Post Christmas

Today's run: 9.24 km / 5.74 miles in 1:10:00.
Injury check: Slight knee twinge on the way around, slight ache this evening.
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Still at home for Christmas so today I ran with my dad, who is roughly twice my age and can finish a 10k in roughly 50 minutes. Ergo, we did not run at his pace! 

Guess who got new running gear for Christmas?

That said, this was a slow run, even for me. I suspect the on-going festive period over-indulgence was slowing me down...

However, I didn't really stop at all on the way around and the total distance is only a smidgeon under 10k, so I'm still pretty happy with it. 

Next long run: the full 10k? Maybe. Watch this space.

Back on Track

Today's run: 3.74 km (2.32 miles) in 29:54.
Injury check: Nothing more than minor twinges.
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Following the scary Official Letter - and with it the confirmation that I am actually going to be taking part in the London Marathon next year - I decided it was time I got back into my running shoes. 

I read somewhere recently that when you start training you should put your efforts into time on your feet and not worry too much about the distance you achieve. Since the rate at which I'm increasing my distance is feeling a little, well, pathetic, I'm going to try the time tactic instead: slowly increasing my time and seeing how that affects the distance I can cover.

Today I set myself a time limit of 30 minutes, and a running playlist on my phone that was 30 minutes long as a timer. 
I made it the end of the time but it was not a fast run. The last two months of laziness not exercising has definitely knocked my fitness, although my knees held up pretty well to the sudden demand to perform: a couple of tweaks from the good knee but not enough to actually stop my run. I was, however, moving pretty slowly by the end. 

Next run: a target of 33 minutes.

Count It Out

Today's run: 2.5 km (1.55 miles) in 16:45.
Injury check: All clear.
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Not a fast one today, I was just aiming to tick off an easy 2.5k on the treadmill. My plan was to spend the run trying to keep my pace even and equal - to run The Knee without putting any extra pressure on the good side. 

And on that criteria: success. 

'This would be easier if...'

Today's run: 3 km (1.86 miles) in 22:50 + 2 km (1.24 miles) in 14:50.
Injury check: Hmmm.
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A two-stage run tonight. Not my intention from the start, but summer arrived at the weekend (I have the watch-strap tan to prove it) and this evening I had clear blue skies and bright sunshine on my outside run. This made it hot. I don't do so well in the heat. Still, I started out and after the first 1k or so I found a rhythm, slower than usual but fairly steady. 
I kept it up until the 3k mark when I was just too hot and then I sloped back into the gym (with its lovely, lovely air conditioning) and got on the treadmill for another 2k. So there was a break between the two stages of about 5 mins but I still totalled 5k - I'm happy that I managed the distance without a repeat of last week's Knee Fail. 


I was wearing a support on my bad knee this evening, which did help. It survived the whole 5k, although it's aching just a little now. But, again, it was my good knee tweaking just a little at the end of the run. 
I'm sure that I've unconsciously adapted my gait over the years of bad-knee/weak-knee/bad-knee-worse/bad-knee-fixed/bad-knee-hurting-again so that my steps aren't entirely even and I favour my right, good knee. So when I'm running my right knee actually takes just a little more of my weight than it should and suffers because of that. Well, that's my current theory, anyway. 


But it was the heat that really slowed me down today. And it was on my wander back from my route around the playing fields and up to the treadmill that I found myself musing on the weather and thinking: 'I'll find it much easier to run the marathon if it's raining.' 
This is undoubtedly true, although not as valid as my next thought: 'I'd find it much easier to run the marathon if it was shorter.'


Sigh.

Overeager

Today's run: 5 km (3.11 miles) in 37:25.
Injury check: knees are not happy.
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Muggy. Warm, not much wind. Bit of a long slog. And knee pain. And that's Tuesday done. 

In retrospect, maybe I should have given my body another day or so of rest after my speedy run on Sunday. My legs ached a little during my five minute warm-up on the exercise bike and I quickly realised today would not be fast. This was an exercise in stamina.

The Knee started hurting a bit after the first 1.5 k. I really don't know what to do when that happens, because sometimes it just twinges a bit and then it's ok again - so should I stop or power on through?

Today I was stubborn and finished the run. Both knees were tweaking by the end and I am icing the bad one tonight. 

I am fairly happy with today's time but I think I'll have to give it a week before I run again. Sad face.