Week 5

Monday

Since there is no club run tomorrow and we had decided to run the parkrun instead but that meant we were going to be 2 miles short of our 5 mile target.  Therefore I ran the two miles at the gym instead.  It was very tough, as usual.  Even though the treadmill has a 3-speed fan attached, it’s still way too hot.  That in turn drains my energy and makes the run even harder.  Still, it got done and then I did my usual Monday workout.  Because the gym was so empty, I was able to walk around and look at all the equipment and I found some that I haven’t been using.

 Christmas Day

Parkrun was short of volunteers so the equipment was kept to a minimum today.  No big flags just a couple of cones to mark the start and finish.  It was drizzling but quite surprisingly, the massive puddles from Saturday had almost dried out.  Due to the improved weather conditions we were able to speed up again and beat last week’s time. I was excited as I thought it won't be long now before we are back to normal parkrun pace.

 Thursday

I had to run today's 4 mile run on my own because I only had a window of one and half hours free between work and our pre-planned family meal.  I wasn’t able to plan a time for a run since I didn’t know what time I would be back from work so I decided to run to Joiners’ square and back.  It was drizzling again but not as bad as it had been earlier, so I guess I was lucky.  When I got to Joiners Square I found that I had only ran for just over 1 and a half miles, so I no choice but to continue up Lichfield street and around to Regent Rd.  Although it was tough running up the hill, it was also a lot nicer to run along there than Leek Road so I didn’t mind too much.  I continued along College Rd and back on to Glebe Street and into Stoke.  I was hoping that the 4 miles would be up before I got home so that I could have a cool-down walk but to my disappointment, Endomondo didn’t go off until 3 doors from my house.

 Saturday

I was horrified to see that not only was it was absolutely p*****g down; it was also quite windy.  I was not going to let the weather ruin my last parkrun for the year and decided that I would go regardless.  After all, we did survive the rain last Saturday, didn’t we? Well, by the time I got to the park, I didn’t need to worry about getting wet anymore.  I was as soaked as I could get and my shoes had at least a pint of water in each one.

It was amazing to see so many runners there and even a couple of first timers. We decided straight away that we would not be rushing today; the main thing was to get around the course safely without gaining a cold at the same time.  Yet again we loved running through those huge, deep puddles.  It took us back to childhood and of course that doesn’t happen too often these days 

Sunday

Well there was no rain this morning but instead we had a very bitterly cold wind which cut through our clothing and stung our faces as if we’d got burnt.  We met at Festival Park for this week’s long run which was for 8 miles.  We used the same route as last week but added a little detour to Stoke to give us the extra mile.  It was desperately cold for most of the run and we got a bit disheartened when it started to spit but luckily the rain stayed away until later.

Week 4

Tuesday

The club was supposed to have a 3 mile Santa Dash tonight and we should all be in fancy dress. We had a selection of various Santa outfits and elves but since Kath and I were saving ours for parkrun; we kept it a bit minimal with just a hat and I had a Santa tie as well.  Somehow the message didn’t get through to everyone so some of the girls turned up without an outfit but they were still welcome to join us for the run.  We ran to Baddeley Green crossroads and back again, which worked out at just under 3 miles.  Since our run was supposed to be 4 miles; we decided to make up the extra on Thursday.

 

 

Thursday

Today's run didn’t quite work out how we planned.  The extra mile made it so that the run was now for 4 miles and we were going to do the Baddeley Green to Millrise rd run which is 4 miles.  However, it was pouring down and neither of us felt like taking the risk of getting wet so down to the gym it was.  Good God, how tough it was to run 4 miles on the treadmill.  It wasn’t helped by the fact that, despite the treadmill fan being on 3, I was so unbearably hot which drained all energy out of me.  Still, I got it done J

 

 

Saturday

We’d been looking forward to this week’s parkrun for a long time and now that it was finally here: it was absolutely p*****g down.  I went outside briefly to assess the situation and decided that although we would get wet, it wasn’t cold.

Due to the weather, only 37 runners turned up but not all in costume.  It soon dawned on me and Kath that a velour Santa dress is not one of the best things to run in.  It got really heavy when it got wet and the pompom on the hat kept hitting us on the back of our heads.  First lap was ok but then I started to over-heat and it got uncomfortable.  Usually, I am able to remove my jacket but today I had a t-shirt on under my long sleeved top that was under my velour dress (I don’t know what I was thinking of when I chose what to wear) and I had no choice but suffer the heat.  Consequently, I resorted to have to walk for a bit to cool down in between.  My lap times went from 10.35, 11.50 to 14.55, oops!  What I loved the most was running through those deep puddles.  It was very liberating and once you have a pint of water in each shoe, you don’t care about getting your feet wet anymore. 

 

 

Sunday

We met at Festival Park for this week’s long run which was for 7 miles.  I didn’t get the time to plot a route out but we decided to use last weeks’ route and just add a bit to it on Festival Park itself.  It worked out fine and the weather was good for a change; even the sun came out for a bit.  The run worked out to be just a little short at 6.66 but we didn’t mind as it was close enough.

Week 3

Tuesday

It was -3 degrees and the payment outside my house was slippery so I cancelled my run at the club and went to the gym.  I knew that running 5 miles on a treadmill would not be funny but nothing prepared me to how tough it was going to be.  I set the computer on rolling hills and level 6 as that is what I’ve been using for walking and then I set the speed to 6 too.  It soon became clear that speed 6 was way too fast for a 9% elevation, so I was forced to knock it down to 4.5. After two miles I couldn’t cope with the hills anymore and switched to manual and an elevation of 3%.  By this time I was panting like a dog and embarrassed that the guy on the treadmill next to me would hear me but fortunately he had his earphones on too.  The remaining time I gradually brought the elevation down whilst increasing the speed as towards the end of the session I was getting a new worry.  It appeared that I couldn’t increase the running time of the session; it was set on a maximum of 60 minutes.  Due to the much slower pace at the beginning, I was running out of time to complete all my required 5 miles.  The only thing I could do was to increase the speed and I just managed to complete by including the cool down period as well.  However, the next day my surgery I had pain in my surgery area, which is a sign that I had been over-doing it.

Thursday

After the problems I had on Tuesday; I had decided that I had to go to the club tonight even if it was slippery. Luckily, although it was still -1.5, it was white ice, which is not slippery at all.  We decided to use the Bucknall Hospital route for our 4 mile run and we really enjoyed it.  It seemed excruciatingly cold to start with but we soon warmed up and then it was perfect for running.  It was a calm, cool night which made us feel really fresh; the pace was right and I barely even noticed the little hill that worried me.

Saturday

It was raining first thing in the morning and I was disappointed that it would spoil my favourite run of the week but by the time I went to the park; it had stopped and left us with perfect running conditions.  Kath is still concerned about letting me run at full speed but she has agreed to gradually increase it whilst the ground is allowing and today we run around 2 minutes faster than a fortnight ago at 31.36. 

Sunday

I plotted out a reasonably flat, 6 mile run but with one category 5 hill after the 1^st mile.  It went from Festival Park along Etruria Rd to Marsh St and up Union St.  We then ran along Town Rd and Keelings Rd to Leek Road and the railway station. The last couple of miles came from running along Shelton New Road and Etruria Vale Rd back to Festival Park. The weather was really good to us.  It was 7 degrees and the sun came out which made it a very pleasant run indeed.

Week 2

Tuesday

The run planned for today was for 4 miles so we decided to run with Sue, Sharon, Sam, Hazel and Anne, who were doing a 4.5 mile run to Joiners’ Square and back again.  It was a really enjoyable run even though it was completely flat.  Sam, Kath and I were at the front and it felt like we were almost running at our ‘normal’ pace but it turned out that our average speed was just under 12.42 minutes per mile.  The actual distance was 4.68 miles so we were pleased to have got a little extra in.

Thursday

I was debating whether to go today as it was windy and was sleeting earlier.  It hardly seemed worthwhile to risk getting wet and cold for the sake of 3 miles when I could easily do it on the treadmill.  However, I felt that I had to go, mainly to clarify where we were going for our Christmas night out tomorrow.  I had been thinking the place was in Newcastle but Al had never heard of the place and she knows Newcastle quite well, so I had a look at the menu and was horrified to find it was in Stone.  How did I miss that? I couldn’t possibly go to Stone and I certainly couldn’t afford the taxi back.  Anyway, it turned out good in the end as Pinocchio’s had been taken over by this place fairly recently, so it was definitely in Newcastle.  We went for a run with Sue, Liz, Sam and Anne, following the route I thought they were taking; Leek Road to Leonard Avenue, then along there to Leek New Road and back to the crossroads at Baddeley Green and back to base along Leek Road.  Something must have gone wrong with that route as we completely lost sight of the other three and ended up running on our own with Sam. Up until then the weather had been quite reasonable but then the heavens opened.  It wasn’t long before both of my running jackets were soaked through and the chilly wind blowing straight on to my wet skin.  It was awful! None of us enjoyed it one bit and I was cursing myself for not going the gym instead. NEVER AGAIN!

Saturday

After the disaster on Thursday night, it was fantastic to see the sun out for this morning’s parkrun.  At first I didn’t, however, realise how cold and frosty it was as the back garden looked ok.  It wasn’t until I opened the front door and saw all the cars frozen up and nearly went flying on the pavement outside my house that it dawned on me that maybe the run had been cancelled.  After quickly checking Bibi for any emails or messages, I decided that it probably wasn’t as bad in the park.  Half of the runners were missing but it was a big credit to the other half who bothered to turn up.  If any of you are reading this: Well done to all of you!  The course was quite icy and slippery but still quite passable with care but of course, Kath and I didn’t have shoes with spikes, so we had to take it very easy.  First lap went without any problems but at the beginning of the second lap I skidded a bit but managed to stay upright without pulling or twisting anything.  We laughed because we broke our pw time (personal worst) but couldn’t care less as we really loved it.

Sunday

Originally w were going to meet at 11 o'clock at Festival Park for this week’s long run which was for 5 miles but since it was pouring down we decided to leave it for a couple of hours.  We didn't want a repeat of Thursday's disaster and especially not with 5 miles.  Later the sun  came out and we set off from Morrisons car wash; running along Pavillion Drive to Cobridge Road and then left on to Etruria Road.  From there we ran to Marsh St; Broad St and Potteries Way to Clough Street.  We then turned left along Etruria Vale Rd, Pretoria Rd, Belmont Rd and cut through to Etruria Rd for a short stretch before going on to Etruria Old Rd.  We ran a loop around the estate but got briefly lost amongst the new buildings and then returned to Lanehead Rd and Forge Lane.  If we hadn't got lost; we would have had to run to the end of Festival way and back to Morrisons but now we just needed to out so far and still managed to walk at the end as the 5 miles was up.  It was a nice, almost flat run and the weather was reasonable for a change 7 degrees and dry :-)

Week 1

Tuesday

First day of training started off with a 4 mile run.  Me , Kath and Sam ran to Baddeley Green; along Leek New Road to Newford Crescent; Millrise Road and Back to base.  We cut off the garage part by running along Clive Avenue so that the run wouldn't be too long since I was still recovering from my op.  To my disappointment, I did find the run quite tough and only just about managed to get up the slight incline to Milton  but the main things were that I remained running and I didn't get any pain from it.

 

Thursday

Scheduled run for today was for 3 miles. Encouraged by the lack of pain following Tuesday's run; we decided to run a little faster today.  On tuesday we were averaging around 14 minute miles but today we "sped" up to almost 12 minute miles.  Hazel joined us today and we ran to Limekiln lights and back, just fractionally less than the 3 miles but we didn't mind so early in the training plan.

 

Saturday

The run that I have really been looking forward to - Hanley Parkrun.  I was good and managed to stick to WALKING to the park.  I must admit though that it was mainly thanks to the fact that Kath was going to be there and I knew what the first thing that she would ask me and I was correct.  It seemed absolutely ages since I'd taken part in running the parkrun and I worked it out that the last time was sometime in September. The weather was perfect and we both thoroughly enjoyed the run.  To me it felt very slow but afterwards I realised that we had averaged 11 minute miles.  I worried that I was going to be in pain again.

 

Sunday

I was very pleased to find that I had no ill-effects from yesterday's run so I am going to conclude that I am finally on the mend. Today's long-run was actually a quite short 4 mile run but in the end we didn't even manage that.  Kath and I decided to meet at Festival Park after she finished work at around 6 pm.  However, by then, the pavements were badly iced over and continuing to get worse.  We decided to try a mile on the flat to see how we'd go on.  After a loop to Tesco and back, which came to 1.61 miles we decided to give up.  It wasn't worth risking an injury when it was so slippery.  We have plenty of time to catch up what we'd lost before Barcelona.