses. There was definitely a lot of negativity towards glasses and I think that this sticks with someone. I mean, how can glassess be just as good as not wearing any?

I remember my mum getting me a pair of clip-on sunglasses when I was younger so I would feel like a fit in better. I also remember getting prescription sunglasses once. They are just not the same.

I’m even more conscious of the fact that I’m wearing glasses now because of the impending surgery (usually you just forget they are on your face). I notice the scratches on the lenses or how they hurt the sides of my head sometimes. I notice how I have to clean them all the time or take them off for a bath or shower.

As far as running is concerned, I’m looking forward to them not being there and sliding down my sweaty face. I’m also looking forward to being able to run in the rain or drizzle without having my sight restricted. I also keep thinking about going to running club during the winter and how my glasses always fogged up whilst I ran (I give off loads of heat!).

I’m very thankful that my wife has been so supportive during all of this because it feels like a very big thing I’m doing. I thought it would be easy-peasy (simple) but I am finding it a bit more stressful than I thought.

Overall I’m very excited and can hardly wait for it to be done! My wife and I will head into Reading early this afternoon and “Zap, Zap, Zap” it will be done.

I’ll have to ask how it affects my running and when I can run again. I’ll be sure to update you all (whether you’re interested or not) on the results and what it is like. I’m sure it will be amazing.

Semi-conscious and KFC

The Virtual Runner — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:44:54 +0000

Where do I begin?

I went to running club yesterday with my mate Tony after I finished work. I was looking forward to it because it wasn’t raining and the temperature was cool but not freezing. It was a nice clear night.

We got to the track and we intended (and started) to do 600m repeats at like a 5k pace, unfortunately one of my adductor muscles had other ideas when we had reached about 2200m in to our workout.

I started to feel the same twinge I had previously in my inner thigh on my right leg and I thought I could run through it, however after about 200m my knee started to go funny as I believe my leg was trying to compensate however possible for the injury. I don’t think it is serious and I stopped straight away.

I believe it was caused from the last track session and the 800m repeats. I probably over did it and was over-striding in an attempt to increase my speed.

My mate and I left early and headed back home. I was genuinely gutted that I couldn’t finish the track session. I have reached that point where I feel guilty if I haven’t run or done the training I think I need to do.

When we got back to my house we got to see my little boy (2 yrs 4 mths) before his bed time; which I obviously don’t get to do normally on a Wed when I’ve gone to running club. Unfortunately, my baby boy wasn’t his usual bubbly self and wasn’t well most of the day with cold-like symptoms.

My fiance and I keep him hydrated and give him his Calpol but Wed night was not a good night for any of us in The Virtual Runner’s house.

Our poor baby boy didn’t sleep most of the night and we had to go in and comfort him many times. He is NEVER like this and is never as cuddly as he was last night.

In the night we also discovered some blood on his mattress and on my shoulder (where he was cuddling) and it turns out he has a huge ulcer in his mouth (as well as the miserable cold symptoms).

In the end, my fiance and I only managed to get a couple hours sleep but we still got up in the AM and tried to soldier on. I got ready for work whilst my other half made an appointment for our son to see the doctor.

Have you ever felt so tired that you felt hungover or physically sick? That’s what I felt like today at work. Thankfully, my boss was kind enough to allow me to go home and attempt to get some rest. I’m glad she did because I couldn’t think straight anyway.

When I got home my other half filled me in on what the doctor said about our baby boy. It turns out he has some sort of infection in his ear on the same side as the ulcer. The doctor didn’t say however if the two were directly linked but I’m guessing they are. The doctor also prescribed some amoxicillin for baby boy to take and advised us to keep giving him Calpol and Calprofen.

During the afternoon today my other half and I thought we might finally be able to get some sleep while baby boy was having his nap. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way.

Baby boy only stayed down for a very short time and then we thought we’d see if he would lie down with us (he NEVER does). He stayed in bed with us under the blankets for over an hour but nobody slept.

The rest of the day up to know has been a haze of semi-consciousness as we dozed here and there whilst intermixing this with entertaining and taking care of the baby boy.

To top things off, this evening we had dreaded KFC. Greasy, fatty, delicious chicken of death. I enjoyed it but I really shouldn’t have.

Push-ups: I will do another “test” tomorrow to see where I continue on the training from Saturday.

That’s it. I’m now going to bed.

Night night.

I went to running club

The Virtual Runner — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:24:00 +0000

Today, after many Wednesdays of not going, I managed to face the inclimate weather with my mate Tony and we ventured forth for an evening of torture at the Reading Roadrunners club.

The temperature today was okay at around 8 degrees celcius but it was drizzling with rain all night. It’s okay for those who don’t where glasses, however for me I couldn’t see further than 10 feet ahead of me all night. Doesn’t stop me from running of course, but still very annoying. I’m seriously considering getting laser eye surgery over the next couple of years. Not yet though. Too expensive.

Tonight’s training at the 400m track consisted of 800m repeats with two sets and went as follows:-

1600m – warmup
800m – 5k pace
200m – recovery
800m – 5k pace
200m – recovery
800m – 5k pace
400m – recovery (first set)
800m – 5k pace
200m – recovery
800m – 5k pace
200m – recovery
800m – 5k pace
400m – recovery (second set)

We covered 8km in total and it was hard going for both me and my friend Tony. It’s hard to motivate or push yourself that bit further when you are running on your own so it was good to have someone there with me to help push me and vice versa.

Tomorrow I’m resting because I’ve got a niggle on my right leg on the inside of my thigh and I don’t want to take any chances with injury. Normally I would go to the gym in the mornign and cross train on the day after running club.

Easy run on Friday followed by a long run (18km) on Sunday. That’ll put me on about 47km (29.2 miles) for the week.

Tomorrow I begin week 2 of the 100 push ups training.

Damn

The Virtual Runner — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:24:00 +0000

Today was my third day of the 100 push up challenge training regime. It was all going so well.
Five sets as follows:-

Set 1: 22 (okay)
Set 2: 30 (barely!)
Set 3: 20 (okay)
Set 4: 20 (hard)
Set 5: To failure (at least 28) – I only did 21!!

Damn! Damn! Damn! How the heck is this program going to work if set 5 is always so freakin hard (or impossible)!

It annoyed me so much I did two more sets of 18 and 16 to make up for my shortfall.

What is good is that I’ve gained 3 push ups already. If you remember, when I did the initial test I could only do 27 from a cold start. Today I did 30 in the 2nd set. Not bad after all.

I’ve found another website dedicated to 100 push ups (http://www.100pushups.info/) and their training program is slightly different as far as the sets is concerned. Which one is the right one? I’m sticking with the one I’m using now.

Easy run this morning and covered about 10.4km at a 5 min 44 sec pace.

Tomorrow I must go to running club again. I haven’t been in a couple of weeks for one reason or another (weather, birthdays, weather) and I need to buck up and stop being a wimp. Thankfully the temperature is looking to be around 9 degrees (celcius).

I just keep running

The Virtual Runner — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:13:00 +0000

Yesterday my long run was up to 17km (10.56 miles) and I have about 7 weeks to go until the Reading Half Marathon (13.1 miles).

My long runs over the two weeks just before the Half won’t be that intensive because I need to taper down to the race day. However, I intend to increase the long run by 1km each week as follows:-

15/02 – 18km
22/02 – 18km
01/03 – 19km
08/03 – 20km
15/03 – 21km
22/03 – 10km
29/03 – Reading Half Marathon (21.08km)

During the last two weeks I will still attend running club on Wednesdays (weather permitting) but my other runs during the week need to reduce to about 8km at an easy pace. I also need to throw in some cross training during those couple of weeks to maintain fitness levels with the reduced mileage.

I’ve started planning my year as far as events goes and I’m now registered for the Woodley 10k (17/05/2009), the Bupa 10,000 (25/05/2009) and the Dorney Dash (06/06/2009). I’m still waiting for registration to open for the Bupa Great Captial Run (26/07/2009). There are other gaps I’ll need to fill throughout the year and I’m considering taking part in the Bupa Great South Run (25/10/2009). The only thing with that event is that it is a couple hours drive away and the race starts at about 10:30 in the morning. Do I really want to travel all that way in October to do that event? I don’t know yet, but I’ll continue to mull it over.

I may do the Sam Run in June again in Crowthorne, Berkshire; as long as it isn’t on the same day as the Dorney Dash.

I’ll continue to check out the internet and Runners World website to find events that appeal to me. If you’re in the neighborhood and feel like taking part then come along. Details of the events and links to the relevant sites can be found at http://thevirtualrunner.org under “My Events”.

I’ve also realised I haven’t given an update on my weight in ages nor have I provided any tidbits of information in relation to stretches/exercise.

As of yesterday, my weight was down to 99kg or 218.25lbs (15 stone 8lbs). Considering I was around (or more than) 113kg or 250lbs when I started all of this running malarky; that’s not bad.

GROIN STRETCH

Whilst seated on the floor, put the soles of your feet together. With your elbows on the inside of your knees, gradually lean forward and gently press your knees toward the floor.

Track Session

The Virtual Runner — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:10:00 +0000

Two posts in about a week?! Something must be wrong.

I went to my local running club again last night with my good friend Tony and we were all ready for a cold wet night of running around the track.

We did 800m warm-up before it all started at 6:30pm and after the announcements were done everyone starting breaking off in to the different training groups.

We decided to join the same group that I was in the previous week because the training seemed just right, however the group leader then announced that we/they were going to do something different this week. We were all to run in to town to a place called Kendrick hill and do some hill work and then run back. This didn’t appeal to me at all, and it didn’t appeal to my friend Tony either. I mean, we paid a whole £1.00 for the night to use the track.

We decided to do our own thing on the track in our own little group of two. We repeated the drills I did last week: 600m at 10k pace, 200m slightly slower than 10k pace follwed by 400m recovery (1200m). This was one set.

We did one lap (400m) to warm up followed by 6 sets. I think it was a good workout and it was nice to have someone there to help set the pace and make you push yourself that little bit harder. Because running is such a solitary sport it is sometimes hard to motivate yourself to do that little bit more.

By the time we were done the evening (8.4km in total) I could certainly feel that I had put in the effort.

Running Clubbed

The Virtual Runner — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:48:00 +0000

I went back to my local running club last week on Wednesday night for the first time in a long time (since early last year). A good friend of mine went with me to see what it was like and he joined the “special” group for the 1st timers to learn the track rules and etiquette. They did a bit of running but nothing too strenuous he said.

Normally when you go to my running club they start the evening (6:30pm) with some announcements and then everyone splits off in to various groups with different coaches. You can pick any coach you want, however there are a couple of groups which are clearly more “elite” than others.

I chose my group and the fun began. After dynamic warmups and a quick run around the track we were told to do 600m at 10k pace followed by 200m slightly slower than 10k pace and then a 400m recovery jog (no walking). We had to do 3 or 4 sets of these and each set is 1200m in total.
It was a good workout and I was really sweating, however if you stopped running for too long the cold really set in.

I’ll be back tomorrow night for more fun and I believe my friend is coming along again. It should be good!

My running week has changed a bit with the re-introduction of the Wed evening sessions because I used to run every morning but Mon and Sat. Now my week consists of the following:-

Monday – Rest
Tuesday – 1 hour easy run
Wednesday – Track Session (speed training, hill training, fartleks etc)
Thursday – 30 mins non-impact cardio exercise (cross trainer, rowing, cycling)
Friday – 1 hour easy run at 10k pace (with gradual speed increase for last 20 mins)
Saturday – Rest
Sunday – Long Run (I’ve been increasing this run by about 10% each week)

Aside from the running and cardio exercises I do other exercises in the evenings whilst I’m at home (which my son finds odd – he’s two).

Having looked at a few training plans I don’t think this is far off at the moment. Over the coming weeks I’ll incorporate some training sessions from a training plan I’ve got from Runners World.

On a non-running note, my oldest friend is currently in northern Quebec preparing for an adventure which will take him and a team of dogs (with dogsled) across northern Canada all the way to Alaska. He’s assisting a man that has done the journey before and they’ve been training the dogs for the past couple of months.

Within the next two weeks he will be uncontactable and his journey begins!

All the best Rob!